The Legend of Hombarume (Legends Series, #1)

16.5

'You want to see me in private while all the villagers want answers?'

'Please Ushe, there's no need to make this difficult,' the Chie's advisor said as he signalled Ushe to follow him to the Chief's chambers.

'Very well then.'

The crowd went up in a frenzy. Ushe paid no mind to them and proceeded towards the chambers behind the advisor.

'Ushe, this is uncalled for, please recall your men,' the advior said.

'We want answers, why would I recall them when we still have no answers?' Ushe replied.

'Be reasonable, this is not worth us taking any drastic measures.'

'Drastic measures?'

Just then, Revai walked in from another room, possibly where the cowardly chief was hiding.

'Yes, drastic measures. I told you to stop this nonsense a while ago. Now you're just blowing it out of proportion, why would you bring a crowd here unannounced?' he said.

'Tell me something, Revai, does all this, all these shenanigans make you feel like a man, feel more important?'

Revai kept quiet and just gave him a blank stare.

'Ushe-' the advisor was quickly interrupted.

'Tell me, what is holding Hombarume hostage in this palace going to prove? If he has something to do with the prince's disappearance then we want the dare to be called and the evidence revealed.'

Revai smiled and then answered.

'That's why we called you here, recall your angry crowd and we assure you, the matter will be heard in front of the dare and then the public, just like we had intended all this while. The delicate nature of the issue is what brought us here.'

'Rina manyanga hariputirwe, never forget that. The gods never sleep,' Ushe said before leaving the chambers and going back to address the villagers.

They were obviously disappointed that Ushe would take the bait and let his anger get quelled by meaningless fake promises. Ushe too was worried about the decision he had made but one thing was clear about him, he was a man who always thought far and really wide. He was someone who considered the smallest of detail and how it played out and fit into the bigger picture. Ushe had realised something from this visit to the palace, something that made it all make sense but he knew that if he revealed this newfound knowledge now, he would lose the leverage that he had. He wasn't completely sure that things would play out the way he wanted to but he had faith in himself, just like his best friend had always taught him. Little did he know that things in the village were about to get more complicated than he had ever imagined.

The crowd was addressed and assured that there would be a hearing the next morning for the dare and every issue would be brought to light. They moved out of the compound with their tails between their legs, with only Ushe to console them and assure them that all would be well as long as the gods lived.

'They better uphold their words or else they wont like what will happen if they don't. We will no longer be playing nice then,' Dererai said as they were just approaching a bend that led him out of the Chief's vicinity.

Some of the villagers had hastened their steps and were farther up ahead, most probably to go back and tend to their plots of land before the day was completely wasted and others to head back to their market stalls, to the work that fed them and kept them alive. The chatter did not stop however, everyone was in full discussion about the arrogant Revai and how everyone at the palace strangely did not care about the whole issue of Hombarume's arrest, just glossing it over as if it were nothing at all.

Some were talking about the weirdly dressed men that were up ahead just standing and staring through the crowd, gawking at everyone as if they were desperately searching fot something, for someone. Their attire seemed to be that of the Makura men, but it was different, more articulate, Ushe thought. Even the nomads who had settled at the edge of the Four a few years back did not dress like this.

Perhaps these men were a group of some sort, possibly traders. One of them left the others behind soon after Ushe and his friends had passed them and he went to the back towards unsuspecting Chitema, the man who owned the visitors compound, the only one in the village. It was a small village with limited visitors so this was understandable. Before long, Ushe saw Chitema's throat clutched really tightly by the angry outsider and he felt the need to intervene.

Glossary.
Rina manyanga hariputirwe - A Shona proverb meaning 'What's hidden will soon come to light.'