The Chief's Wife by Jones M (best books to read now .txt) 📖

up and quickly took out a dagger from his basket. He held it firmly as he looked around, searching for the figure approaching.

It had stopped raining, and the sun was on its way to rising.

Mwamba found his thoughts wandering back to the attack he had faced with the frightening monsters. Could it be that they could survive in daylight? 

The sound of approaching feet becoming louder made Mwamba more alert. Without wasting time, he rushed towards the source.

"Stop!" he yelled, aiming the dagger at the figure.

It was a boy.

"What the--" Mwamba stopped mid-curse. "Who are you?"

"I'm Njumwa," the boy replied with wide eyes and his arms raised in surrender.

His skin was a light brown shade. He looked to be around twelve years of age, and he was a foot shorter than Mwamba.

Mwamba shuffled his feet with his dagger still aimed at the child, not sure of how to proceed.

"Please don't kill me," the boy pleaded. Mwamba sighed, suddenly feeling bad. He dropped his hand, still clutching the weapon.

"What are you doing out here?" he asked him.

"I got lost," he said.

"Where is your village?" Mwamba asked him.

"I don't know," Njumwa replied. "I just know it is around the area. I have no idea of how to get there."

Mwamba sighed again as he started thinking about how to handle the situation.

He did not need this. He had a task to complete. He had to look for Mkanyika and make sure that she was safe. He had to return with her to his village. What would happen if he were to prolong the search?

Mwamba groaned, earning a look of confusion from Njumwa.

He couldn't just leave the boy to fend for himself in the forest. Maybe his family was around, and so he could help him find them.

"How long have you been lost?" Mwamba questioned.

"I think two days."

He was shocked. There was no way the boy's family was close if he had been in the area for two days.

"Here. Have something to eat," Mwamba said, reaching for his basket to take out some of the roasted groundnuts that were remaining. Njumwa took a handful after another, eating the food like a starved man.

Mwamba felt bad for Njumwa, and after a short while of thinking filled with Njumwa eating the food, he had come to a decision. He would have to help the boy return to his village before he could continue with his search for his intended wife. Moreover, if he were to do so, he would have to speed things up.

 

Chapter Eleven

 

 

Another day had passed. Whatever feelings of wariness that had been between Njumwa and Mwamba had quickly passed. They got to talk, and they found some things about each other.

They each told each other about their homes. Specifically, Njumwa had told Mwamba that the leader of his village was a person named Mwanyumba. He had two daughters, and one of them was named Mkanyika.

Mwamba believed it was not a coincidence.

It was both a good thing and a bad thing for Mwamba. Mwanyumba's village was around the route that he would use to search for Mkanyika. It was a good thing that Njumwa and Mwamba were headed towards the same direction. However, it would be a bad thing if Mwamba were to meet up with the chief. What would he tell the chief, especially when his appearance would be unannounced and look suspicious? Would he have to tell him of his daughter's absence?

Mwamba shook his head, intending to focus on his surroundings. He and Njumwa were walking down from a raised part of the hill.

"...she screamed when I showed her the cockroach..." Njumwa rambled on, telling Mwamba a story about how he had tried to win a girl's affection. With the way that it was going, Mwamba immediately knew it didn't work out well.

Mwamba had not told Njumwa about his position in his village. He believed it would have the boy silent and respectful around him, and Mwamba did not want that. They had days of walking ahead of them, and the silence that could ensue between them would be uncomfortable.

"She was mad, but to the rest of us, it was funny," Njumwa chuckled. Mwamba couldn't help but let a smile slip.

"So, what about you?" Njumwa asked Mwamba.

"What about me?" Mwadime's son countered.

"Have you ever had encounters with girls? I mean, with how you look, you must have quite many."

Mwamba suddenly felt uneasy.

"Umm, they aren't quite that many."

Njumwa stopped in his tracks and eyed him suspiciously.

"I'm serious. I mean, there were quite a few. Like, there was a time I accidentally saw girls bathing near a river."

Njumwa guffawed, and the sound traveled through the area. It was rather loud, and it had some of the birds on the nearby trees flying away.

"I was young then, and I finally understood what people were talking about when they talked about becoming a man."

Njumwa kept on laughing. Mwamba raised his eyebrows at him.

"Aren't you too young to understand what I'm talking about?"

"I'm fourteen," Njumwa countered.

"Really? I thought you were ten," Mwamba said, earning a punch in the arm from his partner.

"Seriously. Isn't there any other girl in your life?" Njumwa pressured. Mwamba sighed.

