Women Of Steel | ✔

III

Trouble finds me on the outskirts of Ile Wura, at twilight when my feet are blistered and tired from walking for so long. In the first hour, I ran away, lost in the thrill and afraid someone would suddenly noticed I was missing from the palace but nobody did and I am not sure if that disappointed me or brought relief.

My feet is caked with dust and my face sweaty and caked with dust, the ball of clothes I wrapped together suddenly feels to heavy slung over my back. I would kill for a drink of water, my hands shake visibly as I hold on to my lantern. Even then, it is hard to see anything in the dark.

I hear the voices first, then the sound of approaching hooves, I am torn between hiding and staying still and hoping I am not seen. Even if I wanted to hide, ducking into a bush means wandering into a snake or a hunter's trap set for foolish animals. I stand stupidly in the footpath when something hard slams into me, knocking me off my feet and throwing me hard into the bush.

My head hits the ground so hard that my vision explodes in stars. I'm not sure how long I remain lying, dazed and fear pounding a beat into my chest but very much aware of the loud voices in the dark. I consider feigning unconsciousness but I'm even more afraid of what these people would do to me if I were.

I squeeze my eyes shut and hope I were still back at the palace, anywhere but here.

When I feel a hand sneaking down from my arm, lower, I lose all attempts of a disguise and open my eyes and shriek with all the air in my chest, hoping anyone, anybody would hear me.

Several men look down at me, raising lanterns on their hands and my heart drops down to my stomach, these men are travellers, they don't dress like Ile Wura men and by the feral grin on their faces, they aren't good people and might even be the group of bandits the King's guards have been chasing for weeks now.

One of them bends to slap me across my face and I flinch at the pain, tears welling up in eyes, blurring the yellow light of the flames in the lantern.

"This one will fetch a good price in the market, look at her, thick in all the right place." The tallest among them grins, exposing stained teeth and his six companions laugh, all of them taking turns to pinch my skin.

Tears are streaming down my face, and I lie there just like I did that night in that cold snake pit. I should have never run away.

I must have lay there for a long while before the men step back and bend to lift me up and it is only then that I begin to fight back, thrashing around and biting whoever's fingers I can get into my mouth despite the pain drumming a beat into my head. There is no chance of winning but I would rather be taken fighting than docile.

"She is just a girl," One man barks snidely. "Are you going to let her get away."

My tears blur my vision and common sense tells me that while there is nothing I can do but hope someone hears me out here or someone notices I am missing and alerts the king, there might still be something I can do. I let myself go limp in their arms and startled, they drop me, muttering curses. While they fuss over me, I slip off the signet ring my father gifted to me the year he died, it was the only sign of love he has ever shown me and it once belonged to my mother. I let it fall to the grass and hope someone sees it and realizes I was here.

They pick me up and again, something hard connects with my head swiftly and almost painlessly, my vision darkens totally and I slip into unconsciousness.

***

I wake up in a cage made entirely out of bamboo and my head pounds painfully. My memories return with a bang, making me flinch back in the small cage. I feel filthy, dust crusted on my body and I shrink back when I realize my clothes have been replaced with a dirty white blouse and wrapper. Fresh tears threaten to bloom in my eyes and I force them back, grasping for calm.

What would Demilade do? I think and almost laugh at my thoughts, Demilade would have never been so foolish to run, she has had the chance to after being tortured by my brother for many years but she stood still and bid her time until she saw a chance to fight back.

I am not Demilade, I am just a foolish princess hopelessly searching to be something I am not but I would have rather died in Ile Wura than here in a bamboo cage.

I look up to see that I am in a compound fenced in by reeds with several other cages like mine containing women, some younger than I am, some older and some barely on the cusps of girlhood. A shiver snakes down my spine, this is not a prison, some powerful person is stealing girls from their villages and trading them as slaves.

Many years ago, keeping slaves was outlawed by the eight Yoruba kings and my father was one of the three that was sad to see it go, the new law decreed that an slave or servant being kept but consent to it and must be paid fairly for their services. But a year ago, the kingdoms got wind that there was a new market into the business of slave trading and in spite of their efforts, none of their spies have been able to track the market down. The girls being traded were never rescued or seen again.

I am about to be one of those girls, and when I sneak a a glance at all the women around me, all their gazes are tired and lifeless, the will to live burned out of their eyes. Some of them sport bruises and fresh scars on their scantily clad bodies, it makes me shiver, the sight of them familiar -- like my mother. These women are broken and I am about to become one of them.

My body slumps back in my tight cage, heaving with panic. This is how I meet my end.

I am not sure how long I brood quietly in the cage, staring ahead at the huts in the far distance as the morning sun beats down on me heavily, but soon, a short man with a bald head opens the gate, followed by the tallest man I have ever seen. My heart thuds in my chest as they speak low in a tongue I don't understand.

"What is going on?" I whisper in Ede to the girl closest to my cage, she sees me and stares at me, but saying nothing. Her head giving the slightest shake -- a warning.

The men draw closer to my cage and the tall man appearing even more striking closer, broad chested and muscular, not quite built like Babatunde but a man exuding power too. When his eyes meet mine suddenly, I flinch back, his eyes are a liquid blue in colour and right before my eyes they flash to a dull gold. The man smirks, a brief tug his lips before fading. I have never seen a man with so much dark hair on his head that they reach the nape of his neck in locks.

Some feeling tugs at me to remember, before fading away before I can grasp it. The thought of trying to think of it makes my head hurt and makes me wish for a cup of warm milk that my favourite slave used to make me, before she turned her back and hated me like Ile Wura did.

The man continues staring right at me and his gaze is fierce, he bends down to stare some more before rising again to speak to the shorter man who looks up at him with a mix of fear and awe.

Then he is pointing at me and nodding at the shorter man. "Mo fe omobirin yi,"

This time when he stares, he's full on smirking and I'm wrapping my arms around myself as he bends down, snaking a muscled arm into my cage. I bat his hand away with my shaky one and the bald man who I now know is the slave master looks appalled, gritting his teeth in a way that promises punishment. But the man in the dreadlocks only laughs softly.

"I see she bites back, even more perfect." He says to the slave master, rising to his full height again and brushing his kaftan, but not before drawling something the sends shivers down my spine, "You and I will have quite the adventure, little one."

It is then I know is am truly doomed, and then that the tears start pouring down my face.