Nobody would consider the chiefs and royalties of Ilé Ife to be strong and wise after witnessing them laugh uncontrollably.

“I’m such a drum! That’s the third drink I’ve spilled today!” One royalty told his friends; then, an enslaved girl took a rag to wipe it off. He teased her with his hand on her body, but the girl endured. Yotifa, who was watching them, tore his gaze from the direction, disgusted.

“Where is Adara?” He asked the girl who came to join him.

“I don’t know.” She replied, her doe-like eyes searched the crowd. “She’s not among those dancing.”

“Stop, you idiots!” The prince of Oyo-Ile raised his eyebrows and grinned. He was also in his young twenties, but he had so much power. Almost as equal as his dad, the king who sat on the throne.

The dancers stopped right away at his command. He signaled they should all leave. Confused about why, the servants thought it might be because of his drunkenness. But that wouldn’t stop them from executing their plan.

“Come here!” He signaled the woman leading the dance. She had brown aso-oke on, which brought out the glow in her chocolate skin. She had four slanty tribal marks on each side of her cheek, but it fitted her so well.

“What’s your name?”

“Asake, my Lord.” Her voice trembled.

“Beautiful. Move closer.” He demanded. His index finger signaled her to step forward.

Walking up to him, he grabbed Asake by the neck and aggressively planted a kiss on her lips. Even though she was older than him in age, the lady dared not to fight. He could have her head cut off the next minute.

Shocked, the leaders and natives of Oyo-Ile, who were of higher status, erupted in laughter. They cheered up their prince. This was something usual.

Disappointment stuck on the faces of the other servants as they watched. He ripped her blouse off with one jerk, tears streamed down her face as she trembled in fear. Unable to withstand any of their trauma, Asa walked towards them with the jug in her hands.

“More wine.” She offered the Prince, and splashed the whole jug of palm wine on his face with the anger burning in her. He staggered, and almost fell on his butt.

Watching her doing this. One of the Prince’s guards, Itile grabbed Asa by the jaw and raised her jaw. He was an enormous man with scattered teeth. Itile gritted his teeth in anger and strangled Asa with his bare hands. She hit his hand while he threw her against the mud-bricked wall.

Asa let out a short cough as she raised her head from the ground. Her hands lingered on her forehead and the next thing she noticed was that blood dripped from her forehead.

“How dare you, careless bitch!” Itile grumbled at her.

The prince inspected her and recognized the fierceness in her honey-brown eyes.

“And who are you?” He asked interestedly.

“Asalewa, daughter of Ayodele Ketu.” She replied boldly.

“I don’t know him.”

She glared at him with a hateful look as they stared at each other.

“I think she’d be great in bed, Your Majesty,” Itile suggested with a bright smile, exposing his scattered teeth.

“Yeah, she would.”

“What about more wines and some meat instead?” Yotifa interrupted the heated conversation.

“Asake, some more meat for the royals.” He demanded.

Asake, whose head wrap had fallen, picked up and placed it on her chest to cover her exposed body. As she walked away, Itile rolled his eyes at her while the prince’s eyes settled on Asa.

“Is she new here?”

“It’s been ten years since her captivity, but it’s her first time here,” Yotifa explained briefly.

“What about the friendly slaves that usually serve us?”

“Some are sick, others died, my prince,” Yotifa explained with seriousness in his eyes.

They used him as the head of slaves, but none of them imagined he was the prince of Odo-Ara and what his mission was. As for Asa, she was a mystique in the Prince’s eyes.

“Arrange my bed. I’d love to spend the night with her.” The prince smiled.

“Of course, my prince,” Yotifa replied and pulled Asa by the arm. “Let’s go.”

Noticing her long legs, he longed to bed with her. Her skin was of gold and her eyes glittered like a starry night sky.

“I so want her.” He hummed under his breath and nibbled on his lower lip, gently.

“You can marry her if you wish. You are the prince of this town, after all.” One of the seated chiefs suggested.

“Are you suggesting I take a second wife?”

“Kings do it. Why not a prince? You’d be sitting on the thrown a couple of years from now. You’d have to take in a second wife, anyway.”

“Marrying her would make her a martyr to Odo-Ara descendants. Something might charm me to make her my queen, but I don’t want to. I just can’t wait to bed her for now.” He cheered out with joy as they drank to it.

More servants entered with food and drinks. The girl with coal-lined lips and shuku-braided hair walked to one of the drunk chiefs. He was already sleepy, but his hands held his empty cup forward for more wine. As she filled his cup, the chief held her hand and noticed tiny arrows fixed on her armlet.

