When the footsteps, becomes distant Klean moves a little behind the pillars and before Ajifah can warn him about the jars set around the pillars as traps for intruding visitors, he kicks it and it crashes to the floor and breaks into pieces. Everyone freezes in their position including Klean and their heartbeat increases and they hope they don't set off too much signal to the guards who marched past just now.
"Who's there? Show yourself!!" orders one of the guards with a hard voice and Klean steps out from behind the pillars where he and Ajifah are hiding, giving only himself away.
The guard immediately becomes alerted and draws his sword once Klean steps out of the shadow, but not before Dubem, one of the warriors on Klean team snap his neck and the guard crash to the ground lifeless.
Two guard coming out from their patrol sees Ajifah, Klean and Dubem, standing over the dead guards and pulls out the sword, "Quick, tell the others ring the bell," the older guard barely finish telling the younger guard when Klean surge forward and thrusts his sword into him and he crashes to the ground. The younger guard runs as fast as he can to alert the rest about the intruders in the place.
Ajifah immediately draws her bow and arrow although he's almost out of sight she let it go and it flies off swiftly, piercing into the chest of the guard and he falls down to the ground. Ola and Dubem goes over to the guards and they take their body out of sight to clear out suspicion while Klean and Jami take care of the two on the ground before them.
The enter into the outer part of the throne room and Ajifah realises that Klean was right, king Tyosar may not have had the knowledge of them coming, but he did secure the palace and there are about a dozen guards with spears protecting the entrance to the throne room and once they see Ajifah and the rest, they move to attack.
"Make sure no one escapes!" Ajifah tells the rest as she pulls out three of her blades and throws them at the guards, piercing into their throats and they fall to the ground.
Klean and Ola pulls out their swords and cuts in two the spears of the guards running to attack them before thrusting them into the guards and they fall to the palace floor lifeless. Jami and Dubem swiftly ducks when the two guards standing in front of them surge towards them with their spears and once at their backs, they pull out their daggers and pierce them through the guard's back, into their heart before pulling them out. The lifeless bodies of both guards drop to the ground.
The rest guard are now five facing off Ajifah's team of five as well, but unlike the ones who they just took out, these had spear and shield. The guards stretch out their spears and hold out their shield before stepping forward.
"No matter what, protect your princess!" Klean tells the rest and they move to stand before the princess.
"I can protect myself, do what you need to!" She tells them and they spread out and began fighting them while she draw her bow and arrow and releases it. The guards blocks the arrow by raising his shield up and the arrow bounces off and fall to the ground. He then lifts spear and thrust it at Ajifah and barely dodges as his spear pieces her gown and rents it into two.
"Ajifah!!" Klean calls turning his attention to her as he heard her sharp intake of breath.
"I am alright!" She tells him and he returns to fighting the guard before him and she toss her bow and arrow away and pulls out her blade.
"Your blade can't help you dear princess."
"It can slow you down." She replies, backing further a few feet's away from him before throwing the first blade out and it pierces into his legs and he groans out in pain she pulls another out and throws it and it goes in higher above his kneel and the third going into his thigh and his legs looses their strength and he drops to his knees, loosing his grip on the shield and it rolls over to where Ajifah is standing and she picks it up and smack it across his face and he falls to the ground unconscious.
Jami crack the neck of the guards he's on top of before getting up and coming over to where Ajifah and Dubem are and the rest two are barely done when they hear heavy foot step on the ground and they manage to knock the guards out and turn around ready for the attack when they see that the ones marching towards them were the rest fifteen warrior who they came with.
They rest their defenses immediately and the rest fifteen join them up and together the walk to the door of the throne room and push it open. Once open, they all storm in to find King Tyosar currently sitting on the throne, surrounded by a dozen King's warriors and once they see Ajifah and the rest nineteen warriors, they draw their swords and ready their spears, prepare to engage in a fight.
Ajifah immediately speaks up, "I'm not here for any of you, we've laid down so many lives to get here already, but if you stand in our way, we will cross your dead bodies and still end up getting to him." She tells them, pointing to Tyosar and making the warriors stop midway on their attack.
"What are you waiting for?" demands Tyosar angrily. "Kill them all, bring me all their heads."
"Listen to your princess, she cares about your lives and that's the reason we aren't slaughtering you all now, he clearly doesn't. We clearly outnumber you two to one, you don't stand a chance against us, and we only want him. Stand down and save your own lives." Nnamdi says calmly although his own sword is already drawn and held out in case of an attack.
