That night, the moon spread out its sheet like a blanket over the horizon of Malunga. There laid princess Atama, in the upper chambers next to that of her father, Nyambe. Though asleep, she remained restless. She woke up, took off the zebra bed cover and stood by her window. From there, she could see the woods, the fountain of peace and the tower of the Stone Wall of Secretes at the north wing of the palace.
"The shadow. I see shadows mingling in the dark, what could this mean?"
She strained to see the creatures.
"Oh no!" that's Makundu her brother, the prince and his boy servant Masisi.
"Not again, what could they be up to at this hour of the night? Aren't they ever tired of their adventures and experimentations?" But they seem to be having fun, I wish I could join them. Or maybe I should".
She looks over at Zuchi, her girl servant who was sleeping at the edge of the room. Noiselessly, she took her snake skin cape and tiptoed out of the room, heading towards where she last saw Makundu and Masisi.
"Masisi look what I found", with much pleasure, Makundu handed the marble stone to his servant and friend. Masisi took it, admired it for a moment before tugging it into the hunter's bag of collections that he carried, which housed all sort of items they picked on different adventures.
The young teenage boys could navigate their way through the woods because of the full bloom moon and so, didn't worry about finding their way.
"What is that?" Masisi asked, pointing to a shiny blue object half buried in the soil.
"Let's dig out and see", suggested Makundu.
So they began to dig, using the tool from Masisi's bag. They dug and dug and soon pulled out a 10 inch horn with an eye.
"Wow, it's beautiful".
Masisi piped into the horn and a strange smell consumed him. He was taken aback, he shook his head to clear his vision before tugging the horn into the collection bag.
"We will examine it better tomorrow, let's go to the Stone Wall of Secrets", Masisi suggested.
"I'm not sure about that, it's late and Ruhu might be asleep by now, I'm sure, he wouldn't like us roaming in there without his permission", Makundu advised.
"Let's go now! I say", Masisi commanded in an authoritative voice.
Taken aback by Masisi's tone. "Are you okay?"
Taking hold of himself, he responded. "Yeah, I'm okay, sorry about my tone, I'm just having so much fun that I feel we could have a little adventure without the watchful eye of Ruhu. You never can tell, it might be so much fun, pleasssssse master".
"Okay, you just know how to cajole me into your will especially when you call me master. You are my best friend Masisi and you know I will do anything for you, of cause, and you don't have to call me master okay".
"Yes master", replied Masisi, playfully punching Makundu by the ribs before taking off towards the Stone Wall of Secrets. Makundu took off after him, with playful determination to catch up and teach him a good lesson.
Atama got to the spot she last saw those two, but found them laughing and running towards the Stone Wall of Secrets.
"What are they up to again, and why are they so excited", she wondered. This boys are having so much adventure".
"Oh! I wished I was a boy, then they would allow me join them. Boys have so much fun. I dislike the long hours I have to sit for my thick afro hair to be braided. But I rather endure the braids than sit for hours making waist beads. I wish I was a boy, at least, I will be allowed to chase the buffalos, or dive into the fountain of peace, or climb trees, or go on adventures like Makundu and Masisi".
Flinging her thoughts away, she noiselessly ran after them.
Minutes later, Zuchi awoke and couldn't find Princess Atama, she looked towards the window and there she was, running towards the Stone Wall of secrets.
"Oh! Princess Atama, what are you doing by this time of the night? Surely the king will not be pleased if he finds out we are not in bed?" She chided herself as she plans to go after her.
She took her cape and tiptoed out of the palace.
"Look! There's a glow in the bag, the eye of the horn, let's take a look", cried Makundu.
They brought out the horn and the glow reflected towards a particular direction. Quietly, they followed the lead of the glow, down to a dungeon they never knew existed. Soon, they reached the source of the glow, emanating from a giant bottle, housing a human creature having two horns with eyes on each just like the one they held.
Griped with fear, and uncertainty.
"Let's leave this please, Makundu suggested, it feels strange and I'm terrified".
But it was too late as powers from the creature was emanating from the bottle into the horn in Masisi's hands. The room was glowing and smoky, Makundu, ran towards the stoned entrance but couldn't see his way because the smoke blurred his vision.
"Who's there?" called out Ruhu, the guardian of the Stone Wall of Secret. Using his burning lamb. He checked the left wing stairways. "I know I heard footsteps". He thought.
"Zuchi! What are you doing here by this time of the night?"
"Forgive me Ruhu, I only came after my mistress the Princess, I saw her heading this way, few minutes ago from the palace window, I have no intension of being here of my own accord, if you will allow me, I will fetch her and we will be on our way back to our chambers".
"Buwana!" Ruhu retorted, quickly running towards the dungeon where the bottled prisoners where kept. Zuchi ran after him confused.
"Is Princess Atama in danger?" She asked as they ran towards the dungeon.
"What have you done?" screamed Atama, who had just walked in to witness the unbelievable.
There he was, Makundu lying on the floor in the pool of his blood, Masisi holding the one eyed horn with fresh blood dripping from the tip of the horn.
"Hahaha", laughed Masisi in the voice of Buwana, here comes another royal blood to feed on and free one of you, sons. Victory has finally come to us. He turned to one of his sons in the bottle and said, "I shall free you first".
"You wicked spirit, I rebuke you and forbid you from touching the royal blood", cried Ruhu, whose eyes had turned blue and fire proceeded out of his mouth.
"Not today Ruhu, you know the rules, back in the days when we ruled, you cannot take the lawful captives, it's forbidden. These are now my preys".
"You can't have them, we do not operate by rules from the dark world, our rules here says even the lawful captives shall be delivered".
Within seconds, fire came out of the mouth of Ruhu and snatched Atama from his firm grip, it shielded Zuchi and also took the corpse of prince Makundu.
Buwana raged with a loud voice and the entire kingdom of Malunga heard the voice, for the battle line has been drawn.
"Buwana is back!" Gasped Nyambe from the chambers of his Palace.
"Where is Makundu and Atama? Where is Ruhu the guardian of the Stone Wall of Secrets?"
Before he could use his powers to seek the truth, Ruhu sent a magical signal to Nyambe through his signet ring, revealing the scenario to him. Nyambe was heartbroken as he visualized his son from his signet ring murdered in cold blood by the powers of Buwana. He knew that the day of evil will surely come, but to think that Buwana would kill his son without thinking twice meant that the battle line had indeed been drawn. He was relieved that Ruhu was at the outer court and knew what to do, but first, he must proceed to safeguard the palace, and princess Atama his bloodline must fight and defeat the evil Buwana and restore Malunga from the fist of evil, establishing the kingdom back to peace.
Nyambe communicated back with Ruhu.
"The destiny of purity and peace is now saddled on her shoulders, else humanity will be doomed under the powers of evil and Buwana will reign forever. You know how to find me when the time comes, but for now, you must take the lead and show her the way. I will be waiting on the other side".
With that, Nyambe vanished with the palace into the unknown, along with the corpse of prince Makundu, and all the servants and everyone residing in the palace at the time. And the Stone Wall of Secrets became invisible along with it.
They hid in the old big ancient oak tree for days. Ruhu tried to explain to Atama the seriousness of the war at hand, and the implications of losing it, but Atama is in so much grieve of losing everything, first her brother, then her father. From living in the palace to hiding in a big oak tree. The whole thing was scary.
"We must get to the other side of the river before sunset, when we cross the river we leave Malunga. I must prepare you for the battle and we must send arrows from without, that way, we are sure of subduing evil and restoring the good of Malunga".