The Legend of Hombarume (Legends Series, #1)

16.

‘He left for the village square, vakuru. If he’s not there you can check the market.’

The housemaster’s boy was confused but he kept himself together enough to answer the questions he was being asked because he didn’t know what the outcome of the abrupt questioning would be. He did not want to land himself in any kind of trouble as his father had left him in charge of the compound while he went away to god knows where.

‘He better be there and we better find him quick,’ Anesu said to his two companions, signalling that they should search for the man at once.

Hamandishe knew that Anesu had always encouraged him to keep the head at all cost but he didn’t know that safeguarding it took precedence over the huge deal that they had to strike at the sugarcane plantation that was owned by one of the richest men in the entire realm. He was surprised when Anesu put that mission on hold to focus on finding his mysterious relic. And what of the strange glowing power it had exhibited the previous day, should he perhaps tell Anesu about it or just keep it to himself to avoid being deemed unfit and superstitious? Maybe Anesu had his own information about the head that he was keeping to himself otherwise, why all the pressure to keep it in their possession? Hamandishe had to put all these questions on hold for now and focus on finding his lost piece.

Anesu and his two advisors left the visitor’s compound soon enough and headed towards the center of the village where they intended to find the housemaster and retrieve their valuable piece of art. There was something different about today, something that Anesu couldn’t exactly put his hands on. Most of the homes looked deserted but then, he was only seeing them from afar, plus, the farming season had just begun and it was not odd to see the homesteads empty at such a time, preparations for the season would be in full swing.

They arrived at the village square where they assumed some kind of gathering or event would be taking place. It was now afternoon and Hamandishe’s hope that soon they would be on their way to the plantations had finally burnt out completely. There was no chance in heaven they would make such a trip happen now, they needed a minimum of two days on the road, by horse to get to the plantations, now they had only a day. The village square was deserted, no sign of an event occurring or a gathering of any sorts. After a few moments of confusion as to where they would find the man they were looking for, a passer-by came to their aid and assured him that all the people who had been gathered at the square that morning had gone to the Chief’s palace.

‘Haven’t you heard? They arrested the hunter for the disappearance of the Chief’s son, people want answers.’

The boy who was carrying a basket of sweet potatoes said before he assessed the men in front of him and realised from their attire that they were not from the village, he couldn’t exactly place their origins though.

‘What is going on in this village?’ Anesu asked.

‘We don’t even know ourselves, sir. We are very concerned,’ the boy said.

They thanked him for the information and in no time they were headed to the chief’s palace, a place they thought they wouldn't have to go back to after the man had stood them up, showing up the entire day for their meeting, for the same reason why this so called hunter had been arrested and for the same reason why the man they were looking for had gone to the palace. Everything was so interconnected and you couldn’t easily separate one thing from the other. Maybe their coming to this small strange village was fated, maybe somehow, they fit into all this, Anesu thought but quickly dismissed the notion without further looking into the possibility. Luckily, they had decided to leave their horses behind, that way they wouldnt draw too much attention to themselves and hopefully the thief wouldn’t see them coming.