Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Madeyo was breathing fast as he entered his hut. He had been so disturbed, but took a deep sigh when he saw Eniola sitting on a mat, picking beans. He ran all the way, to come and give her the news. Madeyo was also scared because he couldn’t dispel the thought that his niece, Eniola could have been captured by the king’s soldiers.

The king had decreed that all the young ladies between 18 and 22 years old be brought to his palace. He was going to choose his queen tonight.

As soon as Madeyo heard this news, he ran straight home to be sure his niece was safe, worried that some overzealous soldier must have captured her. Whenever such a decree was made, wicked people used the opportunity to fulfil their evil desires without any consequences, taking advantage of the mayhem.

Eniola allayed his fears. She was such an obedient girl and it pleased him so much to have her. She had stayed indoor just as he instructed her to do whenever there was an uproar in the city.

“Uncle Madeyo, what happened?” she asked curiously as soon as he entered.

“The king has gone mad.”

“Mad?” Eniola asked, shocked. How could he be mad at the verge of his marriage?

Madeyo saw that she had misunderstood him and laughed, despite the grimness of the matter in his heart.

“The king needs another woman to be his queen, and he is ready to take on just anyone, so all the young girls in your age range in the village must parade before him.”

“Haa! That is sad o. Don’t worry, I will hide, they won’t capture me.”

Madeyo smiled sadly, she was such a precious girl and it pained him to do this to her.

“I wish I could hide you. I wish I could sneak you out of this town to a very safe place without all these useless decrees…”

“But…” Eniola cut him, impatient, and wanting him to go straight to the point.

“We can’t hide this time; you will have to join the women.” Madeyo said.

“Are you joking, uncle?” Eniola couldn’t believe him. This was definitely the kind of statement she never expected her uncle to utter.

“I would never joke with something that involves your life. I have been praying that God shows us His purpose for your life, and maybe hiding you is not helping with getting the answers.”

“Putting me before the king wouldn’t help me fulfil anything either!” Eniola said, but before Madeyo could comment on that, she added, “However, I will enjoy the excursion.”

“It is not an excursion. If I take you there, you have to take it seriously.”

“No matter how much I take it seriously, I can never be selected, which is okay, because I don’t want to be the wife of a pagan king. We will go back to the land of my parents, that is what we pray about day and night and it must happen. Let’s not compromise.”

“We can be God’s children anywhere in the world He puts us. We don’t get to choose what the circumstances of our lives will be and what life hands us. However, we must be conscious of being representatives of Christ, fully showcasing the fruit of the Spirit and drawing men closer to God wherever we are.”

“How does my parade in front of this king draw anyone closer to God, when we all know he can never choose me; not that I want to be chosen anyway.”

Madeyo smiled.

He didn’t like the idea either when it dropped on his heart, but at this point, the best way to keep Eniola safe was by obeying the decree. He feared to think about what would happen to her if they found her hiding.

“My friend Abena is in charge of getting all the girls ready to parade before the king. I will take you to her, and hopefully something good will come out of all these.”

Eniola sighed, wondering what good could come out of this unfortunate arrangement.

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Azari wanted to hide, to get away from all the noise around him. The chiefs had sent out his decree and in less than an hour, hundreds of girls were in the palace compound, waiting their turn to be selected as one of the fifty girls that Abena would select to parade before him tonight.

He was weary, just thinking about how those girls, interested or not, would be forced to smile up at him and dance before everyone; and he had to pretend that this whole charade was interesting and he did not mind it at all.

The chiefs were right, picking the woman for him was never going to happen, no matter how much time he had. He might as well just pick the one that was currently available, and attractive enough to make heads turn.

“My king, you look worried, why?” his guard, Abe who was dressing him up for the event said boldly, voicing his observation. Naturally, a person of his position dared not inquire of such from the king, but they were friends and Abe had served him since he was a boy, and prince be damned, a lot of joy he felt as a boy came from the things Abe and he sneaked off to do.

“I am not worried. I am sad. They are two different things.”

“Don’t worry, my king. You will find another beautiful woman.”

“I don’t care about beautiful women.” Azari bellowed, then his voice broke, and Abe rushed to go and shut the door to the king’s chambers, to ensure that no one would hear the king’s outburst. There were those who already thought he was not mature enough for his position and things like that could be exaggerated to prove them right.

