As he carried her, breezing through the forest, Princess Emajiri snuggled closer to him, breathing in his delicious scent, he scent was that of the forest, woody and fresh, his arms were strong and his gait was steady, not faltering for a second.
He carried her as easily as it would be if he were to be carrying a leaf, she felt so secure and safe that she almost fell asleep, but she reminded herself that he was a stranger and she was in the forest which was fraught with danger.
Before she knew it they were at the bank of the forest. ' we're here, can you help yourself from here? Or do you want me to bring you straight to your home?' His gentle voice broke the silence of the night, by now the sky was covered with a blanket of darkness and she could barely make out her surroundings, she looked around and recognized with difficulty that they were currently at the foot of the forest, she almost sighed in regret, but no matter how cute the guy was, she was tired and famished, she wanted nothing more than to eat, have a nice bath and to throw herself into the sweet embrace of her bed.
Before she could answer she was interrupted by the calls that broke the silence of the night. 'Princess! Princess were are you! Princess!' Came the sound of the search party sent to locate her, various lights from their fires lit up the thick darkness of the night. She sighed in relief missed with regret.
'You can put me down, thank you.' she spoke in a voice barely above a whisper. Ugh! What was wrong with her, whose voice was this gentle and silvery voice. She didn't even speak to her most respectable father in such a low manner, so where was this tiny, babyish voice coming from, she chastised herself.
He placed her on the ground, she limped a little as she steadied herself. 'Over here.' She screamed at the direction the voices of the search party came from, the mystery man turned around and was about to leave. 'Wait, what do I call you?' She spoke softly, her head cowering like that of an ostrich.
He chuckled, oh gods, his smile did so many things to her, her already overworked heart sped up slightly, her stomach lurched and turned, she felt like her stomach now housed thousands of butterflies that flew and fluttered about. She honestly felt uncomfortable, coupled with the electricity that ran through her veins and made her feel weak, she was already a goner. Please stop, she begged inside, just stop, you might just give me a heart attack. '———-aga.' She was only able to catch his last words, the acrobatics going on within her once again made her miss his words. But before she could ask him for his name again, she was surrounded by her maids, guards and the villagers.
She was overwhelmed by the sheer crowd that gathered her, everybody was talking all at once, and the few word's she could barely make out from the cacophony of sounds were the usual, 'where were you' 'what happened' 'are you okay' she was so annoyed that if she had anymore energy she would scream, but it was a pity she didn't. So here she was enveloped by huge crowd that just couldn't keep quiet, barely standing upright on her only intact foot. Please someone come and rescue me, she begged inwardly.
And I guess the gods answered her prayers because her friend Oma finally interrupted the circus this was turning into. 'Enough! The Princess is tired and needs rest, what is important is that she's back, safe and sound.' She said loudly. 'Give the Princess space, she needs to go home and rest.'she said to the now quiet crowd, she motioned for the guards to help the Princess, the most burly one of the guards came forward and bent down on his knees waiting for the Princess to climb on his back, the maids noticing the injured foot of the Princess, helped her onto the ready back of the crouching guard.
Princess Emajiri sighed in relief, keeping it in mind to handsomely reward Oma when she had recovered, speaking of rewarding, she looked around, her eyes darted left and right trying to locate her savior, but he was nowhere to be found amidst the crowd that gathered, her face sank in disappointment, she didn't know if she would ever encounter him again, as she had never seen him in the village before, he might be from one of the neighboring villages, she concluded in disappointment, 'let's go.' She said, as her entourage headed to the village, she twisted around and gave the forest a final look. She wished to see him again, at least to thank him properly or to get to know him better, after all he could be her future husband, she thought to herself, her cheeks felt hot.
As the crowd moved forward, a mysterious shadow moved from behind a tree and watched the crowd move away, the moon came out from behind the clouds which hid it, it's light chased away the darkness to an extent and the shadow was revealed to be the mystery man the Princess so desperately wanted to see, he watched the crowd go away silently, his expression unreadable. After one last look at the fading figure of the carried Princess, he turned back and walked decisively into the dark and gloomy forest.
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The princess was quickly brought to the palace, the maids and guards rushed around like headless flies, trying to please the princess, for they knew the princess wasn't going to let them go easily when she recovers her bearing, they were at fault for not taking care of the princess and that was the truth, nobody would listen to their own side of the story or care that it was the princess who told them to leave her alone. And even if the princess did forgive them which was absolutely impossible, they still had the king to deal with.
'Where's my daughter.' The king's powerful voice boomed, walking so fast he was almost running, all the maids and guards of the princess's quarters immediately fell on their knees, their foreheads on the ground, pleading for their lives even before the king asked for it, 'I don't have time for this.' The king said, walking pass all the figures on the ground. He entered into Princess Emajiri's quarters, not even waiting to be announced, 'dear daughter, how are you feeling? Hope you are not in pain anywhere? don't worry your father's here now, I'll take care of everything. What are you still doing kneeling there! Go and call the native doctor, also bring something for the princess to eat.' His voice thundered, the servant's fled in different direction, rushing to execute the orders of the king, maybe that would calm him down somewhat, but that was highly doubtful.
Princess Emajiri almost shed tears of gratitude when she heard her father's words, those irresponsible senseless group of servants didn't have the sensibility to prepare food for her the moment she got home, she was so weak she couldn't even muster enough strength to reprimand the useless bunch of fools, but thank the gods for her father, he knew her heart well.
'Asanido mérigwé,' Oma the princess's friend bent her knees and her head in greeting to the king.
The king finally noticed that there was someone else in the room. 'Oma, late Ola's daughter, you are here, how is your mother doing.' The king asked perfunctorily, but even as he was indifferent to her answer, his eyes couldn't help but rake Oma's body up and down in appreciation.
Princess Emajiri's touched heart went cold in disappointment as she took note of the change in the atmosphere of the room, she snorted inwardly, not really surprised with what was playing out in front of her but she couldn't help but be disappointed.
'My mother is fine my king, she sends her greetings.' Oma said softly, like a shy girl in love.
The princess eyes went cold as she watched her so called friend flirt with her father like she was not there, this was why she kept her from her father, because she knew Oma's motives for befriending her was anything but pure, just like that promiscuous Amaka, but so what, she herself didn't really take Oma as her friend too to be honest, she was just a portable mouthpiece who could tell her the happenings around the village. Princess Emajiri coldly smiled, she let out a heart rending cough, but who knew what was meant to be a fake cough suddenly turned into fits of coughs, she must have caught a cold for real, she thought as she coughed her guts out.
'Doh, doh, sorry, it's ok, take it easy.' The king immediately came to her side, patting her back. ' what are all these servants doing! Where's the native doctor!!' He roared, the volume of his voice shook the very foundation of the princess's quarters.
'Your majesty, he's here.' A guard ran forward, pulling a disheveled traditional medicine doctor along. The princess felt feverish, and took in everything happening in a daze, she smiled faintly, that saying, when it rains it pours, couldn't be more fitting for her situation, she mused as closed her eyes tiredly. She just wanted to sleep now.