The Conqueror Series

THE GREAT WARRIOR 28

Oyolima was the first to become depressed after the revelation of Ube for being responsible for the death of her father. She could not talk through out that day for she had been told that the man that cared for her so much was said to have been killed in war and the man that killed him was Ube, the same man that came to Ubiam and had paid a visit to them. She was mourning her father in her heart when she slept off and the memories of her father came as a dream,, part of it being a dream and some being the memories of what she shared with her father, the late king of Getu. Her father cared about her so much and had only her to trust with his assets. Once Golibe had complained that their father gave her so much attention more he gave to her. When the father heard this the third time he rode out with the princess and Oyolima visited her mother in her room and met her checking her face on the mirror. She sat and smiled and the mother turned to look at her, to know why she smiled and she said,"Golibe thinks father loves me more than he loves her and so she has been jealous about it all these while but father wants to cheer her up and so he had taken her for a hunt "

"Yes my daughter, I once felt that way, the same way your sister is feeling now. We were two siblings and then my only sibling was a male before he later died. My father loved him more than he loved me or should I say my father loved us both the same way but showed my brother love more than he showed me. I can't say if I was over thinking it or imagining it but all the same it happens. When my brother died my father did not eat anything for two days. He stayed sulky in his room and would not want anyone to near him. His food would be served and they would grow cold and taken back to the kitchen untouched. That was also another reason I felt that he lover my brother more than he loved me, even in his death. Somehow without sounding perfect I truly felt a relief when my brother died because then it was only me to deserve my father's love" She said and laughed. "I young and stupid" she said and laughed even the more and Oyolima followed and laughed with her. Oyolima wanted to know how her mother's brother died and what was his name. Oyolima's mother made her to understand that her brother was killed in war and that she realised just how she missed him when she grew older. "As I grew older I began to realise how important it was for someone to have a sibling and love his or her sibling. I began to miss him and I prayed to the gods to give him back to me and that I would not mind if my father loved him more than he loved me" She laughed again. "But then the gods do not work in that way and so they did not give him back to me. They took him and that was it. So I grew up alone and I had no one to call brother or sister. When I came into this palace and married your father and gave birth to you and then to your younger sister and stopped giving birth I thought about what you are saying now because I knew that sooner or later there will be complaints"

"Mother I am not the one that is complaining" said Oyolima..

"I know"said the mother.

Another of the event that could be said had made Oyolima more depressed was the incident of her lover, a man of Getu who even had to go to the extent of visiting her father to show the level of his seriously. When he came the king of Getu asked to know if he was a prince and when the young man said no the king had looked at his daughter and had told her only royal suitors are allowed to come for her hand in marriage but Oyolima said he would not mind marrying the young man. For days Oyolima was sad because on the day the young man came the father had told him that his daughter was not going to marry a man that did not come from a royal family. When this was said the man then stood up and left. That day Oyolima had cried bitterly and then her father sent for her and she refused to go. For the whole day Oyolima refused to go and answer her father and then it was left for the king to go and see her in her room and when he went there he met her crying and he smiled and sat down beside her, placing his hand on her shoulder. Oyolima looked at him and wanted to know why her father did not want her happiness and why he could not see that his choice must not be her choice. She kept crying and then the father made her to understand that she had a very soft heart and that he had seen the young man that she presented to him and found out that he would not treat her better and that she would not have the heart to bear it when he hurts her. This statement had made Oyolima to want to explain more to her father that the man was a very good man and that there was no way he was going to betray her. This went on for days and then the king of Getu decided that it was time to allow her daughter to follow her heart. On that day when his wife came to meet him she began to give him reasons why he should allow their daughter to follow her heart. She made him to understand that love was a thing of the heart and there was no way someone so wise and so clever like their daughter Oyolima would fall into the hands of a wrong man.

