KING SLAYER
It all began 47 years ago when I murdered the king. They call me the "king slayer". In the history of queens, I am the worst there has ever been. Everybody thinks I am the evil one, but there is an untold story, that comes far long before that.
In "Taung" kingdom, named after the most vicious animal in the world; the "lion", very remote, deserted, dry even with the heaviest rainfall that never ceased to wet the area, and very cold despite the fact that it was already long passed November, there lived a beautiful Mosotho girl named Thato (Flower), a beautiful flower that bloomed from summer to spring, unlike most flowers.
Taung was built by the mountain side, with the mountain surrounding the entire kingdom in totality, except the eastward side that was inhabited by the cannibals, known as "the hunters"; preying and feasting on the flesh of the mortals, therefore making that part of the land non-existent to the residents of Taung, who in fear of becoming someone's meal for the day, never dared to approach that part of the land.
With the conventional route to the kingdom being inhabited by the human eaters, the mountain, with its surprisingly eye-catching features that made it a romantic getaway for lovers, become the fastest and safest route to the kingdom. However, in the latter years, the mountain became the most dangerous place for any mortal being, although the greenery and the beautiful sight of the flowing river from the top of the mountain straight to the royal village grounds, never ceased to entice multitude to their slaughter.
As the king's only child, I am entitled to know how it feels because I was there, because it was my people that got slaughtered, it was me that lost everything in a blink of an eye, the one that saw my kingdom burn to the ground with my parents in it. I was only sixteen when my agemates and I were taken in. On that day, the king ordered all men and women to be slayed, adding that only girls and boys between the ages of eleven and seventeen should be left behind.
We were captured, and locked in prison for several days after our parents were butchered like animals in front our eyes. Since my father was the king, both him and my mother were taken into the palace where they were made to watch as the entire kingdom burned to a crisp with everyone in it, before they were ordered to pick between burning with the rest of their people, or having their heads cut off in front everybody else.
For me, healing did not come as quick as it did for others. The pain and embarrassment became just too much bear; so, I stayed at the far corner away from everybody and watched as my parents' murder built his empire on the land that rightfully belonged to me after my parents. Whenever I closed my eyes, it came back. The image, the sound, they haunted me day in and day out.
It was the prince that helped me back on my feet, he was the one that noticed my pain and refused to sit back and watch. He took me in, treated my wounds and tried to make me forget the sorrow and anguish his family put me through. Was it so easy? Was I being too cruel? Was I the evil one for not being able to erase the terrible picture that they painted in my head? Should I have left it all behind, accepted it and lived happily as the queen of the tribe that butchered my parents? Is that what being human means?
On that day, the prince came to the compartment where we were locked up and started rambling about arrogantly, scrutinizing us and singling out the strongest men to join their armies, and the most beautiful women to be married to their soldiers. As for us who were neither strong nor beautiful, we were sold to slavery. As we were being escorted to the carriages that were to transport us to our masters, his eyes caught side of me, with immediate effect, he stopped to stare.
At that point, I had lost too much weight that those who saw me would have sworn that I'd be dead in a week. Standing by myself proved impossible as I fell to the ground soon as they let me go. He approached me and knelt down to come to the level of my face, looked into my eyes for a moment before he offered me his hand, I hesitated for a bit but eventually accepted, took his hand and allowed him to help me up.
The prince ushered me to his chambers, which previously belonged to me and ordered the maids to bath me, nurse me for a couple of days until he returned, and for them to prepare the best room for me there in the palace. I stayed there as the royal guest for a couple of days before I was invited to a choosing ceremony.
At my arrival, he ordered his men to escort me to sit by his side. The girls took turns dancing and presenting themselves to the prince who just sat there staring at me the entire time. Finally, when all the girls had appeared before him and he had made it clear that he was not interested in neither one of them, he turned to me, got down on one knee and took out a leader bracelet and offered it to me as a token of his love.
