Arakim's Legacy(#Wattys2015)

Chapter 1

The Damawa kingdom in the north western regions had a few mountains and hills scattered about in the kingdom and beyond its boundaries. And it was in one of such mountain ranges that Arakim found his refuge in a cave when life in the palace became unbearable to stay for any length of time.

Arakim, a prince in the kingdom, first in line to ascend the throne after his grandfather was enjoying his solitude at the moment in his lair located at The Gumbe Mountain, twenty leagues south of the palace. A secluded place that was off the beaten trail and afforded him the privacy he needed, away from people especially his family that all became too irritating after a little time spent in their company. 

He was used to his own company and having grown up as an orphan and only child in the massive palace reinforced the habit and he wasn't about to change it now. His grandfather, the king of The Damawa kingdom was the only one present to train the orphan prince but that didn't work out like it should. Arakim found himself reared by tutors and servants who gave up after a little while when they could not control his precocious behaviour and left him to his own pursuits which suited the taciturn but very intelligent boy very well.

Growing up practically alone in the big palace made it easy for Arakim to become the loner he was. With his grandfather busy with ruling the vast kingdom of Damawa, he learned to depend on himself only. Friends and playmates were not readily available as children of noble families considered him strange and most were scared of him. And that suited him as he thought them to be lacking in intelligence and were of no use to him. He had no tolerance for stupidity. 

He could have played with his cousins particularly Ashago and Neha, his two favourites but they were too young so he kept them at arms' length while going off on his own to explore new places.

It was during one of his unplanned trips that he came across a glen located in the Gumbe Mountain and turned it into a home. And he had been coming here for more than a decade now to unwind and relax.

Things were going good if one could discount the odd behaviour of his grandfather this past few weeks. And not seeing him after my journey to The Ogoni Plains had not been my doing but his. For grandfather had sequestered himself in his private chamber claiming to be too busy for an audience with me. Not that I tried hard enough to get him to see me which suited me until I found out that he left the daily affairs of ruling the kingdom to me. That wasn't in my plans yet. And to say the job was boring would be putting it mildly. My instincts told me that something was wrong but I simply had to leave the palace even more urgently than usual because for some reason he was more agitated than usual and the urge to break or hurt someone was getting too strong for him to control and that would be bad.

But who to say that grandfather wasn't just feeling his age and acting accordingly. We had never been close as one would like or expect. But the blame for that belonged to no one. As grandfather spent Arakim's growing up years ruling, for Damawa kingdom had become one of the biggest and richest one in this world. 

But now Arakim had grown, and the damage done, his grandfather had been on his case to do more in the ruling of the kingdom which he had no interest or patience in doing. He sometimes wished that one of his many cousins could rule in his stead but the kingdom was always ruled by the first born in the family or his first offspring. And Arakim was the son of princess Neya, the first child to his grandfather and that put him in line to inherit the throne even though his father was not of royal blood. 

Grandfather wasn't the best of men, he was straitlaced, short of patience, bad-tempered and loved nothing more than the kingdom. He could be generous when it suited him and honourable when it didn't clash with his own agenda but ruthless when crossed. We understood each other perfectly which was why I readily gave him space when he claimed to be busy. And would continue to do so as long as possible but I found out that the daily duties associated with the smooth running of the kingdom were tedious. Who gave care to who was farming, or trading what that they all seemed to think was important. Grain and timber, for goodness sake. Which was why after three weeks, he was done. Good thing, Alam, a cousin by marriage was able to take over those peaty details, granting him the much needed space he craved.