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Scene 3: 6th Day. Morning. King Zunzanyika’s courtyard
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23 The Lord of Anomy Scene 3 6th Day. Morning. King Zunzanyika’s courtyard. (A unique drumbeat sounds thrice before the curtain goes up to reveal a deserted courtyard with stools and benches scattered about. Enter Kapingu after a while looking confounded. He wanders aimlessly for a moment then sits on a stool, hunched over and thoughtful. Enter Makeredza shortly. The two shake hands. Makeredza sits on a stool and as the two clap hands in greeting, a cow moos and a bull bellows off-stage.) Kapingu I came as soon as I heard the drumbeat, Kapingu. Who summons the elders? Makeredza It cannot be anyone else except Changamire. Kapingu It cannot be him; the Lion is gravely ill. You can’t know it because you travelled the past four days. Most clansmen left Ibwe soon after the hermit’s visit – a commendable precautionary measure. Makeredza What ails him? Kapingu I didn’t see him, but his young brother, Dombo, is telling clansmen that life has left his left side. One side of his body is now redundant. He says speech has deserted him and he labours to breathe. Makeredza (Mournfully) It’s that accursed stiffness that arrests a man’s body - often irreversible and fatal. Kapingu It came upon him the evening of the abominable day when Chemusango emerged from the forest. This is the ailment’s sixth day. Dombo says nothing can save him now. Makeredza Can’t Rondangozi do something? Kapingu O! So you haven’t heard? (Shakes his head and sighs) These are warlike 24 Basil Diki times, Makeredza. Rondangozi is dead. Makeredza gasps and gapes his mouth wide open. But astoundingly upon him are signs of both life and death. Makeredza Have you become a riddle-peddler, Kapingu? Kapingu That’s the dreadful truth. Something evil was bound to happen. Indeed evil roamed the length and breath of the village. Many infants died on their mother’s bosoms. Reports say they developed a high fever, fizzled in no time and then died. Cattle too perished. Makeredza I learnt about the infants and the cattle. But about the medium, you’re breaking terrible news to me. How did this come about? Was it the stiffness too? Kapingu The whole thing is weird. I’m coming from viewing his body at Matonjeni Shrine in the Matoba Hills. It’s a horrific sight. His body lies on its back on the large flat boulder near the mouth of Mwari’s cave. A few paces away his acolyte’s body dangles from that shady cork-tree. Both Rondangozi and Gagi are dead. Makeredza whistles softly, sorrowfully, clutching his head. The horror of it is unbearable. The surrounding trees are already laden with staring hungry vultures that won’t be scared away. The scene like some sadistic grotto or joke in bad taste! But it’s real. I saw it firsthand. Makeredza He was overpowered. I knew he would be. Those who stayed behind said the hermit spoke boldly, his words enamoured of an evil intent. Our Rondangozi spoke timidly, like a little girl tasting courtship. Kapingu They say there was an evil romance in Chemusango’s words, especially when he bid them farewell. Makeredza You said Rondangozi seemed alive and dead. What did you mean? Kapingu It’s mind-bogging. There’s a fervent debate at the shrine as we speak. His eyes are open, gazing at the sky. Blood trickles out of [34.237.75.165] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 12:52 GMT) 25 The Lord of Anomy his mouth and nostrils… in fact it trickles out of every orifice on his body. Old scars on his body are bleeding too. Makeredza What kind of disease is that? Kapingu Who knows? I touched him, there’s some warmth in his ribs. But I couldn’t detect a heartbeat. He doesn’t seem to be breathing. It’s only his fingertips and toes that have taken the hue of death – pale, ashen and stiff like dry sticks. Makeredza This is bizarre… very bizarre. What did others conclude? Kapingu It’s a gathering of spineless elders mainly from the western village. I’m the only one who touched the body. The rest looked at it from a distance like children marvelling at a python. While I was at it someone shouted that the medium’s pharynx moved. Makeredza If it moved then he is alive, no doubt. Kapingu I didn’t see it move, Makeredza. Another elder quickly said...