Chapter 4.

Despite all the trees that hid me from the thick cloud covering the sky, I could feel the tension in the air, the rumble of thunder as it began drizzling. My feet stung as I walked on the small pud of water. It was as if the rain had awakened the pain of the wounds from the war. I could feel the burning sensation in the sole of my feet, back, and arms. Those were the reminder of how hard I worked but still, it went in vain. These wounds would turn into scars, scars that would always remind me of this day.

My mind raced back to what mother would say about girls with wounds.

This was the walk of shame.

I left the battlefield with no victory, I left like a coward. I gave my back to my enemies. There was an uncomprehensive stillness that came with this mizzle that just intensified my guilt. I went back to the times where the air felt still and shocked me. I survived those times... Why did it feel like there was no way out of this?

I was walking away from my home... My Kingdom. With every step, it felt like the umbilical cord between my motherland and I was getting cut.

I was going to miss my people, my kingdom. This was not about me. It was about my Papa. I needed to give up something to get something even greater. May this god...

How could I pray to this god? The same god made our people go through a breakage. He had not saved us from our enemies. How could he be the only god? He couldn't love us equally. That was obvious. We were all his children, but not all of us could experience happiness at the same time.

I didn't want to believe in him... Or believe in his way. His ways were unfair.

It was then that I realized that I was no longer in the forest. I didn't know where I was but seeing the way the road curved its way forward. I just knew if there was no faith-

There was hope.

It was as if papa's voice was in my head. It felt like he was there by my side. My lips parted, it was as if visualizing my papa's smile was forcing my lips to curve into a smile. A smile reached my eyes and threatened to bring tears to my eyes.

A warrior didn't cry.

Maybe that's what it meant to be a woman. To learn to smile during your pain. Mother never missed a chance to point that out. She said every woman had a type of source of happiness that helped them through tough times. I guessed mine was my papa.

A camel carrying a passager came walking past me, I raised my hand to shout.

The camel was pulled to a stop, a woman pulled down her veil, she stared at me for a while before she smiled.

"Where are you going?" She replied.

"I'm traveling to the Adeleke Kingdom." Her deep dark eyes stared deep into mine before her lips curved into a smile.

"Make yourself at home." She said, pulling the rope attached to the camel's mouth to make it drop to its feet. I hopped in, still with my blanket on.

"I hope I'm not disturbing your journey," I spoke after a long while.

"No, not at all. I think your destination might as well be the end of my journey." She didn't look like the type to talk a lot and I was glad. I hated the girls of my age, they all spoke a lot about nonsense and never seemed to think before they spoke.

I didn't expect to see a settlement from here, but I was glad that we could come to a stop and get something to eat. I spent almost a day without food, and my stomach was already rumbling.

I could see from far that there was some type of celebration happening.

"They are celebrating over the victory." She spoke as if I knew what she was talking about.

"What celebration?" She looked back at me, her eyes holding some amusement in them.

"The Adeleke won the war." A knot formed in the pit of my stomach, and I no longer only felt hungry but angry.

"The Adeleke had won the war. Congrats where send from all over Africa. Saluting King Adeleke for winning the war. This is the start of the kingdom becoming the most powerful civilization in Africa." She continued as we neared the settlement. It was not a small settlement. A huge one. I saw sellers and buyers exchanging greetings with all loudness.

"Rumors had it that all the sons of the Imanu Kingdom died. No statements had been made by their king. He too must have been speechless."

Not all of them had died. I was sure that they found a way to escape, just like me.

How could I return with this news circulating? I couldn't, even if I wanted to.

"I'll take my leave." She stopped the camel and looked back at me again, always smiling.

"I could take you to the kingdom myself, but it's not far from here either. Are you sure?" I nodded at her words. She pulled the rope to the camel's mouth and it dropped to its feel slowly so that I could get off.

"What's your name?" I didn't know if I wanted her to know my name or not. Would it blow my cover?

"What's your name? Let me remember your name because you have done good to me."I said, throwing the question back to her.

"Ayoola." Her accent boomed out as she said her name.

"You from the Adeleke kingdom?" She nodded slightly. I knew then that I would remember and hate her name forever. She was from the Adekele kingdom.

I made sure to cover myself with enough blankets so that I could not attract anybody's attention. I walked during the busy market day, where buyers bought and sellers sold in the big market of the South. This was the place where nobody cared about which kingdom you were from. All they wanted was to make a profit. Here they sold gold. Though it was illegal as all the kingdoms forbade any clansmen to sell minerals from their kingdom but they had no problem buying from other kingdoms. It made them richer. Cues were short and everything happened in a rush, even the air was rushed in and out of lungs at the swiftness of this day.

"And young lady, where are we from?" A taunting voice questioned. I stopped on my track, slowly turning my head in the direction of the voice.

A tall man wrapped in a blanket like me spoke from within his blanket. I couldn't see anything except for his strong manly hand that held the blanket fixed around his neck.

"Hiding like me?" I heard the cheers in his voice.

"It isn't a secret if you go out blurting it to everybody," I said sharply.

"I know, spare me the lecture. What's your story?"

"A secret," I responded, clearly not interested in starting a conversation with him.

"It isn't a secret if I know that it is a secret." He chuckled. I rolled my eyes, unfortunately for me, he couldn't see that. I continued walking. I was trying to gather any information about the war that just ended. I wanted to know how the Adeleke was able to plot such a brilliant attack.

" I'll go first, I'm looking for someone... A spirit looking for vengeance. Sounds familiar?"

" Nope, " I said without sparing him a glance.

" Her father?" I froze.

" Did I scare you?" He walked in front of me. I took an unexpected turn, out of the sight of any human eyes. When he followed, I pressed him against the hard wall. His blanket fell off. When I realized that my hand was pressing against his bare, broad chest. I pulled my hand back.

"Why are you shy?" He questioned, dusting himself off. He was about six feet tall. His body was built and ripped. He had a nice brown dark skin. A clean stubble with long top dreadlocks tied into a ponytail that didn't pass his ears, and a clean short side cut. He put back his blanket on.

" You know who I am?" I asked while trying hard to not give away my discomfort.

" And you don't." He lowered his eyes to be looking straight into mine. His eyes looked like it was covered with a thin sheen of glass that reflected my reflection.

" In a very strange day without that bracelet, you would not see your reflection in my eyes." His voice was low and warning. Cold electric shivers traveled down my spine. His eyes traveled down my arm and stopped at my wrist, staring at my bracelet.

" Put gold and diamond to it, but leave my bracelet alone." I pulled my hand under the blanket. He pulled out a long blade made of strange black metal. The hilt of the sword had strange writing that lit up as he tightened his grip on the hilt. Not long after that, the writing on the hilt flowed onto his hand. There was bright white writing on his hand that lit up.

I kicked him in his abdomen and began my run. I didn't run out of fear... I ran because I came face to face with the reality of who I was.

I didn't know this place so well but my speed would give me an advantage over him if he knew the way through this place. As I continued on my run, somebody pulled me out of my focus, slamming me against the wall. I gained balance quickly, as I turned back something cut through me literally... I looked down and it was that black sword. I looked up and he was smiling at me. The blade that I had cut through me didn't hurt me... There was no pain in the way it was forced deep into my flesh. He pulled the sword out, all the energy in the tiny cells of my body left with the blade. Again there was no pain but fatigue. The fatigue pitched me into darkness.