All Chapters of MORE THAN A MAN: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

   After bathing and turning a little cleaner, Penelope wandered close to the crowd, wondering why people was there until she started to hear the new prime minister, General Cain booming voice. "These children will no longer be on the street. I will create a safe place where they will be given work and earn their way to food and shelter to stay." The man continues as people cheered but Penelope shook her head. Hope, that was what this man is selling, nothing else, it would be a miracle if he does deliver on his promises but maybe she was just the one who was being unnecessarily bitter. She had lost hope a while ago and she doesn't plan on getting it back anytime soon, not when it means that she would open herself to be hurt by others.  "For the plans to be in motion, it will take some t

    Penelope stared at the man in silence while the man stared back at her.   She licked her lips nervously as she lets out. "When did you know?"  "When I grabbed your wrist." The man replied. "What on earth would possess a lady to go through such an unscrupulous scheme? What will your parents say? They must be sick with worry and even if you are an orphan, what will your relatives think? Females are not meant to roam and sleep in streets, they are always taken care of…" Vallas rants filling the room with his anger, maybe one of the reasons why this hits too close to his feelings was because the girl he was supposed to get married to do something of this sort in a bid to escape getting married to a warrior. She was found out as a girl while escaping and was killed in the worse nightmare availab

 The next morning, Penn was awake, dressed and ready to take on the world when her door opened with a bang.  "Good, you are awake." A taller buffer boy strode into the room without knocking. "My name is Stanley and I am going to show you around today." Without acknowledging the presence in the room, Penn continued with putting her new shoes on. She would need to see Vallas later so they can make plans about how they would go about achieving her mission. "Hey." The tone of the boy, Stanley turns sharp. "You have no right to ignore me." "Get Out." Penn said instead. "Excuse me?" the boy questioned.  "Go out. Close

 Penn opened the door to the meal hall which suddenly went quiet as she entered but the silence didn't unfazed her, instead she took wide strides to the man table where she sat down besides Vallas and opened the dishes before her. Vallas continued his conversation with his trainers while Penn listened with half attention. It was a while after that before conversations resumes it flow in the room.Penn started to pay attention when she heard her name from Vallas in passing words. "…will need Weapons training and a training in subterfuge and in Lessons on behavior."At the last words, Penn snorted and when Vallas looked at her, she asked. "What am I? a girl? Why do I need lessons as if I am going to be wooing suitors?"Vallas removed his eyes from Penn own because he knew the exact questions Penn was asking. "That attitude of yours is one of the reasons why you need those lessons."

  Since Penn agreed to ignore the actions of Stanley, Rima had been lost in thoughts. Penn was a better man that Stanley was. He was kind, considerate and loyal to those he cared about, all qualities she was looking for in a husband. And it also helped that Penn was easy on the eyes. His beauty rivals hers and she was the girl. His brown mop of hair he never bothers to care about, framed his face in unruly cuts, something she had learnt that he did himself with a sharp knife. His face although it was shaped like a woman, there was nothing womanly about Penn. His eyes were hard, that of a man who had seen things in life. Enough things to haunt him but he refused to let them get to him, Penn spirit shone bravely from his eyes. His nose was a little crooked from being broken multiple times but they added to his appeal.  His body was a bit on the slim side…not racking up muscles like other boys but he was muscular enoug