Meet Nadjela and her pet leopard Ishaga, two characters from another short sword & sorcery story I have drafted (it is awaiting review and revision now). These are the same characters from my “Woman and Leopard” acrylic painting, but now they have names and a story to go with!

Nadjela is the Crown Princess of Batela, a fictional kingdom in ancient Central Africa that I would say is somewhere within modern Gabon. Before she was born, her father King Mwambi fended off a Roman invasion with an enchanted staff the creator god Nyambe gifted to him, a staff capable of shooting lightning bolts. Thirty years later, the Romans have stolen the staff, and it’s up to Nadjela and Ishaga to infiltrate their coastal fort and retrieve it!