Part 8 (4)

Without any close relative still alive, Governor Babida thought it would be good for his crush, the grieving young maiden Suzie, to come with him to Okunde.

"You may travel with me to Okunde and leave this place filled with sorrow and pain. Of course, you may come back later when you finish grieving." The lumberjack told the young miss who remained quiet.

The young maiden Suzie couldn't speak, for she was so overwhelmed by the shock of the passing of the last members of her family.

"Yes, Your Highness, that would be great for her, I think so too." The late Governor's aide-de-camp Polo agreed with the woodsman.

Babida then ordered his henchman Baba to help the young maiden Suzie

do her suitcase but because she was a woman the youngster was a bit embarrassed and stuttered.

"But, My...Your...Highness!" Baba spat out with difficulty.

The new Governor Babida understood the issue and said he would help the young miss himself.

The interim aide-de-camp Baba was relieved and sighed.

The lumberjack gently asked Suzie that they go upstairs to her room so he would assist her in packing her belongings.

Despite the sorrow, the young maiden managed to get off the rattan divan and walk up the stairs to her private apartment.

The two lovebirds arrived in the young miss' room and began to collect outfits, shoes, make-up kit, fragrance, soap, and body lotion that they assembled in a big leather bag.

Done, they went back downstairs, and together with Polo and Baba, they went outside to the carriage.

Since the conveyance was small for the four, Polo and Baba mounted each of the white horses while Babida and his crush were sitting in the coach.

Set, they started the long journey to Okunde.

They crossed the east gate of Ekule under the clamor of the imperial sentinels who were excited to see the newly designated Governor, Babida.

The lumberjack's reputation had reached a level that caused fanatism to everyone who looked up to him.

The second mightiest man of the Batang empire, not taking into account the Governor of Okala in the North and that of the imperial city Ekule, had reached the proportions of a half-god.

Governor Babida and his entourage penetrated Okunde through its west gate and it suddenly began to rain.

So the logger commanded the two henchmen Polo and Baba to park the carriage somewhere they could shelter.

Around them were enormous bushes, so the coachmen accelerated till they perceived a wooden cabin on the right side of the road and they stopped by.

Babida and the young maiden Suzie quickly got down from the carriage and ran to the door of the cabin. They tried to open it but it was closed.

With the pressure of the falling rain, the Governor Babida felt compelled to take extreme measures.

Hence, he hit the lock with his axe and the door swung open.

He entered the cabin and quickly lit the lamp torch that was on the table.

In the meantime, the two henchmen were trying to find a good and dry spot for the carriage and the horses but there were only grasses around.

So ultimately they abandoned the coach and the animals under the rain and ran inside the wooden cabin where the Governor Babida was holding tight his crush Suzie into his arms so she would stay warm.

After an hour, the rain ceased and Babida and his entourage went outside and could neither find the carriage nor the white horses. They had vanished away.

With no other transportation means, the four beings were obliged to continue the journey on foot.

Their vehicle gone away and with no better option at their disposal in the middle of bushes, the return of Governor Babida and his entourage to the administrative headquarters was thus slowed down and soon it was about to be full night.

The lumberjack therefore instructed his men to accelerate the pace and reach the nearest bustling spot.

However, the infernal rhythm was too much for the grieving and overly tired young maiden Suzie whose feet began aching her.

"I can't keep up." She said to the logger as she leaned on him.

His Highness Babida understood the gravity of the situation and that he had to do something about it before it worsened. So he decided to carry the young miss.

The muscular and athletic lumberjack grabbed the thin maiden with his right hand and snatched her from the ground before lying her on his massive right shoulder.

He walked with her while holding in his left hand his Herculean steel axe.

The henchmen Polo and Baba were impressed by the capabilities of their supreme Commander and couldn't stop furtively looking at him.

They whispered to each other how unbelievably strong the logger was and wished the gods of the Batang empire had endowed them with such might.

The henchmen were also incredible forces of nature, yet there was something else with the lumberjack who was way above the masses.

He was chosen by the ancestors and given the greatest power a human could ever bear.

After walking for some time, Babida and his entourage finally reached in the beginning of the evening, the first populated area of Okunde on the west side.

The inhabitants recognized their governor and quickly surrounded him. Some offered to lodge him and his entourage in their humble homes if he desired.

Others proposed to put at his disposal their finest carriages if that was his wish.

The lumberjack was extremely contented with the attention of his subjects.

Since the young miss Suzie could no longer bear the hardship of the journey, Governor Babida accepted to spend the night in the house of an old man with the whitest beard ever seen.

Along with his henchmen, Polo and Baba, and the young maiden Suzie, he followed the elderly to a mansion that had a perfectly maintained garden with the greenest leaves ever witnessed.

The four entered the house and it was completely luminous, for the lights were the most scintillating ever glanced.

And suddenly the old man with the white beard turned into a big glow that swallowed the lumberjack and his entourage till they became invisible.

They disappeared with their host.

TO BE CONTINUED...