Part 9 (1)

"Your Highness! Your Highness! Your Highness!" whispered someone repeatedly to the ears of the sleeping Governor Babida.

"Your Highness, are you fine?" The individual interrogated the lumberjack who wasn't still answering back, for he kept on slumbering.

"Well, we probably should wait till tomorrow morning." said the individual in a desperate tone.

"The Governor, the henchmen, and the young maiden that we found snoozing next to him in the backyard are certainly under the enchantment of Iyô, the god of deep sleep." He then asserted.

Along with the people around him, the individual left the room.

The night went by and finally, the sun rose above the sky of Okunde.

Haaaaaaaaaa

The woodsman yawned as he woke up from a very long sleep.

"Where am I?" He then declared in confusion.

"At last! You are up, Your Highness. And even better, you seem to do fine." said someone.

Governor Babida rubbed his eyes with the back of his right hand, then glared in front of him and saw a young imperial sentinel who all night long watched over him.

"Comrade, what's going on? Where am I?" The lumberjack asked the imperial guard.

"Your Highness, you are in your room, the Governor's room." replied the imperial sentinel.

"It used to be that of late Governor Kola II but now it's yours." He added.

Babida who was feeling dizzy asked the imperial guard to bring some water, which the latter hastened to do.

He rushed to the left corner of the room, grabbed a bottle of water, and walked up back to the Supreme Commander.

He uncapped the container and handed it over to Governor Babida who claimed he was having a headache.

"Should I call the Doctor, Your Highness?" queried the imperial sentinel.

"Yes, please!" responded Babida as he drank the water then lay on the bed and slept again.

Some moments later...

"Your Highness! Your Highness!" Someone mumbled to the Governor's ears.

The latter woke up abruptly and looked around him. The lumberjack saw an imperial warrior with a medical box in his right hand.

"Greetings Your Highness! My name is Dabo. I am late Governor Kola 2's doctor and now I am yours." The imperial warrior uttered to Babida.

"Last evening, imperial guards found you along with two comrades and a maiden unconscious in the backside of the administrative headquarters." He then described to the Governor Babida.

"Can you please explain to me how it did happen?" asked Doctor Dabo.

However, he didn't get any feedback, for the lumberjack fell asleep again.

So he left the room while committing to return at a later time.

Haaaaaaaaaa

Babida yawned as he woke up for the second time of the day since his passing out the last night.

"Ah, Your Highness is awoken again," exclaimed Doctor Dabo who came back as promised to check up on Governor Babida one more time.

"Hopefully, Your Highness, you are feeling better now." The physician declared.

"Water!" uttered Babida as he was sitting upright and leaning against the headboard of the bed.

With a sign of the head, Doctor Dabo ordered the young imperial sentinel next to him to quickly bring some water to the lumberjack.

The youngster rushed to the same place where he had taken a bottle of water last time, that is to say, to the cupboard on the left side of the room.

He took another bottle of the precious liquid and brought it to Governor Babida.

The woodsman removed the cap and drank the water up so thirsty he was.

He was calmer than at his previous wake-up. He seemed to have fully retrieved his senses.

Nonetheless, Doctor Dabo wanted to be sure about it. He hence asked the lumberjack for his permission to be auscultated.

Knowing the doctor's request was for his good, Babida accepted without any reserve.

"Give me your hands, Your Highness! I need to check your pulse." The doctor told his patient.

With no delay, the logger extended his right hand toward the physician who pressed his wrist for a couple of seconds and then declared: "Yes, everything is in order. You are fine, Your Highness. You may resume your duties, though I suggest it be in two or three days for you to take more rest."

"Surely Doc!" Babida replied to him.

And then he remembered about his entourage. So he questioned Doctor Dabo about their whereabouts. To which the latter replied that they were doing way better than him and were even worried about his health.

And he asked why they hadn't come to see him then. Doctor Dabo told him that, as the Governor of the province, his security was tightened.

He tried to explain to the medic that they were like family to him and they should be given access to him whenever they wanted.

"Surely, Your Highness!" said Doctor Dabo.

"But you didn't give this order to the imperial sentinels in charge of your security. So they applied the rules that were effective during the time of the late Governor Kola II." He then explained.

"I shall hence forward your wish to the imperial sentinels so they would allow those you have authorized to come to you anytime they wish." Doctor Dabo told the lumberjack before grabbing his medical box and departing from the Governor's private apartment.

"Alright! I will come back later." He said.

Toc, toc!

An imperial sentinel knocked at the door of the new Governor's room and stepped inside.

"Greetings Your Highness, your authorized visitors are here. He said as he gave a military salute to Babida.

The woodsman who was lying on the bed replied to him: "Thank you, comrade! You may let them come in."

As he was done giving his instruction to the imperial guard, the young maiden Suzie followed by the henchmen Polo and Baba entered the room.

The young miss was sparkling and looked more beautiful than ever before in her long yellow wax-made robe.

She ran to the woodsman and fell on him, without bothering whether he was doing better or not, for she was missing him so badly.

"My love!" She whispered as she hugged him.

The henchmen Polo and Baba witnessed the enamored moment and felt like they came to visit the Supreme Commander at the wrong time.

They stood for a good moment on the side, practically ignored by Governor Babida whose mind had been captivated by the destabilizing charm of the young maiden Suzie.

And then as if the charm effects had disappeared, the woodsman declared as he broke the hug with his crush Suzie: "Comrades, you may forgive your Commander who sometimes can not resist the power of love."

Smiling, the youngster Baba replied to him: "Your Majesty, what a great poet you are!"

And the henchman Polo added: "Your Majesty, what a great conqueror of hearts you are!"

"You conquer the hearts of your men on the battlefield and you conquer the hearts of the women on the..." Polo went on but didn't finish his sentence.

"...on the bed?" asked the interim aide-de-camp Baba with a funny look.

The insinuation of the henchmen made the lumberjack giggle.

However, the young maiden Suzie who was a shy type looked down a bit embarrassed.

"Ok, ok, let's change the topic!" uttered Governor Babida, seeing the remarks of his men displeased her.

"Well, had anyone gotten an idea of what happened yesterday night?" The logger interrogated.

"It's very simple." said the young maiden Suzie.

"The old man with the white beard was an angel of Iyô, the god of deep sleep." She added.

"He came because I invoked him when my feet were aching me and I couldn't any long walk. All I wanted was just to be on a bed wherever it would be."

"Ah, that's it. All is clear now. This then means that you made a promise to the divinity. I won't ask you what it is since as per our tradition it's not allowed, for the relationship of each of us with the ancestors is private." Babida stated

"Gosh! That was my first experience with the divinity and I passed out instead of sleeping." The lumberjack told to his entourage who laughed out loud.