THE LAST DRAGON PRINCE

Chapter three

Jaachi was having a tough time at the tournament of superhuman. At first it had been a blessing to him that he could control electronic devices through his mind, as well as control fire, but once the other contestants got wind of that, they began jamming all the computers around him, and it was really messing up his dragon.

   He thought back to the days his father had been excited to have him use his power for sport. Now all the Ochia thought about was the affairs of the kingdom. In the days of old, the Ochia would be here to cheer him on to his victory, or tell him he was a winner all the same if he lost.

   Now the Ochia was probably busy with his favorite son Nikku, doing things he loved to do, things that concerned the kingdom and in no way had anything to with Jaachi.

   He understood, it was normal, you could never have it both ways. East Hendosia had gained a great king, and he had lost a father.

   After doing very poorly in his first round against a controller of time, Jaachi stumbled off the arena, already feeling woozy from being forced to go back and forth through time for so long.

   He still had the second round of the tournament to make up for his horrible performance. If only he could win this tournament this time around, his father might be proud of him again, his brother might show a little bit of respect.

                                                                                                   ***

      Jaachi finally had his head in the game, finally had his act together. He liked to believe that, yet later, when he went over it again and again, either he did have his head in the game or over the years, he must have convinced himself that he had. He had rested and was heading back into the arena when the game Warden called out. “I’m sorry Jaachi, urgent from home.”He said handing Jaachi a cell phone with his hand on the reciever, it was one of the few times Jaachi remembered he was a prince, any other contestant would have been required to take the call later.

   He hurried off the arena, wondering how he was supposed to get back into the pitch, they would start playing the national anthems of both teams anytime soon. “Hello” he said into the phone. The voice that spoke was one he didn’t recognize and his life was never the same again.

                                                                                                    ***

Nmaka was restless. She just couldn’t place it. She was alone in the house, her mother had finally taken her much deserved vacation and was currently touring the world. She was happy for her mother, so why was she feeling so restless.

    After giving up on a T.V program half way through for the third time, she decided to call her mother. Her mother answered immediately. “ Hi Mom” Nmaka laughed when her mother asked if she was already missed. “Yes sure I miss you….. But! Don’t hop on the next plane and start coming back home. I’m serious Mom. I don’t want to see you in this house until at least two weeks.” She sensed her mother still needed more persuasion. “ Look Mom enjoy okay, you deserve it and make sure you do something crazy like fall in love or something.” She laughed when her mother chided her. “What? Dad’s been dead since I was a toddler, c’mon ! Have a life.” She laughed “bye Mom ! I love you ……and I trust your judgement.” She added just incase her mother decided to take her up on the offer and fall in love.

   After hanging up, she decided to make an early dinner. Cooking for just yourself meant you were allowed to be adventurous and break some rules of cooking. It also meant you had no one to part you on the back of you did a nice job. She missed Nikku. That was it, she missed Nikku. That was why she hadn’t felt better after talking to her mother. It wasn’t her mother’s voice she craved to hear, it was her lovers. They had both decided not to speak with each other on the phone till he got back, and she now wondered why she had agreed to such an idea. Sighing softly, she brought out her grandmother’s cookery book and decided to bake a chocolate cake. She had just brought out a measure of flour when the door bell rang. Even though she knew it could not be Nikku, her heart still skipped a beat.

      “ Good evening?” She frowned at the stranger at the door.

      “ Good evening Ma’am.” He answered with an air of formality she just couldn’t place. “ This would be for you.” He said handing her an envelope, then she saw the pity in his eyes.

        Curious, she shut the door behind him and then opened the letter. She was first in shock then she gave a heart wrenching scream. Her life would never be the same again.

                                                                                               ***

Lola was arguing with her Father again while the T.V blared with their take on the tournament which Lola had already lost interest in, once she found out Jaachi wasn’t doing well. The arguments had gotten more frequent after her elder sister’s wedding and the house was becoming unbearable. She wondered how her Father had gone from doting father to best friend and then nagging father so quickly.

    Her elder sister had always been the buffer, eager- to – please Shola who had always played the peace maker. Offering her self up as the scape goat at times by accepting blame for ‘crimes’ Lola committed. Other times, she was playing host, even in her own home. Coming up with fun things for the family to do to fill up free time and hopefully avert more rancor.

