The Legend of Hombarume (Legends Series, #1)

30.

A tired Hamandishe approached the compound from yet another round of rummaging the village for his lost employer. What will they tell his parents?

One thing is his mind seemed to overshadow everything else, making it seem like all the other questions that were burning his brain didn't matter. It was the golden artefact, glowing just before it went missing and found where Anesu went missing. There was no such coincidence.

Hamandishe was a nomad, spent his young life moving from place to place to the point where his life lacked steady belief or tradition but he definitely didn't need to believe in a higher power to know that something spiritual was happening. He had two missing people who had been rumoured to have returned as beasts to back his theory. What was to happen to his own friend, Anesu?

The golden artefact he had retrieved from the forest the night Anesu vanished was something he'd had for more than half his life. Looking back, he didn't see any obvious connection between it, Anesu and the village. But that's where the answer lies, he thought. Figuring it out was an incredible headache and it wouldn't do him any good to keep going in circles.

The whole mystery ran laps around his head and tormented him as he walked up to his friend. Batanai even asked him what was bothering him. Was his expression that much telling? Most importantly, could he trust Anesu with what he was thinking, about the golden head and all the mysterious happenings of the strange village that he was willing to connect to his friend's disappearance? Never tell a soul.

‘To be honest, what isn't?’ he replied.

Hamandishe sat down as he allowed his words to simmer in Batanai's head. The sun was scorching, it was even hotter than it had been a few days ago and shallow clouds danced across the sky, teasing. The rains we're near for sure, something that the farmer, Ushe would definitely appreciate. Not that Hamandishe cared about the rains, his life was mostly on the road and didn't depend much on whether the ground was drenched or not. They could both stop trading now and their lives would be perfectly fine, they'd acquired enough valuable relics to weather any of life's storms.

Without Anesu they surely wouldn't have gotten far. He was a well connected man who knew everyone important and could sell anything. Now that he had mysteriously vanished, Hamandishe felt that they at least owed it to themselves to find out what happened; to find him, dead or alive.

‘I don't know what to do,’ Batanai admitted.

‘And what of the Chief?’ Hama asked.

‘He can't even find his own people, his own son. Do you think he'll put much effort on an outsider?’

Batanai was right, believing that the Chief would somehow find their friend was by far the most delusional they could be right now.

‘One thing is for certain though, we have to put our best resources to use before we even consider informing his parents,’ Hama said.

‘You think we shouldn't tell them?’ Batanai said, his eyes bulging.

‘Absolutely not, at least for a while. I've only met them a few times but I strongly think we should explore other options before we even think of going back.’

‘What is to stop the Chief from sending word? And do you really think they won't eventually notice our long, unannounced absence? Worse still, find out that we hid their son's disappearance from them?’ Batanai asked.

‘We'll find him before all that. I know we can.’ Hamandishe said.

‘How? You sound so sure. Is there something that you know that I don't? And what if he's—’

‘He is not dead. Let's not even consider that,’ Hama interrupted.

‘I hope the gods do spare him.’

Hamandishe did not believe in godly beings but he just nodded in approval. He didn't like the idea of his friend's life being in the hands of an invisible force that could be totally made up, something that he wasn't sure existed at all. The glowing head kept bringing him back to the fact that his friend was no doubt entangled in some sort of spiritual mess. Something dark and sinister was definitely sinking it's roots in the village and Anesu just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

‘We better find him fast, whatever is happening in the village is clearly not going to spare us if we stay,’ Hama suggested.

‘There's no telling what will happen to us if we stay here, but we have to do it for Anesu.’

Hamandishe was failing to think, the sun was also scorching him and he was trying hard not to keep his worried look that had sold him out to Batanai when he arrived.
Another part of him was still thinking about Ushe, would he let them stay longer? He'd be suspicious too if they didn't leave for Makura to break the news of the disappearance, but he would understand if they felt that they needed to stay a little longer to look for their friend, wouldn't he?

The thought of the farmer made him realize that he hadn't seen him all day. Not since morning. He hadn't even gone to his fields today, something that was very rare for someone who was that much particular about his work.

He didn't have to worry about him that much, he probably went to visit his friend he'd fought for the other day. That's what they also needed to do, fight to get their friend back, fight to find him and bring him back to his family before anything bad happened. He didn't want to think that far but he couldn't stop himself from imagining Anesu's body on the forest floor, blood dripping from his slit throat, such gore was no longer surprising in this village. It was just another day. Time would certainly tell if this was to be the fate of his friend.