Wilbur Smith - C09 Birds Of Prey

by C09 Birds Of Prey(Lit)

  He paused in the doorway and glared at them. All the company of wizards and witches crouching at his feet moaned with amazement and covered their eyes, as if his beauty and majesty had blinded them.

  Hal stared back at him. It was difficult to follow Aboli's advice to remain expressionless, for the features of the Monomatapa were tattooed in exactly the same pattern and style as the face he had known from childhood, the great round face of Aboli.

  Aboli broke the silence. "I see you, great Mambo. I see you, my brother. I see you, N'Poffio, son of my father."

  The Monomatapa's eyes narrowed slightly, but his patterned features remained as if carved in ebony. With slow and stately stride he crossed to where the naked girl knelt and seated himself upon her arched back as though she were a stool. He continued to glare at Aboli and Hal, and the silence drew out.

  Suddenly he made an impatient gesture to the woman who stood beside him. She took one of her own breasts in her hand and, placing the engorged nipple between his thick lips, gave him suck. He drank from her, his throat bobbing, then pushed her away and wiped his mouth with the palm of his hand. Refreshed by this warm draught, he looked to his principal soothsayer. "Speak to me of these strangers, Sweswe!" he commanded. "Make me a prophecy, O beloved of the dark spirits!"

  The oldest and ugliest of the wizards sprang to his feet and began a wild gyrating, whirling dance. He shrieked and leaped high in the air, shaking the rattle in his hand. "Treason!" he screamed, and frothy spittle splattered from his lips. "Sacrilege! Who dares claim blood ties with the Son of the Heavens?" He pranced in front of Aboli like a wizened ape on skinny shanks. "I smell the stink of treachery!"

  He hurled his rattle at Aboli's feet and snatched a cows-tail whisk from his belt. "I smell sedition!" He brandished the whisk, and began to tremble in every muscle. "What devil is this who dares to imitate the sacred Tattoo?" His eyes rolled back in his skull until only the whites showed. "Beware! For the ghost of your father, the great Holomima, demands the blood sacrifice!" he shrieked, and gathered himself to spring full at Aboli's face to strike him with the magician's whisk.

  Aboli was faster. The cutlass sprang from the scabbard on his belt as though it were a living thing. It flashed in the sunlight as he cut back-handed. The wizard's head was severed cleanly from his trunk and rolled down his back. It lay on the polished clay gazing with wide astonished eyes at the sky, and the lips writhing and twitching as they tried to utter the next wild denunciation.

  The headless body stood, for a moment, on trembling legs. A fountain of blood from the severed neck spouted high in the air, the whisk fell from the hand and the body collapsed slowly on top of its own head.

  "The ghost of our father Holomima demands the blood sacrifice," said Aboli softly. "And lo! Aboli his son, have given it to him."

  No person in the royal enclosure spoke or moved for what seemed half a lifetime to Hal. Then the Monomatapa began to shake all over. His belly began to wobble and his tattooed jowls danced and shook. His face contorted in what seemed a berserker's fury.

  Hal placed his hand on the hilt of his cutlass. "If he is truly your brother, then I will kill him for you," he whispered to Aboli. "You cover my back and we will fight our way out of here."

  But the Monomatapa opened his mouth wide and let fly a huge shout of laughter. "The tattooed one has made the blood sacrifice that Sweswe demanded! "he bellowed. Then mirth overcame him and for a long while he could not speak again. He shook with laughter, gasped for breath, hugged himself then hooted again.

  "Did you see him stand there with no head while his mouth tried still to speak?" he roared, and tears of laughter rolled down his cheeks.

  The grovelling band of magicians burst out in squeaks and shrieks of sympathetic glee. "The heavens laugh!" they whined. "And all men are happy."

  Suddenly the Monomatapa stopped laughing. "Bring me Sweswe's stupid head!" he commanded, and the councillor who had led them here bounded forward to obey. He retrieved it and knelt before the king to hand it to him.

  The Monomatapa held the head by its matted plaits of kinky hair and stared into the wide blank eyes. He began to laugh again. "What stupidity not to recognize the blood of kings. How could you not know my brother Aboli by his majestic bearing and the fury of his temper?"

  He flung the dripping head at the other magicians, who scattered. "Learn from the stupidity of Sweswel" he admonished them. "Make no more false prophecy! Tell me no more falsehoods! Begone, all of you! Or I will ask my brother to make another blood sacrifice."

  They fled in pandemonium, and the Monomatapa rose from his live throne and advanced upon Aboli, a huge and happy grin splitting his fat, tattooed face. "Aboli," he said, "my brother who was long dead and who now lives!" and he embraced him.

  One of the elaborately thatched huts on the perimeter of the courtyard was placed at their disposal, and a procession of maidens was sent to them, bearing clay pots of hot water balanced upon their heads for the two men to bathe. Still other girls carried trays on which was piled fine raiment to replace their travel-stained clothing, beaded loincloths of tanned leather and cloaks of fur and feathers.

  When they had washed and changed into this finery, another file of girls came bearing gourds of beer, a type of mead fermented from wild honey, and the blended blood and milk. Others brought platters of hot food.

