The Legend of Hombarume (Legends Series, #1)

78.

After Revai had finished drinking the mixture that he had prepared for him, Mhangura disappeared back into his hut like he had done a few times since his visitors had arrived, but little did they know that every time he did this, it was intentional and there was something he had been concocting inside since the previous night.

He met Revai just before the sparring contest of the previous summer and his immediate impression of him was that he was a man of good intentions, of course he trusted his first impressions, but he always had to be sure, he had to be safe. He always needed some help in defining someone's character, revealing their true plans and goals.

Mhangura was known as a great fighter in the village, but under the surface, he was much more than that. He had spent a great part of his lie studying nature, how powerful it was, the trees, the water, the earth, were all brimming with power that could be compelled, at least that was what his grandfather had believed.

The old man had imparted onto him all the knowledge he had but it was not sufficient for him. It was never really something that could materialize. He had too many questions but barely any answers, thus he had ended up alienating every person that tried to come close to him so that he could venture on his mission to find the answers that he felt he truly deserved. When he was young, his parents had abandoned him, rejected him, left his him in the care of his grandfather who was an eccentric man who never really made much sense.

Mhangura was eager to have someone in his life that cared for him, to have someone he could be close to in the way that other toddlers would. In the way they would sit at the fire and listen to their fathers tell them endless tales about times and places unknown.

Mhangura believed everything that his grandfather told him because he thought that would make him care more, but in no time, he was left alone to quell the curiosity that the old man had sparked in him.

Mhangura had always heard grim tales about those who ventured into the work of potions and dark and dangerous magic, varoyi to be exact, and all the other powers who aided them, but all the stories he heard never had the explanations of these people's motivations, what was at the core of their beliefs. If there was one important thing that he had kept at heart from his grandfather's endless ramblings, it was the fact that there was always reason behind the actions, there was always something recognizable behind the acts, no matter how dark or twisted they were, all he was supposed to do was look close enough, peer hard enough under the surface and it would all be revealed to him.

As a matter of fact, this same piece of advice was his biggest stepping stone into the world that he had been searching for the entire time. After all that he had done, sought out masvikiro and mages to try and consult the unknown to no avail, he had realized that the answer was locked in the words of the old man. All he had to do was look, see things in a light that was different from the one that everyone else used, to be open to any possibility no matter how dangerous it became.

It happened during one of his first few fights, when he was not yet experienced or well versed in sparing. He was afraid of making a complete fool out of himself, but he knew that he wanted to spar, he had watched many contests and matches in his life and in all of them he saw himself in the sparring ring, but when he was in that ring, he realized that there was more to it than just seeing yourself there. He needed the strength, the focus, the power to be in that ring, but he felt like he possessed none of the above.

Just as he was standing in the ring, his heart pounding endlessly and sweating, he stopped for a moment as he remembered his grandfather's voice telling him to look harder, look under the surface and that is when his entire reality blew wide open. He knew exactly how he was going to win the match, what his opponent was going to do, all from observing him closely, all from seeing the things that people do not normally see. He could feel his heart beating, see the tiny droplets of sweat on his forehead, see the wrinkles on his knuckles tighten as he balled his fists. Something had changed inside of him, something was different ever since.

It all started to make sense bit by bit as he started connecting it all together. All that his grandfather had told him about, it had to be real; it had to be all true. The trees, the herbs, the earth, all of it had to be integral in his journey. Mhangura knew about witches who practiced dark magic, but he also knew about something else that was even more sinister, an evil that everyone could easily put their trust in, something dangerous that was painted in the wrong light and when he set his eyes on Hombarume on the night of his arrival, he knew that that was exactly what he was. He had to be sure; he had to understand why Revai had brought him into his compound.

Mhangura's way of practice was mostly self taught, save for the few things that his grandfather was actually right about, hence he was not entirely sure of how much power he could wield, but he had over time developed a way of telling whether or not someone else's power was pure or not. From the moment he had set is eyes on Hombrume he had been curious about him, he had seen something that was peculiar inside of him, therefore he had to act immediately.

Within his hut, he kept his most powerful materials, concealed in a way that keep everyone who would dare enter if they ever had the chance from suspecting that anything out of the ordinary was happening. Those who visited him thought he was just a man who was overenthusiastic about plants, but little did they know that everything around him was built with intention and precision. He was always seen as the free spirited person who did not put much thought into anything and he was about to use this to acquire what he needed from the stranger who had possibly invaded his house.

'I have learnt enough for an encounter with evils like you,' he said.

Hombarume was still sitting right in front of him as if everything was perfectly normal, as if his act had not been discovered. Mhangura could see that he was trying his best to keep calm and not rage on like a mad dog. It was easily in his nature to do that, as Revai had vaguely described, the encounter at the sparring contests, it all made perfect sense.

'You should have pretended to not know and let me pass, how foolish are you to think that potent potions can subdue me?' he said with mirth written all over his now unrecognizable face.

For the first time during this whole encounter, Mhangura smiled and matched his energy.

'This is a fated encounter, if you think about it. How often in your lifetime do you come across a worthy sparring opponent?'

Glossary

Masvikiro - Spirit mediums

Varoyi - Witches/Sorcerers