Chapter 10
"Listen, there are waters
Hidden from us
In the maze we find them still
We'll take you to them
You take your young ones
May they take their own in turn
But by our lives be we spirit
And by our hearts be we women
And by our eyes be we open
And by our hands be we whole…"
Sweet Honey in the Rock – "Testimony"
N'Jadaka guided the hover bike above the stern, placed it in neutral, and helped Yani climb down safely onto the houseboat. Afterward, he jetted up toward one of the stinger aircrafts above them and gave a final instruction to their security detail. He returned and parked the bike in its rack and covered it with a pale blue tarp. Yani already had a glass of the Chilza's white wine and finished off the last of it. It was a strong batch and she already looked intoxicated.
She followed him to the upper deck to watch him program their next destination. They cruised downriver, and where the split in the river came that led to Umbono Lake, Yani patted his hand.
"How about we go see Warrior Falls first and then loop back around to the lake?"
"We can't switch up now."
"Why not?"
"Well, I pre-arranged to have the lake closed off to the public so we could have it for a week to ourselves. If we go to Warrior Falls first, we'll have to share the lake with too many citizens on the return, and we won't have any privacy. Okoye won't like that. Too many variables again."
"You're the king and I'm the queen. We can just switch the schedule."
"Baby, it took a lot for me to get these dates of closure for us in secret. We'll see the Falls in a week."
Yani chewed on her bottom lip and her eyes darted toward the water.
"What's the matter? Why do you want to go there sooner?"
"I just heard so much about it from the Chilzas that it got me excited about getting there faster."
"There's no need to rush. All in due time. Besides, we have a lot of fishing to do, and snorkeling. We can go diving in the cove…"
Something was wrong. Her tipsiness didn't hide a tension in her voice and in her body. Yani was worried about something.
"You're right," she said while spinning around and using the steps back down from the engine room. "So much to see and I'm rushing it."
She stopped near the covered hoverbike.
"You know what I'd like you to do while we're on the lake?" she said.
"What?"
"Teach me to ride this on my own. I've ridden motorcycles and Jet Skis back home, and I need to know how to enjoy this by myself. My goal is to learn how to do something new before I go back to Zana. I'll ride the hoverbike solo…I'll fish for the first time. Imagine me living on an island growing up and never picking up a fishing pole! I'll bake yam cornbread the way Umama does and so much more."
Something was definitely wrong. The hoverbike frightened her with any thought of using it on her own. She rode on them with him because he was so good at it. But by herself in the sky?
"I thought solo riding on the hoverbike scared you."
She waved her hand and patted the covered transport.
"Ekuqaleni made me feel brave, like I can do anything because I witnessed the magic of that place. In fact, I want to learn how to fly the Royal Talon Fighter just like you. A queen of Wakanda should be able to do what the king does…in fact…maybe I should be the Black Panther since you are the Golden Jaguar!"
She twirled around and giggled, plopping down on a plush deck chair that overlooked the tranquil river. He smiled. She was definitely lit from the wine. Whatever tension he sensed in her voice and body went away as she gazed at the water.
"One thing at a time. We'll start with the hoverbike," he said.
She clapped her hands and lifted the bottle of wine from the table next to her seat.
"Finish this off, I'm going to get another bottle of champagne that's been chilling and make us mimosas!"
She scurried off with a little skip in her steps.
He grinned and surveyed the landscape. Cloud coverage rolled in on the balmy weather and that would be good for their fishing. The light rain would knock insects into the water and on overcast days, fish tended to cruise more for food. His mouth already watered at the thought of catching fresh chambo and grilling it up with a seafood gravy on top. Their galley had a supply of the best cuts of meat and plenty of seasonal vegetables to create all sorts of gourmet meals.
Yani returned with champagne flutes filled with a blood-orange mimosas. She handed him one and they toasted.
"Slow down with the drinking, we'll be fishing soon. I can't have you stabbing your fingers on the hook with our bait," he said.
"Look who's talking? With that big drink in your hand."
"You had more than me already."
She sipped her drink and he enjoyed the taste of his. He downed it quickly and she unfastened her wrap-around dress. Totally naked underneath, she pranced around for him before settling onto the plush seating again.
He put down his glass and dropped to his knees, pushing her legs apart. Yani laughed and pretended to try and get away, but she rested her head back and parted those thick thighs for him. He wiggled out of his trunks and lifted a pillow from the seating and placed it in front of Yani to protect his knees. Dropping down in a comfortable position, he kissed all over her vulva and licked each one of her piercings with an artful tongue. He spelled out his Wakandan name on her clit with just the tip, and his wife let out a passionate moan. Yani stroked his hair and kept eye contact with him.
He pressed his lips against her inner labia and hummed, allowing the vibration to flow across his beard too. Yani was wet and puffy in her tender parts. He wouldn't push for penetrative sex to give her body a rest. They fucked so much in Ekuqaleni that even he had to slather his dick with a rejuvenating lubricant from all the friction that went across it. Facing her vulva, he looked at it like it was an expensive painting, enjoying the color and the way it glistened with her arousal. Yani touched her clit, rubbing it gently while keeping her gaze on his face. He slid his hands up her torso and held her breasts. Her nipples were big and stiff and tweaking them with his fingers caused her opening to throb. Yani's pussy lips always looked so wide open and welcoming. So pretty. He licked around her clit making sure to touch all of her sensitive spots without using his fingers. She locked her knees around his neck and he grabbed them, wrestling with her thighs to let him push them back onto the seat. He slapped the underside of her rump and Yana shoved his head into her vulva and soaked his beard.
N'Jadaka licked his way up her midsection and sucked on her nipples, taking turns on each one until he gave butterfly kisses along her collarbone. She slid her tongue across his lips to taste the sweetness between her legs. He traced his index finger in soft circles on her clit, mindful of the sensitivity there from their past intimacy. Aligning the head of his dick in front of her opening, he stroked himself while staring at the slick pink that beckoned him to enter her. It took all he had to prevent himself from penetrating her again. He squeezed and rubbed all over his tip, spreading pre-cum all over it. Yani's lips puckered. She kissed her pinky finger and teased it along his slit. He grunted softly and hot streaks spurted, drenching her entrance until he couldn't see the pink anymore. Tilting his dick at another angle, the rest of his cum streaked across her stomach and spilled back into her belly button.
N'Jadaka leaned down and kissed her forehead. Yani lowered her legs and ripped out a loud fart. She started laughing hysterically and N'Jadaka reared back laughing with her.
"At least I didn't fart when you were eating me out!" she cackled.
He waved his hand as the odor reached his nose.
"No more eggs for you this week. That was atrocious," he said.
"No worse than you funking up the bed with your stink bombs after eating up all the plantains last night. Didn't even save me any."
"I did! I tucked them in the fridge with all that candy you bought."
Yani lifted and kissed his cheek.
"Take a shower and then we can break out the fishing poles," he whispered in her ear.
"Don't need a shower," Yani said.
She jumped up from her position and dashed off the back off the boat. Her body dived in the water with a perfect arc.
"Yani! Crazy girl!" he shouted.
The houseboat kept moving away from her and he ran to turn the engine off. They hadn't reached their destination yet. The boat had barely entered the split in the river that led to the lake. Yani swam at the mouth of it.
The houseboat slowed to a halt and N'Jadaka ran back down to check on the position of his wife. Yani tread easily, watching his expression with amusement.
"All clean!" she shouted.
N'Jadaka dived in after her. Yani was an exceptional swimmer, but she had been drinking. He reached her quickly and tugged on her hand to guide her back to the stern. She held onto the ladder attached to the back and pulled herself up. He pushed on her rump to help keep her from falling back. Soaked all over, she shook off her body like a mischievous puppy.
"Be right back," she said.
