Underneath a skimpy tree, Ugegbe slumped against its slender trunk—sinking despondently to the ground in accompaniment of the grace likened to a clumsy oaf—with no other pressing intent but to rest from an emotional and physically enervating journey. For she had indeed walked for the longest hours known to man, yet without a single result to show for her time and energy consummation.

Her feet and limbs ached with untold exhaustion from the trek. They had been shaky just a while ago in the face of ghastly horrors, reminding her that not only had her former iron pillar of courage rusted and deteriorated, but now, she had very little strength left.

Every now and then, her stomach let out a soft gurgle that made her want to cry, not so much out of concern for herself, but instead so for the prince. She had after all eaten a piece or two of the rabbit she prepared while she walked. But him, she was sure, had not tasted anything remotely close to resembling food. The thought knocked her hunger towards retreating itself and retracting the misshapened claws it had dug into her.

Oh how desperately she wanted him back by her side, back in the palace where he should be—smiling, laughing...alive. He will be there soon. She quickly flushed out the bleak aspects from her pile of thoughts, making sure to keep him alive in her mind's shelters with the entirety of her will.

In all the scenarios she allowed to play out in her head, he emerged with little harm done and with his silly grin that now caused her skin to tingle in his absence. She needed him safe, untouched, unscathed. For her own sanity.

A while passed by leaving fidgets as Ugegbe's companion as she reluctantly abandoned her fantasy world. She was without a doubt, deluged by worry and fear that were almost driving her out of her senses. To top off her list of tribulations, her eighth torch had begun to dwindle in the makeshift pit she since made with her little knife in an attempt to hold it upright and blazing.

Its timid glow illuminated very little around her and subtly rubbed in an unfriendly remainder of the inevitably deeper and fast approaching darkness; which in turn pinched and propelled her towards fretting about her quickly diminishing sources of fuel.

It would be rather easy to make use of the branches towering on the shrub trees around her, but Ugegbe had enough experience to know that they were way too slender, lacking substance and without being dipped in wax or animal fat, they would neither burn well nor for a long time.

She also knew however, that if push came to shove, she would have to make do with whatever wood she could set her hands on notwithstanding the highly ineffective process. The dark was no place one would ever desire to get lost in.

As she straightened to itch at a spot on her ankle where grass blades tickled away, a soft sigh drifted from her lips, bypassing the dried leaves before kissing the luscious moon whose silver beams chased away the blackness gathering momentum above the green canopies. If only she could chase away the debilitating fear cramping, building and multiplying upon itself in her head just as easily.

With each moment that dragged on without him where she could kneel in reverence to greet him, she grew increasingly worried. To be quite honest, frantic was the right word to describe her state of mind.

With every second that hurtled by, Her heartbeat sped up in return. It was almost as if  her whole essence was leaving her body while time was hurrying away from her side.

She felt it, the guilty conscience weighing like a mountain on her chest. To the point that she could scarcely breathe with its pressing on her. It was difficult to catch the currents of air purposely evading her grasps. All of her being twitched and trembled under the invisible load clamping her down to the ground.

Why did he have to fight back? Why did he not run with her? Why did he sacrifice his safety for her? The same questions plunged through her consciousness over and over again. But she had not a real answer to give. The only one she would have asked—her prince—was nowhere to be found.

She was completely weary. It wearied her. Everything did. She'd been avoiding it altogether; thinking about what she saw. But it came anyway. The scene that caused her untold misery replayed in her head, with the profound and painful intensity that proved it was more than just a recent memory formed.

Truthfully, it was as if she was reliving the moment as she sat, forcing her focus on everything but the gore in her head. Her attempts were failing woefully.

Sure, Ugegbe had seen the carcasses of dead animals. In fact she had gutted, cleaned and cooked each one of the lower beasts she killed by herself. But never had she seen as many cold bloodied bodies as she did today.

The smell of blood and death still punched through her senses every now and then, and she tried hard not to fall apart even though that was the very thing her body sought for. It also tremored out of fear and angst that arose from her watching the hope she had bottled in before slowly and gradually dissipate.

This was the same hope she had been driven by before, that had hurried her to the same place they parted. Her bare feet had dug in the ground, sending swirling masses of sands flying around her. It was almost like a tornado had ravaged through the path she left behind. In the end however, there was nothing to be seen but blood and bodies that were not his.

Offering thanks to the gods had been her first thoughts and urge at not counting the Prince among the dead, except there were other possibilities that could hold even worse results. Was he captured? Was he being tortured or abused? Would he be alright?

She wondered the answers to all sorts of questions and felt queasy when she compared where she was at to his likely situation. Rest? Why was she resting again? She grimaced, leaping to her feet despite the weariness soaking into her bones.

How could she rest when the prince was in danger? She felt so completely stupid and inconsiderate hat she wanted to beat herself up with the sticks bounded in her hands. After all, that was how she was punished whenever she made a mistake—either with strokes or strikes.

So far, she had made plenty of them. She had miscalculated, misunderstood and misinterpreted all in one day. And she felt thoroughly miserable. It was hard not to think of the misfortune that had befallen the prince as not being her fault. Was she not the one who was a burden to him? Was she not the one he tried to safeguard? Was she not the one who invited him to visit the river with her? Although he had asked for the walk first, she was the one who gave the permission.

