QUEEN AMINA

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? 'ehm' Amina says biting her lower lip 'fine mother,i'll be down soon 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' Amina 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 said 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 says 'i need to put on my best shoes, dear sisters, you know for a beautiful event as such' she says with a smile and the girls nodded 'oh, of course,hurry fair one, we just might find suitors tonight' Henrietta says and the girls giggle.

Amina sighs as she shuts the door behind her and takes off her veil '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 puts her hand to unzip it and mistakenly rips it 'oops' she says running to the mirror to see 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 go back down,mother will just scream my head off' she sighs and takes off the dress, putting on a casual pant and a shirt. She smiled as she looked at the beads in the mirror 'hopefully someone will come in here to check for me, but for now' she says 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 rushes downstairs 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' 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' Amina says 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 grabs her while she struggled 'Asher let go of me!!! stop Asher, stop,it's an order' she said screaming 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.

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' '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 think it's a conspiracy of more than one kingdom' 'so I live to see the desolation of the great Awilla kingdom' Amina 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.