Chapter 7: Chapter 7
CHAPTER SIX
King Liam decided to visit Cynthia under the cover of darkness. It was two nights after the elders’ visit; he went in the company of Azar and his wife, Cythera, and two royal guards. Cynthia did not invite them into her house, so they sat under the tree in front of the house.
“Mama, you are welcome...” Cynthia went to hug her mother affectionately while Azar and the king looked on without betraying emotion.
“I hope we did the right thing by bringing her mother along?” King Liam whispered to Azar.
“Trust me on this, your majesty, if there is anyone who can influence her, it is her mother...” Azar replied with clenched teeth.
“Cynthia, my daughter, how are you and my grandson?” Cythera forced a smile and laid a companionable hand on her daughter’s shoulder.
“We are fine, Mama, I have missed you so much...” silent tears seeped from her eyes as she stared at her mother joyfully,
“Welcome, grandma...” Abeonego greeted and went to hug his grandmother fondly.
“Cynthia, I want you to forgive the King, I believed everything that happens to one in life has a reason,” Cythera advised passionately.
“Cynthia, I’m sorry about what I did to you, I didn’t know it would get to this...” King Liam hastily interjected.
“Can you hear yourself? You got me pregnant at the age of sixteen and vehemently denied the responsibility before the whole community and after many years of trying to heal my pains alone here you are again pleading; what do you want from me?”
“My kingdom is on fire, and it is only your forgiveness that can quench it,” King Liam pleaded emphatically, “I’m sincerely sorry...”
“If it is my forgiveness you wanted; I have forgiven you...” she replied curtly,
“Cynthia, my daughter, you and your son has to return to Kuburin; your son is a prince, so he has to move to the palace,” Azar explained,
“I’m not going anywhere!” she retorted, “This is my home, and this is where I will live!!” she scoffed, “I do not want to reap where I did not sow.”
King Liam made to knee before Cynthia and was hastily prevented by Azar and Abeonego, “It is a taboo for a king to ever knee before any mortal, no matter the circumstance.” Azar said as they prevail on the king.
“Your Majesty, you cannot knee down,” Cythera said and turned to her daughter, “Cynthia, if the king knelt before you, that would be a fresh curse, please, forgive and forget the past so that we can progress...”
“My father said curses are like chicken, they come home to roost; I never understood the meaning until things started going wrong. My evil deeds are coming home to roost that is why things are turning upside down in my kingdom. I’m reaping the reward of my evil deeds, not just me but along with my kingdom.” He lamented, “Please, Cynthia, give me another chance to right the wrongs I meted out to you. My son has been abducted and is awaiting death in the enemies’ hands; I have been given three months to renounce my throne and if I didn’t do that, they threatened to invade my kingdom and capture everybody, please, save my kingdom from ruins...”
Abeonego turned to his mother, “Mama, please forgive my father,” He whispered to his mother, “He has realized his mistakes; I want to go with my father, but I cannot leave you alone. Let us go and start afresh in Kuburin.”
Cynthia stood on her feet and broke down in fresh tears while King Liam went to console her, “I’m sorry...” he said repeatedly and opened his arms expectantly.
She was looking stricken while the tears still flowed unabated, after a while, she stopped and started sniffing. After what seemed like an eternity, she looked up to her son who signalled to her to go ahead, she looked at her mother who also signalled to her to go ahead. She stepped into the outstretched arms of the king, and he closed his arms around her happily. Azar and Abeonego clapped happily while the two royal guards giggled.
“Abeonego, this is your father; he is the king of Kuburin Kingdom...” Cynthia announced with a quiver in her voice after which King Liam went to his son and hugged him affectionately,
“I’m sorry, my son; I promise to make up for every wrongdoing...” King Liam said with a quiver in his voice. “I will always be there for you and your mother.”
“I have forgiven you, Papa,” he intoned, “I’m so happy to see you.”
“I am happy too,” he turned to his guards, “We are going to prepare a royal banquet for my son and his mother upon our return to Kuburin.”
King Liam and his entourage returned to Kuburin that night to prepared for the return of Cynthia and Abeonego to the kingdom.
When Queen Celandine heard Prince Abeonego was the king’s first son she was greatly worried and devastated. “Does it mean he would be the heir to the throne?” she pondered, “I won’t allow it; this is what my son had been made to believe all his life.” She shrugged her shoulders as she concluded that another battle is in the offing, meanwhile, she confronted her husband, “Your majesty, how could you do this to me? You have a child outside?”
“Celandine, I’m sorry, I think the situation on the ground now is more serious according to the priest, what we need now is to prepare how we will rescue the prince and other captives being held by the Kambam people.”
