Chapter Two - At The Border Of Lesothia

0. After three days of traveling, the kaunah and his men arrived at the border between Seperea and Lesothia, linking Northern Seperea to Southern Lesothia by a beautiful sapphire coated gate, although from the harsh desert winds of the north, sand was now accompanying the gate.

The kaunah took his scepter and pointed it at the gate, right in the middle, then one of his guards knocked on the gate, not too hard, but enough to be heard. As they waited for the gatekeepers to come to the door, the kaumaa, Pahlo, and Maldu quietly showed up behind them. Riding on her own horse, Kaumaa Maori tried to speak until she was interrupted.

Watching the broad gate slowly open up, everyone watched as they saw four highly armored men riding on giant blue lions come before them, with three of the guards in blue and gold and only one in white and gold. Kaunah Jabulani proceeded to speak as he pointed at the one in white with his scepter. “I take it that you are the leader of these three men?” he asked.

“I lead nothing, I let the Most High Yah give my commands, and now I ask Him why you are here?”

Straightening himself up, the kaunah spoke highly of himself before saying to the straightforward guard. "We need to speak with your Sovereign, as the prince of your nation, Marshogon, has been speaking with my daughter behind my back for five months total, and I will like for this secret to be unveiled for both our nations, as it apparently pertains to how we can be rid of the demons that raid us.”

The man started smiling, laughing even as he turned to his men, confusing the kaunah and his men. "The princess of your nation, Maldu, yes… we know about our prince and his comings and goings, and it was yesterday when our Sovereign found out about his traveling with his favorite guards." 

The kaunah glared at his daughter, with Maldu noticing her father’s look of betrayal.

The three men stayed on their lions while the leader in white made his way over to the kaunah, bowing his head while saying, “but you have my word, we knew of your coming here today, and by word of our great sovereign, he is to see you, your kaumma, and your daughter.” He waved his hand. “Follow me, our sovereign stands just ahead.”

Turning back to his men, he then put up his scepter, leading the way for his men to follow the four guards through the gate.

The kaumaa slowly followed after her husband beside Maldu and Pahlo, with Maldu glancing at her mother from her horse, seeing the facial expression of her mother still displaying worry.

Moving on through the gate, traveling little ways to reach where the four men are taking them, the kaunah and his men found themselves in a unique looking space.

It appeared as a large building that was completely empty inside, besides one table that had a large purple and red book on it, and this table's color was that of polished gold while the building itself shined bright like a diamond.

The kaunah and all his men marvelled at the sight of this, something they never would have imagined to see in their own land.

Noticing the smiles and looks of astonishment on the men’s faces, the leader in white stopped in front of them, turning to face them as he said, “fellow worshippers of the Most Yah High, I am about to present the Sovereign of Lesothia before you.”

Hearing this, they all got off of their horses and bowed before the four men, who then turned back around to face the building and bow down themselves, seeing nothing but countless guards making their way out of the building, guards who managed well to blend in with the building by their sleek and shining armor that clattered like tambourines as they walked.

As the guards made room for the sovereign to come out, the sovereign, dressed in a sapphire robe with a shawl made of precious stones to accompany his garments, made his way down the short stairs that lead into the building.

As the sovereign made his way down the stairs, his guards made sure to stand up behind him, with him now facing the kaunah and his men, along with the kaumaa, Pahlo, and Maldu.

As they all stood up before the sovereign, the sovereign proceeded to say to them, “may we all bow before our true Sovereign and our Maker before we begin this conversation.”

Looking slightly confused, the kaunah gestured for his men to follow suit. 

They all bowed as the sovereign let out a short prayer, then he stood back up with everyone doing the same, with them waiting to hear the word from the Creator and from the Sovereign.

“I know about the travels of my son to your daughter,” he tilted his head, noticing Maldu in the crowd. “As she is here, so is my son, who I hear has given you all the copy of the book of the Southern Island.”

The Sovereign of Lesothia walked over to Maldu, with Maldu looking up at the tall and wonderfully clothed man. He said to her, “I feel that there is something special about you.”

He looked back over to Jabulani. “I have a plan, one that both my son and your daughter help curate.” He said after.

Jabulani steps forward, putting his hands up while saying unamused, “well, what is this plan? And if this is a wonderful plan, it better help my people with haste. The townspeople can’t take this much longer, and neither can I in my own palace.” 

Taken by his words, the Lesothian sovereign nodded his head towards Jabulani. “We will be sending flyers down south to spot this island, and if it truly exists like it says so in this prophecy, then we will send our ships to check it out.” He said bluntly.

Jabulani snickered while crossing his arms. The sheer smirk on Jabulani’s face made the Sovereign of Lesothia almost roll his eyes, but he kept his composure and listened to the words of Jabulani.

“Do we even know who wrote this so-called prophecy? Hm, what knowledge are we truly going on?”

“We will be sending this book out to all the nations, as every second of the day we are now having our scribes write down these words so that they will be sent to every place.”

