More Tales of the Southern Kingdoms (One Volume Edition)

by Barbara G. Tarn

  "No, I had just come in," he said with a smile that still looked sad.

  Maybe he had stepped in the room the moment he had stepped in her dream. She followed him to the living room where Nadirah and the children already sat on the plush carpets around a low table. At the center of it was a big bowl of couscous and vegetables. Another bowl had rice and lamb and a third corn and crab meat.

  Olayinka quickly tied her hair at the nape of her neck to keep it out of the way while she ate. Akila asked her how to say the various foods in her own language and soon the boys joined in. They seemed all very curious and eager to learn.

  "It's better if I learn your language," she told the parents after some time. "They won't need mine to communicate, because of my father's policy..."

  "We can all learn from this chance meeting," Harithik replied. "You never know what will happen when they become adults and we grow old."

  "Can you cook?" Nadirah asked her. "Or were there servants and slaves taking care of the kitchen in Azhar Aswad?"

  "Both." Olayinka smiled. "I spent too much time with slaves, according to my father. But I enjoyed their company more than my father's friends and courtiers..."

  "Then you can teach us some dishes of your country," Nadirah said. "The cook will be happy to hear you!"

  Olayinka offered one of her golden bracelets. "Would this pay for my stay?"

  "You have been granted political asylum," Harithik said. "You don't need to pay us. We are not poor. We can afford a permanent guest. Eventually we will go back to Agharek and you'll need all your precious jewelry to impress our cousin the king."

  Olayinka nodded a thank you. She was glad she had found the house on the beach. And she hoped the king of Akkora was less harsh than her father the emperor.

  ***

  Time started flying after Olayinka joined the household. Nadirah and Akila were overjoyed to have another woman and the boys seemed happy to have her and teach each other a new language. Olayinka knew a lot of new stories with what felt like exotic animals, since there was no savanna in Akkora.

  Their eyes went wide when she described lions and giraffes. Even her elephants were slightly different from the ones they knew and her folklore told different tales. Retelling those stories helped her vocabulary immensely and she was becoming really fluent in Akkoran.

  Harithik sometimes thought Olayinka was a real princess, showing the pride of her blood, but mostly she was very sweet and committed to the house, as if she felt it was her duty to return the hospitality by telling stories, sharing recipes and helping around.

  She still had that melancholy in her eyes, though. Her box braided hairstyle had become long twist braids and one day she had done cornrows on Akila's head, to Nadirah's amusement. When she washed her hair, she changed braiding style, and she wore Nadirah's clothes with the pride of a queen.

  Harithik started thinking about going back to Agharek. He could pass on Zoya's clothes to Olayinka, so she wouldn't have to share with his sister, or they could go to the court dressmaker and have new clothes made for the black princess.

  He invited her for a walk on the beach to inquire. He wasn't sure yet what she wanted to do next. They walked side by side in silence, barefoot, until the mansion was behind them and out of earshot.

  "I'm happy you came to my house," Harithik said. "You brought a ray of sunshine with you. I was wondering if you want to stay here or would like to see our capital, Agharek, and meet my cousin the king."

  Olayinka pondered before answering.

  "You have been most generous with me. Your children are lovely and your sister is like a sister to me... no, more, since my own sister betrayed me." Her frown showed she was still mad at her family.

  "I would love to hear your story from the beginning," he said gently.

  She knew by now that he had lost the love of his life, and most of Nadirah's story as well, but she hadn't opened up with them yet. At least not with him and he didn't want to ask Nadirah. After a month at the mansion, maybe Olayinka would finally tell him what had brought her to the coast of Akkora.

  She sighed but nodded. "I owe it to you, since you've been so kind to me," she said. "I was always a rebel, unlike my sister Urenna."

  She explained to him the meanings of hers and her sister's names – She Brings Salvation and Father's Pride – and went on to explain how her father had unified all the tribes of Nera and had all the chieftains bow to him and crown him emperor.

  "The Dragon King of Azhar Aswad was already one of the most powerful of Nera," Harithik mused. "We had an ambassador at his court until five years ago."

