The Legend of Hombarume (Legends Series, #1)

26.

‘Master? Where are you?’

Hamandishe knelt down beside the shining artefact that was on the ground. Beside it was the lamp that Anesu had used, now died down and overturned.

‘Anesu, where are you?’

Hamandishe called out some more before he realised that all he would hear back was the frightening sound of his own voice in the deep of the night. He followed Anesu when he saw him leaving the compound. He didn’t want to alarm him by letting him know that he had seen him. Ever since they had sought shelter from the kind village farmer, his employer had started behaving strangely, that very morning he had disappeared and they’d searched for him everywhere with no luck, until he eventually came back with no plausible answer for his long absence. Now, he had gone out deep at night in a strange village that he didn’t even know the way out of, that was beyond odd and Hama, as someone who was overwhelmed by curiosity just like his employer set out to get to the bottom of things.

Hama trailed the man down the road and then on the path that led to the stream, keeping his distance of course, just following the bobbing orange light which always kept his employer in view. This method worked for quite a while as Anesu kept going and going, his destination still unknown to the man who was trailing him.

Somewhere along the path, the orange light suddenly disappeared, as if the lamp had burnt out, but it wouldn’t so soon. Hama was now confused because he’d lost Anesu, as if the man had disappeared into thin air. He went on for a while shouting his name at the top of his lungs and looking for him but it was to no avail. It wasn’t until he finally noticed a weak glow through the thick trees that he figured out that Anesu might have somehow changed his route and cut through the thick bushes.

Moving around at night was very odd, but somehow getting deeper into the forest just made it feel far much worse, the mere thought of something trailing him the way he was trailing Anesu made Hamandishe’s skin crawl. The mere thought of evils that lurk at night waiting for someone foolish enough to travel the night, that made him shudder. He wanted to find out what Anesu was up to but at what cost would that come?

He didn’t find Anesu like he’d intended to, instead he found the golden artefact that had halted their trip to the plantations. It was just lying on the ground in the heart of the forest with Anesu’s lamp as its sole companion. Hamandishe scanned the area and tried to find anything that would have interested Anesu there yet he found nothing but an open space with a few short bushes. Anesu wouldn’t just leave his lamp behind, his only source of light in the moonless night and above all, the one thing that he’d been looking for all this while, something was gravely wrong.

‘Anesu!’

Hamandishe shouted, no longer caring about whatever would find him or pursue him.

‘Master, where are you!’

He shouted frantically, moving deeper into the forest and posing a risk of getting lost. He’d finally realised that his employer was lost or worse, dead.

***

By the morning, the village was abuzz with the news of the village seer’s death and the missing trader. All sorts of rumours were making their way across the small village. some were saying that the immoral seer had finally met his reckoning, some were saying that his wives had plotted against him as they were tired of him constantly making the family bigger and bigger. Others had heard of the mysterious beast making rounds in the village and exacting its wrath on the villagers, the beast that had taken the life of the village healer.

The Mubaiwa family were most distraught by the rumours that the creature that killed the seer was wearing their son’s face. Was he possessed? Nobody knew for sure what was taking place but one thing was certain, all would not be well for quite a while.

The news had reached the palace, along with the report that Anesu Tigere, the trader who the Chief was supposed to have an audience with had now also disappeared.

Among those who were shocked and troubled by the disappearance was Ushe, who hadn’t seen his guest slip through his fingers and wander off into the night. He had a lot of questions of his own and as all was happening he couldn’t help but think about the pool Anesu had mentioned, a pool he had never heard about before. Had he wandered off to a sacred place?

Ushe was also troubled because this was now the third disappearance, also accompanied by beastly activity that couldn’t easily be explained. According to the wives and children of the seer, his body seemed to have been mauled by a creature with very sharp teeth and claws. No one saw it this time but they claimed to have seen Ushe’s also missing long-time friend walk into the compound and ask for an audience with the seer. As if it couldn’t get any more strange, the missing gold piece that his visitor had been on about when he met him had been found at the same place where he went missing.

Ushe as usual was determined to get to the bottom of things and rescue his newfound friend who was now somewhere out there, probably injured or worse. He’d gotten more than he bargained for the minute he set foot in the village. The same thing kept coming to his head, the same notion, the same weird sense of danger lurking in the shadows and snatching loved ones one by one until all were lost kept attacking him. What had Anesu done to deserve such ill luck? Was it stumbling upon a secret pool that no one knew about? Had he been lured into a trap by creatures of the night? The pool. Where was it?