“Sounds fantastic.” Jabulani said this sarcastically, truly only caring about how his people would survive this war with the Adenian demons. 

Noticing, the sovereign sternly said, “if you feel that your people are the only ones to struggle this way, let me make it clear to you of how each nation of this world is suffering when your people are the last to be helped.”

Everyone stayed quiet as the sovereign said this, with Jabulani looking frozen in place as he stared back at the Lesothian sovereign. “What atrocity are you speaking to me about?”

“One that will be if you keep up your selfishness.” The sovereign turned around and called for his guards, saying something to them in the Lesothian language that Jabulani and his people couldn't understand. While this was happening, the kaumaa came over to him, worry displayed all over her face and body as he warned Jabulani. 

“Please do not anger the sovereign, you know his power is greater than we could ever imagine.”

She placed her hand on Jabulani’s shoulder, but he brushed her hand away and shrugged his shoulder back, turning to his men and walking away from his wife completely.

She stood back and took a deep breath as Pahlo, her brother and guard, whispered to her. “I feel the same way you do, sister.” He stepped back and looked at Maldu, who was eyeing everyone, studying the situation at hand, and across from beside the sovereign, she noticed Marshogon doing the same thing. Catching each other's eyes, they continued to give each other an alarming stare before being moved by their respected adults.

“Then tell me your plan, sovereign.” Jabulani stood tall, saying this with a hint of sarcasm in his voice, seemingly having a hard time showing humility before the Lesothian sovereign, or even a hint of jealousy.

Ignoring the obvious pride of Jabulani, the Lesothian sovereign proceeded to say unbothered, “I will send out flyers first thing in the morning. They should arrive in the span of one day and a half. Once they are back, I will let your people know and I’ll have one of my admirals come by your ports and escort you and your ships to the Southern Island. This is, if the island is safe.”

Jabulani furrowed his brows, as if barely listening to the sovereign. “So, how do we know if this island truly exists? Like it says in this legendary book that was barely just written?”

Without any doubt or hesitation in his voice, the Lesothian sovereign said, “because He said so, then I believe it so.” 

After saying this, the sovereign turned back around towards his men and lions, letting Marshogon walk up to Maldu, as he said to her with a gleaming smile, “I truly believe that this will be the start of something great,” his smile did let up as he softly held her hand while asking, “do you feel so too?”

All Maldu could do at this moment was let out a small smile at the elated face of her friend and prince of the seven provinces of Lesothia. Deep down, Maldu still worried about all of this, about her father who was trying so hard to not denounce the entire plan of the sovereign. 

Looking over at her strict father, Maldu couldn’t help but want to sigh, seeing in her mother’s face that obvious state of anxiety, and even her uncle’s face which was showing worry as well, something that only one in her family would notice from a palace guard. 

“Marshogon, I believe that your father’s words are true. Seeing this island first hand should be a great help for all of us.”

After she said this, Marshogon gave her a kiss on the cheek, bowing his head to her as she did the same thing, with the only difference being that the Lesothians knelt completely while the Sepereans just bowed their heads and put their left hand over their heart.

Marshogon walked back over to his father and lions, then all of them bowed their heads as Jabulani and his men followed suit. The Lesothian sovereign then had Jabulani and his men escorted out of their home, making sure to bring them goods such as fish cakes and challah bread, along with fresh picked grapes, about seven bottles of blue wine (a wine produced by naturally sweetened grapes that retained a blue color due to its watery texture from one of the freshest vineyards in the province of the lion in Lesothia), and a great number of gold bars, since Seperea had been dealing with many struggles at this time.

Making it out through the border, Maldu felt the overwhelming silence from her mother more than hearing the obnoxious attitude from her father. Maldu decided to stay quiet though, trying her best to connect with the Creator Himself on this through prayer whether everything was going the way it needed to.

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Now back home and lying on her round bed with sand colored sheets and jewels that hang above her. Maldu calmly pulled at one of the golden beads that were hanging right before her face, watching them sparkle before her from the moonlight that was shining right through her large window. 

As the moonlight reflected off both her face and golden beads, Maldu couldn’t help but feel bad knowing that all this time she had spent with Marshogon, that she truly didn’t feel one hundred percent sure about the power and truth of this book. It made her feel terrible, like she was lying to Marshogon or so, but she knew that was not the case, she knew through the power the Lesothians have from the Creator Himself that there had to be truth to this book.

Regardless, Maldu worried, just like her mother, she worried. She did feel better knowing that she trusted the Lesothians and their word from the Creator more than her troublesome father did, but since he was the ruler of their country, she feared that the selfish actions he made could make the state of their country worse than it already was, since before the demons started to even attack the country. The people were subdued to constant famine and extreme taxes, with work being at its extremity of harsh labor, all while dealing with weather issues such as the burning orange sun causing diseases in people, and the consistent drought that had been taking place for a year now.

Maldu let her hands slide down from the beads, with her arm plopping back next to her head, Maldu then turned over and tried her best to fall asleep, praying that everything would work out for not only her country, but for the whole world.

At this point, she could only pray about it.