Queen of queens episode 29 – 30

Queen of Queens

Episode 29

She knew her betrayer was working with someone more intelligent and one with a higher purpose.

She remembered the words of the prince about the Nkuku cultists; they were hired by noblemen to kill other noblemen.

She could think of no other person than Afiama’s father; surely he had to be aware of his promiscuous daughter’s activities.

‘Excuse me’? The man scoffed and moved closer to his hut.

‘You vile old man, you serpent in green grass; show me your true self and I will spare your life’ the princess was enraged by his hypocrisy.

‘Have you lost your mind princess? I am still the King’s adviser and you have no right to talk to me like that’ he waved a finger at her.

‘King’s adviser or King’s betrayer’? Obot laughed as she advanced towards him.

Anger welled in him as he watched her mocking eyes; his fears stared at him in the face as he realized that Afiama must have been caught in the process of trying to sed-ce the king.

‘Confess’ she hissed sharply and snapped her fingers.

‘I have nothing to confess and you would pay for this insolence’ he yelled angrily as five palace guards showed up from nowhere and bundled him away.

‘Set this house ablaze’ she said to her guards.

‘No! You cannot burn down my home, you evil child’ he scre-med as the men bundled him away.

‘You and your evil daughter shall burn the same way’ Obot yelled back.

As the flames consumed the hut, she traveled back in time and recalled her encounter with the men at the edge of the forest; surely Afiama had planted them to attack her.

She felt guilty for plotting against Mmaffiong and hoped the girl wasn’t dead for her shameful wanting.

How could she have ever thought of leaving a man like Iboro? Afiama must have sed-ced the prince just like she had sed-ced her father. She was willing to forgive Iboro and take him back as Afiama’s ploy was to separate them.

However, her plans had crumbled just like the fire had crumbled her hut.

‘You failed’ the princess muttered to herself and returned to the palace with her men.

The golden sun had shown her lovely face and had brought light to the wh0le earth.

Her tears had now dried up; she had finally accepted the will of the gods for Prince Udo but she still prayed in her heart that their will should favor Ono. She couldn’t deny that she felt something whenever he stared into the eyes of the prince, but now he was gone, she knew and believed in the man the gods had chosen for her.

She car-ssed his pale face and wondered when his eyes would flutter, when they would open eagerly to behold her face.

‘Please wake up Ono…I love you so much’ she whispered weakly.

Emana had left her some herbs which she was to apply to his stomach wound, the place where the cultists were spared; she couldn’t wait to see the faces of the men that had attacked and killed her sister; finally, they had been destroyed.

They had almost taken away her Ono and had to pay for their cruelty.

His breathing was slow and steady; there was still life in,side of his bones but that had not given her any reassurance. She wanted him to be alive and full of strength, just like the man she had known.

Did she think about his father and his younger brother briefly? And then she wondered for the first time since she found him wounded, what had he been doing at the edge of the forest?

‘Mmaffiong’ someone called her name.

She was frightened at first as she stared at the sleeping Ono, who could it be?

‘Do not be afraid’ Emana returned to the tent where he had left her.

‘I thought…’ she paused as she noticed the prince behind him.

‘I couldn’t leave the princess high and dry, there are some things that I must settle’ Prince Iboro drew a deep breath and stared at the wounded man, his face was quite familiar.

‘Wasn’t this the man that saved the life of the princess’? He wondered.

‘Yes, my prince. He did save her life and his reward was my freedom when I was wrongly accused’ Mma quickly rose to her feet and bowed before the regal.

‘The Princess mentioned this, how come he fell by the hands of the cruel men’? The Prince rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

‘I ask myself the same thing’ Mma replied.

‘I must leave for the palace now, I must gather all the bodies of the cultists and take them to the king; their families deserve to know their true identity’ the prince said.

Mma was curious, even though the cultists had been brought to book, how about those that hired them? How about those that had been sent to kill her sister.

It was as if the prince saw the questions that ran through her head.

