The Sword And The Lovers

Chapter 9

...and the story of how Kojo and Bara came into existence came to an end and the Seers at the Square watched the King's reaction. The king's reaction was passive and he did not want it to look like he was scared of the people of Bara. He then cleared his throat.

"I have heard the story many times before now and I am not going to say that the story is forged or false. No, the story about how Kojo and Bara came to be is always told right from the time of our forefathers. We are all unique in our own ways but Bara feels offended lately and that is why I am here" the king paused and took a glance at Onochie who nodded to him to continue.

"Like I said" continued the king of Kojo, "I came here to apologise for the wrong I meted out on one of your own. I do not know his name but I know his son and his son by the help of the gods has been vindicated by The Narati. Having said this I would like to say again that I am sorry for killing a Baran Seer who tried to attack me here in the land of Bara. I allowed the fact that I am the king of both Kojo and Bara to get into my head"

When the Seers had realised that he had paused from speaking one of them smiled and then said to the king. "Your apology is incomplete if you refuse to admit that our brother whom you stretched forth your hand and sent to the afterlife was innocent of the accusations you leveled against him then it means and can only mean that you are not yet sorry for what you did. King of Kojo, you should have known that you are in Bara; the land of great Seers. If we are called Seers and we are unable to see the lies in your tongue are we any more than blinded fellows? We are not blind. We see physically and spiritually and I must warn you to make sure you do not lie further for if you do we will do what we threatened that we were going to do to you and that means you will run mad and go back to your palace as a mad king" after the Seer had finished speaking others nodded in approval of his speech. The king whom Onochie knew had little control over his temper was about to rise up in anger but Onochie held him down and told him not to do what he had in mind to do instead let him apologise and they would be out of there. The king had to understand the signal from Onochie and it meant "Be Calm" He then sighed and spoke, "I'm sorry Seers of Bara. It is true that I allowed my ego to take hold of me and I did what I now regret. I am sorry for having killed one of your own. Forgive me and let us continue to be brothers and sisters"

After the king had stopped speaking one of the Seers stood up and began to pace to and fro. Anger could be seen written all over his face. He stopped before the king of Kojo and said,"You are not here because you are truly sorry but because you know what the name Bara carries right from the very beginning of the existence of the Barans. You are scared not because we are Seers but because of The Narati. You can not be able to stand his wrath and so you are hear to ask us to appease him on your behalf. This is what I understand of your visit dear king of the Kojons; you are not sorry, instead you have come to ask that we beg The Narati on your behalf. Please say it, say it loud and clear that you would want us to beg the Narati on your behalf and that you do not really care if our own is dead or not. King of Kojo you will not outsmart us and so we will give you another condition if we must forgive you and this is going to be simple; you will no longer beg the Baran because the Barans do not need your plea but you will admit before the people you rule, before the Kojons that you killed a Baran Seer out of pride and not that he committed what you accused him. You will stand on a platform and facing your people while you admit this, only then can we forgive you and beg the Narati to leave the Kojons. If you say you will not do this or try to find other means to appease us we will go further to sacrifice one of us to the Narati if that is what it will take for him to bring down his full wrath upon you and that of your people". The Seer finished speaking and retook his seat. When he had had retaken his seat the rest looked at the king to know if he had anything to say or to add to what the last Seer that spoke spoke about.

The king of Kojo rose from his seat and avoided the eyes of Onochie so that Onochie will not say in future that it was because of him that everything became well. He would rather take the glory all alone through the decision he was about to make. He then accepted the condition the Baran Seers had brought and they all stood up and agreed on a date as well. The Seers of Bara all dispersed and the king went on his way back to the palace of Kojo.

Inside the palace of the king of Bara he had returned and was told that Chere had been brought back to the palace. He was told some of the patrol team from the palace found him inside one of the thick forests of Kojo and then decided to bring him back to the palace. When the king heard this he was filled with rage. He called in the general and said, "Keep that boy safe from harm until after the apology and the admission I am going to render before the people of Kojo. Let us not bring up another curse upon us" The general went away to do as he was commanded by the king and before long the princess who eavesdropped went away to meet with the general that her father spoke with not long ago. She demanded to see the place or the cell where Chere was kept but was told she would not be allowed to go there unless they see a permission card from the king. The princess could not possibly go to her father to demand for the permission card for she knew he would not grant it to her because of how she went on to betray him in the past. How would she be able to convince her father that she was on his side now and would be willing to see that Chere died. But while she was contemplating about this the general said to her, "I hope you know; the king is going to render a public apology and admit that the Seer, that is Chere's father died unjustly. It means that your father is going to bring the name of the palace to the mud if he does that" the general then left the princess. The princess did not think she heard the general properly for if she did it meant that she would not be carrying out her plan of killing Chere for what he did to her father's men. She then sighed and decided to go and see her father.

The king of Kojo was inside his chambers when the princess knocked and entered. The king did not speak to her immediately she walked in but kept looking at her. The princess then knelt before him and began to plead for forgiveness. As she pleaded the father kept a passive look and did not respond. He stood up and as if the princess had said a word began to speak, "Your father is going to apologise to the whole world and then admit that he killed the Seer of Bara unjustly. It means that our name will be dragged in the mud. It means that your father will be branded a liar. If I be a liar it means you are the daughter of a liar and a killer. You must have heard of some of the things that happened in the palace lately, of course you were part of some of those things but you have not understood this new development..."

"I understand father but what I can not believe is that you are actually going to do that and that you are bringing yourself down before the Barans! The Barans are your subjects father and they must see you as their king!!!" shouted the daughter.

"My daughter, it is not as simple as you think. The Narati is not a merciful being and we all know that the Narati fights for the Barans. He is not a pitiful being and drawing his wrath upon us for too long will be disastrous. I tell you, if the Narati comes knocking on the door of this household we will all die. That is not the legacy I want to leave behind. I will apologise and admit my wrong before the people. Then after that we will know what to do with the son of the Seer in our custody" The father began to dress up in his royal expensive attire. The princess helped him put on his cloth.

On the day of the apology and confession the king of Kojo with his elders and generals assembled with the Baran Seers in the square of Kojo and there thousands of the people of Kojo gathered to hear what their king had to say. When the king began to speak the anger in the face of his wife was undescribable. She was not happy that her family had been looked down on and she vowed to get her own pound of the flesh (her own revenge) she waited until the king stopped and then one of the Seers began to speak. The people were shocked that their king did all of that.