CHAPTER 1

     Princess Amina laid lazily on her bed, throwing her pen knives across the room to the dart on the wall. She frowned when she missed one and squatted on her bed, aiming the last knife on her hand tactically. She hears a knock, on her door, followed by her mom’s voice and quickly pulled the sheets over her. "Amina, darling" her mother said walking in after a maid "Amina surely, you cannot be asleep whilst the whole kingdom is alive with triumph and victory" the Queen says tapping her lightly "hmm, mother" Amina says peeping slightly through the sheets "dear, are you alright? "yes mother just sleepy, had a really stressful day" she says with a yawn and her mother shakes her head "this won"t do Amina, today is a day of of joy, we finally have victory over our number one arch enemy and whilst the people celebrate, do you really give this sour attitude to the culture of your people?’ "no mother but..." "no excuses Amina, up you go, immediately" she says standing to her feet "come in, Annabel" she talks to the maid waiting outside the door who bows and walks in carrying a beautiful traditional attire and accessories. The Queen notices the dart on the wall and frowns, she turns to Amina "it was indeed a tiring day, wasn’t it?’ "err" Amina says biting her lower lip "fine mother, I"ll be down shortly for the festival" "of course, you will, you have no option...your sisters are downstairs by the way, i wonder why you just have to be the odd one out...hmm" she adds with a raise of her chin and moves to the door with her personal maid following after her "Annabel" "yes my Queen" "I trust that you will do a fantastic job, because tonight is a special night" "yes my Queen" Annabel says with a bow of her knee as the Queen moves out, Amina sighs.

      Amina put on her veil and made her way downstairs with her maids flanking around her. She smiled as the crowd cheered when she walked in "princess Amina, all hail the warrior princess!! they cheered on and she waved humbly. The Queen shook her head disapprovingly and whispered to the King "your son is here" she said sarcastically and the King laughed heartily. Amina bowed before her parents and her father touched her lightly with his scepter "rise my beloved" she smiled and he took her hand and stood up "i thank you all for gracing this great occasion. On behalf of my beautiful wife and daughters, i am delighted that you are all here" the crowd cheered and he continued "you all know that i am deprived of a male child but the gods have blessed me with three wonderful daughters so who am i to complain?’ he smiled as he paused and the crowd cheered some more "well, i will give honor to whom honor is due and to my beautiful daughter, princess Amina for all her exploits and much more to come, i present my warrior beads as a gift and a legacy to be carried on throughout our generations" he said and Amina gasped happily as her sisters clapped. She knelt before him and he wore the beads on her "thank you father" Amina said in a whisper and he smiled "you deserve it, rise my dear" the king waved and Amina happily took her seat beside her sisters "you’ve missed a lot already, dearest sister" Henrietta says with a smile to Amina "oh so it seems" she says replying with a grin. The festival drags on with magicians displaying their art and the king’s joker entertaining the royal family. Amina yawned as the crowed cheered on the entertainers "it’s almost time for the royal dance" Estelle said excitedly and Henrietta nodded in agreement "I simply can’t wait" she turned to Amina "Amina, are you ready for the dance?’ "dance? "what dance? Amina asked, whispering softly "the royal dance of course" Estelle adds with a raise of her brow "today, our father the King would be entertained by his lovely daughters,the best dancers of the kingdom as you know" Henrietta says with pride and Amina nodded nervously "yes, yes of course, of course" she stands up briskly "where are you off too?’ Estelle asks her "i need to put on my best shoes, dear sisters, you know for a beautiful event as such" she replies with a cunning smile and the girls nodded "oh, of course,hurry fair one, we just might find suitors tonight" Henrietta says and the girls giggle.

     Amina hurried up to her room and sighed as she shut the door behind her. She quickly takes off her veil and shakes her head "dance? dance? that is surely the least thing on my mind today" she said talking to her reflection in the mirror. She paced around with her hands on her waist, as she sulked "and this dress, oh the gods help me cause i can’t even breathe" she grumbled. She puts her hand to unzip it and mistakenly rips it "oops" Amina ran quickly to the mirror to examine the damage "not another one, oh not another one" she lamented. She sighed and looked at her fingers, although they looked neat and trimmed because mother made sure about it, her grip was really hard due to her fighting experience. She made a silly face "now i can’t return back to the party,mother will just scream my head off" she sighs and takes off the dress, putting on a casual pant and a shirt. She smiled with satisfaction as she looked at the beads in the mirror "hopefully someone will come in here to check for me, but for now" she concluded with a smile, pulling her knives off the wall, she jumped around her room aiming for the dart, seldom missing.