It was all her fault.

While the branch lost its length to the selfish flame, Ugegbe lost her strength to the night. Rubbing her frayed wrapper comforted her a bit as she thought of the last memento of her mother. It however also made her dejected as she thought of the woman who was gone to never return and could not help but also stray into depressed musings that whispered words of how too possible it was that she would never see the prince again, just like her.

Tufiakwa! She quickly forbade the thought as she spat on a corner of the forest's green carpet then violently shuddered from the hideous thought. It was so easy to spiral into a chasm of negativity. But she could not and would not entertain such indolent pessimism regardless of the words 'weak and exhausted' being exactly perfect to describe her state.

Her soul was indeed broken with the pang of a loss she was not yet sure of.

In her heart she wished for him to have life in himself and wanted to pray so. But she already was aware that she could not send a request to the gods. The gods, she knew for a fact, only heard when there was a sacrifice spread out in their presence; it was never before or without—a reality she often secretly faulted them for. How could she receive their mercy when she had no oblation to be offered to them first?

But she needed to pray. To someone. Or something that could hear her. There had to be a being which existed and did not need a blood sacrifice laid out before their presence, specifically in a shrine, as a requirement in order for her invocations to be heard and answered.

And so she prayed to a god unknown to her.

"...do whatever you need to. Take me over: my mind, my soul, anything! Just save him... If you do not need sacrifices to answer me. Nor do you need a shrine to hear me. I want...I... If there is any a god that is so powerful to not need a goat or a lamb or a cock to perform wonders. Then show yourself! Prove yourself to me and let me find the prince. Bikonu. Please. Please!"

By the time Ugegbe finished pouring out all of her woes, her throat was dry and parched and her legs were on the verge of giving up as they right threatened to melt to the ground in a puddle of tired mass. Despite the weakness in her limbs however, she felt a solid strength solemnly overtake her being. It lifted her up so she was standing straight, aright, and it seemed to be propelling her forward.

She allowed it. By the time her unlit torches and the single burning one were gathered in her hands, she could hear a soft whisper that was not exactly words. She stopped to listen intently—not bothering with brandishing and waving her torch so to check the darkness sagging weightlessly around her—for the voice was not only calm and soothing, but was surprisingly aware that it was not one which belonged to a creature she could catch sight of.

It spoke in her head.

Go! The whisper came to her louder, and she suddenly knew where to go. How had she not thought of it before? Ugegbe cudgelled her brains, trying to find the reason why she had not previously thought of the one place she had not yet searched. The river.

The needed answer came to her when the ancient stories, folklores really, she had been told in the past and stored up as a child revved to life in her lucid memories. Women were interdicted from visiting water bodies at night as a precautionary measure taken to protect wives and future mothers.

It was said that mermaids who ruled over the waters were envious and wicked beings who loved to dance at night. If a woman who happened to be human visited the river at odd times and intruded in their gatherings, she could be punished by falling ill for a few days after. If however she was beautiful, the mermaids would take away her ability to give birth and thus her function as a real woman in the society. She would therefore be cursed and unloved; a barren woman.

Just a day ago, Ugegbe had strongly wanted nothing to do with the tragedies that had throughout history claimed the happiness of a few, beautiful women in Osisi. In accordance with the laws of the land, she had therefore stayed away from any body of water once the sunset.

Now, not anymore. Who knew? She might have traded in her soul to a creature that would demand of it afterwards for all she knew. So, even though she was still scared, she wasn't so adamant or determined to adhere to the side of the law. The voice filling her mind also contributed to her change of attitude. It was gentle and persuasive: Gawa! Go!

Decapitating terror at the strange one speaking to her would have been Ugegbe's response if she hadn't purposefully asked for the help and counselling of an unknown god. She had invited whomever or whatever it was that had come to stay. Though, somehow, fear was not a reaction that wanted to kick in no matter how much effort she had made to doubt the intentions of the being.

Since it came in, she had been filled with a certain lightness. It was almost like she was floating. Her heart was no longer as heavy as before. Her faltering hope had been renewed. She felt peaceful, serene, like all her doubts had been wiped away and she did not need to worry more than she should. There was a beautiful warmth that spread from the crown of her head to the tips of her toes, comforting her. She felt protected. At ease. Prepared. All at once. Then, she heard the whisper again.

I will be with you.

She believed it.

Ugegbe set out after the river with the words that sent relief as tiny messengers scurrying into every dark cranny and hole inside her and driving out her uncertainties. They burned in her heart, giving her strength as it was clear that she wasn't alone regardless of the reality that only two feet pounded across the cool sand on the pathway.

She stopped only to catch her breath and steady her torch after placing her banded sticks in between her legs and clasping her right hand over her chest so she could wheeze and gasp for needed air.

Three steps forward and Ugegbe clamped her mouth shut as she watched a pale demon approach her. It needed no light as it had none and instead strode towards her, empty-handed and confidently. Her screams were loud enough to deafen a man.
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An unedited chapter, but still a chapter. I'm glad I finally got it out as school has been eating up way too much of my time. I hope you loves enjoy this update anyways!<3