I Bleed For You

Prologue

"Please do not leave me, not now, please, I don't want to be a widow" Lume cried her eyes out while holding onto the cheeks of her husband in her palms but the King of Akozo was dying and he wanted his Queen to run, yes, to run for her life for the Witch and her dragon were approaching and it wouldn't be long until she caught up with her and the rest. The Witch's quest was to destroy and her dragon was helping her achieve that while raining fire in the land of Akozo.

"I want you to tell the story of this day to our child whom you carry in your womb. Don't give him your tears, give him your story, that story is what he will need to motivate him to do what needs to be done. You can't tell him of what happened here today if you will not be alive to do so, so go and follow the officials, go now. I'm already a dead man"

"Why would she do this to us?!" cried Lume.

The newly married Queen, Lume sobbingly removed her lips from his mouth the moment King Zakiza breathed his last with tears in his eyes while lying amongst piles of rocks with fire raining from the shattered roof of the palace building.

"My Queen, the king is dead, we must escape now"

Queen Lume was not sure who spoke amongst the palace officials standing behind her but she knew that whoever spoke was right. The king's younger step brother had succeeded in usurping the throne of his step elder brother with the help of her Witch mother and her dragon. It was time for Queen Lume to escape if she hoped to return for a revenge.

THE BEGINNING

TWO YEARS BEFORE THE WAR IN AKOZO KINGDOM:

"Your father never loved me the way he loved that woman and that was why he gave her son the throne before his death. I was the first he married but I had no child for him until his second wife produced him a son, Zakiza. You see, I was the first wife which makes you automatically heir to his throne. I knew your father was never going to make the right decision but I was not learned enough to stop him; I had no dragon and I wasn't a Witch. You see my son, you have grown and that is why I'm telling you this; it's time to take back what is yours, what was taken from you, your birthright. I will help you"

Akiza rose from his seat, a very handsome young man. He was tall and had dark eyes. He walked towards the windows of the room and stood by it, looking down the mighty gates. He sipped his drink and turned to look at his mother who obviously was waiting for an answer.

"Mother, I can understand how it went with you when you realized that your husband's love for you died the moment you couldn't give him a child and he had to marry a second wife; the mother to a step brother i have never met. I know how pained you are but mother look around you; we are rich in this foreign land, we have everything we need here in Dodo Kingdom; we have the maids to serve us, the slaves to work for us, the soldiers assigned to us by the king of this land. We are powerful already. What else are we looking for?"

"Recognition you fool; your birthright was stolen from you and your step brother who should be serving you is seated on your throne! Don't you get it! I am not after wealth or power child, I am after what is mine and what is mine was taken from me by those who thought me weak enough and unable to fight back. You say we are powerful? more reason we have to use that power to reclaim what was lost to us. You say you have all that you need? Where is your identity or do you not know that you are a foreigner in this land. Your surname will never make a meaning if you are not ready to accept who you are" The mother walked out on him and Akiza sat dejectedly. He might feel he was not really comfortable with his mother's desperation but if truth be told he could not deny the fact that he desired to make her happy.

He was still seated there when his fiancee walked in and climbed the bed, kneeling and holding him on the shoulders from the back, massaging him, knowing fully well why he was troubled..

"Your mother was right" She just said. Akiza turned his head to look at her face and she smiled at him. She was a very beautiful lady and was the daughter of the king of the land; the kingdom of Dodo where Akiza and her mother resided. She had a high libido for sex, a trait she inherited from her father and she was happy that Akiza never denied her himself each time she came looking for him. Her eyes were so seductive and these were what Akiza fell for the first time he met with her.

"You eavesdropped on our conversation? I warned you not to do that again..." he was angry. "I'm sorry I was coming..." she tried to explain, "Get out!" shouted Akiza and the lady jumped off the bed, ran off crying. Akiza stood up and walked towards the windows once again. He was filled with deep thoughts.

That same night he walked up to his mother inside her chamber as she was about to have her rest and she stood up from bed to sit with him. He avoided her eyes, the eyes of a woman who had suffered for years to see that he had a good life and he was not ready to disappoint her. He held her hands and for the first time since he entered the room spoke while looking into her eyes.

