by Robi, Carol
I wring my hands nervously on my laps as I ponder on what I ought to show them.
“You could show us to the encased Moreno,” Prince Makena suggests, and I smile up at him gratefully.
“Come with me,” I say, as I lead the way, and the two royal siblings follow after. He’s talking about the desolate statue of greed, as we call it. It is an iron statue in our kingstead, said to be dated over a hundred Meretis. The statue was formed when a Bagumbe king poured hot molten iron over a living Moreno soldier. The Bagumbe king did it in order to teach a lesson to the ranks of Moreno soldiers than had then been sent by their king to displace the Migo’s we protect. The king had our warriors put to spear all the Moreno soldiers except two. To one, he’d poured the molten iron over him, to make what we now call the desolate statue of greed, and the second one had been set free to go back to his people and warn his king that the next time he sent soldiers into Migo land, it shall be the king whose body our people would encase in the iron they covet so much, because the Migo people are permanently under our protection.
The statue still stands to date, and it is a desolate structure to look at indeed. I show it to them, where it’s hidden from view by some over grown shrubs beside the fence of our home.
“Rarely do Bakoria kings do great things, but this was definitely one of them,” Gati, the nyarmura says. I remain quiet, unsure on what I ought to say to that.
“You don’t speak much, do you?” She says to me directly, stepping in front of me so that she has my full attention, and I have no where else to look or escape to.
“I don’t,” I simply say apologetically.
“A great contrast to your sister, not the married one.” She means Matinde.
“She’s here about,” I say. “I could call her if you wish..”
“Nonsense! I like to hear my own thoughts,” Princess Gati says, to which I can’t help but chuckle.
“Aah.. you don’t talk much but you’ve got a questionable humour in you,” she now pounces to say, seeming as proud to discover it, as she is amused.
“I..” I start, then stop, unable to find anything to say at the moment. I’m sure I shall think up of plenty things I should have said later tonight as I rest on my bed. It is always the case.
“Behind that exterior of anxiety lies a girl with a very similar humour to mine!” Prince Makena then says chuckling.
“That’s not true!” I protest quietly. “You have a very cruel humour,” I choose to remind him.
“Exactly,” he says proudly, as though emphasizing a point.
“I don’t have a cruel humour,” I say, turning to his sister. “I don’t.”
“You don’t need to convince me of anything, princess. I don’t care. I’m just glad to know you don’t remain dumb because you’re an airhead, but rather because you are most comfortable when you’re quiet,” she says. I’m not sure what to make of that at the moment, so I let it slide, planning on pondering over it later tonight.
“I’ve heard that there are caves of riches and gold under this kingstead,” Princess Gati says when she’s done surveying the iron structure.
“I.. father keeps all the treasures that aren’t ours to wear,” I say nervously.
“Not in his house, I suppose..”
“Gati!” Makena rebukes her.
“What? I know you’re as curious as I am. tell me dear, where does he keep them? Or is such information not privy to princesses?” She taunts.
I do know where it’s kept. If you go beyond the stacks of drink in the royal gooti, and clear the floor, there a stone platform that really is a false floor. When you move it, a difficult task that requires all my four brothers to do with the help of levers, you find a stone vault door. So heavy it is, and thick, thicker than two men combined. It requires two keystones to open, one that father keeps, and the other Chacha keeps, as father doesn’t have a Gake wa Maga. Father’s instructed Chacha that upon his departure from this world, Chacha’s to name my mother as his Gake wa Maga, and give her father’s keystone for safe keeping. Chacha agreed to that, being that he and mother get on very well, even though it is the norm for people to dislike their step mothers. It is under those vaulted doors that people will find proof as to why my family is the wealthiest of all families in the four brother kingdoms, and is even wealthier than the kingdoms’ economy itself.
“I have no idea..”
“Liar!” She exclaims suddenly. “But I respect you for it too,” she adds, walking on ahead. I linger back, preferring to be in the company of her brother rather than the she-cheetah’s company. Who’d have thought he’d ever be the lesser devil?
“I reassure you, she means well,” he tells me in a low whisper.
“I believe you,” I tell him. He seems surprised by that, and he stops walking, his eyes searching my face.
“Really? Is it so easily you choose believe me? I thought I’m nothing but a fast paced cunning cat!”
My face now clouds, and I find it difficult to meet his gaze when he repeats words I’d once said in confidence in the company of my peers while we’d been bathing at the river. Not swimming, bathing. meaning we’d taken off all pieces of clothing and had been naked while scrubbing our bodies. He’d been there and overheard us. How else could he know what I’d said? And he had to be very close, for I tend to speak very low. Especially when talking about someone, whether or not I’m in their vicinity.
“Yes,” he now says, ”We often spy on you girls!” He chuckles at the appalled look on my face.
“Trust me, most of your peers know it, and enjoy the attention. I’m quite surprised you haven’t found out about it as yet.”
“I.. How dare you..?”
“I find female bodies very.. irresistible. Given any chance, I’ll look, and touch..” I slap his hand away, skipping out of reach from him and rushing after his sister, leaving him chuckling behind me.
