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

animal seemed to listen, but it did not move from its spot. It just stood there with its mouth closed. It could have made anyone think it had given up, but the glint in its eyes told Mwamba that it was hungry.

He was damned if he would let a freaking hyena eat him.

Mwamba charged forward, thrusting the dagger towards the animal. It backed off, but only by a couple of centimeters.

It was one stubborn animal.

"Move!" Mwamba yelled again, thrusting the dagger towards the hyena. It moved a bit, but not before laughing again.

The animal seemed to be making fun of Mwamba. He thought it could sense the fear in his voice and could see through the front he was trying to pull off.

Unexpectedly, the hyena moved to jump at him. Mwamba backed away a foot, and that distance was quickly covered by the animal.

The hyena lunged again, aiming for Mwamba's arm. The claws grazed at his skin, but it was not enough to draw blood. Mwadime's son acted quickly, using a hand to hold onto the animal's head before it could try to attack again. By then, the hyena was thrashing wildly. It opened and closed its jaws, trying to reach for Mwamba's fingers.

Without wasting time, Mwamba stabbed the animal in its stomach. It mewled in his hold, and he quickly released it. Mwamba pulled out the dagger and made a disgusted sound when he saw it coated with blood.

He took another look at the animal lying on the ground. Blood was coming out, coating the animal's furry skin in its color.

Mwamba knew the animal would soon die, so he did not have to worry about another attempt of attack from it. He then quickly took off towards the direction that Njumwa had taken.

"Thank the gods you are alive!" Njumwa sighed once he saw Mwamba running towards him. It was then that he caught the sight of blood smeared on his skin.

"Did it hurt you?"

"Barely," Mwamba replied. "This was all from the hyena."

Njumwa shuddered. He had no idea of what he could have done if Mwamba had not been there to save him.

"I must be lucky. I mean, I survived my first kill with barely any scratches on me."

"That was your first kill?"

Mwadime's son shrugged in reply with a smile.

"Well, let's keep walking," Njumwa said. "We need to find a stream so that you can wash yourself of the blood."

He started walking, and then Mwamba followed him.

"And Mwamba? Thank you," the younger man said.

*********** ************** ******************* ******************* ******************

It was once again another evening. Night had rolled in, and the sky was clear. Mwamba and Njumwa could see the stars as they settled underneath a large tree. They had lit a fire in front of them since it was colder than usual.

Earlier, Mwamba and Njumwa had found another stream. They quickly drank from it, and Mwadime's son bathed himself in the water. Once they were done, they started looking for food around the area. They found nothing but fruits. Other than mangoes, the two had found oranges and pawpaws.

"We must be getting closer to my village," Njumwa had informed Mwamba. They continued walking, hoping they would get closer to signs of civilization. When it was sunset, the two had not made any progress, and so they started to look for areas where they could settle to spend the night.

"Something tells me we will soon reach my village," Njumwa commented once again. He had said that earlier. Mwamba was doubtful of his words. Any plantation would have clued in that they were approaching a village, but they had found none so far.

The two remained silent, waiting for sleep to take over. Mwamba stared at the cackling fire while his thoughts started running through his mind. He thought of how he missed his family and the people in his village. He missed eating meat, and he missed having boiled beans mixed with boiled potatoes and chapatis (a form of flatbread).

Then his thoughts took an unexpected turn to Wanjala.

Mwamba had accepted the fact that she could be in love with him. But if he were to return, how would he act? He was already involved in plans to marry Mkanyika. To make things more complicated, he wasn't sure of his own feelings.

Did he love Mkanyika, or did he love Wanjala? Could he picture loving either of them? Could he picture starting a family with one of the two?

Scenarios started playing in Mwamba's mind. Most of them favored Wanjala because he had known her for most of his life. Mwamba had only known Mkanyika for a short time, and he was yet to feel something for her.

So Mwamba favored Wanjala. But then, if he were to approach her in the manner of a man interested in a woman, wouldn't that break their friendship, especially if things were to not work out?

'Your friendship might as well be broken with you planning to marry Mkanyika," his own voice pointed out in his mind.

Mwamba sighed, noticing how the situation with Wanjala had become unexpectedly difficult. Even if he decided not to wed Mkanyika, wouldn't Wanjala still act the same if he were with another woman?

He decided to delve away from his thoughts. A yawn escaped his lips, and minutes later, Mwamba fell asleep.

 

Chapter Thirteen

 

 

The rising sun illuminated Njumwa and Mwamba's figures as they resumed their journey to Njumwa's village. They had started just as their surroundings had begun to become more conspicuous. 

Mwamba was determined to help Njumwa reach his village as soon as possible, even if that meant wandering around in the night. He was ashamed of himself for having his attention diverted for two days when he could have been using that time to look for Mkanyika.

'What could have happened to her? Am I too late?' Mwamba thought.