  "And then he expelled all the white-skinned people from our land." She nodded, frowning again. "I tried to take the slaves' side... and to save the man I loved. He was as pale as you are, but had sky-blue eyes and golden hair."

  "Northern populations are like that," Harithik said. "Where did he come from?"

  "The Kaden Kingdom in Paadre. His name was Roger. He refused to leave when my father passed the racial laws and was sent into slavery at the palace. So I kept seeing him in spite of everything... I didn't dare ask my father to marry him, not after he showed so much contempt for the white-skinned people!"

  "We have brown-skinned people here," Harithik said. "Supposedly nobles should all be white-skinned. My wife, Zoya, was brown, even though she was the daughter of a nobleman, and I had to fight my father to marry her. I think many people at the court were happy when she passed away because according to them she didn't look good next to me. I am of royal blood after all."

  She smiled ruefully. "When my father found out I was pregnant, he forced me to reveal who the father was."

  "Zindagi!" Harithik whispered shocked. He knew where this was going. "He killed Roger?"

  "Yes. And the baby. It was a boy, I wanted to call him Abayomi."

  Born to Bring Me Joy. What a beautiful name. I can't believe the black emperor killed his own grandson only because he had the wrong blood.

  He nodded, frowning at the thought of what it must have been for her to watch her baby die.

  "And then my father ordered me to marry one of his warlords, the one nicknamed Abrafo..."

  A nickname for a troublemaker... No wonder she ran away.

  "Demissie was supposed to tame me," she continued. "So I left. On foot I reached Husayn and my sister's house. She gave me shelter for a night and the next day sent me a note about a caravan headed north. Her husband shouldn't know I was in town... but I think he knew. Or she betrayed me. When the caravan left me on the coast, a ship of my father's men was coming to pick me up and take me back."

  Harithik stared horrified at her.

  "I hid and they didn't find me." She shrugged. "And then the Water people came and helped me cross the sea."

  "The Water people?" Harithik brightened. "The ones that turn into dolphins?"

  "You know them?" she asked, puzzled.

  "I haven't seen one since my childhood, but yes, they used to come and play with us on these shores," he answered. "So how did you cross the sea?"

  "I swam... and they carried me... in dolphin form..." She smiled. "Only when I reached the beach did they tell me I had performed an impossible feat."

  Harithik chuckled. "Indeed! Ships take one or two days to cross! And they don't cross anymore, since it has become a dangerous place to land..."

  "I know." She grinned. "They told me one way would take me to a town, the other way to houses and villages... and I headed away from the town."

  "Akulina." He nodded. "It's not far. We might go to the market there again soon."

  "I'm glad I went the other way." Her white teeth flashed in her black face. "I met you, and Nadirah, and the children..."

  "I'm glad you came this way too," he replied with a smile. "So would you like to see Akulina, and then Agharek?"

  ***

  Olayinka enjoyed Nadirah's company. The other women of the house were also very helpful in assisting her overcome the loss of her baby. They gave her herbs to st
op milk production and kept her busy in the house and with the children. She could get used to her new life in the white house.

  And then Harithik, who was always very courteous, asked her for a walk. As she had imagined, he wanted to know more about her. She guessed he hadn't talked with Nadirah – much like she hadn't talked with her brothers much when she still lived in her father's house – and she told him her story.

  She was probably too blunt, but she had no more tears. Not for Abayomi, not for Roger. Not even for herself. She simply stated the facts, realizing even the anger was gone. Maybe she was falling into another kind of mood, but she felt empty.

  He asked her if she wanted to go to the Akkoran towns, but she didn't feel like meeting people yet. She was still adjusting to the household's habits and didn't think she could handle a foreign court yet.

  She was grateful to Harithik for giving her shelter and liked watching him interact with his sons. All three still looked lost, six months after the death of the woman of the house. And she still felt broken, two months after leaving her father's house.

  Her body was recovering, her periods were back, but she still missed something. Her father hadn't only killed her baby and her man, but also that part of her which wanted to fight back. It was ironic that she didn't need to be "tamed" anymore, because she had lost all willingness to rebel.