She traipsed up the stairs that led to the upper deck. He pulled on his shorts and wandered into the galley to grab the container of bloodworms he would use for bait that were stored in a separate fishing cooler. He pulled out their fishing rods and leaned them against the the west side of the boat. Yani returned wearing lime-green shorts and a matching bikini top with yellow topsider slides on. She smothered sunblock on her arms and face.
"Ready," she said.
N'Jadaka opened the container of worms and their moist slithery bodies forced a grimace on Yani's face.
"Watch how I bait mine," he said.
He handed the container to her and she stuck her tongue out and squeezed her eyes shut in an exaggerated fashion.
"Pay attention, silly," he said.
Yani watched him hook the worm at the top of its body and slide it up, then curl it around the hook in two places before stabbing it in the tail, securing it. The worm did a wiggle of its impending death dance and Yani threw a hand over her mouth.
"That is so gross!"
"You want fresh fried chambo with gravy and rice?"
"Yes."
"Okay then, it's your turn," he said.
He took the container from her hand and she stared at the writhing mass of dark red worms.
"Do it for me," she said, hopping up and down.
"Nah, you gotta do it yourself Ma. Like how Grandpop taught me."
Yani whined and reached for a worm.
"Oooh, yuck…oh, it's so gross and squishy!"
"Big baby," he said.
She finally lifted a fat one from the container. N'Jadaka closed the lid on the others and set the container down on the side table near them. He handed her the hook on her rod.
"You are more freaked out by this than when I taught you how to shoot a gun," he said.
"A gun is not a living creature I'm impaling on a…oh yuck, N'Jadaka! It's guts came out…it's all slimy on my hand!"
Yani flicked the hook away from her fingers and jumped around waving her hands about. The hook swung out and N'Jadaka stopped it from piercing his skin where it hit him.
"C'mon girl…you got the first part in."
Yani pressed her lips together into a line and wrapped the wiggly mass twice before stabbing it again with the hook.
"See? It's that easy."
"I have worm guts on my fingers!"
"Take your pole, and watch how I toss my line out," he said, rolling his eyes at her.
He lifted his rod and slid his finger around a bit of line and flipped the reel open, showing her every step.
"Give yourself about two to four feet of line before casting out…see?" he said.
She nodded, keeping her eyes steady on his fingers.
"Step back and just let it go with one fluid motion…"
He cast his line and the worm flew across the water, plopping down in the perfect spot.
"These worms are big and heavy enough to not need extra weights on the line. Try it," he said.
Yani lifted her rod and followed all the steps. She cast out a good line and squealed when she got the hang of it on the first go. She wound the reel handle dragging the line back with the still moving worm and practiced tossing it out a few times.
They reeled back in their lines and rested their rods against the side of the boat.
"Lemme go move the boat into the lake. I don't think we'll do so good in this midway point," he said.
He returned to the engine room and set them back on course manually, easing the houseboat onto Umbono Lake. The fishing map he checked showed him an ideal spot at the entrance of the lake they could try first. There was a small marshland area he wanted to avoid and moved the houseboat further into the lake, heading toward the center. A lake patrolman on a hoverbike zipped past them, clearing out other last minute boats that hadn't gotten the memo that the lake was off limits to the public. N'Jadaka had any and all indicators that their houseboat belonged to the Udakus taken off. Many nobles had boats just as luxurious as theirs but anyone passing by wouldn't know the king and queen of Wakanda were the reason the lake was closed off. Wakandans were very good about keeping their natural environments protected, so it wasn't unusual for lakes and other waterways to be temporarily closed for eco-management tasks. In this case Umbono Lake was rescheduled for an earlier shutdown to accommodate the king's honeymoon and none would be the wiser. It just meant the occasional sighting of a few lake preservationists doing water testing and wildlife management onshore while the Udakus floated in peace.
They anchored a mile away from Umbono Cove. N'Jadaka made sure that all the boat's windows were in tinted mode to ensure their privacy. If Yani wanted to sunbathe nude, there would be no worry about peeping Toms. He joined her carrying an empty white bucket. Yani watched him dip it into the lake and fill it three-fourths full.
"Dump whatever you catch in there," he said.
He brought over two bar stools for them to sit on and they started fishing, keeping their voices low. Above them, the sky was the color of an old penny that had bits of pale green malachite on it. Cloud coverage draped over the lake only letting in streaks of bright light when the sun broke through periodically. The air itself remained muggy, like walking through a never-ending sauna. A bit of a breeze would've helped them not sweat so much. He handed her a cold cider beer and popped one open for himself.
"Bored?" he asked after twenty-five minutes of nothing happening.
"No…I think I see something floating out…there! See it…ooh, something bit my hook!"
Yani jumped off her seat and reeled in her line too soon. Part of her worm was gone.
"What a sneak!" she gasped, staring at him with disappointment.
"You have to let the fish nibble a bit until it actually swallows the hook," he said.
She tossed her half worm back out and fifteen seconds later, her line was dragged deeper in the water.
"Oh, gosh! I got one! I got one N'Jadaka!"
"Bring it in easy…he's hooked on there tight…dassit…slow and easy…"
Yani yanked her catch out of the water and it went flying behind her hitting part of the boat's roof. The fish was a little over seven inches in length with silvery-gray scales. It had a fat and healthy body. N'Jadaka guided Yani in carefully unhooking the fish and she tossed it in the waiting bucket with a proud grin on her lips. He noticed his pole bending from the fishing rod holder mounted on the hull. He reeled in another fat chambo and quickly released it and dumped it next to Yani's bewildered catch. She added fresh bait to her line and he helped her secure sinker weights on it.
"It'll go down deeper and maybe we can catch bigger ones," he said.
He did the same for his pole and they spent a lazy and very serene afternoon fishing. They were able to toss some fish back into the lake because the pickings were good and they didn't have to settle for anything they caught. Within four hours they had amassed a bounty of ten sizeable fish. Five plump chambo, three catfish, and two large Wakandan species of lake salmon. He laid out a fire-proof pad facing the water and proceeded to build a fire inside the portable iron grill/firepit. After placing a protective iron screen over the flames, he joined Yani in the galley to prepare their evening meal. They were both hungry even though they ate huge curried chicken salads for lunch while fishing.
Yani began cooking white rice and started gathering ingredients to make the gravy and vegetables they wanted. He cleaned and filleted all five of the chambo, and wrapped the other fish up to sit in the freezer for another day. Yani handed him fish seasoning after he washed his hands and rinsed the fish again. He sprinkled enough seasoning to make the fish spicy and squeezed lemon on them. Sliced onions, yellow peppers, and oranges were layered around them in a grill basket to add more flavor to the fillets while they cooked.
His task complete, Yani followed him to the grill and lifted the covering for him. They sat around the fire and cooked the fish for about four minutes on each side. Removing the fish and placing the covering back over the grill, they returned to the galley where Yani had a giant skillet on the stove already filled with a simmering gravy of onions, chopped carrots, green peppers, curry spice, and a light fruit chutney. He added the fish and covered them completely in the gravy, letting them sit in the pan simmering for five minutes.
Yani scooped them rice and crispy fried cabbage, and they both salivated when N'Jadaka placed the chambo and gravy over the rice. They ate their fill by the outdoor pit/grill and sipped on white wine. The sun had set and the evening cloud coverage painted the water around them dark and mysterious. It began to sprinkle after their meal, and the air grew cooler. N'Jadaka put out the deck fire and started a new one in the living room section of the boat while Yani cleared their dishes. There were blankets already stacked on the overstuffed couch. They snuggled together with Yani lying on his chest and stared at the flames and also out of the wide windows that let them see the lake in the evening stillness.
Once again, N'Jadaka experienced peace. His wife rested on him. Their bellies were full and they had nowhere to be but with each other. Yani started snoring as a heavier rain poured down outside and he opted for them to stay there and sleep. The couch was wide and soft enough for two and their cozy blankets secured warmth he wanted to enjoy all night. His eyes became drowsy at the pitter patter sounds. A clap of thunder rumbled and lightening lit up the outside for a moment. Yani slept through it and soon enough, he did too.
