The king and queen retired to the study where they discussed further their plans for the summer festival before retiring to bed. Queen Eleaza was thinking of selling her craftwork at the festival as she had made lots and lots of doilies, garments and custom jewellery in the past as a pass time, but now the idea of actually making money from them was appealing.
The rest of the compound were also preparing food and settling in for the night after a long excitable chat about the festival, which Leona had gone to tell them about earlier that evening.
The whole clan thought it was a great idea and a chance to show off their skills and expertise to their neighbours, the women felt it was an opportunity to show off their beauty to the foreign men. The men roared and said, “None of our women shall marry any foreign men, we refute it and we consider it an abomination!”
Elder Mondo shouted, “No contamination!”
However, the elder subject had sought confirmation from the king about the event, as he was well known not to listen to anyone else but the king. His long-suffering wife vouched for that, but she put it down to his authoritative position, although the rest of the people believed it was due to his excessive drinking from his homemade brew and ‘know it all attitude’.
The following day when he delivered the ‘news’ to the rest of the king’s subjects, Elder Mondo acted as if he was the first to know and portrayed it in a way that what Leona had earlier told them was irrelevant, yet it was the same information. As far as he was concerned, his message had to have a twist of poetry and a hint of exaggeration added to it.
As much as they all knew his habit, they never dared to challenge him about his little white lies. Instead they felt he provided entertainment and that he was a good laugh. Each household went inside for the night after bidding each other goodnight, and simultaneously Elder Mondo added, “Wait till the four boys get back from the Nengara Mountains. I am going to tell them all about it. I am sure they will be well pleased with the king’s idea and my input.” He grinned with pride, showing his yellow teeth from all those years of chewing bark and roots, which he claimed were medicinal.
As if by magic, each family responded, “Yeah, yeah, we know, no one can put it to them quite like you would, Elder Mondo, goodnight.” Elder Mondo smiled proudly and nodded to them as he helped pull his wife to her feet and went into their house to sleep.
Their four children had already run into the house when they heard him begin to talk and brag about the festival, which he had repeated ten times over in two hours, discussing at length what he intended to do on the day. Moreover, his children were bored to death of his fairy tales, which he had told them a thousand times before, only he forgot he had already told them or it may be deliberate as he had nothing new to tell them since.
His wife Mullah pretended not to mind, although she too was fed up with the same old stories, which given a chance she could recite them all back to front. But she rather preferred her husband to take the lead and credit for his stories – after all they were his stories.
Chapter 4
In the forest, the men were making progress as Tamura could see the tops of houses at a distance, which he assumed must belong to his uncle and family. He was at times excited at meeting them and at times confused about how he was feeling inside. But deep down, he convinced himself that it was too late to change anything, he just had to find out one way or the other.
They had walked and walked from the break of dawn that morning and had encountered a leopard in the woods, which quickly retreated into the thicket at seeing them. One of the men had also killed a small deer, which crossed their path while trying to run for dear life, without realising it was running into danger instead. The one, who killed it, used a long thick spear-like stick, which he carried along and was well known for never missing his target. The tip of this stick had poison, which paralyses the animal on impact and reduces its suffering before it dies.
He had aimed at the distant deer and threw the stick, which landed on the animal’s neck, killing it instantly. Everyone, but Tamura, praised him for his great hunting expertise. Tamura was lost in thought and barely noticed what was happening around him. He tied the animal’s fore and hind legs together, before slinging it over his shoulders.
They would feast on the meat of the deer when they got to their destination. It was around mid-afternoon when they arrived in Nengara after a short climb to the hilly village seated at the base of the mountainous area.
It was oddly quiet, until they were greeted by a couple of hounds barking their lungs out at the intruders. The donkeys felt uneasy as they heard the angry barks of the dogs. One elderly man came out and stood at his door and called out to the dogs to be quiet.
He then proceeded to ask the unexpected visitors who they were and where they were coming from. The group leader called out his name and told him they were from Goza and that they came in peace.
The elderly man enquired of what they wanted, and the group leader looked at Tamura before saying another word, the boy nodded in approval for the man to speak
