The Legend of Cush

Prince Memuka

Chapter 6: Prince Memuka

The Prince of the Underworld, addressed as lord Memuka by those he bears rule over was enraged by the defeat he suffered in the hands of the unassuming Lesser spirit. The Sun spirit is gentle in appearance, harmless and a helper and friends to both man and gods, subtle in his approach to issues, but fierce in retribution especially where injustice is concerned. He has taken exception to the relationship between Memuka and Queen Aqamasi and the dreary influence it yielded to Itamadi the magician, a foe of the guardian god of the Seven seas.

He counted on the board he hung on an iroko tree the number of days left until Itamadi is hung there. And so when Memuka recovered from his blow, discovered Adida has been released from the dungeon by the Lesser spirit he raged the entire night and the whole of the dark kingdom of the Underworld felt his rage. His Oversize rage such as this coming from the Prince is rare, and only when it wounds his ego or a terrible blunder has been committed by one of his hounds. On this day his ego is so deeply wounded and Lesser spirit, and so very often, has yet again outsmarted him, in his own kingdom, he couldn’t believe, accept or stomach the insult.

And on such occasions the denizens of the Underworld will feel his wrath, he would increase their torment, send more soldiers on the earth to wreck atrocities on the earth. He would summon his human acolytes to an emergency consultation. He never takes the blame, never reproach himself for his acts of self-interest, he will blame everybody except himself, but he was right there when the little Lesser spirit pulled one of his numerous tricks on him. In such moments as this, the Lesser spirit will gather friendly spirit beings and attack the Prince Memuka’s hounds from the Underworld, prevent them from disturbing the peace of the earth, caught and hang them in a second spirit death thereby reducing the numbers of soldiers loyal to him. Those who escape the hunt will return to him and report the Lesser’s spirit assault on them, and the more he will rage and vow to go after him but he never does leave his domain.

Tonight he called a general meeting with his human acolytes, all the magicians of Abyssinia which include Queen Aqamasi and Itamadi and among the gods in attendance are the god of Death Soza, Libi the god of Strength and a god who introduce herself as Ashera, the Earth goddess. On these gods, he exercises no authority over them; they came merely as observers, and they don’t sit, they float like balloons in the air. Memuka’s aim to have them attend his meetings is self-interested and a psychological game he plays to win their favor by honoring them with invitations in return for future favors.

The moment the gathering was seated, Memuka walked in with red flaming eyes, furious. He looked around at all seated, and bellowed, “who has not come tonight?” one of his hounds spoke, “my lord, the Priestess of Zo, she sends no word either.”

 “She is banished from my kingdom, her powers taken from her”, “Too late”, Queen Aqamasi, the witch cut in, “Who dare speak, when I speak”, Memuka fumed, “I speak”, Aqamasi returned in a similar fashion, “How dare you, witch, challenge my authority, I m the Prince of the Underworld, no one challenges my authority”, he growled aloud, “She is forbidden forever in my presence”. “But, Priestess Arasha is now allied with the spirit of the Seven seas”, the name ‘Guardian’ is forbidden to be mentioned in their gathering, the Prince feared no being as the guardian god of the Seven seas but hides in the guise that he is an enemy and in truth, a foe that became his nemesis.

“Some here are traitors, they trade in other worlds only to come here and reveal our secrets. They gave out the secret of Adida’s dungeon, who is the traitor among us?”  No one spoke, they all bowed except the gods and Queen Aqamasi, and when she was reminded to bow, she walks out of the gathering and as the hounds made to go after her the Prince bar them and that was when the commotion burst, everyone in attendance began shouting ‘betrayal, betrayal, betrayal’ and like that the meeting broke up and all disperse in their peculiar ways; those that fly did so, those that vanished did so and those who melted into the earth did so and Memuka was left with his hounds, more enraged that the witch could challenge his authority without repercussion and the loss of respect that follows, and painfully, before the gods.

