by Owen Oakley
Haji laughed at Kofi. “But you awen’t a king.”
Kofi kicked his chair back and grabbed Haji’s face.
“When I know longa’ need yoa people, I will kill ev’yone.”
His words had no effect on Haji. Kofi left him in the cells with Haji’s laughter in his ears. The only thing on Kofi’s mind was to end Adanya, and everything would fall perfectly into place.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Taj and her troops were in Yico it by dawn. They could see to the other side of the field. The women of Waewood made her a signature suit that gave her style, comfort, and durability.
Her crown glistened in the rising sun. Salim’s black horse stood beside hers along with Oluchi on the other side, with her men behind them; they waited.
As usual, Kofi made no effort to be on time. Taj wasn’t worried about a surprise attack because it went against the rules of war.
Just as Taj leaned over to speak to Salim, Lark’s trumpet sounded out. An idea that Taj created when they marched into battle. It was an intimidation technique. Show up late, blow an eerie sound to sike their enemies out.
Kofi led the way, their flag waved high in the air as it blew from side to side.
Taj, Salim, and Oluchi kept Taj in the middle of them as they moved forward to meet Kofi. She carried a sack in front of her.
Salim shot her a comforting smile, but he realized that she didn’t look nervous. In fact, she was calmer than anyone there; Salim swore he even saw a tiny smile.
The closer they got to one another the more intense the situation grew. Everyone shot killer stares at each other.
When they reached the middle of the field, Taj held a sack out to Kofi.
“Since I am the Queen that I am, I bwought you a pwesent. Consida’ it a good luck chawm, a keepsake, o’ a late wedding gift. I’ll let you choose.”
“What could you possibly ave that I would want?” Kofi asked.
Kofi knew his sister far too well, her gift only made him even more suspicious.
Taj saw that Kofi wasn’t going to play her game. She shrugged and very casually reached into the sack and held up Kofi’s gift.
The Lark men’s horses reared back on their hind legs. Everyone around her was mortified. The smell was unimaginable.
King Omari’s decayed head started at them. Panic rolled off of Kofi. Taj tipped the scales. Salim and the rest of her men trusted she had a plan, but they weren’t prepared for something out of a horror story.
“You bitch!” Kofi yelled.
Salim scowled at him, ready if he made a move.
Oluchi held his fist in the air. The sound of Waewood and Iyego’s shields sounded when they brought them into position.
Taj balanced herself and stood on the back of her horse. She held the head higher for all to see.
“Plipoolians! Wha’ is yoa loyalty?” Her voice was loud and clear.
The Plipoolians response echoed loud throughout the field as they shouted: “Taj! Taj! Taj!”
Taj thought that it would take a great deal to persuade the Plipoolians to keep Kofi in the dark and held him with the thought that they were his allies.
Ashanti had done them a service; his people were better that he was no longer their ruler.
King Omari was a feared king. Respect opposed to fear will always grant loyalty.
Taj fell back down perfectly on her horse. Salim was captivated by the way she carried herself. He saw that her reputation as a warrior was well deserved.
Kofi had a moment of disbelief, and he refused to surrender that easily.
“I will not give them to you!” Kofi said.
Taj gave him a sure look.
“If it makes you feel betta, they can remain behind you, but I would reconsida’ that option.”
Kofi sat quietly to reevaluate things. A figure in the distance caught his eye. They followed his gaze. There were two men on a horse. As the two men approached the odds tilted more in Taj’s favor.
A smirk went across Taj’s face. Bayo stopped short of everyone. King Haji dismounted from the horse and walked towards them.
“King Haji it’s good to see you again. Appy to see you unhawmed,” Taj said with a bow of her head. Haj returned a nod.
“Same to you Queen Adanya.” His voice was weak and hoarse. Bayo saw that Haji struggled with his words and knew he couldn’t project his voice.
“Chanta! You’we king is not dead!” Bayo yelled at them, his voice like thunder.
The soldiers bellowed in cheers, battle cries, and praises on both sides.
They were confident that Haji was dead. Perhaps another mistake on Kofi’s part.