  When they had eaten, the silver-headed councillor who had taken them into the presence of the Monomatapa came to them. With great civility and every mark of respect he squatted at Aboli's feet. "Though you were far too young when last you saw me to remember me now, my name is Zama. I was the Induna of your father, the great Monomatapa Holomima."

  "It grieves me, Zama, but I remember almost nothing of those days.

  I remember my brother N'Pofho. I remember the pain of the tattoo knife and the cut of our circumcision that we underwent together. I remember that he squealed louder than U Zama looked worried and shook his head as if to warn Aboli against such levity when speaking of the King, but his voice was level and calm. "All this is true, except only that the Monomatapa never squealed. I was present at the ceremony of the knife, and it was I who held your head while the hot iron seared your cheeks and trimmed the hood from your penis."

  "Dimly now I think that I can remember your hands and your words of comfort. I thank you for them, Zama."

  "You and N'Pofho were twins, born in the same hour. Thus it was that your father commanded that both of you were to bear the royal tattoo. It was new to custom. Never before had two royal sons been tattooed in the same ceremony."

  "I remember little of my father, except how tall he was and strong. I remember how afraid I was at first of the tattoos on his face."

  "He was a mighty man and fearsome," Zama agreed.

  "I remember the night he died. I remember the shouting and the firing of muskets and the terrible flames in the night."

  "I was there when the slavemasters came with their chains of sorrow. "Tears filled the old man's eyes. "You were so young, Aboli. I marvel that you remember these things." "Tell me about that night."

  "As was my custom and my duty, I slept at the portal of your father's hut. I was at his side when he was struck by a ball from the slavers" muskets." Zama fell silent at the memory, and then he looked up again'. "As he lay dying he said to me, "Zama, leave me. Save my sons. Save the Monomatapa!" and I hurried to obey."

  "You came to save me?" Aboli asked.

  "I ran to the hut where you and your brother slept with your mother. I tried to take you from her, but your mother would not hand you to me. "Take N'Pofho!". she commanded me, for you were always her favourite. So I seized your brother and we ran together into the night. Your mother and I were separated in the darkness. I heard her screams but I had the other child in my arms, and to turn back would have meant slavery for all of us and the extinction of the royal line. Forgive me. now, Aboli, but I left you and your mother and I ran on, and with N'Pofho escaped into the hills."

  "There is n
o blame in what you did," Aboli absolved him.

  Zama looked around the hut carefully, and then his lips moved but he uttered no sound. "It was the wrong choice. I should have taken you." His expression changed, and he leaned close rto Aboli as if to say something more. Then he drew back reluctantly, as though he had not the courage to make some dangerous gamble.

  He rose slowly to his feet. "Forgive me, Aboli, son of Holomimal but I must leave you now."

  "I forgive you everything," Aboli said softly. "I know what is in your heart. Think on this, Zama. Another lion roars on the hill top that once might have been mine. My life now is linked to a new destiny."

  "You are right, Aboli, and I am an old man. I no longer have the strength or the desire to change what cannot be changed." He drew himself up. "The Monomatapa will grant you another audience tomorrow morning. I will come for you." He lowered his voice slightly. "Please do not try to leave the royal enclosure without the permission of the King."

  When he was gone, Aboli smiled. "Zama has asked us not to leave. It would be difficult to do so. Have you seen the guards that have been placed at every entrance?"

  "Yes, they are not easy to overlook." Hal stood up from the carved ebony stool and crossed to the low doorway of the hut. He counted twenty men at the gate. They were all magnificent warriors, tall and well muscled, and each was armed with spear and war axe. They carried tall shields of dappled black and white ox hide, and their head-dresses were of cranes" feathers.

  "It will be more difficult to leave this place than it was to enter," Aboli said grimly.

  At sunset there came another procession of young girls bearing the evening meal. "I can see why your royal brother carries such a goodly cargo of fat," Hal remarked, as he surveyed this superabundance of food.

  Once they declared their hunger satisfied, the girls retired with the platters and pots, and Zama came back. This time he led two maidens, one by each hand. The girls knelt before Hal and Aboli. Hal recognized the prettiest and pertest of the two as the girl who had been the live throne of the Monomatapa.

  "The Monomatapa sends these females to you to sweeten your dreams with the honey of their loins," said Zama and retired.

  In consternation Hal watched the pretty one raise her head and smile at him shyly. She had a calm sweet face with full lips and huge dark eyes. Her hair had been twisted and braided with beads so that the tresses hung to her shoulders. Her body was plump and glossy. Her breasts and buttocks were naked, only now she wore a tiny beaded apron in front.

  "I see you, Great Lord," she whispered, "and my eyes are dimmed by the splendour of your presence." She crept forward like a kitten and laid her head upon his lap.

  "You cannot stay here." Hal sprang to his feet. "You must go away at once."

  The girl stared up at him in dismay, and tears filled her dark eyes. "Do I not please you, Great One?" she murmured. "You are very pretty," Hal blurted, "but-" How could he tell her that he was married to a golden memory?