What has come over him? What? Has the witch gotten the mastery over him, the Prince of the Underworld? He commanded a throne, and presently he marched towards it and mounted it and his hounds bowing and howling in obeisance. At such times Memuka is appeased by nothing except worship by his hounds that will dutifully fall at his feet and sing him praises of his might and fame. “Oh lord Memuka”, their leader will begin, “Do not let mortals destroy your joy, they are untrustworthy. As for your kingdom, you’ve conquered all, and shall reign forever”, and such will go on and a smile will break on his reddened face and the flaming eyes will turn green indicating he has been pacified and his wrath relaxed.

Matella’s Guardian spirit watched all that happened in the botched meeting by perching on the shoulders of Itamadi the magician, signifying a more superior power to that of the magician because he only felt a weight on him, but could not detect the source of it. He was there and Memuka and his hounds could not detect him, and later when it was told him that his arch-enemy was among them he wondered how that could be possible. He believes now truly a traitor betraying him to his enemies is very close around him and must reorganize his kingdom, this he vows to do and promote whoever captures his enemy, the Lesser spirit. But Memuka knows to ever capture the Lesser spirit will take more than just effort because his enemy is a friend to all the gods, they report to him any harm coming his way and he takes precautions.

Suddenly, one of his hounds ran in and bowed, “lord Memuka, we find out that the enemy hung on the shoulder of Itamadi the magician while the meeting lasted”.

“Itamadi, the magician has betrayed the spoon that feeds his mouth. Banish him henceforth”. Memuka foamed with raged.

“But lord Memuka, he is not the traitor, Queen Aqamasi is”. “How did you know this, hound”, he asked menacingly moving towards the hound that cringes, and bowed, “Memuka, we are reliably informed of this by the Soza, the god of Death.”

“Summon him on my invitation”, he commanded, “Oh lord Memuka Soza said he can’t see your face, you sold it to Queen Aqamasi the witch”, before the words could fall from his hound’s mouth he pounced on him, and others rushed him and in minutes he was shredded in pieces.

“Queen Aqamasi shall pay the price of his disloyalty, she is banished and her powers withdrawn”, Memuka said. This was an empty boast and needless threat since Queen Aqamasi has acquired diabolical powers that are beyond Memuka to retrieve except she submits them willingly.

Tonight after the events and revelations of the meeting, Prince Memuka was quiet, sobered, and somewhat regretting the killing of his most trusted hound for what he knows to be the truth. He sat alone on his majestic throne, forbidding any soul to come near him until called for. He felt threatened but he remains Prince Memuka, the overlord of the Underworld, every other entity operating within his domain are under him as the master of magicians and witches, they may rebel all they want, but when power is involved, which he will take away from those he intends to so do, they will come to him, and he shall reward each according to his works.

However, the most painful truth, reality had to swallow for him is the truth that he did not hold all the powers, that they can as well obtain magical and wizardry powers from other spiritual entities other than him. With whom would he strike an alliance to stop them from accessing any more powers? That Libi is ambitious and envious is obvious and Soza is malignant and highly untrustworthy is a fact he must accept. Ashera the Earth goddess is full of her sense of justice and he can’t go to the being of Seven seas, the strongest among them. But he will surely fight his fights and one after another they will all fall and he, Prince Memuka, the one who rules the Underworld would remain, eternal. Then from nowhere, he heard a burst of strange laughter echoing in the deepest chambers of his kingdom, and he shouted for his hounds that came running in to meet him raging, with flaming eyes.

Memuka knew he must act fast or he will lose the momentum his rage is building up in him, the will to do as he intends to do, wrest control from the arrogant gods, and reign over the empire. He must stop the grand plan of the Sun god to destroy friendly gods through the human he is grooming in the Forest of Death. However, he also knew that he must not be directly involved, any force against the Sun-god is ruled out and the better option is to hatch a plan and through proxies fight the enemy his existence.