The Legend Of Dayo is rolling…

AARON ANSAH-AGYEMAN

THE LEGEND OF DAYO

SEASON 2: THE ATROCITY

CHAPTER 4

A King’s Choice

Temi looked at Juliet, and saw how profoundly satisfied and pompous she looked. She was now sure that her competitor was no longer a threat, for surely the king would not force himself on a girl who was so averse to marrying him.

And now Juliet had nothing but absolute contempt for the other girl. Temi hated the way the Juliet lady was preening like a proud peacock, showing pure disgust for everybody else, and suddenly he knew that he would not like Juliet to be his mother!

“You will not tell me who to marry, woman!” King Demi said as he looked at the distraught face Umm Ghameesa who was still clutching his leg. “But you will tell me why you are refusing the hand of the king in marriage!”

There were stunned murmurings from the crowd now.

Umm Ghameesa let go of the king’s leg and knelt in front of him with head bowed, her posture one of abject misery.

“Please, my Lord, do forgive a poor, wretched soul!” she wept bitterly.

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“You will not tell me who to forgive, woman!” King Demi said harshly. “You will tell me, in truth and nothing else, why you won’t marry me!”

Umm Ghameesa, weeping bitterly, spoke in a broken voice.

“I’m sorry, my Lord!” she said in a totally distressed voice. “My heart is for another! I love another! Indeed, I thought I would be able to go through this, but I can’t! I beg of you…I love another man! Do forgive me, in the abundance of your great mercies…have mercy on a poor wretched soul!”

There were shocked exclamations in the hall!

Many of the people present – both male and female – dropped their wine glasses with shock, and horrible groans filled the air. There were several splintering sounds as wine glasses shattered on the floor.

This was a taboo!

This was an abomination to be righted only by the deaths of Umm Ghameesa and whoever poor soul of a man that dared to link his heart to a woman betrothed from birth the king!

Juliet pursed her lips with evident disdain and disgust at the girl who was kneeling before the king.

Surprisingly, King Demi looked more intrigued than angry now.

He looked at the bowed head of Umm Ghameesa with something approaching disbelief on his face.

“And who is this man that you love, woman?” he asked, his voice puzzled.

“A labourer in my father’s vines, my Lord!” Umm Ghameesa wept bitterly. “Oh, forgive me, but I do love him sore!”

“You will refuse the hand of the King of Dayo in marriage in favour of a mere labourer?” King Demi shouted. “Are you of sound mind, woman? Do you realize that this will bring the death sentence to you and the young man? Will you rather die?”

The girl lifted her tear-drenched face toward the king, and even in the depths of her anguish he saw that there was pride and determination on her face.

“Marrying any other man apart from him will be a form of death in itself, my Lord!” she whispered gravely. “If death should come quicker by the sword, I so do wish it!”

There were screams now, and suddenly about six warriors swooped down on Umm Ghameesa and gripped her hard, their swords drawn.

But then an amazing thing happened.

King Demi threw back his head and laughed uproariously!

For a man who had just been publicly humiliated by a woman, he appeared to be buoyantly happy indeed, and on his face was the look of a very delighted man.

“Leave that girl alone!” he commanded, and the warriors released Umm Ghameesa immediately, their faces filled with confusion. “This girl is the bravest human being I’ve ever come across! Braver than even me, the king of Dayo!”

The king turned and looked at the stunned crowd.

Suddenly he reached down and drew his sword, and then pointed it into the air.

“I, King Demi of Dayo, do today decree that all kings in this great land of ours after me shall have the privilege of choosing their own queens! From today, the tradition of choosing a queen from only the two clans, Igbo and Yoruba, is hereby revoked! All kings, including me, shall choose their own queens!”

He put his sword back in its shield, and turned away from the stunned Umm Ghameesa.

There were loud cries of shock in the hall. The chief warrior bowed to the king.

“My Lord, what do we do with this woman?” he asked with some confusion.

“Give her a house, servants, land, and ten bars of Dayo Gold!” King Demi said, laughing as he hurried toward the door with the crown of a queen still in his hand. “She is to be given the status of Lordship, she and her husband, and will attend all functions at the palace as such. Because through her, I’ve been liberated!”

“My Lord!” Juliet screamed, running down the steps and then racing ungainly toward the king, who stopped and turned. “What are you doing, my Lord? Where are you going with my crown, my Lord?”

King Demi raised his eyebrows at her.

“Your crown?” he asked with a chuckle, and then he fondly patted her on the right cheek. “My dearest Juliet, I’m sorry, do forgive me. But this crown belongs to somebody else!”

