Chapter 7

Half an hour later, Zambiya lost to Alpha's faster, deadlier and more accurate hits. He conceded defeat and as such passed his chieftaincy to his opponent. Alpha accepted the position on behalf of their brothers and asked who wished to challenge him, no man dared to.

They had seen him easily subdue their chief when even Kalol, the head of the hunting team, would have difficulty fighting. Everyone was a smart man; they were brave but not death seeking. Sometime the challenge would turn into a fight to the death.

The three brothers got back into Zambiya' s hut then came out after a short while, looking completely identical. The warriors gathered in the square were confused as to which brother their former chief had fought.

It was Zambiya who reacted, he knelt down and his brothers followed. "We accept your divine leadership great Masters."

The rest of the tried followed Zambiya' s example, all kneeling to show their submission.

At 0800 hours on September 12 the founders of the Zuyama Empire communicated with their people kneeling before them, for the first time.

"Get up. My brothers and I shall co-rule together. We run things very differently and we demand complete obedience and cooperation. Failure to do so shall be deemed as a challenge to our authority and shall be punishable by slavery. We have come to fulfil the promised prophesy. We shall find you wives, as many as your Rana mark allows for you and your brothers. But all these requires you obey and learn what we teach you." Alaric knew very well how important it was to establish prestige. It was imperative that their orders be carried out as they were running out of time.

They wanted to be capable of building a sea worthy ship in five years so as to go to Europe. There was no way in hell they would remain bachelors for the rest of their lives again. Besides they needed to establish trade routes across the world, they were a few hundred years ahead of others but time was of the essence to the brothers.

They desired to see an industrial society build in their lifetime.

"Winter Is approaching in three full moons, we need to make preparations for it. Alpha will go hunting with the warriors, Apollo will go gathering with Karoa and Saspe together with twenty tribesmen to gather around the tribe. Zambiya you shall remain behind to give me details on the tribe." Alaric quickly issued a series of commands.

Once his brothers had left, Alaric walked around the tribe with Zumbaya as he listened to him tell him more about the tribe.

"Master, we have the warriors who have followed the other masters, the women and children in the tribe and the old and injured tribesmen who can no longer hunt. We do not give up any of our tribespeople."

"Where are the old tribesmen and women, I did not see them yesterday and this morning."

"We keep them in the second Valley for their safety. Some tribes do not observe the ways of the Rana mark, they rob the food in other tribes and rape the women."

"Rape them? I thought men do not get hard for other women apart from their mates?"

"Aah it is not true. We do, but one is not allowed by the rules of our forefathers to touch a woman unmated to him. This is to so as not to dishonor another man's woman. That one is a story spread so as to keep the females safe."

Alaric listened to this new titbit. It added a whole new dimension to how he planned things. He always wondered what he would do to the unmated females he brought from abroad once he started trading.

Zumbaya explained that the women did nothing as they were considered special and had the sacred duty of passing offspring. To Alaric that was a load of bullshit. He knew very well from previous experience how entitled females behaved. If one gave an inch, they took the fucking whole road.

He was going to change that situation. The women hd to learn to contribute so as to not breed entitlement. He knew the Zumaya females only did that because they were few in numbers, therefore special. That would soon change.

Zumbaya went on to explain to him about the tribe but the statistics were still vague. It seemed that their earlier estimation of the tribe's number was inaccurate, He needed conduct a census of the tribesmen and make records.

Alaric followed Zambiya as he passed through two seemingly interconnected hills to arrive in a hidden area behind them. There Alaric saw the hidden tribespeople. There were about two hundred hidden tribesmen, mostly old people and a few young women. The girls were probably put there for their safety.

Zambiya informed them that Alaric was the new chief and he was here to meet them. After talking to them and understanding their situation, Alaric knew how to use them Most of the old and injured men felt that they did not contribute to the tribe and would be abandoned just as other tribes did. Alaric assured them that they were needed by the tribe.

To prove this, he had an idea. He told the men to follow him, leaving behind the women with a few warriors to protect them. Alaric had the men follow him to where he had seen large wattle trees that had fallen down taking a few smaller trees with it. Alaric had the old men collecting, stripping, and weaving thin strips of bark fiber together on the wattle tree.

He then made the earliest primitive version of the simplest hand loom. The complete weaving process is nothing more than twisting the fibers into threads, and then intersecting the warp and weft. Whether it's linen, silk, cotton or palm, everything is the same.

What has changed is nothing more than how to twist it into a thread faster, thinner and better, and how to intersect the warp and weft from three hands to one using both hands and feet.

  He demonstrated to the old clansmen and the women too. The clansmen were dizzy when they saw it, and they suddenly felt that it was magical. The ropes that had been twisted were actually fixed together, forming something like animal skins.

Two brothers with injured legs, Ramur and Nadin, learnt extremely fast and soon, The two became more and more proficient. The warp of the shuttle kept approaching the end of the weft. After a busy morning, the two finally completed the tribe's first piece of cloth.