MY TREASURED DESIRE

CHAPTER TWELVE: EnDee's Favourite Place!

Princess Reese’s POV.

Igwe George-Orji’s Palace, Nri City, Africa.

The Sparkling White Rolls Royce Limousine was waiting with EnDee’s chauffeur in Africa, downstairs. When we got inside, EnDee went to the rear seat and instantly started playing a game on her cute iPhone. I entered next and sat at a very comfy angle which could only take two… But I was expecting Alex to sit directly across. Of course, he did not. With a little effort, he lifted me up, sat down and put me on his lap. He looked lustfully into my eyes, moved his arms around me, parted his lips to lock it on mine… I whispered to him that EnDee may not like this… but he said: “When she faces her phone, nothing distracts her… Lloyd, Get to EnDee’s Favourite Place, please!” The guy nodded, raised the sound-proof glass partition between the driver’s cubicle and the passengers’ side, and smoothly moved away! With only three French kisses between us in the last three years, I don’t need to be reminded that Alex was a beautiful kisser, but I hate to get wet like this… The three times took a year between them for me to forget… and he seems to renew it each time. I need Alex, but not now… Then a gentle tap on the glass from Lloyd… saved me.

“We are already here,” Alex said softly as he repositioned himself accordingly. I did the same, before calling EnDee’s attention. It was time to alight. Lloyd, about 30 years old Caucasian Briton, moved to the door and opened it for us with a deep bow. Alex alighted, stretched his hand to take EnDee as she came down in a similar gown as mine… her own was a creamy yellow dress cut in the same design. Our hair flowed in the same fashion… then Alex received me outside the Limousine. He walked in between us, as Ndidi cheered us up as we moved…

One huge Lioness, groomed and fresh-looking – came to Ndidi’s side… I froze, as I held Alex so tight. Ndidi kissed the Lioness’ nose and the whisker side. When left to be free, it yawned so wide… I almost fainted as I could smell its proximity… it was then I saw that it was a whole pride… One heavily maned Lion, six lionesses, and two cubs… They were not as dirty as I saw them on TV… Very neat and adorable… Alex went towards the Lion, pulled the mane, and started mock wrestling with it. He unexpectedly grabbed my hand and whisked me on top of the Lion. I had no choice but to hold its golden, bushy manes so tight… The strength of that hold caused the lion to move hastily. But the more I released the painful grip on the mane, the slower it moved. I calmed down on my fears… then, I became stable… This ‘pride of Lion’ look well-fed and tamed, so they seemed not to be hungry!

Alex Junior caressed the mane of the lion and motioned me to gently come down from that 5 feet height of the mane side… I used my training by lifting up myself as a Martial artist. As I was coming down like a Kungfu fighter, the Lion swung itself to face me… I was terribly scared, but Alex and Ndidi stood in front of the King of the Jungle. They made him sit. The siblings told me to swallow my fears and come in between them. They introduced me to the Lion… It was like a tragic dream: They were speaking the English Language, not any “Mumbo-Jumbo!” Then, I was asked to hug the beast and play with the manes without fear… I summoned courage and did that. Suddenly, the Lion raised its huge hands, gently rubbed my back, held me a bit before letting me go… Then the Lionesses, and the cubs, all came to my side. I touched them as I would do to my pet, and they all left… Do not ask if I was scared to death!

I breathed heavily… inhaled and exhaled till I became calm… Then, I recalled EnDee’s words: “However, no hunting is allowed, as the animals – even the so-called wild ones – have such affinity to whoever is on the Royal Land with pure intents and would never hurt them. But if you carry a weapon, you won’t know how you are hit!” And I thought to myself, ‘Does it mean that, to animals, any form of self-protection borne out of fear is a challenge to a fight.’ Interesting indeed.

I asked EnDee if that was her best place in this glorious Palace… She said ‘Nope’! and smiled. “We just came across a few 4-legged friends and greeted them. That’s all!”

Then I saw a seriously tall, huge, and colourful Cross that emits bright lights… I realised that the light that brightens that environment, as if it were in the noon, emanated from that cross… It was awesome… We moved on the smooth ground with well-paved gardens from then on. The quietness of the siblings and the aura around the place became chilling and somewhat recondite. My head swells subconsciously admitting that I was in a place of which I had very profound but little-known understanding… the more I needed to ask, the less I got the zeal to seek answers!

In a flash, I saw a very beautiful blonde girl that should be a little younger than I - with my brother, Reynold. She had a very long, shining sword with which she chased the Crown Prince, who surprisingly, was not interested in fighting for his life… Just as if he was already overwhelmed by the girl… Shortly, he fell flat on his face and swiftly turned to allow his back to be on the floor. Alas! The blondie had caught up with him. She raised the shining sword and tried to slice Rey to death… As I was about to scream, the sword descended heavily, but it hit a shining armour. Behold, EnDee was the bearer of the armour, that armour that saved my elder sibling! That blonde rose like a wild cat stepped forward and continued the precarious sword challenge with her perceived antagonist. The battle became fierce, until Ndidi jumped up so high to avoid being sliced by the blonde, twisted mid-air, and clashed her heavy shield at the back of the blonde’s head… She collapsed…

The trance was cut short with Alex Junior’s words: “You will surely get answers to your puzzles, Honey!”

“Hmmm?!” I answered, facing my husband-to-be… “How do you know I had a puzzle?”

Dr. Alex smiled and quoted a bible verse for me. I wonder how it correlates with my question, “The secret things belong to the LORD our God; but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of God’s Law - Deuteronomy 29: 29.”

EnDee looked puzzled as she added a word to her brother’s mystery speech: “Not for you alone, Reese. A knight with the shining armour was revealed to me when I wondered why the world seems full of intractable puzzles and thrillers… The knight was dressed in golden armour, and he had a golden sword and a golden shield. He was so consumed with fulfilling justice and making life better for the downtrodden. He needed a pleasant jewel of inestimable value, but bearers only cheat him with fake ornaments. He decided to descend from grace to grass. Then, in the land where civilization began, he slaved and toiled until he got the desired jewel – even more polished – as gold can only be refined in the fire! In the process, many more half coins were matched. And eyes were opened to evils that have gone before!”

I had to blurt out my feelings, though mildly: “Must Africans always communicate with dark sayings? What is the hidden wisdom here, Son and Daughter of Igwe Okoro George-Orji.”

Dr. Alex Junior caringly swatted the strands of hair covering a part of my face and smiled as he whispered before my face: “Hidden Wisdom is an important interpretation of the changing attitudes toward impenetrable mysteries about Godliness that were a significant aspect of the early development of Christianity... wealth of new insights.”

EnDee nodded and added another sentence that seems to clear the ambiguity hanging in the air, for me: “And the people who have not accepted His sanctification and holiness will only see the Hidden Wisdom as esoteric, inscrutable, complicated or involved… Fear of God is only the beginning of Wisdom!”

I quickly responded to EnDee’s assertion: “Should I believe, then, that you know what the vision of that knight with shining armour mean in your life’s equation?”

But she smiled and quoted another Bible passage for me: “9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became mature, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known - 1 Corinthians 13: 9-12.”

“This is The Holy Place,” I thought aloud, but no one responded.

I wondered in my mind why I feel that the trance I got, and the vision subconsciously revealed to EnDee refers to my elder brother, EnDee and their antagonist… Then, I whispered to myself: ‘But who is that antagonist against my brother and his true love… And why?’