The Baobab Throne

st of forgotten dreams

ld kingdom still whispered beneath ruined stone. Nyambele - once a name sung by gri

that silence, th

-

Years E

n sun, its golden towers rising like spears to the heavens. The people walked proud beneath

he First Tree - said to have been planted by the gods themselves. He was wise, beloved,

ue like sharpened steel. In the king's youth, they had fought side by side. But tim

lt Hills. Koba crushed them. The people praised him. He grew bold, louder than the king

king was weak. That the g

came the

rd was thinned and drums masked the sounds of war, Koba struck. His m

rone was dren

hter. The king was slain with his sword sti

d - the heir

carry the child away. Others say it was a servant girl who

this: by sunrise,

ab Throne rejected him. The roots cracked. The leaves blac

es were burned. Shrines

mana" becam

g old women who remembered, among griots

hild

y, she wou

-

sen

ke with

hed roof of Maama Nia's hut with golden light. Her bod

half. Of blood soaking into the roots of a gre

ng the cold earth. In the east, the baobab stoo

hispered. "The man

ehind her, her vo

t on the throne. But

nd and placed something i

truth," she said. "Come.

s hut was not marked by size or grandeur but by silence. Around his home grew no

she felt the air change. It was he

u Kenga, a man with skin like smoothed ebony and a voice that could hush thunder. His eyes wer

said without greeting. "The lio

had placed in her palm. "What is this? Wh

placed the pendant into his palm. He

he murmured. "This is royal work - done by the arti

confused. "I'm not r

y. "Daughter of Queen Zalika. Born under th

. I-I live here. I fetch

d you wrapped in skycloth, hidden beneath the ashes of a burnt shrine.

seemed

. She tried to speak, but the

ne awaits its true queen, but the path is not yet clear. Befo

the far wall. There, covered in a goatskin

m the same wood a

ill sing again," Kenga said. "And th

window. "You must go t

-

t N

great baobab, pendant in h

She simply prepared a satchel - dried fruit

ove her head. They rustled like

tance, a l

hoed through her chest, as thou

-

In the Ci

mber, eyes closed, fingers tappin

his eyes

again," he said

figure stirred. "Shall

into something that

er. I want her to find me. Only then will I crush

o the window, where t

he whispered. "The last Amana

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