“If only I could speak to my mother, and glean from her wisdom. Can we arrange it?”

Abe knew what the king implied, but couldn’t allow him to do that.

“My king, your mother still has one month in mourning before she can be allowed to speak to you. A king should not be caught sneaking to see his mother, besides, it’s a taboo. The gods will curse your reign if you associate with a woman who is seeing her husband off to the land of the dead.”

Azari rolled his eyes.

“The gods are unrealistic and excessively demanding.”

“Haa!” Abe exclaimed.

“What?” Azari responded to him with equal fervour.

“My king, I know it hasn’t been easy on you these past months, but brave kings are not born, they are made by how well they respond to crisis, and pressure.” Abe said as he placed the crown on Azari’s head.

“Then I guess I am not going to be a great king.”

“Please don’t say this!”

“Abe, I am restless. I need peace. I need clarity. I need…”

Abe didn’t let him finish.

“You need a beautiful wife, my king, and when you finally have one, she will give you comfort. Focus on that for now.”

Azari looked at him, unsmiling, irritated that he was trivialising his pain.

“You forget who you are, Abe! How dare you tell me what I need? How do you know?”

Abe fell on his face.

“I am sorry, my king. I forget easily, that though you are my friend, you are also my ruler. Forgive me.”

“I have no friends, just too many people across towns who want too much from me, and I am getting very tired of it all.”

“I am sorry, my king” Abe said again, and swiftly proceeded to strap Azari’s sandals on his feet.

Azari felt guilty, knowing that he had hurt the only loyal man to him in the palace, but an apology was too heavy to voice, and other things clouded his mind.

“I don’t want a beautiful woman. I…” Azari sucked his teeth and drew a deep sigh, saying no more, while Abe remained as quiet as a cockroach, making no sound but his presence as he paced the room. Waiting for the king to come with him to the palace where the guests waited, was loud enough to keep Azari infuriated.

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“I never knew we had so many beautiful women in this town. I am shocked.” Abe said as he joined Abena and her team in the palace compound.”

“I only see desperate women who want to change their position in life overnight.” Abena said as she distributed beads and wrappers to the ladies on the queue, every lady waiting her turn to be given the uniform that qualified her to stand before the king.

Abe laughed, watching the ladies as they almost fell over each other, desperate to collect the prettiest item that Abena shared.

“You are just jealous, Abena. If it were possible, and you were not sold to be the queen mother’s maid for life, wouldn’t you give anything to be the wife of a king?” Abe said and Abena rolled her eyes.

“We have worked together in this palace for over twenty years, but you still don’t know me.”

Abe’s laughter sizzled into a smile.

“Of course, I know you. You have eyes for only one man.”

Abena paused her duty, and looked him over, her eyes showing regret.

“If that man was not the king’s eunuch, maybe I could have considered being his wife.”

Abe’s smile froze. It was the closest to a confession he got from Abena about her feelings for him.

“I better leave now.” Abe said and turned, but Abena held him by the shoulder and moved closer to him to whisper.

“It may be impossible for us, but maybe it can be possible for the king to find a woman that will be good for him.”

“There are a lot of ‘maybes’ in your speech.” Abe declared, brows raised.

“Because nothing is decided, except it is the will of the gods.”

“Do you have a girl?” Abe asked.

“She seems different from all the other ladies here. Madeyo brought her some minutes ago, and I find that although she is a Yoruba-Christian captive, she seems civilised, polished, and at peace with herself.”

Abe frowned.

“And you know all these in just a few minutes?”

Abena pointed to a place under the tree.

“Just look at her yourself; that quiet dignity is special.”

“Hmmm” Abe mused. “The king definitely needs a special woman, but Vabifat had been special, a woman of class, grace, elegance, and beauty. We really shouldn’t judge by appearance.”

Abena scoffed and continued distributing the items to the already impatient ladies.

“Judging is up to the king, but I want him to have too good options to pick from. When the girls arrive at the palace hall, position her to stand in a place where the king will see her easily, and it will be up to him to decide if she will be his queen.”

Abe nodded in understanding, glanced at Eniola one more time to register her face, then walked away.

Wow! What a chapter! Did you enjoy reading this? Tell us your expectations in the comments as you move into chapter 3.