Birds of Prey - Smith Wilbur (версия книг TXT) 📗

When they had washed and changed into this finery, another file of girls came bearing gourds of beer, a type of mead fermented from wild honey, and the blended blood and milk. Others brought platters of hot food.

When they had eaten, the silver-headed councillor who had taken them into the presence of the Monomatapa came to them. With great civility and every mark of respect he squatted at Aboli's feet. "Though you were far too young when last you saw me to remember me now, my name is Zama. I was the Induna of your father, the great Monomatapa Holomima."

"It grieves me, Zama, but I remember almost nothing of those days.

I remember my brother N'Pofho. I remember the pain of the tattoo knife and the cut of our circumcision that we underwent together. I remember that he squealed louder than U Zama looked worried and shook his head as if to warn Aboli against such levity when speaking of the King, but his voice was level and calm. "All this is true, except only that the Monomatapa never squealed. I was present at the ceremony of the knife, and it was I who held your head while the hot iron seared your cheeks and trimmed the hood from your penis."

"Dimly now I think that I can remember your hands and your words of comfort. I thank you for them, Zama."

"You and N'Pofho were twins, born in the same hour. Thus it was that your father commanded that both of you were to bear the royal tattoo. It was new to custom. Never before had two royal sons been tattooed in the same ceremony."

"I remember little of my father, except how tall he was and strong. I remember how afraid I was at first of the tattoos on his face."

"He was a mighty man and fearsome," Zama agreed.

"I remember the night he died. I remember the shouting and the firing of muskets and the terrible flames in the night."

"I was there when the slavemasters came with their chains of sorrow. "Tears filled the old man's eyes. "You were so young, Aboli. I marvel that you remember these things." "Tell me about that night."

"As was my custom and my duty, I slept at the portal of your father's hut. I was at his side when he was struck by a ball from the slavers" muskets." Zama fell silent at the memory, and then he looked up again'. "As he lay dying he said to me, "Zama, leave me. Save my sons. Save the Monomatapa!" and I hurried to obey."

"You came to save me?" Aboli asked.

"I ran to the hut where you and your brother slept with your mother. I tried to take you from her, but your mother would not hand you to me. "Take N'Pofho!". she commanded me, for you were always her favourite. So I seized your brother and we ran together into the night. Your mother and I were separated in the darkness. I heard her screams but I had the other child in my arms, and to turn back would have meant slavery for all of us and the extinction of the royal line. Forgive me. now, Aboli, but I left you and your mother and I ran on, and with N'Pofho escaped into the hills."

"There is no blame in what you did," Aboli absolved him.

Zama looked around the hut carefully, and then his lips moved but he uttered no sound. "It was the wrong choice. I should have taken you." His expression changed, and he leaned close rto Aboli as if to say something more. Then he drew back reluctantly, as though he had not the courage to make some dangerous gamble.

He rose slowly to his feet. "Forgive me, Aboli, son of Holomimal but I must leave you now."

"I forgive you everything," Aboli said softly. "I know what is in your heart. Think on this, Zama. Another lion roars on the hill top that once might have been mine. My life now is linked to a new destiny."

"You are right, Aboli, and I am an old man. I no longer have the strength or the desire to change what cannot be changed." He drew himself up. "The Monomatapa will grant you another audience tomorrow morning. I will come for you." He lowered his voice slightly. "Please do not try to leave the royal enclosure without the permission of the King."

When he was gone, Aboli smiled. "Zama has asked us not to leave. It would be difficult to do so. Have you seen the guards that have been placed at every entrance?"

"Yes, they are not easy to overlook." Hal stood up from the carved ebony stool and crossed to the low doorway of the hut. He counted twenty men at the gate. They were all magnificent warriors, tall and well muscled, and each was armed with spear and war axe. They carried tall shields of dappled black and white ox hide, and their head-dresses were of cranes" feathers.

"It will be more difficult to leave this place than it was to enter," Aboli said grimly.

At sunset there came another procession of young girls bearing the evening meal. "I can see why your royal brother carries such a goodly cargo of fat," Hal remarked, as he surveyed this superabundance of food.

Once they declared their hunger satisfied, the girls retired with the platters and pots, and Zama came back. This time he led two maidens, one by each hand. The girls knelt before Hal and Aboli. Hal recognized the prettiest and pertest of the two as the girl who had been the live throne of the Monomatapa.

"The Monomatapa sends these females to you to sweeten your dreams with the honey of their loins," said Zama and retired.

In consternation Hal watched the pretty one raise her head and smile at him shyly. She had a calm sweet face with full lips and huge dark eyes. Her hair had been twisted and braided with beads so that the tresses hung to her shoulders. Her body was plump and glossy. Her breasts and buttocks were naked, only now she wore a tiny beaded apron in front.

"I see you, Great Lord," she whispered, "and my eyes are dimmed by the splendour of your presence." She crept forward like a kitten and laid her head upon his lap.