‘Bring the prisoner forward’ Iboro snapped his fingers and one of the cultists Udo had caught was pushed forward.

Mma felt surprised to see the man as Udo had given Emana a command for him to be killed.

‘He said he would talk if we would spare his life and defeat his brothers’ Emana said.

‘Please do not kill me, I would tell you everything and whom we were working for’ his l-ips trembled. His face was bruised; his ribs were gnawed by the markings of the wh¡p.

Mma’s kind heart went out towards him but she quickly reminded herself of how evil he was, just like his brothers that had killed Eka and Udo; and had wounded Ono deeply.

‘We have to go to the palace at once’ the prince announced and hurried away with Emana. After they had exposed those behind the dreadful cult attacks, they were to return to Obodom to break the sad news of a dead prince.

‘It’s just you and me now…’ Mma sighed and glanced at his body.

She suddenly felt very thirsty and decided to step out and search the other tents; in case they had water there else she would have no other choice but to go down the river.

She knelt close to Ono and dropped a soft k-ss on his forehead before moving out of the tent.

Luckily for her, she found a keg in one of the tents; she quickly drew out the ruffled palm leaves that covered the keg and drowned her mouth with the content.

‘Pwah’ she spat out as she realized she had gulped in fermented palm wine but she had swallowed a great deal of the liquid.

She suddenly felt drowsy and was amazed by the power of the wine; she dropped the keg and quickly rushed back to where Ono lay; she couldn’t leave him alone.

Her brain swirled; her legs wobbled as she reached the hut. Fear gripped her as her eyes went over to the place where he was supposed to be but he wasn’t there.

‘Where are you’? She crawled towards the place she lay, but the stale palm wine that now settled in her belly slapped her cheeks and propelled her into a deep sleep.

Episode 30

‘Where are you’? She crawled towards the place she lay, but the stale palm wine that now settled in her belly slapped her cheeks and propelled her into a deep sleep.

As the Princess neared the palace with her men, she found her servants and some of the people that had gathered wailing.

‘What could this mean’? She increased her steps and moved closer, her eyes met directly with the man she loved, but this time, she felt him pull back and it hurt her.

She almost rushed to ask him why he pulled his gaze away from her but she kept herself in check as the king strolled out of his throne house to address the people.

‘Thank the gods that my daughter is here, please, prince, tell her what you just told me’ the king’s voice was sad.

‘My princess…’ he stared directly into her face.

‘I lost my brother in battle to the men that had attacked you, we found them and we destroyed them, just like I had promised you’ he said to her.

‘Udo is dead’? She was shaken, she now understood why he had looked so sad.

‘The gods understand why’ the prince tried to stay strong.

‘Bring the prisoner Emana, let him confess’ the prince called to his guard.

The princess stared at a malnourished young man who was bound by ropes and dropped before the King and the people.

Just then, her guards brought the king’s adviser closer to her and whispered: ‘What should we do to him’?

‘Take him to where that prisoner is, let the people see him for who he truly is and fetch his daughter from the dungeon, let her see shame’ the princess replied.

‘Speak’! The prince ordered the boy.

“I…belonged to the secret cult, Nkuku cult and we were usually hired by highly placed men in the land to assassinate or rape other nobles” tears streamed down his hungry face.

The king stared across to his daughter in shock, not really because of the words of the prisoner, but because of what had happened the night before. His eyes found his adviser next to the prisoner and he wondered what his daughter was up to. But he couldn’t dare to ask else she would expose him.

The people booed as they listened to the confession.

“Abasi akan! May the gods judge you as they please” some women scre-med, visibly shaken by the cultist’s revelation.

“It was we who attacked the princess…” he paused as the crowd shouted and cursed.

‘Silence’! The King called the people to order.

“We were hired by Afiama and her father…’ he paused and looked at the man who was placed close to him.

This did it, the king could not bear it anymore; Obot had been right to call Afiama, a traitor.

‘Nkwo, why would you do such a wicked thing to me’? The King rose to his feet.