“Retweat now and I will not kill you fo’ yoa tweachewy and the murdas of oa’ people. Pwison is betta than death, and you’ll see yoa child grow up.” Taj said with a reasoning tone.
He was down to a few Lark soldiers. If he continued down the path of war, Taj knew it would result in death, and it wasn’t worth it. It was a loss for him.
“Do it!” He yelled to the two soldiers.
The Lark soldier threw a dagger at Taj that she easily dodged but she wasn’t fast enough for the second one that was thrown.
The dagger caught the tip of her lung. She was thrown off her horse. Salim rushed to her side.
Before Kofi and the two soldiers retreated, Bayo threw a razor disc that cut through their horses’ throats. They fell instantly. The two Lark soldiers were immobilized by their horses’ bodies.
Kofi was smart enough to jump off before his horse landed on him. Bayo leaped off his horse and onto Kofi’s back. He pinned him to the ground.
Taj’s lung had begun to collapse, once Salim removed the dagger. Oluchi applied pressure to her wound.
“Stay with me!” Salim said to her.
She faded in and out of the void. Flashbacks filled her mind. Imani smiled at her as she held Muto and Nailah’s hand. Taj smiled at them, despite her shallow breaths.
Salim scanned the area for something to act as a stitch. Taj’s phoenix broach sparkled in the sunlight. He carefully removed the pin and attached it to her wound.
“Tha. That should hold it,” Salim said.
“She still won’t be able to bweathe,” Oluchi said to Salim.
He didn’t know what to do until Taj reached for the dagger on the ground. Her movements were slow, and she was unable to speak.
“Show me what I need to do,” Salim pleaded.
He panicked, he shouldn’t have removed the dagger.
She gave him the dagger and pointed it to the center of her chest. Oluchi understood faster than Salim.
“Old on,” Oluchi said.
He went through his bag and took out a pen. Oluchi took apart the pen and bit off the clear visible section above the ink in the tube.
“We ave to make an incision and put the tube in to open ha’ lung.”
Salim’s eyes widened, and uncertainty crossed his mind.
“Do you know what you’we doing?”
“No, but we know what’ll appen if we do nothing.”
Kofi tried to push himself up to see, but Bayo kicked him back down.
“My queen this will a’t, but it’ll make you feel betta.”
Oluchi put the tip of the dagger in the center of her chest and pressed it in hard and deep enough for the tube. Her lungs immediately released the trapped air and blood between them.
Taj sat straight up with a deep and loud gasp. She didn’t thank him but rather clasped Oluchi’ s shoulder and gave him a faint smile.
“Anything fo’ you, my queen,” he said.
“Wha is he?” She asked in a frenzy. She looked around eyes wild in search for him.
“A’!” Bayo answered.
Salim helped her up. She walked over to Bayo with his foot on top of Kofi.
“Retweat,” she said.
“Neva’!” Taj removed her Katana and pointed it under his chin.
“Retweat!”
“I said Neva’!”
If no
one retreated, they would have to fight. Sure, she could just kill him and called it done, but she didn’t want his blood on her hands in that manner.
Determined not to risk innocent lives she kicked his sword over to him.
Bayo released him from his foot.
“Get up Kofi!” Taj commanded.
Salim didn’t want her to fight, she saw it on his face. She had no other choice, he accepted; he figured with her already injured it was an easy win. It was a risk she had to take, and no one could intervene, it was a fight to the death.
Taj was able to breathe, but she was extremely weak. The other men gave them space. They made a circle around the two.
Kofi swung; first, Taj barely blocked it. He didn’t let up; each blow was more laborious and quicker than the last. She had to fight smart, strength wasn’t on her side.
Taj spun around and swung her sword at his leg and made a gash in his thigh. He screamed in pain while he tried to protect his leg. Taj was on her next maneuver that drew blood from his mouth.
Salim barely watched, his heart pounded out of his chest. He knew she was too weak and he had no power to stop it. Kofi kicked her in the stomach and back-handed her. She went for her signature pivot, but Kofi anticipated it.