"I know this is sudden and uncalled for, I don't know you and that you don't know anything about me either except that I am the prince of the Bataung tribe, but despite everything else, will you do me the honors of being my wife?" he poured out his heart.
At that moment, wrath was my best friend. Seeing the king there, smiling pathetically irritated me more than I already was.
As I accepted to be married to the son of a man who killed my parents, I remembered the saying; "keep your friends close and your enemies closer". Killing the king was the only thing that ran inside my head at that moment, I would do anything to see to it that it happens, even marrying the son of my worst enemy, and just like that, I ended up as the princess of The Bataung tribe.
I should probably explain something before you get confused, although I had no idea at the time that my parents got killed, I found out at the later stage that, these Bataung tribe that stole my father's kingdom, were led by a man who had betrayed his father-in-law; my grandfather, who was the king at time. This man defied the king when he pushed his wife; the princess of that nation to death by resorting to sorcery when his wife failed to give him a son.
The princess was the king's only daughter and oldest child, an heir to the throne by birth, so, after she died, my father who was the next in line as the king's youngest, become the crowned prince. My uncle, was cast out along with his son born of magic, and since then, the practice of magic became a crime punishable by death.
Having done everything he could to bring forth a son who by right would be the next king after his mother, my uncle felt betrayed and cheated when he and his son got cast out, leaving my father to inherit what he thought rightfully belonged to his son. For 20 years, he raised his son to know that there is a kingdom waiting for him, and when the time was right, they would get it back, as they did. Hearing the story, instead of understanding his side, my blood boiled with rage at the mention of his malicious name.
Despite the love the prince showed me, I couldn't hold in the resentment in my heart. The harder he tried, the more it felt like he was laughing at my face. Making fun of me. The daughter of his father's culprits, laughing at his side, making love to him every night as if he was not the son of the man who had my parent's blood on his hands. I could not love him no matter how much he tried. It was for him after all that my parents had to die
After plotting my revenge against the king for a year to no avail, I gave birth to the demon's cub. To me he was not a son but a monster that would take after its grandfather and live to torment people, killing to its heart's desire, because he could. I could not bring myself to kill him though. Aside from everything else, he was still my blood, there was still that part of me that loved and cared about him.
Two years down the line, the king died. He got very ill and without realizing it he was already dead. For the first time in three years, I could breathe. The feeling of relish overtook my emotions for a while, but it was no sooner than I remembered that there was still plenty more on the list, one man's death does not erase the sins of an entire nation, so I told myself.
The prince, my husband was crowned king and my son was crowned prince; the rightful heir to the throne. I was recognized as the queen and people respected me. I got a lot of maid servants and could do anything I wanted to do whenever I wanted to, but I couldn't care less. I wanted one thing and one thing only, to avenge the death of my parents.
On the day that I finally took my revenge, I stayed in bed the whole day, pretending to be sick while I planned my vengeance and the escape route. When bed time approached, I took with me the king's hunting knife to bed and hit it under the pillow. It was the one thing I could think off at the time that felt easier and quicker to do.
He came to join me in bed and unwearyingly I waited for him to settle in, which he did no sooner than I had anticipated. He was just about to fall asleep when I pulled out the knife from under my pillow and voraciously sliced off his neck. Like a vicious murder, I looked into his eyes to make sure that my face was the last he saw, back at me, he stared with them big brown merciful eyes and whispered something I could not hear clearly. In all honesty, I could not care less about what he was saying. Convinced that no one would recognize me in a black apron and a hoody, I walked out with immediate effect.
With the knife in my hand, I stabbed everyone I came across on my way out of the palace. When the bells went off, I was already out of the palace into the streets where only a few were able to recognize me because of the darkness and the different outfit I was wearing.