"Attack!" Tyosar commands harder, his voice laced with venom and menace "Protect you king!"
"Your king doesn't care if you live or died as long as he lives! Is that the kind of king you want to follow?" Ajifah demands, looking at them.
As they step towards them, Klean speaks up, recognising a few faces, "Brothers your princess has spoken, lay down your weapons and pledge your allegiance to the rightful heir tot he throne and you will be allowed to live, fight us now and you will die."
"Attack!" Tyosar yells, slamming his palm on the arm of the throne. "Kill them all!"
Ajifah and the rest nineteen ready themselves for the attack, but instead of the King's warriors attacking as instructed by the king, they throw down their swords and get on one kneel before princess Ajifah.
Jami and Dubem goes over to the Tyosar on the throne and take him off it. "What are you doing?!" Exclaims Tyosar angrily, glaring at Ajifah who is still standing before the warriors pledging obeisance to her. They drag him out of the throne room to be kept in a cell and guarded until the morning.
"You may rise warrior." Ajifah instructs and they rise as instructed. "I am taking my uncle Tyosar to stand before the gods at trial tomorrow. You will need to rally the warriors sworn to him over to our cause before then so that we can drive the armies beyond the seas from our land as soon as the dawns comes."
"Ola and I will go with them." Agada says before following the warriors out.
As the warriors walk away, she then turns to Nnamdi, "This is the time to give the signal for the rest to join us up."
At her word, Nnamdi depart with ten other warriors with him as he had been given orders of sending the message to the waiting warriors as well as meeting the fortress's chief priest beforehand. The rest ten warriors are in charge of protecting the princess and although Ajifah rebelled against it when Nnamdi had suggested it yesterday, she knew she couldn't win the battle; not after he told her that 'the future Queen needs to be protected.'
The rest eight warriors spread out to the different angles of the throne room and Ajifah climb up a few stairs to come stand before the throne. The last time she was here, her uncles Tyosar said all cruel things to her and banished her from the kingdom and now here she is, taking back what she's lost.
"The throne is yours, just like you always wanted." Klean says from behind her and she turns to him.
"The throne is not mine until my uncle stands at trial and is declared unfit for the throne. Ever since I was a old enough to think for myself, I've wondered if I would be good enough to take father's place. He was so perfect and good, a perfect description of what a true leader should be. He loves his people and his land and wanted to protect them for whatever came, he loved his wife and stayed with her even when all they had was me and he loved me and chose me even though everyone else even the nobles and his brother didn't. He told me the throne will be mine when the time is right."
"The time is right princess, tomorrow you are going to stand before the gods and before your people and the people are going to hear you speak and they are going to hear your voice and they will love you."
"What did the Queen say to you?" She ask, her eyes fixing in his and wanting to not miss any reaction they gives.
"Princess Ajifah..." He began, trailing off slowly, his voice making obvious his path to denial.
"Don't try to deny it, she said something and you have been different ever since then, tell me what she said and don't try to cover it up."
He sighs in defeat, having no escape from her question. "She said I wasn't good enough for you Princess, she said I was a distraction, one which I do not need now and she's right." Admitting to the princess that the Queen was right hurt him so much because he believes that he isn't a distraction and although he doesn't come from a wealthy or noble family he knows he can make the princess happy and not just do it for the gain or the fame that comes with it.
Ajifah's eyes widens in surprise, "You believe her?"
He wants to say he doesn't, but he can't and neither can he say yes because that would be a lie, so instead he says, "The kingdom is of the utmost importance now."
"Yes, you're right, it is." She looks away and nods in agreement although her heart wants to rebel against his words and make him understand that he was wrong to ever consider himself a distraction on her way. "Hopefully tomorrow the people will get to choose who they want to rule over them."
"And they will chose right, have faith in that Princess Ajifah."
"Thank you Klean son of Ella." She says before he steps away from her and resume his position a little away from her.
No one in the throne room had slept into the morning because by the time the raiding of the armies beyond the sea was done and the news brought by Nnamdi to Ajifah as well as the message to fortress chief priest, it was a few hours past midnight. At the third crow for the cock after that, the dawn of the day was come. As the sun of the new day sets, Tyosar is dragged out by Jami and Dubem the warriors who had taken him away yesterday and brought to his knees in front of Ajifah who has climbed down the stairs and is now standing a few stairs away from the throne, both Klean and Taiwo standing at both sides.
