The Chief's Wife, Jones M [ebook reader with android os .TXT] 📗

walking to settle himself on the ground to stare at the view. As he looked around, he wondered why his parents kept warning him about wandering into the night. He had been out for about an hour, and nothing had happened to him.

Believing that he had seen enough, Mcharo turned to head back home. He couldn't wait to tell the other children about how exciting it could be to stay awake at night.

That was when he had noticed how dark it was becoming."

Wakio shifted in her seat, and that made Wanjala smile.

"A feeling of dread instantly filled him. Even with the moon and stars present, Mcharo could barely make out anything around him. So he began walking around, trying to find his way back. However, he found himself wandering deep into a forest he had not seen on his way. 

Mcharo kept walking in the dark, and without his knowledge, he kept wandering far from home. He felt lost, and that made him cry.

Mcharo started calling out into the night for his parents. It was then that he spotted a black, clothed figure in the distance. He could make out the shape of a person. Mcharo was filled with hope as he started running towards it. It was when he was a few meters from the person that he noticed something was wrong.

The figure had bright green eyes, and that was the only thing Mcharo could see. He felt frightened. He turned to run away, hoping that the person had not seen him. However, the figure had spotted him, and with lightning speed, it had grasped onto Mcharo's arm.

Mcharo tried to move away, but he felt frozen. He realized some power had him caged, and that was enough for him to know he was in the presence of a bad witch. He tried tugging his arm off of the witch's cold ones, but the hold on his wrist tightened.

'I'm going to eat you for supper tonight,' the witch said with an evil smile before laughing."

Wanjala expertly copied an evil, maniacal laugh, and her sister screamed, rushing out of the hut. Wanjala laughed at her sister's running figure.

"You've done it now," Mwamba commented with a smile. Wanjala rolled her eyes as she turned to the contents boiling in the hut.

"She asked for it. Would you rather I told her the one about the witch that was heard walking on someone's roof at night or the ones about those demons that appear on the hills in the dark?"

Mwamba shivered in fear, recalling how both stories had frightened him when he was a child.

"It doesn't even help that the latter could be true," Wanjala added, and Mwamba stared at her in shock.

"Oh. You didn't know? Apparently, some of the men who had been searching for water weeks ago had encounters with the demonic beings. They believe they appeared when they were trespassing on cursed land, but I don't think that's true."

The chief's son stared at his friend with a smile, wanting to end the conversation.

"So, how about that meal?" he stated.

 

Chapter Five

 

It was another morning, and Mwamba found himself walking towards the chief's hut. He had been summoned there for reasons unknown to him.

Mwamba entered the open doorway of the hut, glancing at the few men situated close to the walls on his sides. The men served as the warriors of the chief.

"Father?" he called out. The chief was having a conversation with a couple of village elders.

"Mwamba!" the chief called out with a smile as he stood from the bench he and the elders were occupying. "Come!"

Once Mwamba had reached the chief, he started greeting the elders.

"What did you want to talk about?" Mwamba asked once the greetings had passed.

"We have been talking with the chief and elders from the neighboring village," his father said, motioning towards himself and the elders in the hut.

Mwamba stared at him, not sure of what he was implying.

"And?" he questioned. The chief frowned.

"Mwadime, if I may," one of the village elders spoke out, and the chief nodded to allow him to speak.

"Your Grace, what your father is trying to tell you is that we have been talking about joining our village with the other one."

Mwamba's eyes widened in surprise.

"We'll have a lot of benefits," the man continued. "Think about the access we'll have to the other side of the hill! I heard it rains more frequently there. We'll have enough resources to cater for food and water, and we will also have enough men in case war breaks out with other tribes."

"I know, right?" the elder next to him said. "I've been hearing stories about people who are as yellow as the sun and as white as the clouds. Apparently, they have extraordinary weapons that can kill a man in a second!"

Mwamba resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the man's words, believing it was one of the many rumors going around the village. It sounded more ridiculous than the one about people being kidnapped from tribes far away from his homeland and being sold as slaves.

"I understand what you are all saying, but how do you suppose we do that?" he questioned, referring to the joining of the villages.

"That is where you come in," Mwadime, the chief, stated. "The chief has a daughter--"

Mwamba saw where it was going, and his eyes widened in shock.

"Father!"

