The Legend of Hombarume (Legends Series, #1)

57.

Chief Banga was woken up by the commotion outside. There were too many voices out there competing with each other, more than enough for an early morning. Who in their right mind would dare disturb his sleep with all this incessant bickering?

He rose from his mat, desperate for answers and peace, infuriated by the noise and decided to investigate. Outside his quarters, five of the guards were engulfed in serious discourse about who would break the news about what had happened.

‘Chii chirikuitika apa? Have you all lost your minds?’

He kept eyeing them and they just stood there frozen until he realized that they were completely terrified. Whatever had happened must have been disastrous.

‘My apologies, ishe, but I have terrible news,’ one of them finally said.

‘Obviously, spit it out!’ he gestured hastily.

‘The prisoner has escaped,’ he revealed.

Banga was in complete and utter shock, as if he was reliving a bad dream, being tormented in broad daylight by his worst nightmare. This was not just terrible news, it was completely horrifying and the ramifications if the hunter was not retrieved, were unthinkable.

‘What?’

A single thought was now plaguing him, eating at him so viciously and quickly. Pomerai.

‘Where is Revai, bring him here immediately,’ he added.

‘S-sir, I’m afraid he’s not here,’ the guard replied.

‘He has already left for the search without informing me?’ Banga asked.

He was about to turn and head to his chambers.

‘I’m afraid we cant find him, my lord. We suspect that he left, that he-‘

‘That he what?’ he furiously interrupted.

‘He aided the prisoner, my lord,’ he said, bowing his head so he wouldn’t meet the Chief’s gaze.

The last few slivers of sleep left Banga’s head instantly, the drowsiness that had been hindering him from fully conceptualizing this whole situation finally disappeared and in that moment he was left in a state of raw realization.

The series of events had started with the impromptu meeting in his chambers the previous night, which he neglected to take seriously, the anger in Revai’s eyes, the unfamiliar hate that he was failing to conceal, it felt like repulsion, something that he thought would somehow be abated by the cool night air then all would be normal by morning.

He didn’t want to believe it but it all made sense. When he thought back to their last conversation, the betrayal just hurt even harder. He didn’t expect this from someone he had trusted so much, someone who he had raised and fathered like his own, but then he remembered the anger in his voice, the reprieve as he questioned his authority. The betrayal was real, Revai knew too much and thus he had to pay.

This series of events was like a slap to the face. Revai had chosen to abandon all reason and flee with the hunter, thus leading Banga into a world of trouble. Now that he had failed to deliver the hunter as he had promised, his only heir would remain ensnared by dark spirits, out of reach and in harm’s way.  He could not afford to let Hombarume get away, not when what he desired most was in clear reach, a thorough search should have commenced ages ago.

The Chief had not realized how long he had stood there staring into the distance, pondering upon what he would do to Revai when he was caught. They would bring him back alive, he thought. He would be dealt with publicly, for his crime was one that everyone would know. He would make even the most lenient and kind hearted person despise him if it was the last thing he did. All the unfortunate events of the last few days would be on him, all the blame and scorn would be focused on him until his very near end.

He could feel the bile rising inside him as he remembered a discussion with his two advisors that pertained to the traitor himself. He’d suggested that if push came to shove, they would say that Revai was his bastard child and therefore serve as the heir. How stupid he had been to even entertain that notion. People who weren’t born royal did not understand the loyalty required for it. The advisors had quickly dismissed it, saying that all hope was not lost yet. If it weren’t for them, he would have put this traitor in a position where he could burn everything he had built to the ground.

There was the issue of the dare, those men would have endless questions about what had occurred, some which he would not be able to answer. He had to think about what he would say before he would be put to test.
He felt the cold morning breeze slap against his thighs, rousing him from his trance. The guards had not yet uttered a single word out of fear that they would get reprimanded, instead they let the long silence prevail and the longer it did, the more visceral the atmosphere became.

For a short-lived moment, Banga considered keeping Hombarume’s disappearance under wraps and then later in the day pronounce him dead, then he thought about all the ways in which that would go wrong, about how Revai would not get the punishment he deserved and how that would simply be giving up. Most of all, he thought about how it was hard to know how the situation would erupt and how many people knew so far about what had happened. What if Revai had by now already told the young councilman who made it his sole mission to challenge him about everything he knew?

Upon further pondering, he realized that letting the news wander was better, that way, the doubt he had already sown in the hearts of many about the hunter would quickly grow and they would aid him in bringing him back so that he could be dealt with accordingly. He had to have guards traverse the route to Ushe’s compound immediately, lest the fugitives headed in that way.

‘Why are you standing there gawking at me? Sound the horn you imbeciles!’

By the time the Chief decided to galvanize into action, he was infuriated by everyone, by everything, by Hombarume, by Revai and mostly by the five useless guards in front of him, not doing or saying anything. The only person who was effective in situations like this was the same one who had lodged a knife in his back. Revai was now the enemy.