The kingdom of Malunga keeps drowning into the shackles of evil. Death and dread lies in the horizon. The once peaceful and promising atmosphere had thicken with the smell of human flesh and blood, and the citizens are becoming savages. Masisi has raised a veracious army, fierce and terrible to behold. Those who have refused to pledge their allegiance were kept in the dark artic when caught, and where executed daily. Most were hiding in the woods, in caves, and in underground holes to save their lives while hoping that Nyambe will rescue them soon. More so, with the awareness of the survival of the princess, and also, Ruhu feeding their minds with visions of Buwana's powers being defeated and Nyambe coming back to rescue and deliver them from the shackles of evil. This birthed the hope within them, and the determination to resist more and more against Masisi's reign.
They had a flick of hope, although from time to time, the resistant will surrender when they witness the brutal and merciless execution of one of their own.
Those who have pledged their allegiance were not exempted from the harsh mistreatment from the soldiers nor were they spared from the edge of the sword.
A thief's hand was chopped off the other day and another thief was fed to the hungry crocodile.
The rules where endless and the punishment for defaulting was unthinkable.
No one was free and everyone lived in deep fear and dread.
In the cool of the evening, Ruhu will use his power to go round the city, scouting the minds of people to find the resistant, to encourage the hopeless and to reaffirm the powers and return of Nyambe. He also, checked out the situation of things so as to ascertain how much time they had left.
"Ruhu wasted no time in starting the training with Atama.
"I shall begin by telling you who you are. Never forget, you are Princess Atama, the existing heir of King Nyambe and the blood for justice runs through your veins. Your father, the king is mighty, powerful and undefeatable, but he plays by the rules, he is the just king. This war is evil against good and evil cannot defeat you, except you first assume the position of defeat. Though having the skin as soft as the feather of a bird, you are made of a warrior and your power is beyond comprehension, but you must discover it yourself along your journey, because good plays by the rules".
"What are the rules", she asked?
"They lie in your path and you shall know them as you take your cause. But remember, there lies in your heart the abundance of truth. You must let it truly lead you".
"So what is my mission?"
"Use the power of truth to defeat Buwana. Send him back into the bottle, and restore the glory of Malunga. Then shall the palace return and the reign of Nyambe be established forever. Masisi will be searching for the signet ring, which is believed to be hidden in dark secrets. It is the key to evoke Nyambe's realm and he must not find it.
"First, you shall learn servant hood. You must learn to serve Zuchi as the princess while you take the position of her maid, else Masisi will kill you both when he finds out.
From then, Zuchi took over training Atama in the role and duties of a maid.
"When you stand as a maid, you must take a bow", Zuchi demonstrates, and Atama follows suits.
"Now, always keep your head down and do not speak until you are told to. Never make eye contact, it's a sign of boldness that isn't necessary for a maid. And remember, always mind your business at all times".
"Now let's practice the whole lesson from the beginning".
Two weeks later, Masisi decided to make the princess his queen, planning to use subtlety to win her trust, that way, he can use her as the key to his quest. And so, he took Zuchi and placed her on a throne next to his, commanding that she should be treated well and be given all that she needed.
Zuchi assumes the throne as Masisi's queen while princess Atama served as her maid.
All worked as planned. Atama remembered to bow and stay heads down before the queen at all times. She cleans and scrubs the floor. She combs and braids the queen's hair and she's made to stand laboriously for long hours attending to the queen.
Zuchi seems pleased with her new position. At first, she was uncomfortable, seeing her dear friend and mistress bowing to her, but with the glory and power, and abundance that came with the position of queen, Zuchi soon discovered that she enjoyed being served. It wasn't bad after all.
With Zuchi as queen, that meant no attention was laid on Atama, and so, she had ample time with Ruhu for further training.
Ruhu was made a gardener in the palace and so when he was done with his work, he would begin teaching Atama riddles, history, stories from the scrolls stored in his mind, since the Stone Wall of Secret is still yet to be found. He would close his eyes and go into the Stone wall, then begin to retrieve different scrolls and begin teaching Atama from its content.
Picking a scroll from a shelf, "let us learn the power of the mind".
"Close your eyes, and close your mind also" Ruhu commanded.
"Shut it out of every distraction both internal and external". Atama did as she was told.
"Now open your mind's eye and see. Look deeply you will see". Atama tried.
"I see nothing Ruhu".
"Don't struggle to see, just see".
"But how? All I see is darkness.
"Yes you have seen well, now find your path through the darkness, there shall you truly see the path within".
More confused than ever, Atama, opened her eyes in dissatisfaction, picked up her snake skin cape and left in rage, without uttering a word.