PRINCESS AMARACHI Episode 12 by Okafor Erasmus Ugochukwu

PRINCESS AMARACHI Episode 12 by Okafor Erasmus Ugochukwu

The night was slowly welcoming the dawn when Olaedo suddenly got up from the bed with sweats all over her. She was confused because she couldn’t understand the dream she just woke up from. Everything seemed strange as wild thoughts watered her imaginations. She suddenly began to feel weary and unable to move. She isn’t the kind of girl that is easily frightened but that night she kept hearing the sorrowful tunes from the flutist ringing in her head but couldn’t understand how and why she kept hearing that.

Nudging Mmesoma her roommate to wake up, Olaedo sighed as she waited for the maid to get up.

“Asamma,” Olaedo called Mmesoma as she is popularly known because she’s the most beautiful maiden in the palace, “please get up,”

Scrambling to locate her wrapper to cover herself before getting up, Mmesoma (aka Asamma) got up and yawned. “What…what’s the time, please?” she asked yawningly, “and why are you awake by this time of the night. Or is it morning already?”

“Get up first, biko (please)” Olaedo said and sprinkled some water on her face to make her awake and not sleepwalk like she’s known for. “Can you hear the sorrowful sound of the flute in your head too?”

Hearing about the flute made Mmesoma get up immediately, “Did you say the flute? Is the flutist back?” she asked as her questions drove out the sleepiness of her eyes away; welcoming full consciousness.

“No, he isn’t, that’s why I’m confused,” Olaedo muttered and snapped her finger, “but please, is it ringing in your head too or am I the only one hearing it?”

“I was seriously having a sound sleep until you woke me,” Asamma said and hissed, “have you been dreaming about him or having another revelation?” she asked and pulled Olaedo closer for comfort, “I think you need to start thinking less about the king because it’s beginning to eat deep into you and that’s not healthy at all. The people who are at the helm of it are already losing some sleep over this, so don’t saddle yourself with this mental stress but focus on praying for …”

“I have been praying for my king,” Olaedo interjected, “I’m beginning to believe that he needs more than just prayers. Chukwu Abiama (God) answers prayers through humans, and he won’t leave the comfort of the heaven that’s his abode to come here and do it,”

“But we have the likes of Oduenyi, the cute and handsome dude, the princesses, even the queen and ….”

“I’m sure you have no eye on that cute diviner?” Olaedo said smilingly and nudged her, “I think the princess and the guy may have things in common, or soon they will,” Olaedo said observantly and thoughtfully too.

“Hmmm, but the princess simply took him into the chamber to help him cool off a bit, but not that they have anything in common,” Asamma said convincingly trying to make herself believe that the aforementioned duo had nothing going on between them.

“I had a dream,” Olaedo said, making Mmesoma listen “Not just about the flutist whom I saw playing the flute in pains but the princess and Oduenyi holding hands and feeling happy around each other. I was happy for the second incidence but for the flutist, I don’t know why I haven’t seen him; especially to tap from his wisdom. My great-great granddad is nowhere to be found too, and I have the feeling that being a man so old, he may not survive this period or the realm where he may be right now. Even if the flutist survives, what about him?”

Mmesoma took her time to ponder the entire speech, digested it and then took a deep breath.

“I must be sincere,” she said sonorously, “I think I love that Oduenyi, even from the moment I saw him, but it’s only a fool that can dine on the table of angels because…”

“Expressing your feelings without even hiding it from me is healthy but proverbially saying that you’re too low to contend with the princess over a man is wrong,” Olaedo pointed out, “If I were you, do not show yourself as being interested in him until you’re sure that the princess doesn’t want him, then you can make him know,”

“But the way I feel doesn’t matter anymore, not even the way the princess thinks,” Mmesoma pointed out, “you already had a dream, and the last time I checked, your dreams aren’t mere coincidences or reflection of imaginations. So even if the princess doesn’t want him today, she’d surely want him tomorrow because you’ve seen it already,”

Olaedo knew full well that what Asamma said was the naked truth, so she swallowed spit as the words coursed through her. After giving it a thought, she let out a smile of acceptance, shook her head and snorted. “I think you’re right, so I suggest you just channel your emotions to Ofiakwunti who already confided in me about his feelings for you but was uneasy to meet with you and tell you how he feels. It’s not about being a warrior because in matters of the emotions, even men of valour end up shivering around the love of their lives and unable to confront them,”

Asamma smiled hearing that. She then imagined herself being the wife of Ofiakwunti. “Well, he’s not bad,” she said and dimpled a smile, “but I’m surprised that he never approached me or even made his intentions known to me. But wait,” she added and looked into Olaedo’s eyes. “Why haven’t you told me this since until I declared my interest in Oduenyi?”