  But then, maybe if she'd stayed in Azhar Aswad she'd still be angry and rebellious and wishing she could kill everybody around her. The house on the beach seemed to have a soothing influence on her – or maybe it was Nadirah's quiet.

  Nadirah was twenty-eight, one year older than Urenna, but she was completely different from Olayinka's sister. Maybe because she had had an unhappy marriage and was scarred inside as much as the black princess was.

  And then one day, while she was in the inner garden with Nadirah and Akila, a leopard jumped down from the trees and made for the little girl. Akila screamed and Olayinka, who still wore her dagger under her skirts, immediately took it, putting herself between the wild animal and the terrified mother and daughter.

  "You don't scare me," she whispered in her mother tongue, looking the leopard in the eyes. She had seen many around Azhar Aswad and sometimes she had even followed the hunters in the jungle outside of her father's capital. She waved the dagger at the leopard. "Get away from here, no easy food for you!"

  The leopard hissed as Nadirah called "Harithik!" The angry grunt of the charging leopard didn't deter Olayinka who stood her ground, her dagger ready. She wasn't going to let the animal near Akila.

  The big cat pounced and threw her to the ground but impaled itself on her dagger. Before it attempted to strangle her with its paws, she pushed it off already mortally wounded. Harithik's arrow pinned its neck to the ground in front of wide-eyed Nadirah and Akila.

  Panting for breath, Olayinka sat and retrieved her dagger. Harithik rushed forward and offered his hand to help her to her feet.

  "Are you all right?" he asked, worried.

  "Yes, it's leopard blood," she muttered, noticing the dark blots on her clothes.

  Servants and the boys also arrived on the scene. Akila recounted excitedly how Olayinka had killed the leopard. The boys stared at her goggle-eyed and she noticed the admiration also in Harithik's eyes.

  "Plenty of leopards in Azhar Aswad," she told them with a shrug.

  "Some fear leopards more than tigers," Harithik said. "They're smaller, but more vicious..."

  "Thank you for saving my daughter," Nadirah added as the servants took the dead leopard to the kitchen. She seemed on the verge of tears.

  Olayinka cleaned her dagger with a leaf. "Self-defense," she said. "No big deal."

  It was a big deal, obviously. During the following meal, Harithik said maybe they should go back to town.

  "I understand now why our parents didn't live here all year," he said. "Obviously there are months when it's dangerous to be so close to the jungle. Our walls are not tall enough to stop tree-climbing leopards."

  "Yes, it's time went go back to Agharek," Nadirah added, her voice still shaky. "We can come back next year."

  Olayinka nodded, thoughtful. She considered suggesting she stayed with the family that took care of the estate when the lords were at the capital, but she saw Harithik staring, hopeful, at her and understood it would be rude to stay behind.

  "I'm at your service," she said, bowing her head. "I will follow you wherever you take me."

  ***

  Harithik knelt in front of the painted statue of the Goddess Zindagi. The temple was cool and quiet at that time of the day, since there were no celebrations. Harithik preferred it that way, when the temple was empty and no priests were around to bother him.

  The mighty statues of gods and saints cast shadows that moved with the flickering flames of the oil lamps and chandeliers. The musty smell of incense and candle wax filled his nostrils, a nice change from the scent of jasmine of his garden.

  Harithik closed his eyes and thanked Zindagi for sending Olayinka to him. Well, to his house on the beach and now his town palace. The black princess had saved his niece from a leopard and had followed them back to the capital.

  She had graciously accepted new clothes from the royal dressmaker and had met King Kunal with the composed grace of a black-skinned goddess. Harithik could tell both his cousin and his court had been impressed by her and they had welcomed her to Agharek.

  She could have chosen to move in with any other nobleman or even the king himself, but she had stayed with them, to the joy of the children. Akila had enthusiastically introduced her to her cousins, Kashaf's children – seven-year-old Nida and four-year-old Azra, since two-year-old Feroz was still too young – and Kashaf's wife Saira had welcomed her at the family palace.

