Chapter 1 — The Drum Thief

Dande froze. His head was reeling. He squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them again. Hondo was still there, breathing hard, staring at him.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Dande did not reply.

“I’ll take that,” Hondo said, pointing at the mask in Dande’s hand. Dande didn’t move. Hondo stood up and held out his hand.

“The mask, Dande. Give it to me.” He stepped forward.

Dande brandished his spear.

“Stay where you are.”

Hondo grinned.

“Sounds funny - you giving orders. It’s like a child learning to walk.”

“I said don’t move.”

“Don’t be foolish, Wild Dog.”

"You are the Captain of the Barwe Tonga. You swore to protect ngomalungundu.”

His mind drifted back to the initiation ceremony of the Barwe Tonga warriors. Held annually, the men who had made the cut and had been chosen to join the ranks of the Empire's most elite force would gather in the Yard of the Ancestors. In the presence of the sacred drum, ngomalungundu, they would pledge their lives to protect it, the Empire, and the Mutapa.

Hondo nodded. “So I did.”

“Yet you stole it?”

“A man cannot steal what it his.”

“It belongs to the Mutapa.”

"And who might that be?”

Chenzira’s voice, calling from afar, came to their ears.

“Dande! Dande!”

Hondo's tone became urgent.

"Unlike you, Dande, I'm not satisfied with being anyone's pet. That is not why I was born. My destiny is to rule this land. And the drum is part of that. It was pledged to me by my ancestors and by Mwari himself. I will not let you or anyone else stand in their way.”

At that moment, Chenzira, Luba, and Zugudini came crashing through the bushes. Dande turned towards them, lowering his spear for an instant. It was all that Hondo needed. He turned on his heel and sprinted towards the edge of the cliff.

"No!" Dande yelled. He darted after him but was too late. Hondo was already at the edge of the cliff. He leaped off the precipice and pressed his arms against his sides. He shot down like an arrow. He fell into the slow-moving river with a small splash and disappeared. The others came running up to the overhand and peered at the current below. After a few moments, a head broke through the surface. Hondo swum to the far bank of the river and hauled himself out. He gave them one look, then plunged into the thick foliage growing along the river’s edge.

"You can never find crocodiles when you need them," Luba said. "That man is going to be trouble.”

“Who was he?” Chenzira asked, taking the mask that Dande still clutched to. In his other hand, he held the drum.

Dande stared at the forest that had swallowed up Hondo, unable to reply.

"Who was he?" Chenzira asked again.

"It was Hondo," Dande said.

“Who is he?” Luba asked.

Nobody spoke. Dande, Chenzira and Zugudini stared at the thick, dense shrubbery below, as though expecting the man to emerge at any moment.

“Who is Hondo?” Luba asked again.

Dande walked up to Chenzira and stared at the drum he held in his hands. He took it and turned it over. It was cool and smooth. The patterns etched deep into its surface were worn with time. An earthy smell rose to his nose. It reminded him of home, and everything he had left behind. He handed it back to Chenzira.

"Who is Hondo?" Luba asked for the third time. “Now you’re just being disrespectful. Or is his name cursed?"

"Hondo is the chief of the Barwe Tonga," Chenzira said. "He is Dande's commander. And he is also Zugudini's father."

"He is not my father," Zugudini said. With that, she turned around and walked away.

They rode down the slopes of Inzalo Ye Langa in silence as the evening sun lit up the sky with an orange afterglow. The mountain's rocky facade bore down on them in shades of brown and beige, its long shadow stretching over them like a hand bidding farewell.

Luba wanted to find out more about this strange man named Hondo, who had had such an effect on everyone. For starters, she wanted to ask Zugudini why she had lied to her and told her that her father was dead. Something terrible must have happened for Zugudini to run away from home and behave as though she were an orphan, knowing full well that her father was alive. Perhaps he had abused her? Luba's heart fell within her at the thought. Again, she would have to hold her tongue until Zugi was good and ready to talk about it. She glanced at Dande. He rode with his head hung low, like a man who was exhausted. She imagined what was going through his mind. Did he feel like he had betrayed his commander, or did he feel like his commander had betrayed him?

