The priest followed the twenty-one mercenaries and Augur to the front of the big black gate that separated the foreigner's land from the mafias' territory. "I missed Aries and wish he is here to go along with you," Priest announced, held Augur's shirt, peered at the mercenaries as they walked towards the truck parked outside the gate, then let out, "you must be careful. I can't afford to lose you as well." "Nothing will happen to me," Augur smiled and answered back. "I missed him too, but I can take care of myself. Be at ease." "I know you can, am just scared. This mission is not as easy as I had speculated." "Nothing good comes easy," Augur let out, pat Priest's shoulder, stepped out of the gate and reached the car side in a few seconds. He hopped inside and the car engine became alive and drive out of sight. The priest offered a silent prayer to the gods he believed in, turned and walked back, and the weight of his mood made his shoulder to be hunched as he disappeared among the
El Ramon had been busy for a while as he need to supervise the blocking of some of the secret routes that had been found out by outsiders. Today, he decided to stroll around the palace, and it was the cry of a baby that caught his attention as he walked toward Andrea's section. "Did you hear that?" He asked the mafias at his back. The men looked puzzled, bend their heads to a side, stood mobile for a while, and then grin from ear to ear at the undisputable cry of a newborn baby. "Yes, your highness. I guess lady Agatha had given birth." El Ramon looked lost for a while as he stare into space, nodded his head, dismissed the mafias at his back and strolled into the passage that leads to Andrea's room. "My lord. I just want to pacify this baby before coming to inform you of the blessing in disguise." "And what makes him a blessing in disguise?" "Lady Agatha is dead, and I can train him up as my first son. Isn't that marvellous to have a male, after I was been informed that am carr
The open space of the mafia palace was filled to the brims with the feet of maids, mafias, and sympathetic inhabitants who came to pay their last respect to the departing soul. It Cries and wails boomed as she was lowered into the six feet of the ground, and songs of adieu were rendered as sands were poured on the remain of lady Agatha.A moment later, the teary eyes of all the people became bright at the sight of a delicious meal, and their cries soon gave way to laughter when several locally made liquors were served in big jugs. When the sun was about to go for recess for the twilight to take over, everyone gathered in front of the podium, and they were seen swaying their head and dancing to the fable narrated by Andrea. Thousands of years ago when the earth is populated by animals and other powerful spirits, a great famine descended upon the animal kingdom and they soon start dying from hunger. When the handshake goes beyond the elbow, the tortoise decided to visit the great tro
Heaven wept after the burial of lady Agatha, as the windows of heaven opened and a downpour of water fell through the night. As soon as the dawn broke, Zuma was seen walking towards Andrea's section of the palace, passing through several rigorous checkpoints, and then appearing in her majesty's quarter."His highness send me to come for the newborn baby.""Here he is. Where are you taking him to?""Into the forest behind the palace. Am instructed to hide him and make sure no one knows of his murder.""Do as he instructed you. No one knows that the baby was removed from lady Agatha's stomach before her death.""Aye. That was why his excellency asked me to get rid of him before the news of him circulate the island.""Have him," Andrea scooped the baby up with the shawl, wrapped him up and placed him on the outstretched palms of Zuma, then let out, "come back to give me the feedback after.""I will, your majesty."Andrea's face was expressionless as Zuma bowed and walked out of her comp
Andrea and El Ramon were deep in conversation when Zuma entered the large parlour, bowed and stood with rapt attention as the two royal couples whispered among themselves, giggled at their jokes, and then peered at him. "How was the assignment?" "Done, your highness." "Did you have any remorse for killing him?" "None, your highness. I must obey the order and not be ruled by my emotion." "How about your men's training with the foreigners' seafarers?" "Going on smoothly. I was with them yesterday and am amazed at their improvement. They will be going into the deeper side of the sea for more training soon." "Tell them to be careful, the foreigners are not to be trusted." "They were all aware that they were amid enemies and I expect them to look after themselves always. Nevertheless, I will remind them of the necessity of always being cautious around all foreigners." "Have they made their desire known to you?" Andrea who had been listening to the ongoing conversation raised a ques
Because Zuma won't be going to the mafia's palace today, the hulk of a man woke up after the sun had already peeped in the sky, and he was seen rolling on top of his big mattress, yawning out with exhaustion and stood up with a moan."How I wish I can spend the whole of today in bed!" He mumbled to himself as he stepped into the bathroom, and the running of water from the shower can be heard for a while. A moment later, the reinvigorated mafia emerged out of the bathroom, wore a blue T-shirt and blue pant trousers, and was seen as he stepped out of his room into the corridor, and then out of the gate."Hey, Zuma!"He turned and stare at the lady who called out to him, then smile at the recognition of her face."Hello, Mandy. How is your sister's health?""She is fine and getting healed as fast as possible. Thanks for asking about her.""Where are you going?""Her Majesty allowed me to take today off so that we can have time to be together.""So kind of her, please come inside.""Aren
