The Legend of Hombarume (Legends Series, #1)

49.

Ever since the infamous ceremony, tensions at the seer's household were at their peak. The power of the seer which was supposed to be bestowed on the first born son had apparently failed to manifest and the future of this tradition had never looked any bleaker. As usual, the bitter second wife, Ruvheneko could not wait even a day to start spreading the vicious rumor that Kudzai was a bastard son.

If it weren't for the even bigger catastrophe that was the public slaying of Gengezha by the hunter, Kudzai would have been the talk of the village. Now the mysterious retaliation of Hombarume had raised questions and brought back the possibility that indeed he was behind the brutal killings that had plagued the village and left families torn.

The seer's household was in disarray. The Chief was yet to acknowledge the deceased man or honor him in any way but he spared enough time to mediate sparring contests in the middle of the saddest period the village had ever gone through. The killer was still on the loose and possibly going to sink his evil claws in yet another unsuspecting villager.

Kudzai sat at the fire with the elders; respected men of the family and neighboring men, although he could be anywhere else but there. As he was the immediate heir of his deceased father, tradition required him to be present during all discussion until the period of mourning was over. Now more than ever, the men were supposed to show their strength as the pillars of the household and discuss all future endeavors, all that was to come.

This period was especially hard for Kudzai as his uncle Mushoriwa was yet to say anything about the epic failure of a ceremony that took place on the mountain. Infact, none of them had uttered a single word about it, yet they gleefully moved on to the topic of Gengezha's gruesome murder.

'He had some sort of blade hidden away. I fear he had planned it all in advance,' Mushoriwa said.

He spoke with such immense surity, almost as if he had been there while Hombarume was plotting the entire thing. Meanwhile Kudzai did now believe him for a moment, he was still finding it difficult to believe that Hombarume came to the sparring contest with the intent to kill Gengezha, the most random of fellows.

'I always knew that fellow was trouble, you can see it in the way he carries himself, it is as though he owns the world.'

Another one of the elders had chimed in, adding his own bitter words to the fire that was already brewing in the hearts of many. The sun had now fully sunk and the mosquitoes became persistent, singing their high pitched tunes in everyone's ear.

'Manje nemukuru wedu uyu asina chaanoita, muchiti pane chinobuda ipapa?' Mushoriwa asked.

In that, he was right, Kudzai thought. The Chief was yet to make any clear stance about any of the tragic situations in the village lately, not to talk of his own son who was still in the wind. His judgement was not to be trusted on these issues especially what Hombarume had done that afternoon which was far too extreme of a crime.

Kudzai recalled the sparring contest of the previous season, where Hombarume had battled Simbarashe Mubaiwa in a very tough match and lost. Hombarume had invited all the men of the village to a celebration of victory for the winner, Dererai. Everyone rejoiced and drank all night until the sun rose the next morning.

That Hombarume would never be upset about losing the contest, late alone to the point of killing a fellow fighter. Not to talk of the strange circumstances of the murder itself since the sparring contest was a no weapon sport, thus the entire village was still pondering about how exactly the hunter had made such a clean cut of poor Gengezha's throat without a blade. It was the most terrifying happening so far, out in the opening where the entire village could judge and come up with their own conclusions about what happened.