11. Warriors

Tawana was still sulking when he and Nyasha left the kraal. He could still hear the piercing and heart-shattering laughter of the Vadhindi all the way back to the chief’s hut.

Nyasha was now producing coughing sounds. He was still trying hard to hold his laughter.

‘I don’t get what’s funny here,’ Tawana mumbled aloud.

‘I’m sorry…’ his laughter burst out again, ‘…I just can’t imagine you…’ he was choked by his laughter, ‘…I just can’t picture you becoming a warrior, or better yet, throwing a spear!’

‘Humph!’

Chief Kindi and Mai Kindi were still sitting in the same positions they had been sitting when Tawana had left them: the chief on the throne and Mai Kindi sitting beside him.

As before, Nyasha bowed before them but Tawana chose to stay on his feet. ‘Your Humbleness, I have shown the boy around your humble home.’

The chief nodded slowly. ‘Good. Tawana, how did you find my home?’

‘It’s okay.’ He was still pouting because of the laughter he had suffered at the hands of Nyasha and the Vadhindi.

Mai Kindi reached over and whispered into the chief’s ear.

He nodded slowly then began to stroke his beard gently. ‘Tawana, we’d like you to stay with us for a couple of days…at least until we find a way to reach your parents. I would send out some of my best warriors to look for them but…Chief Mbada and I aren’t what one would call, “the best of friends”. ’

‘I don’t think my mother would like it if she knew I was living with strangers,’ Tawana answered him wearing the same angry look he had used with them earlier. But this time it was a little more at ease, more skeptical than angry.

‘I know that but I don’t think there’s anything more that we can try. Chief Mbada would definitely try to kill you if we tried to take you back. He would consider us as traitors. Let’s at least wait until we come up with a logical solution.’

He grumbled, ‘Fine.’

The chief sighed, ‘Then it’s settled. You will stay with us until we try to find a way around this problem.’

‘Just the two of you? Where are your children?’ Tawana asked, now in more curiosity than anger.

Mai Kindi’s expression immediately turned to grief and she looked away from her husband onto the floor beside her as if in embarrassment.

‘We don’t have children,’ the chief confessed bluntly.

Tawana now felt guilty for asking this question. He knew what the chief meant. Personally, he didn’t think it was something to be ashamed of. Even though many Shona tribes considered barrenness as a curse from an invisible entity called “Mwari”, Tawana thought it to be just misfortune. In fact, a woman who couldn't give birth was regarded as half a woman. What good was a woman who could not fulfill her most important duty, the same duty that defined her womanhood? But Tawana, however, did not share this view. Why did anyone have to disregard one’s humanity over the outrageous belief that fertility was all it took for a person to qualify as human?

The chief regained his composure and smiled warmly at him. ‘Now…I think it’s time we taught you the ways of our village.’

*

When Tawana walked with Nyasha and Chief Kindi, they began explaining to him the ways of Chaponda Village. They taught him a lot about the animals: how to milk the cows, feed them, water them and even how to slaughter them- but he only watched from a distance since they told him he was not yet strong enough to help subdue such a large animal. They taught him how to catch the chickens, how to feed them and how to keep them healthy. They even taught him how to catch fish using various methods: spears, bait and even using the hands. The method of using hands though, required more than just patience but an excellent grip and perfect timing. Through practice, he mastered all these techniques in just a week leaving both Nyasha and the chief greatly impressed and also Mai Kindi, who usually sat a respectful distance away as they fished, could not help but grin broadly with pride at Tawana. They did not have to say it but Tawana knew that the chief and his wife had adopted him into their family.

As Tawana and his new father, Chief Kindi, walked around their home one day they came upon the kraal.

The Vadhindi were immersed in wrestling contests. As soon as they saw the two approaching, all five of them hastily jumped out of the kraal towards them and bowed in front of them in respect.

Tawana could not help but feel in control now. Now clad in a royal attire, he smirked in satisfaction.

‘Your Humbleness!’ they all greeted them at the same time.

‘Stand up,’ the chief commanded them.

They all stood up and began dusting their bodies and knees free of the cow dung then stood in a line facing the chief and Tawana.

‘I’d like you to personally meet my son, Tawana,’ he placed his arm around Tawana’s shoulder and drew him closer to himself.

They all bowed at Tawana once more.

‘Tawana; that is Dindingwe: the Cheetah.’

The thinnest of the five stepped forward and bowed once at Tawana. He was very thin, tall and light with a slightly immature face, like those babies that grow up too fast, and had red eyes, probably from the use of mbanje (weed).

‘Cheetah is the fastest of the Vadhindi…probably the fastest in the entire village,’ the chief told Tawana.

Cheetah returned to his position in the line.

‘That one is Mamba: he is the cleverest and most cunning of the Vadhindi.’

Another thin one had stepped forward. He was not as thin as Cheetah though and his skin was glistening with sweat, his jaw slender but curving into a jagged fist for a chin, his hair wild and thick like Tawana’s mother’s.

This display of great warriors reminded Tawana of Chief Mbada’s hunters: the Gorivas.

Mamba stepped back into the line.

‘This one is Mvuvu: the Hippopotamus.’

This one was fat and as dark as coal. Even his face looked bloated as if it had been stomped on repeatedly by an angry elephant.

Tawana was surprised at how at his size, someone like Hippo could be allowed in the team. With his size, he would probably slow the others down, Tawana thought.

‘Hippo is the defender,’ the chief told Tawana, ‘any task that requires excessive use of strength is his specialty,’ he added. ‘That one is Shumba.’

This one was the one that had laughed the hardest at Tawana when he had made the suggestion to Nyasha about being trained by the Vadhindi. When Shumba bowed, Tawana’s smirk strengthened in delight.