"They shall fall into the snare they laid for you."
(Written).
(Edited).
•...•
She had gone back to her hut, just before the sun fully settled. Hours passed by as twilight blanketed the sky. The moon hung high and proud, and the stars twinkled in the midnight sky like little fireflies. She slept peacefully in her chamber, yet, she tossed around the sheets covering her bare skin. Sweat dripped down her rising chest as they clung to her body.
What was she thinking about? Although the night was airy and cool, heat still found its way to her body, causing her massive discomfort.
The morning she woke up, she forgot what had happened last night. Her mind ruminated over and over through her plans and its outco. She ran through so many possible scenarios of what could go wrong until a hand placed on her shoulder brought her out of her thoughts. She looked up at the male and she smiled gratefully at him. He understood — no words exchanged — as he responded with a nod and a small smile of his. She looked forward at the path she was walking through with four other males.
These males are — what you could say — her trustees. Drawing her attention out of their bickering, she focused her eyes on the path ahead, though her mind was sowhere else. She didn't even know when one of the males had called out to her, and as she noticed, she blanched not knowing what to do with six pairs of eyes looking at her. Snapping out of her daze, she cocked a brow at them making the male repeat his question.
Yet, her head was slightly muddled with anxiety, doubt, and worse... fear.
She was afraid, scared, terrified. ‘So many things could go wrong....! And if that happens, the deaths of so many people would be on her hand’. Her head was riddled with so many questions of "what if's".
‘What if the plan doesn't go accordingly?’ ;
‘What if soone died? Soone she cares about...’
But of course, she couldn't answer these questions that plagued her mind.
“Please stop thinking too much, your Highness,” a male spoke. She hadn't taken note that she was mumbling to herself, and as her n kept shut when she didn't answer the question, what she said rang out loud and clear. She jumped up, startled, then she visibly relaxed and said: “Don't call 'your Highness.'” They wanted to refute her claims, but she held up a single finger to silence them.
“We are not in public, there's no one here. So please don't make use of formalities whenever there's nobody around”. She surmised.
They gaped at her claims... At her demand. They had no other choice but to accept. In politics, there's nothing like friends. There are allies, those you keep in touch with for both parties to benefit from each other. There are acquaintances and associates; there are enemies, but there is no friend in things of politics.
If there are, then these friends would be used against you; they would be used as leverage to gain sothing from you. And you, having no other choice, would give in. The males knew this, and that's why they were shocked at what she had said. Even though she didn't say the 'f' word out loud, they still knew what it ant, and that ward their heart.
Yes, she looked tough on the outside, but years of staying with her had made them know that that's what she uses to protect herself, just in case soone hurts her.
It's sad, not having the trust to open up to soone, and the males sohow pitied her.
But they knew that she wouldn't like their pity, as ‘...It makes feel weak...’ She had said to them.
They trudged slowly, as if they thought of what they were about to do next was a cri. Technically, it was, sohow. But still, it was a necessity, a reluctant one albeit. They reached the place, the eting site and it felt like a huge stone had dropped on her heart as she looked at the imposing building, one that the whites had erected.
The building was hidden amongst the pine forest, making it difficult to navigate and find, but the trees had been marked discreetly so that they would be able to get there. The forest was eerily still; the symphony of birds chirping and the gentle blow of the wind was absent, and this made it bring tension and unease to the beholder. It was made of "blocks" and cented, unlike other houses in her monarch community.
They had painted it the color ashy-grey, and it blended into the dark during the night, almost becoming part of the darkness.
Almost...
Except for if the moon and stars shone brightly through the dark, but yet even in that darkness, it looked horrifying. Yes, as horrifying as those bedti stories told to children at night. The building's shadow spread across the area, further enhancing its "tremoring" tendencies.
She steeled her quaking nerves and stepped forward, leading the others to follow up with her movents, as it should be. They crossed the threshold of the building, moving inside and their eyes quickly focused on the rounded table with sets of chairs gathered around it. There were no upstairs in the building, with only the down floor as the only storey.
They all exchanged glances with each other before they quickly settled down on each chair. She blew out a breath, wanting to ease the tension of the drastity of her actions. The papers of their plans had been laid out before the table, by one of the males, along with the map of the Kingdom. They quickly addressed the matter, not wanting to delay any further. The notion of the eting? To take over a clan.
Other clans had fought against her taking over each of them, both verbally and war-like, and she had won. Except for that clan. The only clan she had been hesitant to dominate, even after everything its leader had done to her.
Her forr male clan.
That was the only clan that had opposed her actions, fighting valiantly against her and her forces. She snapped out of her thoughts and tuned back into the conversation amongst her n.
“...gather more forces and more weapons against them”. One spoke out, and another male agreed with him, “I'm with you on this matter. We don't know how they've been able to stand against us all these while, but we need to reinforce our arms. Increasing —”. The male was interrupted as another completed his sentence.
“— our ard forces make us stand a better chance against them. So no matter what they have prepared for us, with our increased warfare and ammunitions, we would have the upper hand against them”. The male said.
They all joined heads together and agreed before looking at her from her end of the table, waiting for her to input sothing, on whether they were ready to go on or not.
Her lips twitched in amusent as she thought; ‘Why look at when you've made the decision yourselves?’ Clearing her throat, she spoke up.
“The plans for increasing our n are all said well. Moving on, we should inform others to start preparing by backing food rations and other necessities we may need. It will be a two-day journey, and if we score through by night, we may make it to the opposite side before the dawn of the second day. The outskirts of the Onwuigwe forest, although not latched with evil spirits like the main part, will still carry slight strange happenings and disturbances.
So I say that you all, individually, should tell the n you'd managed to gather about its dangers.
“Give them a choice on whether to stay or leave after they have learned about the repercussions of tagging along and those who had agreed to follow through with the mission will be given a charm to protect themselves from the evil spirits. A month will be granted to you, to gather forces from anywhere you can before we set off”. She gave herself a mont of pause before continuing;
“After crossing the outskirts of the forest, beware, there will be a layer of mist from there onward. The mist, as told, is said to confuse anyone who enters into it. Sotis, making them hear the voices of their loved ones who had died, those people stray off the right path. As long as we stick together, we'll find a way through”.
She paused, letting the brief silence reign over them, and she looked into the eyes of every single one of them when she said; “And a way that I happen to know...” with a small smirk.
Shock and awe marred their faces at the fact that she already knew a way to bypass the misty area. “...No need to worry about their exact layout, I have gathered their coordinates from my spies,”
After hours of debriefing what they were supposed to expect on their mission along with what to do, they all exited the building, each person separating after crossing the pine forest, leaving her to her own devices.
The further she went away from the tall and looming building, the faster her body released its tension. With her palms fisted and eyes narrowed in determination, she quickly scanned anything she had not ntioned at the eting, but her mind ca up short.
Ever since she ascended the throne, the male and his clan were cut off from the Kingdom, becoming a small group of people — or, as you could say, ex-tribes — living together. Now, they stayed sowhere on the outskirts of the Kingdom, and how they had managed to cross over the barrier was sothing she couldn't fathom yet. The Kingdom had been in inequality and disarray from then onwards, and she planned on correcting that mistake.
This ga of tag she had been playing ever since must end.
‘It all begins now...‘
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