The Theft

The royal courtroom was filled with people, the women and children, the slaves and workers, they had all being summoned. The king was seated on his Peacock throne and anyone who looked at him could easily tell that he was fuming in anger.

Everyone wondered why the King was angry and what had happened to warrant their gathering. They were all left in suspense and it troubled a lot of them who had a guilty conscience.

Those of them who had wronged the King in one way or the other began to panic, praying to the gods that this gathering shouldn't be for their offenses. They knew how merciless the King was when it came to passing judgment, the Kingdom had seen some really cruel punishments given for petty crimes, the King was not a person to show compassion.

King Salem Mohammed was a man who believed that he should walk in the footsteps of the gods and that mercy was not the way of the gods, he believed that showing compassion was a sign of weakness and if they people saw him as a weakling, they would cease to fear him, his enemies might even try to infiltrate his land and overthrow him, so he had to be ruthless at all times.

Aisha stood in the corner where the King's women had been asked to stay, she watched him growling and grunting on his throne, she had not seen him this angry in a very long time. She suspected that this had something to do with Queen Saudat, but when she looked towards the King's eldest wife, Saudat smiled at her in a conniving way.

Aisha was puzzled, trying to figure out the mystery she smelt in the air. If Queen Saudat had really done something bad, then why did she look happy and proud of herself? She was supposed to be petrified because even as the Queen, she cannot be spared of the King's anger.

Then she remembered Aisha saying that she had a surprise for her, is this the surprise she spoke of? What exactly had she done? The pregnant concubine was being eaten up by curiosity. The tension in the room was much as everyone said silent prayers.

Finally, the King stood up from his throne and the murmurings ended, the place went cold like a graveyard. Everyone was listening attentively, waiting to hear what the King had to say, they were itching to know why they had been summoned to the courtroom.

"I know you are all anxious to know why I have summoned you all here, something bad has happened, something abominable… something that has never happened in the past thirty years or more, and I would not let the culprit walk scot free."

The King's solemn words and his cold voice sent chills running through the people, he sounded very angry and whoever had done this abominable thing that he spoke of would certainly not see the light of a new day. They were done for good.

"You must now all be wondering what this person has done, I will tell you," he said and growled softly. "Someone amongst us had broken our trust, they had bitten the hand which fed them by stealing from the King." He announced.

The crowd in the courtroom gasped and some began to murmur amongst themselves.

"Silence!" the king ordered, bringing the place back to absolute tranquility. His eyes trailed through the crowd and they all tried to look away, no one dared to look the King in the eyes.

"This person I speak of, did not just have the effrontery to steal from my castle but directly from my chambers, they dared to trespass into the King's room, that alone is an offense!!" The king barked.

The whole room began to heat up as the people whispered to themselves, some people started to guess in their minds who the culprit might be, their eyes traveled around, looking at each other in scrutiny.

"To make it worse," the King continued, "What the person has stolen is something of great value, the culprit had made away with a one of a kind jewelry, the necklace of my ancestors," the King added with gritted teeth and once again, the crowd murmured, expressing their surprise.

The necklace that the King spoke of has been in existence since the last five generations, it was not just of great monetary value but it held a lot of symbolic value, it was like a King's identity, as valuable as the royal crown. Who would dare to steal such a thing?

It can be concluded that whoever had done this had a death wish, who could even have the courage to steal such a priceless jewel from the King's chambers? The people hoped that the king was mistaken and he had misplaced the jewelry, doubting that someone in their right mind would dare to do such a thing.

If truly, the King had misplaced the jewelry, they all prayed silently that he should find it soon before someone gets hurt. The king could decide to punish every living thing in his castle if the necklace is not found, and no one wants to be punished for something they did not do.

"You don't need to panic, I have already sent all the guards in this castle to turn this place upside down and bring me the jewelry, I am certain that the necklace did not leave this castle because it was there yesterday and no one has left this place today.

The guards had been ordered to do whatever was possible to retrieve that necklace. I have given them my permission to search every room and every corner in this castle. If the necklace is to be found in anyone's room or possession, then the punishment for that person would be unspeakable." The King proclaimed.

At this point, Aisha had frozen up like a ghost, she might not have been fully educated but she was smart enough to understand what was happening and where this was heading. She turned to Queen Saudat again and the Queen smirked at her.

Aisha realized that she was in bigger trouble than she could ever have thought of, from what the queen had said to her, she knew that she had been framed, this was the surprise that Queen Saudat had spoken of, she had done such an evil thing to her.

Her mind raced as she tried to think of what to do, if she had known that things would turn out this way, then she would have told the King the truth about his wife when she had the chance. Aisha didn't know if to interrupt the king and confess the truth to him, it was an offense to speak without being permitted to do so.

"I will give whoever has done this a chance to come out here and confess to their crimes, I can assure them that they would receive a lesser punishment if they confessed on their own will." The King announced.

Everyone in the royal courtroom went silent, while looking at each other to see who would step out. They expected whoever had done this to take this chance and at least, they might die honorably, unlike otherwise.

After a few minutes and no one stepped out, the King growled and clenched his fist. "Fine, let us wait for the guards to return, I have not shed blood in a while," he spat and sat down.

Just then, the courtroom door was pushed open and the guards barged in. "Your highness, we found your royal necklace!!" one of them announced in a loud voice.

The king sprang up from his throne immediately. "Bring it to me!!" he ordered loudly in a possessive voice. He was never letting this thing out of his sight again.

One of the royal guards walked up to him on the platform and handed him the necklace, then the man whispered something to his ears. The King's eyes widened in shock immediately, he couldn't believe what he had heard, he darted his eyes to the crowd immediately like he was searching for someone, then his eyes rested on Aisha.

Aisha's mind flipped the moment the King looked in her direction with disappointed eyes, not just disappointment but shock, then he turned back to his guards and said in a shaking voice. "Get her, take her to my room immediately."

The crowd started to murmur again and look at themselves, they watched as the guards approached Aisha and seized her hands. The room went wild with mutters and whispers as they all looked surprised.

"No! My king, I am innocent!! Don't let them take me!!" Aisha yelled but the guards dragged her with them and headed out of the courtroom.

Aisha kicked and cried but no one was coming to her rescue, a lot of thoughts raced through her mind as she was being dragged away and she looked towards Queen Saudat who seemed proud of herself. She feared that it was over for her.

To be continued!!