Ugegbe shook awake. She'd dozed off countlessly through the night from exhaustion and weariness despite her resolve to keep watch, protecting herself from predators—man and animal. The previously spent day had been a tough and tumultuous one, its events beating down on her, so every bone in her body ached.

In the course of escaping, she must have overexerted herself, pushing her system to its limits, as the effects were telling. She found it impossible to move a single limb. Never had she run so fast or for so long. Yet, she was not where she needed to be.

The stories of the kingdom she knew were ones her father had told her stories when she was little. However, she could only remember the details that intrigued her at that early age. Zoro was monikered the hidden village. From the accounts she'd been given, surrounding it was a dense forest, one taller than any she and many others would have ever seen.

Armed with this knowledge, and that her destination was far West from Osisi, Ugegbe was ready to arrive there in one piece. She just wasn't sure if she would.

There was no pointer to specify how far she'd come or how much farther she was required to go. The king's guards could well be gaining on her at the moment while she was immobilised by the pain shooting up her limbs. It prickled her at every move she took to the extent that she wasn't seeking to do so anymore.

She was perfectly still. But her being wasn't. Inside of her was in a roil. There was uncertainty effervescing in her head, wheeling around her insights. It stung to consider the what-ifs as each time she did, she weighed returning home and bearing the brunt of her actions, including the consequences it brought.

While offering a prayer to no one in particular, her eyes dashed around her surroundings a second time to be sure she was alone. She was. There was no one for company but her fretful breaths.

That, she thought, was good since it meant she was safe from harm. No one would throw a spear or cutlass at her for the sin she'd committed. Only her heart could judge her. Its punishing blows reminded her that there was a man whose heart she'd caused to stop beating.

Sighing through her nose, Ugegbe straightened her back against the living wood. It was humid in this early morning. The air was muggy and heavy with suffocating moisture, yet, she could not shake off the chills drawing out shivers from her spine. It was as if all in her world had become cold and drab at once. She was not so sure the sun would ever shine again. Nothing could warm up this dry, barren space in her.

There wasn't much for her to hope for. In truth, she saw the futility in her escape. She'd run with the few strengths buried in her, afraid that the men who undoubtedly were searching every nook and cranny for the prince's murderer would catch up to her.

In the spent day, every single thing had spooked her. Her chest became a drum being beat like it was performing in the yearly festival of the gods, never ceasing to rest for a second.

Even if she chose to, it would have been impossible for her to keep account of the number of times she tipped her head back, craning her neck for clues that might have been out of place. Clues that would have alerted her that a hand would soon descend on her shoulders, and then she would be trapped. Forever.

Yet, the question that trundled through her head repeatedly was how was she sure that the unknown was any better. She had her sights set on the future, on the life she would build in a foreign place, but Ugegbe had failed to think of whether she would be accepted or not.

What if the people of Zoro were like those she'd heard of in the scary stories elders usually told? It wasn't that impossible to imagine that they had tribes who partook in eating those trespassed on their land. She'd never heard or seen of it happening in reality, but she'd learnt that there was a pellet of truth in most lies and a chunk of reality in stories whose very fabrics were woven from folktales.

If she stopped to do a reflection, she was confident her brain would dredge up a thousand reasons why she should have simply stayed home and received the punishment deserved for her crime. The worst-case scenario would be that she paid with her life. And though she was not self-destructive, she acceded that it would be a fair price for what she'd done.

How was the queen feeling? Did she wish the worst on the person who'd ended her son's life in the blink of an eye? Ugegbe concluded she was. She could not imagine the curses that must have been heaped on her head by now. The pain that the woman was going through, she was certain would never comprehend, and she hated that she was the cause.

Only months ago, she would not have envisioned that the core cause of a mother's heartache would be her actions. She had stolen someone so valuable to many people. Deep within, she could affirm that it had only been self-defence. Still, it did not equal ceasing one's breath. What she'd done was unpardonable.

Almost as awful was the reality that she fled and left her father behind to suffer in her palace. What had she been thinking? How selfish it was of her to abandon the poor man in a plight she moulded for herself. She wondered what her mother would reason of this if she were alive. Would she be disgusted by her daughter and who she'd become? Probably.

At this notion, Ugegbe fought the urge to change the course on which her life had set out. If she could not gain her mother's approval, then was such a task worth doing? The woman would likely wish for her to take responsibility and not race from her lot.

What stopped her in her tracks was the thought that she did not know who her mother was. At the age of two, she wasn't mature enough to have ascertained the depths of her mother's character. Hence, she could not accurately judge what her mother would have suggested in her situation. It was best if she tried not to.

She had one parent left, and he'd expressly told her that he needed her to survive. If she went back, she wouldn't be doing his bidding. It was her fault she was where she was now, but she could do the bare minimum of honouring her father's wish. It wasn't so hard an act for her to make as without as much as a single doubt, Ugegbe also wanted to live.

