The Legend of Hombarume (Legends Series, #1)

37.

'I was foolish to believe that the Chief would handle things any differently, uncle.'

Kudzai said while sitting with one of his uncles, his father's elder brother. Most of the relatives had already come from far and wide to pay their respects to the seer's  family. His death was a tragic one and still an unsolved mystery but hearing that the Chief had agreed that the sparring contest go on as planned did not help anything, instead, it just made everyone a lot angrier than they had already been.

The Chief hadn't yet sanctioned a thorough search and hunt for the vile creature that was wreaking havoc within the village, a search was only done when his own son was the only victim, but now it seemed like he had abandoned hope altogether. No other word regarding the issue was heard from his compound although rumors alluded to him being quite devastated. What did he achieve from satisfying the fighting urges of men who had a constant thirst for blood?

The seer's household was in complete disarray. No one knew what to do, where to go or who to turn to. The youngest ones were the most confused about what had happened to their father and trying to explain a situation like this one to them had been quite challenging.

The seer's wives were torn, now that their husband was gone, animosity towards each other that they had kept at bay while grooming their loathing towards their husband was beginning to bloom like wild flowers. Hazvinei was targeted the most by the senseless shaming and blaming from her fellow women. Some were calling her a witch, saying that she sacrificed their husband so that her and her children would thrive at the expense of the others. A very wild accusation, but during such times, desperation made people believe the most obvious untruths.

Nyarai, the bitter second wife was obviously the one peddling the conspiracy to all the relatives about Hazvinei and doing all she could to soil her name in the family. Raviro, the six wife, one of the most recent ones and youngest one of all was left without any children of her own. When she was taken as a sixth wife she had fallen pregnant when the seer had visited Makura village, but a few weeks after she had been assimilated into the household, she miscarried and had not fallen pregnant again ever since. Her fate was indecisive because the deceased's brothers insisted that she be sent back to her parents because she was a bad omen to the family. Finding a man to remarry her would be quite hard since she had miscarried.

The fire outside the main family hut burnt bright as Kudzai and all the male figures of the large family convened to discuss their way forward, the burying of his father and his progression to assume the position as head of the family. Because the Chief was eager to keep the plans for the sparring contest in place, Kudzai and his family had to make sure they proceeded with their burial as soon as possible.

'Even father thought less of him, he is useless.'

Tafara, the oldest son of the fourth wife interjected before his uncle could utter a response.

'I wasn't expecting much from him, last year he let a disappearance go unanswered for without doing anything significant. Right now we have to make sure that brother is laid to rest and is at peace with the gods of our land in the afterlife.'

Ranganai's elder brother finally spewed his opinion on the matter. After the burial of the seer, they would hold the ritual to awaken the seer power on Kudzai, the eldest son of the family so that tradition would be honored and would not die with the deceased. The proceedings would take place at Gomoguru where all the elders would be required to be present as witnesses and for cultural purposes.

Kudzai remembered when his father was telling him about the hallowed ceremony. He went into detail about how they adorned him with special ritual ornaments and poured special oils on him to sanctify him before the gods just as they had done for his father and his father before him. He also told him about it being the first time he felt the strong presence of godly spirits and how he would know what it was like someday.

Kudzai had gotten over the fact that his fate was sealed, but there was still a part of him that wished that everything would be different. He wished that he could still have his life as a trader but that was now a dream that was absurdly out of reach. As a seer he would have to be available for the people. He would have to stay in place unlike the traveling life of a trader in those days. He also had to change some of his values so that they fit the life that had been chosen for him. Only time would tell what would become of him.

Now that Kudzai was about to become the village seer, he had to also fetch a bride as soon as possible, so that they secure an heir to keep the tradition alive. It was all happening very quickly and he did not have enough time to think on it and figure out what he wanted to do. It all stemmed from the abrupt death of his father a few nights back. Amid all that was changing about his life, he couldn't help but think about what had happened to his father, his mysterious death, the attack by a so called beast. Were those the demons that he had to battle now that he was in the same position?