The Sword And The Lovers

Chapter 10

When the king started speaking the Seers of Bara paid a lot of attention in order to make sure he was actually apologising and not that he bragged instead. The king looked at his daughter and then faced the crowd. "Great people of Kojo land, I am sorry for have invited you all on this day when all should be other there doing their businesses and works but it is about the future of the land that makes me call upon you all for what is more important than this land which we dwell in? Nothing. I had wanted to come and meet you all at the Square but I decided otherwise for the palace is the center of authority and here my words will be more appreciated. I have done something wrong and before I proceed I would like to thank the Barans for coming, some of them who managed to come, for others that did not make it I thank them for sending you. Like I said, I did something wrong, something I should be sorry for. I am sorry for many things but for this particular offense I am talking about I am sorrier for it than for anything else I have ever done. Ever since I took after my father I had wanted to make life comfortable for everyone and I love the Barans. The Barans are the people we call brothers and sisters. They are here today because what I want to apologise for has to do with them. I have wronged them severely. I killed one of theirs and went on to try to kill the son of the one whom I killed and that was not good of me. This is not the main offense that I committed, no it is not. The offense I committed that now makes me stand here to say sorry for is the fact that the Seer of Bara whom you all saw beheaded here in this palace did not do anything wrong"

When the people heard their king say this they were shocked to the brim. There was murmuring and the crowd could not understand what was happening. After a while there was silence again and the king continued, "Like I said, people of Kojo, the Seer I killed was killed for what he did not do. I accused him falsely and made him die for it. I was led by my ego and my pride pushed me to have him killed. I demanded for respect from him and even though he never insulted me in the first place I excised my authority and abused my power and his death was the result of that exhibition"

After he stopped talking the people wondered and some found it hard to believe that their king did that. One of the Seers of Baran then said, "Thank you king of Kojo for this confession. Now the spirit of our brother can now rest in peace but before we pray for his spirit to rest well in the other world we would like to know the whereabout of the son he bore before his death. His only son whose name is Chere" The Seers all nodded in agreement. The king then turned to his men and asked them to go and bring the boy and they went to the cell where Chere was seated and brought him out of the cell. The king was not pleased with his men for they could have used their own wisdom to know better; they should have dressed Chere in another cloth before bringing him out all so the people, especially the Barans would not think that Chere was being ill treated even though he was. When they brought him out Chere went to one of the Seers, especially to his uncle, his father's brother and embraced him. He remained in his embrace. The brother to Chere's father then turned to the king and said, "You have made him suffer after killing his father. I came with these elders from Baran because it was my brother that was killed and his son is now my responsibility but that is no longer going to happen; yes, I am no longer going to be the father of Chere but you. You will take him into your palace to serve you for the rest of your life. You must make sure that you do not ill treat him for if you do words will reach us and we will know that you were not actually sorry today. If you are not sorry by mistreating him then we all from the land of Bara will unsay every word we must say The Narati in plea on your behalf and then The Narati will do his job" When Chere's uncle had finished he then turned to the rest and they nodded in agreement. The king of Kojo looked at Aboli and to Onochie and they signaled him to accept and he then turned his father back to the uncle of Chere. "Very well then, I will do as you have said. I will take him in to be my servant till the day I die" After the king had made this promise Chere was allowed to go to the Chief servant who took him to the Palace Healer for proper checkup and treatment before employing him as one of the male servants in the palace.

When the Barans left the king angrily went into his palace and sat down. Outside the palace the people of Kojo were going home in various groups. The king refused to talk to some of the elders in the palace who were hearing of the issue at hand for the first time, especially some of the elders who were not serving in the palace but in other regions of Kojo. They had gathered that day because their king called a general meeting of the councils and the people of Kojo. The king refused to talk to them and it was Onochie and Aboli who briefed them and sent them back to their various regions where they were serving.

The king was still moody when Onochie and Aboli arrived in his presence and took their seats. Aboli was the first to speak and Onochie nodded as he spoke, "It is a thing of heartbreak I know. You were not expecting the condition the Barans gave you but I assure you my king and my lord that you did the right thing. Yes, you went out there and despite what your other self might be telling you you decided to conquer it and beat your ego. You are a humble king and I am very much proud of you"

"He is right my king" began Onochie, "At first I thought that if the Baran elders continued to annoy you you might order for the arrest of them all but instead you managed to control your temper until everything was sorted out"

The king sighed and the only words he spoke was, "Leave me alone both you" Onochie and Aboli did not want to press it further to avoid the wrath of the king and so they quietly stood up and left the throne room. The king was so sad that evening.

Inside the room where Chere was made to sit while the Palace Healer treated him he was thinking about all that his father said to him the night before he died. He thought about the symbol he spoke about. As the treater treated him he asked him some questions.

"Do you know the history of the Barans?" asked the Palace Healer. It took Chere some time before he answered and his answer was more of telling the Healer not to ask him any further questions.

"I know the history of the Barans more than I know of the Kojons. My mother was a Baran before she died and my father who came from Kojo learnt a lot of stories from him and told most of them to me before he too died. I must tell you the history of your people is far deeper than what others are told. I overheard your father's brother mention the name of an ancient being called The Narati. I forbid anyone to ever have an encounter with such being. It is said that he is ruthless and kills anyone he sees, anyone, both good or bad. It is said that his heartlessness is legendary and no one who had ever came across him ever lived to tell the story. It is said that he is a symbol of death" When the Healer mentioned the name symbol Chere looked at him and then said, "It appears you do not know much about histories as you claim for it if you knew you would also know that The Narati is not what you just described him to be. If he was what you said he is then why did he see me and not attack me? Why did he rescue me instead?" Chere said and then stood up, went to the window and looked out of it. "I am going to obey my father's brother and I am going to work here but for a while. I can not serve for too long a man who ordered for my father's head because I can not take it when I have to wake up to see his face every morning"

The Healer could feel the pain in his heart and so he walked up to him and standing beside him he said, "You have other choices to make, we all do"

"No, I do not, I am not like you lot. What I mean is that I can not make choices like you lot make or change my mind about things like you lot do for in my case I have destiny that is different from the destinies of others. I have a being that speaks to me and tells me what I must do. I carry the gift of my father" He said and then sighed before retaking his seat. He was about to ask the Healer how best he was to start working in the palace and the Healer said, "Firstly you will be put to training and after training which will last for thirty days you will then be allowed to serve the royal household. You must be careful while serving the king for his eyes are on you"