Moomba walked like a titan between two women, the one on his right being

a bit chubbier and shorter than the one on his left. He looked lean and tall,

walking slightly ahead of the two women. Their destination was the Chief’s

house.

“I-I really don’t like coming here,” said the woman on his right shaking as

she walked unsteadily.

“We go where we are needed Lwiindi, and now it is by Bashi Insuku’s side,”

answered the other woman.

The Chief’s compound was the biggest in the whole village. It was spacious

and many houses were arranged in a straight line on both sides, divided only

by a well cleaned pathway, starting from the entrance. The design was

strange since many houses were arranged in a circular pattern.

Moomba’s destination was the last house and that’s where the pathway

terminated. The houses were big, circular and painted brown and had white

markings going around. All the houses in the compound had the same

design.

“Yeah I know but, look at all these guards. Uhm, why do we have to be here

again?”

“Lwiindi, we are to uh… mnh. Just walk okay?”

“D-Do you even know why we’re Nkanga?”

“Of course, I do!” shouted Nkanga with a frown.

The place, starting from the entrance to the end was only populated by

brawny men carrying spears, carefully eyeing people headed to the Chief’s

house. The look on the guards’ faces showed that any sign of trouble they’d

be sending Moomba and the two women to the afterlife.

When they reached their destination, two brawny men, each with a spear in

hand stood guard at the entrance to the big house.

“Hold it, no women allowed.”

Seeing Moomba with two women, one of the guards approached him,

blocking his path. Neither Moomba nor the women flinched. If anything, the

way they looked at the guard made him look a little anxious.

“Wait here,” side Moomba.

“Yes.”“Alright Bashi Insuku.”

The guard was still standing in front of Moomba. Moomba noticed that the

guard gripped his spear a little tighter, it was subtle but the guard was also

shaking. One could only imagine the fear he felt standing in front of

Moomba

“Move,” instructed Moomba.

The guard swallowed hard when he felt Moomba’s eyes on him. He couldn’t

look the man before him in the eye. It was a long way before noon and it

wasn’t all that hot but the sweat running down his forehead made it seem

like the sun had concentrated all its heat on him.

“Y-Yes sir,” he slowly moved out of the way and let Moomba pass.

When Moomba entered the house, he found a crowd gathered in the Chief’s

house. The house was plenty lit with sunlight pouring in through openings at

window level.

The stench of sweat however made it seem like the openings were doing one

job and ignoring the other. They let light in but failed to properly circulate

fresh air. In places like this though, one quickly adjusts to terrible smells.

The place was mostly filled with old men whose heads were grey or starting

to get a little greyer. The men sat on four legged chairs made of wood and

goat skin in groups.

The Chief sat a distance away from the men gathered, in the center of four

of his advisors, two on his right and two on his left facing the people that. It

was quite the gathering, Moomba noted that the three headmen had traveled

from their villages just to be.

When the people noticed him, all the chattering stopped. All eyes were on

him. There was nothing particularly noteworthy about him to draw all this

attention. He ignored the stares and sat at the back.

“I greet you, Busanga!” Shouted one of the grey hairs furthest from the

Chief’s left hand.

It looked like Moomba was the last one to arrive because just after he took

his seat, the advisors begun to address everyone. Greetings here and there

and then on to reasons as to why they were gathered.

After talking about the most mundane and boring of issues, who killed who,

who stole what, who’s supposed to get his father’s inheritance and many

other things, Moomba’s name was finally called by a grey beard.“Moomba, you have failed to control your brother. Now look at what he has

done,” said the advisor seated at the far end of the chief’s right hand. When

his mouth opened, it revealed a number black rotten teeth.

“My elder,” Moomba stood up and gave a slight bow.

Unlike most of the villagers, he wore a long brown Toga like cloth that

completely covered his right hand but exposed his left hand. There were

very few people who chose that particular style of dressing, one of them

being the Chief.

“People of Busanga, I greet you.” Said Moomba with a blank disinterested

expression on his face, not looking at anyone or anything in particular.

“My Elder, tell us what Shimunenga has done first, many of us here do not

know what you are talking about.”

“Moomba!” Exclaimed another Advisor, forcing himself off his stool. He was

next to the Chief on his right hand.

This one was wearing very fine clothes as if to show all the people gathered

that he was the wealthiest man in all the villages. A long brown fluffy coat

that appeared to be seamlessly sawn together.

“Do not pretend like you do not know what is happening. You sent your

brother to war, a war he couldn’t win, didn’t you?”

