CHAPTER 6
THE SUITOR FROM BEYOND AFRICA
A servant approached the king's chamber and kneeled stretching forth his arms bearing what he termed an urgent letter, the king signalled a maid and she hurriedly collected the letter and brought it to him, he took it and reluctantly opened it and it read;
To: Your Majesty, King DUNUSE of the great AZUKAH, KINGDOM.
"I write to inform you that my son and his entourage will be coming to ask for your daughter's hand in marriage, we shall be coming with a great number of witnesses from beyond Africa. Prepare to receive us."
From HRM. King Silas of EZENDRIL.
The King was so distraught instead, that he was hanging between delight and anger, he feared if his daughter Princess Olaedo would at least consider this since she had not received a suitor for the past month.
"Fetch the princess At once?" He bellowed.
"Sorry, my king, She's out in the woods" Amanna a Palace Chief Guard replied fear beclouding his voice.
"What nonsense? Who granted her access to the gate?" The King's anger aggravated, he has never been this angry in a long time, it was quite clear that his brother's betrayal still hurts him so badly, there was no amount of punishment and not even a death sentence could pacify the heart of the king nor alleviate the burden of the death of an entire province of his kingdom under his watch, it was quite clear that he is transferring his aggression to everyone.
"My king, Izuko never wanted to but she threatened to make him suffer, so he confided to me in the secret of their way about". Amanna stammered, he was a white-haired man in his 30s, witty with words and swift with actions, the exuberance of three men in one, he did not stress to become a chief guard but rather his outstanding services to the royal house and the kingdom at large made it glaring that there couldn't be a person more qualified than he to have such an honour.
"Hmm..." king Dunuse groaned in frustration. "Fetch her at once, then you and Izuko have a lot of queries to answer" With this command, Amanna hurried out to get the Princess. the King relaxed back into his throne uncomfortably, the strain of the whole unfolding events weighing hard on his kingly mind.
******
Princess Olaedo slipped out of the castle as usual pulling Izuko her assigned personal guard with her, and they came to see the Mori river. The Mori river was the largest water body present in the kingdom, it was very large to an extent that the British and Portuguese vessels had smooth access to the kingdom's harbour, as at then the involvement of the British in local affairs was only based on trade and commerce, their mighty vessels would convey palm products and cocoa products other wares from the kingdom in exchange for clothing, foreign foods and other important wares, the river made it relatively easier for import and export and boosted the commerce and economy of the kingdom and also heavily influenced the kingdom's sense of dressing, they tend to enjoy the elegant looks of foreign clothing and wares, ownership of one of these simply meant that one is rich enough to afford them, the huge impact of this foreign influence can be felt more even on the royal family, the king and princess tend more to wear these foreign apparels and had even adopted the use and lookalike of the royal crown.
The princess was pleased with the twilight's cool breeze at her very favourite spot, the calmness here is overwhelming, and a momentary disturbance of flowing waters as they wash upon the rocky banks, and the distant honking of ships far away in the centre of the mighty river, she glanced across the long width of the river into oblivion, and her attention was abruptly called back by a fish that danced at the centre of the river, the fish would jump out of the river and sway majestically in the air before delving back into the river, this gladdened the heart of the princess.
She thought if she could just be like the fish enjoying its habitat and freely doing what pleases it, free from live threatening nightmares, a world where nightmares don't exist, she felt she had this allergy towards her people, after all, they were all soon going to perish following the inescapable manifestation of her nightmares, she could not bare to cohabit or get in a close relationship with anyone so that she won't carry an agonizing burden after they may have perished, how could she possibly smile upon them just like her father, knowing their inevitable fate, with this, her final resolve was consolidated, she was never going to have anything to do with them.
The fish didn't come up after a couple of times, the princess's mode was receding to boredom, she fondled her hair and sighed deeply, her eyes fell upon a tree just by the side of the river, and immediately a new thought crossed her mind, with the newly found enthusiasm she smiled putting all the concerns behind, she ran to the tree and began to clamber unionist.
"My princess, it is not safe to climb trees, you may slip and break some bones" Izuko, a fierce-looking man, known for the expertise of his bloodline in protecting the royal bloodline, a job he would never get weary of doing.
"keep your worries to yourself Izuko, stick to your job". The princess answered rather harshly, She climbed towards the branch that stretched to the river, she was excited to see the movement of the water waves as they formed a thousand ringed ripples travelling and widening at all corners, she smiled and moved to strike a balance in her position when she unexpectedly a dark force rose from the waters and surged directly upwards towards her, it was the face of the scary devourer that has always hunted her in her dreams, she screamed and jerked backwards causing her to slip from the branch and fell headlong into the river, she screamed hysterically as she fell, she was submerged in the water, she managed to push her head out and let out another wild scream but this time the water flooded her mouth and she gulped down a few quantities, she was not a swimmer at all and couldn't keep up with the water current as it swept her malevolently down the course as she began to drown.
