Prologue:

WAIT...!!! Please do not forget that the words in this book are an account of the truth.

Prologue:

    The big blue moon hung in the sky like a jewel embracing the neck of a noblewoman.

The stars glittered in the late-night like grains of sand in a clear pond of water; too bad for all its beauty, the enveloping of dark smoke and deafening screams leave it void of an appreciating audience. Blood and organs splatter in the air at unset intervals like the popping of heated corn by stray shrapnel of elements.

Two women run in the woods at speeds that would practically hurt the publicly accepted laws of physics. The brutal crackling of trees behind them was an indication of pursuit.

The two women stopped behind a big boulder of wood to catch their breaths. Resting their backs on its thick roots, the size of bulls thighs.

"How is the child?" One of the women asked the other, looking at the trail of red down the woman's blouse.

"He is still alive. Healing, but too slow to keep up with the poison," she replied

She looked down at the child in her arms and sighed softly. whispering in his ear an incantation that seemed to relieve some pain as his frowning face somewhat eased up.

The blue-laced silk wrapped around him still increased in wet stains from the fractured skin on his back. The child looked up at the two women with; a running nose and teary drops in his eyes. Evidence of crying hard for a long period.

"If they find him, it will be a disaster. Especially now that the war is at a critical point" she said, as she held him tighter to her embrace.

"Maria we have to split up. I'll hold down the rest of our pursuers, while you take him and hide. Go past the tree tents, behind the stone statues, just at the end of the forest is a waterfall. There is a gate to the cardinal 'messis humus' just behind the fall. You both can hide there until this whole mess is over." Vowero instructed her sister as she looks down at the child in maria's hands and planted a kiss on his forehead.

"NO!" a firm rejection escaped maria's mouth.

"We can leave together. if you stay, they'll hurt you. I don't want them to hurt you"

Vowero got angry and screamed at her "MARIA OF HOUSE THEMBEKA! you will do as I say or I swear I'll make you do it even if I have to hurt you."

After a few seconds of silence, a whimpering voice acknowledges.

"Yes, Repono."

Vowero took deep breaths in and out, trying hard to calm her already tense nerves. "You underestimate me too much dear sister. I understand your worry, but please have a little more faith in me. I'll find you when am done here".

The sound of something rushing over, draws the attention of the bickering duo and they both take a fighting stance. But Vowero stands before her sister and tells her to run.

Maria looked into the dark of the woods and just before she sprinted into its bowels, Vowero grabbed her shoulder and shoved a gold pendant in her hands.

"It's for him. The title of 'Repono' is his birthright. All I did was to keep the seat warm for him"

"Please don't die" she sighed, as she became one with the darkness ahead.

Vowero took the stance for a fight when a loud groan was heard and a man appeared before her, pushing the trees in his way aside like domino tiles.

He was huge, dark of skin, and with bulging muscles for arms that looked more like tubers of yam. Vowero could be considered quite tall even amongst men yet she felt dwarfed by his presence. He was bare-chested with a Lamba to cover his waist down. Two lines of tattoo traced half his face, from his bald head down his left eye, to his chest, and lastly his left hand. There were gold bangles around his thick wrists that looked more like handcuffs than ornaments. He had the glaring totem of a double-headed Ouroboros on each cuff.

"Lady Vowero" his hoarse voice reverberated in the night. "Oh! am sorry, I should call you Repono now. I believe congratulations are in order of your appointment-vice patriarch of House Thembeka. Please forgive me as I bring with me a less polite gift. I sincerely hope the edge of my blade is more humble with my will than my manners". His tone gave a polite courtesy but his smile was that of a sick pervert.

His hands glowed slightly as an ancient-looking Akrafena with a snakehead at its hilt appeared in it.

"Everno, you are always so kind with your compliments. But what borders me is why an assassination  attempt is being carried out by the House of Abbo, a family of peaceful medical practitioners?" Vowero questioned as a glowing red quill pen the size of a baby's forehand appeared in her left hand.

"I am here to take your life and you still challenge me as a Writer! Do u have rotten fish stew for a brain or have you become overconfident since you became Repono?" He felt very insulted

"I have always bested you 'egg head', and if I decide to treat this assault as a Writer then I am beyond confident of your fall" a slight smirk stained one edge of her lips.

But just as she was talking three more people showed up from behind him. Both of them held an 'Ida sword' on each hand. Each sword glowed with an eerie dark light around its edges.

Vowero's eyes widened like saucers as her lips let loose two words "sugar bright."

"I see you recognize the poison. I don't know if to be proud of your knowledge or laugh at what's to come." Everno grinned maliciously.

"Of cause, I know it. It killed my mother!" Her gaze became sharper as her hand held the pen tighter.

"I should have known, that day many years ago. It was your family. 'House of Abbo'. You did it! you are responsible for my mother's passing. It all makes sense now. You fall out with the royal family on the surface but are very loyal in the dark."

"That's too bad. You see, another reason why you must die!" Everno raised his Akrafena high to the sky and sent a slash made of aura towards her neck.

Vowero sidestepped and her hand holding the quill pen moved in the air. Red runes appeared wherever her pen passed suspended in the air like burning butterflies. A command was released from her mouth "Incinerate." Bright red flames spit out from the runes like a wave of a breeze causing her assailants to go on the defense.

Everno slashed his blade again across the incoming flame and cleanly divided it into two. "Not bad, I see you have become stronger with Your element. but you forget who you dealing with."

"Oh! I do?" she responded sarcastically.

Her fingers moved again leaving after images everywhere they passed. And this time around, the runes became blades of fire dancing through the air -cutting at everything in sight.

Everno took several steps back and barely dodged to his right an incoming fire blade that ate at his side. Leaving a deep cut on his left elbow.

His frown tightened and he attacked again. This time around, the slash was to her legs. she staggered as her stance became unsteady while making effort to block the attack with another rune.

Everno attacked her from the front while his two companions flanked her from both sides. Slowly, the pressure was increased as the two with the Ida sword attacked her sides ruthlessly. Cutting at any flaw in her defense and attack.

Slowly she was pushed back to only defense and already had a few cuts from Everno's blade on her blouse which were deep enough to tear her skin, spilling out blood.

Everno was getting excited. In his eyes, this woman before him was already done for-when he felt a sense of danger and barely gave a somersault to dodge the oncoming knife thrown at his unguarded back. He looked behind him only to see someone running into the woods."You! go get that one." He yelled at one of the men at Vowero's side.

"Stupid GIRL!!!" Vowero shouted, "I told you to RUN!!!"

Maria ran deep into the woods. She knew trying to attack Everno's weak point was a stupid idea but she could not help herself. Vowero was losing badly.

she looked behind and saw the silhouette of someone chasing her.

Maria knew she was weak. At least not as strong as her sister or her brother Levinack. Speaking of which, she remembered that 'that bastard' was the cause of all this trouble.

Maria did not know for how long she had run, but she finally saw the waterfall ahead. A sense of relief washed over her. Just then, an unpleasant voice came from her side "I finally caught you". And just then!...