    Meanwhile, downstairs the palace had been invaded. Amina hears some noise downstairs and pulls out her knives, she sticks them to the straps on her pants and moves to the door, resting her ear on it as she noticed that quite oddly, the music had subsided. Amina swallowed as she contemplated whether or not she should go find out what was going on and with one final thought she tip toed downstairs only to meet the horrible sight of dead bodies littered everywhere. She rushes to the throne area and meets all her family dead. "father, father! Amina says in a shaky voice, as she tried desperately to wake him up "mo-mother, Hen...." her personal guard shifts her gently as she almost gets hit by an arrow "sorry my princess" Alarmed, Amina turns around and aims her knives at a masked man, taking the sword her guard had given to her. "follow me my princess" "Asher, I can’t" she replies, crying and lurching forward to kill more men "i won’t back down" "my princess please, they are too much for us" Asher says when he hints that they were more men outside but she shakes her head, and continues on fighting. He grabbed her while she struggled "Asher let go of me!!! stop Asher, stop,it's an order" she said screaming, in protest and crying as he pulled her through the back door, to the barn where they kept their horses. He puts her on a horse and they saddle into the forest.

CHAPTER 2

    Amina jumps down her horse and throws herself on the grass, sobbing loudly. 'I’m sorry my princess..please I"m sorry, they completely took us unawares" Asher says in pity as Amina refused to be comforted 'I’m truly sorry" he continued and Amina looked up at him "could you identify the kingdom from which the raid was? "by their tribal marks I think the Ulla people, they had allies with the Troans, hence their quest for revenge" Amina stands up angrily "and they dare do this to us? come on they are not more than us Asher! Amina says raising her voice "i know, I perceive it"s a conspiracy of more than one kingdom" he said, bowing his head in sorrow and Amina clenched her fists "so I live to see the desolation of the great Awilla kingdom" she says as she cries "where are we going to go to now? What are we going to do? Why did we run away like cowards Asher, answer me!!! Amina continues in her sorrow and reaches for her sword quickly when she hears her horse whimp and fall down "huh Mandy?’ she turns around quickly but is shot a drugged dart and faints "oww" Asher rushes to her side "my princess" "ohh" he falls down too.

      The next day, they wake up in a house full of captured people with some of them gathered around them in a circle looking closely at their faces "Ah" Amina stirs and wakes up slowly holding unto her head, she pulls herself up to a sitting position and finds curious eyes staring at her, they whisper to one another "is she? "Princess Amina?’ From their outfits, she could tell that they were her people, the remains of them. Asher wakes up suddenly and turns to Amina "my princess are you OK?’ he said coughing and a young man moved closer "is she indeed princess Amina?’ he asked and Asher nodded in affirmation. The people smiled and whispered among themselves, happily "well at least the gods have not forgotten us" they said with one voice and bowed in obeisance to her. She looked at them, surprised at their loyalty and stood up slowly to address them, clutching to her arm which still hurt "I do not know what the future holds for us but I want to plead with you all to be patient with me, I will try my best to make sure that our children and children"s children break out of this slavery, mark my words...it will not always be this way" Amina said fighting back tears as she looked around the faces of the people, who looked up to her, trying to give them hope "long live princess Amina" the people chant and Amina calms the noise with the wave of her hand "i do not know where they are taking us to and for that sake I would not like to be addressed as princess publicly, understood?’ "yes my princess". The people moved back in fear as the slave traders stormed into the room and made them file out in a straight line with binds on their hands. “I’m sorry” Asher said in a whisper, and Amina replied with a faint smile.

They were headed eastward and were led through the desert for seven days. The slave traders were ruthless, and hardly gave them enough time to rest but urged them to move forward with barely enough food to eat, until they finally arrived at noon on the eight day at Jarma kingdom, governed by King Harold Alexander. The guards halt them at the gate that leads to the kingdom and interrogates them. “and who are you?” he asked in a husky voice "good day, the king is expecting me" the slave trader replied, taking off his hat and the guard examined him carefully "drop all weapons here and follow me". 

