Child of Africa

by T. M. Clark

  There was no answer.

  Peta noticed that the tyres on the side facing the fire front were burnt to only rims, and the once lovingly painted brown and white cow paint job that Courtney and Joss had spent hours doing on their last Christmas holiday before he went away, was black. A layer of thick white ash lay around the vehicle. Peta gasped for air. She could imagine the fire as it engulfed the bakkie. She turned away, not wanting to look any more.

  Mitch glanced into the burnt-out shell. ‘They’re not here.’

  ‘Oh, thank God,’ Peta said as her legs threatened to buckle under her.

  Mitch pulled her closer to him, holding her tightly. ‘Your work isn’t done yet. If they’re not here, we need to go and find them. Amos, check with the others on the radio and phones. You okay?’

  She nodded, and Mitch let her go, testing that she was once more strong enough to walk.

  ‘Do you want me to drive?’ Mitch asked.

  ‘No, I’m okay,’ she said as she climbed into the driver’s seat and pulled her phone off the dashboard. No signal. ‘Looks like the fire has burnt the cell tower too.’ She picked up her two-way radio. ‘Rodger. Tsessebe. It’s Peta, come in.’

  She waited, then repeated her call.

  Nothing.

  Then a crackling sound and Jeff came on, loud and very clear. ‘Peta. Your dad and Tsessebe are safe. Where are you? We need your help.’

  ‘We just found Courtney’s burnt-out bakkie. I’m at the west gate coming into the camp.’

  ‘Head north towards Kariba Town. You can’t miss us.’

  Tears streamed down Peta’s face as she turned away from the carnage in front of her, the camp still smoking, and headed north.

  They passed a point where the fire had not burnt, and a little further along they came to the makeshift camp where all the vehicles had been parked to form a huge circle. It looked like an old-fashioned laager, only with modern machinery. She noticed her horse, Zeus, running around inside the circle, and a few of the other horses following him. They had halters on, but were not saddled. The baby rhinos were corralled in the middle, but some were mingled in with them. She frowned and pulled up next to where Tsessebe, Rodger and Jeff waited.

  She got out and threw herself at her dad. ‘Oh God, Dad, I saw Nguni burnt out and I thought you were dead!’

  Rodger held his daughter. ‘No, my girl, the Grim Reaper didn’t catch me this time either.’

  ‘Tsessebe,’ she said and held out her hand to him.

  ‘It is alright, Peta. We managed to back burn and congregated here, where the fire was not so intense,’ Tsessebe said and squeezed her hand.

  ‘That stallion of yours is highly strung!’ her father complained. ‘You said he was well trained. I tried to get on him and I couldn’t. He would not let me mount.’

  ‘Did you get all the other horses? The rhino babies?’ She was trying to look past her dad into the laager.

  ‘All safe,’ Tsessebe said. ‘No casualties, and no one left behind.’

  Jeff was laughing. ‘You should’ve seen your father. When your stallion wouldn’t let anyone ride him, Tsessebe put Rodger onto one of the anti-poaching horses, used his belt to strap his dodgy leg onto the saddle so he wouldn’t fall off, then he gave your father Zeus’s lead rein. We gathered the other horses and the anti-poaching guards had those ones that weren’t mounted on leads. Your father tried to lead that stallion, but Zeus was having none of this being led thing, and he took off.

  ‘Tsessebe and the other anti-poaching guards were pushing the baby rhino along with their mounts, and your stallion ran right through them all. Then the fun started. The baby rhino and half the horses all decided they were racehorses too, and galloped after him.’

  ‘The babies were running after Zeus?’ Peta asked.

  ‘He led them at full tilt. When he got to the laager, it was as if he knew this was where to stop. He’s been running circles around them since, keeping them in the middle as if they are in the centre of a show arena. We parked all the cars in formation, thinking he’d stop, but he’s just kept going. The guards and the grooms can’t go in there to get the horses and tie them up or check on the baby rhino because he keeps chasing them away. Peta, you need to get Zeus to stop running about,’ Jeff said. ‘He’s sure not listening to any of the grooms. If you can’t make him stop, we may have to dart him – he’s exhausting the babies.’