Mandy had spent the night at Zuma's house, then resumed to the palace as soon as the daybreak.Hours later, she was seen emerging out of Andrea's section of the castle, walking through the long hall, and then arriving at the open space in front of the fort."Hey, Mandy. Where are you going to?" Zuma who appeared from the corridor on the other side increased his stride and arrived beside the lady in a few seconds."I'm going on an errand for her majesty, and will be back soon.""We had a sleepless night and were having coitus till daybreak. Can't you beg her to send someone else, so that you can rest your weary bone?""There is time for everything. I will rest at night, and attend to my duty at daybreak. See you soon, my love.""Come back early and don't keep me waiting!"Mandy smiled, waved at her lover, turned about, resumed her journey, and was out of the palace gate in a few minutes. Her destination is the foreigners' dock, and she had a date with the short and handsome sailor who
Because the disagreement between the foreign Country P merchant had not yet been resolved, few among the men were seen inside the large hall. They were the Priest factions of merchants, and their gathering was to deliberate on the way forward."A man that jumped inside a river should not bemoan of cold," Priest said, smiling and staring at the twelve men in his front, then resumed his speech, "am glad few among you understand that it's never an easy task to snatched the crown from a reigning king.""Aye. Why should we give up after everything we have invested in this mission?""Since half of the merchants were with us, I think our share should be worth a ship when we pulled them together.""Augur is right. Now we have four ships while they were left with one.""They will soon come to us. They can't survive alone and will be back on their knees. But before then, I want us to deliberate on Banjo's demand. Should we give him a ship or not?""If a ship will give us the mafia crown. Then
The coronation proceeds the following day, and the wedding ceremony takes place three days later. Unfortunately, only one of the two suitors got married, while the other man was chained inside one of the cells in the dungeon. "Tell me how you start the fire that prompt your escape." "I send them out of the house with my continuous nagging and after hearing them lock the door at the other side, I raced into the kitchen, connect their oven to the socket and poured lots of dried papers inside. Then I dragged the cylinder of gas closer, lose it, and then hide inside the large freezer by the wall far off." "You take a great risk. What if you were burnt to death?" "He planned to kill me after all, so I decided to take my fate into my hands." "What happened afterwards." "I had drenched clothing with me, tied it over my nose, and then sneaked out of my hidden places. Since I had been in darkness for a long time, I can see two men searching blindly for me, so I jerked up a heavy rod and w
The dark witches were associated with evil, even before the reign of El Guje. And this was part of the reason why El Ramon was filled with anxiety as he alighted from the vehicle and was followed by his armed-to-the-teeth mafias."This place is filled with lots of bandits. Protect our prince with your lives." This order from the general is quite unnecessary because most of the bandits were probably shivering in their hideaways at the sight of the heavily armed mobs. And except for the sound of the rodents who scurried out of sight, the cock-a-doddle-do of the birds calling to their mates and the chirping of the insects searching for their breakfast, only the sound from the footsteps of the mafias seemed to be the disturbance to the serenity of that expanse forest. Moments later, the group arrived at the entrance of the dark witches' village, and all who set eyes on them scampered to the safety of their rooms. "Why are they running helter-skelter?" "Their previous experience in the
The journey to their destination was fast by driving, and the team arrived in a few hours, disembarked and spread across the deserted mass of land."This is the place where he stand and gawked at the ruin of that building.""Check and look for any item that can reveal the identity of the owner of this place."Apart from the Prince, none of the mafias knew what they were searching for, and this made them unearth several burnt gadgets, showed them to the prince, and then looked more puzzled when he shakes his head sideways in response."Where did this path leads to?""To the end of the island. It is an uninhabitable area of rocky land and a dangerous creek. And if we turn left then we will be heading towards the dark witches' village.""Let's drive there."The men breathed with relief when they were ordered to leave their blind search, and they immediately hopped into the trucks and sped out of sight. The route was barely passable, filled with erosion water and a slippery slope, and th
