Ring Of Fire

Ring Of Fire 7

The Queen couldn't hold herself as she sat on the ground. Her body became weak. The wizard had deceived her and now her daughter will die.

"Please spare my daughter at least. She is not your rival but my husband. Please spare her" the Queen begged.

"Sparing her is curing her madness and to cure her madness means to equally cure the mad man's madness because their madnesses are linked. Why should I do that?" The wizard asked wickedly.

"They have nothing against you. Please. It's me you want" cried the Queen.

The Wizard, after a brief thought decided to cure the madness of the man and the princess. After all they were no threat to him. His sole desire is for the prince of Ikotu to start a war that will destroy the Kingdom of Bami and he would have the liberty of traveling to a distant land with the Queen as his woman. He began to cast the spell of madness out of the two. The mad man opened his eyes but was still sick. The princess was now lying on the ground with her eyes closed.

"They are no longer mad. But if you think you will elude me then think again. I prepared very well for this day. Nothing can spoil it for me" the wizard said and shifted from them. The Queen ran to her daughter and sitting beside her she held her head. The mad man coughed and opened his eyes, looked around confusedly before resting his eyes on the Queen. He was shocked to be lying down beside the Queen of Bami and his confusion was why in a forest. He knelt before her immediately as he salutes. "My Queen"

"Don't call me that anymore. I'm no longer a Queen. I am but a slave now" the Queen said regrettably. The mad man looked up and saw the wizard sitting and staring at them and confusedly looked at the sleeping princess and then to the Queen, eager to know what was happening.

****

The mighty gates of the palace of Ikotu was being raised up as the palace generals and soldiers received their prince who was riding with hundreds of soldiers. He was frowning very deep this time. The generals in the palace wondered why their prince was back from Bami so early and without his father or the princess of Bami whom they believed he went for. The Prince stopped riding in the compound and jumped down. Immediately he received a thunderous salute from the soldiers in the palace.

"Send words to all the great armies of Ikotu. I declare war on Bami" said the prince.

The soldiers were shocked. They feared him more than his father and so they didn't have to ask for the opinion of his father.

"The Prince has spoken. Messengers! Ride out at first light!!!" Said one of the generals.

They gave the prince another noisy salute.

****

Across the mountains, the mad man couldn't believe all that the Queen had just explained to him. The Queen had told him everything and how they came to the forest.

"What is your name?" The Queen asked.

"My name is Kaka my Queen" the mad man replied.

"Kaka, it is time for you to act" said the Queen and Kaka didn't understand what she meant by that.

"My Queen. Act?" The man was confused but the Queen rested her eyes on the wizard who was sitting a stone throw from them as she whispered something to Kaka. Kaka nodded and sat close to the princess.

The Queen stood up and went to where the wizard was seated and standing beside him she asked, "what do you want from me?"

The wizard sighed and said, "when I was young I didn't own things. People denied me the things I thought I deserved because they believed I didn't deserve those things. I grew up with low self esteem. When you were growing up I had my eyes on you but I feared to tell you because I was afraid to be rejected by you. Hell the idea that I didn't deserve anything good was eating deep into my system. And when the prince of Bami who is now the current king of Bami announced his intention to marry you I ran into my mother's hut that night and cried very hard. I felt I lost something very dear to me. From those days reach this moment I loved you and I still love you"

The Queen sighed and replied. " I had my eyes on you too then but I thought you didn't like me. It wasn't my fault that you didn't tell me and doing this now is going to cost the lives of many if the war breaks"

The wizard stood up and said angrily, "I don't care if thousands die. I will prove to the whole world that I can have anything I want!"

"What do you want?" Asked the Queen.

"You" replied the Wizard.

"Then have me" said the Queen as she began to remove her cloths. The Wizard was lost as he lustfully glared at her beautiful body. The Queen approached him and the wizard, having not touched any woman all his life due to his inability to say what he wanted was swallowing hard as the Queen romantically put her arm round his neck. Suddenly the wizard heard a noise and raised his head up and to his utter shock, saw the mad man escaping with the princess on a horse. The wizard screamed, turned to look at the Queen and saw that she had dressed up. He realised that the Queen deceived him so that her daughter could be saved by the mad man.

"It is me you need not my daughter" said the Queen before the wizard gave her a sound slap.

"If they are riding back to Bami they will be dead anyway; when the prince of Ikotu wages war on Bami" said the wizard.

