Her mother, while loving and caring to her children, was the ruthless and cunning, Hayee Hellcat, Queen Ramala. Queen Ramala, with the help of her Butchers, took over of tribal lands, forming her own kingdom, called the House of Ra. Her father, the Butcher Dan the Destroyer, was the womanizing Heathen King of Ra. The King won battles for his Queen, while always finding time for his own personal adventures. Named after her mother, the Ra, Ramala was the first born girl to the King and Queen of Ra. She, along with her sibling, were taught and trained by her mother in survival techniques, as well as Ruling protocol. This was done to insure their survival, in a time of tribal warfare, when most everyone would do whatever it took to become the next Ruling clan. Little Ramala loved the way her mother ordered people around and wanted to do the same. Having to live with some of the most unruly sibling, in the history of siblings, Little Ramala used ruling protocol to help her deal with them. After getting positive results, she quickly used ruling protocol on maids, servants and anyone else she could. Little Ramala was a daddy's girl and was spoiled by her father. Every little girl is a princess in her father's eyes. Living and growing up in a warring society, where she witnessed treachery, deceit, murder and mayhem, young Ramala quickly learned the ways of the world. Using the motley crew of her siblings, along with everything she learned from her mother, young Ramala decided to let everyone know that, after what they did for their Queen, they were expected to do what she wanted, after that. Everyone quickly learned, until she became Queen, she was the Number One Princess.

The Number One Princess

By Robert Davis

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2009 Robert Davis
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4389-9603-5

Chapter One

The Hayee, Ramala was the Queen of the House of Ra. Her cousin Hayee, Tara was her top adviser. Her other cousin the Hayee, Wana was the head of all the military in the House of Ra. Together they were known as the Hayee Hellcats, Rulers of the House of Ra, which was located in central Africa. This story begins as the three Hayee Hellcats, along with their families, were on their way home.

After visiting their grandmother at the House of Hayee and being with her when she passed away, it was very hard on all three of the Hayee Hellcats Tara, Wana and Ramala. They were very sad about the passing of their grandmother the Hayee, Mashaya. It made the trip back to the House of Ra that much harder.

The Hayee, Hellcats Ramala and Tara were able to let their guard down and deal with the passing of their grandmother, but the Hayee, Hellcat Wana couldn't relax. She was commanding a military caravan, while dealing with her emotions over losing her grandmother. Wana didn't let her cousins know it, but she was close to exhaustion from trying to make sure her army was in the right position to protect her family, coupled with the stress of thinking about her grandmother. Dan, the Heathen King of the House of Ra, could see that Wana needed rest, so he offered to run the military so Wana could rest. Even though Dan had made great strides in his military protocol, Wana didn't trust anyone with her life and the lives of her family members, least of all a heathen. That was her job and she knew she was the best at it, even if she was a little worn down. Wana told herself that she wouldn't let herself rest until she got her family back home to the safety of the House of Ra.

Throughout the whole trip back home, Queen Ramala's youngest daughter, Danaaa had been performing for everyone. After the first day of performing, by imitating the sounds of animals, doing fighting moves, jumping, running and flipping and anything else to make everyone stop being sad, Danaaa could see the appreciation on everyone's faces. She took it as her personal mission to keep everyone not looking sad. Danaaa was executing this mission perfectly.

Danaaa started executing her next mission first thing the when next day came. Ramala normally held all of her children to strict protocol when it came to their behavior. She had been a little more lenient on this trip home and Danaaa picked up on that right away. Danaaa had been taking full advantage of it by pushing the limits on what Ramala would let her get away with. After two days of nonstop Danaaa, Ramala thought it time to slow her youngest daughter down.

Danaaa was performing early in the third day of the journey home, just after breakfast. La, Dan and the rest of Ramala's children were sitting back enjoying the show. Ramala wasn't going to stop Danaaa completely. It was keeping her other children calm. She just wanted to slow her down. Ramala said "Danaaa, come sit next to mommy for a little while." Danaaa was in the middle of her performance and didn't want to stop. She was four and a half years old. Danaaa looked at her mother and smiled. She thought that her mother just didn't understand what was going on here. Danaaa was going to help her understand. Danaaa had an unusually loud voice and she couldn't control it's volume. So when Danaaa answered her mother, she yelled "I'm not done yet!"

La snickered, then she and the rest of Ramala's children erupted in laughter. La, which was short for Ramala, was Queen Ramala's oldest daughter. That also made La the Number One Princess. La's two sisters were the Number Two and the Number Three princesses, respectively, even though they were rarely called that. Ramala stared at Danaaa and said in a much more stern voice "I said get over here now!"

Danaaa, just like all of her siblings, knew not to push Ramala too far. Danaaa stared at Ramala with a big smile on her face. That usually worked on Ramala, but it wasn't working this time. Danaaa could see that much. Even though Danaaa would do what Ramala told her to, Danaaa sometimes would say what she was thinking out loud. Something Ramala's other children would never do if they thought it would offend their mother.