"My reply to you in my room wasn't reasonable and here I have come to tell you that you were right. I have decided to live up to your expectations of me. I'm ready to take back what is mine"

Akiza's mother stood on the large entrance of a large cave beside the building of her home and asked the armed men that were positioned to man the entrance to step aside and they did. They were scared and their fear shown in their faces. They knew what she was about to do. The Witch summoned the dragon from inside the spooky and dank cave where he was kept by the Witch and the large stone used to cover the entrance rolled off by itself. The dragon, huge, soon tore itself out from the cave, flapped his wings and growled loudly.

He was ten feet and two inches long and weighed a massive three hundred and sixty five pounds.

He kept growling infront of the witch and the Witch looked up at him proudly. This was it; she was going to use this dangerous creature birthed through the use of ancient dark magic to lay waste the great kingdom of Akozo, where she was once married to a king.

****

The king of Dodo, King Magu was not happy after his daughter returned with tears in her eyes. He was not going to take it from Akiza; if he was not going to love his daughter he should step away from her like a man, but to bring tears to her eyes, that the king wasn't prepared to take. He rose and held his daughter who was sobbing and spoke to her in whispers, "You said he shouted at you? Has he not been told that despite his mother's wealth, influence and power I'm still the most powerful person in Dodo. I am King Magu and my father ruled these lands before me. I intend to hand it over to my own son when I'm no more. One thing our family is not tolerant of is insult and disregard. I will summon him and his mother. They will appear before me by this time tomorrow. Go in and rest" Princess Damina left her father with a sigh of relief. King Magu sat back on his seat and gnashed his teeth. He was not ready to allow any man, any human maltreat his only female child. He had a son who came before Damina but he had found himself to love Damina more than his only son. He lost his wife to the cold hands of death the day she gave birth to Damina and ever since then he had always seen his late wife in her.

The Priestess of Dodo, a respectable spiritual leader of the kingdom was a very beautiful woman with no man in her life; Priestesses were forbidden to get married or entangle with a man. The next day she had come to stand before the king and relay to him the messages from the gods. She was so beautiful that her beauty moved the men that ushered her in to stand before the king. King Magu raised his face to behold the beauty standing before him and he wondered if there was anything he could do to have her on his bed. He had always secretly lusted after her but he wouldn't want to be the one who brings calamity upon his own kingdom by taking a Priestess to his bed, yet he found what was inbetween his legs unable to control itself in her presence. The Priestess stood before him and bowed her head in greeting. To her surprise the king dismissed every other person in the throne room and It was just her and the lustful king. The woman at first didn't know what he had in mind but when the king stood up and began to walk around her she suspected he was upto something no good.

"My lord and my king?" she heard herself say and the king stopped moving, now standing at her back while the woman's eyes rolled from left to right, mind filled with confusion. She felt the kings hands grace her shoulders and she waited patiently, hand slightly shaking as she held filmly onto her staff, expecting him to explain the reason for his actions. "What is it my lord?" she forced herself to ask.

"There is nothing wrong. I have been thinking about the land and you" he said, by now standing in her front. The Priestess raised her eyes to look at his bearded face but before she could speak the King's finger crossed her lips. "Don't say a word. I know how hard It can be, in that cold shrine with no man to warm your bed. I am the king and I can make you comfortable" These words from the king sent anger into the Priestess and she angrily pushed him away from herself.

"My lord, you annoy me. You have no honor. Don't you know you bring a curse upon yourself by doing this?" She was moved to tears but the king wouldn't stop. The Priestess was annoyed.

"I can do anything for a kiss. I can loose anything for a kiss. I have craved for this impatiently and the fire of my desire for you burns me in the inside" said the king and the woman looked at his face and wondered what motivated his foolishness.

"Your words carry weight in the spirit King of Dodo, I hope you know this?. Be careful the things you say" Warned the Priestess.

"I mean what I say and I say what I mean. Kiss me, go to bed with me and you can ask for anything you want and it shall be yours" promised the King. With tears in the eyes of the Priestess who already felt the defilement in her spirit by the sacred words of the King turned to him and spoke, "Have me king of Dodo for with your words you have defiled me already. Have me as you want and bear the consequences alone" The king smiled and carried her off her feet like a man possessed by a spirit. He took her into his chamber and made love to her. This was after he had sent a word through a messenger to inform Akiza's mother the Witch and her son Akiza to appear before him in his throne room just as he promised his daughter, the Princess.

