THE CURSE

A young man entered the village, riding a horse. Everyone was shocked to see this stranger as they've never seen anything like that before. He was fairer than them in complexion, had very long golden and curly hair which was entwined and plaited on one side.

His eyes were golden in colour and his lips were shaped like a crescent moon. His skin was as smooth as a newborn baby's. He rode on a white horse with a long golden mane and a golden tail. Everyone was amused with their mouths wide open. The men admired while the women crushed on this stranger. He came down from his horse as he watched the people stare at him.

"Agure cha'in." He said in a loud voice as everyone looked at him in surprise. They all murmured, asking themselves what he just said but no one knew the meaning.

"I come in peace." He translated to them and they looked relieved as they understood what he said.

"Peace be upon you too." The ladies screamed on top of their voices in excitement. They were all blushing and eager to go closer to him without any fear of him hurting them but their men didn't allow them to do so as he was a stranger.

He drew out his six edged shiny sword with a golden hilt and wielded it at them, making them all to quiver in fear as they had never seen anything like that. As he waved it at them, they all ran away as fast as their legs could carry them. He was surprised why they ran away but couldn't say anything to them.

He noticed a young lady still standing there. She didn't make any move or seemed to be scared of him. She just stood there, rooted to the ground as she watched him with an expressionless face.

"Follow me and I'll show you where to rest your head." She said to him as he turned and started walking away. The stranger had no choice but to follow her after hesitating for a while.

They reached a small hut with a bush behind it. She went inside the hut and came out with a calabash of water and handed it to him, as he was still standing beside his horse. He collected it and gulped down its contents and handed it back to her after muttering a "thank you".

"Why did you choose to help me? Why didn't you run away as your people did?" He asked her. She looked at him for a while before speaking.

"Clean yourself from the dust of your journey and tie your horse to that tree." She said, pointing to a tree behind the hut.

"There's a bush behind the hut, it can feed on the grass there. I'll pour it water, if you can excuse me." She replied as she poured out water from a clay pot that was kept in the middle of the compound into a larger calabash and took it to the tree as he followed suit and tied his horse there. She fetched grasses and fed them to the horse which ate hungrily.

"Sit here." She instructed as she kept a small stool at the door of the hut and went in and reappeared almost immediately with two calabashes, containing food and placed them in front of him.

"You can wash your hands in this one." She told him as she left to take care of the horse and add more grasses as it had almost finished the previous one. He ate his meal in silence, wondering who she was.

The young lady who helped the stranger offered him some clothes after he had cleaned up from his journey. He still wanted to know who this lady was. They sat at the back of the hut as they stared at the moon together. It was already dusk.

"What's your name?" He asked.

"Shana and you?" She replied.

"I'm Bilal." He answered.

"Okay." She replied to him.

"Shana, I'm still wondering why you helped me. Why did you act differently from the others?" He asked her.

"I did what I did to save you." He said.

"Save me? From who or from what?" He asked her with his eyebrows raised.

"Warleigh is not a nice place to be. It has fearful people who dread strangers, especially those that are different from them. For you to survive here, you must be in hiding otherwise you have to leave and that's not also an easy task." Shana explained.

"Why is that?" Bilal asked.

"That's the practice here ever after the king's father disappeared." Shana explained, standing up.

"Disappeared? What do you mean?" He asked her, looking up.

"We don't know. It happened a long time ago. It was said that some wolves attacked Warleigh and after they left, the king went missing." Shana added and went into the hut.

Bilal thought about what she said for a few minutes after which he went inside to question her.

"Where did the..." Shana was undressing when Bilal came in without an excuse. She had removed the hand of her dress and was about to pull it off when Bilal saw her. She shrieked on sighting him and tried to cover herself when the cloth fell off her, leaving her naked.

Bilal turned his back immediately on sighting her nakedness and grabbed a cloth on the chair in front of him and turned to cover her immediately without looking at her. Succeeding in covering her but losing balance, he fell on her and they both fell on the floor. He tried to stand up but her earring hooked to his cloth. He unhooked it but wasn't lucky enough as her necklace also hooked to his hand sleeves.

She looked up at him and apologized as she cursed under her breath. He unstrapped it, gently touching her neck as he kept his gaze on her lips, slowly bringing his face closer to her. She tried to get up when their lips met each other. Slowly, he pressed his lips against hers, locking them up in a deep and passionate kiss.

His fingers began running down her body, which had become heated up. He continued kissing her as he used one of his hands to take off the cloth from her body and also began to remove his, laying completely naked on top of her. He separated her legs as he pressed his body against hers, slowly pushing his body against her for a few minutes.