In a faraway land to the north where everything is icy and cold, there was a kingdom named Kohago. In that kingdom, there lived a poor man and his pregnant wife. They had a small shelter but were very content with what they had. Drogo couldn’t afford expensive food and clean water, so he only gave his wife meat from the beast he hurt down, and the blood of a crying fish that had pure water has its own blood. Drogo was able to survive all this hard time because he was a very skilled hunter, which earned him respect in the kingdom.
Months later, Drogo's wife was put to bed, but there was something strange about the child. His eyes was widely opened; he didn’t cry or make any sound. At first, the child-bearers thought the child was dead but found him breathing and running his eyes through the room where he was born. The story about his birth spread around the kingdom, which made many people come to Drogo House to congratulate him.
Drogo knew they did not come out of their good will to congratulate him but to confirm the gossip they heard, so Drogo hid his son inside the room whenever people came to congratulate him.
7 years had passed, and Khaki, Drogo son, grew so fast that people would think he was an adult. He always followed his father in hunting and exceeded his father in all hunting skills. Drogo was proud of his son and yet worried because, since the birth of Khaki, he had never smiled, cried, laughed, or shown any form of emotion. This made the elderly people of the kingdom scared of him and tag him as a demon child. The gossip about Khaki never eluded Drogo's ears, and he wondered if his son was okay, but Khaki never showed any sign of resentment towards the people of the kingdom.
When Khaki turned 17 years old, the queen was struck by a dreadful disease that the physicians had ever seen in the kingdom. The king invited all physicians in the kingdom to come check on the queen and promise a lot of treasures for whoever heals her. They all came but couldn’t do anything, all but one. Raphael, the oldest and most forgotten physician. He told the king about a flower that could cure any disease, even the one affecting the queen.
The king sent out for all the hunters in the kingdom to help him get the precious flower, but they all refused because it was in the western region, which was known to be inhabited by vicious beasts. Hunters who went never came back alive, and the ones that did, did not have a complete body parts.
After 3 days of searching for an hunter, Khaki nominated himself, and to his surprise, the princess was also determined to embark on the journey too. In a closed door, the king begged the princess not to go, but she refused and insisted she would go. On the day of departure, she joined Khaki, and they left the kingdom with all the good wishes from the king.
Khaki was not found by anyone except his parents, so he find it hard to respond to all the unending questions from the princess. She was playful, and to him, she took the mission as a joke. One night when they were together, the princess was in her tent crying and making some noise, which Khaki felt would attract dangerous beasts, so he went to her tent to see what was wrong. As soon as the princess saw him, she wiped her eyes and asked him what he wanted, but he replied, "Never mind." Then the princess spoke.
"I don’t want my mother to die; please help her find the flower and save her life. She is my world and the real treasure that I possess."
Khaki nodded his head and went out. One month has passed, and finally they have gotten to the western region. After searching for a week, they found the flower, but it was in the cave of the firewolve beast. Khaki told the princess he would lure the firewolve away while she ran into the cave to get the flower, to which they agreed. Khaki walked towards the entrance of the cave and observed that the firewolve was sleeping. He tried to tiptoe into the cave and saw that the firewolve had two baby wolves with her. As he tried to get the flower, the firewolve woke up, and he took off immediately. The firewolf ran after him.
As he was running, he was screaming, "Don’t go into the cave." He was screaming so loudly that the entire forest could hear him, but the princess was eager to save her mother, so she ran in and met two wild wolves. They pound on her, but she fought her way through since they were babies. She took the flower and ran away, but with a lot of injuries. Khaki stood his ground against the mother firewolve and fought her until she ran away. He then went to search for the princess. He searched and screamed her name, not minding if another beast found him.
Luckily for him, he found her by the riverside with a lot of bite marks on her body. He rushed towards her and tried to help her, but she had no strength to support herself. He made a tent there and tried attending to her wound, but he was no physician and knew not what to do. The princess brought out the flower and gave it to him. He offered to use it on her, but she refused. The more he watched her, the more she became weak, so he took her in his arms and hugged her. She said to him, "I never thought I would find another person I would love the same way I love my mother, but now I’m in the arms of the man I love."
Khaki said to her, "You are the treasure that I seek; you were close to me yet I did not know; the love that I sought for many years was right beside me yet I couldn’t feel it. I thought it was an everlasting love, but it hurts to see my found treasure go" and at that point, her hands dropped.
"Wake up, wake up, please wake up" Khaki cried for the first time and gave such a loud, vicious scream that even the beast in the forest became scared.
The following morning, he buried the princess, took the flower back to the kingdom, presented it to the king, and told them his story. It was recorded that day to be the day treasures were found and lost.
The writing vividly depicts the fantastical setting and characters. I'm drawn into this icy kingdom and invested in Khaki and the princess's journey. Keep writing.
Thanks for this lovely comment
I sure will 😊
Hahaha. What love can do ehn 😀😀 True love changes everything. I wonder what kind of being was Khaki when he didn't laugh, smiled, cry not feel any emotion but at the sight of losing the one he loved, he cried. Lol
What an interesting story.
Thanks princess, probably it was what his mother took when she was pregnant that made him like that
No matter how hard I tried not to think about the possibility of the princess dying, it still played out like so. I wish she lived to see her mother well and also enjoy a love life.
Well done.
Well, what’s a love story without little tragedy 🎭
I also wished same for her too
I wonder if khaki will be alright
A tragic love story emerges from an imaginative fantastical quest to save the queen. The death of the princess took me by surprise - but it was in her death that young Khaki's emotions are finally awakened as he realises that he has grown to love her. A simple edit and spellcheck would have elevated the presentation of this piece as there were some easy to catch grammatical errors. It is always worth doing these worthwhile administrative activities before publishing.
Thank you for writing in The Ink Well.
Thanks for the advise
I’m glad the story was a good piece
I did check for the error but I guess I missed them
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Make your comment more elaborate 😭😭😭
You no see how I Dey comment for your own
That’s how you create engagement
Hope that’s not what you have been going around typing in people comment 😭😭😭
Hahaha 😂
Why are you talking and crying? 🤣🤣🤣
You sef check the comment na
😭😭😭
(Nice one)
What’s that
😂😂😂 let me not say anything