Danaaa slowly walked towards Ramala. She looked Ramala in her eyes, then looked away and yelled in her normally loud voice "Why do I have to sit down?!" Ramala stared at Danaaa and quickly said "When mother tells you to do something, do it without questioning me! Do you understand?!"

Just as Danaaa reached Ramala, Danaaa looked Ramala in her eyes and yelled "I wasn't questioning you! I was just asking a question!" Danaaa wasn't being disrespectful on purpose, she just didn't understand. Ramala didn't care. She snatched Danaaa by both her arms and squeezed hard on them. Danaaa winced in pain as she looked in her mother's eyes, wondering why she was receiving some physicality.

Ramala sat Danaaa down hard next to her, still staring at her, saying "Sit here and don't say one more word!" Danaaa was frustrated, confused and angry. She didn't know why her mother would say that. So, Danaaa while not looking directly at Ramala explained yelling "I never say just one word when I talk! I always say more than one word! You know that!"

Dan and all of his children erupted into laughter again, just as Ramala swung at Danaaa. Danaaa instinctively move to a defensive position, causing Ramala's swing to hit her across the shoulder, sending her onto the floor. All of the laughter stopped immediately. Everyone looked to see if Danaaa was alright. She was. Danaaa jumped up and looked at her mother with hurt in her eyes. Danaaa didn't understand why her mother had just hit her. So she asked in her yelling voice "Why do I get hit?!" Ramala stared a dare to Danaaa and said "Are you questioning me again?!"

Danaaa wasn't going to make the same mistake, again. She yelled a different answer "I'm not questioning you, I'm questioning myself!" La snickered for a moment, and then she looked away from Ramala and Danaaa. That distracted Ramala enough to let her think for a moment. After quickly looking at La, Ramala looked back at Danaaa.

Ramala knew her youngest daughter had a problem understanding simple things, but that wasn't always going to get her out of trouble. Ramala said "Sit over here and keep your mouth shut!" Danaaa understood that and wondered why her mother just didn't say that the first time! Danaaa sat next to her mother and looked up at her. Sometimes Danaaa just didn't know what her mother expected her to be doing. Then she looked at her sisters and brothers. They enjoyed every time she got in trouble. They were all amused at Danaaa being punished and it showed on their faces.

Danaaa looked at her father. Even the Daddy, which was what she referred to her father as, was enjoying this. Elder Dan felt Danaaa looking at him and turned towards her. When their eyes met they stared at each other for a moment. These two had been through some battles in the past because of stupid things Danaaa had done, or said. In the end, Dan won all of those battles. Danaaa had a very respectful fear of her father. She knew she couldn't get too far out of line because that's when the Daddy always jumped in and put her in her place. Danaaa looked away then looked back at Dan. She liked looking at her father. Even though she could usually smell where he was without actually looking at him. That was because Danaaa had a unusually keen since of smell. She also remembered he could swing his axes real fast. Danaaa liked that most about her father.

While staring at her father, Danaaa's thought went back to why did she have to sit down? She also didn't like that everyone was amused at her being punished. That wasn't part of the show she was putting on for them. She looked at all of her siblings again before looking up at her mother, then out over the plains. Danaaa promised herself that when her mother let her get up, she was going to make sure her brothers and sisters all got hit, too. That's because she was going to hit them!

After thinking about all of that in less than the two minutes she had been sitting, Danaaa just couldn't take it anymore. To her it seemed like she had been sitting there for hours. Danaaa looked up at Ramala. How long did her mother expect her to sit there?! Danaaa looked around the platform. Thirty more seconds had passed and Danaaa was already twenty seconds past her limit of cooperation.

For Danaaa it was time for action. She stood up and when Ramala turned and looked at her she quickly sat down. Everyone, including La knew that Danaaa wouldn't sit still for much longer after that. La kept peeking at Danaaa and Ramala. She knew another show was about to start once Danaaa stood up again without Ramala's permission.

Ramala's look scared Danaaa into sitting back down. Still, Danaaa noticed that besides that look from her mother, she really didn't get in trouble for standing. She was no worse for the wear. So maybe she could get up and just didn`t know it. Danaaa stood up again, but this time when Ramala stared at her, Danaaa smiled. Ramala said "Did I tell you to get up?" Danaaa kept smiling and yelled "You didn't tell me, yet! I thought maybe you forgot, so I told myself!"

Ramala paused for a second to calm down, then she said "Sit down until I tell you to get up." Not wanting to sit any longer than she had to, Danaaa yelled "When's that going to be?!" Ramala stared a warning to Danaaa, saying "Are you questioning me?" Danaaa stared at Ramala with a confused look on her face for a moment, and then she yelled "You said when I don't understand something, I should ask a question! I'm not questioning you! I'm just asking a question!"

The combination of what Danaaa said and how she yelled it made it hard for Ramala to decide what points she wanted to reinforce with Danaaa at this time. There were just too many! At that point stupid wins over logic and reasoning. Ramala knew it would take most of the day explaining, then getting frustrated and still not getting through to Danaaa. She just didn't have the energy to go through that torture so soon after loosing her grandmother. Ramala said "Go over there and play quietly, or I'm going to make you sit right here next to me, until night comes."