If Dande had felt like speaking, which he did not, he would have told her that it was very much the latter. All his life, he had tried to make Hondo proud of him. He had tried to prove to him that he could be the son whom Hondo never had. Dande had trained harder and worked more than any other Barwe Tonga prospective warrior. But nothing that he had ever done had made Hondo treat him with anything other than contempt. He had thought that if he could show Hondo how good he was, what a useful warrior he could be, Hondo would eventually begin to treat him with respect. Maybe even acceptance. Perhaps he would even stop calling him “Wild Dog” and start referring to him by his name. All those hopes and dreams felt foolish now.

The man he had tried so hard to prove himself to was not the man whom he thought he knew. He was someone else completely. If Dande had spent his entire life trying to prove himself to be a traitor, what did that say about him? What sort of a judge of character was he? And if the leader of the Barwe Tonga was out to bring down the entire Empire, what did that say about the organization that he had made it his life's ambition to join? Dande looked at the path beneath his feet and envied his horse. At least his horse had a path to follow and reins to direct him. Dande, on the other hand, had no path to follow. No reins to guide him. Nobody to tell him what to do.

Chenzira rode beside Dande. He too, was lost in his own thoughts. The image of Hondo’s face, there by the cliff’s edge, came back to him. He had glimpsed him briefly just as Hondo turned to run. For a moment he had thought that he’d been seeing things. He’d hoped it was just a trick of the light on an old man’s failing eyesight. But Dande had dashed his hopes to pieces.

“It was Hondo.”

Dande’s words came back to him like a bad dream from the past. Things were worse than he had dared to fear. The whole picture was now clear to him. Hondo was a man with a lot of ambition and a lot of means at his disposal. That was a dangerous combination. He shot another glance at Dande and thought of how much he resembled his father, Banga. He remembered the last time he’d spoken to Banga. It was a meeting he’d told no living soul about.

It was ten harvests earlier. Banga had met him at his home, the same home where they’d spent countless evenings talking, ever since Banga’s wife had died. That last time, Banga had warned him about Hondo. He told him that Hondo wanted the ngomalungundu. It had sounded so far-fetched that Chenzira had dismissed his words. The memory sent a pang of sadness through him. He had thought he’d gotten over it after ten harvests. Now he saw that it was like a stone in a riverbed. The waters of time had only smoothed it over but never quite got rid of it. He felt responsible for the crime that Hondo had committed. It was his fault. But ten harvests earlier, nobody would have listened to him. But still, he should’ve stood up for his friend, instead of trying to save his own neck at the treason trial, where he kept silent, despite Banga’s pleas. Chenzira hung his head in shame and pushed the thought aside. What was done was done. He would make atonement for it by the grief that he felt and by getting the drum back to the capital as soon as possible. It banged gently against his side with every step that his horse took. Once the drum was safely installed back in its home, they would tackle the issue of Hondo's betrayal. But until then, as they rode out there in the open, they were not safe. Hondo could appear at any moment and attempt to take the drum back. He pushed his horse to the front and picked up the pace slightly.

