The Legend of Hombarume (Legends Series, #1)

9.

Tapfuma was just expressionless and stuck. His father’s fresh corpse lay right before him, his eyes staring at him as if he could see him from beyond death. Beyond death? What was beyond death? Where was his father now? Had he been whisked away to where the good men go or was he just gone? Did he now cease to exist? Tapfuma did not cry or show any form of outlandish emotion, he just merely eyed the bloody mess before him. He even thought about how he would relocate to the bigger hut now that his father couldn’t dissuade him. He broke off into laughter at the idea, but the coldness and emptiness of the compound at that particular time, at that particular moment when his father’s eyes were eyeing his spirit, it shook him to the depth of his soul.

He had killed his father, he finally thought. He broke the one rule the man had always stressed about.

‘Never bring anyone to my compound after dark, no matter how sick they appear to be or how stranded they are. Nothing good ever happens at night,’ he had said.

All those years of loathing the man for having too male rules had finally came back to bite. He had killed the man by bringing a stranger into his home to slaughter him in the middle of the night. The irony of it all was too much for him. The bad energy he allowed to enter their home was his father’s demise. He heard a cock crow in the distance, it would be morning soon. What would he do when the sun rises, when reality finally hit? He reached over to touch the body, to feel the blood on his fingers so that he could be sure that he wasn’t dreaming. A tear finally broke through and fell down his left cheek.

‘I killed him, I finally killed him.’

‘What have you done?’

Tapfuma almost toppled over from fright. Had the gods already come to show their vengeance? He slowly turned his head to see who could have possibly uttered such words in a deserted compound and to his surprise; the other shadow in the room was that of a man he had only seen once before. He never forgot a face, for he had only seen a few of them in his entire lifetime. It was the head of the Chief’s guard, staring down at his bloody hands.

***

The Chief refused to eat the entire day and he never once left his quarters it was worse than his wife had imagined. If his son did not return, it was bound to get a lot more serious. The compound was abuzz with everyone trying their best to perfect their duties, the atmosphere was tense and nobody wanted to get on the wrong side of the family ever since Revai had left with his search party. Chief Banga had a visitor from Makura in the late morning, a weapon trader who had since wished to secure a deal with the man. He had finally been granted audience with him and was told to be at the palace that fateful day when Pomerai had disappeared. Anesu Tigere was dying to have Chief Banga on his side but his luck had gone sour when he had come on the one day when the man was weathering one of his greatest storms.

He came accompanied by his two advisors who moved with him wherever he went. These two men helped him strike the best deals the Four could offer and they hadn’t disappointed him ever since he began working with them. They knew the market, the knew the traders from every village and most importantly, they knew how the average human thought and made decisions. Batanai joined Anesu as his advisor when he visited the village of Makura where he had almost made the worst deal of his life. Batanai tipped him off and saved him from throwing away his rare arsenal of weaponry from long before the villages were separated, way before Blood River. Batanai had an eye for quality and that made him exceptionally good for the work, so he decided to leave the village he grew up in behind and travel across the land with Anesu.

Hamandishe, his second advisor joined him when he was visiting the nomads that had reportedly arrived at the periphery of the four villages. He was very curious about them and what they had to offer. Whenever Anesu heard of a name or about someone who was presumed ‘great’ in people’s eyes, his first thought was ‘what do they have to offer, how much are they worth?’ Hamandishe had the same mind, when he saw Anesu arrive, he knew he was a man who was well moneyed, but also hungry for more. He had a desire to know what Anesu was willing to give for a rare olden artefact that was in his possession. The artefact, which was a lion head made out of golden feathers, was a very crafty piece. It was never traded at all, the piece remained in Hamandishe’s ownership and he had travelled with Anesu ever since.
Batanai had been with him the longest, since six summers earlier and Hamandishe had been there for three but they had both been there in Makura village during and after the festival when he met who he thought would be the love of his life, but the gods had other plans.

The two advisors had witnessed that chariot go down in flames really quick, infact they had almost predicted it, but both of them knew that meddle in other material issues, they could freely, but matters of the heart were off limits. Zvemoyo zvinoyera, Anesu always said. The man was stubborn, but his employees knew that he was very unlucky in love.

Anesu waited all day for the Chief to come out of his chambers. Even when he suggested that they leave and come back another day, his two advisors persuaded him otherwise. As men who had been in business for a long while now, they knew that if they easily let this opportunity go, they would spend the rest of the summer regretting it. Chief Banga was the only one of the four monarchs that the trader had not so far been in cohorts with. The man had proven a hard nut to crack and someone who was not easily bought, but Hamandishe caught wind of his desire for rare objects and he decided to use his biggest leverage tactics to gain audience with the Chief, the golden lion feather head. Anesu advised against it and almost cancelled the whole meeting but after the Chief had stood them up, the mysterious artefact had remained in the possession of the rightful owner.

Anesu and the two gentleman always travelled on horseback as they had long distances to travel and were always on the road going to the far ends of the land, they only travelled less at the peak of the summer when the rains were strong and the heavens were angry. Upon realising that their visit to the Banga was beyond futile, they started back to Makura village just before the sun set. Villagers would stop and stare at their decorated horses and their weird attire as they passed through the market square on their way out of the village.

‘We should have attended whatever celebration that is, instead of wasting our precious time waiting for that imbecile,’ Anesu said.

He had been quietly following the rhythm of the drums in the distance as it had been steady and soft but as the darkness grew in influence, the drums became stronger and the screams and singing intensified.

‘You’re right, my friend, this was a grand waste of time,’ Batanai replied.

‘I’m glad you’re keeping that.'

Anesu was pointing at the feather head that was wrapped in a sack and strapped carefully to the horse.

‘I told you you can take it if you want to keep it in place, otherwise as long as its mine, it’ll always be something that’ll get us out of a tight spot,’ Hamandishe replied.

‘Fair enough, tinotora nzira ipi apa?’ Anesu asked, pointed to the forked intersection that would lead out of the village.

‘Either road gets us home, but I suggest this one, I’ve heard too many strange stories about that mountain and the other road passes too close to it,’ Batanai suggested.

He was pointing to the left path that swayed from the view of the mountain that was now just a dark mass hanging in the distance with a small orange light shining below it, just after the thick trees.

‘I’ve heard about that evil place too, I’m with you, let us go,’ Anesu replied.

They started down the path they had chosen and passed a few more homesteads along the way.

‘I should have told that man off for making me come all this way for nothing, I really should have-'

Anesu stopped his horse immediately when he heard the soft singing coming from the path in front of him, surely his ears needed cleansing and his eyes needed shining because that couldn’t possibly be Sekai singing her little heart off.

Glossary.
Zvemoyo zvinoyera – Matters of the heart are sacred.
Tinotora nzira ipi apa? – Which road do we take here?