Chapter 24
“What did you think of her?”
“Quiet..” I throw the chicken drumstick in my hand at her, and she catches it expertly between her teeth from the air, which sends us all laughing, except for mother who grimaces. Gati is the least bit of a girl there ever was. Compared to her behaviour at times, one would even go as far as to call me feminine.
“You knew she was quiet before,” I tell her exasperatedly.
“Fine! I’m glad to know that she’s not entirely brainless. A great bore she is though, if I’m to be entirely honest.” My face sets in anger at her words.
“Now brother, control yourself. You’re the one that asked me to be honest.”
“There’s honesty, and then there’s cruel honesty,” father chooses to say then. “He fancies himself in love with her, so be kind and considerate with your accessions.
“I do not fancy myself anything..”
“You love her?” Father questions.
“I think I might,” I answer him thoughtfully.
“Love is a fancy when you don’t know the person well..”
“I’m marrying her..!”
“I didn’t say no, did I? Did anyone hear me say no? Now reign in yourself and calm down.”
“I think her very sweet,” Gati now says. “And there’s no question that she’s sweet on you.”
“Really? Do you think so.”
“I know so,” she states with a confident smile. “I also think her not stupid, which is a great accomplishment indeed for a kingdom with so many airheads for women..”
“Gati!” Father warns again.
“What? Am I yet again not allowed to voice my opinions?”
“Be considerate of your mother..”
“Keep me out of the discussion,” mother calls from the other end of the table, which sends us all laughing again.
“The same advice as before stands,” father now says. “There’s honesty, and then there’s cruel honesty.”
“Fine!” Gati gives in, now censored. “I approve brother, if my approval is worthy of your consideration.”
“I have a suspicion that she’ll make you happy. I always knew a wild thing like you would be reigned in by a docile rabbit. I’m glad to know that I was right..”
“You, Gati, suffer from overconfidence,” father scolds her.
“No, not anymore. She broke the lid to her jar of confidence when she was but five,” mother calls from the other end. “Her threshold for confidence is now infinite. So how could she possibly be overconfident?”
“Mother!” Gati calls, feigning to have taken offence. “Now who’s been cruelly honest at the moment?”
It is in such light hearted conversation that our family eats their last meal today.
Soon we’ll barely have time to sit around and joke lazily at meal times anymore as the heavy rains will be upon us, and with them the main planting seasons.
After the main planting, my family hosts the whole kingdom for the Mbura festival, to celebrate the gods and pray to them to bless the just sown crops. The building and preparation works leading up to the festivities, and then the dismantling and clearing up thereafter see to it that it’s yet quite many days before father and I have a calm night upon which we can quietly enjoy drink and a smoke and discuss the matter I brought to his attention a while back.
“She’d make a terrible queen..”
“You yourself, father, told me to marry with my heart.”
“You don’t have to be so defensive. I’m just pointing out a known fact that even you yourself can’t dispute.”
“I apologise, father. I just feel like I constantly have to defend her.”
“You better get used to it, for she’s not a queen the people would gladly accept.”
“They will have to!” I grind out harshly, and he looks at me with weary eyes, obviously surprised at the passion in my voice.
“Yes, they have to, because she’ll be your wife. Her father seemed very surprised, and was unaware of her having formed any attachment to you.”
“That’s because I doubt she has as yet. I also doubt she knows of my intentions either, but Gati seems to think she is sweet on me.”
“Does she now? I wouldn’t trust Gati’s opinion on such matters. The only thing she knows about being a girl is how to piss while crouching.”
“I’d laugh at your joke right now, father, but I fear she could be larking about and send a spear through my shoulder.” This jibe causes my father to roar with laughter.
“Your sister is something!”
“That she is. I’m in a constant need to prove myself to my men, for often do I think they might assume her to be a better warrior than I am.”
“Are you still sure you want her to be your Gake wa Maga?” I’m nodding my head even before he’s done speaking.
“I’ve been sure of it since I can remember. I can’t imagine ruling without her,” I state gravely.
“Alright. Now onto far more juicier matters again, your courtship of this girl. Why doesn’t she know that you are interested in her well enough that you wish to marry her? She’d have mentioned you to her father at least?”
I’m silent at this question, taking the time to take a large swig directly from the gourd of drink we share tonight.
“My, my son! Have you finally met with the single girl in the kingdoms that has you scared enough to hold your tongue?”
“Nonsense!” I rush to say defensively. Father laughs heartily, discrediting my half-hearted attempts to deny his accusations.
“You are indeed taken in by her! By gods, I never thought I’d see the day come!”
“Turn down your triumph a notch, father. Take heed to your famed words of counsel- there is honesty, and then there’s cruel honesty.” Father laughs when I say this, but blessedly he stops mocking me on my feelings.
“Alright, I’ll be gentle in my mocking you henceforth,” he says with a twinkle in his eye, that lets me know he’ll be anything but.