Zugudini lagged behind, her heart so heavy that it seemed to slow down her horse. The last time she had seen the man who she thought had been her father had been ten harvests earlier. Her last memory of him, the last instant when her eyes rested on his face, was the moment when he had thrust his spear through her mother's heart. It was at that moment that she believed what her mother had said to her just before she pushed her out of the house and told her to run. That Hondo was not her father. Hondo was set on killing them both because of the blood that ran through their veins, the blood of Shabaka. Hondo wanted the throne for himself and would kill Zugudini because it had been revealed to him by an oracle that she, Zugudini, was going to beat the drum and usher in an era of peace. Her mother's desperate words to her were words that she had forced herself to forget a long time ago. She had convinced herself that her mother had lost her mind, driven to the edge of insanity by terror and desperation. All she knew was that Hondo had wanted to kill her, and he and his men had hunted through the forest for days, seeking her out. She instinctively reached for the butterfly pendant that hung around her neck. She had clutched onto that pendant and prayed hard to her ancestors while she hid in the hollow of the tree as Hondo and his men prowled through the forests looking for her. It was Dande who had given her that pendant. The pendant that had saved her life. Her hand came up empty, and she remembered that she had hidden it away in her pouch and lied to Dande that she had lost it. Why did she lie to him when she saw him? Their childish escapades had been ten harvests earlier. Now, they were adults. So much had happened since then. They had both become so different from what they used to tell each other they would be when they grew up. Dande had always told her that he would be a soldier in the Barwe Tonga and rise to become its head like his father. Then, he would retire and become a member of the royal council and spend the rest of his days on a little farm outside the city, enjoying the grandchildren that he and Zugudini would have. Zugudini would laugh when he spoke about them getting married and having grandchildren and would tease him about her bride price being too expensive for him to afford. Her father would ask for….

A wave of sorrow and confusion washed over her again. The man she had called “Father” wanted to kill her. And her mother was dead. She was an orphan. An outlaw and a bandit. The only family she knew were wanted criminals. What man would want to marry her? Her eyes watered at the thought of how cruel fate had been to her. All she wanted was to be a mother, have children and grandchildren, and die surrounded by a warm, loving family. She shot a hateful glance at the drum that hung on the saddle beside Chenzira, up ahead of her. The drum that had cost her mother's life and made her an orphan. The drum that had created an empire that condemned thousands to a life of slavery. The drum that had made her spend her life wandering through the wilderness, living like a hermit, and never settling anywhere, never having a place that she could call home. The drum that destined her, if the stories were true, to a life of lording it over others. A life that she wanted even less than her current one. Right then and there, what at first had been a suspicion and a gut feeling became a dead certainty. She was going to destroy it. She did not know how. She did not know when. But destroy it she must. Of that, she had no doubt.

They came to the plains at the base of the Inzalo Ye Langa just as the sun dipped beneath the horizon. Darkness came upon them quickly, and they decided to make camp for the night. The forest was quiet here. The absence of the birds and the silence of the crickets made them realize the powerful influence of what they carried.

Luba's trusty flint proved useful in starting a fire, and soon, they had a little flame blazing away in between a corral of bushes to keep the firelight away from prying eyes. They roasted a few cassavas and a leg of gazelle, which they shared. Then they rolled out their mats and turned in for the night, taking turns keeping watch. But none of them really slept. The presence of the ngomalungundu in their midst kept their minds fully occupied. Luba offered to keep the first watch, after which she would be relieved by Zugudini.

Luba sat beside the smoldering flames for an hour, looking at the cloudless night sky overhead. The moon was full and bright, casting shadows out of every bush. Luba was not one to scare easily, having spent about half of her life sleeping in the outdoors. But tonight, she felt a shiver run down her spine that had nothing to do with the cool wind that wafted past them. She imagined a spearman hidden behind every bush, just waiting for her to drift off to slip before skewering her where she slept and taking off with the drum. She shook her head to rid herself of the negative thoughts. Zugudini stirred and sat up. Their eyes met across the supine forms of Chenzira and Dande. Zugudini stood up and wound her way towards Luba, walking past the two men lying asleep on the hard earth where they had chosen to make camp for the night. She paused for a moment beside Chenzira, her eyes resting on the drum that he held protectively against his chest as he slept. Dande stirred and turned to face her.

"What's happening?" he asked.

"I'm relieving Luba. Go back to sleep."

She sat beside Luba, not saying a word but just staring at the space ahead of her.

"Why didn't you ever tell me you had a father?" Luba finally asked.