   Now sweet Shola with the wide smile and cute dimples, perfect Shola who knew how to keep house, could cook and was wife material, humble Shola who didn’t let her father’s position and wealth get into her head was married and Lola was left to face her father alone.

    “ Why can’t you be more like your sister, Lola. “ her father continued in that tiresome voice of his, like a weary father who was trying in vain to make his not- so- bright daughter see reason. “ Look at your sister, she – “

   “ Look at her! Yes look at her! “ Lola burst out, frustrated. “Shola is married and living her life, yet I can’t get out of her shadow. I’m sorry Dad. I’m sorry I dropped out of uni, I was just not meant to be a medical doctor – I don’t want to be one! It’s okay if we can’t be friends again…… I mean, that would only make me miss mom more.” The tears she felt blinding her momentarily were not a come on, even though she was deliberately playing the mom card to get her father’s pity. She had used the death of her Mom which happened two years ago to win arguments and most times indulgences from her. Wiping her tears with the back of her hand, she continued. “But Daddy…. I .. I’m me I only wish you’ll get to know the real me, you might love her.”

     “ It okay Angel.” Her Dad softened already. “It’s okay.” He repeated, gathering her in his arms, as he sighed inwardly. He hadn’t won the argument, again. Lola had turned down yet another job offer from another one of his colleagues.

   He told himself he would keep trying. He wasn’t a quitter but it was beginning to look like Lola had settled for being just a billionaire’s daughter. As for her boyfriend the prince, East Hendosia was still not taken seriously globally and so an alliance with the so called royal family was a joke.

   “What do you say to watching the telly with your old man mmmh? “ He asked lifting up her chin. “ Let’s watch T.V like the old times. You could even bring a DVD of that your crown prince in action.”

     “ Dad !” Lola swatted him. “ He’s not a crown prince, he’s just the second son.” Hard feelings forgotten, she changed the channel away from sports it was half time and still 0-0. She was glad she hadn’t acted on the impulse she had gotten earlier and flown to the head city of Khakis to watch the tournament only to see Jaachi not win. She wondered what the matter could be especially since he hadn’t sustained any injury that would have been an excuse for sitting out a match. Lola changed to a news channel.

      “The world mourns with East Hendosia while everyone wonders, will this be the end of the secession?” A news caster was saying. “Authorities are still investigating the crash of the royal private jet that killed the King and crown Prince of East Hendosia…….’’

     Lola was horrified, thinking for a moment that it was Jaachi on the plane with his father, then it all came back. It couldn’t be Jaachi. Jaachi was in Germany. It was The King and Prince Nikku. She was hysterical, relived. She started laughing and crying at the same time, too greatful that Jaachi was alive to even consider the implications of what she had just heard. She wasn’t to know how this was going to affect Jaachi and life with him as she knew it.

                                                                                                   ***

      Earlier that day, Nikku and his father the King of the East had gotten into their aircraft with high spirits.

   Nikku felt there were a lot of things his father was not telling him, but he figured if he waited patiently, and listened attentively, he might gain more information than his father would even have given him if he asked.

   It seemed to easy to just walk up to the Grand ruler of the seven kingdoms and demand that justice be cast in your favor, but if his father was serious about this plan, serious enough for them to embark on this journey, then two questions begged to be answered.

   One was why then hadn’t they went to the Grand ruler all these years, and the second was what in the name of the seven kingdoms was his father planning, because there was definitely a plan.

   Nikku had come to respect his father for the master planner that he was, and also because he was the one man that thought him Nikku, how to harness his powers for the greater good of the people. He just hated it when he was left out of the loop of things that were really going on.

    Six hours and two naps later, Nikku was feeling disoriented. Something wrong was happening, the jet was going down in a very fast spiral, throwing things about. His father was sitting awkwardly, drumming on the window sill with his fingers and actually praying. “ What’s wrong with the plane Father.” Nikku asked then raising his voice, he asked through the intercom. “What’s wrong with the plane Captain?”

   His father’s personal assistant had already started wailing something about being too young to die.

