Her eyes darted to the dark sectioning of the forest at the sound of a dry leaf being crushed. All the senses in her body heightened in preparation for an attack, as experience had taught her that everything in the forest was to be feared especially when they were not in sight.

What would draw so near to an abandoned cave? She mused as she readied herself. Before she could make a weapon of the rough stone by her side however, right in her sight appeared a fat and overly furry rabbit.

It seemed not to be afraid of her as it slowly lumbered closer to the very spot she was and stopped to sniff at a patch of grass every one or two inches. Soon, it was so near she could reach out and touch it with her feet if she wished to.

"I should kill it." She muttered to herself. It was getting late and she knew the prince would be hungry when he returned to her, like he promised to do. The only problem was rabbits were smart and overly alert. Any little action taken could lead to them bounding away, never to return. She sought to retire back to the shelter of the cave until she noticed something odd about the creature.

The rabbit was not hopping like she first thought so, it instead hobbled on one foot like it was injured. And it was. Blood marked the trail it took while it made sluggish, painful movements.

"May the gods be praised." Ugegbe pronounced happily as she knew the chances of catching the animal had increased in her favour.

In a little while, she was skinning the animal with the tiny knife she stowed away in the little bag she always hid underneath her wrapper. Her nimble hands worked steadily, prising the soft fur from the dead mammal.

It was a torturously slow process but it got her mind off the thoughts of anything in the wrong happening to the prince. She knew she would never forgive herself if any harm befell him.

Now that she committed the actuation into musing, the prince did make her feel a different type of way. His talks and mannerisms when he was with her superseded that of master and servant which was almost an impossible feat in the modern world of Osisi.

In the past, servants had been allowed to love their masters freely but not anymore. A hierarchy had been established and slaves were to stay shaves and royals, royals. The highest position the lower ranked being could take on was that of concubine. Nothing more.

Ugegbe was not sure what the desires of the prince were. She knew he treated her with a certain gentility and care, but she also wondered what he had in mind for her if he succeeded in wooing her; which of course would never happen. But in any event that it did, just how far was he ready to go for her?

Unlike the other fruits of the king's loins, Prince Uzochi even though second in line to the throne had refused to take hold to any maiden as a wife and this was one of the many reasons–not excluding his devilishly handsome features–why he was so eminently popular among the women.

Would it be wishful thinking to imagine a life out of slavery?

As she turned the meat over the fire she'd made, her mind worked ceaselessly, keeping her occupied with deadly and troubling imaginations that could launch anyone into a flowing river, except it would be one where they were headed for the rocks.

"Ouch." Her brain registered the pain from her newly scalded finger while she gathered the pieces of meat together. Once or twice, she had left one side of the meat on for too long and now the burnt pieces were the cursed relics bearing semblance to the rounded bottom of a blackened cauldron.

Anything and everything could go wrong with the prince and her trepidation and worry grew stronger with every minute that passed. All she comforted herself with was the sole fact that he had promised he would return back to her.

It was one thing for any royal to give their word, but it was another for a son or descendant of Orizu to give theirs. For this reason, they hardly did so as their vows were oaths in themselves which were never broken.

But what if he's dead? Ugegbe thought, jumping up to her feet. Her eyes turned far ahead to the sky where the Sun was already slowly setting with its majestic beauty; its orange hue sluggishly coated the sky a crimson red at a pace well to it.

Her sigh was loud at the display of wonder by the gods but also in building exasperation as with all the Sun's magnificence and splendour unfortunately came the warning for the pitch blackness of the devouring night.

She had to do something. Anything. She could not just sit around without making a move or doing anything. Of what use was she if she let herself do so?

True, she was no princess with guards or servants under her control whom she could order to do her biddings. She was only a slave. But she knew slaves were to be loyal to their masters. And her master was the Prince. Prince Uzo.

Though the Prince had made it quite clear that he would come for her, Ugegbe had made up her mind to find him herself. She reckoned that he wouldn't be able to meet with her since she hadn't exactly told him where she would be and it would be even more difficult if he were badly injured or...