  Peta smiled. She slipped over the bonnet of Jeff’s bakkie and approached Zeus, who was cantering slowly towards her. He snorted, arched his head and his tail, and slowed. He threw his head, and the lead rope snapped on his flank. Then he took off faster, past her.

  ‘Oh come on, boy, settle,’ she said and waited for his next approach.

  ‘Be careful of the other horses,’ Mitch called as they thundered past her.

  ‘Did you save some of their food?’ she asked Jeff.

  ‘In the far bakkie,’ he said, and pointed.

  Peta helped herself to a few handfuls of pellets and turned back to the running horses again. This time she held one hand full of horse cubes in front of her. Zeus slowed as he approached her, eyes still white with fear.

  ‘Come on, boy. Calm now, come, come, come,’ she said.

  Zeus nodded his head. The trailing lead rein jiggled, but this time didn’t whip him. He pawed the ground, arching his neck, his nostrils flaring.

  ‘Come, come, come. You can smell what I have here. You love these,’ she said, dropping the tone of her voice and keeping it as steady as she could. She gave no ground to him, waiting for him to come to her.

  The other horses had stopped behind Zeus. One of the older mares could smell what Peta had too, and walked to her. Peta fed her.

  Zeus edged closer until he could just touch her fingers. She let him smell the pellets, then brought her hand closer to herself, forcing him to come nearer.

  ‘This is not like you, my beautiful boy,’ she said as she looked at the sweat that had lathered all over him.

  He stepped closer. She fed him a handful, then slid her hand up his head to his lead rope and grabbed it, showing him that she now held him and he was no longer leading his herd.

  A gelding came for food too, and the mare pinned her ears back. ‘Don’t be nasty; there is food enough for all,’ Peta said as she fed the gelding.

  One of the older rhino babies, Minjama, was inquisitive and walked past Zeus for a handful of cubes too. It made the most adorable sound as it asked her for food, which made her smile. The baby rhino had a whole range of sounds that she had learnt and mimicked. She repeated their sounds, and made a few more as Minjama rubbed her hand, asking for more food.

  Mitch and a few of the grooms had joined her and were shaking buckets of food to lead the animals away from where they gathered around her, feeding them nearer the head ranger’s car.

  While the others fed, Peta walked Zeus out of the gathering. He breathed heavily, his powerful chest heaving as it laboured to bring his rhythm back to normal after the extended exertion. Slowly she walked him to where she had parked.

  ‘Assan, find out if anyone has a towel I can rub this horse down with, then get the back of Jeff’s bakkie ready to start treating those animals we brought in with us.’

  Tsessebe came to her. ‘I will walk him for you.’

  ‘It’s going to be a long walk. Will Dad be okay with you away from him?’

  ‘Your dad was helping Assan with the animals even before you called to him. He had already begun sorting them, getting them ready for you and Jeff. That Assan, he has a good heart and is not scared of hard work. Your dad is in good hands.’

  ‘What happened with Nguni?’

  Tsessebe looked away. ‘We got everyone here and safe, and your father, he realised that we had left Nguni at home. He got one of the other anti-poaching guards to go back with him.’

  ‘He gave you the slip?’ Peta said. ‘Thought he only managed to do that to me.’

  Tsessebe nodded. ‘Yes, he got away. The groom came bac
k, but when your father did not show in Nguni, he came and told me what they had done as he was worried. Jeff and I went looking for him. We saw that he had tried to go out the wrong gate, and hit the radiator on the big new upright. Nguni was not going anywhere. Without me there as his eyes, he had got disorientated. He was lucky he did not hit his head or anything. We put him in Jeff’s bakkie and came back. The fire was close then.’

  Peta put her hand on his arm. ‘I wish he had just left it like it was, that he hadn’t gone back—’ Zeus nudged her, reminding her he was still there, looking for food as he smelt her top.

  ‘That would be expecting your father to be something he is not. Nguni is one of the last links he has to Courtney. He loved that old bakkie – it represents freedom to him. Sometimes we drive into the park, and it does not matter where. No one asks him where he is going, or how he is feeling when he drives slowly. It is just us and the bush. It is a good feeling for both of us. I can understand him wanting to save Nguni from the fire.’