"I know that you care so much for our daughter and that you have given up your life for hers and you have also made it a point of duty to always look out for her and know the kind of friends she keeps. You want to love her and to keep her as your heir to your throne and I know your fear too. All I want you to know that at a time the people of Getu might not even want you to give them an heir who happens to be a woman and and this statement made the king to look at her abruptly.

" Yes, but then I am right with my words my king. I know that you want a royalty to marry your daughter so that when she becomes a married woman to that royalty her husband will become a king and she will become a Queen in your Kingdom and then you and I know that your people will protest against that. She may be royalty by blood but not royalty by destiny"

"She is royalty by destiny woman" said the king but realising that he was not going to win the battle with his wife decided to let it all go. He promised to accept and also to talk to his daughter. The next day as they were eating with Oyolima who was only picking on her father her father said, "Oyolima, I have agreed to allow you marry the man you said you love. You can bring him to me for blessings"

Oyolima's join knew no bounds as she jumped and hugged her father, kissing him all over the face and hugging her mother too for she knew that she was the one who made possible. She knew it could not have been Golibe for Golibe only said he would talk to their father the night before and that last night Golibe a had met her sister sulky and crying inside her room and had angrily told her that if she continued like that she would stop nearing her but then Oyolima begged her to forgive her that she was not crying for no reason but because their father had decided to frustrate her life. Golibe then told her that she would help her talk to their father so that he would allow her go for what she wanted. Oyolima hugged her sister and kissed her cheek.

Now that the issue had been settled Oyolima could not wait for the next day so that she would invite the young man again. The next day the man was invited by Oyolima and when he arrived he was acting strangely. He was not excited neither did he show Oyolima a reason to still believe in him. A passionate, caring young man grew cold. As they walked to her father the father was about to say something when the young man began.

"Sorry to say this my king but I have something I must get out of my chest. I must let it go out of my chest before it kills me. Oyolima and her father waited to hear what the young man wanted to say. " Firstly I came here and was turned down because I'm not a prince. I was rejected and I had to go away. When I left I found someone, someone whose father would be so happy to have. I can not say what this would mean to you but your daughter can not be my wife. I can not be seen married in a home where I was accepted after days of contemplating if I am good enough or bad enough. I am not a tool. I am a human and I am not going to be marrying your daughter any more. I have found myself another woman. a woman who would love me for who I am and stay for me and with me. Your daughter can look for a prince and get married to" After he was done he bowed before the king and left. As he went away Oyolima did not know what to say or what to do. She remained standing there.

Then her father. that is Oyolima's father stood up and without a word left her daughter standing there and looking at both sides. She could not believe what the man that had professed so much love to her could say otherwise and could walk out on her and her father. She could not hold herself and she felt her legs could not carry her. She went and sat down and soon tears began to drop from her eyes. She refused to wipe if off. Her sister, Golibe walked in and seeing in her in that state knew at once that something had gone wrong somewhere and so she went and sat down beside her and held her by the shoulder, wanting to know what the problem was. Oyolima began to lament, "I love him so much. I do not know if love is a crime. I do not know if it is a blessing or a curse. I do not know if it is good to find love or if it is better to let love find you. I do not know if my life is cursed for when I look for love or when love looks for me it is the same. I lost love when it came to me and then I thought maybe I lost it because it came to me. May be it had gone with the legs it used in coming and so I went out there to find it and so I found it and I thought that was better and conducive and I was happy. You see I was happy and it was a very great thing and then it came crumbling. Yes, it came crumbling before my eyes. What a every sad thing to happen to me. I am so sad and so very sad. I can not begin now to think twice about love because love is wicked. Love is not good for me. Love is a wicked fellow. It came to me and then it left without saying good bye. It just left and left without a good bye (laughs) what a misfortune. What a mistake and a funny way life plays us. It played me. It really played me. Did you see how it played me? (Laughs again) What a pity. I will go to love some day and I will say to it, you bastard, you mocked me and then you began to mock my father who loves me. Why did you not mock me alone, why mock my loving father as well. See how wicked you are. Can you not see that i want you? Can you not see that I can't even think of anything else except love? I think only of you day and night and I wake up and you are gone. You just go without asking me questions. You are pathetic. Have you found someone else or someone else found you? I pity the person you have found or the person that has found you. They would not know how funny you can be. How easy you can deceive people. When you come to use you smile and then we smile back. You smile and then there is a knife at your back. If love was a person I would ask for a combat. If love was a person I would ask for a fight. If love was a person I would gladly have a conversation with her or him or what (laughs) I would have sat down with her and then I will buy her a drink and then ask her, "You love, why have you tormented me so much? Do you not have respect for your elders? Do you not have respect for someone who had actually placed her time and everything for you. You should listen to me you coward. I am talking to you so stop looking sideways. Yes, you should know that when I am talking to you you should focus on me" Oyolima paused and then looked at her sister Golibe. "You see, I think that after I have bought this drink for her she would listen, won't she? I think she would"