Zugudini was quiet for a moment.

"I don't," she said finally.

"Then why does Chenzira think that the man who stole the drum is your father?"

"It's a long story."

"I've got time."

"You should go to sleep."

"I'm your sister." Luba tucked her legs in beneath her chin and folded her arms around them. That was how she sat whenever she was going to give Zugudini all her attention. Zugudini gazed at the stars for a long moment, then she turned and gazed at the figures of the two men asleep on the mat. She knew they were both awake. She dropped her voice to a soft whisper that only Luba could hear and told her everything that had happened ten harvests prior. Luba was quiet for a long time after she was done.

"I'm sorry," she finally said.

"Don't be. It's not your fault. You should go to sleep now."

But Luba didn't stir.

"I knew this job was no good. Something told me not to do it. Didn't I tell you that we shouldn't do it? My ancestors never lie to me."

"Since when did you believe in ancestors?”

"Since they started telling me what jobs I should and shouldn't do. We should walk away from this. Our job is done. We found the Thief and retrieved the … item. We should just leave. Now. I don’t even want to get paid.”

Zugudini was quiet for a long moment. Luba wondered whether she had heard her. She was just about to repeat what she'd said when Zugudini said,

"I'm going to destroy the drum."

Luba's eyes popped open.

"What did you say?"

"I said I'm going to destroy the drum."

"Are you out of your mind? Do you even understand what you're saying?"

"I do."

"That drum is the single most important thing in this Empire. Without it, there is no empire."

"That's why I have to destroy it. Don't you see, Luba? All that we have been fighting to end. The slavery. The oppression. The gold mines. All of that will end when the Empire ends."

"No, Zugudini. There must be another way. What you're saying is impossible. If you destroy that drum, all that it will lead to will be war."

"No empire ever ends without one."

"Think of all the lives that will be lost."

"Think of all the lives that are being lost. If we want things to get better, we must destroy it.”

"You're crazy, Zugudini. I won’t let you do that.”

"I'm not asking for your permission, Luba. I've thought about this long and hard."

"Think about it some more. Maybe you're taking this too personally. Your mother died because of that drum. And if what she told you was true..."Luba paused, looking for the words.

"If what she told you was true, then that drum rightfully belongs to you. And you are meant to rule."

"And that's why I choose to destroy it."

"You're being a coward." Luba regretted her words as soon as they came out of her mouth.

"Don't you dare call me a coward," Zugudini shot back. "You have no idea what I've been through. You don't know what it's like having that thing hanging over you all your life. How can I free others if I myself am not free? Tell me how to do it, and I'll do it."

Luba didn't answer. They sat there in silence for a while longer, staring at the stars overhead and listening to the night sounds of the forest.

“Okay. Fine. If you want to destroy it," Luba said, touching Zugudini's shoulder. "I'll help you. Though I don't know how we are going to do it."

"Neither do I. But first, we will have to get it away from those two."

"We could just kill them."

"No," Zugudini said. "They're innocent. Killing them would call down a curse on us. We will have to find a way to take the drum, then shake them off and be gone.”

"We will think of something," Luba said. "Let me sleep on it."

She patted Zugudini's arm, then went back to her mat. In a few moments, she was fast asleep.

Chenzira had the final watch before the crack of dawn. He hadn't slept at all during the night and had observed the conversation between Zugudini and Luba, though he had heard nothing. They had been careful not to let their words carry through the still night air. Their talk had put him ill at ease. He was sure that they had discussed the drum, and the sooner that he could get it out of his own hands, the better. As soon as the first rays of the sun lit the eastern horizon, Chenzira bestirred himself and woke the others up. Soon, they had broken up camp, rolled away their mats, and were on their horses ready to leave.

"I don't think we should go straight to Zvongombe," he said. "The road is too long and too dangerous. Given the value of what we have in our hands, and who is after it, I would be more comfortable if we got soldiers to escort us."