  ‘Courtney wouldn’t have wanted him risking her life for a stupid old bakkie. I didn’t even realise that Dad was driving around. I can buy him another bakkie, Tsessebe, you know that. I can’t get another dad.’

  Tsessebe nodded. ‘I know.’

  Amos brought her a large towel. ‘Assan told me that Mrs Peterson said you can have that one – she doesn’t want it back.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Peta said. ‘Amos, can you check that the grooms are walking the other horses, and not just drying them off and putting them in with the others? They need to cool down or we might have problems later.’

  ‘Sure,’ he said and walked off to sort out the grooms.

  ‘I will walk your stallion,’ Tsessebe said, taking the lead rein and towel from Peta. ‘You go and save those animals that you picked up. Zeus will be fine.’

  Peta hugged him. ‘Thank you, my friend. Thank you for everything.’

  CHAPTER

  26

  The Spark

  Francis Kanobvurunga’s right eye was swollen shut and the cut above it was covered with a plaster, but anyone could see that it had crusted dry and was not stitched, although it needed to be.

  Tichawana stroked his own scar, knowing that injuries like that never healed well.

  ‘You were tasked with watching. You left your post unattended,’ Denisa Mlilo said.

  ‘I tried to tell you—’

  The sound of flesh hitting flesh as Denisa struck Francis again was like music in Tichawana’s ears. ‘And you decided to come right to my office? To tell me what?’

  ‘I found the weakness at last. I found it,’ Francis sobbed.

  Denisa went to hit him again, but Tichawana put his hand up. ‘Tell me, and it had better be news to me, or there will be further punishment for your useless son.’

  ‘The chief, he does not have a weakness. But the white friend, his weakness is children. He has these two black teenage village boys who do everything with him. Chief Bongani, he sent one to my village, Ephraim, to write for the old game guard, who is illiterate. The other one lives in the cripple Mr Joss Brennan’s house; his name is Lwazi. He also has a new black child; he calls her Sophia.’

  ‘Joss Brennan has a black child? How did a white man get his hands on a black child?’ Tichawana asked, his voice rising.

  ‘Someone put her on his doorstep, and then ran away.’

  ‘Do you know who?’

  Francis shook his head. ‘No. It was not a child from Amaluandi Village.’

  ‘You are sure that it is Brennan who has claimed this baby and not Bongani?’

  ‘The baby, she is a cripple. Her legs do not work. Her parents put her there so that he could buy her legs like he has.’

  ‘How can we trust you, Francis?’ Denisa said.

  ‘You have to. I was scared for my life, for the life of my son if I did not bring you this information quickly.’

  ‘You should be,’ Tichawana said.

  ‘There is an old lady in the village who passed me the information about the chief. She has ambitions to rule when Chief Bongani is gone. She waits in the shallows like a crocodile. Patient, cunning and in camouflage.’

  ‘What is so great about her? She sounds like every other power-hungry African woman in every village.’

  ‘Yes, but she is the grandmother of one of the children, Ephraim, who Mr Brennan has let into his circle of friends. She has her grandson telling her everything that happens every day in that house.’

  ‘Mary?’

  Francis nodded.

  ‘She reports to us too, you idiot,’ Denisa said.

  Tichawana shook his head. ‘You think this is good enough news? To get your son back? That you tell us of our own spy?’

  ‘No. There is more. The boys Lwazi and Ephraim have learnt how to keep bees. Now, to pay for their own bees, they must go help Bishu Village to harvest their bee hives.’

  ‘Why do you tell us about bees?’ Denisa asked.

  ‘It is not the bees that are important. The boys will be in Bishu Village soon. While it is considered one of Chief Bongani’s villages, it is not actually on his lands – it encroaches into the forest area. It used to be inside his boundaries, but the village flooded with big rains every time, so the government agreed that it could be relocated five kilometres north. That is why they now have river access to Kariba when no other village does. But the maps have never changed for the boundary of Chief Bongani’s lands. The boys will be unprotected by the white commando and their chief when they are in this village. They will be outside the protection the N’Gomas placed on the boundary that you are afraid to try to cross, even though the—’

  Denisa hit Francis again. ‘King Gogo wa de Patswa is not afraid of anything.’