###
Another crack of thunder woke him up.
The reddish-orange glow of burned down embers in the fireplace gave him the only light in the room. Yani whimpered on his chest, her fist balled up and shoved against her cheek. Still asleep, her eyes moved back and forth under her lids and her body trembled.
"No!" she cried out.
Her body shot up and the glow of the fire made her eyes look feral and frightened.
"No…" she murmured, glancing around.
"Baby, you're okay. Just a nightmare," he said, soothing her trembles with his large hands rubbing her back.
Her eyes wrenched from the dying fire and latched onto his steady gaze.
"What is it? Can you remember what you dreamed about?"
Yani pulled away from him and curled her legs under her backside. She ran a nervous hand over her fade and her fingers shook. He sat up an put an arm around her.
"Yani?"
Her eyes darted back and forth, searching for something and she burst out crying.
"Hold on," he said, leaving her side.
He quickly padded into the galley and grabbed a cup, filling it with room temperature water from a pitcher.
"Here, drink…" he said.
She took the cup and drank all of the water.
"I was in a cave…a cavern of some kind. I could hear water lapping, and there was light on the walls…firelight…and it was hot…so hot. I walked on sand and then it grabbed me, like quicksand and then I felt hands dragging me down…I couldn't…I couldn't get out of it and I could hear voices…and someone was angry with me. There was no one else there, but I could feel an anger pulsing all around me…"
She stood and paced in front of him, wringing her hands and touching her face like she was making sure she was fully awake.
"Yani, sit down. You can calm down better without all the pacing."
She stopped in front of him.
"I don't want to keep secrets from you. I think my dream was a warning."
"A warning of what?"
She cradled is face with her hands.
"I could lie to you…or tell you something important. But if I do, it might wake up…"
She paused, smashing her lips together suddenly.
"It might wake up who, baby? I'm not understanding what's scaring you."
She shook her head and knelt before him, resting her arms on his thighs.
"Bast. Bast scares me because I have to do something important, but I can't say too much because it'll wake her up inside of you."
N'Jadaka did an internal check. Neither Bast nor Ogum stirred.
"Talk to me," he said, stroking her cheek.
Yani shook her head and rose up on her feet. Turning, she let the mild heat of the embers warm her body. She rubbed her arms and then her right hand drifted down to her stomach.
"Yani…come here."
She glanced back at him and slumped to her knees in a dead faint. N'Jadaka rushed forward and gently lifted her from the floor. He placed her on the couch again and checked her pulse with his kimoyo beads. Her breathing returned to that of a deep slumber once more. Whatever bothered her frightened her back into sleep. He pulled the blankets over them both and leaned on his side to watch her. The sun would be up in a few hours.
If he wanted, he could tap in with the gods that rested in his body. However, he chose not to in order to spare his wife more fear. He wanted her to tell him whatever she needed in her own time. His skin cooled with the flush of creeping dread. The look in Yani's eyes told him that she wanted to reveal something immense…something that concerned him. Bad dreams had never affected her like that in the past.
N'Jadaka watched Yani sleep until the sun rose. The vibrating hum of two stinger aircraft patrolling the lake for them went across the boat and he turned off the tint in the windows so that sunlight could awaken his love. Her return to consciousness was slow, but her eyelashes fluttered and she tossed an arm around his waist and burrowed deeper under the blankets.
"Welcome back," he said.
She kissed his chest and he rubbed her shoulder.
"Are you hungry?" he asked.
Yani stretched and peeked over his shoulder.
"What time is it?" she asked.
"Ten."
"You let me sleep in that late?"
"That nightmare you had got you up for a minute. You actually fainted when I was talking to you about it."
"Nightmare?"
"You don't remember?"
She touched her forehead and thought for a minute.
"Maybe all the wine and beer messed me up. I can't remember waking up."
"You were shook up pretty bad, girl. Said your dream was a warning of something."
She nested in the crook of his arm, the nightmare not even registering in the comfort of his closeness.
"I'm hungry, but I don't want to get up yet."
"Still tired?"
"Just not fully awake."
"I'll make us some breakfast and you chill here until I bring it to you. What would you like?"
"Pancakes and chicken sausage…lots of syrup and butter."
"Luckily we have all of that."
He kissed her forehead and left her side, humming to himself as he washed his hands in the galley sink and gathered up the ingredients. The pancake mix was pre-packaged and only required water added to it. He popped sausage patties in a fast-cook oven and had their morning meal prepared in under twenty minutes. Yani sat up on the couch when he entered carrying a tray with their food and orange juice.
"There you go," he said presenting her a full plate with her favorite sliced apples added.
She appeared famished as she cut pieces of her pancakes and dipped them in extra syrup. Her stomach looked bigger after finishing her meal and he teased her about getting chunky already like the old women at the river market encouraged.
He cleared up the dishes and Yani took a shower. She returned when he finished cleaning up wearing a short yellow babydoll house dress. Plopping on the couch, she pulled the blankets back over her shoulders.
"Thought you wanted to learn how to ride the hoverbike," he said.
"I do, but I'm feeling lazy right now. I'll do it later after lunch. No rush."
He nodded and wandered off to wash up and trim his beard. While grooming himself he thought about what he would cook for their lunch and dinner. He liked the idea of doing nothing all morning. A late lunch of shrimp pasta salad and steak stir-fry for dinner seared itself in his brain menu. Their staff made most of their food pre-prepped for easy cooking and he was grateful that he didn't have to do too much for their meals on the boat.
He rubbed his skin down with coffee and cocoa butter and joined his wife on the couch. The air was cool and the perfect weather for blankets and more cuddling. Yani turned on a viewscreen above the fireplace and binged an American comedy series about an elementary school and their humorous teachers. She laughed a lot and he chuckled a few times.
"That's how you were with me," she said, pointing out a lead character's longing looks at his crush.
"No I wasn't."
"You used to stare at me like that when I walked around the compound. You didn't think I saw you, but I did."
"That dude looks thirsty."
"Like you weren't?"
"I was checking you out."
"You were grinding on me by your third day."
"I was not. Fourth maybe…"
Yani reached back and closed his lips with her fingers.
"Stop lying through your mouth."
"You were doing the same thing to me," he said.
"I had to watch you because you were a bad guy. Auntie always warned me about mercs and their sly ways. You could've been a rapist. I was in a vulnerable position all the time around you."
"Nothing was going to happen to you with me around. That still holds true today, Yani."
He lowered his lips to her neck.
"My protector…always," she said.
He kissed the back of her neck and she turned onto her back to see his face. Her lips were soft and inviting as he pressed his mouth against them. She turned back to watch the show and he curled around her, fondling her nipples through her dress. They were taut and poked through the material. He touched and teased, occasionally dozing between four episodes. She unfastened the ties on the top of the dress and he cupped a breast, allowing her to watch the show as he enjoyed the fullness resting in his hand. She pushed her backside into his groin and he lowered his shorts and lifted up her dress to her waist. He sandwiched his hardening dick against her ass, and her cheeks spread accommodating the thickness pushing against her skin with a light friction. Moving slowly, he acted like a horny teenager afraid of being caught and humped on his wife. His warm breath chuffed against the nape of her neck. She kept watching her sitcom and he continued humping and spilling pre-cum on her heavy rump. Yani whispered titillating things to him.
"You like how it feels on your dick?" she crooned.
"Mmhmm…"
"I know you do…it's all big and soft…your dick is so hard against it. If you're a good boy later, I'll let you fuck me nice and slow."
"Yessss, baby…"
He huffed out a rough breath, the pleasurable sensations rippling all across his dick and balls.
"You want to cum in my pussy again?" she said.