He moved in the opposite direction and charged into her. When he pulled back, he had removed the tube from her chest that helped her breathe.
Bayo and Oluchi had to restrain Salim; he tried to break free, but Haji helped them keep him back.
“Ave faith, she as to do it on ha’ own,” Bayo reminded him.
Taj crumpled to the ground as she gasped for air. Kofi took his time. Her breaths had become increasingly shallow. Just as she was about to pass out, she heard the familiar voice of her father.
“Even queens suffa’, die soona’ than expected. Unless God gwants them the stwength, to su’vive.”
She removed her ankle dagger and jammed it into her chest. Everyone looked on in disbelief.
She, a queen would rather suffer than let her men fight and die when it wasn’t necessary. Her status quo had reached new heights among the men.
She got to her feet with both Katanas in both hands, ready for him.
“If you can stand, you can fight!” Bayo yelled to her.
Kofi tried to blindside her, but she ducked on his swing and drove her blade into his gut and the other into his neck. Blood ran down on the ground.
Taj stared him in his eyes while she grabbed her swords. She eviscerated him when she removed the blade from his gut. He dropped to his knees.
“Fo’, my people!”
She let out the loudest battle cry before she severed his head from his body, in one swift motion. She staggered and lost her balance. Salim caught her before she fell. The void took her.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
When Taj opened her eyes, she was back in her room. Salim, Ashanti, and Bayo were asleep in chairs next to the bed. Salim held her hand in his. They looked exhausted.
Her chest ached when she moved. She winced in pain and couldn’t remember a lot; only bits and pieces of what happened. She wondered how long she was asleep. The battle felt like it just happened, but something told her it was much later.
Another sharp pain through her chest caused her to let out a whimper. Everyone eyes flew open. They rushed onto the bed.
“Baby ow awe you feeling?”
“I’m ti’ed and in pain,” she told him.
Taj looked around at their worried expression, it must have been bad.
“Ow long ave I been out? A couple of oa’s?” The three exchanged looks; unsure of how to answer.
Salim got closer to her on the bed and put his arm around her.
“Two weeks.”
Taj tried to sit up despite the pain; Salim gently leaned her back.
“Two weeks?” She asked incredulously.
“Baby, it was bad. The eala’s ad given up on you,” Salim said with a solemn expression.
“You did mo’ damage when you stabbed the dagga’ into yoa chest. You ad one collapsed lung and you puncta’d the otha,” Bayo explained.
She couldn’t believe she was awake after those injuries.
“Ow is ev’yone? Lark? Chanta? Plipool?” She asked.
“Ev’yone is fine thanks to you,” Ashanti said with a smile.
“I ave so much to do and so’t out,” Taj said.
“The only thing you ave to do now is west. Ev’ything else can wait,” Salim said.
She didn’t argue with her future husband. She laid back and relaxed.
⸞⸟⸞
After Taj fully recovered they made the journey to Lark. It felt different for her to be back after over a year. The destruction of the kingdom brought her to tears, hardly recognizable; childhood memories destroyed by one decision and greed for power.
King Haji agreed to meet them there. Haji and his family waited in the palace. Taj, Bayo, Salim, and Ashanti greeted everyone.
Taj’s eyes fell on Zola who held a newborn in her arms. Taj only knew Zola by reputation, they never formally met.
Honestly, she wasn’t looking forward to meeting her. Any woman that would marry Kofi had to be just as bad as him.
“The weason I wanted to meet is to give Zola a chance to tell you some things,” King Haji told them.
Taj decided that she would listen and not speak.
“I knew what appened to you that night, Kofi told me. She looked nervous and afraid.
“I could ave told Muto, but I didn’t fo’ selfish weasons,” she said.
Taj stood close to Salim with her arm interlocked with his. Her grip tightened around Salim’s arm, an indication to him that Zola’s words were getting to her.
“Jozt befo’ yoa motha died I ova’eawd ha’ tell Muto that Kofi wasn’t his child.” The baby in her arms cooed, and she gave him a gentle rock.