Luba and Zugudini exchanged a look but said nothing.

"What do you have in mind?" Dande asked.

"Let's ride south to Chimbwe."

Chimbwe was a large trading post on the southwestern frontier of the Empire. One of its main goods was slaves, kidnapped from the great Ngola empire in the west. The Ngola slaves were well known for their strength, and many of them were employed to provide entertainment for the upper classes by putting on wrestling matches. The betting business had become synonymous with Chimbwe, and many were the men who had their fortunes made and destroyed there. Due to the large number of slaves there, a garrison of Barwe Tonga was kept permanently stationed in the trading post. Dande nodded his head in agreement.

"I like the sound of that. We should be there by the end of the day. I'll also rest easier if we had more spears accompanying us on the way to the city."

He turned his horse off the path and proceeded to cut through the bushes. Chenzira followed him. Luba rode up to Zugudini.

"What are we going to do?" she asked. "Once we get to Chimbwe, we won’t be able to do a thing.”

Luba was right. They would have to act quickly. Zugudini had thought that they would have the opportunity to come up with something as they rode to Zvongombe. She Chenzira’s change of plan. She hadn't seen it coming at all. Now, the old man was going to force her hand. Time was of the essence. Now, it would be two against two. But in a couple of hours, only Mwari knew what odds they would face.

They broke out of the forest cover and found another path that led to the southwest. The day was still dawning when they rode past a rocky outcrop, marking one of the foothills of Inzalo Ye Langa. The crests of its serrated rocks looked like a row of fangs and an eerie silence hung over it. Zugudini turned in her saddle, nodded at Luba, and made a fist with her hand. Luba shook her head. Zugudini raised an eyebrow. Luba shrugged, then nodded.

Zugudini kicked her horse and rode to the front of the group. Pulling her reins, she turned her horse around in a tight circle and blocked Dande's path. Dande stared at her in surprise.

"What are you doing?"

"We are not going to Chimbwe."

"Yes, we are. Get out of the way."

"We can't go to Chimbwe."

"Why not?"

"Luba and I are wanted there."

"Then the two of you can stay outside of the town and follow us again once we've left. Let's go."

Dande kicked his horse forward, but Zugudini barred his way again.

"What's wrong with you? Get out of my way."

"I cannot allow you to go any further. Hand over the drum."

Dande sat on his horse, stupefied, not certain whether he had heard right. Luba hitched her horse forward past him and came to a halt side by side with Zugudini. Dande exchanged a look with Chenzira. Chenzira clutched the drum more tightly against his side.

"I don't know what you're thinking," Dande said. "But you are making a mistake. You are not going to take this drum. What you are going to do is to finish the job that you were hired to do."

"You hired me to help you track the man that stole the drum. That job I've done. What would happen afterward we did not discuss."

Dande clutched his spear and swung it around in his hand.

"Zugudini. Please. Do not make me use force."

"I cannot let you take that drum. I'm sorry. Please hand it over."

"I am asking you one last time. Let us through or else." He leveled his spear and urged his horse forward. Zugudini held her ground.

"Please don't make me hurt you,” Dande said.

“I’d like to see you try.” She took her spear in her hand. It was Chenzira who spoke.

"I would offer you money, but I know that it's not money that you are after."

"You are correct."

"Then what is it that you want?"

"I'm going to destroy the drum."

Dande couldn't believe what he had just heard. He looked at Chenzira as if seeking confirmation that he had heard right. To his surprise, Chenzira seemed not to be alarmed at all. It was almost as though he had been expecting it. Chenzira nodded.

"Then so be it." He looked at the sun rising in the sky overhead in crimson. "A red sun," he said. "An omen that blood will be shed today."

The dawn breeze whistled past their ears. Nobody wanted to make the first move. Their horses pawed the grass impatiently as though itching to get the fight going. Just then, Luba stood on her horse and pointed south.