“You broke my heart, your majesty!” she cried bitterly, her face was flushed with anger and her chest rose and fell in agitation.
“How? Your position is not being threatened. Is it?” he asked, “Prince Amadeus is my heir unless the gods say otherwise.”
She shrugged her tender shoulders and walked out of the king’s bedroom where the meeting took place while King Liam looked at her sadly.
●●●
Prince Abeonego led the men to war against the kingdom of Kambam and defeated them gallantly; he rescued Prince Amadeus and all other captives. Also, a lot of their soldiers too were captured with their weapons and livestock. The terrible defeat of Kambam made the king of Kambam opted for an amicable settlement. He brought peace offerings to King Liam and promised to live peacefully with Kuburin and other neighbouring communities.
Prince Abeonego became a hero afterward and he was widely loved and respected by the people who generously gave him gifts of different kinds. To crown it all, King Liam made Prince Abeonego the chief warrior and head of the Kuburin Kingdom warriors.
Cynthia sensed the cold war from Queen Celandine, so she politely declined to live in the palace. King Liam built a beautiful house for Cynthia and her son close to the palace and he gave a huge sum of money to Prince Abeonego to go into business which the latter made a success story of within a short time.
A few years later, Prince Abeonego got married to the beautiful Princess Adalia who was the daughter of one of the district heads and they were living happily until one night when Queen Celandine overheard the priest of the land telling King Liam that Prince Abeonego has been chosen as the heir apparent.
“Hmmm, I know the gods are not asleep,” King Liam had said with a nod of his head, “I guessed it might happen, so there is nothing I can do about it, from the little I have known about Abeonego, I believe he would be a better king than Amadeus. I’m happy and I will begin the preparation for his presentation to the kingdom.”
“Your majesty, I want us to trend carefully because in my consultations, I foresaw so many hurdles for the prince but at the end, he shall triumph.”
“How should I trend carefully?”
“Make sure there is peace in the palace especially among the two princes; that is just it.”
“I will see to that, though I don’t foresee bad blood between them because Prince Abeonego lives outside the palace with his mother and Prince Amadeus lives here in the palace with me.”
“Your majesty, I told you according to the way I saw it.”
“I will let Prince Amadeus knows that Prince Abeonego was caused by my misdemeanour; if not, Prince Abeonego supposed to grow up in the palace under the royal care.”
“It is okay, your majesty that was a bygone.”
She became troubled and quickly rushed to her room where she started pacing up and down with her fingers entwined in each other. She called her son into her room. “My son, there is fire on the mountain!” she said in hushed tones.
“What is the problem, mother?” Prince Amadeus asked with a carefree attitude,
“I overheard the chief priest telling your father that bastard has been selected as the heir to the throne.”
“Who are you referring to as bastard?” Prince Amadeus asked sarcastically,
“Who else will it be if not Abeonego who suddenly came from nowhere and wants to take over what rightfully belongs to you?”
“That is not possible; what does Abeonego know about royalty? Is it because he rescued me and others from the wicked people of Kambam?” he snarled, “God knows I would have defeated them if not for my men who weren’t brave and coordinated enough.”
Queen Celandine smiled at her son’s boasts, “Thanks to the gods, at least you are hale and hearty now.” She intoned as she stared at him fondly, “My dear son, you have to gird your loins and sit up; your inheritance is about to be stolen from you. I will do all I can to help you, but you have to be wise and discreet about it.”
“I will see my father and ask him because how could...”
“Shut up your mouth! I said I overheard them discussing it. It is not yet a publicized issue, just between the king and the chief priest. If you ask him, he will want to know who informed you.”
“You are so wonderful, mother, so what should I do?”
She smiled sweetly at him, “That is the question, what I want us to do is to make Abeonego unattractive to the community. I believed everybody loves him now because they see him as a sort of hero; what if he becomes irresponsible?”
“If he becomes irresponsible, nobody will want him as a leader.” He replied with a sly smile, “I have not even forgiven the fool for taking Adalia from me.”
She waved him aside, “I have told you that Adalia is not an issue; there are many beautiful princesses around us that you can choose from.”
“The fact remains that I love Adalia; she is a beautiful and special girl whose sonorous voice used to send me to a hypnotic state. I wished she could be mine so that she can sing to me forever and ever.” He intoned, “I don’t know how Abeonego came across her.”
“She is married to your stepbrother, so you have to get her lust out of your system; the most important issue now is your inheritance unless you are not interested so you tell me now and safe me from wasting my time and resources.”
“I’m interested, if I become the king, I can acquire any woman I want including Adalia.”
“That is good, so I will tell you what you should do after I return from a little journey I want to embark on in the next few days.” She said as she dismissed him. He nodded as he hugged his mother and wished her good night.