  Tichawana said, ‘Enough. You were saying?’

  ‘The five N’Gomas now are very strong.’

  ‘No. About the boys,’ Tichawana coaxed.

  ‘The boys were given bee hives to look after. To pay for them they must return to Bishu Village and help Matilda the bee queen to harvest her honey.’

  ‘You have done your job well. Your debt is repaid. I will let your son out of the camp and will send him home,’ Tichawana said.

  ‘Thank you. Thank you.’ The relief could be heard in Francis’s voice.

  ‘Get up off that floor and get out of my office. Do not ever come here again, and never let me see you,’ Tichawana said.

  Francis Kanobvurunga rushed out of the office, barrelling through the door as if a pack of wild dogs were nipping at his heels.

  Tichawana buzzed the intercom. ‘Miss Hillary, bring tea into my office for myself and Mr Mlilo.’

  ‘Right away, Mr Ndou,’ she said.

  She put the tray on Tichawana’s desk and served tea.

  ‘That will be all,’ Tichawana said.

  She walked to the door, her back straight, and then she curtseyed. ‘I will be at my desk.’

  ‘I still think you should sample that one,’ Mr Mlilo said after she had closed the door.

  ‘You touch my secretary and you are dead. I thought I already made that clear. Understand?’

  ‘Yes, sir,’ Denisa said quickly.

  ‘So, now that that idiot has left, what other news do you have for me? I need to know what is happening in my kingdom outside this office.’

  ‘The shipment in the west came through without any problems, and should show in the Cayman bank account in a few days. The delay happened because the hunter had an asthma attack on his side errand into the Chizarira to clear out the spotters’ camps. He had to go to hospital in Harare.’

  ‘Eish, he should be more careful,’ Tichawana said. ‘Any news on the computer at Binga?’

  ‘Nothing. I need to spend some time with that policeman who attended the site and collected the body. Find out who is not on our side.’

  ‘My side. Never forget you work for me!’

  ‘Yes, Mr Ndou,’ Denisa said quickly.

  ‘Deal with it. I need to plan. I have an opp
ortunity to take those boys from the chief and put them in my educational camp at Gwanda. They will soon learn who it is they should be friends with in my country. I will be there when my team snatches those boys, but I only wish I could see my brother’s face when he sees that he left the children open for leverage against him.’

  CHAPTER

  27

  Trust

  Ndhlovy moved through the villages. It had been years since she had been here, and her memories had faded, but she was sure that she was on the right track. She had seen the boy who had saved her, and now she wanted to visit the miracle trees. But more importantly, she needed to get the large bull to the boy’s family. The wound in his side was festering, and she knew that if she could get him to the boy, there would be help.

  Slowly they trekked further southwest. The amount of human settlement had increased considerably, but she knew that she was in the right place. As she passed one hut, a small child came out of the doorway, but it backed away, retreating inside. Silent in the predawn morning.

  She could feel the road beneath her feet had been strengthened with man tools – it was smooth now, compacted. She looked up, and could see the silhouette of the buildings that were so familiar to her.

  The bull limped behind her. The rumbles in her stomach reassured them they were almost there; help was within reach. She lifted her trunk and tested the air. Already someone had lit a morning fire. The light of the day was brightening with a pink splash of colour across the buildings as she walked inside the gates towards the old stable.

  Once again she spoke with her herd, telling them to follow her and leave the bull behind. She would show them the trees in the grove and return to him, to ensure that the humans understood that they were here because he needed help. The younger one would remain with him, as she hoped that the human boy would take the wire snare off his trunk too. Already the youngster had lost condition, but she hadn’t allowed him to fall behind. Finding the bull along the way had just been lucky for him. The youngster with the damaged trunk had also come from a different herd, which mingled in with hers on the journey. Remnants from another massacre. After she saw the boy again, smelt him, she knew that it was safe to bring the herd here for help.