Ugegbe halted her thoughts at that. She refused to think any further. He was alive. Well and alive. She would search for him and he would be out there waiting for her. Alive.

It wasn't until the tears dropped on her hands that she realised she was crying. Stop crying. She scolded herself. With her maturing had come the knowledge that shedding tears when in need of a solution was useless.

Her mother while she was alive had told her countless times that crying never solved anyone's problems. 'It only makes you uglier and wastes your precious time.' She would say. Neither of which were beneficial.

As she broke off a few branches from a tree, Ugegbe was thankful for the dry season. If it had been in the rainy period, the woods she used would have taken eons to light on fire or wouldn't have caught flame at all.

Tearing a piece from her already tattered dress, she bundled up at least ten long and fairly stout branches. Then she lit another from the huge burning fire she used for roasting the rabbit meat. She felt a tinge of sadness at having to put off the large fire as it was tasking to make one, but she immediately shrugged off the feeling, convincing herself that it was for the better since there were more important matters to attend to.

She then placed the cooked meat in between dry leaves and hid them under the new ashes from the burnt out wood. Meat was always better when hot or at least warm as it became tougher when cold and as a result less enjoyable.

Ugegbe let herself deeply wonder what the Prince would think. She prayed silently that he would not be insulted or angry at such a meagre and insufficient meal being presented to him. After all, he was a royal who had only received the best treatment since he was born. Would it disgust him that she made such that ranked him so low?

At that moment, she was greatly muddled than before. Despite the fact that she knew the prince to be far off from the rest of his family, she still could not take chances. Most especially not him.

There had been countless stories of his brothers executing maidens by beheading or hanging, all for treating them less than they thought their titles deserved. It was a punishable crime in Osisi to disrespect any royal, but it was more severe when it concerned a son of the king. Then, the penalty was death. And without trial.

He's different. She thought, trying to win over herself again one last time. "He has to be." she murmured under her breath as the memories she had of him resurfaced. Each scene and moment with him was so vivid to the extent that she could see all that had happened in the past playing out like a film clip on roll.

If she wanted to accurately count the many instances of his kindness towards her, then it would be impossible as she could not keep record of them even if she tried. They were innumerable.

Whenever she was to be unfairly punished in the palace, he was never not there to step in to save her. He'd bought her many gifts befitting of princesses, but she'd politely rejected them as she did not want to owe him anything. His actions were always efforts to make her happy even though he was not sure how. Yet, she had not given him a chance.

Back then, she had seen his advances as troublesome and one from a man who only wanted her for her beauty and also to warm his cold bed. But maybe she was wrong. Maybe he had true, honest feelings for her. Maybe, just maybe. He loved her.

Ugegbe let her thoughts wander back to earlier in the day and that was the ground breaker; an end to her doubts. She remembered how the prince had sacrificed himself for her and it erased all uncertainties. Yes, it was true that the sons of Orizu were brave and hardly ever backed down from a fight. But that did not mean they were stupid. They knew the battles they could win and those they would lose.

Brave. Intelligent. Selfish. Those three words were the very backbone of the royal lineage. With the recent and fervent plots to assassinate those in line for the throne, it was every man for himself and there was no time to save or think about others. They–the assassinators–came in considerable numbers with the purpose of overpowering any unfortunate prince who happened to be without protection.

Prince Uzo unfortunately was their target. The second in succession had put himself in danger by going to the stream with her and without a guard to accompany them. But he'd made the decision to make a self-sacrifice, as instead of letting the enemies take his servant like most people of status would have done, he ordered her to run away while he stayed back to fight although he was clearly outnumbered.

If he had ran away with her, she surmised that they would have both been caught as she was a woman and had never been subjected to the hard rigours of direct battle. The thought of ordering her to stay behind as a distraction while he saved himself he must have concluded to not be an option. Since he knew they were there for him and not her, that as she had seen, left him with a last possible course of action. Letting her leave.

He saved me. Ugegbe finally thought after going through every possibility and path of musing. She gathered her fuel source together and picked up the single, burning torch.

She had a favour to repay.
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