"You'll love her," he went on. "She is the eldest of the five children he has. The girl is around your age, and she is quite a beauty."

Mwamba opened and closed his mouth, not knowing what to say.

"You will be doing me and the whole village a huge favor if you do this."

"But I don't even know her!"

"You will get a chance to do that. She'll be here in two days."

Mwamba's eyes widened in surprised anger as he dropped his jaw in shock.

"Are you kidding me?" he stated, not caring about the village elders who were observing the ongoing spectacle. "She is coming here in two days? How long have you been planning this?"

The chief remained quiet for a while before saying, "A month."

Mwamba's anger grew.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I knew this is how you would react!" Mwadime boomed. "I know how your brain works, and I realized you would not want to do this if I ever spoke to you about it."

Mwamba fumed.

"Oh, grow up, Mwamba! You are nineteen years old, and you are my son. You are the future chief of the village! It is about time you started acting like a mature leader! It is time to think of people other than yourself! Yes, I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but I am not apologizing for going on with this without your approval."

There were so many words Mwamba wanted to yell at his father. Most of them would have left a couple of the villagers gasping in shock. 

By then, he was shaking in anger. But then, his father's words about his immaturity returned to him. They angered him further, and he decided he needed time away from everyone around him before he could say something he would regret.

"I need a moment to think," he said instead, turning quickly and heading out of the hut.

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"Wow," Wanjala commented as she stared at a moody Mwamba. "He actually said that?"

Mwamba's lack of response was all that she needed to know it was true. With a shake of her head, she turned to add more branches to the fire.

It was evening by then, and it had started to rain. Mwamba and Wanjala were in her hut, sitting next to the open fire. It was also the only source of light in the hut.

"Don't listen to him, Mwamba. He doesn't know you like I do."

It was not the first time Mwamba and his father had an argument, no less in public. His father kept on insisting that he was still a child, and that had always angered him. It made him feel embarrassed and ashamed, more so because people would be present to witness their exchanges.

"But what if he's right?" he asked, hating the way he sounded then. "What if I actually am immature? And if I take over as chief, would people take me seriously?"

"Stop it, Mwamba!" Wanjala chastised him with a frown. "You are none of those things. You are a responsible man. I believe that you will be a great chief, an even better one than your father."

"Thank you," he said, and Wanjala smiled at him.

"So, what actually caused this argument once again?" Wanjala teased, but something on Mwamba's face told her she wasn't going to like it.

"He had me betrothed to another chief's daughter without telling me."

There was a moment of silence in the hut.

"WHAT?" Wanjala finally exploded, and Mwamba went on to tell her what had occurred earlier in the day.

"I can't believe this. That father of yours had no right to do that behind your back."

"I know, but there is nothing I can do. I'm going to do it. I have to do it," Mwamba stated in a calm fashion, and that angered Wanjala even more.

"WHAT?"

"I have been thinking a lot today, and I made up my mind to do this."

Wanjala was shocked.

"Mwamba, you can't just do this. You should yell at him! Make him beg for your forgiveness--"

"I can't," Mwamba cut her off.

"Why?" she asked him.

"Because he was right, and he rarely ever is."

"Mwamba, there has to be another way--"

"He was right, Wanjala. I was thinking of myself this morning. I was wondering, 'How will I ever manage to do this?' I mean, it is a damn wedding! I don't think I'm even ready for marriage yet!"

"Mwamba--"

"I am next in line to rule the village. I have to start acting like a leader, even if that means making sacrifices for the good of the people."

"But, Mwamba, what about everything? What about what you want? What about m—" Wanjala cut herself off, making Mwamba furrow his eyebrows.

"What were you going to say?"

Wanjala revealed a smile, and Mwamba sensed it was fake.

"Nothing important," she said. Mwamba's eyebrows furrowed when he noticed her eyes were beginning to shine in the lighting.

"Wanjala--"

"I have to get more firewood," she said in a whisper, quickly walking out of the hut.

Mwamba was left thoroughly confused, wondering why she had gone out so quickly and why she never came back to the hut thirty minutes later. Surely, it couldn't take that long to get branches outside.

Then again, it was raining. Wanjala was probably having a hard time finding dry tree parts. 

Mwamba soon got up to leave. The food boiling in the pot was far from being ready so there was no need for him to continue staying there. Also, he decided he would talk to Wanjala at another time.