"Could you slow down?" Njumwa said as he tried to catch up with Mwamba's fast movements. "This area is not really flat, and you could trip if you keep walking like that."

The two of them were walking along another steep path.

"We need to reach your village soon," that was all Mwamba said.

"Why?" Njumwa questioned. "Is there anywhere you have to be right now?"

"No," Mwamba lied.

"Then slow down!"

Mwadime's son sighed, but that did not slow down his pace.

"Mwamba!" Njumwa yelled, quickly getting irritated. He was ignored.

It was at that moment that the chief's son tripped on a stone and fell on his front. Njumwa said nothing, but the raised eyebrow on his face was enough to tell Mwamba that he had been warned.

"Let me help you up," Njumwa offered a hand to Mwamba. Mwadime's son stretched out his hand to grasp onto Njumwa's. Once he was standing, he quickly went to walk.

"No," he was stopped. "This time you should lower your pace."

Mwamba wanted to yell out his frustrations, but he decided to keep his mouth shut. Fortunately, they both resumed moving but at a slightly-quickened speed that Mwamba felt comfortable with. His form was still aching from the tripping incident, and he hoped that the aches would subside by the end of the day.

Mwamba and Njumwa were once again passing another area that was densely populated with trees. Mwamba started looking around the area, but he did not find any sign of civilization.

He sighed, reverting back to his thoughts on how to tackle the issue with Mkanyika. He had spent two days with Njumwa, and around that time, he had been silently looking around for Mkanyika or anyone as they walked. Sadly for him, he and Njumwa were the only people that were present.

That was when he thought of searching around the top of the hills once he had delivered Njumwa safely in his village.

"I know you lied to me back then. Why is it that you are suddenly rushing us to reach my home?" Njumwa asked.

Mwamba suddenly felt like a zebra caught in a lion's jaws.

"You do know that you can trust me, right?" Njumwa persisted as he looked at him with worry.

Mwamba did not know what it was. It could have either been the way Njumwa spoke or the look on his face. It could also have been the fact that he felt comfortable around him; something just told Mwamba he could trust the boy.

"I am actually the son of Mwadime," Mwamba started.

"Who?" Njumwa queried a couple of seconds later.

It was afterward that Mwamba explained his situation, right from the beginning.

"So you are telling me that Mkanyika is missing?"

"Not missing. Kidnapped," Mwamba corrected and immediately winced, realizing that neither of the two was good.

"Why can't Mwanyumba know about this?"

Mwamba looked at Njumwa with a look that stated the answer should be obvious.

"He could decide to kill me. He could even decide to send his men to my village and attack!"

"I don't think he would do that," Njumwa stated, and Mwamba snorted.

"Just picture yourself in Mwanyumba's situation. If it was your child who ended up missing in the care of another village, what would you do?"

Njumwa quietly processed the words before saying: "Shauri yako."

In other words, and not directly translated, Mwamba was dead meat.

**************************************************** **************** *************

Mwamba was glad Njumwa was not mad about him hiding his identity. In fact, the boy ascertained to Mwamba that he would not tell Mwanyumba about his daughter. He even agreed to Mwamba's request of quickening their pace. No more time could be wasted when Mwamba was still looking for Mkanyika.

"I see that your skin has been healing," the boy noticed. Mwamba looked at him.

"Yes," he replied. "The hyena didn't hurt me that much."

"Really?" Njumwa questioned. "Then what is that cut on your back?"

Mwadime's son took his time to say: "What?"

Njumwa went to move behind him, and he pressed a finger onto a healing wound he had forgotten about.

Just like that, Mwamba tensed. He recalled the mark all of a sudden, and the memories of what had happened one early morning came back to him.

"That was not from the hyena," he stated. Njumwa furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. 

"It wasn't actually from any known animal," he continued, adding to Njumwa's confusion.

Mwamba was not sure of how to tell him about--

"It was the blue monsters, wasn't it?" Njumwa commented, and Mwamba stopped walking to stare at him in shock.

The boy looked down as he shook his head before looking back at the older man.

"I knew it. What I had seen was not from a nightmare or--"

"How do you know about them?" Mwamba cut him off. Njumwa stared at him with an uneasy smile.

"They chased after me one night when I was in the area."

Mwamba was still shocked by Njumwa's words. They confirmed that what he had experienced was true.

"I'm sorry," he had no other words to tell the boy.

"Ever since then, I've been having trouble sleeping. But now that I'm around you, I feel safe."

Mwamba had been about to cut off Njumwa, but when the boy told him of how safe he felt around him, he decided to keep his mouth shut. There was no need to frighten Njumwa with the fact that he couldn't even fend for himself in the presence of the creatures.

"Okay. Let's keep moving," Njumwa stated as he resumed walking. Mwamba followed thereafter.

******************** ***************************************** ******************** *************

A while later, the sun was on its way to setting. It emitted an orange-pink glow all around the area with the sky slowly turning a purple-pink shade. However, Mwamba and Njumwa were