After hustling in an unfamiliar city for twelve years, I found love again. This time, the feeling was mutual and for the first time, it felt real. My husband was one of the noble men in the area, in fact, he was the richest man in that country. He was respected and thought off as the mighty man, even the king would not do anything without seeking his advice first. I become that person, the wife of the most respected man in the city. He made me a trophy wife, treasured me above everything else in the world.
At the time I met my husband, I was working in an all-time butchery owned by a rich man who I had only ever heard off in stories. We had a lot of clients that day as we usually did, but a strange thing happened that pushed us to keep our heads up the whole day. A handsome young man walked in not long after we opened, he took his time looking around, not looking like he was planning to buy anything. All the employees started to get nervous which I found pretty stupid because, although he could have been, it was obvious that, that man was not our boss.
First of all, this man was way too young to be the business tycoon that our boss was said to be. Besides, aren't business men supposed to be ugly and fat? Not this guy. He was an adorable little thing, short but not too short to be regarded as a short man, had abs that I had never seen before, his dark curled hair giving a bit of maturity to his baby face. We all couldn't help but get sworn away by his dashing good looks, and observed openly as he sailed arrogantly through our shop like he owned the place.
The customers came and left but this one did not look like he was about to budge anytime soon. Somebody had to put the arrogant pal in his place, and who better than me to do that. I approached him proudly, ready to throw the first punch should I have to.
"Excuse me sir, but if you are not going to buy anything, we would kindly like to ask you to leave, maybe you will come back when you have made up your mind about what you want to do." I fired the first shot.
"Excuse me!"
I could see the disbelieve on his face and like piecing needles, I could feel the pressure on my chest, but I had to keep going...
"It's just that you have been in here since 0930hrs and it's almost 1100hrs now. No one is allowed to stay in the shop for that long without...."
This time he couldn't let me finish my statement. Now I could see annoyer on his face unlike before when I thought he was amazed.
"Sorry, who are you?"
Excuse me, did he just ask who I am? At this point, all the modesty in me just faded away. I yelled on the top of my voice for everyone to hear only to get startled by the manager's voice.
"Boss. I'm so sorry to keep you waiting. I was in a meeting with a very important client when I got the message that you were here."
We all widened our eyes; our mouths fell open as we stared at the manager in disbelieve.
"Boss?" the word came out of our mouths on its own.
The idea of apologizing was all the way on the back of my mind that it was the last thing I thought of. At least my feet could still walk. I ran out of there and stayed in the bathroom until I believed that the awkwardness would have subsided, so that I would be able to grab my purse and leave, I mean, who didn't know that I would be fired after what I did?
Like a wicket witch, I stepped out of the bathroom pretty convinced that it couldn't get any worse, but no, I was mistaken. There he was waiting by the bathroom entrance, ready to bury me alive. At that point, I was too embarrassed even to boarder offering my apologies, I stood there and stared back at him in terror. I couldn't believe how patient he was, just standing, looking at me, waiting for me to say the first words, could anything be more embarrassing?
I knew that in time I would have to swallow my pride, more like choke on it really, but that obviously had to happen sooner than later.
"umm.... I am....I mean..." I murmured.
With all the patience in the world, he kept waiting for that apology.
"I am sorry. I'll get my purse and go." I said rushing passed him but he grabbed me by the arm to make me stop.
Without looking in his eyes, I pleaded with him to let me go. At this point, the shame had turned into sadness that without realizing it, I could feel the tears rushing into my eyes, and instantly rolling down my cheeks. Like a gentleman, he took out his hanger-chief and wiped the tears off my face.
"On the contrary, I was about to compliment you for what you did back there, must have taken a lot of courage to pull that off." Said my boss wearing a warm smile on his face.
"What about coffee together, or a meal? Dinner, or it doesn't have to dinner, it could be lunch?" Now it was his turn to panic.
And that is how a beautiful love story of a business tycoon and what was once the queen began. With dinner, and a marriage proposal, a beautiful wedding and later, a beautiful baby girl to complete the family.