"None. I only have this friend who is a girl--"

"Wait. You have a friend who is a girl? Isn't that strange?"

"You could say that it is rare to find a friend in a girl, but I have, and we do get along well. I understand her and she understands me. Only lately she has been acting weird."

Mwamba never meant to let the last part slip.

"What? How?" Njumwa persisted.

"Eh, it's nothing," Mwamba replied.

"With the way you said it, it does not look like nothing."

With a sigh, Mwamba proceeded to tell Njumwa about his predicament. He told him of how he was being forced to marry a girl, being careful to not mention Mkanyika. Then he talked about telling Wanjala about the news and how she had been acting oddly towards him ever since.

"Wow," Njumwa said.

"I know. I have no clue as to why she was mad at me," Mwamba said.

"No. I mean, wow, you're an idiot."

Mwamba was shocked, and he voiced the emotion with the word: "What?"

"You don't get it, do you?"

Mwamba was quickly infuriated. What was Njumwa seeing that Mwamba himself couldn't see? If he knew something and he refused to tell him what it was, he was going to explode.

"What am I not getting?" Mwamba spoke in exhaustion.

"You wouldn't like what I tell you. Do you really want to know--"

"Of course I want to know! Can't you just tell me right now? I mean, she said the same thing you are saying. What am I not getting? I have been thinking about it for weeks now, and I still do not understand."

"Mwamba, calm down. The answer is simple; she likes you."

There was a moment of silence between the two.

"Uhm, what?"

"She may even love you."

"Alright. Let me get this straight, Njumwa. You think she likes me?" Mwamba asked, and the boy nodded in response.

"That sounds ridiculous," Mwadime's son snorted.

"Think about it. It explains why she has not been talking to you recently. Obviously, hearing that you are going to marry another woman made her sad, and she's trying to protect herself from you."

"Protect herself? What do you mean--"

"You hurt her feelings. She's distancing herself from you because she doesn't want to be reminded that you don't want her. In fact, I think this is her way of trying to get rid of the feelings she has for you."

Njumwa proceeded to walk forward, leaving Mwamba standing as he tried to process what he had been told.

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It was another morning. It was a cloudy one, and Mwamba and Njumwa were making their way through an area filled with trees. The ground they were walking on was close to the low points of the hill. Mwamba could see the type of vegetation that was similar to that of his village far away on his right. He could spot a couple of acacia trees. Tall, green pastures were growing on the land, and animals were grazing on them.

The sight of gazelles and zebras grazing together was rare, and as much as Mwamba wanted to spend time watching them, his mind kept going back to what Njumwa had told him. Even if he wanted to deny it, the memories in his mind proved Njumwa's words to be true.

Mwamba looked at the experiences he had shared with Wanjala in a different light. She always seemed to light up when he went to see her. She trusted him as much as he trusted her, and she always looked like she was interested in every word he said. She was even rarely ever shy in front of him.

Those might not have been enough to convince Mwamba of Wanjala's feelings for him. It showed the nature of their friendship. However, the one reason that proved Njumwa's words to be true was the fact that Wanjala never spent time with the other boys in the village unless it was necessary.

There was no denying it any longer. Wanjala was in love with him, and he did not know how to proceed from there.

"Water!" Njumwa yelled, turning Mwamba's attention back to him. The boy was pointing at a seasonal river flowing a short distance in front of them. The two went to it at a quick pace. They were soon kneeling on the ground as they started to drink from it.

A short while later, their thirsts had been quenched. Mwamba was busy filling his gourd with water when Njumwa called out.

"Mwamba?"

The boy sounded scared. In confusion, Mwamba turned to face whatever Njumwa was seeing.

A short distance in front of them stood a hyena. 

 

Chapter Twelve

 

 

 

The hyena laughed, baring its teeth.

"Run, Njumwa!" Mwamba whisper-yelled and the boy quickly took off. Mwamba quickly followed. 

He knew it had not been a good idea to take off because he heard the sound of the hyena laughing as he and Njumwa rushed through the area. The animal could be heard approaching them with its feet hitting the ground.

Njumwa was a fast runner, and so he had passed Mwamba hurriedly without looking back. Mwamba was conflicted on how to feel about that as he quickly reached for his dagger in his basket. Once he held it, he stopped running and quickly turned to face the animal.

The hyena ceased its movements, baring its teeth at Mwamba as saliva drooped from its lips.

"Stay back!" Mwamba yelled in a panic, waving the dagger in front of the hyena.

The