Danaaa didn't have to be told twice. She was going to be good. She knew it was a long time before night would come. Danaaa turned towards her siblings and smiled. Danaaa was excited again. Just that quickly she forgot about everything that had just happened. She was about to start the show again.

La had been watching the entire time. It shocked La, as it always did, when Danaaa seemingly got away with murder, when it came to their mother. That's when the show ended for La. La looked at Danaaa and ordered her before she got started "Baby, get over here, lay down next to me and Shaya! And don`t start talking!"

La and Shaya, the second oldest Ra sister, always called Danaaa, Baby. Danaaa looked at La only for a second before she walked over to La and got comfortable between La and Shaya. She fell asleep shortly after that.

Of course, Ramala saw all this and was dumbfounded. Ramala had seen this many times before, but it still always surprised her that La could tell Danaaa to do things and Danaaa would do it without question and with very little paused. Ramala wasn't going to waste time on that now. She needed rest. Ramala was going to wait until they got home. She would deal better with Danaaa then. Ramala was going to put Danaaa through all types of hellish training when they got home. All to prove who was in charge. Ramala was sure that would put Danaaa right in line. Danaaa was going to learn to do what mother said, even quicker than she did for La. Ramala smiled to herself. She was going to put Danaaa through hell everyday, until she learned that lesson. Ramala didn't know it, but what Ramala called hell, Danaaa called home.

It was evening when the Ra caravan moved into the main gate of the city. It had been a long journey and everyone was glad to be back home. Wana made Ramala, Tara and their children wait with the caravan, while her Elite guards, along with the Butchers did a security sweep through all three palaces, as well as the other important areas of the city.

After the security sweep was complete, Wana allowed Ramala and Tara to take their children into their palaces. All of the children were sleep and some had to be carried into the palaces. Elder Dan made all three of his sons young Dan, Don and Ram walk, even though they were half sleep. Ramala gave a look of disapproval to Dan, while she carried the very healthy, but sleep Danaaa in her arms. Even though Ramala didn't understand why her sons had to walk while they were half sleep, she let Dan handle his sons as he saw fit, as long as it didn't conflict with her parenting.

Dan wasn't as hard on his girls as he was on his boys. He didn't want his boys to become complacent. They needed to be aware of their surroundings. Dan carried La because whenever he was home from warring, she demanded that he spoil her. So that's what Dan did. La wouldn't let anyone else carry her, besides her father. La would sleep walk like her brothers were doing if Dan wasn't around to carry her. Shaya didn't care who carried her when she was sleep, just as long as they didn't try to wake her and she didn't have to walk.

Once Young Dan was awake he knew his father expected him to act like he was alert and watching everything that was going on around him. This wasn't the first time Young Dan had been through this drill. So he watched his younger brothers bump into walls, chairs and other objects, until they got to their room. Young Dan hadn't bumped into anything. He looked up at his father for some look of approval for a job well done. Elder Dan looked at his son when he noticed young Dan looking at him. It was a look, but Young Dan couldn't figure out if the look his father was giving him was a look of slight approval, or the look of he could have done better.

Young Dan only thought about that for a moment. He was tired and wanted to sleep. So, after lowering his head out of respect to both his parents and giving Ramala a kiss, Dan went to sleep. Don and Ram got into bed and were both sleep almost immediately. Ramala and Dan went to the girl's room to put them to bed. La wouldn't sleep peacefully, if she didn't see her father before she went to bed. Ramala put Shaya and Danaaa in the same bed with La. She always put Danaaa between her two sisters. This would alert Ramala when Danaaa got out of bed, because Danaaa couldn't get out of bed without awakening at least one of her sisters.

Once all three were in bed, Dan gave them all a kiss on the cheek. La was always the last to get her kiss. She would always smile at her mother, and then give Dan the biggest smile he had ever seen. After that, she closed her eyes and went to sleep with that same smile on her face. Ramala looked at Dan and then looked at her daughters. Watching her children sleep was a special time for Ramala. And even though Dan would barely admit it to himself, it was special for him, too.

The next morning Danaaa woke up first as she usually did. She slowly looked at La, then at Shaya. They both were deep in sleep. Danaaa turned and stared at La for a moment, and then she got an idea. She thought it would be so funny if she put her foot on La's face. Danaaa was very mischievous and would do things like this all of the time. Danaaa moved slowly and cautiously positioned herself. Once she did that, Danaaa slowly put her foot on La's face just under La's nose, rubbing it lightly across La's cheek.

La wasn't a light sleeper, but she could tell something wasn't quite right. La, still half sleep, brushed her hand across her face to clear whatever it was that had disturbed her. Just before La's hand got to her face, Danaaa lifted her foot out of the way. La shifted her body to get comfortable and was instantly sleep again. Danaaa was watching La closely the whole time. Danaaa was tickled that she had gotten away with what she had done. It was so much fun to Danaaa that she was going to do it again without getting caught. Danaaa slowly lifted her leg and this time she rubbed her big toe just under La's nose, above her lip, again.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from The Number One Princessby Robert Davis Copyright © 2009 by Robert Davis. Excerpted by permission.
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