“Well, it was just last night that he approached me with his feelings for you,” Olaedo said. “So it’s still in order,”

“Okay, but I’ll think about it, even though I must say that I don’t want him, with no strong reason attached,” Mmesoma said feeling that Olaedo would feel disappointed about her abrupt response.

“Well, the matters of emotion are complicated,” Olaedo mouthed whisperingly to avoid waking others up, “But my advice is this: don’t let people determine your happiness. Anything you can’t have in life, detest it if possible so that it can help you forget about the situation and move on. In life, do not see yourself as being lucky having your partner around. See him as being lucky having you in his life, so that when you end up losing him, you’d pity him for losing a priceless jewel and not seeing yourself as losing a gold that can never be recovered. The person who would be your happiness may be very close to you but you may not know. It’s not all about riches because the rich also cry.

\As I am now, I am nothing but just a maid who hasn’t even met her dad because Achokwu my dad was late even before I could meet him. You can see that I don’t even know any of his family, but being that my mom birthed me out of wedlock, they can lay no claims over me. That’s why I’m here in Ubulu and working for the rich. But it won’t make me start feeling bad about myself because I’m not of royal blood or from a rich home. I am a poor girl and my entire life has been the palace here and I work here with passion and dedication. Now, if I should allow others to be the source of my happiness, why am I still happy serving in this palace that gives us no break from working?”

That long speech sank deep into the mind of Asamma, making some balls of tears to be on her check. Realising that she was long gone in thoughts that resulted in tears, she cleaned her tears and pulled Olaedo into a hug.

“You’ve always been the best for me and nothing will make me lose you as a sister,” Mmesoma said with a grateful heart, “Even though you’re two years younger than me, you’ve always shown so much maturity that made us all subject to your commands as the chief maid; not because of your position but because of your wisdom. I wish to be as good as you,”

Still cuddling her, Olaedo said: “We all have goodness in us just as we all have evil in us.

Harness the goodness in you and destroy the devil inside you, then wisdom could be given a chance. But that never proved that you’re not good because the last time I checked, you’re not just the talk of the town due to your beauty but one of the most intelligent…”

“Even if I am more intelligent than you,” Mmesoma said as an observation, “you’re wiser than me,”

“Wisdom and knowledge aren’t the same,” Olaedo reminded her, “Knowledge is the psychological result of perception and reasoning but wisdom is the accumulated knowledge or enlightenment. There is a thin line separating the two but wisdom is the elder while knowledge is the younger. I think this would make it easier for you to understand,”

“I think with what you just said now,” Asamma said and stood up to observe the time, “you’re better than me in both knowledge and wisdom and I respect you for that,”

Olaedo just realised that it was dawn and the time for every person to get busy with their daily chores at the palace, so she sprang up too from the bed.

“It’s already time for us to face our morning chores,” Olaedo reminded Mmesoma, “and the last time I checked, I’m still the head, so get to work immediately because our heart-to-heart talk is over,” she added smilingly and hugged her again.

“But we still have an unfinished business about the flutist you saw in your dream,” Mmesoma cued, “you only talked about the predicted love that would exist between the princess and Oduenyi but we never talked about the flutist and how he would be found,”

“I had the dream but not the explanation or solution; hence, the need to come to you; the great woman of intelligence,” Olaedo complimented her, “so you should be racking your brain right now brainstorming for a solution other than reminding me of the same dream I came to you with,”

It was already 5: am and the time for the palace to be busy with morning functions and duties, so every other person got to work even the palace guards that slept off leaving the entire night watch for the Oganihu Eze warriors.

Getting to Princess Chisimdi’s room, Olaedo realised that she wasn’t there, so she became a bit worried but not panicky yet because she thought that she may have gone to the Queen’s chamber but when she checked around, she realised that she wasn’t there too. She went back to Chisimdi’s chamber but she wasn’t there still. She saw her two phones were there lying casually on the table. This gave her food for thought, so she went to meet Mkpulumma to report that the princess may have been lost, but on her way, Okoroji stopped her.

Taking Olaedo to a corner, Okoroji who didn’t want others to know that he allowed the princess to go out at night said: “You should stop looking because the princess is in Oduenyi’s…”

As he was still talking, the princess was seen entering the compound, so they all became serious with their chores and feigned being too committed to duty because Chisimdi is always the strict princess, unlike Amarachi who is friendlier to all.

“Good morning, my princess,” Olaedo greeted and tried asking her what happened that made her come back in the morning but Okoroji’s gesture made her realise that the issue shouldn’t be of her concern, so she left immediately.