No I’m not innocent,

I’m guilty…

I’m everything the world says I am

Everything but innocent

I am also afraid, I am also lonely;

And I'm not going to question the law

But If and when I die, write my name

In blood, I’m hoping that’s forever;

Kill a thousand more,

I know u’ll never get tired of accusing,

never!

The world is not innocent! I cry moreover,

She has born and groomed accusers and murderers,

However,

She is a liar, she has promised me peace but quickly steals it away,

She has promised me long life but now mocks as, 

the life is sniffed out of me and reduced to a sentence,

…..a couple of minutes, a couple of days, a couple of hours?

 Is that the worth of my life?

And why can’t we do anything?

Sir, even you know I’m innocent but no!

Let’s equate the life’s of people to money

Let’s equate the life’s people to power

Let’s equate life to riches

Let’s equate life to

All the things I’m not….

Because I’m worth more!

Now get it over and done with!

i'm tired of the wait!

I watched you weep,

I watched you pray,

and there were days when you hardly said a word

and when i asked you; 

you smiled and said 

you were alright,

but i'm older now ma,

and as I try to fight and make it in this big world

sometimes, I cry, sometimes I pray;

and mama sometimes I just tell you i' m

alright even though I know i'm dying inside.....

'cause mama I realize that we all bleed the same, 

whether the rich that hide,

behind the mask of their possessions

or the girls that hide behind the masks of their make-up

regardless of the masks we have on,

we are all humans!

Take....father, mother

Take....daughter, son

Take.....society

Take...but don’t ever give

Now on this deathbed, 

even my will....take

But from my heart,

I leave you a piece of advice

...don’t forget to live

.....each passing day, make memories

Spend time with the ones you love the most

And don’t forget that ‘i do’ is not

Just a phrase ’it’s a... Lifetime

Now I am weary, I need rest!

‘i wish I just lived.....i wish’

(time flies but not memories)

Now on this deathbed,

from my heart,

I leave you a piece of advice;

...don’t forget to live,

....each passing day, 

.....Now i'm weary,

‘i wish I just lived.....i wish’

Boom!

Another man down;

Boom!

We are killing ourselves;

Boom!

With Weapons created and crafted by our own hands;

Boom!

Brace yourselves the worst is yet to come!

Provide me more, my darling would say, the;

Roses you sent to me are withered, the;

Oil and sweet spices are washed away with a quick

Shower but only your words remain, so don’t linger! tell me how I am

Everything to you, before the lonely night comes...

We hurry away to the end, dear friend,

Of this sad little farce called existence,

And are sure that the future will bring one thing,

...the grave

(Ella Wheeler Wilcox)

Rhythm born in the heart

Conceived and birthed like a child

Although I’m scared

Yet I can’t kill the dream;

I will embrace the challenge

In the womb I will take care of it

And when I conceive him

I will be responsible for him,

My child that keeps me on my feet

I move and balance it

Even with the pain

At his call

My feet still moves

I’d break my back for him

I fight for him!

He has become my

Passion and my love

I live for him!

Dear Lord, give me

Strength to take care

Of him

Till he is grown

And ready to be shown

To the world

I can’t kill the dream!

I’m brave to live for him

And pass him on, to the world

Oh now he doesn’t belong to

Me alone, he belongs to you all

Welcome to our showcase

And i know i will be so proud that

I did not kill this dream!

When I was younger, all I wanted was love!

His words still hurt, the one I tried to keep

Love is cruel, the pain too deep

Greed has become essential,

Oh this time I will reap!

She can’t have you, you are mine alone!

Lord knows I deserve you, and I will let you see it

But before I knew it, you were gone,

I thought;

Hold him while he slips but;

My quest for the good things of life

Would leave me in a vain circle,

Of soloists;

Having too much,

In a world were people are dying

I’m surviving...

Alone!

A hole in my heart but heck my bank account overflowing

Maybe now I will sleep well at night,

Oh now I can comfort myself!

But no, tears still are my best friends

My sobs are still my favourite songs

Neither accompanied by any musical instrument,

I am a soloist!

My cup overflows but yet even from the ones that drip

the earth does not deserve a sip;

Having yet Needing

Satisfied yet empty!

My possessions and money only

leaves a bitter taste in my mouth now;

Loneliness my only true companion,

I am a soloist!