The Legend of Hombarume (Legends Series, #1)

77.

'You must be tired still.'

Mhangura was seated at the edge of his hut with snuff in one hand and a pot of beer resting just at the foot of his stool. Soft wind was blowing that morning ever since the skies were dark and gloomy and this made all the clay pots and ornaments that he had hung up rattle ever so constantly, as if they were going to fall and crash at any moment, but he did not seemed phased at all, in fact, he remained as calm as he had been even the previous day when he had first met Hombarume, whom his companion had tried to speak highly of although he had already sensed a lot of doubt and inconsistency in both of them.

'I have my father's resilience, I am fine my friend,' he replied

He remained standing until Mhangura offered him the seat on the other stool that had been there the entire time. Hombarume sat in silence while he watched Mhangura bring out a small pipe from a small pouch that also lay on the ground next to the pot. After sprinkling something inside, he lit it up, then he slowly inhaled with his eyes closed as if he was savoring the most sensational thing in the entire world. Soon enough, he exhaled and repeated the process, each time seeming more dazed than the last.

'You cannot be fine, Hombarume, the ordeal you have gone through is far too great to simply dismiss over a fair amount of sleep,' Mhangura said in-between a couple of coughs.

'Take this, it will hopefully calm you,' he continued.

Hombarume kept staring at the small pipe as if he was being handed something potentially dangerous.

'What is it?' he asked.

'Medicine. For the soul. Your body might be resilient, but the mind and soul need relief as well.'

'Thank you,' he said, mimicking him in everything, including the prolonged inhales.

'Do you have a family in your village, Hombarume?' Mhangura asked.

'No, not yet. I was ready for it, but as you know, everything has been hanging in the balance recently,' he replied.

'I understand,' Mhangura replied.

'What of you? I have not heard the cry of a child or anyone else in this household,' Hombarume asked.

'It has always been just me for as long as I can remember.'

'A lonely existence,' Hombarume replied.

'Sometimes it is necessary,' Mhangura said.

'What do you mean?'

'Broadening your mind is a singular journey, I have been here learning all I need to about nature, about life beyond simple reasoning, it is all necessary for the small price of being alone,' Mhangura said.

'So you are not just a mere fighter, I see,' Hombarume replied in a now strained voice.

Mhangura eyed him for a moment, and then smiled.

'What do you see and how do you feel?' he asked while taking back the pipe.

Hombarume remained silent for a while staring out into the distance at Revai who was fetching water from the well.

'What am I supposed to see or feel?'

'It depends,' Mhangura said.

'On what?'

'If you are like me, you will be seeing things much clear than you usually do, feeling everything at a heightened intensity, but you are not like me,' he said.

'How do you know that I am not like you?'

Mhangura remained calm and rekindled his pipe for another pull before he put it down and looked Hombarume straight in the eye.

'I merely confirmed what I had already suspected from the second I sensed your despicable presence in my compound.'

Hombarume became serious for a second, a mixture of sadness and confusion that he had been wearing on his face for the majority of his ordeal, perhaps more of perplexity, then slowly his face started to ease up and eventually, his lips bent into a bright smile.

'And what is it that you confirmed?'

His face was now dancing on the brink of laughter in a way that was truly haunting considering the tone of the conversation.

'You can stop this wounded dog charade that you have been using to fool Revai and perhaps everyone else you know. Everyone else who thinks they know you,' Mhangura said.

Hombarume broke off into an unexpected fit of laughter that shook Mhangura who had been confident about what he was saying the entire time.

'You know nothing about me! You fool yourself into thinking that meddling with herbs and potions makes you anything more than the pathetic sorcerer that you are.'

'It is a pity that you are about to be outsmarted by pathetic sorcerer. I am sure you revel over people's misery, that can be the only reason why you latched onto him when you could have just left him or killed him,' Mhangura said.

Hombarume started laughing again, and then he looked at Mhangura with eyes that were brimming with spite.

'I am sure a simple being like you would never understand my motivations. If you think your petty tricks can outsmart me then you have not learnt anything at all,' he replied.

In the distance out of the corner of his eye, Mhangura could see the unsuspecting Revai coming back from the well, not knowing that his reality was just about turn upside down. He had been deceived and knowing that he had put all his hopes on an impostor was going to destroy him.