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‘Bring his head’ someone shouted as she turned, reminding her that her job wasn’t completed until she presented his head as her trophy. She motioned towards where the sword was and picked it up. Then she went back to Marvin’s lifeless body and detached his head in few seconds.
She held it in palm, stretching it far away from her body as blood dropped to the floor from it. She looked around again for a second at all the Zonal Lords seated, then her eyes met with Vladimir. His eyes was full of expectations for her to do the last thing required to announce her victory before she came out to present her opponent’s head as a trophy. She took in a deep breath and closed her eyes as she raised the head up in display. The bell rang to signify the final victory.
There was a loud chant and round of applause from the young upcoming assassins. Even though most of them could not tell who won the battle, it was their custom to chant whenever a winner emerged from the bloodbath. The Lords present also chanted, especially the males. Vladimir, the zonal Lord’s shout was the loudest amongst them all. He rose up to welcome her as she proceeded towards the gate of the cage, one of the Nefary servants unlocked it before she got there.

She stepped out of the cage and proceeded towards Vladimir, a servant stood beside Vladimir with a tray to collect the head. She placed the head in the tray and stood behind Vladimir’s table, staring up straight into his eyes and waiting for his commendation.
‘You truly deserved the nickname Tarasha, ‘ Vladimir praised in his rough Russian accent. ‘I’m sure the name would be bequeathed to you when you finally get to be under the supervision of Mother Tarasha and you’ll be crowned as one of the queens, I’m sure you’ll be the one to take over from her when she dies.’
‘She’s still too young, we can’t say that yet.’ another zonal Lord seated close to Vladimir countered.
Vladimir flashed a quick look at him and smiled. Every zonal Lord spoke well of the machines in his own zone and didn’t hide their envy when they see one doing well from another zone. He sat back on the seat and dismissed Tara. Tara’s Tent Lord walked up to her and led her out of the Hardness Hall.
‘She has passed her second test of dead emotions,’ another zonal Lord seated at the left end of the long table said to Vladimir. ‘When are you showing her to Mother Tarasha?’

Vladimir flashed a quick look at him, he looked surprised at his colleague’s question. ‘That would be killing her,’ Vladimir began in defense. ‘She’s not ready yet, she still has lots of training to do and tests to pass.’

‘Then why exactly have you named her the Mother’s name when you know she’s not worthy yet?’ the first zonal Lord who countered Vladimir joined in.
‘I didn’t name her by the mother’s name, I only said she deserved the nickname.’ Vladimir argued.
‘That alone is equal to treason against the Clan,’ the zonal Lord shot back.
‘I have not in anyway said anything that…’ Vladimir tried to defend himself but someone interrupted. Vladimir knew he was wrong but he wasn’t the only one guilty of the crime. Other Lords from time to time also boasts and compares their machines to the Mother and even sometimes compare the males to the God of the Clan. He knew it was clear that Tara was doing too well for her age and other Lords were not too happy about it.
‘These machines aren’t ours and we shouldn’t let them cause rifts between us, they all belong to god Nefary.’ a zonal Lord seated at the center of the table cut Vladimir short. ‘We still have more battles for today which won’t happen if we stay here and argue about that tiny insect,’ he added, referring to Tara as the tiny insect. ‘Let the next battle begin,’ he ordered.
Vladimir and the other Zonal Lord shot cold looks at each other before facing the battle cage. Vladimir knew the danger he was in if the Queen gets to hear that she was compared with an unworthy machine . The other Zonal Lord was envious because he wanted a machine from his zone to emerge as the next junior queen which will also lead to promotion for him to the position of the Sub regional Lord which increases his chances of becoming a King or God of the Clan later in future. The King of the Clan usually emerges from the regional Lords which is the position senior to the Sub Regional Lord in the Nefary hierarchy. The Zonal Lords are subject to a Sub Regional Lord while Sub Regional Lords are subjected to Regional Lords. Being only two Regions in Clan, they had only two Regional Lords. A new King emerges after the death of King by a war between the two Regions, involving every Lord under that Region except the Tent Lords. The Tent Lords, trainees and servants are excluded from the war. The winning Regional Lord emerges the new King after the death of the opponent Regional Lord and the regions are restructured.


Three months later
‘Tara, Tara…’ Omotara was asleep when she heard the gruff voice of her Tent Lord calling unto her. Sleepily, she rose from the bed and searched around the place for something with the aid of the very dim light provided, she found the short wrapper beside the girl who slept beside her and picked it up. She wrapped it around her waist to cover her loose undergarment as she proceeded towards the door.
She walked out of the tent to meet the Tent Lord waiting outside with two other men, all three of them were holding long wooden lamps lit up with burning fires at the edges.
‘You follow these men now, the Mother Queen needs your attention.’ the Tent Lord said to her in a trembling tone.
She stared at the men’s faces for a second and then at her Tent’s Lord, the look she got on his face made her turn back to the men immediately and step forward to them in obedience. They gestured for her to move forward while they followed behind with their lamps.


Tarasha continued without uttering a word, though she could sense that there was trouble in the air. At the same time, she had a feeling of excitement because the Mother Queen had called for her attention. Several stories have the girls been told about the Mother Queen and most of them admired and adored her even without seeing her yet. It became the dream of most of the girls to graduate into the stage where they would receive lessons from the Mother Queen herself. Now Tara was getting it at this midnight but for unknown reasons.