“Did anyone know I left?” Chisimdi asked looking sternly at Okoroji.

“No, ma’am,” Okoroji replied and started leaving.

“Even the other warrior that watched over the night with you?” she added making Okoroji stop.

“No, my princess. His mouth is shut and he wouldn’t talk,” Okoroji promised and left as his chest bounced many times like that of a bouncer at Eko hotel’s nightclub.

As Chisimdi entered her chamber, Olaedo was already there working to get the house well-kempt. She observed Olaedo closely and noticed that the maid was too focused on the job than normal because she was avoiding her.

As Olaedo tried to leave, the princess called her back and said: “Why are you always afraid of me, and why trying to avoid me right now?”

Olaedo looked confused and afraid at this point because she’s always not comfortable with the way Chisimdi yells at her at slightest provocation which ended up instilling fears inside of her.

“Nothing, ma’am. I’m okay,” Olaedo said with a curtsy and continued avoiding Chisimdi’s eye contacts, “Can I go now, ma’am?” she added and about to bolt out; to avoid a discussion.

“Not yet done with you,” Chisimdi said and made her stop her movement by the threshold of the exit door. “Come back here and sit,” the princess ordered.

“I’m here,” Olaedo said and came back.

“Sit,” the princess urged and tapped the sofa twice for her to sit.

Olaedo sat, adjusting her dress to be sure that she was well covered by that mini work gown. “I’m listening, my princess,” she said feeling uneasy around her.

The princess kept on looking at her but Olaedo never looked back but kept distracting herself with her eyes fixed on the floor while she kept squeezing the towel she used for cleaning the house.

Chisimdi looked at Olaedo intently, came closer and sat beside her.

Olaedo wanted to shift a bit but was surprised that the princess crossed her shoulder with her arm, making them closer to each other.

“Tell me about the dream,” Chisimdi said, making Olaedo so surprised.

“Dream?” Ola asked looking perplexed and feeling busted.

“Yes, dream,” Chisimdi reiterated.

“I had no dream,” Olaedo lied but Chisimdi pulled the maid closer and held her palm, rolled her eyes into her head as she uttered some indistinct incantations, and then freed her grip.

“For the last time, tell me about the dream,” the princess said in a low but stringent tone.

“I saw the flutist playing some sorrowful tunes in my dream,” Ola began shiveringly, “I tried to help him but he wouldn’t give me the flute. I tried taking it from him but he held it firmly, but when I tried to fight for it, I woke up sweating,”

“Is that all?” Chisimdi asked and waited with rapt attention.

“No,” Ola replied, “but the most intriguing was that even after waking up, the melancholic tune of the flute kept lingering and resounding in my head. I know he’s distressed but I don’t know where he is. Even Anyamuo didn’t appear in my dream at all, meaning that he may have died…”

“Anyamuo isn’t dead but much alive,” Chisimdi said with conviction, “the flutist isn’t the one protecting Anyamuo but the old man protecting the child,”

The vehemence and conviction embedded in Chisimdi’s tone of expression got Olaedo thinking that there could be some things about Chisimdi that she was yet to be abreast of.

“How did you know that?” Olaedo asked taking the first bold but confusion-laden look at the princess.

“Just the way I knew that you shared only one part of your dream and hid the second part,” she replied leading to a great shock that made Olaedo so bemused and flabbergasted.

“My princess, I’m sorry to ask this but it’s necessary,” Olaedo said and stood before her, “where were you last night?”

She sat back to listen.

“And where do you think I was?” Simdi countered with a question.

“You were with Oduenyi and you people held each other,” Olaedo said audaciously, “maybe something romantic or something that has to do with a connection between you two happened. That was the dream. So even if you don’t love him today you would…”

“I love him already,” Chisimdi cut in without mincing words, “my destiny and that of Oduenyi are intertwined. That was what you saw I know, but I’m yet to understand how you’re this great seer in dreams even though you always don’t know the interpretations when you’re awake,” the princess added observantly.

“What happened at Oduenyi’s house, my princess?” Olaedo asked out of utmost curiosity, “whatever happened there transformed you to whoever you are now,”

Taking a deep breath, the princess smiled and clapped twice for Olaedo’s boldness, and then stood up and started sauntering in the room.

Olaedo was confused because she didn’t know what made the princess stand. She felt uncomfortable sitting while the princess was standing, so she tried to stand too.