"Look," she said. "Riders. We've been seen."

They turned and followed her gaze. Far to the south, at the bottom of a plain that lay below them, they made out two horsemen riding hard towards them.

"They're wearing masks," Luba said. "Vana Va Lungundu."

The words sent a shiver down their spine. The Vana Va Lungundu had only one mission: to get the ngomalungundu and to kill whoever stood in their way.

"Those are only two men," Dande said.

"There will be more behind them," Zugudini said.

"I think I see them," Luba said, squinting. "They're moving through the forest. Those two are the vanguard.”

“I only see the two riders,” Dande said, peering into the distance. “Nobody else.”

“It matters little,” Chenzira said. “Two or twenty: we need to hide the drum. If they find us with it, we could lose it again in a fight, and that I am not willing to do.”

His eyes scoured their surroundings and settled on the hillock next to them.

"There must be a place somewhere in those rocks where we can hide it. Then we can take cover in the forest and return once the danger has passed.”

"If we don't want to be found, we will have to separate," Luba said.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you," Dande shot back. "As soon as our backs were turned, you'd return here and take the drum."

Luba's eyes narrowed in irritation.

"Those men are coming closer, and you want us to stand here arguing because we don't trust each other?”

"Dande, you go with Zugudini,” Chenzira said. “I will go with Luba. That way, we can keep an eye on each other."

"I said we need to go separately," Luba said.

"It's either that or we stay here and fight the Vana Va Lungundu army," Dande said. "You choose."

Zugudini leaped off her horse and stalked through the tall grass and loose rocks at the base of the hillock. She paused and looked over her shoulder.

"Are you coming with the drum?"

Chenzira got off his horse. So did the others. They hitched them to a small tree stump and proceeded up the hill. Soon, they came to a narrow ravine with a sandy floor. The kind of place that would have flooded during the rains, but now it was as dry as a bone. At the top of the ravine, they found a narrow cave. It was just large enough for a man to squeeze into. Chenzira entered and deposited the drum at the far end. They all took their bearings so that they could remember the spot, then hurried back down the hill and got back onto their horses. The bright morning sun cast long shadows ahead of them as they rode back to the tree line.

"So, which way do we go?" Zugudini asked as they rode into the shadows.

"You and Dande go south. Luba and I will go north."

"How will we know when and where to meet again?"

"Let's meet where we hitched the horses at exactly noon."

"And if one of the groups doesn't make it?" Luba asked.

"Then,” Chenzira said, “We will let Mwari decide who amongst us is fit to have the drum.”

The four eyed each other for a moment. Luba stared hard at Zugudini, hooding her eyelids and giving a slight nod upwards. Zugudini understood her. She gave her a barely perceptible nod, turned her horse, and tore down a forest path. Dande turned his horse and followed suit.

"Seems you stuck with me," Chenzira said to Luba.

"Try to keep up,” Luba said.

She kicked her horse and guided it up a narrow, quicker track that led between the bushes. Chenzira followed close behind her.

The bamboo-brown forest was a leafy paradise, its trees fed by the streams that ran from Inzalo Ye Langa. Dande kept his horse close to Zugudini's. She went as quickly as she could through the thick undergrowth. He found it difficult to keep up with her.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"In a straight line away from the soldiers. After a few hours, we'll turn back and get to the hill by midday."

"You think you could slow down?”

"Not if we don't want to be caught by the Vana."