  "Let me stay with you, lord," the girl pleaded pathetically. "If you reject me, I will be sent to the executioner. I will die with the sharp stake thrust up through the secret opening of my body to pierce my bowels. Please let me live, O Great One. Have mercy on this unworthy female, O Glorious White Face."

  Hal turned to Aboli. "What can I do?"

  "Send her away." Aboli shrugged. "As she says, she is worthless.

  You can stop up your ears so that you do not have to listen to her screaming on the stake."

  "Do not mock me, Aboli. You know I cannot betray the memory of the woman I love."

  "Sukeena is dead, Gundwane. I also loved her, as a brother, but she is dead. This child is alive, but she will not be so by sunset tomorrow unless you take pity upon her. Your voW was not anything that Sukeena demanded of you."

  Aboli stooped over the other girl, took her hand and lifted her to her feet.

  "I cannot give you any further help, Gundwane. You are a man and Sukeena knew that. Now that she has gone, she might deem it fitting that you live the rest of your life like one."

  He led his own girl to the rear of the hut, where a pile of soft karosses was laid and a pair of carved wooden head rests stood side by side. He laid her down and dropped the leather curtain that screened them.

  "What is your name?" Hal asked the girl who crouched at his feet.

  "My name is Inyosi, Honey-bee," she answered. "Please do not send me to die." She crawled to him, clasped his legs and pressed her face to his lower body.

  "I cannot," he mumbled. "I belong to another." But he wore only the beaded loincloth and her breath was warm and soft on his belly and her hands stroked the backs of his legs.

  "I cannot," he repeated desperately, but one of Inyosi's little hands crept up under his loincloth.

  "Your mouth tells me one thing, Mighty Lord," she puffed, "but the great spear of your manhood tells me another."

  Hal let out a smothered groan, picked her up in his arms and ran with her across the floor to where his own pallet of furs had been laid out.

  At first Inyosi was startled by the fury of his passion, but then she let out a joyous cry and matched him kiss for kiss and thrust for thrust.

  In the dawn, as she prepared to leave him, she whispered, "You have saved my worthless life. In return I must attempt to save your illustrious one." She kissed him one last time, then murmured with her lips against his, "I heard the Monomatapa speak to Zama while he bestrode my back. He believes that Aboli has returned to claim the Seat of Heaven from him. Tomorrow, during the audience to which he has commanded you and Aboli, he will give the order for his bodyguard to seize you and hurl you from the cliff top onto the rocks below, where the hyenas and the vultures wait to devour your corpses." Inyosi snuggled against his chest. "I do not want you to die, my lord. You are too beautiful."

  Then she rose from the pallet and slipped away silently into the darkness. Hal crossed to the hearth and threw a faggot of firewood upon it. The smoke rose up through the hole in the centre of the domed roof and the flames lit the interior with flickering yellow light.

  "Aboli? Are you alone? We must talk at once," he called! and Aboli came out from behind the curtain.

  "The girl is asleep, but speak in English."

  "Your brother intends to have both of us killed during the audience."

  "The girl told you this?" Aboli asked, and Hal nodded guiltily at the mention of his infidelity.

  Aboli smiled in sympathy. "So the little Honey-bee saves your life. Sukeena would rejoice for that. You need feel no guilt."

  "If we attempt to escape, your brother would send an army to pursue us. We would never reach the river again." "So do you have a plan, Gundwane?"

  Zama came to lead them to the royal audience. They stepped out of the gloom of the great &Zhut into the brilliant African sunlight, and Hal paused to gaze around the concourse of the Monomatapa.

  He could only estimate their numbers, but a full regiment of the royal bodyguard ringed the open space, perhaps a thousand tall warriors with the high head-dresses of cranes" feathers turning each into a giant. The light morning breeze tossed and tumbled the feathers, and the sunlight glinted on their broad-bladed spears.

  Beyond them the nobles of the tribe filled every space and lined the top of the wall of granite blocks that surrounded the citadel. A hundred royal wives clustered about the door to the King's hut. Some were so fat and loaded with bangles and ornaments that they could not walk unaided and leant heavily on their handmaidens. When they waddled along their buttocks rolled and undulated like soft bladders filled with lard.

  Zama led Hal and Aboli to the centre of the courtyard and left them there. A heavy silence fell on the throng and no one moved, until suddenly the captain of the bodyguard blew a blast on a spiral kudu horn and the Monomatapa loomed in the doorway of his hut.

  A moaning sigh swept through the gathering and, as one, they threw themselves full length to the earth and covered their faces. Only Hal and Aboli remained standing upr
ight.

  The Monomatapa strode to his living throne and sat upon Inyosi's naked back.

  "Speak first!" Hal breathed from the side of his mouth. "Don't let him give the order for our execution."

  "I see you, my brother!" Aboli greeted him, and the courtiers moaned with horror at this breach of protocol. "I see you, Great Lord of the Heavens!"

  The Monomatapa showed no sign of having heard.

  "I bring you greetings from the ghost of our father, Holomima, who was the Monomatapa before you."

  Aboli's brother recoiled visibly, as though a cobra had reared up before his face. "You speak with ghosts?" His voice trembled slightly.

  "Our father came to me in the night. He was as tall as a great baobab tree, and his face was terrible with eyes of fire.