“Thank you, father,” I answer with sarcasm, to which we both laugh, mine slightly nervous though, because, yes, for once I do feel a certain vulnerability.
“You know you must show her your interest. You can’t just presume that..”
“Father!” Gati’s voice suddenly calls through the night. I squint just enough so that I can now see her darkened figure make her way towards us, spear in hand as is typical of warriors. It must be her turn to keep watch tonight.
“Gati, my dear, I’m sorry but your brother and I are discussing his impending nuptials, and I’d rather we do it in privacy..”
“I know what you two are talking about, but I implore you to let me join you, because I have a thought of my own that I think you’d best listen to.”
“Gati..” Father starts discouragingly.
“Father I hope you know me not to be a fool. When I tell you that I have a thought that the two of you ought to listen to, I mean just that.” Father is now stunned to silence.
“Let her joins us, father,” I implore.
“Alright.. but it is most unheard of, a sister joining her brother as he discusses with his father matters of the..”
“She’s not just my sister, father!” I respond rushly, instantly defending her.
“No,” father says with a smile. “Just a sister are words that could never be used to describe my daughter,” he adds proudly, pulling out a low three-legged chair for her while he hands her the gourd of drink.
Gati sits herself before us, and takes a large swig from the gourd, before proceeding to speak.
“I have a solution to one of the major problems your rule faces, father, thanks to Makena’s infatuation with the Bagumbe princess..”
“It is not an infatuation..”
“Forgive me, but until I see you two happily wed for seasons, that’s when I’ll term it as love. Until then, it’s an infatuation to me.”
“Gati, you’re being cruel to your brother again.”
“It’s his fault. He keeps roping me to be..”
“Just go on and say what you have to say,” I snap at her despite myself. She has gotten to me. It’s so easy for one to get to me now, by just referring to Nyangi.
“Please remain calm and do not be offended by my next words, brother. Promise me that you won’t.” The last thing I want to do is to make such a promise, for it sounds like she’s going to say something unpalatable. However I will myself to a patience I can only rarely command, and urge her to go on.
“With utmost respect to you brother, I’d like to point out that princess Nyangi being married to you is the greatest fortune that girl could ever get. She’s mousy, fearful, lacks a backbone, and to make matters worse, she’s not a beauty..”
“Gati!” Father restrains her angrily, venturing a look towards me to see if I might take offence and decide to physically attack my sister at speaking so about the woman I hold very dear at this moment. However I had promised her that I’d keep calm, so calm I keep, albeit on the surface only.
“Yes, she’s a princess, but she’s also got an older sister yet unmarried that would make a much better queen..”
“I want Nyangi!” I grind out slowly and firmly, shocking them, and honestly myself, with the gravity of my admission.
“I know you do, brother. But I urge that you don’t let her father know just how much while negotiating her dowry, and instead see to it that her father knows you’ll only marry her if he forgives the whole Nyabasi Kingdom’s debt.”
A hush silence falls over us after she says this.
“That’s ridiculous, and unheard of that a girl should pay dowry to be wed. And so high a price..”
“But father listen. She won’t be paying dowry, we, Makena’s family will, as per customs. And we’ll make sure to make it a handsome one indeed. We must dig into our coffers and buy the best riding beasts, and the best cattle we can find in the four brother kingdoms. We ought to pay her a dowry worthy of a beloved princess and more, but ask the fa
ther than one of the bridal gifts he gives us as her future family ought to be a forgiveness of our debt.”
“You don’t know how much we owe that family, that you’d ask this,” I tell her gravely. “Her father would never agree. The Bagumbe are shrewd business men..”
“But her family, her father and brothers especially, love her so much that I know without doubt that they’d give her the whole world if she asks.”
That is true, as far as my assessment of her family situation has shown me.
“All you have to do, brother, is make her fall hopelessly in love with you, and then ask her to marry you. You are charming, you can make her want nothing else, wish for nothing else but you. So when we go to her father and brothers to negotiate her dowry, father you be sure to put in that condition. We will meet every dowry demand they have, but they must forgive our family’s debt, and our kingdom’s public debt. The private debts for other Nyabasis we don’t care for, but father this is your chance to take the future Nyabasi kingship out of the pockets of the Bagumbe kingship. That yoke you carry around where you have to do as he says, you will finally be free off it. Just think of what that could mean for our future? For Makena’s rule, and Makena’s son’s rule?”
What Gati says is indeed brilliant. It is a very good strategy that would give my people a freedom they haven’t yet realised that they don’t possess. To forgive my family’s debt, and also the kingdom’s debt.. however I doubt even Maga Umbe could love his daughter that much.
“He would never accept..”
“There’s no harm in trying either way,” Gati says. “Just think of how much we’ll gain if he accepts- that has to be enough reason to to try.”
“What she says is very.. it is most brilliant indeed,” father tells me, his gaze deep and probing.
“If she ever found out..” I say with a distant voice. “She would refuse me..”
“Then don’t tell her.”
“Her family might..”
“I doubt they would. They love her too much to. If she’s in love with you, they wouldn’t tell her for it would only serve to hurt her.”