Chapter Twenty-four-
The next morning the sky was cloudy and gray when servants finished loading the luggage, gifts, and food for the voyage to Orbus. As I stood outside with Pharaoh, Queen Kiya, and Jamila, I wondered if Sumra was upset that Pharaoh was leaving Orbus. The wind carried water drops from the Ummera to the shore, causing it to be cold and wet. It made sense for any of the gods to be upset that Pharaoh was leaving. Without him here to guide and protect our country, problems could arise which worried me greatly. Even as I stood there my stomach twisted nervously. I did not know what would happen after I boarded Anippe but I knew something dreadful would happen after we left.
Nala walked down the ramp that connected to the boat and the ground and then approached us and bowed. "Anippe is now ready to board, Your Majesty," she said to Pharaoh.
He nodded, his hands behind his back. He turned to me. "Let us board," he said and walked towards the ramp.
"Pharaoh!" Queen Kiya called out desperately, her hand reaching out slightly as he walked away.
He glanced back and stated,"I thought I told you that you were not coming with us."
"You did, Your Majesty," she walked over to him, her hands dropping down at her sides. "You just did not say goodbye to me."
"Oh that is right," he said, obviously not caring that he had forgotten.
He was about to turn away once more, but Queen Kiya's hands flew up and gently held his face in her hands. She then placed a surprisingly loving kiss on his lips and then stepped away, knowing that Pharaoh would not kiss her back. For a second I saw Queen Kiya's eyes glassy and once she blinked they returned back to normal.
Pharaoh was like a statue. His face was emotionless and just in a second he turned around and said, "Let's go, Kamila," and he walked onto the ramp and onto Anippe.
I followed with Mosi, Ekene, and Nala behind me, glancing back as I did so. I saw Jamila hold her mother's hands, whispering something in her ear and released her to board Anippe. It was odd what I just witnessed. I did not know the queen was capable of love, especially towards my father. This entire time I believed her to not love Father but wanted him only so that she could be Queen. Maybe she loved Father after all or maybe she just put on a show. I was confused. I could never tell with Queen Kiya.
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It took a week to leave the Ummera and cross into the Enmiya Sea that leads to Orbus. It was now almost two months since our journey began, and I was sick and tired of being kept on a ship with practically nothing to do. Achedemis was not here to share his infinite wisdom, and I could not study anything. I enjoyed Father's attention and was happy to have Nala, Mosi, and Ekene at my side, but I disliked Jamila's presence. She seemed too happy--by that I meant the kind of happiness with a smirk on her face. She knew something and it bothered me that I did not know what it was.
I watched Jamila as she took another bite out of her dried meat, smirking as she chewed slowly. She swallowed and said,"Kamila I know you are staring me down. As much as I love to be stared at, you must have other reasoning to do so than most."
"I am just curious about that smirk on your face, Jamila," I said as I sipped more wine.
Jamila took her fork and stabbed another piece of dried meat. "Why? Do you not like me being happy?"
"From all of the years that I have known you Jamila, I have learned that being happy is not your thing," I said coldly.
"Shouldn't everyone be allowed a chance at happiness?" Jamila leaned forward, savagely tearing into the dried meat.
"Yes but some have already ruined their chances," I said harshly as I also leaned forward.
"So you are saying that I already ruined my chance at happiness?" Jamila raised her eyebrows and leaned away, straightening herself back up.
I sat back up and said nothing.
"I assure you that I have done nothing to ruin my chances. In fact the gods want me to be happy. It is in my future that I will be happy,'' Jamila smirked even more.
"And how do you know that?"
"Because for starters, I am the one who will marry Prince Atticus," she grinned as she took another bite of dried meat.
I would be lying if my heart did not ache a little as she said those poisonous words. Pharaoh must have told her or she must have overheard it. Either way it did not matter. She must have known since the last time the Orbans visited us. It was not like it was that hard to figure out.
"I see that you are now speechless, which does not surprise me one bit," she laughed and swallowed. "You did love him after all."
Flashbacks of a certain conversation with my sisters years ago played throughout my mind, especially the part where I believed for the first time that Jamila was being nice to me.
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"Just because I am happy doesn't mean it is because of a man. I can be just as happy without one."
Jamila's sly smile grew, showing off her pretty white teeth. "That is true but it is too late. I already know you are in love with this boy."
"In love?" I laugh it off as if it were preposterous. Besides, how would Jamila know?
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I must have been so stupid to think that Jamila knew nothing about him at the time. It was obvious to Jamila and her mother. Her mother... I shuddered thinking about the times she abused me.
"You are so stupid Kamila," Jamila laughed. "You thought that I would never catch on to the two of you, but deary, you are as easy to read as a papyrus scroll."
I could not do or say anything back. I was frozen.
"Even after all of this time you still love him, but you should have known better."
But she was wrong. I did not love him. I could not love him after what he did to me. He threw me away like I was a disgusting chamber pot--a lovely thing to compare to I know.
I stood up. "But alas I do not love him. It was true that I was infatuated with him once but what happened between us taught me one thing: you two deserve each other. You are both despicable and I do not want any part of it."
"So you are giving me your blessing to marry him?" Her smile somehow grew even wider.
"I would rather go to Eljahaim than give you my blessing," I hissed and stormed out of the dining quarters.
I went into my bedchambers and sat on the right side of my bed, and I took one of my pillows and began to beat it angrily.
"Princess what are you doing?" Nala ran to my side. "What is wrong?"