When the gate of the palace was raised to welcome Akiza's mother and Akiza, King Dodo regained himself and stood up from the bed, staring shockingly at the naked body of the Priestess of Dodo and realised as he recalled that he had fulfiled the prophecy of his late wife; before the late Queen passed on she had said, "I saw a very beautiful woman giving you a kiss until she bit you to death"

Akiza's mother and Akiza with some of their house servants entered the grand palace of the King of Dodo. They waited for his presence. Shortly after the king appeared and both mother and son bowed their heads in greetings but their was a strain of anger in the face of the king as he took his seat, looked around and pointed straight at Akiza,

"You ungrateful son of your mother, did you not think it right to honor me?, you dishonor me by disregarding my daughter. Now you speak to her as you like, as if she is a commoner. I should have you pay for this!" Akiza's mother wasn't pleased with the manner the King had spoken to her son.

"With all due respect King of Dodo, if these two; your daughter and my son are going to have to marry each other we should learn to leave them to settle their issues by themselves. You have made this a routine; to call upon my son and disgrace him infront of your officials because of your daughter who has refused to grow up" The Witch wasn't sorry this time and the King felt challenged. He arose from his seat and detestedly pointed his sacred staff at the Witch and threatened to have her tongue if she didn't go down on her knees to apologise but the Witch wasn't ready to say sorry instead she turned to leave with her son but the King's men charged against them with their spears.

"It seems you have forgotten your place woman but I will remind you. You are still answerable to me despite the riches you have accumulated from the wealth of my land. Have you no shame, you visitor that eats what is not hers" Akiza's mother turned to face the king. "You tell your men to step out of my way. My son will have nothing to do with your daughter. Now let us pass"

"You have refused to learn a lesson but I'm the King and I hereby strip you of all titles and wealth, I hereby pronounce judgement upon you; to go into exile and never return to this land. You and your son must never be seen anywhere near Dodo or your heads will leave your necks!" The King struck his staff to the ground to seal his word. Akiza was moved in anger and he tried to advance towards the King but the men in the palace pushed both of them outside and threw them outside the gate. Akiza and his mother returned home in anger. Shortly after they arrived their home they saw troops from the palace galloping towards their house and Akiza's mother knew they had come to take over what was hers. She stood her ground but when the soldiers came with a palace official they forced the woman and her son out of their way, entered the building and began to customise all the properties in the name of the King. Akiza with the mother stood outside and their was tears in his eyes. The palace official sent by the King of Dodo who led the troops walked up to Akiza's mother and standing before her he smiled wickedly,

"You should be careful with your tongue next time. It baffles me and I have always wanted to ask my King, how a mere woman from an obscured place comes to our land and suddenly joins the league of the richest in Dodo. Now you have nothing you should return to the dirt whence you came" The official had his men seal the building with the King's color, ousted her and took with them the men assigned to her by the King and confiscated all her lands.

There was nowhere to sleep that night except in the home of the friends Akiza's mother made; her best friend. The rich woman welcomed her but with a warning;

"You know that the King will look for you, to know if you have left the land or not and if he finds you here he may decide to have me share in your fate, a thing I wouldn't want to be part of"

"Thank you for welcoming me into your home Aromo my good friend but you must help me by allowing my son stay here with you and your daughter this night" Said Akiza's mother.

"What about you?" asked the woman.

"I will be somewhere very important, a place that I must be, but you must help me accomadate my son" Akiza's mother had wanted to move away through the door when Akiza held her by the hand and forbade her to leave without him.

"I promised to stand with you till the end to heed your words, till I take back what is mine. This might just be a way the gods are telling us it is time for us to go take back home and take back what is ours" Said Akiza but his mother wasn't ready to go to where she was going with her son. She held him by the shoulders and said to him; "You must stay here my son. I will return in the morning and then we will go home" The son didn't say anything further, he simply nodded, trying hard to prevent tears from his eyes. The mother turned to go but stopped, turned again to face her son and then gave him a dirty slap across the face."Shed tears again and you will bear my name while I bear yours" turning to Aromo her friend Akiza's mother asked for a horse.

Akiza's mother rode off into the darkness of the night. Aromo stared until she could see her no more then she turned to the young man standing beside her, "Are you a virgin?" She asked and Akiza didn't expect this as he shockingly turned to stare into her eyes. He was dumbfounded and unable to find words to say. The woman held him by the shoulder with her left hand and added, "Should we find out if you are one?"