“It is mine!” Juliet screamed furiously, her hate-filled eyes drilling into the king, and then she tried to snatch the crown from his hand, but the warriors held her arms and pulled her back. “I swear to you, my Lord, if you do take that crown away from me, you will regret it!”

There were screams from the people, and even the king’s eyes went very hard at that.

“I’ll pretend you didn’t say that, and so I didn’t hear it, Juliet, daughter of Igbo,” he said quietly, his voice acidic. “I would be very careful of my next words if I were you.”

Juliet struggled in the grips of the warriors as tears of fury and hatred fell down her face, but she did the sensible thing, and didn’t utter another word.

King Demi turned away from her, and once he left the hall he began to race down the corridor beyond. His mother, the old queen mother, came up behind him.

“My son!” she called, and King Demi turned to face her.

She approached him, and her face troubled was very troubled.

“What are you doing, my son?” she whispered hoarsely. “I’ve lost one son already! What calamity are you bringing down on us? That girl you’re going after is a slave girl! A girl whose ancestors have been slaves in the palace all their lives! Her great grandmother, her grandmother, her mother were all slaves in the palace! She herself is a slave here, born into it! You can’t make her Queen! It is unheard of! It is a taboo!”

King Demi approached her and hugged her lovingly, and then he kissed her fondly on the forehead.

“She might be a slave to you, my dearest sweet mother!” he said with a passionate note in his voice. “But Kelly Philip has been in this palace all her life, and I saw her, and I fell in love with her, and she is my world!”

“You love her for real?” his mother asked, shocked, her face worried.

“I’ll never love another, mother,” he said. “And, I do need your blessing.”

The old woman touched his cheeks gently.

“If she makes you happy, go for her!”

King Demi nodded, kissed his mother on both cheeks, and then he turned and raced away.

Temi, wondering, was suddenly aware of the light-headedness and dizziness. He knew suddenly that the spirit of Jhon Moziz was going to take him away from this sight and show him something else.

But Temi did not want to leave this!

He wanted to see this mysterious slave girl his father had referred to as Kelly Philip, a girl he couldn’t live without!  

But just as he opened his mouth to complain, everything went dark for him…

But almost immediately it became visible again, and he saw King Demi racing down a path on the back of a powerful black horse!

The king had left the palace far behind, and he was charging through a series of cottages in a less-privileged area of the kingdom!

He entered a yard, jumped off the horse, and raced into the cottage!

In the room were an old couple, two men, and two women sitting around a dining-table.

They looked at the king with shock and got to their feet immediately with horror, staring at the king with eyes popping out of their heads.

“Where’s she?” King Demi asked breathlessly. “Where’s Kelly Philip? Where’s is she, tell me now!”

Another door opened at the end of the dining-room, and a woman came in. She was dark, slender, tall and so beautiful!

She was wearing a simple white dress, and had a white scarf around her hair. In her hands was a pan of freshly-baked pies. On her face had been a look of horror, a look of death, the most dejected look Temi had ever seen.

But when she saw the king, she gently put the pan of meat pies down on a low table, and stood looking at him with tears falling down her face, her lips trembling hard.

The king approached her, and on his face was a look of sheer adoration and love.

“Kelly, my love!” he whispered tremulously. “I know I hurt you! Oh, I was such a fool for breaking your heart just to follow the customs of our people! I was a coward and a moron! It took a brave girl this evening to show me that love should be cherished, and that we need to fight for real love! To me, you’re not a slave, but the only woman in this kingdom and beyond, a woman my heart loves and adores.”

He fell down on one knee and held out the crown as tears filled his eyes.

“Kelly Philip, my love, my darling, will you be a poor king’s treasure?”

“Oh, my Demi!” Kelly murmured, and then she fell to her knees and her arms went around the king, and they hugged and kissed, and he put the crown on her head.

Temi watched, and if he had been able, he would have cried.

He knew, without a shadow of doubt, without a shred of disbelief, that this was his mother.

Temidayo felt so complete and warm as he stared down at his parents in that warm, loving embrace, sharing tears of joy and the power of true love.

It was an emotion he had not felt before, and he wanted to reach out and touch them, and be a part of them…

But suddenly he felt the light-headedness and dizziness approaching, and a moment later the darkness engulfed him.

He was so angry, unwilling to leave the sight of his parents finding each other…but he was happy too.

His parents found their way back to each other, indeed, and it gladdened his young heart.

These two, he knew, had formed him.

To know that he came to the world by the union of the mightiest king who ever lived, who defied tradition and decreed his love for a poor slave girl, from a love that great, really gladdened the young heart of Prince Temidayo David Dayo of the Dayo Empire.

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