Epilogue: Two Sons

Zera stood afar as she watched the mountains that covered the Bantu kingdom. Her walking stick stabbed the ground as all her hands were pressed against it.

The sun was already going down and she began walking again towards the Bantu kingdom. It took her an eternity ti climb the mountains and then descend into them.

When she finally reached the Bantu villages, it was dark and quiet as the people were already resting. But one woman was awake as the pain labour was holding on to her. Fire lit the room.

Runako lay alone in her hut as sweat began to fill her body. She had never expected to go into labour that day. Now everyone was asleep and she couldn't stand up to go to the midwives.

Fear gripped her heart as the fear of giving birth alone held her. She didn't know what to do. How she wished Gora was alive maybe he could have run to the midwives.

She dismissed the thought because she was still angry at him for the embarassment and shame he had brought upon her life. He became a cursed man even in his death.

The whole kingdom blamed him for betraying his own people in the quest for power. She had become a widow to the traitor of the kingdom.

She heard footsteps approaching her doorstep. "Please help!" She said.

When door creaked open and she saw an elderly woman with a walking stick coming in. She had a leopard skin bag on her back. Runako never knew this woman and she quickly said, "Who are you?"

"I am the one sent to help you deliver you child. My name is Zera, you have nothing to worry about," Zera responded as she put down her bag down.

Runako thought one of the people near her home had heard her and called a midwive. She didn't want to question Zera any further.

"Now, you will do as I say," Zera said.

Runako nodded and listened to all the instructions given by Zera. She pushed her child and after a while she delivered.

Zera held the child in her hands and smiled. "It's a baby boy. You remember the name that his father told you?" Zera said.

Runako was surprised to hear this and looked at Zera. "Who are you?" She asked.

"I was sent by the ancestors to you. I come from a land very far from here. Simba? Is it? The baby's name..." Zera said.

Fear gripped Runako whose power had been drained by giving birth. She looked at her new born son who was being held by a strange woman and she began breathing heavily.

Zera smiled at her and said, "Worry not, my child. I was sent to protect this child. He has the blood of a Munhumutapa running through him. He will serve his kingdom faithfully and deliver it from the one who will come to oppress this kingdom. I see another child coming to this kingdom. He is royal and will become friends with your son. Together they will put an end to the invaders."

Zera handed Simba over to his mother and she began breastfeeding him. She looked at Zera whilst digesting the words she had just spoken. Zera stood up and left the house.

She walked over to the king's compound and looked from afar as midwives ran around the king's compound. "Isn't early?" Mhare question.

"Her time is now. She is in her labour," an elderly woman said and entered into the hut where Princess Ruva lay on mat.

Mhare stood outside as he paced around the hut. He couldn't stand listening to his wife screaming in pain as she gave birth. Suddenly, there was a silent moment and the cry of a baby cut through the midnight air.

A midwife opened the door and said, "Mhare, your wife has successfully delivered your child. It's a boy."

Mhare entered the hut and watched as Ruva lay softly on the mat. A woman handed the baby to him and he said, "His name is Chatunga."

He handed the child over to Ruva who smiled and said, "It's a nice name."

The king was called to see his grandson that very evening. They gathered around the son as they spoke good things over his life.

Zera smiled as she listened to their conversation from the shadows. "Gora knew how to become powerful forever. He chose to have a child. The annointing runs through the blood," she said and disappeared into the cool of the night.

As they celebrated, foreign man landed on the eastern coast of the land. They stood and they leader said, "I hear stories about plenty of gold in the interior. The existence of a powerful man called Monomotapa stopped us. But I hear that he is gone. Nothing can stop us now."

THE END