"I'm not stupid. They are not riding back to Bami" said the Queen and the wizard slapped her again, this time using his magical power. The Queen fell and fainted.

****

When the King of Ikotu got home he was shocked to see all his armies summoned to his grand palace by his son. He tried to challenge him but the prince ordered for his father's arrest at once. The king of Ikotu was arrested at once and put into the cell.

"Now, it is time for war" said the prince.

The King of Bami was restless. He didn't know what to think of. Was he to think of his missing wife and daughter or the raging prince of Ikotu who is threatening his kingdom with war? He decided to prepare his armies for war too.

****

Kaka was still riding his horse when the princess opened her eyes and began to struggle on the horse. Kaka lost control of the horse and both of them fell heavily on the ground. The horse ran away. The princess jumped up and started running. Kaka ran after her but soon the princess disappeared into the thickest part of the forest. Kaka stood in confusion.

The Princess continued to run inside the forest without stopping. She mistakingly ran into the den of bandits and rapists. The hungry and dangerously looking men caught her and took her into their dirty tent in the forest and tied her up.

"This one is royalty. Check her attire and bracelets" said one of the bandits. The princess was crying by now as she begged them to let her go. "My Father will pay anything"

"Yes that's why we need you; for him to pay" said the leader of the bandit as he smiled and showed his black teeth.

"Let her go" said Kaka, who was already standing right in front of the tent. The bandits turned and seeing him seized their clubs and hackers and went for him. Kaka decided to show his talent in beating. He fought them and few minutes later they were all lying and groaning painfully on the ground. The princess watched as Kaka approached her inside the tent and said, "why were you running away from me?"

"I didn't know who you were. I was scared" said the princess.

"OK. That means I should leave you and go my way right?" He said and turned to go.

"No please. Set me free" she cried.

Kaka hesitated and returned to untie her. Stooping beside her he said, "your mum put you in my care. So be wise not to run off again next time" he finished untying her, stood up and walked off. The princess jumped up and ran after him, urging him to explain to her what brought her into the forest. Kaka explained everything to her. After a long explanation the princess sat on the ground and asked with tears, "where are we headed to now?"

Kaka didn't know what to answer but the plan was not to return to Bami.

****

The army of Ikotu was already on their match to Bami. In Bami, the King of Bami knelt in front of his late father's symbol of strength and prayed. He begged the symbol to fight for him. To give him and his army the strength to defeat the Ikotu soldiers. Lastly he nearly cried and begged the symbol to keep his wife and daughter save wherever they were, for their sake he fights. After his prayers he got up and suddenly one of his soldiers ran inside, panting heavily.

"My lord, our horses are dying and some of our soldiers are becoming sick" the soldier revealed. The King was dumbfounded. His priest walked in and said, "the spirit of your father's symbol of strength just left the palace. I can feel it" the King couldn't understand if he was the cause of it.

****

In the forest, the wizard entered a small tribe called Afu where he had wicked wizard friends who would support his evil plots. He planned to nest there with the Queen until the war between Bami and Ikotu was over.

When he entered the tribe and entered the hut of one of the greatest wizards of Afu he was scared to hear what the Wizard had to ask him.

"Did you kill the man you made mad?"

"No" he answered and explained what happened.

The wizard from Afu got up and said, "it was a big mistake to let him live. The husband to the woman you carry has prayed to his ancestors. Get up. We are going back to that forest to kill the mad man and the princess before it is too late.

****

In the forest, the princess ran to Kaka where he was supposed to be plucking fruits and found him on the ground with his eyes closed. The princess was scared as she called his name, knelt beside him and shook him but Kaka still laid there. The princess looked up and beheld the Wizard from Bami and the one from Afu on their horses, staring at them. The princess didn't know what to do.

From where the two wizards were standing on their horses the wizard from Afu said"It is too late. We came late".

"What do you mean? Let's kill them" said the Wizard from Bami but the second wizard shook his head and said, "the spirit of the ancestors of the husband of the woman you brought to Afu has entered the being of the young man. He is neither dead nor sick. We must ride back, take the woman and leave Afu as soon as possible"

They immediately rode away. The princess wondered why they did not try to kill her. Suddenly Kaka coughed and got up. The princess wanted to ask him a question but he said, "let's go to Afu"

"Where is Afu?" The princess asked.