It was during the second reign of King Nwaknwo the third that he had begotten his illegitimate daughter, Kambili.
Her mother had been betrothed to him from childhood but he didn't love her, and because he harboured feelings for another woman.
Since the laws of their land put betrothed woman who got pregnant out of wedlock to death, he impregnated her mother and denied doing so, hoping that her pregnancy out of wedlock would cause her to be killed to avail him the opportunity of marrying the woman he wanted without being seen as an oathbreaker.
She was discovered and arrested but not put to death immediately because her father who had been the nation's trusted prime minister begged for his granddaughter's life in exchange for his, and thus, she was to be allowed to live till whenever she birthed her unborn child.
" I will expose and swear under oath that the king is the father of my unborn child!!" Kambili's mother had stated during the sixth month of her pregnancy.
She didn't want her daughter to be termed a bastard and was ready to fight tooth and nail until the day she would be killed for her unborn child to be accepted by her father.
But Nwaknwo had dismissed her claims. Not just because he didn't want her anymore but because he had married the love of his life and being accused of fathering a child out of wedlock would bring curses to his reign and marriage.
"Stop lying woman! How dare you call the name of the king in vain?!" He had shunned her and his guards were ready to stab her to death for accusing the king of suchs grave sin.
But the King had stopped them when she continued speaking from inside the cage she had been locked in to confess her sins before the people.
"If I am lying beloved King of the land, may you bear sons and may your kingdom flourish. But If there is an atom of truth in what I have said before our ancestors and the people, then upon my blood which shall be shed after the birth of my child, I curse you, you shall know no sons nor heirs to carry on with your generation!!"
Her curse had been quite dramatic and had caused the crowd be thrown in a frenzy.
The King himself had been thrown off balance by the weight of her curse but he was able to regain his composure.
He couldn't have his reputation tarnished now and especially not by her.
She was ordered to be locked back away as she had been and on the day she was giving birth, the king had been there to make a mockery of her.
"You'll be burnt on a spike in a few minutes after now. What would happen to your little curse? My beautiful wife is pregnant and the royal physician says it will be two sons for me. Did you honestly think the heavens heard your voice when you made those silly statements?"
He mocked her while she struggled to push out her baby with every strength in her as only one old and frail midwife had been sent to help her deliver of her child.
The cries of a baby the king heard was what silenced him.
"Kambili" the child's mother had called while holding the baby girl, before she drifted off to sleep while the king called his guards to take her to the spike already set up for her punishment.
It was on their way to wake her from her sleep that they had discovered that she was dead, and rather than a sleep the king had thought she drifted off to, she had died after being delivered of her child.
Fearful of her curse happening, the king had taken her daughter in under the guise of an adoption, as a show of his benevolence to his subjects who needed the magnanimity of the king.
Months later, the King's wife gave birth to her twins, a boy and a girl, rather than twin boys the king had been told before.
He dismissed it as an error on the physician's part and accepted his children whole heatedly, hiring the best caretakers for them while his wife enjoyed the riches owned by the royal house.
The old and frail midwife that had assisted Kambili's birth was employed as her wet nurse. But the kind hearted old woman had come with her younger daughter, seeing that she was old and little or no milk would come from her as the child's wet nurse.
The years progress and Kambili was about to turn nine when her destiny was changed. By the heavens or by man, there was no explanations to it.
The Kings wife was throwing the biggest parties for her children to celebrate them turning eight, healthy and alive despite the lying woman's curse, Kambili's mother.
Kambili had been invited and this had surprised her.
The kings wife didn't like her and neither did the king even though they adopted her and showed off about how kind they were to her in front of the people.
But behind close doors, she was treated like a non living human being, locked away in one room where her wet nurse lived in with her, she was only let out on special occasions when the king had to show her off to his people, to show them how kind and benevolent he was.
And the food she ate and clothing's she wore were all left overs brought from princess Neka's quarters.
On the night of the birthday party when she had come to the exquisitely decorated hall, the kings wife had dragged her by the ear to a corner to warn her and remind her of her place.
"You're not the King's child! You're just the adopted daughter of a sinner whom he had mercy on in the past, don't think you are anything special. Eat only what you're given and leave when you're told to"
She had taken her words to heart and had only stayed at a corner with her wet nurse in the old left over dress of the princess' which she wore until she felt something talking to her.
As if being controlled by something, she had left her wet nurse and walked up to where the princess and Prince were having a dance and joined them in the fun but the queen was quick in sending guards to take her away from her children as she was of low blood to stand beside her children.
While being dragged out, Kambili had locked eyes with the prince who stared at her being dragged out and she had seen in his eyes something that her mouth could not contain.
Kambili's eyes widened in horror as she stared at the prince, her voice trembling as she spoke.
"I see death. I see tears. I see bloodshed. Blood will rain from the heavens...and the prince will be consumed by it!" she cried, her words echoing through the hall that had fallen silent with the way she spoke other worldly.
"The chandeliers above will shatter with their crystals piercing your skin like a thousand daggers. You will writhe in agony, your screams echoing off the walls as you beg for help...but it will be too late."
Kambili's eyes seemed to bore into the prince's very soul, her voice dripping with a macabre certainty.
"What are you doing? What are you still waiting for? Take her away!!!" The queen screamed at the guards but they were fearful and scared to with the way she spoke as if she were cursing the prince, the same way it was told her mother has cursed the king.
"You will die, Prince, in the presence of your family,.... your friends,..... and your servants. They will gather around you, helpless to stop your suffering as you bleed out onto the cold, hard floor." Kambili finished and the guards had more courage to drag her out with her wet nurse who followed fearfully.
The hall fell silent and just when everyone wanted to laugh it off as a mere blabbery of a little girl, the soft creaking of the chandeliers above were heard and upon the prince's head it fell.
The prince's face turned deathly pale and his eyes wide with terror as he called out for his mother who was unable to help him as he writhed in pain.
Physicians gathered but just like Kambili had predicted, none of them were able to help him till the moment he took his last breaths.
Kambili and the guards were still at the door when it happened.
The queen's wail filled the hall as she rushed to her son's side. The king, too, was in shock, unable to comprehend the sudden turn of events and whether it was the woman he had betrayed's curse which was manifested through her daughter's words.
The courtiers and guests were in a state of pandemonium, some screaming, others crying, and others still trying to make sense of what had just happened.
Kambili, still standing at the door, felt a strange sense of fear wash over her. It was as if she had known all along that this would happen and the mere thought of knowing scared her. The guards, still holding her arms, looked at her with fear.
Words spread across the lands like a wildfire about the girl who had killed a throne heir with the mere words her eyes told her would happen. Some argued that the it was the kings curse, from the woman he had denied being the father of her unborn child while some said the child of the woman whose birth had killed her mother was a cursed one.
Her being birthed out of wedlock also added to the rumours and thus she was nicknamed the "harbinger of doom" amongst the people because of what had happened.
And since that day on forward, the king locked Kambili away in a basement. Never allowing her nor her wet nurse out for years.
Forgotten and even though she was alive, Kambili's whereabouts was not known to the people anymore but the tales of her were still being told amongst the people.