"It is just my wonderful sister Jamila," I gritted my teeth as I threw my pillow back to its original position on the bed and folded my arms.
"I figured it would be her. She is the only one on this ship that is capable of angering you," she sat down beside me and held my hand to comfort me. "What did she do this time?"
"It is not what she did but what she said that angered me," I breathed in and out heavily.
"And what was that?"
"She talked about," I stopped. Even thinking of him made me angry. I took a deep breath. "She rubbed in the fact that she is marrying the Prince of Orbus and that I am not."
Nala smiled.
"Nala what on Udderada are you smiling about because I pray to the gods it isn't over my anger?"
"I am smiling because her words have led you to the truth about yourself. You haven't gotten over the prince." She nodded towards the nightstand with the rose the prince had given me long ago in its vase.
"Why can't you understand that I have gotten over him?"
"You would not have reacted the way you did if you did not love him. That rose is a symbol of your love."
"If it was a symbol our love then why it is still in its vase Nala? Why are you keeping alive? If our so called 'love' is true then it would not need water," I said and picked up the vase and threw it. The vase hit the wall of the bedchamber and shattered, causing the water to pour out and sink beneath the wood flooring and the rose to land on top of the shattered pieces unharmed.
Nala rushed over to pick up the shards but I stopped her. "Nala I thought we had discussed this before. I thought we weren't going to keep the rose in water to prove that--well you know what you were going to prove. How could you not do as we discussed?"
"Forgive me Princess Kamila, but I did not want to keep the rose out of water because I was afraid of it dying."
"So you are afraid that you are wrong and that the prince and I do not belong together?"
"No its not that! I do not believe that you two belong together but know that you two do. I was just afraid that the gods would not keep the rose alive," she said with strength in her voice.
"You know what, I do not care anymore. In fact, you can keep the rose and do whatever you want with it because I am done with it. I do not need something that keeps reminding me of him," I got into bed and wrapped myself in the blankets.
"But Princess-"
Just listen to me for once, Nala. That is the least you can do," I said, facing myself to the left side of the bed.
"Yes, Your Highess," I heard her say softly before she left my chambers, hopefully taking that pesky rose with her.
I lied in bed staring at the wooden walls of my bedchambers. I felt Anippe rock back and forth. Usually that tends to make me feel sick but since I was in bed, I felt as if the ship was rocking me to sleep like my wetnurse did when I was a baby. I felt myself growing more tired by the second and in just minutes I closed my eyes and was lulled into a deep sleep.
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Ovalemna's pale silver light shone down from the dark sky around the city of Mordina. Ovalemna seemed protective over the city, guarding it from the evils in this world. Clouds were scattered everywhere across Beliba, but left Mordina cloudless.
In a tall tree was a nest with a falcon resting comfortably inside. The falcon had beautiful tawny and red feathers, a sharp dark beak, and strong formidable talons that stabbed into flesh as easily as a knife. The falcon was so deep into sleep that it did not notice the black snake slithering up the tree.
The snake's tongue smelled the air and it followed the scent of its prey. Snakes were one of the falcons favorite treats but deep into slumber the falcon was rendered powerless, and the snake could easily turn the falcon into a scrumptious meal. The snake shimmered as the light sparkled on and off its black scales as it moved back and forth between the light and the night. The snake thought about the falcon and what it had done to its family. The falcon had slaughtered them in cold blood, leaving nothing but one of the snake's eyes left. The snake remembered that day with pain and seething anger. The snake was going to avenge their deaths. The snake was going to kill tonight.
Meanwhile in the Ummera was a pretty white ibis feeding in the water throughout the night. It paid attention to no one but focused on eating. After its meal black ibises woke up to admire the white ibis's beauty. They stared as the white ibis pruned its feathers but stopped when it saw that several of its feathers were missing on it's back and in their place was a terrible scar. The ibis squalled in pain because it realized it had reopened the wound after trying to prune. The ibis remembered where it got the wound from. The falcon fast asleep gave the ibis the deep wound when the ibis walked too close to its nesting tree. The falcon would not let anything come near, and if it did then the falcon would fatally wound the enemy or simply kill it. The ibis was an exception and managed to escape unharmed in the falcon's perceptive eyes. The ibis flapped its long big wings and planned to kill the falcon. The falcon would pay for what it has done.
In between the falcon's tree and the Ummera was another tree. This tree was not like the falcon's tree. It was bigger, stronger, and taller than the falcon's tree, making it the perfect place for a leopard to nap. The beautiful spotted leopard rested peacefully on the trees biggest branch, camouflaged by leaves. It was also the perfect place to hide and look for its next prey.
After heading the ibis's squalling the leopard woke up and yawned. The ibis had disturbed the leopard, making it annoyed and slightly angry. It watched the ibis as it slowly got out of the water and walked towards what the leopard had known as the falcon's tree. The leopard's tail flicked in curiosity. It wondered why the bird wanted to go near the falcon. The ibis was a flying snack to the leopard and falcon.
It looked to the falcon's tree to see something shimmering as it went up the tree. The leopard looked closer to see a snake slithering up. The leopard bared its white teeth. It hated snakes.
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Here is another chapter my lovelies! I hope you enjoyed it as always. Let me just say I don't know about you guys but I seriously want to see Prince Atticus again. It has been too long since I have written about him and miss him terribly. Hopefully in the next couple of chapters he will appear into our lives again, however brief that may be. I appreciate you guys so much and for supporting me! I have come a long way. I came from nothing to having wonderful readers like you guys! Until I write again,
Lithliya Omorose