He bit her shoulder and groaned from the bottom of his chest. His nutsack throbbed in anticipation. Her voice became breathy and seductive.
"Fill me up with all of your hot cum…you'd like that, huh Daddy?"
He pushed the covers down to look at his dick against her ass. It was already coated with pre-cum and shiny. The slickness reduced the amount of friction he was able to get rubbing against her. Yani's soft sighs aroused him more, and he continued rubbing against her faster, satisfied with the sensation of his hot dick enveloped in the warmth of her ass cheeks. The softness of her breasts pleased him, their round fullness making him feel proud to have her next to him. She was the mother of his children. Would become the mother of another child in time. Her titties would get even bigger, as big as they had been in St. Thomas when he first met her jiggling around in over-sized t-shirts that couldn't hide the twin blessings he now caressed in his hands. Oh how he missed those afternoon sessions of lying in her lap and sucking milk out of her nipples. Her pussy would be so wet afterwards, hot as lava when he pushed deep inside of her. To be with her from start to finish the next time she got pregnant excited him.
He'd heard from married men back in his navy seal days that pregnant sex was something special. They said their wives hormones were in overdrive and they would be horny as fuck after that first trimester. All he could imagine was palming extra big tits and fucking Yani with a baby inside of her. Some of the most intense sex they had was right before he left her in St. Thomas, and she had been pregnant then carrying their son.
Yani gasped as he dropped his hand down to touch her clit. It was slippery from all of the wetness pouring out of her. Her inner labia were wide open and slicker than oil. She turned her head slightly and he met her lips again, their tongues sliding together amidst groans coming from them both. He fingered her clit like he was strumming an upright bass, plucking mewling sounds from her throat. Gripping his dick, he started beating it against her ass, the hardness exciting him as it smacked against all of her lush rump. He wanted to fuck the sense out of her, but would stretch that need for later in the day. They had all the time in the world to fuck as they wished. To tease as they wished. To indulge in their bodies however they wished.
God, she was soft and warm and pliant in his hands. She would do anything for him sexually and that knowledge made him shout as he came all over her ass.
"Fuck…Yani…baby…"
He squeezed his eyes shut as another thick load pushed through his pulsing tip. His balls throbbed so hard. He had more in store for her.
Yani turned toward him with a frown on her face.
"I'm supposed to cum first. That's the rule," she said with a pout curling on her lips afterward.
"Sorry, baby. That ass was too much for me."
"Lick and kiss my pussy to make up for your insolence," she said.
She didn't have to tell him twice. He burrowed his face between her legs, throwing them over his shoulders as he licked pleasure into her. His lips were glazed with her wetness in seconds and he pushed his entire face against her vulva. All of his fondling and slow caresses on her body had her primed and it only took him fifteen seconds get her off. Her legs shot straight out and she yelped his name. He grinned and crawled across her torso, stroking his dick and aiming it at her face.
"All this pipe belongs to you," he gasped.
She cradled his balls and squeezed them gently and he spurt semen all over her face. He dropped back down and kissed her pussy lips, drawing the kisses into a line all down her ass, before tonguing her asshole. She jerked at the sudden penetration and lifted her legs high so he could get all in it. He paid careful attention to the outer nerve endings. The area was puckered tight and he groaned.
"Can I fuck you in your ass?"
She noticed the begging tone and smirked.
"You didn't follow the rules about eating my pussy first before you came, so no….you can't fuck me there."
She was being playful, but he needed to be in her ass. Her body was splayed out on the couch with her dress bunched up in the perfect sexy way showing off wet pussy waiting to be plundered. Two succulent breasts sat there waiting to be bounced from ass fucking. Denying the king of Wakanda what belonged to him? The fuck?
He asked nicely again.
"Can I please fuck you in the ass right now? You lookin' too fine right now for me not to nut in that ass Yani."
She could see that hard meat waving at her between his thighs.
"No."
She reached across the table next to the couch and plucked out a few moist towlettes and wiped off her face and backside, tossing the used ones aside to throw away later.
"Look at this dick," he said.
"Later. I'm planning to give you a nice treat for teaching me how to use the hoverbike safely."
"Whatchu plan on doing?"
Yani rose up and kissed his dick.
"Making you feel real good."
"You can pre-pay me now. Trust… it will be appreciated even more."
She laughed.
"Such a greedy man. I'm going to change clothes and make us sandwiches. Then we can go riding."
"I was going to make us lunch."
"I got it," she said, bouncing away from him in a cheerful mood. She grabbed the used towlettes
"Baby, don't leave me like this. You know my shit ain't like no average dude."
Yani tossed the dirty tissues in a wastebasket near the stairs. They both heard the mechanism inside that incinerated all trash in the blink of an eye. She returned to stand in front of him.
"Greedy," she said in a sultry tone.
She tapped his shoulders, motioning for him to sit down. She knelt before him and tugged on her dress top so that her breasts were fully visible. Lifting them with her hands, she lovingly placed his dick in between them and slowly titty fucked him.
"Fuck yes!"
He spread his legs wide and she nestled in like the pro she was handling his length. Her lips bunched up when he plucked at her nipples.
"Ohhh…bay-bee…big titties all over this dick…shit you got this dick brick hard. Every goddamn time…fuck!"
She stuck her tongue out to tickle his slit when his dick rose up slightly between her cleavage. Yani had some nice big tits that fit nicely against his girth visually, and watching them slide up and down his meat had him panting as the build-up to release crept on him. He stood up to control a premature ejaculation and his nuts hung for her to lick and suck while she looked up at him the way he liked. She was such a good submissive, and that made him her servant for life sexually. He could think he controlled and dominated his woman, but that gorgeous wife on her knees sucking all over his balls and drawing a huge nut out of him again ruled his soul. She had good pussy, a hot nasty mouth, and an asshole that could bend him to her will. Niggas prayed they had a woman like that. Every time she was on her knees sucking him off, he couldn't think of another woman he had fucked who could do it better than she did. Yani was the whole package. She made porn stars look amateur.
"You promise to fuck Daddy good later?"
"Mmhmm," she hummed on his dick.
"Gon' let me nut as much as I want in your ass?"
A loud popping noise came from her lips as she released his dick to answer. She sucked him so sloppy that saliva ran down her chin.
"Yes, Daddy."
"Lemme fuck that tight little pussy too? Oh fuck! I can't wait to cum inside you. Stretch that pussy and nut all night…nasty little bitch. Keep sucking that dick, yesss, just like that. Good little slut…with them big ass titties…"
His voice had gone up an octave. She was twirling her tongue all around the head and teasing his frenulum. He sat back down quickly and forced her to fuck his dick with her tits again. Fuck! She was doing that shit she did where she pretended to not know what she was doing like some innocent virgin. It never failed to work on him because it brought out the beast in him., like he wanted to spank the shit out of her for playing games with him like that because he knew good and well she could turn a nigga out in seconds like she had done to him over and over and over and over….
"Yani!"
His hips bucked and he ejaculated thick ropes on her neck. White cream decorated her breasts too. More spilled out of his slit in a lazy stream that ran down the length of his dick. He lightly slapped her.
"Clean off my dick with your mouth."
She did so meticulously and spoke nasty things that made him moan. He told her how deep he was going to be inside her and how hard he was going to spank her ass while he fucked her. When she finished, he was so ready to pirate her away to their bedroom loft above.
His chest heaved and he let out a long sigh of satisfaction.
"I'll clean myself up…yet again…and get those sandwiches ready," she said.
She switch her ass in a sassy strut away from him.
"I am one luck man," he muttered.
Instead of going into the second bathroom on the upper deck to clean off, N'Jadaka chose to dive off the back of the boat and swim nude. Backstroking with confident strides, he stared up at the overcast sky and wondered what his children were doing. Umbono lake was wide and vast, almost feeling like an ocean except for the mountain that jutted out in the far distance that led to the inaccessible parts of Wakanda by foot or boat. Eyeing the houseboat, he noticed Yani waving at him.
