Keywords:

Op spray: pepper spray but with spirit.

•Sanusi

"Where's Bala?" Surayya asks

"He's in the arboretum."

"Did he tell you he has a lady friend he has interest in?"

"No." I laugh "He's getting me a bonsai tree."

"Oh. So anything I should know before you go back?"

Najma passes, holding the edge of her dress with her right hand. She refuses to look at us, from the looks of things she's angry about something or at someone. One of us maybe? Me, maybe? I thought she'd forgiven me for missing the herika party.

"Aunty Najma." Surayya calls with a wide smile on her face, dipping her hands in the pockets of her hoodie.

She stops and turns but doesn't move closer to us "Surayya."

"I couldn't find you yesterday. I had so much to tell you about school before I leave."

"Next time." She waves, scrunching her nose as a way of showing she's being bothered and continues to wherever she was headed.

Surayya looks at me "Have I offended your Mrs?"

"I don't think so. She's just angry that Bala won't give her the passcode to the detachment room." I think. But I do not tell her that since she's going back to school today. She needn't know I've been fighting with Najma and that she's refused to speak openly about her feelings like a normal human being.

"What's in there anyways?"

"It's better if you don't know." Dismembered body parts of the troubled.

"Tell me now or I find out behind your back."

"Stay away from there."

"Fine." She opens her tub of lip balm and swoops a small amount with the flat top surface of her finger to her lips and she rubs them against each other to shine once more and she pouts for measure.

Bala is back, smiling for Nom re Papa K-knows-why with a nicely trimmed bonsai tree cradled in his arms like a baby.

"Thank you Ba." Surayya claps and snatched it off his hands.

"Be careful." He hands her a tiny scissor "To remember your old folk by."

She nods appreciatively. I and Bala form a protective wall of shoulders joined to hers and we walked together with her in the middle.

We reach the parking lot and Bala takes the tree from her and we enter the back seat while he stays in the front seat. The drive to the dispatch ship was a total of three hours before we board the ship and it transports us to Bunisa in less than twenty minutes because this ship was of a new technology that pushed the boat 80mph. Queen Nana really outdid herself this time. I was excited for this because I didn't like traveling by air even if she'd provided us with different prototypes for her private jets.

This would be the first trip we encountered in a long time without being attacked at sea or anywhere but that didn't make me any calmer, I was even preparing for I knew a bigger attack was finding it's way to the door of my palace.

****

"Bye. I'll miss you two."  Surayya drags the box out of the car and drops the tree in a basket.

Bala nods and I answer for us "We'll miss you too Su. Don't cause any trouble. Read too!" We stay at the entrance waving without moving outside of it.

She hugs me,  waves at Bala and he touches her hand lightly then she walks away and we start the car to stop at the Bunisari royal house to pick some flowers since we'd dropped Surayya to school. We were free to handle our work before getting on a ship to Gasodi to get our payment for the last shipment there.

The ship wasn't there when we arrived so we had to wait for thirty minutes before it came and we boarded it.

Bala slept as soon as he found a seat while I called Najma to tell her I'll be in Gasodi for work so we can meet there. Right after we left Kindo, she called to inform me of the conference she'd be going for in Gaso so it wasn't a coincidence that she'd reached here before me seeing that I'd stopped at Bunisa.

Now I had to return quickly because all this traveling wasn't fit for a king. It was just fun when the kingdom didn't know but now that a lot of problems are coming to limelight I had to be there to find them solutions.

There was another issue brewing but I feared I knew not from where. We sealed a mans existence with water, his body wasn't even where he was killed and now we can't find who shifted the body. You can't just walk into a kingdom asking who shifted the body of a dead man from its original spot without explaining why you're there in the first place. Everything is such a mess, this would be the smallest of them all.

I open my messages to check if Najma or the guards have an issue somewhere or even Surayya but my phone is empty so I choose to send a text to Najma.

Sanusi: Babe

Najma: How's work?

It was as if she was in full work mode. She was always cold whenever she had to work.

Sanusi: I just got the flowers from Bunisa. I'm heading to Gaso now.

Najma: Really? That's great. What time?"

Sanusi: Four-thirty maybe. Can we meet once I'm in?

She knew when I was speaking to her genuinely or was indirectly asking for sex. I would be more than nice just so she lets me lay my head in two soft melons.

Najma: How about seven? I have a meeting with Peeress Ro to discuss the maternity bill to put in place for the her husbands inauguration next week.

Sanusi: I can wait.

Najma: I love you.

She says it anyway, as if she didn't know I would answer her with a conversation neutral answer.

Sanusi: I'll call you later.

She goes offline and I slide the phone into my pocket and rest my back against the seat, feet outstretched and crossed at the feet like Bala. The wind blew softly and caresses my skin. I sunk in a generous amount of the air through my nose and close my eyes so I can enjoy the peace of the atmosphere.

A warm liquid trickles down my throat and I open my eyes immediately to see a man holding the pilots head right above my face head with a knife to my throat.

He brought his bearded mouth to my ears "Throw all your weapons to the ground and follow me."

My ears itched and caused my nose to wriggle of its own accord because of the stench coming from his mouth. If a rotten fish lived in there it'd come to life just so it can escape. It was that bad.

Bala was normally a deep sleeper so he had no idea what was going on. I do as the strangely dressed man demands and throw my daggers and gun to the floor.

"I'm going with you so he stays." I point at Bala beside me.

He squeezes the handle of gun "I was only sent to find you."

"Let's go then."

He ties my hands with a rope and closes my eyes with a cloth around my head. The ship had already stopped at a dock I was unfamiliar with.

I struggled gently with the ropes to find an opening but it was too tight. We stop somewhere and he's no longer holding me.

I bend my hand to an uncomfortable position so I can drag the knife inside my belt. I manage to take it out after a few painful stretches of my fingers and quietly cut it but I don't make a move.

He returns and takes the the cloth off my head and i see that it's already morning. The area isn't one I've visited before but I believe it's on the Kindoni territory because there are gumberry trees scattered around and everyone knows this fruit can be found nowhere in the country except Kindo.

He's about to spray the Op spray on my face when I remove the ropes from my hand and duck. I punch his stomach and rushed for his neck with the rope.

He falls to the ground and is shouting "He's here. You can see he's a tyrant. Save me."

Helicopters surround the area with flashlights above my head and I just knew he'd called journalists to record this. What was his aim though? And who's sent him? Why was I even thinking? It was probably Safari once again—I guess I was too quick to say this would be an attack-free trip.

I push him and run back to the boat before they're able to capture any more of the struggling that occurred. I made it to the boat in time and just as I'm about to drive off I see him raising the head of our pilot in the air and telling them "He slaughtered this man without remorse—someone who was also a Kindoni clansman. Is that the kind of king you all want?"

I quickly check on Bala who's still where he is—sleeping soundly—before moving to steer the ship back to harbor, forgetting I ever planned to see Najma tonight.

This afternoon was already a nightmare and the day hadn't fully started then. If my council can't fix this then I should be expecting a subpoena from the court of consignment to be charged for a crime I didn't even witness, had no evidence to clear my name or provide the real criminal.

The almighty Zaki is here, everywhere, and anywhere—he wouldn't let me fall. Nom re Papa K and Nom re Nuhu protect my land from the wrath of my enemies.
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-Aisha SafiyanuXO💚