"You can't kill me!" He says as he struggle with the two warriors holding him down. "I am a royal blood, you will become even more despicable than you already are if you kill me!" He spit out.
"You're right Uncle, I can't kill you. You are a royal and thereby at an advantage, but do you know who would not think twice to kill you? The men and women whose children you're planning to sell out as slaves to the kingdom beyond the sea."
Adaji's eyes widens in surprise as he stared at Ajifah, confused how she had known such information. "Next time don't tell your plans to whores, they'll tell it to another who pays them better." Taiwo says because he'd followed Zara a whore well know for pleasuring only the Royal for days and when he finally got in with her, he posed as a Royal himself and gave her a lot of silver and that was what it took for her to open everything up.
"Bastards!!" Adaji tries to get on his feet and attack Taiwo, but he's held down and unable to move. "Bastard! You surround yourself with these lowlifes and you think the people will let you rule them."
"I think we are going to find that out today, you and I are going to stand trial for our sins and confess at the fortress, in front of the whole people and see whose sins are more."
His eyes flicker with anxiety as he realises what Ajifah means and fear sets in, he tries to brush it away and act like he is untouchable. "You think any of these people will obey and follow you? There are commoners, thugs and you're a girl the nobles will never accept you because you're not enough for them, you will never be their Queen." he spit out the word like venom just like he always have.
Ajifah doesn't let it get to her unlike before, she's been through hell since her father died. Being thrown into the cell, starved, humiliated, banished, raped and abused and she's still here, even stronger than the last time.
Ajifah boldly steps before him, "I will be their Queen because I am more than you will ever be."
They dragged him after Ajifah who makes her way to the Royal fortress where the confession will take place before. Built to accommodate more than three thousand people, the fortress is able to holds the largest number of people in the whole kingdom and has been the place for judgment. The high priest of the fortress who had been informed by the warriors about the happening of today is already waiting for them as well as a very large number of people in attendant.
After the signal of the take over was sent to the rest warriors and the armies beyond the sea subdued, the last assignment was to dispatch little messages of the event set to happen at the fortress. This was sent by creating a blue lighting in the sky, which is the fastest and most understandable way to communicate with the people in the kingdom.
The blue lighting was created a few decades ago when King Kayode, king Kalu grandfather realised the king beyond the sea was planning to attack the kingdom, the blue lightning was used to send a quick message and alert the people and bring them into the fortress which had a solid stronghold and strongest foundation in all the kingdom then. Ever since then, the blue lightning has been the form of communicating to the people to meet up at the fortress as soon as the sun set. So when the people saw a blue light in the sky in the morning, they knew what the message was.
The fortress has always been a last hope of justice for a very long time and Ajifah is also hoping to get justice today. She could order her uncle's Tyosar's death, but like he had said earlier, that would make her an even unfit choice for the throne she's fighting to hard to get.
She remember that her father had told her a story about the king who had twins, two sons at the same time and the king called them Ebele and Enemi and then she later read about them in the history book. The boys were both princes but only one was going to rule as king so they both trained, one more than the other and though they were both committed, one was more committed than the other. Ebele was who the Nobles chose, while Enemi was who the people loved. The king, their father died on the battle field while Enemi was gravely injured at the same battle field and was left in the hands of the gods as nothing could be done to make certain his recovery.
When Enemi finally woke up, Ebele had already been sworn in as king and ruler of the kingdom. As Enemi recovered, he felt he was cheated and wrong by Ebele his brother because he knew he was more deserving of the throne and therefore request his brother to the fortress where they would be judge equally and the most suited for the crown will wear the crown and rule as king.
Since the king never chose his successor it was then in the hands of the priest to make the best choice without being partial and dig deeper and enquire even into the very darkest of sins because it was part of what they had sworn before becoming chief priest. The priest stood before the people who had assemble before them and asked Ebele and Enemi to confess there sins just like commoners will, because once you're standing before the people you stand as one of them and not their ruler.
Enemi confession that day gave him the throne which he fleet was rightfully his and he became king and ruler, while his Ebele's confession sent him into exile because his sin was grievous against his people.
And now it is Ajifah and Tyosar's turn to do the same.