“Before I go on, I would like to acknowledge the presence of the Chief, his

advisors the Elders and the Headmen. Now, Elder Muchindu if you would be

so kind as to explain to us all what is happening. I’ve been brought before

you all without an understanding of what is happening,” explained Moomba.

When he spoke, his eyes were empty. He wore neither fear, nor anxiety, just

a blank face with cold uncaring eyes looking at the person he was

addressing.

“We received word three days ago that your brother had set out to war to

fight the Ngoni raiders. He had nearly fifty men with him. Are you saying you

had no hand in the matter?”

“No. I did not, but why is it a problem that he went to fight the Ngoni

raiders? Would you prefer nothing is done about them and have them

continue decimating our villages?”

Moomba’s eye briefly shifted to the Chief’s and then back to the Elder,

waiting for an answer.

Everyone gasped at this question and started murmuring among themselves.

Moomba’s question suggested that the Elder was against stopping the raids

that had plagued the villages. Questioning the Elder was bad enough butsuggesting that the Elder wanted the villagers to suffer was like adding to

salt to the wound.

Before the Elder could say a thing, Moomba had already posed a question to

the Headman whose village was affected.

“Headman Budima, your village, how many times has it been raided since the

Ngoni people settled near our lands?”

The headman, an old man with a frail looking constitution got up, he had a

walking stick in one hand to help him balance. He squinted his eyes hard as

if trying to see for the first time in his life. He had a bald head and no facial

hair.

“There have been many raids on my village,” he spoke slowly, “we have lost

many cows. The crops in the fields were taken, that is why we came here to

ask the chief to help provide my people with food and protection.”

When the old man was finished talking, he struggled to sit down until one of

his attendants came to help him down. A young man who Moomba was sure

was not supposed to be there. Moomba removed his eyes from the village

headman, back to the Elder.

“Headman Budima’s village will not be the only one to suffer from these

raids. Once they have taken every little thing from there, they’ll move further

in and start raiding the other villages. My brother wants to help protect our

people, that is why he took such drastic actions. While I understand what he

did was for the good of the people of Busanga, I did nothing to aid him.”

The people in the Chief’s presence murmured in agreement with Moomba’s

words. But this did not sit well with one of the advisors seated on the Chief’s

left hand who got up and furiously shouted Moomba’s name.

“Moomba! This is not about the raids. We have told the village headmen that

will send men to protect them. This is about your brother who went against

the wishes of the Elders.”

“Enough.”

Just one word, the entire house was quiet. The person to speak was none

other than the Chief himself. He appeared to be in his fifties and his voice

carried so much authority that none dared say a single word.

“It is my understanding that Shimunenga has not returned. Therefore, we will

continue this when he returns. Moomba take your seat, let us discuss other

matters now.”

From there the council went on to discuss matters that affected the everyday

lives of the villagers.When Moomba left the meeting, he found the two women he’d come with

standing quietly under the shed of a house. The meeting hadn’t taken long

as compared to other meetings in the past. It was done just a little after

noon.Without a word, the two women joined him as he made his way out of the

Chief’s yard. All the men that were in the meeting were still exchanging

greetings back at the Chief’s so no one was within ear shot of Moomba and

the women.

“So, uhm, how did it go?” Asked Lwiindi, walking a bit quicker to catch up to

Moomba.

“Shimunenga is a player in a game he knows nothing about,” answered

Moomba.

“No, you don’t mean—

”

“Yes. Lwiindi, the boy behind there with Headman Budima.”

Lwiindi glanced back to look at the man Moomba was talking about. The

young man that had helped the old man sit down. He was among the men

that had stayed back with the village headman, he looked stronger than your

average soldier.

“Is that, Wesele?” The playful expression Lwiindi’s had was gone.

“Yes, he went to war with Shimunenga, he is back, but Shimunenga is not.”

“Does that mean your brother is dead?”

“We’ll know in a few nights, for now, I want you to find out everything you

can about Wesele, also there might be more than meets the eye that

Budima.”

“I understand. For now, do we proceed as planned?”

“No. Nkanga and I will meet Handabvu, you have will stay behind and

continue looking for that broken god.”

The three had been walking for a while and were a distance away from the

Chief’s house. They were still in the village, walking south when Nkanga

quickened her pace to match Moomba’s.

“Bashi Insuku, it would appear we have eyes walking with us, should we

disappear?” Asked Nkanga with a not too friendly smile.

A man had been tailing them all the way from the Chief’s house.

“No, for now let us return home as is.” Answered Moomba.