Only a fool will be sleeping when his or her house is on fire. El Ramon is no fool, and this is the reason why his eyes are unblinking as he welcomed Banjo into his parlour.After the usual salutation, the sleepy-looking mafia was permitted to seat down."You have my ears.""He left the palace, went to his house and spend an hour inside, emerged later and went into Johji Inn. And it was very late in the night when he left the Inn.""He didn't come to the palace, so I assumed he went back to his house.""No. He waddled inside the heavy rains for hours and was followed by my men who lagged some feet away.""Be quick. Where did he go after leaving the inn?""Towards the end of the city.""And then what?""Nothing.""What did you mean by nothing?""He arrived beside a burnt down house, gaped at it for a while, then walked back into Johji Inn and he is sleeping inside the liquor section as we are speaking.""When was the house burnt down?""Just of recent. The ashes were still fresh and s
Zuma ordered more liquors and was drunk than a skunk when the stars appeared for their night duties. After finishing the content in the last bottle in his front, he belched louder, placed his two palms on his thighs and stood up with a grunt. The inn was populated by the few night crawlers, and no one seemed to notice the man wobbling among the columns of chairs and tables, nor seemed to mind when he crashed into a table filled with empty bottles, staggered and fell, and then stood up and resumed his waddling. A moment later, he arrived at the outside of the Inn, breathed out loud with relief and walked closer to the gate side."It's already late, Honey. Come to my room and let me make love to you through the night.""I need a man that can penetrate me through the backside. It's been days since I experienced doggy style.""Spend the night with me for just a few dollars.""Is that not Zuma?""He looked like him.""Hey! Come here...What's wrong with you?"He ignored the invitations o
The two guards attending to the pregnant woman in captivity were having the worst time of their lives."I want the water to be hot and not lukewarm. Please prepare another one for me-. And you, did you call this disgusting morsel a meal? Get it off my sight before I puked and prepare my a flavorful feast with lots of vegetables, fish and meats."The two men scrambled out of sight, and one promptly returned to inform her of the readiness of hotter water for her bathe."Holy Madona! Did you want to burn my skin?.. I need cool water to mix it, please."After fetching two more buckets, the man was appreciated with more scowl and nag as he hurried out of the presence of the bitter woman. "The food is done.""Thank you, I hope it was worth all the time I had spent waiting for it.""Huh!""Oh my gosh. This is worse than the previous meal... Please take it out of my sight and get me a jug of juice as you prepare me a sandwich."After hundreds of errands in a few hours, the two men slammed t
El Ramon fixed his eyes on the outgoing mafia, turned towards the lady on the queen's throne beside him and asked, "why did he lie?""I have no idea.""Are you sure you don't?""Yes, my lord. I don't know why he speaks with false tongue."El Ramon shrugged, stood up and let out, "go back to your room and remained indoors. As I warned earlier, don't accept anyone inside until I allow you to.""As your lordship wish,"Mafias and maids bowed as he strode through the palace corridor, and the grim on his face became less horrific suddenly."I am on my way to see you, my prince.""Here I am. Tell me about the progress.""Nothing yet. All this island was ransacked but we didn't see the subject."" Did you meet Zuma on your way in?""Yes. And he was as sad as doom and hardly noticed my presence.""He lied that he spend his night in his house when I have mafias watching his places and he hadn't stepped there since he left here yesterday.""Why will he tell an untruth over trivial things like t
All Banjo's efforts to locate Andrea proved abortive, and after searching through the nook and cranny of the Inn, he shrugged, hissed and instructed some of the men at his back to go into the town and search for her. All the ladies of services claimed they haven't seen any stranger except for a lady who believed she saw someone in a black tuxedo and head scarf."Where is she?""I have no idea. She informed me she is a new worker here, and I advised her to stand on her feet and look for customers.""Did you see her after?""No.""Did she talk with anyone else?""Not sure. I was picked by a rich merchant and we were together afterwards.""Don't hesitate to inform any mafia around whenever you see her again.""I will. Did she steal something from the palace?""Worse than that.""Any bounty on her head."Banjo nodded his head, stepped closer to the lady and whispered, "she is supposed to get married to my best friend in two days. My friend is dying from her absence, and I had vowed to ca
"Why did you agree to trick me?""Am sorry, your highness. Her majesty made me do it.""Where is she?""I have no idea.""This may cost you your life. Speak now.""Before all gods, I have no idea where she went to. I was ordered to remain indoors and not to attend to anyone until she comes back.""What kind of clothing did she wear?""An oversize black gown, scarf and black net... She was talking to herself and I believe she is on her way to search for Jade.""Gush!" El Ramon exclaimed, cast a killing look on the kneeling lady, shakes his head and announced, "I will be back for you. Remain indoors and don't attend to anyone."The lady was too shocked at his shrieking voice, and the prince did not care to wait for an answer, but breathed out loud and stormed out of his wife's room."Where is Banjo?""At the rear gate.""Call him for me now!"He was still fuming and walking from one end of his palace to the other end when Banjo strolled inside, bowed and let out, "here I am, my lord.""