“Remain seated,” Chisimdi ordered, “I have a question and a revelation for you. Which one do you need to hear first? The question or the revelation,”

Olaedo was not just jittery and confused but engulfed by fright and uncertainty, so she didn’t know which one would be good news or bad news to her. She couldn’t just understand how the princess who was seen as the fashionista who had no time to even be engaged with matters of the king, to end up being someone who was standing before her and talking like a visionary. It was just confusing as if the lady standing before her wasn’t the same princess that she met the previous day. The princess was calmer and more coordinated, humbler than she used to be and more sensible than she ever was; even in much sober state as she never appeared to be. Everything was like a total overhaul in her personality, so Olaedo still had much confusion that she needed some explanations to be given; for her to understand, but in the state she was, she wasn’t giving the chance to ask questions but just to choose between two uncertainties.

“Ask me the question first,” Olaedo said; even though she was afraid of what the princess would ask about.

“But why are you afraid?” The princess asked.

“Because it seemed that you’re now reborn, even your characters changed completely overnight,” Olaedo replied unequivocally.

“I’m surprised too that I’m not being harsh or scolding you for no reason anymore,” Chisimdi said, “I am no more the princess you used to know, but the Queen-mother doesn’t know anything yet. I want to take my time to let her know that I am a gift from Ugosimba to my dad,”

“How did you know that?” Olaedo asked, “I think I love the good strangeness in you and I wish it doesn’t depart from you anymore,”

“Oduenyi told me everything because he had it too,” The princess said, “but why am I discussing with a common maid,” she added, having her normal sarcastic human nature back for the moment, “Oh, sorry,” she apologised, “no one is common; especially someone who can see the future or past through dreams,”

“Hey, the princess apologising?” Olaedo muttered furtively.

“The question is this,” the princess broke in, “how could you read the book of the king and still survived it?” Simdi asked straightforwardly, “what powers do you have inside of you to read the book that only people of royal blood read. Even the repercussion that follows the readers never affected you or anyone around you?”

Olaedo was stormed by that question because it was also a mystery she couldn’t understand.

“I don’t know because I’ve been drowning in that thought and confusion, but no one to salvage the situation or wake me up from the dream,” she replied.

“Who is your dad?” Chisimdi asked as she leaned on the wall looking intently at the maidservant, “You have a mission here but it’s not yet clear to me why you’re here, but it had better be for good and not evil. If it’s evil I won’t spare you,”

Olaedo was more confused, making her bereft of words and starved of answers. She was just wallowing in muddiness of her mind and couldn’t even explain why some things happen in her life the way they did without an explanation.

“Even though I can’t explain anything about myself,” Olaedo said with tears in her eyes, “The last thing I’ll ever do is to betray the same man that gave me life when I was almost dead because of lack of food since my mom couldn’t take care of me,”

“Who is your dad?” the princess asked again so that she wouldn’t deviate from the question.

“Achokwu from Amiri,” Olaedo replied.

“Where is he now?” she asked inquisitively.

“He’s late,” she replied weepingly “My mom is Adaoma. She was one of the maids that worked for the king many years back until she resigned for personal reasons that she never shared with me until present,”

“Then you need to meet your mom and ask her who your biological dad is because the revelation I saw about you isn’t connecting any so-called Achokwu from Amiri,” Chisimdi said with certainty, “we all think you’re a common maid but you have the blood of royalty in you. Meet your mom and ask questions,”

That last statement shocked Olaedo because she didn’t just understand why the princess said that she should go back to her mom and start discussing what had been discussed and forgotten a couple of years back.

With a heart full of question and mind obscured with confusion, Olaedo got up this time not waiting for an order from the princess to do so. She began to walk absently as she moved out of the house. Getting closer to the door, she stopped, turned, and asked: “So what’s the revelation about since I have answered the first part of the question?”

“The revelation is already made known to you if you were observant,” The princess said and smiled, “Olaedo,” she called in a deep and assuring tone, “you’re a princess, and if you’re not, then God is a liar,”

Olaedo’s lips fell apart as her legs remained stuck to the ground out of great shock.

As Olaedo tried to wrap her head around the thunderbolt that rumbled in her head, a call from Amarachi came to Chisimdi’s phone.

The princess took the call and said: “Sweet twiney, I have missed you,”

“Oh baby, how you this morning?” Amy said sounding worried.

“I’m cool but why are you sounding commoved?” Chisimdi asked.

“That should be your question dear because your voice is shaky, confirming my dreams where I saw you putting on an all-white cloth as if you have joined the league of the angels. But from what I could deduce from it, it’s a thing of joy and not worry,”

Chisimdi smiled, looked at Olaedo who was still numb to words and thunderstruck, smiled again and said to Amy: “I just discovered that we now have a younger sister,”

PRINCESS AMARACHI episode 12
#OpraDre

To be continued…

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