‘My husband, be patient, let us listen to all he has to say’ the Queen rose to pacify him, her magic worked as he returned to his throne.

“But a man jumped out of nowhere and saved the princess. Afiama had hired us to do another dirty job; she asked us to kill Mmaffiong for whatever reasons known to her but we ended up killing a wrong person. We killed her sister instead” he paused as a woman broke down into sobs on hearing this.

The woman was Nkoyo; she sobbed mainly because Ekpo had deceived her. What reason did he have to lie?

“Afiama’s plan was to kill the princess and to lure the prince to herself. That is all I have to say”.

The words cut deep through the prince; he found it very difficult to believe that someone as harmless looking as Afiama could be this callous.

He was greatly ashamed for his actions of sleeping with her.

‘You were such a wise prince’ he muttered to himself as he remembered his younger brother who had always warned him to end things with Afiama.

Shame covered the princess as she realized she wasn’t the only guilty one; though the prince had cheated on Afiama physically; she had also cheated on him mentally as she had grown lustful desires that had no root or bearing for Onoitem.

She felt peace now she had killed the feelings; she felt peace now everything was over but she still needed her vengeance against her wicked friend.

‘I have listened closely to the young man…what do you have to say, Chief Nkwo and Afiama’? The king’s eyes found Afiama as the guards fetched her from the dungeon.

‘You lured me into all these because you wanted power’ Afiama spat against her father.

‘How dare you? You little wh-re; you were the one that always wanted everything the princess had. What was I supposed to do’? He yelled angrily at her.

He was a cursed man. He couldn’t wait to die as the shame was too much for him to bear.

‘I see, you two have owned up to your guilt. Slit their throats’ the king ordered.

Afiama’s brown eyes grew wide as fear filled her; she stared at the princess and then, the prince.

Her eyes were pleading; crying; begging for mercy but her heart reminded her that she had not shown the princess mercy and deserved whatever punishment there was for her.

‘May my soul find rest’ her father muttered as they dragged him up.

‘You mock yourself, we are both doomed’ she mocked her father for the last time before their faces were covered in a sack cloth. Even the prisoner who had confessed was not spared amidst his pleading.

‘You have done well, Prince Iboro, I do not know how to thank you for this great thing’ the King was happy and sad at the same time. He was drinking from the calabash of sweetness and bitterness.

‘I have not finished my work here, I brought the bodies of the men that attacked my brother; the members of the Nkuku cult group’ he replied.

She felt proud as she stared at him; what kind of man would go through this trouble just to find those that attacked her?

At that same instance, his thoughts focused on her. He had fulfilled his promise of finding her attackers, now he had to confess his affair with Afiama; he loved her and she deserved the truth.

His eyes bumped into theirs; desire was ignited, a fire burned. They were in love once again and it felt perfect just standing there and looking into each other’s eyes.

A shrill cry that pierced the air unsettled their special moment.

‘No, my son cannot be a cultist. Ekpo has killed me. I have lost everything’ Nkoyo rolled on the floor and wept bitterly.

‘Mma…’ his hands gently car-ssed her angelic face as he watched her sleep.

The wound had not been so deep yet he had bled so profusely from it; his blood had clot now and he felt stronger than before; life and light had returned to his bones.

The only face he saw in the place of darkness where he had found himself was her face; the only name his l-ips could manage was her name.

He felt terribly stupid for the way he had treated her; for the names, he had called her. Jealousy was madness, now he had sanity.

He remembered everything now, everything as it had been the night before.

He had been wounded by the cultists and the prince had come with the company of his warriors and Mma, they had rescued him from the chords of death.

‘I am so sorry…’ tears fell down from his eyes.

He had hurt her deeply; he had bruised her with his words and torn her soul apart by his rejection.

The power of the drink was slowly fading from her eyes as she heard someone call her name. Her eyelashes fluttered and found his face. She thought she had been dreaming at first but then his l-ips moved and she heard her name again.

To be continued….