Yes, she would go away to Zoro. There, she would work hard to gain as much money as was possible. With money came status, and so she'd be able to cloak herself with prestige after a while. Then she'd return to pay off her debts as a slave.

There was no doubt that she'd be searched for even though not in connection to the prince's death. Her slavery was not yet absolved. With her free, she could address the higher matters she needed to. That is if, in that event, the village was still searching for the prince's killer.

With lesser ado, her strength returned, and she tottered to her feet. There was tension in her neck that called for her to roll her head around on its mount. The ache in her hurt foot was almost ancient history. All she felt in the present was a surge of willpower and determination. No more did she feel trapped.

Staring upward to the sky, which was slowly lightening as the sun came to play, she glimpsed, though briefly, the arms of hope behind the fiery bulb. It was all so enchanting. She could not help but marvel at the golden waves banishing all darkness. Each beam dispelled shadows from sight, washing away traces of the billowy clouds.

Her eyes traipsed away from the magnificent display to the tree underneath whose arms she'd lounged. It stood proudly, its back staunch and tall. Bold arms held up its beautiful children in fruits that she wished she could reach. She would eat them if she could. The only problem was she had no motivation to climb up the mango tree. She could not risk ruining another good part of her body for a craving she could contain. Her struggles were already too many.

Rubbing her hands together, she welcomed even more warmth into her system. There was still far to go. She needed her mind as well as body prepared for the remainder of her journey.

Though still unsure of if there was a god who would listen to her after the havoc she'd wreaked, staining the earth with a man's blood, she muttered a word or two for her father. That the man with a heart of gold would stay protected till she returned.

༄༄༄

The sun was now overhead. It shone wickedly on Ugegbe's head. Her hair, which was in plaits, was soaked with heat and bathed with dust. She could feel an itch coming on but tried not to focus on it much.

Her soles were not only caked with dirt but also burnt from the scalding sand. The tiny brown grains were doing much more damage than she wished they would. They attacked between her toes and were not scared to brand the top of her feet as well. Oh, how she was tired.

Years must have passed with how long she felt she'd been walking. Despite her decision to tread on the path enclosed in trees as a measure to avoid suspicious eyes and one to avoid the sun's viciousness, she'd all but been triumphant in the first goal. The heat reached her, crashing on her being in waves no matter where she was.

The trees about her drooped, ladened with the burden of the day's hotness. There was no comfort they could offer to her when they were combatting the enemy. Ugegbe did take solace in the liveliness everywhere she turned her eyes. The soft whistling from the birds put a song in her heart, and it soothed her loneliness when she caught the busybody squirrels hopping from branch to branch.

So far, she'd not been accosted by anyone. Neither had she heard any footsteps trailing her. It had to be the fact that her mind was better at ease after she'd resolved to live and return to her father at the soonest time permitted that rested her. For she was not hallucinating or inventing scenarios where fellows were stalking behind and would capture her at any instant.

That did not stop her from being watchful and careful, however. Anything could happen, and she'd hate to be caught unawares, without a plan or a means of escape. It would be a mistake she could not see herself forgiving. There'd been too many made already. One got her in the mess she was stuck in as if she were in a muddy swamp. She preferred to not visualise what another one would bring to reality.

As Ugegbe trudged onward, her waist bead, which was propped on her waist, trembled. Her worn gaze dropped to it as she assembled it properly in place. When she recalled the moment the prince handed it to her, goosebumps reared upwards on her arms and on the back of her neck.

She shut her eyes and willed the images to go away. The flashes of all that had happened in that dark room threatened to drown her whenever she revived them in her mind's eye. They plunged her into a chasm where she could barely breathe.

"No! Forget it. Forget it." She admonished herself as the tendrils of dread slithered around her neck, crossing through her insides and into her stomach where it made a home. "Do not think of him. Leave the past behind. Leave it!" 

It was one thing to state words of encouragement or comfort and another to actually adhere to what was discoursed. Ugegbe was finding it impossible to do the latter. Her head rang with an ache she thought to have disappeared before. She writhed on the spot in distress, her hand to her temples, caressing the affected area.

Then it happened. The string of her waist bead broke. A sharp gasp flew out of her lips as she watched her mother's coral beads skittle down her tattered dress. "Ewo!" She exclaimed, diving after them. A good number of them rolled into a hole in the ground surrounded by grasses.

Without bothering to reason far, Ugegbe squatted down, dipping her hand into the pit. She wiggled her fingers around to find the missing ornaments. Her success, however, ended after she had gotten out two. On her third try, a painful prickle across her fingers caused her to withdraw her hand.

There they were on her inspection: double puncture marks. Her pulse sped up.

A snake.
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