“Yoa motha’s dying decwee was fo’ yoa fatha to bwing you bagk fwom Tigway. Kofi killed im befo’ e got the chance.”
She held her head down in shame, and a silence fell over the room.
“I’ve info’med Zola that ha’ fate, whateva it may be is in yoa ands,” King Haji said.
Although King Haji spoke those words, it was his nature as a father to hope that Taj’s punishment wasn’t too harsh. He also understood that Zola’s actions were beyond wrong.
“Ev’ything was taken fwom me by my own family. Now you tell me that as a woman you knew, and you did nothing.”
Salim rubbed her back to keep her calm. Taj relaxed at his touch.
“We ave seen what women go thwough and ave to enda’ to su’vive in a man’s wo’ld. We awe sistas ev’y woman, we should stand togetha especially when men try to teaw us down.”
Taj stepped closer to Zola to better see her nephew.
“What’s is name?” Taj asked.
“Tau,” she said. Taj smiled.
“Well, I ope e lives up to is name as a lion, be both co’ageous and stwong.”
They both admired the baby for a moment.
“Thwough my exile, I was webo’n and fully lib’ated to make a change. To stand fo’ what’s right and pave the way fo’ otha pwincesses who awe mo’ than a queen to a king but as ope to be a wula’ of a kingdom.”
She took a breather, it was hard to address the woman who played a part in her exile and helped bring Lark to its knees.
It didn’t matter her family actions because nothing changed the fact that they were her family.
“If anything, I ope you tell Tau about the man his fatha ozed to be, and I ope this will change you to be betta and do betta.”
Zola refused to meet Taj’s gaze, almost as if she needed to say more.
She opened her mouth with a slight hesitation.
“It was my idea to let Imani take the punishment fo’ Muto’s death. Kofi wanted to tell them that e did it, but I convinced im not to, I’m so’wy.”
They were more than sure that Haji hadn’t heard that confession, by his facial expression. Taj brok
e down.
Salim allowed her to have her moment; she never grieved her best friend or parents, and it showed.
He knew no form of gesture would comfort her about Imani.
Unlike Kofi, Zola showed genuine remorse and weep just as Taj did. Taj pulled herself together and walked back to Salim for comfort and strength.
“As the Queen of Waewood, Lawk, and futa’ Queen of Iyego I he’by sentence you Zola Haji Muto to exile.”
More tears fell from Taj’s eyes, her sight was blurred from them.
“You will no longa’ ba’e any woyal titles, yoa woyal cwest will be wemoved, and thwoughout the lands yoa name will cawwy no meaning.”
King Haji and his wife did not react, it was a generous punishment for the things Zola had done. The guards escorted her out with her child in arm.
“King Haji I’m so’wy fo’ yoa loses. I ope now we all can grow fwom this and move fo’wawd,” Taj said.
“As do I Queen Taj.”
“Adanya,” she said.
Everyone looked surprised.
“My name is Queen Adanya Muto daughta’ of King Muto.”
She smiled at everyone in the room, they were happy to have the old her back.
“Ashanti can you step fo’wawd,” Salim said.
Ashanti darted her eyes suspiciously around the room. She no longer needed the crunches, but she had a slight limp that improved with each day.
King Haji placed a medium-sized, wooden box in Adanya’s hands.
“On behalf of the Woyal Council, we he’by make you, Queen Ashanti of Plipool, the descendant of the Asante people,” Adanya said as she opened the box and revealed a crown.
Ashanti was astonished.
“Ow?” She asked.
They ignored her question and proceeded.
“You will ave a co’onation at a lata date but fo’ now we gwant you the wights, pwivileges, and wesponsibilities as an official woyal. All ail Queen Ashanti,” Salim said.
“All ail Queen Ashanti,” everyone repeated.
Adanya handed the box to Salim so she could crown Ashanti.
It wasn’t hard for Adanya to trace Ashanti’s history. The Asante people were full of royalty, they just chose to live a less complexed and selfless life. It was easy to get the council to expedite the approval after what Adanya went through and did.