*5* Truths and Goodbyes
"Cheta! Cheta! Wake up!!"
A desperate cry threw the extremely beautiful teenager up from his sleep, and into defense mode.
He had a problem recognising voices at once, especially after waking up. So, thinking it was an intruder,he grabbed a dagger from his table swiftly and placed at her neck.
She, expecting this reaction,elbowed him in the guts, sending him doubling in pain and staggering backwards.
He quickly steadied up and prepared to charge at her.
"Cheta! Cheta! It's me. It's Kambi!!"
In a split second,his countenance fell. His eyes widened in realization.
"My princess...my princess...I...I...am truly sorry...my princess...."
He quickly fell to his face,regret and terror written all over it.
"Punish me princess!! Punish me for I have sinned."
"That's enough!"
Her broken voice ordered.
"Please get up! Biko...O zu go! That is enough!"
He got up immediately,his head still bowed in shame.
Kambi walked up to him in the dimness of the room and held his head up, standing on her toes.
She peered into his strange multi colored eyes and shook her head.
"It's enough...I...I...am fine...Odinmma"
But her voice was broken.
It was like she was trying to encourage her self that it was going to be fine.
Her voice broke off before she decided that she wasn't fine.
The tears begun to stream down her eyes like rivers.
She let everything out.
She was just 13 red moons.
Why then did the goddess decide to curse her with so much responsibility and pain.
Why does it seem that nothing is going as planned.
Her mother used to say that,
"Onye but isi, adia ba oso okwu."
"He who is a leader,does not run from fire."
But now,that same mother had told her to leave.
Now,she needed to leave if she needed to survive.
Cheta dragged her to his bed and wrapped his arms around her.
"It would be fine. Ogadinmma."
In all honesty, Cheta was scared. He was afraid for the truth.
He knew that things would not be fine. Not in a really long time.
She stayed in his embrace for long,before her wails became sobs and hiccups.
He quickly rushed to his feet and filled a drinking calabash with water and handed it over to her.
After a long drink, she placed the container back down,and ran the back of her palms across her puffy eyes.
"I am leaving."
She said calmly.
He blinked in shock, trying to register her words.
"Wha..."
"I can not stay here any longer. It is not safe for me."
Her eyes were unsteady,her internal conflict, apparent.
She was scared. She looked like a demon was after her.
"Can you tell me what hap..."
"Mother is dead...she killed her self."
If it was possible,time froze for a second before it clicked in Cheta's mind.
The Luna...the Alpha Queen was dead. She had killed herself.
"She finally succumbed."
He whispered with sad tears in his eyes.
"Wha...what do u mean?"
Kambi asked in confusion.
"I tried to get her out of it. I knew it was fruitless but I...I hoped I could. I told her to try to fight it. The fire,the hurt,the pain."
"Have you been speaking with my mother?"
There was no answer.
Cheta got up abruptly and grabbed a candle and a key.
"We must leave immediately!"
Kambi took a long sniff and furrowed her brows in confusion at her servant's sudden outburst.
He was runminaging through wooden boxes.
"STOP!"
He immediately stopped and turned to her with his head bowed in submission.
"Please tell me what you know."
Cheta's eyes fell as he beheld the young princess who had been in his care for as long as she could crawl.
She did not deserve this fate. She was too young,too innocent for this harsh reality.
"Your mother...your mother had Jeruje."
The child's eyes snapped with so much force.
"Je... Jeruje?"
"It made her mad...slowly, eating her up from the inside like a plague."
"WHY DID YOU NOT TELL ME!!"
She yelled, tears streaming down her eyes.
"I wanted to. Believe me,I did. But your mother, she made me swear an oath. She made me promise not to tell you."
"But...but Jeruje can be cured by drinking a mate's blood."
She paused and peered into his eyes.
"Did...did father know?"
Cheta said nothing. His eyes had said it all.
Kambi's eyes dropped to the ground.
She knew her answer. She knew what happened now. But for once...for once she wanted to hope that her father had a little heart in him.
Cheta did not say anything. He knew that his silence was enough answer.
She was too young for this. Her fates were too bitter.
"He watched her die."
She whispered.
"I saw it. He didn't take the dagger from her. He...he had a smile on his face as she slipped away. He knew he could save her but he let the illness drive her to insanity before she finally lost control."
A certain wave had come upon the room.
It was a cold wave of hate and thirst for revenge.
"I was wrong. Cheta,I was wrong."
Her gaze was fixed into space as if a spirit was speaking through her.
"He isn't evil...he is the devil himself. I hate him!"
Her tears had stopped falling.
The look in her eyes had been replaced from that of pain,to that of a fire of hate..
"I have to go. I have to leave now! He doesn't deserve to live."
Cheta's heart clenched upon hearing this.
It was then he knew that the child he had known since birth,the girl he was trained to care for,was no longer the same.
Now in front of him,was a blood thirsty,revenge seeking shadow who was fueled by hate.
It scared him but at the same time,it gave him hope.
Hope that maybe through her thirst for vengeance, the Alpha would finally be shown his place.
"Then I'll come with you!"
He declared.
She paused and shook her head slowly.
"You have to stay here!"
"But..."
"It's for the child."
"What...what do you mean?"
"The child we saved. The one we gave to that slave woman. I want you to stay here and look after her. My wolf feels a strong aura of greatness around here."
Cheta looked troubled and conflicted.
"But Kambi..."
"Please Cheta!"
She cut off his protest.
"This isn't an order from a princess,it's a request from a friend.
Those words alone were enough to silence him.
I am her friend?
Ijeomas were only treated as really loyal servants to the royals.
So,hearing a royal call him a friend meant the world to him.
He nodded his head slowly.
"Yes,my princess."
He bowed a bit.
"But you have to take someone with you."
Her brows furrowed in confusion as she watched him leave to hut.
Even though Cheta had agreed to stay,it was his job to worry about the young princess.
He was not going to let her go alone.
Homa was his best friend.
She was an Ijeoma,just like him.
Though as a female Ijeoma,she possesed male qualities making her look taller,broader and masculine.
Homa opened the door after two light taps.
She was a light sleeper,one of her best qualities.
She could not be snuck upon any time of the day.
The tall and handsome looking female stepped out, looking alive and alert.
Her hair was wild as usual and her well toned brown skinned body was one that both male and female wolves craved to have.
"What are you doing here?"
She asked.
"Born to serve...born to protect..."
"...born to be forever loyal. In ashes and in death."
Cheta started the pledge, before Homa finished it.
It was the pledge they all took at their induction ceremony at ten moons old.
"What has happened?"
"It's the princess...she needs your help."
***
Cheta stood at the border of their pack lands with the slave who had the child, standing next to him as he watched his princess ride on Homa's golden brown wolf.
Soon,the bond would be broken.
The ties they had with the pack would cut off.
The alpha would be furious, but by then they would be gone.
By then,they would be rouges.
"Do you think she'll be safe?"
The young slave asked,as the child chewed unto her wrapper.
"The goddess would keep her safe but for now,we need to do what she had ordered us to do."
The slave nodded.
"I will take care of this child with my last breath."
Cheta nodded and turned around,dreading the next day.
The alpha would assign him to another noble.
It was a taboo to punish an Ijeoma.
He let a lone tear escape his eyes.
He just lost a friend.
***
***Author's Note***
I actually cried when I wrote this.
It was so emotional.
But...ladies and gentlemen, the story of Aira officially begins..
Remember we're doing different this time around.
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