Strength of a mother

'There we have the right star of Lyra and right there is the big dipper.' Lydia pointed to the night sky showing the constellations to her baby as she rocked her in the crock of her arm, they were both staring at the stars. Lydia smiled down at her baby and cooed at her, they both stayed outside till the cold air chased them indoors.

Lydia sang to her baby and danced with her, the laughter and cooing in their little cabin filled the entire house. When it was time to eat, Lydia sat down on her favourite cane chair and breastfed her baby 'Deola, my baby. hmmm hmmm, i'll protect you from everyone okay? No one will hurt you, I promise.'

After feeding her and rocking her to sleep, Lydia carried Deola to her cot and smiled at her, she turned and left the room. Almost as if a mask had been slipped over her face her entire countenance changed and the charming mother persona was removed. She stalked to the living room with the finesse and grace of a tiger.

Lydia smirked deviously and said to the darkness 'I know you're back there, i can hear you breathe. Come out and face me or get out of my house.' As she spoke three men came out of the shadows and faced her, Lydia smiled sweetly and pouted 'now boys, surely you wouldn't hurt a lonely and helpless mother. Would you?' The men were hefty and rolled their eyes at her attempt to escape, they advanced towards her and cornered her.

The minute the men were in front of her Lydia's sweet smile dropped and a dangerous glint entered her eyes, she punched the first man to her right and smiled when she heard the sickening crunch of his nose. The others were shocked and she used their shock to her advantage, using the man that was busy cradling his bleeding nose as a boost she lifted herself into the air and landed on the man directly in front of her, knocking him off his momentum and bringing him to the ground. The last man had shaken off his shock and was advancing towards her, she waited for him to reach her then grabbed the fist he had attempted to punch her with and twisted his arm.

The men had not anticipated her skill or strength when they had started but now that they knew the extent of her skill they treated the fight, and her, with more seriousness. The first man cleaned his nose and shifted it back to place with a pained groan, he stood from the ground and looked at her. Lydia realized that she couldnt use the element of surprise to her favour anymore and moved to offense, she rushed towards them with controlled anger and started striking the men. For each punch or kick thrown there was an arm or leg deflecting it, the men were heavier than she was but what she lacked in size and weight she made up for in skill and speed so before long she had all men on the ground.

Lydia looked at each of them in the eye trying to determine who the leader was, she knew how their boss operated and by the time she had looked all men in the eye she knew who the leader was 'Tell Bankole or as you like to call him "Banks" that next time he sends people to capture me he should at least send people that will give me more of a challenge. Oh and that next time he tries to come near my daughter I will have more blood on my hand, his included. Now get the hell out of my house.' The men glared at her and left her.

Lydia locked the door and went to her daughter's room, she shifted the floor that the cot rested on and entered a secret room. She sat at the table and the only sound heard were those of her fingers clicking away at the laptop, every security system was back on. On a normal day no one would have been able to enter her compound much less her house, but she had felt bored that day and had left a small corner of her house vulnerable just to have someone to fight. And as expected Bankole did not disappoint, she knew that if her mother heard her calling her father by name she would have knocked her head with the wooden turning spoon but now that she was dead she was probably turning in her grave.

Bankole, her dad, had grown up in Nigeria with a poor family. His ignorant parents had sent him abroad with their neighbour without realizing that they had just given their son up for trafficking. He was taken to Russia where he was sold to a drug lord, he has been unusually bright for a boy his age and the drug lord took him in and taught him the ropes of the job and when he was old enough the drug lord gave him the empire to run.

Unsurprisingly her father had excelled and the empire grew to be one of the largest and most powerful in the world, her dad married one of the Nigerian victims that had been with him when he first came to Russia and they had Lydia. At first Bankole had been disappointed at the fact that his first born wasnt a male but when his wife's womb ruptured and any chance of his having another child was destroyed he threw himself into training Lydia.

Bankole had trained her since she was old enough to walk and had pushed her till she became the best in hand-to-hand combat, weaponry and computer skill. He had had big plans for her which she had never even minded or cared about till she had met the love of her life. They had eloped, gotten married and had a happy life till....

Lydia walked back outside and hugged herself in the cold as she thought of the past, she had only been one month pregnant when her father had had her husband killed and when he had found out that his daughter was pregnant he vowed to take the child and train the child as his own and as a replacement for his disgrace of a daughter. Lydia had also vowed to protect her daughter with every iota of her strength and that was what she had been doing successfully for fifteen months now.

Lydia smiled up at the stars, they had always been her husband's favourite, and whispered 'I'll keep her safe, I promise.'