The air in the birthing chamber was thick and reeked of blood, smell of copper and the burned herbs to ward off evil spirits. My new mother, the Third Queen, clutched me as if the world itself were trying to steal me away. I could feel the frantic, uneven rhythm of her heart beating against my tiny chest. The thought that she had lost me to the jaws of death caused her to tremble with fear.
In my past lives, people trembled upon my arrival. Now, I was the reason someone feared loss.
Outside the heavy mahogany doors, the whole empire was celebrating. I could hear the muffled roars of the palace guards and the distant beat of drums. They were cheering for the "Heir" the strong son born to the second queen moments before I was born.
Then, the celebration outside went silent.
Heavy footsteps approached my mother's hut, information has reached king Shaza that queen latiti had also bore a son.
The door was flung wide open at once, the sudden action caused the midwives attending to my mother to tremble. King Shaza, walked into the room not minding the state of the people in it.
He was even more repulsive up close. His royal robes, dyed in deep indigo colour of the water goddess, were stretched tight over his pot belle. Gold rings adorned into his fat fingers and his eyes were scanning the hut with boredom of a man looking at something defective.
"Where is it?" Shaza's voice echoed with threat, almost sounding like an owner of a lost property. The midwives all pointed at me, a frail looking tiny baby wrapped in wrappers laid besides the queen.
Shaza walked towards the bed. He looked down at us and for a moment, I saw my own reflection in his dark pupils. I looked pathetic and pale!
He reached down, his hand smelling of raw meat and palm wine and pulled back the silk cloth covering my face.
"This?" Shaza spat the word. "This is what the third Queen offers the lineage of Usamba?" Shaza lifted me up holding only one of my little legs and scuff more, at that moment I burst into tears, he immediately dropped me roughly on my mother's arm like I was not his child.
"He lives, my king," my mother whispered under her breathe, her voice was cracked due to the stress she had passed through during and after my delivery. "The gods have granted him life."
"Life is not enough!" Shaza turned his back on us, with his heavy beaded cape sweeping the floor. "The Uzuvue empire is built on bone and blood. We are at the height of our power. The Uzweta are subdued, the northern tribes are paying their tribute… I needed a general. A titan! Not a dying bird that cannot even draw a proper breath."
He turned to the direction of the senior mid-wive, an elderly woman with tribal marks all over her wrinkled cheek, she had been serving the empire since the present king Shaza was born. "The Second Queen's son already gripping a wooden spear in his sleep. That is an heir. This one…" He waved a hand dismissively at me. "Do not bother the town criers. If he survives the night, send him to the outer courts with the servants' children. I will not have a weakling shaming the royal table."
"But my lord…" latiti said startled "He is your son!" she cried!
Shaza did not even turn around. "Be glad I did not cast you out with him, woman. Pray to your gods that he dies quietly. It would be a mercy to the empire."
The door slammed shut behind him.
The silent that followed was worse than shaza's roaring voice. The midwives quickly gathered their things, their eyes downcast. They knew where the real power was. They hurried toward the second Queen's chambers, leaving my mother alone in her hut.
She looked down at me, her tears warm and salty as they fell on my forehead. "I am sorry, my little one," she sobbed. "I am sorry I gave you such a weak start."
Don't be sorry mother, I thought, I expected nothing good from them. My current father who is also my descendant has rejected me and wants a titan or a general! I scuffed!
No problem!
I felt a strange bitter feeling stuck up in my chest, that feeling of being cast out of a place one built with his own hands!
Very well!
It is easy to burn an empire to the ground when no one is watching the spark. I will gradually tend to the flames that will consume them!
The palace grew quiet but from the distant, the drunken laughter of the king's feast could still be heard. My mother's hut was a detached area of the palace, a detached hut where concubines of the king could give birth. It was a well decorated room with statue of the goddess for protection and prayers. It contains wooden shelves stacked with herbs. There was a small area of the hut for a fire place to boil and grind herbs. The flame under the giant pot filled with herbs was gradually going out. My mother was assigned only one servant, who was also from Uzweta kingdom and could use their dialect to converse very well with queen Latiti. So that other servants from the second queen Mashla and the first queen Naunima will not be able to eavesdrop on their conversation.
My mother had finally fallen into a fitful sleep, her arms still wrapped protectively around me even in her exhaustion.
Deep in the night, at about midnight, I felt the presence of the sacred tree calling to me and drawing me towards it. For a moment I was dazed and began to float towards it, no one could see the tree, except me.
I thought I had been disconnected from it due to how I ended up here, but I was wrong. I placed my hand on the tree and felt it power flowing through me. The tree had produce it fruit for me. It was the power the gods had chosen for my new body, the gift of foresight. But then a realization dawned on me, high above, Shonima and Aadara were waiting. They were waiting for me to use my gifts to activate the sacred tree full potentials. They wanted to see the glow of their puppet so they could begin pulling the strings again.
No! I jolted at the realization of this!
I gathered all my strength and pulled away from the tree. I refused to unify with it and that meant I did not embrace the powers it offered me.
The light faded and my consciousness faded back to my tiny new body. To any god or man looking at me, I was nothing more than a sickly, dying infant. I will not change my fate, I will adapt and make the most of this opportunity I have found.
Of course I knew without the sacred tree my body would eventually fade, but I would endure it till the end.
I will not be your weapon, I stared into the roof.
And then looked into my mother's beautiful, tired face. She was the only person in this rotting empire who genuinely cared for me. I will endure the servants' scraps and the king's scorn. I will not embrace my divine abilities until I have succeeded in fooling Shoima, until then, no one must know I am a god.