Izuko was so many things, trained in combat and service but was not a swimmer himself, he was scared of water and therefore could not save the princess, he was screaming and running down the side of the river, exceedingly clueless on what to do. it would be useless if he decided to dive headlong into the river in his bid to serve the princess, the kingdom would end up buying two corps at a time if he did, he prayed to his CHI for grace and the ability to swim just this ones, he readied to take a dip throwing caution to air, of what need was it if he returned to the palace without the prince, he would also get lynched for his cowardice, as he prepared to take a dip, Suddenly a young man emerged from the surrounding thicket and dived straight into the river without breaking a sweat, he swam towards the princess and hauled her out, she lay unconscious for a moment, the man pressed down on her stomach with his strong hands, but it seemed that the princess was long dead, he bent his head over hiding his face from Izuko's view, he triggerred something form within him, an aura, his eyes lit up bright red as he began to suck up the pain that be clouded the unconscious mind, the pains cursed through his vein in a thick dark surge and finally stopped, he further pressed down on her chest, a decoy to cover up the supernatural healing ritual he had performed. he forced the water she had gulped in to flow out through every opening in her body, the princess choked on the water as she strived to draw breath, she coughed and snapped to consciousness, she opened he eyes and meet two pairs of a rather haunting gaze, she freaked out and angrily attacked, smacking the man towering above her across the face.
"You pig, how dare you lay your filthy hands on me?" Olaedo threatened barely alive.
The young man was dumbfounded, and without hesitation, he withdrew from her, Izuko stepped in, in defence of the stranger.
"Am sorry my princess, but perhaps you could show a little gratitude to the young man, he saved you from drowning and helped drain the waters from your system"
"That is bullshit, if he saved me from drowning then what is your duty Izuko?" She fired back at the guard. "As soon as we get to the palace you will be relieved of your duty as my guard, nonsense".
" I am sorry my Princess, I didn't mean to.."
"Save it Izuko, my word is my word." the princess concluded.
"I see you haven't changed a bit, little arrogant princess, still the same old you 7 years ago" the stranger who saved her spoke out. The princess was taken aback, in all her years in the world no one has ever spoken to her in such a manner before, not even her father. she stared closely at the man and a kind of resemblance was noticeable to her.
"It's me the farm boy and this is the 100th time I've saved your sorry life and in all the only thing that is most unique is your arrogance, pathetic!
She observed him closely, recollecting totally who he might be, the farm boy who had saved her from the wolves and from falling off a steep mountain, but he's all grown up now, a magnificent muscular stature fitting beards, remembering him only angered her, she was beginning to think that the boy now a man had been stalking her all her life.
"You dare not speak to a princess of high standing in that manner, I could have you lynched if I want".
"That's all that drives you, Power and royalty, well you are miles away from the castle and your orders are weightless out here in the wild." He shot back.
"Seize him at once" she commanded Izuko who hesitated.
"It's quite obvious that we are somehow tangled, isn't it my princess? I look forward to saving your sorry life again someday".
"I said arrest him idiot, you moron!" She commanded again. Izuko moved to apprehend Obikeh though, against his will, Obikeh withdrew slowly from his reach.
Just then the royal band who had been searching for the princess advanced with a cart, the stranger saw the royal entourage approaching them, he knew he was in danger, and with such amount of troops heading their way that the Princess's orders would be very effective even in this place far away from the Palace, he wouldn't just stand around and risk being captured and tortured in the infamous Royal Dungeon.
"See you around your Highness," he said and hastily dived into the river and swam away as fast as he could.
The cart screeched to a halt and Amana came to meet the princess, she wasn't happy to see them, she wondered how they were able to trace her, she looked away from him trying hard to catch a glimpse of the stranger once more but he was long gone.
"Your highness, your father demands your presence immediately". Amanna mumbled.
"And how did you know where to find me?" she asked angrily.
Amanna stared at Izuko who was uncertain, he stammered trying to evaluate his words in other not to endanger himself or Izuko, he finally found his voice and spoke out.
"Your highness, a palm fruit as we all know, does not go missing in the dust of fire, there are eyes everywhere in this kingdom, your father made sure of that".
"Let's move at once" she commanded. She was led to the wagon and they headed towards the castle in deafening silence, the picture of the farm boy whom she had encountered yet again after seven long years was all that played out in her memory, she loved his countenance and personality, he was a true spec, a capital representation of her dream man except for the fact that he is not royalty. And finally, why would she even think of considering a counterpart in this kingdom that will soon fall into permanent demolition, no way!
After a couple of minutes of thousand 'klip-clops of the horse's hooves that pulled the cart, they arrived at the palace and the king embraced his daughter dearly trying hard to pull a happy face to appease his daughter's mind after everything that has happened and in the kingdom, presenting the letter to her and waited patiently hoping to hear something positive from the Princess, she read through it and beamed a smile, it was like a dream come through to her, she was filled with joy and blurted out.
"Alas someone from beyond the kingdom," she smirked. "let them come for further evaluation, I hope he would be as prestigious enough as this letter looks".
With this, she withdrew from the throne room. Swaying all the way. She paused and swerved around like a beauty pageant on the runway.
"Papa, go and prepare in a great way."
"Surely, my love, I shall". The King at least found a good reason to be overjoyed, maybe at last his daughter will finally get a life, though not the life he had planned for her but at least her happiness was his priority.