"Come eat!" she shouted across the water.
He butterfly-stroked back to stretch out his back muscles. Yani wore pink shorts and water sneakers with a pink hoodie jacket. They sat at the back of the boat and ate thick turkey sandwiches with cranberry honey mustard dressing.
Her eyes were shiny with excitement as he uncovered one of the four hover bikes the family kept stored on the boat. He showed her the basic controls she was familiar with and had her sit in the front of it while he held onto her from the back. Yani started the bike up and slowly hovered them above the boat and across the water about fifty yards away. She kept the bike about three feet above the water. Like a jet ski on water encountering buoyant force or a battering of waves, Yani became accustomed to her rides buffeted by air turbulence.
"You got it. Go ahead and shift gears and try out a little more speed," he said.
She did well gliding them across the lake at ten miles per hour.
"Go higher," he said, squeezing her waist and giving her confidence at how well she did.
There was a little hiccup with her gear shifting into more height, but the engine didn't sputter as it adjusted. Twenty feet in the air and she was cruising them like she'd driven one her entire life. She practiced going up and down, hovering in one spot and landing on the water, as well as taking off from water. Once she practiced using the cruise control and turning on the protective rain cover and force field features, he hyped her to go even higher. She rose up to thirty feet and no more. They had gone off a far distance from the boat. It was a speck on the horizon from where they floated in the air.
"Ready to try it alone?"
"I think so…"
He dove off the hover bike before she could protest and made a big splash in the water. She stayed in one spot looking down at him.
"Meet you back at the boat. I'll grab one of the other hover bikes and we can check out that rock island over there," he said pointing to an islet a mile away .
She nodded and flew at a snail's pace. When they were halfway back to the boat, she went a little faster…and higher. Happy with her confidence, N'Jadaka picked up his swimming pace. Yani floated next to the boat and waited for him to join her. He grabbed hydration packs and a couple of snack bars from a bin. Handing a pack to Yani, he eventually started his bike and they took off at a slow pace five feet above the water. The sun broke through the clouds and by the time they neared the lake islet, they could finally enjoy the brilliant hue of the pale greenish-blue water sparkling below them.
"You good over there?" he asked.
Yani nodded and they curved around the island to catch a better view. The islet had a few skinny trees on it that followed along the right triangle shape of the gray rocky formation.
"It's so cute," Yani said.
There wasn't a decent flat space to land the bikes for exploration, but there was plenty to see floating above it. He glimpsed a school of yellow fish swimming close to the surface. The king tapped his kimoyo to identify the species.
"We should move the boat over here, those fish are supposed to taste good in a stew."
"I can make some fish soup with them then," Yani said.
They flew across another section of the enormous lake following along the shoreline. Nature's beauty energized them both.
"Race you back," Yani said.
He grinned and took off before she could countdown. Despite the sunlight appearing, another light drizzle fell on them and they both put up the protective covers to keep from getting too wet. Yani caught up to him and he slowed down so she could beat him. He kept their speed below twenty miles per hour and she zipped ahead reaching a speed of thirty. She could now cross hover bike riding off her list of new things to learn.
He fastened both bikes into their travel racks and covered them up. Yani went to use the restroom and he headed up to the loft bedroom and flopped down on the big bed there. He fully embraced every moment of their day. His wife joined him in bed and they snuggled down for a nap.
"I don't know why you were so scared of using the bike. You did great, baby."
"It's the height and I would feel nervous using it in the city," she said.
"Not everyone flies high and you can always go out to the bush or head to the rivers to ride without a lot of people around."
"I guess so."
He rested his head on her chest and she stroked his locs.
"The kids are going to have a blast out here. Can't wait to see them enjoy all that we've had a chance to do," he said.
Yani lifted herself away from the bed and stripped from her clothes.
"Lay back. I want to give you a little taste of what you're going to get later," she said.
N'Jadaka eased himself flat on his back and she squatted above his face in reverse so that she faced his feet. All he could see was her beautiful vulva. So inviting.
She dropped her ass down and smothered his face and he groaned with happiness. She lifted up again and then began a steady bouncing on his face, letting her ass and vulva nearly suffocate him.
"Drop it on me again," he grunted, feeling his dick stretch in size inside his shorts.
Yani gave him what he wanted, riding his face until he nutted in his shorts.
Good boy.
###
Sex was going to be the tool Yani had to use to keep N'Jadaka preoccupied so that she could wear him out for a good night's sleep. All day they stayed active and did things that kept him from focusing on her too closely. That seemed to work and it helped her not to act weird in front of him worrying about plotting her escape to Warrior Falls in time to receive Mama Wati's message.
N'Jadaka was so happy that morning and afternoon. She was also happy that she could maneuver the hover bike safely. It was less difficult to control than she had imagined. She was terrified of heights, and riding a machine that held a lot of power scuttled her nerves for the first hour of N'Jadaka's lessons. Luckily that nervousness covered up the other nervousness of plotting a sneaking away in the middle of the night. She would need at least four hours to reach the Falls by hover bike and perhaps another hour to find the Mama Wati statue. To stay safe, she allotted herself six hours, that meant she had to leave the house boat by midnight.
After their return from hover bike riding, she cleaned herself up and used face-riding her husband to keep him sexually drowsy. Some men just had a thing for a woman with a large derriere slamming it on their faces, and N'Jadaka was no different. Before she dated Chez back at her old home, she had an older boyfriend that liked for her to pound her ass in his face. She didn't know why they found it so pleasurable but she did it for her husband and watched him cum through his swim trunks. So far he had ejaculated four times that day. She would make love to him in his favorite position after feeding him a good supper, and then indulge him in smoking some homegrown weed she grew in a part of the royal garden no one ventured into much.
With his belly full, dick drained, and tucked into bed by ten, he'd nod out for hours. All she needed was a large enough head start before he or Bast realized something was amiss.
Guilt shrouded her mind.
She didn't want to deceive him, but Bast couldn't stop her from doing something to protect N'Jadaka and her children.
Yani sat on a stool as N'Jadaka fixed their dinner of stir-fried steak and fried cream cheese puffs. He prattled on about cooking more in the palace once they returned and she sipped on honey wine listening attentively. Piling steamed rice on her plate she held it up for him to cover it with the steak and veggies cooked in a light teriyaki sauce.
"I think we should attend the West African Summit in November," he said, adding rice to his own plate.
They sat across from each other with the galley's table island between them. Digging into their food, Yani nodded and agreed with him.
"If we go to the summit, will Ramonda attend too?"
"She'll be too busy back in the states."
Yani considered how long the summit would be and made a mental note to organize her social calendar in her personal office for the rest of the year.
"You want more?" he asked, offering up the wok he cooked with still filled with food.
"I'm good," she said.
"There's ice cream and pie for dessert."
"Can't eat another thing."
She helped him clear up dishes and put leftovers away. They wandered outside to look at the sunset. The overcast day had given way to a clear evening that doused the last sun rays in dark blues and a small patch of dark orange that reflected on the water. Yani lit up a joint and shared it with N'Jadaka. She made sure not to inhale deep to prevent smoke from going all the way in her lungs. Getting completely high was not on her agenda to execute her plan. Her husband toked and savored the transition into intoxication. He lowered his head to kiss her and she accepted the affection while holding her internal emotions in check. A high N'Jadaka was a less cognitive functioning one and Yani felt secure in luring him to the bedroom. They undressed on the way up and he kept slapping her ass cheeks as she took the stairs seductively, tooting her backside out for him.
She pushed him onto the bed and crawled up his body, joining their lips for slow kissing. N'Jadaka held her face with both hands.
"You make me so very happy, Yani," he said.
She turned on some music and they cuddled, touching lips every now and then.
"I feel like all we do is eat and sleep…and fool around," he said.