"Sister please stop" begged Golibe and Oyolima then placed her head on her sister's laps and cried so bitterly. The king of Getu then took this as an insult and stopped talking about marriage. Oyolima was depressed so much after this and stayed away from men for two whole years.

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Ube then got back to the ruler of Ubiam and said to him, "These ladies you have in your custody I need you to release them and let them go at once" The ruler of Ubiam, that is the Onowu made him to remember that the three ladies he spoke of were actually the same people that he waged war in their land couple of week ago and Ube said to him. "I killed their king all so I could prove to my king and to my wife Ruty that I was capable of executing any task assigned to me but then I was wrong and I regret all that I did. I should not have gone to war to Getu. I should not have believed my king, the king of Mozo when he said that the king of Getu took away his way and I should not have waged war on Getu and killed the king of Getu. I regret all of these things and my regret even though it is huge still can not take away the fact that the wife and the daughters of the king of Getu need their freedom and their compensation" After Ube was through with his speech he then turned and began to walk away.

"You have been stressed and you have been regretting. You have also made mistakes and now you should be resting. Why do you want to go when the land of Ubiam has enough to feed you with. You should return and take part in the ruling of Ubiam. I have seen that you are heartbroken and I heartbroken man must have learnt something from his experience. My father once told me that a heartbroken man is like an iron that had bee melted by fire. When being melted it would seem that the iron is suffering but when the same iron will be used to make fine weapons people will praise the iron and forget what the iron had to go through to be where it is. I want you to know that Ubiam is a small land and it needs minds like yours in order to grow and to flourish. Do not be angry with me for making it look like I want to take advantage of your pains and then lure you and make use of you, no that is not what I intend doing, but yo see, Ubiam people lives in fear of the unknown and they want someone that will be able to protect them. You can protect them and let you can as well lead them. What am I doing here if you are here. You can ask for any position and it can be given to you"

Ube then started coming back and when he reached where the Onowu was standing he said, "You really would want to know what I want from you and which position I desire?" The Onowu nodded and Ube requested for a cold water and then a room to rest. The Onowu immediately rushed into his room and got the keys to another room and handed it over to Ube. ,"That room over there is now yours. It belongs to you and you can make use of it as you like. Your cold water will be served to you and I can do what you have asked me and advised me to do by releasing the people I have put in my custody"

"Good and I will do as you have just said. I will release them and tell them to go and then that will please you" said the Onowu.

"Release them from the cells but do not let them go, not yet" said Ube and then he went away, to his the room that the Onowu had given to him. Two men were positioned on the door of his room as he went inside.

The wife of the late king of Getu was released and so were her daughters. They were brought out by the palace soldiers and made to stand before the Onowu who then sighed and began, "Firstly I must say sorry to you all and particularly to your mother whom i have in the past offended so badly. I am sorry too that i tried to take advantage of her and that was not good at all. She is a good and kind woman"