THE WARLORD AND HIS PRINCESS

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FOUR 

'I can't believe him!' I yelled to no one in particular as we stood locked up in a hut. 

'It's no use,' Ngele looked boredly at me as he sat on the muddy floor, managing to look completely unconcerned, 'The Witong does not believe us.' 

'But he has to,' I said back at him, ' He is the one who is sworn to protect the people of Lango, and my village is lying in ruins because he failed to do his job!' 

Anora sighed very loudly, then spoke, 'It's no use arguing about what the Witong's job is or not and start worrying about what he thinks of us. If we keep yelling like a bunch of savages, he might as well believe that we are a bunch of savages.' 

I slumped to the ground in a devastated heap. Who was he to lock us up like that? I was angry at myself for believing I could actually get help from a man such as Witong Eyden. Witongs were like that, like trees. Cruel and unfeeling! Lubanga rain curses on that man!

Witong Eyden sat in his oh-so mighty throne as the three Langi generals who had remained at camp following the military campaign to help Imorimor Akado of Teso fend off the Karimojong rustlers. His chin rested safely on his knuckles, he sat like a bored lioness trying to figure out a strange mystery. 

'We got reports of an Abarusura attack,' one of the generals was saying, 'however, where the attack took place is still unknown.' 

'We must do something,' the other general said, 'for all we know, these warriors are demons. What if they have set some deadly curse upon our land.' 

Eyden was rubbing his forehead slowly lost in deep thought, 'What about the princess?' he said rather uncharacteristically. 

'There are two princesses Sir,' one of the generals said. 

He deliberately ignored his mistake and went on, 'Yes yes,what about the princesses? They talked about an Abarusura attack on their village.' 

'And you believe them?' 

'Not entirely,' he confessed, 'but I want to find out,' Eyden looked at the guard, 'get the princess, the noisy princess.' This time he specified the woman he wanted to see.

I had finally succumed to the fact that my friends and I were locked up in a small dump hut as prisoners to a heartless beast, when we heard the tiny wooden door sqweak open, and the moonlight shine in. I got to my feet quickly, hopping to mek a desperate run for it. However three men came into the hut.

'witong Eyden commands your presence,' the one whom I later learnt was named Abbar spoke.

I almost cursed out loud, but I held myself back and let out a loud unedited laugh, 'Commands?!'

The soldier didn't seem to get the joke, so I went on laughing thinking maybe he would get it, but he didn't.

'The Witong commands that you come with us at once,' he said again.

'He asked specifically for Mora?' Ngele said and I hadn't noticed that he was at my side.

The soldier nodded.

'Well go back and tell him that I do not want to see him,' I said adamantly.

'Mora!' Anora spoke up.

'What?' I asked her, 'I do not take commands from men like Witong Eyden.'

'Don't be a fool Mora. We are his prisoners, remember?' Ngele tried to talk me into going but I held my ground.

'I didn't ask to be a prisoner!' I snapped.

Ngele gave up and looked at the soldier, 'Take me instead. I'll talk to the Witong.'

'Very well then. Come with me' he said.

The messenger returned and bowed low, however, expectant as he was, Eyden didn't see the slender petite figure he'd seen just hours before. Instead, it was the man the two women had come with. Probably a prince by the looks of his shaven head.

'Where is the princess?' he asked unamused in any way.

'She refused to come. However the prince Ngele.....'

'She refused to come?!' Eyden did not realise he was staging an outburst infront of the other generals, 'she cannot refuse me. I am the Witong, and she is my prisoner.'

He got to his feet in moments.

'Witong I am willing to speak with you,' Ngele said in a desperate attempt to calm the storm  which Eyden had created.

'I asked for the princess,' the frown over his face was unmistakable, but he tried to breathe, 'and she has deliberately refused to come.'

He walked to the door of the large hut.

'Witong, where are you going?' one of the generals asked, a bit confused.

Eyden did not look back, 'To teach a a princess some manners.'