"Heaven," Yani insisted.
"What should we do tomorrow? Snorkeling or hiking around part of the lake collecting mushrooms for our next dinner?" he asked.
"Hiking," she said, answering quickly so that her facial expression wouldn't reveal anything false. If her plan went accordingly, she'd be miles away by the time he woke up.
"Okay…turn that down, I want to listen to the night birds call to each other," he said.
Yani turned off the music and listened for the red-throated loons to sing. There…a distinct yodel and a few tremolos that carried across the wide body of water. The bird song enchanted N'Jadaka and he wrapped his arms around her. He smelled so good, like early summer and fresh cocoa butter. His handsome face loomed above hers.
"Tell me you love me," she said.
"Always…I'll love you always, girl."
He was such a beautiful man. His warmth. His spirit. He saved her from an uncertain life and she had to do the same for him.
She trailed her fingers along the side of his shoulder and up along his neck. Fine ass. Plush lips always ready for kissing her. His nose septum gave him a lethal look. The longer locs were tied up in a knot. His feral eyes were narrow from the weed. Yani opened her legs and played with her clit, tugging on her ring piercing. He watched her fingers swipe over plump folds and he licked his lips. She concentrated on pleasure and pleasing him. He reached down and took over fingering her pussy. Tasting the essence from her on his fingers, N'Jadaka smacked is lips and continued his ministrations on her vulva to illicit heartfelt sighs from her.
His lips twisted in that mean way it did when he was ready to fuck. Her pussy sounded sloppy wet and she already knew it was able to accommodate him with a tight grip. She pushed him back and he sat up against the headboard.
"Let me take care of you, Killmonger," she uttered with a calm sultriness that rendered him docile.
Yani threw her leg over his hips and adjusted her position above his already hard dick. He propped it up for her at an angle to help her slide onto him with the best view of his wide dick head stretching open her entrance. Her inner labia gripped the naturally lubricated tip and she added extra clenching to make him feel the good pussy sliding down his length. His mouth dropped open and he let out a shuddery breath. Winding her hips, she gave her husband a special start to her lovemaking prowess.
"Relax, love. I got this," she whispered in his ear, letting her heavy breasts brush against his chest.
N'Jadaka reached out and gripped her ass cheeks, needing to hold onto something as she went up and down letting him feel all of her love. Leaning forward, she continued whispering sweet words in his ear as he watched her ass bounce.
"Fuck me Yani!"
His eyes rolled back and she rocked his shit, listening to him pant, groan, and plead with her to keep going. She wiggled and arched her back so he could see her breasts knocking together from her efforts. That man loved him some big tits and he gazed at the wonders bouncing in his face. He started sucking on her nipples and she slowed down, giving internal squeezes with her walls that made her man weak. His eyes glazed over full of lust and desire, wanting her to go all night. The weed had him locked under her complete control.
Yani kissed his forehead and rubbed her nose against his as she made love to him. Her husband could no longer speak. He held her against his chest and gazed at her ass cheeks. She leaned back and let her breasts cover his face. The girth of his dick tugged on her clit and the wings of her labia stretched around him. He felt so good. So strong. Powerful inside of her. He made her feel powerful…made her feel like a queen.
Yani threw her head back and rode out the wave of tension that sent tingles up and down her spine. N'Jadaka fondled her breasts with tender hands. She peered down at his face and he studied her every expression, the reverence for her fully apparent.
A change came over his eyes. The potency in the gaze revealed the oncoming of his release.
Not yet.
Yani shifted gears and crawled above his face, squatting down to drown him in the taste of them. He moaned against her flesh and she shivered, thrilling to the sensation of the sound vibrating across her vulva. She slid back down his dick again, giving in to the pull and pressure of his fullness inside of her.
"Cum on my dick, baby…cum for me…." he moaned.
Yani fell apart on his dick and N'Jadaka delighted in witnessing her release. She collapsed on him and he rubbed her back with gentle hands.
"You're so beautiful when you cum," he whispered in her ear.
She moved next to him, lifting a leg and he gripped his dick and guided it into her ass. He huffed and grunted while pushing in slowly, checking to see if she was comfortable with his progress. She held onto a large pillow and he covered her vulva with his hand, needing to feel the warmth there as he took her with purposeful strokes.
"…fucking this ass…feels so good on this dick…" he muttered.
She knew it got real good to him when he began shouting her name again, cursing the sensations tugging on his dick.
"Dammit!"
He lifted her leg and pumped faster, crying out to Bast as his dick swelled and ejaculated a gusher of cum. Yani accepted his orgasm with soft sighs. She reached back and stroked his forehead, reassuring him that she was with him in the moment.
Gasping for air, it took N'Jadaka a few minutes to pull out of her. The girth of his dick appeared to not want to go down any time soon. His reflexes were slower and she helped him detangle himself from a hunched over position that put his full weight on her.
"That was so fucking good…goddamn Yani…goddamn…"
She cuddled onto his hot sweaty chest and listened to his breathing become less erratic. He threw an arm around her and she kissed his lips, cooing his deadly nickname until he fell asleep.
Yani stayed next to him for a couple of hours, listening to the steady breathing and watching the rise and fall of his chest. Checking the time, she had an hour to prepare her departure. She showered on the lower deck and changed into a light hoodie and comfortable hiking pants with light hiking shoes. Grabbing a hydration pack and a few snack bars, she pulled it over her shoulders and then uncovered two hover bikes. She programmed one to go remote from her kimoyo beads. She climbed on the other. Stopping for a moment, she listened for any noise from above. N'Jadaka was comatose.
She rode away from the boat five feet above the water and headed toward the shore. If she stayed low and near the land, the Doras above wouldn't pay much attention there, especially when she dispatched the other hoverbike to go around the perimeter she set as a decoy. They would think the king was out riding late at night as he did in Ekuqaleni. She would make sure the inclement weather covering was up so they couldn't tell right away that no one was actually riding the bike around the lake.
Yani's hands shook when she turned off her tracking bead. She focused on safe riding until she reached shore. There was no full moon and the stars looked dull and bored in the sky. She set the other hover bike loose and watched it float away from the houseboat in the opposite direction. Confident that she programmed it correctly, Yani rode low to the ground under the trees to stay hidden from the Royal Talon Fighter and the stinger aircrafts securing their privacy.
Eventually she had to leave the trees behind and follow the Ibukun River. The further south she went, the rougher the dark water looked churning below. Her travel screen mapped the way to Warrior Falls and she finally turned on the headlights of her bike to illuminate her path. Her hover bike was far enough away to not attract attention. She reached a cruising height of twenty feet and kept her speed just under her comfort level. Her heart rattled so hard in her chest that she seemed on the verge of passing out from fright.
Did humans have the right to thwart the future destined for them?
What if N'Jadaka's parents had the chance to do the same? She might've missed her chance at a life with him. She wouldn't have her son, or Joba. She would never have become a queen. As painful and tragic as that past was, Yani was grateful that she could have her husband. What if her unborn child's future had to happen under Bast's watch? Would she inadvertently prevent that child the happy life she now had as an adult?
Yani slowed down the hover bike and let it float in one place. It wasn't too late to return and slip back into bed next to him. She could let the future unfold as is. Skip the day completely and the oracle would have to lose the message. Blinking away tears in confusion, she tried to calm herself. She had to know. Life could follow infinite paths, but she was in a uniquely divine position. It wouldn't hurt to simply listen. It didn't mean she had to act on whatever was in store for her on the other side of Warrior Falls.
She rode on.