    In the cock pit, the Captain was trying in vain to control the plane, he didn’t even bother to answer the prince, he had more to worry about than being rude. Earlier he had noticed the oil pressure on the first engine drop to zero. While planning for an emergency landing, the indicator for the second engine also dropped to zero. The entire flight crew were shocked, horrified beyond words. Chances of both engines failing on a plane were like zero to none. Still trying to glide the plane and crash land, they lost what the captain was sure was the vertical stabilizer.

                         ***

 7 year old Thomas had been told by his mother to stay home and be a good boy while she bought vegetables from the nearest grocery store. Thomas was not angry, just resigned. When he learnt he had to skip school for a few days because of his summer elegy that was acting up, he literally thanked God for his elegy. Now, he wasn’t so sure. First he missed his school mates, he missed his siblings and coupled with the fact there was really no fun thing in his house for a kid alone to do, his parents were never really there.

    It was easy to take it for granted, going to school and then coming home to meet your mother but if you stayed at home all day, you’ll actually notice even mother’s went to work. Back from work, his mother had given him the be – a – good – boy instruction before going off to buy groceries, now feeling extremely bored, Thomas was about to watch Trolls for the third time that day when he heard the airplane sound, like his backyard was an airport. When the sound got too loud to ignore, he came out to the back of the house to investigate, in time to watch the East Hendosia royal jet crash into his backyard.

     Ejiofor was pacing his sitting room, restless, agitated and a bit unsure of himself when his phone rang.He answered immediately and listened to the enforcer of peace from the capital tell him that his brother, the last remaining one of his immediate family had just been involved in a plane crash. He told himself it was not time to panic, it was time to act. Three calls and thirty minutes later, it was confirmed that there was no survivor of the plane crash and Ejiofor still tried not to loose it. It was impossible to imagine Iloruku dead, to imagine all that quiet strength – just gone and Nikku, vibrant Nikku who if all the people of East Hendosia had their way, would be king after his father.

     The General couldn’t mourn, not yet. The deaths of Iloruku and Nikku opened up the Country to the enemy and Ejiofor knew his brother was counting on him now, more than ever.

  He started to dial Rota’s number, to get to her before the press did then thought better of it. He wrote out three letters instead which were to be hand delivered. One to the President of the Enlightened Lovers of the East, the next to the secretary of counties and the last one to Flora Akhil, Nikku’s fiancee. He did not write any letter to Rota, he would tell her in person.

     Ejiofor did not trust himself to drive so he allowed a young, eager-to – please ensign drive him. His mind was strangely alert, noticing everything. The ring on the ensign’s left hand which was on the steering, a lizard that ran swiftly across the road, a traffic warden at the corner of the road helping young school children cross. It was like by suppressing his emotions, his mind had become clearer, a whole lot of things had just started to make sense. He wilfully brought his mind under control as they pulled up to the official palace.

    Rota let him in herself, she had always insisted she did not need any house staff. According to her, her husband was supposed to feel the difference between his office and his home. “Ejiofor! What a pleasant surprise.” She was saying, smiling broadly as she stepped aside to let him in.

     Ejiofor took it all in, her wide smile, she was dressed in pink print trousers and a milky blouse, was probably about to attend one of her many charity events. There was no better way to break it. “The Royal jet crashed”. He watched her face go pale. “None survived”. He said gently, “Iloruku and Nikku are dead”.

    He watched the shock register on her face, she was shaking her head, silently mouthing the word ‘no’, then the quaking started. He held her close through the violent quaking and teeth chattering until

 She seemed a bit quiet, with spasms still going through her little frame. He led her to a sofa, poured a shot for her, forced it into her hands and then called the ambulance. She had downed the shot in one gulp and was now curled up on the couch, her knees up to her chin, her hands around her legs. Rocking slowly, back and forth, back and forth pushing away reality, the horrible news, refusing to believe. He sat down opposite her to wait for the ambulance, he just could not leave her alone the way she was.

     “We met at uni.” She was saying quietly, too quietly she could have been talking to herself. “ Hendosia was so messed up then, nobody wanted to school in the country. Finding someone from my country and of my tribe in the university of Cape town was like – it was like coming home. He was always such a solid rock, always so intelligent and dependable and – and..’’ She gestured, trying in vain to convey the force of her emotions with her words. “It’s impossible to kill Iloruku you see” She said staring out, blinded by her own tears. “And Nikku, he's not dead you see.” She broke down. “He’s not even married yet, he – he….”