His eyes widened immediately as he caught sight of it, but Shade jerked off immediately. Her coal-lined eyes focused on serving him. She filled his cup and watched him gulp down the content. Inebriated to its content, the chief fell off his stool and Shade moved forward to serve the others.

“Tonight feels like heaven. I never imagined we would be this close.” Asa muttered to Prince Yotifa.

“Whatever you do, be clever about it. Understood?”

She nodded at his warnings. “I know... but where is your sister?”

Yotifa stepped forward, staring at the crowd. He still couldn’t find Ajoke anywhere. He couldn’t help but worry, for she was his only relative, alive. His eyes glittered at the effects of the burning lamps while he patiently waited.

Meanwhile, Ajoke was climbing downstairs with one chief. He has a shiny round head and a potbelly, but Ajoke finds her way to the sacred room, away from the main hall.

“Where are you going, dearest? You know that we shouldn’t be down here. It’s special for the gods and they-” His excited voice begged.

“Shh Shhh Shhhh... Don’t worry about the gods, my Lord. It’s only both of us here. You know what? Take a breath and calm down-”

“Akerele.” He introduced.

“Chief Akerele it is.” She flashed him a beautiful smile as he stumbled closer.

“I think we needed privacy.” She took off the scarf on her head and suddenly stabbed him in the stomach with two sharp knives.

“Ahh!” The chief coughed out blood on her face while he struggled. She took them out at once and stuck them to this chest, again.

The burning lamp in his hand fell off immediately. The poor man dropped to the ground, lifelessly while Ajoke wiped off the blood from her face.

With this, she looked at the death stare the chief gave, but all she felt was the passion to kill more of them. It’s been ten years since they had invaded Odo-Ara and killed both her parents, the king, and queen of the town. Filled with the thoughts, Ajoke heard a quivering breath in the silence.

As if someone was behind her. As if someone was nearby. She could feel the invisible person. ‘It’s probably one guard,’ she thought.

Ajoke turned around, but couldn’t find anyone.

Even if it was the spirit of the gods, Ajoke was ready to kill anyone that came her way. Climbing upstairs, she noticed another room and walked in. Her small eyes caught the man who had been peeping.

His eyes widened when he realized she had caught him. Trying to escape, he pushed her away and let out a thunderous cry. “Help me!”

Her blood boiled as she thought of what to do. But before he could run out of sight, Ajoke threw her knives at him and he fell, dead. His face hit the ground, unconscious.

While these were happening, the high-positioned royalties cried out in merriment. They mistreated some other women, even the male servants.

“Take this.” Asa secretly handed a knife over to Lanre. A guy who was by almost all the royals in the room. He was terrified and timid, but of course, he wanted vengeance, too.

Lanre collected the knife and tucked it into his trousers.

“Be careful with that. You won’t want to cut your dick off. “ She warned and smiled.

“I’m prepared for anything,” Lanre replied and joined her in laughter. Looking at how the drunk chiefs were maltreating the rest, his smile dropped. “Why don’t we execute them right away?” He asked with spite in his voice.

“We have to wait for a signal from Prince Yotifa. Till then, just stick close.” Asa whispered and walked away.

Lanre exhaled heavily. He could feel his heart hammering at the plan. They’ve all prepared for months but now, it’s finally time.

“Your sister is missing.” Another slave, Lara, reported to Yotifa. She was the youngest of them all. At least the youngest slave that was alive.

Back then, her father, Bolatito, was the greatest Hunter in Odo-Ara. He was murdered when the shiny knights of the Oyo-Ile Army attacked their city. Then, Lara was only 5.

“I’m not waiting any longer.” Yotifa hissed. “We don’t have time now. Nobody should leave or enter the hall. We should attack in two minutes.”

Lara walked away while the other girls gently picked up the knives of the chiefs. As it is, they had it for protection, just in case. As the most powerful city in the whole of West Nigeria, no greater army had dared to attack. People from far and near knew it to be the best, yet... Nothing stopped Prince Yotifa and his people from preparing for this. It was their escape plan, their chance for freedom.

With a sword Yotifa had secretly stolen in the warrior’s weapon room, he was about to bring it out when someone hit the giant front door. All the servants looked up with startled faces.

The guards standing outside banged the door open and a young man in a white mosaaji threw himself to the ground.

His crown dropped and rolled to the middle of the hall as if he knew their plan. He raised his head to their serious faces and bursted out into a loud, throaty laughter. Prince Yotifa and the girls sensed they were bad people when they heard their demonic laugh in the hallways.