One hour ticked by, and then another. She had to pee but was afraid to stop and relieve herself less someone spotted her and reported her wheareabouts. The Queen of Wakanda was not supposed to be sneaking off in the dead of night riding a hover bike above a mighty river. Yani squirmed in her seat. Her bladder had needs. She scouted a spot on another islet in the middle of the river that could hold her bike. Guiding the bike down, she secured it behind a small grove of trees. Relieving herself, she took time to drink water and stretch her legs. She hopped back on the bike and froze. A patrol ship cruised near the islet. Yani was sure they were searching for her, but she noticed a small fishing boat with an old man and a male teenager inside of it floating near the islet. A patrolman used a bullhorn to scold the two and they quickly pulled up a fishing net.
Illegal fishing.
Yani stayed hidden until the patrol boat took off and the fishermen had paddled away before she rode on. She didn't let down the inclement weather protector because it made her feel like she was driving a small car and not a flying bike. Safer that way. She kicked into going faster and felt the wind resistance buffet her course. Keeping below thirty miles per hour, Yani pointed the bike in the direction she wanted. There was nothing she could do to prevent wind drag, so she pushed on.
Another hour dragged by. Still another.
Fatigue set into her arms and legs, but she persevered. One by one the stars faded away. The angry roar of the giant waterfalls were hard to ignore, and Yani hovered below trying to figure out the proper direction to get past them. Tall like unimaginable giants facing each other in battle, the falls dumped tons of water that crashed into gigantic curtains of glowing white liquid against the last of the darkness. Going around either side of the cliff sides they fell from would eat up a chunk of her time and she would miss the rising sun lighting the way from the statue she hadn't even found yet.
Yani was scared to ride high above and over the falls. She didn't think hover bikes were designed to go that high and it was foolish to risk death testing the bike's limits. The cataract and plunge pool at the bottom of the falls looked too dangerous to fly through, even with the protective shield covering the hover bike completely. Her body was drained from riding all night and her mind couldn't shake the fear of what was beyond the thunder of water.
Keep going.
Her own voice in her head pushed her to move along.
She would see how high the hover bike went.
###
N'Jadaka dreamed he walked through a cavernous room in the palace filled with books containing the history of his people. He was inside the public palace library that housed a magnificent view of Birnin Zana at night. Stars twinkled outside the floor-to-ceiling window and he kept a steady gait moving between shelves stacked with ancient texts. The dream blended into another and he found himself overlooking the Ibukun River at night also. His body felt floaty and out of his control, so he floated in a nebulous cloud of lucidness and a dreamstate.
"N'Jadaka!"
His Wakandan name was spoken with an otherworldly tongue that wasn't human. He turned his head and a tall shadowy figure rose above him, making him seem small and insignificant.
"N'Jadaka…find her…stop her…"
A pressure shifted in his chest and the shadowy figure moved closer to him despite him being unable to make out its features clearly. Upon closer inspection the figure with the disembodied voice was nothing but gray smoky tendrils of dust held together by the will to capture his attention.
"N'Jadaka! STOP HER!"
N'Jadaka gasped out loud and woke up from the sensation of oncoming dread. He reached out next to him.
Yani wasn't there.
He tumbled out of bed with a shaky body and reached for the lights.
"Yani!"
She didn't answer.
He checked his kimoyo. She was nowhere on his tracking app.
"Yani! Baby! Where are you?"
He ran around the houseboat searching for her and checked the lake last. The sky had softened the darkness. The sun would come calling soon.
Yani wasn't taking an early dip in the water. He tapped his kimoyos.
"Okoye…do you see Yani anywhere on the lake?"
He couldn't keep his voice from sounding frantic. His dream still lingered in the corners of his mind and that voice that demanded he look for his wife was Bast. If a god woke you up, something horribly wrong was going on.
"Kumkani, Queen Yani…hold on a second. Security team four has spotted one of your hover bikes, it's heading back your way," Okoye said.
"Thanks, Okoye," he said.
N'Jadaka sighed with relief. She probably wanted to practice more without him so they could ride together later in the day. How she was able to get up at five in the morning after good weed and sex must've been a testament to her youth compared to his. He wanted to crawl back into bed.
Watching the horizon, he spotted the hover bike going along at a good speed. She rode it smooth and he smiled. Tapping his kimoyo again he spoke with a bubbly morning voice.
"Practice makes perfect, huh, baby? How long you been out here?"
He frowned. His kimoyo beads didn't connect to hers and his voice went nowhere. The hover bike zipped past the boat without stopping. He scanned it.
Remote.
She wasn't riding it.
Panic set it in.
"Okoye! Stop that hover bike! Yani isn't riding it. I don't know where she is. Scan this area in a ten mile radius and find her!"
The Royal Talon Fighter shimmered into view five minutes later and used the gravity beam to pull the bike into the aircraft. Stinger ships zipped back and forth across the lake.
"Kumkani, we have widened the search for Queen Yani. She is not within the ten-mile security checkpoint.
"How the fuck did no one see what happened to her? I went to bed with my wife last night and she disappears from under your nose?"
"Kumkani, there appears to be another hover bike missing from your vessel," Okoye said.
The Royal Talon Fighter floated down alongside the houseboat. A ramp was dropped next to it and Okoye ran out with Ayo and Aneka by her side, their spears gripped in their hands.
"No outside intruders broke through our security, and Queen Yani has special clearance to move about freely, so no alarms would alert us to her moving about, kumkani. Perhaps she left on her own?" Ayo suggested.
"Leave? Leave and go where?!" he blasted.
"Kumkani, the hover bike we picked up was pre-programmed to travel around the lake for six hours. The only person who could do that while you were asleep…was the queen. Only your royal codes can be used to run the equipment. I think Queen Yani used one hover bike as a decoy to fool us," Ayo said.
"Fool us for what?"
N'Jadaka took a deep breath and reverted to Killmonger mode. Cool, calm, collected. He paced on the Talon Fighter ramp. Yani had been acting odd the day before, but she was back to her normal self. They had a fantastic day together, made love and made plans to have more fun that morning. Where would she go that would make her program a hover bike to fly around on remote to trick them?
The color on the water changed. Morning had arrived.
He turned and looked toward the mouth of the Ibukun River.
Warrior Falls.
She wanted to go to Warrior Falls.
Bast sent a rush of cool air at the top of his head where she roosted. Her presence was a tremendous pressure on his brain, forcing him to act.
Stop her.
That's what Bast wanted him to do. Stop her from going wherever she snuck off to. His hunch was the Falls. She'd mentioned Bast in her nightmare. Told him in a frightened hysteria that she had to do something that Bast wouldn't like. He'd forgotten about it because the rest of their time had been normal and carefree, as if she never had a nightmare.
"We need to go to Warrior Falls," he said.
He ran back onto the ship still naked as jaybird. In his haste to find Yani, he hadn't bothered to put on clothes. The Doras didn't care. They were used to him being naked at any time when it came to him and his wife traveling or on vacation.
He showered and pulled on a tunic and comfortable pants. When he returned to his Doras they studied his face with questioning looks.
"Warrior Falls, kumkani?" Okoye asked.
"Yani talked about going there first and I denied her from doing so because of the lake schedule. I think she went there in search of something. I don't know what…but my gut is pushing me in that direction. She turned her beads off, so we'll have to search for the hover bike."
Okoye moved to look at the two other bikes. She scanned them with her beads.
"The hover bikes have trackware on them. I've found the code for the one she is riding. As long as it's turned on, we can find her…got it," Okoye said.
She looked at N'Jadaka.
"We'll find her, kumkani. Do not worry," Okoye said.
He followed them into the Royal Talon Fighter.
"Baby, what are you looking for?" he mumbled under his breath.
Bast touched his mind.
Stop her.
###
Yani rode the hover bike back the way she came for one hundred yards, creating space for her to ascend over the waterfall. Her first two attempts had her aborting and almost crashing into a wall of water. She checked her flight control algorithm and the sensory input from the hover bike's A.I. calculated the correct speed and trajectory point for her ascent. The bike's top speed was forty-forty-five miles per hour. She would have to maintain stability the higher she flew, since the falls were practically mountain ranges in her eyes.