  Now both Akila and Nida sported cornrows on some occasions, and Nadirah and Olayinka were teaching Saira how to do them. Olayinka smiled more and more often, her white teeth gleaming on the dark face, and Harithik kept thinking about her.

  He left the temple and headed back to the palace where he stopped by Zoya's memory stone. He knelt on the grass in front of it and asked her if she minded the presence of another woman in his life. A whiff of jasmine brought a flash of Zoya's smile. No real words, but maybe she approved of Olayinka too.

  Harithik rose and went back inside. Kashaf greeted him and asked where he'd been.

  "Visiting Zindagi and Zoya," he answered. "Have you seen Olayinka?"

  "She's with the girls," Kashaf answered. "I'm so glad you brought her here! She's so beautiful and has such a voluptuous body and..."

  "Kashaf!" Harithik snapped, glaring at him. "She's a princess! She will not be your concubine!"

  "Maybe I should divorce Saira, then," Kashaf said with an impish smile.

  Harithik's fist hit him in the face before Harithik himself realized what he was doing.

  "Ouch," Kashaf said, massaging his cheek. "Aren't we jealous much, big brother?"

  He was still smiling. Harithik wondered if Kashaf had provoked him on purpose. He scowled at his brother who remained undaunted.

  "Harithik, you can remarry," Kashaf said. "If you really want to wait a year, do, but please tell Olayinka how much you care. She might receive other proposals here, and someone might snatch her from you."

  Panic gripped Harithik's heart. Kashaf was right. He should ask Olayinka if she would like him as a husband when his year of mourning was over. Otherwise thanking Zindagi was useless – someone else would have her.

  Harithik gulped and nodded. He pointed a threatening finger at his brother who chuckled.

  "Don't worry, I won't steal her from you," Kashaf said. "But others might. So go and tell her."

  Kashaf winked and went on his way. Harithik stared at his brother's back, still frowning, then headed for the girls' room, determined.

  ***

  Olayinka liked the town palace. Saira was nice and had two cute little girls and a lovely boy, Kashaf was her age and always smiling, as if he were happy to se
e her in the house. Nadirah shared house responsibilities with her sister-in-law after Zoya's demise, but Olayinka soon learned to make herself useful as well.

  Days flew by at the capital of Akkora. Even the rare visits at the court – Harithik was officially in mourning – were not too hard on her. She was starting to make friends among the Akkorans, some of which were almost as dark-skinned as her, like Harithik had said.

  Nadirah showed her Zoya's brother who had brown skin and dark curly hair "just like Zoya" and walked proudly with his pale bride by his side. Men seemed to like Olayinka as if they could feel she was a princess anyway.

  Noblemen of Agharek knew of Nera and its dark-skinned people, and they were happily surprised to have a Neran princess among them. Lord Mehmud had been ambassador at Azhar Aswad and remembered her as a child. He had long since retired, but he enjoyed practicing his Neran language with her, and she found him a nice old man.

  And then Harithik entered the girls' room, interrupting the game she was playing with Akila, Nida and Azra under the eyes of Nadirah and Saira.

  "Word with you?" he asked, seemingly upset.

  Puzzled, she glanced at Nadirah who smiled and nodded.

  "I shall take your place," Saira said as the girls protested loudly against their uncle spoiling the fun.

  "I'll be back," Olayinka promised them with a smile, then she followed Harithik away from the girls' ears.

  He didn't say anything until they were on the terrace, seated at a low table with fruit juices in front of them. The servants were gone and birds sang in the garden in front of them. Like most of Agharek's palaces, Harithik's family house had two inner gardens, one for the family and one for the guests. The terrace was in the guests' part of the building and there were no guests besides her at the moment. Olayinka wondered if her time with that household was up.

  "I'm sorry, I don't know how to begin this," Harithik apologized, obviously embarrassed.

  "You want me to leave?" she asked.

  "No!" His eyes widened in shock. "Gods, no," he continued more calmly. "Quite the opposite. You've been with us for five months, both here and at the beach house. I was wondering if you had found someone else you'd rather be with here in Agharek?"