She kicked her horse into a trot, drawing further from Dande. He became keenly aware of how adept she was at riding through the forest. The low-hanging branches didn't bother her at all. She deftly ducked and avoided them. Once or twice, Dande was nearly knocked off his mount. He crouched low on his horse, hugging its sides with his hands and keeping his head down. The path went down a small embankment, then rose out of it again. When he came to the top, there was no sign of Zugudini. He hurried his horse forward, trying to keep his head up to catch a glimpse of her while avoiding any low hanging branches. The path ahead veered and meandered through the trees. There was no sign of Zugudini. The path split into two. Dande paused at the crossroads, wondering which way to go. He pricked his ears, listening keenly for any sounds that would give him a clue as to where Zugudini had gone. Nothing came to him except the chirping of crickets and the tweeting of birds. A falcon called somewhere in the distance. Dande was getting worried now. He hopped off his horse and examined the paths more closely. There were no hoofprints on any of them. He studied the path down which he and his horse had just come. The only prints on them were his own. Somewhere along the way, Zugudini must have turned off the path. He swore under his breath, got back on his horse, and turned around, going back the way he came and studying the undergrowth for any signs of Zugudini's horse having gone through them.

Luba went as quickly as she could through the thick undergrowth. In the distance, she could hear Chenzira calling out for her. It was a hesitant call. Short and sharp. Like that of a man calling out for a companion whilst keeping his voice down to avoid an enemy’s ears. It had been a stroke of luck that she had seen the two horsemen riding in the distance. They could have been anyone, really. But they fell neatly into the plan that she needed to come up with on the spot to get them out of a tricky situation. So far, the plan was working better than she expected. She was certain that she had lost Chenzira and he wouldn't be able to find her in the forest. Now, she just had to reunite with Zugudini, using their standard falcon call. She cupped her hands over her mouth and perfectly imitated the short, sharp call. She listened for a response. Nothing. She pushed her horse further ahead and called again. This time, in the distance and faintly, the call was repeated. It was Zugi. Good. She nudged her horse forward and called again. The response came back, closer and louder this time. She got off her horse and hitched it to a tree. Then she walked across to another, a few paces off and climbed. From the top, she commanded a good view of the surrounding forest. She cupped her hands and called out again. There was no response. Instead, she caught a glimpse of a horse flitting in and out of the undergrowth nearby. She made the call again, and this time, the horse stopped.

"Zugudini" she called out in a low voice. Zugudini looked up and spotted her in the tree. Luba scrambled down as Zugudini rode up to her.

"Did you lose the old man easily?"

Luba nodded. "And you?"

“Barely. He was persistent. But I managed. The ancestors are with us. Let's get going. We don't have much time. We will have to go the long way round so there’s no chance of them finding us.”

Luba nodded. She hopped back onto her horse and led the way through the forest.

It took them about an hour to make their way back to the hillside from where they had separated. They waited in the shadows of the tree line and scanned the nearby grasslands leading up to the base of the hill. Nothing stirred.

"Let's go," Zugudini said. "I'll get the drum while you keep watch. If you hear anything, make the call and bolt. I'll find you again."

Luba nodded. They got onto their horses and galloped for the hillside. Zugudini leaped off her horse and handed the reins to Luba. Then she started up the hillside. She had barely gone up a few paces when she heard Luba whistle shrilly. She spun around and froze.

Galloping hard towards them were two men on horseback. At first, she thought they were Chenzira and Dande, but a second glance showed her otherwise. The men were riding hard towards them. Zugudini darted down the hillside and got onto her horse just as the two men came within hailing distance.

“Don’t do or say anything,” she said to Luba. Luba nodded.

The two men drew their horses up to a halt and lowered the bark cloth scarves that covered the lower halves of their mouths. One wore a buck skin cape, whilst the other had a bark cloth shawl draped across his shoulders.

“Why did you go back to the forest when you saw us?” Jilo said, as he dismounted from his horse.

“And where are the other two?” Karama said, leaping to the ground. Zugudini climbed off her horse, walked up to him, and locked him in an embrace.

“It’s good to see you, Karama,” she said. “I’ve missed you.”

Karama held her for a moment, then pushed her back.

“Where are the other two?” he asked again, glancing from Zugudini to Luba.

Luba shot a look at Zugudini. Zugudini cleared her throat and pasted a big grin to her face.

“You won’t believe me if I told you.”

“Try me,” Karama said. “I’m listening.”