One glance over her shoulder varified the direction the sun would raise itself. The sky was lighter than before.
Blowing out a strong gust of air from her mouth, she psyched herself up and shifted gears with her foot and twisted the throttle hard.
"OhGodOhGodOhGod!"
Yani yelled inside the bike covering and aimed the bike up.
Higher and higher she rose until the first sprays of water struck the covering on the front half of the bike, shoving her out of alignment with her trajectory path to fling herself over the top and keep her there. She overcorrected and commanded the A.I. to take over maneuvers for her to reach safety.
"Shit! Shit! Shit!" she yelled as the bike clipped a portion of water wall that had a jagged part of the cliff hidden behind it.
Yani fell fifty feet and the hover bike quickly shifted gears and jetted her like an erratic slingshot over the last section of the falls before falling into the outer edge of the plunge pool. She struck something hard and the hover bike stopped working.
Nothing but angry whitewater touseled her about at the bottom of the falls. The drag of a mean current beneath her threatened to suck her further down, but she ejected her seat. Thrust up at a fast speed, she broke the surface and swam for her life to break free from the plunge pool's powerful drag.
Using the last of strength she had, Yani lunged for the bank along the continuation of the Ibukun River. Gasping and falling onto her back, she shivered from the cold dunking, but thanked God that she was alive. Pain shot through her left wrist. She had smacked it against a boulder under the plunge pool. It was definitely fractured. She awkwardly and with great difficulty took off her hydration pack. Every pack contained a first aid kit and pain killers. She gulped down two pills and her wrist stopped throbbing. It took her a minute to wrap it with synthetic smart bandages that stabilized her wrist and enabled her to keep functioning until she could see another doctor who could do a better assessment at the true damage.
"Fuck," she muttered, noticing she lost one of her hiking shoes. She reached into her pack and pulled out a pair of walking sandals she had tossed in there in case it got too hot on their trip.
Dumping the saved hiking boot on her other foot into her pack, Yani set off to find the oracle once more. She calculated the time from the last time she checked it on the hover bike before it was lost. Forty minutes left to find the statue.
Grateful that the natural trail along the river was flat for the most part, Yani picked up her walking speed and kept an eye out for rocks and other debris. She snacked on a protein bar and drank water from the pack directly. There was supposed to be tributary split heading southeast that would be her signpost that she was headed in the right direction.
The sun began its grand entrance by heralding pastels of soft pink and powdery light blue in the sky first. Yani started running as if she were some desperate vampire seeking shelter before the sun completely showed its face.
She saw the first positive indicator.
A large manta ray statue curved out of the water from its cement base. At least twenty feet high its silvery-black coloring didn't have the chance to show off its grandeur as she hustled by it. She had to find Mama Wati's statue in twenty minutes.
Yani kept her hurt wrist close to her body and listened to the sound of her own pants from all the running she did. Those pants soon turned to ragged exhales of exhaustion. The temperature on her back changed as the warmth from the first rays of light touched her.
Where was it?
Did she miss another turn somewhere that she missed trying to memorize the mapping before the bike went down?
Tears sprung to her eyes and she fell to her knees after curving around a sharp turn that led to a wide pool of water. Yani received her first look at Mama Wati's statue.
It was massive.
The size of two Statue of Liberties stacked on top of each other, Mami Water loomed above the tributary in her seagreen and vibranium blue glory. Manta Ray wings sprouted from her back with a horned crown that matched the color of her seagreen form-fitting dress. Her face was pure Wakandan-birthed glory etched within ebony stone mined from the heart of the River Tribe territory. Her arms were draped at her sides and she looked off into some unknown distance as if she'd been waiting for Yani for thousands of years. Behind her another giant mountain dripped gallons of water from several cracks that fell down its side like joyous tears.
"Show me…please show me the way…" Yani whispered, waiting for the sun to strike the statue. Only Mama Wati could reveal the direction she had to go next.
Sunlight struck the base of Mama Wati's bare feet and inched up her dress minute by minute. Yani kept her eyes glued to the statue, waiting for any directional hint that would lead her to the oracle.
She thanked God that the day was shaping up to be warm and sunny, relishing the increased warmth on her wet clothes and hair. The glint from the statues shine in the sun dazzled Yani's eyes. Mama Wati was maginificent…there! There!
A beam of sunlight struck the center of Mama Wati's crown and a strong ray of light fell at an odd angle toward pale green trees. Yani fretted. The trees were on the other side of the enormous pool. She would have to swim in the water…no!
The light actually struck the side of the mountain rock and hit something shiny and round that bounced the light in a different direction on her side of the pool. Thank goodness! Swimming again was the last thing she wanted to do again in unfamiliar waters.
The light struck another object and Yani headed that way. The light beacon stayed visible for five minutes and disappeared.
"Oh, shit! Shit!"
Yani ran forward faster. Wasn't the light supposed to stay visible until she reached her destination? Even if it wasn't designed to do that, the direction it pointed still wasn't something she could decipher with the density of trees that all looked the same. Had she been too late in getting there?
Fretting and becoming scared that she had failed her family, Yani heard rustling in the trees to her left.
"Who's there?" Yani called out.
She checked for the Mama Wati statue again hoping sunlight would reveal the path again to help her figure out which trees to search for.
More rustling.
She pick up a big chunk of a fallen tree branch and wielded it like a baseball bat hoping to hit a home run.
"I will fuck you up if you try something funny. I'm the Queen of Wakanda!"
Two older men draped in bright forest green robes approached her from behind one of the trees. One was bald and the other had soft white 'fro. The bald man spoke to her.
"Kumkanikazi…forgive us for scaring you. We received the signal from the statue that you had arrived. We've come to fetch you for the oracle. She is waiting for you. Are you alright? Did you hurt yourself?"
His kind eyes stared at her bandaged wrist.
"I had an accident coming over the Falls. It's fine for now. I was so afraid that I had lost the path to the oracle," Yani said.
She exhaled in relief.
"You were on the right path. That light path on her crown was for you and us. It helps you keep going in the direction where we can find you," the bald man said.
"What are your names?"
The bald man smiled.
"I am Uyakhusela, and he is my husband, also named Uyakhusela."
"Your names mean He Protects?" she said.
"Correct," they said together.
"Come Queen Yani, follow us please. The oracle is waiting," Fro man said.
She walked behind them as they passed through trees and traveled further into the base of the mountain. Yani glanced back at the Mama Wati statue. She could only see part of the lower half.
"This way kumkanikazi," Bald man said.
They entered the opening of a cave. Yani stopped walking. Her nerves started to prick up. She could feel a vibration emanating from the cave entrance, a humming in lower decibels that her ears could feel.
"What you are sensing is the birth canal, my queen. You are about to enter the womb of the world. Do not be frightened. Mama Wati would not bring you this far to see harm come to you," Bald man said.
"How many have come here before?" she asked.
"Just you, my queen. The oracle rarely interacts with outsiders. This is why we send emissaries to summon those she wants to see in person out in the world. But this time…this time you will have the special privilege of stepping all the way inside. We will ask you to bathe first and will provide you with something to wear in her presence," Fro man said.
"I'm ready," Yani said.
They entered the opening and the sweltering heat inside felt like a womb. Two young women sat near the entrance with drums between their legs and beat out the rhythm of a heartbeat. The old men led her to the front of three sections of water falling from an opening in the cave roof.
"Beyond these birth waters is the path to your future Queen Yani. We wish for you peace and prosperity," they said in unison.
"Wait, you aren't coming with me?"
"We are not allowed to come with you on this journey. Beyond those waters is a bathing pool. Cleanse yourself and put on the robes left there for you afterward. You will know where to go when you are finished."
"Thank you, Uyakhusela,"
Both men lowered their heads and backed away from her.
Yani took a deep breath and stepped through the birth waters.