Chapter 38
The next morning, All worriors, eight thousand in total met outside the King's chamber before the cock crow. We where to get our blessings and proceed to the northern battlefield. But since the King was sick, his Prince regent who was also going to battle with us spoke on his behalf. The Queen came and said some words of encouragement.
The royal oracle performed a ritual and chanted blessing.
" You have an Oracle going with you so am sure we will soon hear words of victory."
The Queen mother came and hugged me
" Stay safe she whispered" her words hollow and lucking sincerity."
" Don't worry, I'll Protect your son with my life."
" Glad you are intelligent enough to know better." she said smiling at me and patted my back a little too hard.
Whatever the Queen hoped I will do to protect her son came naturally to me.
She needed not ask.
Wina was among the Kele warriors because he was of course a Sekeletu worrior.
To my surprise, he was neither upset about me going to a war nor was he happy.
" I heard, no man can kill you. How did that come to be?"
" Well, I should thank Kuku I guess."
" Whether it's a good thing or not, I'll think about it and thank her if it really is. Is it painful when you heal others?"
" What they are feeling is what I take from them, so the pain is the same but if it's me inflicting the pain, the pain I feel is just for a really short time.
" I just want you to be happy and have a happy life, have some children maybe. Father wanted me to take care of you but I couldn't even do that. Am sorry Zae."
"No one knew how it would all end up but all I know Is that, you will get Seke palace back because it's your god given right as King Yanga's first born son."
Wina looked at me, a look I couldn't understand but would learn to associate with him.
It was guilt...A lot of it, covered in layers of betrayal, woven in a son's unfilial piety.
********
The crowd gathered along the road to wish us well. This was the first war some of us have heard of since the Sekeletu established, so people where excited because all they knew was the stories of victory against our enemies then.
Clad in animal skin, we had bowmen, spearmen and knifemen. Ready to fight for our Kingdom.
******
Only Prince Sepo, Wina, Chief warrior and Lonki had horses that he traded in with a western merchant for the palace, I rode with him while the rest walked. It took us five days to reach camp.
When we reached camp our men where already tired, there was no contact with the Kanjis who we could all see across the plain some distance from us. Hidden by the canopy of trees ...
It was clear that they too like us had created camp and had no intention of coming to us for the war that day.
"Why are they not attacking us when they are the ones who asked for this war?" Prince Sepo asked his chief worrior who happened to be Lonki's father Monde, Wina, Lonki, his two bodyguards Nawa and Aka. Let's see what happens tomorrow morning and then we will work from there.
We had supper of a nshima with dried buffalo. Although we were all tired, no one dared to sleep.
" I was helping the men to gather the dirty plates when Nawa came to tell me Prince regent had asked for me.
He was still talking and going through the strategies, they had come up with.
When he saw me, he stopped taking and excused himself.
He took me to one of the tented huts, the men had made for the royal family. They had used reed mats and black linens for the huts making the insides more darker than the outside. The out side was well lit with tapers. A worrior brought an oil lamp and gave it to Prince Sepo.I went inside the hut and he followed me after covering the entrance.
" Did you come here to laugh and pick after the men?"
" What are you saying, I can't help out?"
" That's not why you are here?"
" But I don't see anything wrong with helping out the men."
" Act like the Princess you are, not like some cheap prostitute, is the freedom I give you too much? act like a normal wife will you?..." there was disgust in his voice.
" I looked at him, are you bewitched? because no, I can't act like a normal wife, because am not normal to begin with...I think that's what you keep forgetting."
The joy of being with him at that moment changed to bitter gall.
His jealousy was unfounded.
" If you are done, you can sleep here, I don't want to see you out there laughing with those worriors." he said walking out. I reached out to grab his arm, but he avoided my hand like a plague, turned and left the hut.
Jealousy is a woman's enemy, they say...This man had jealousy for three woman, he was burning with it.
Being my husband, I had to be submissive and do what he wanted. I waited for him but he never came and I was later caught by the sleep, I so tried to eluded forgetting the dangers lerking on the other side of the plain.
When I woke up at dawn, Prince Sepo was beside me. The inside of the hut was dark but his presence very visible.
He couldn't help not being angry with me, however begrudgingly, for my attempt to lovingly hug him.
"Any movement from the other side." I asked groggily.
"Our spies will bring us news from there.They went yesterday shortly after our arrival."
" You are a genius." I sought his eyes in the dark hut, an amused look crossed his beautiful face.
" You are a good observer." He grinned.
" Prince regent." A voice came from outside filled with panic.
He jerked from the temporary bed in the hut.
" What is it?"he said on his way out.
" My Prince, the two messengers we had sent the day before you arrived, are back..." he paused.
" We don't know when it happened but they turned up dead at the river banks."
They where stabbed and have burnt marks on their hands and feets." I think, they were tortured for information and killed afterwards."
Anger began to seethe within Prince Sepo, It began to boil when he saw the men covering two corpses with a white Linen.
" Who in the world kills a messenger." blood rushing to his face.
His fists clenched.
