Chapter Thirty-Seven: Retribution!

It had been four months and two weeks since Rabbeh broke the sad news to Fantah and Talatu of Hayah’s death. The Mai might have been a backstabbing, deceitful man, but his love for Hayah was genuine. Many years of dealing with several dishonest, power-hungry men, ready to kill even their own mothers to get what they wanted, and men who would not have hesitated to stab him in the back the very instant he turned his back from them, might have also altered the man’s true personality. But Hayah was not like that. He was the noblest man he had ever met. He was honest to a fault. He was loyal and trustworthy, and Rabbeh did really consider him a friend. In fact, the only true friend he had ever had in his life. That was why his death hurt him so much. He arranged for Hayah’s body to be brought back to Dikwa and gave him a proper burial alongside his fallen men and vowed to avenge him on his errant son. He also allowed Fantah, Talatu, and her children to mourn Hayah in the palace for four months and ten days as prescribed in Islam for a woman to mourn her husband. At the end of the mourning period, Fantah decided she would go to Rabbeh to thank him for his kindness and then informed him she would be going back to Ndokula. She was not sure her family would still be there or if they had moved on, but she missed them and longed to go back home. Her father was right; Hayah was bad news for her. Even though she loved him and he loved her, being with him had brought nothing but bad luck to her. Their whole relationship had been a series of misfortunes for her. They never truly enjoyed long spells of happiness together. She held on to the misplaced hope that one day it would get better, but it never did and now he was dead. She didn’t even have a child to remember him by. The thought brought tears to her eyes.

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