My daughter was one of the kind; She was pretty, respected us and was a very lovely person. There was never the time that my daughter would cause trouble, as the rich kid, you would expect to find somebody desolate and wearisome, but she was just the sweetest.
At the age of 16, we sent her off to study in a foreign country. She came back 4 years later, and she was in love. She told us she had met somebody in that country and fell in love. The problem came when she told us whose family she wanted to marry into. It was him; it was it, my past. It was haunting me. I knew that there was no way I would just walk away free after what I did. My daughter was madly in love with his brother, my son, the king of the Taung tribe. That was the last straw.
Four years back when my daughter told me that she wanted to study in that kingdom, I openly objected to the idea because I knew that I was not ready to let all the skeletons out of my closet, but when she and her father protested, I held on to the hope that she would go there, study and come back four years later, and that she would never have to learn the truth about my past. Only I was mistaken, fate has a way of playing tricks on us and I should have known.
I had to reveal my secret for the sake of my children. My daughter hated me; she couldn't even bring herself to look me in the eyes. I could tell that she was very much ashamed of me. She committed suicide days later, she just couldn't take it, it was too much to grasp all at once. Her mother being the murder and her having unknowingly fallen in love with her brother. My husband died of heart attack when he found out that our daughter had decided to end her own life.
I was left with my son now who hated me, he hated me and thought of me as nothing but an enemy. My little boy was all grown now, he was nothing like his grandfather. He was just like his dad, sweet, caring and very moderate. He was the king that everybody hoped for. His people, they loved him, they worshiped him. He was the mighty man in that area, people respected him and supported him by all means.
I didn't want to go near him, I didn't want to apologize to him. Not because I was too arrogant, but because I knew I didn't deserve his forgiveness. I had lost that right when I decided to make him an orphan. I didn't only take away his father's life, I abandoned him. I made him fatherless and motherless at the same time.
Even though I thought I didn't deserve his forgiveness, he was the only family I had. Without him I was all alone in the world, and without me, he was alone too. All we had was each other, so I went to him. I knelt before him and begged for his forgiveness. He stood there a minute and stared at me without saying a word. I couldn't look at him, I couldn't bring myself to do it. He then stood up and offered me his hand, helped me up and hugged me tightly.
"If it was up to me, you would never step foot in this palace again. But he begged me, he urged me to forgive you. After everything, he still loves you as if it was yesterday." He whispered in my ear.
I looked up and there, he was right there in front my eyes, smiling, that smile that always seemed like he was laughing at me. He looked at me with those eyes, the eyes that were always soft and full of mercy. I could feel it, that warmth, that sense of safety, that desire to protect me. He was more alive than ever. That day I could have sown that I killed him, why was he still alive? I couldn't understand it, I couldn't believe it. He came closer to me and said, still smiling softly:
"If you are going to do a job, you must see it through to the end."
I couldn't believe it, I stood there stalk still. Tears slowly tripped out of my eyes and suddenly everything appeared blurry. I couldn't see or hear anything; I couldn't even feel my legs.
When I woke up, I was lying down on the bed and there he was, besides me. Knowing him of who he was, he must have stayed by my side until I woke up. They told me then that, he didn't die that day. They found him before he died and managed to save his life. They could have found me, executed me but he was the one who ordered them not to go after me.
Even though he didn't respond to it when we were still together, he knew that I was suffering and he understood it perfectly. He wanted to help but he just didn't know how. He thought that finding me and arresting me wouldn't be of any help to me. I have to say, I have never seen a man love a woman before. Not even my second husband could have loved me that much. He tried but it wasn't the same.
We re-started the days of our lives as the happiest family that has ever lived. Our son began his reign when he was seventeen because of his father's constant illness, but with me by his side, he grew up to become the mighty king that our kingdom has been waiting for, for the longest time.
Fifteen years later, a legend was born. A savior of our people. We might have not known it at the time, but this was the birth of our knight in shining armor.