    She was sobbing now, uncontrollably, talking non stop. It did not matter that her words were not making any sense, she just had to keep talking or she knew, she would run mad. It was like she just had to figure out that one word to say, and a solution would magically appear. Saying that Iloruku and Nikku were dead was too final, there had to be something she could do, something that could be done.

    The door bell rang, and Ejiofor opened the doors to the young nurse who had rung. An ambulance was parked outside, and he could see para medicals already wheeling out a stretcher. He explained the situation to the nurse who agreed to stay with the Odoba till she felt better, the ambulance and the rest of the paramedics were sent away. His phone rang and he picked up to hear the secretary of the ELOE inform him of his honorary invitation to be a part of an emergency ELOE meeting that was scheduled to hold that afternoon in lieu of the recent happenings.

   The General checked his watch, it was half past one and the meeting was by two, he had only thirty minutes to make it to the ELOE headquarters at the Oak of Shobar in time for the meeting. He glanced at the nurse who had gone to sit close to Rota and was mumuring words of comfort to her, stroking her arm gently. He nodded to her when she looked up then called the military helicopter. He was already heading to the gate when the helicopter landed in front of him, climbing in, he accepted a change of jacket from the young Officer holding one out to him.

                                      ***

Nmaka was crying softly on her best friend’s lap, her mother had called as soon as she heard the news to tell her she was coming home on the next available flight.Some how, Nmaka wanted to be alone, and yet to have her family and friends beside her at the same time. The thing was that she actually wanted to stay at home but was afraid of the magnitude of her grieve, scared it would rip her apart if she was left alone to it. She could almost touch it, she reached out blindly, that essence of Nikku, he was there. He was standing right in front of her, only waiting for her to reach out and he would hold her close . He would smile that smile of his like he knew all the secrets of the world and tell her it would be alright.

   She was deceiving herself, she knew. Nikku was dead, he would never hold her again. She had lost him forever but she was not ready to let go yet. Standing up, she staggered to her balcony, their favorite place in the house. She waved her friends off when they tried to follow her. His scent was gone, the wind had carried it away just as Nikku had been taken away from her, never to be returned. She sank down to the floor, and curled up in a ball taking deep breaths and trying to relax then she smiled as she felt Nikku’s arms come around her.

                                                                                                                                      ***

    Jaachi boarded the next flight to Shobar Oaks. After the phone call, he explained the situation to his Coach then he called a conveyor and he bought a ticket for the next available flight to Shobar.

    All through, he had been in a barely suppressed rage, trying to use anger to suppress the pain that was threatening to engulf him. Pain was new territory, the sorrow, the guilt, regrets – for all the time lost all the time he should have been spending with his family but instead he had turned his back on them. He had rejected them even as they had refused to accept his football career.

   Now it was too late, his father was gone forever and the only happy memories Jaachi had left of him were childhood memories. The pain was new indeed and raw, too raw that he preferred to ignore it and hold onto anger instead, anger he could understand. Anger was what he did. He thought about Lola, ever since he cheated on her with a fan and betrayed her trust, their relationship had been strained, he really needed her now more than ever. She was the closest he could get to normalcy in these times of unexpected happenings and he was beginning to wonder just how solid their relationship was.

                                                                                                                                    ***

     Lola was silent. After her initial hysterical outburst, she had strangely been calm and reasonable showing maturity when her family thought her incapable of it.

   She had tried to reach Jaachi several times on the phone before but failed and she had an irrational fear that he had actually been on the jet, that he was dead but for some strange reason, the authorities were keeping that away from the public. Her eyes were glued to the T.V, not wanting to miss any vital information but none of the news channels had anything to day about the crash. It seemed the press had nothing apart from the location of the crash, the make of the jet and the hospital that confirmed the king and. Prince dead. West Hendosian newscasters went further to speculate if the new development would cause East Hendosia to surrender but apart from that, the news channels had nothing new to offer concerning the case.

   After trying ninth time to call Jaachi and hitting voicemail, she knew what to do. She dialed again but this time she was calling a friend of someone she knew, she happened to know people in very low places.