Are You Really Ose?

"What! Do you mean she's queen Idia's personal maid?" The commander—startled, asked the guard, who spoke earlier.

He wasn't sure he heard him correctly.

Meanwhile, Ose, the fair maiden, picked up the pace, and started briskly, towards the exit of the jungle.

When she heard what that guard had said, She acted as if she did not hear his command.

"Lady wait!" The Commander ordered. His voice was loud and booming.

When she heard his command, she realized that her plan of escape wasn't feasible anymore. So she decided to wait and dialogue.

"I thought you said I could take my leave before. Tell me, why do you ask me to wait now?" She asked firmly, she had been apprehensive before when she tried to escape. However, she knew that if she was going to get out of the mess she needed to act confident.

"My soldier here, just now, told me that you work for queen Idia. Is that true?" The commander was very direct. His manner was cold and unforgiving in a way that inspired fear in people.

"Yes, it is true, I serve queen Idia. Do you have a problem with that?" Anxiously, she replied.

Although she wanted to be brave, however, the Commander's personality, was just too frightening and domineering.

"No! not really. I only, just find it too awfully coincidental, and odd that the first prince, Ogidigbo, became unconscious while he was with you. A personal maiden to queen Idia." The Commander made sure to add emphasis, to his last statement by stressing each word, to drive home his point.

"We all know, that things are not smooth between queen Idia and queen Esagho. Tell me the truth, what game are you up to?"

The commander was not taking any chances at all he knew very well the fate that will be met on him and his group if anything bad happened to the prince.

He continued his interlocution with the fair maiden.

As they talked for a while, the fair maiden would occasionally touch, his built arm and chest.

Later, Ose was allowed to take her to leave, after she and the Commander withdrew to a nearby privy bush, Thenceforth gentle cries and moans were heard.

She was not only a glib talker, but she also had other means, to convince the Commander of her 'Innocent intentions'.

Now, however, the only person that could bring her problems was the knocked–out young prince.

However, the news soon spread, like wildfire in the kingdom. That another misfortune had befallen the first prince Ogidigbo and became a hot topic.

"Nosa! Did you hear what happened to the first prince, Ogidigbo?"

"Yes Lydia, I heard that he got stuck in a forest and fainted. Such a shameful boy.

I honestly believe he's not qualified to be a fist prince at all. I'm sure, if it were his brother, the second first prince, he would have been able to hunt some wild animals there, rather than faint.

Ogidigbo doesn't deserve to contend with Osawe for the position of the heir apparent."

"Haha, I'm happy that you're keeping up with all the happenings in our kingdom.

However, what you didn't know, Is that Ogidigbo didn't get stuck in just any jungle, but the evil 'Forest Of Akshale'. where many evil and dangerous beings and beast dwell"

"Really! that's very impressive, How did he manage to survive then? We have lost even, many senior Commanders there."

The citizens gist and gossiped amongst themselves.

Moments later, the young prince Ogidigbo woke up.

Surprisingly, the young prince didn't censure the fair maiden, neither did he mention the incident of the white ash.

Some days later, another news spread, that queen Esagho, went to meet with queen Idia personally, to thank her for saving her son. Since it was her maid who saved the prince.

Soon, the palace became peaceful, since the two warring queens had made peace and sheathed-their-swords.

The king, however, soon noticed the unusual peace in the palace.

He had been aware of the conflicts amongst his wives all the while but decided not to intervene. Since it was just 'spousess rivalry'.

He believed competition between his two wives would ultimately lead to competition between his two, first prince. Which would undoubtedly make the job of choosing the heir apparent easier, for him.

Nevertheless, he was happy about the peace in the palace. He knew it wasn't easy to have peace, amongst his wife, mostly because from time immemorial, powerful kings have always had 'wife drama'.