Even as the Hunters took their mother, the children lay as still as possible after putting the baby between them. It was her teaching and she had taught it well enough that they obeyed, even though they wanted desperately to follow her. “How will you take care of each other if you just follow along? What will you eat with no time to forage or hunt? Do you think the Hunters will take care of you? No. You must remain and help rebuild our home and village. This is the only way that you will survive, and I would have it that way.” And so they laid that way until the baby began to fuss about her diaper, and being hungry. Mlungisi sat up and quietly told his sister Nqobile to take care of Londiwe’s mess and he would seek out someone to nurse her, if at all possible. He cautiously left the underbrush and looked around at the destruction that only this morning was intact; he hung his head momentarily for the lost, allowing a single tear to trickle down his face for his mother before lifting his head and doing what must be done.
Carefully picking his way through the pieces of broken pottery and cooking utensils, strewn clothing and bedding, and a myriad of other items associated with their lives Mlungisi scanned for signs of others like himself, who were either too young or too old for capture. When he reached the center of their encampment he stood there silently, waiting for them to come out of hiding and join him. Soon, they began to emerge from their various hiding places until he was surrounded by the remaining number of the tribe, and Mlungisi had them line up and number off so he could get an accurate count. They did as he asked and at the end they had counted twenty-two children under the age of eleven, seven aged twelve to twenty and thirteen over the age of forty. He asked for a surrogate nursemaid for his baby sister and a young lady named Nomusa who was nearing her term offered to go and nurse the baby and after giving her directions she left, then he tasked the younger ones with cleaning up with the guidance and assistance of the elders, while he and the others left to find food for everyone.
Since he had assumed command, he instructed five of his team to find baskets and tools for food gathering and set out when they had them ready, while he and the next oldest would hunt an animal for supper. They could eat along the way and there was food to be found in the camp so everyone would be good until then. Bhekisisa and he had been hunting together before so Mlungisi trusted him and they worked well with one another. He let Bhekisisa lead the way as usual while he kept an eye out behind and beside them, looking for game and watching out for others that may or may not be hostile. After the attack on their village this morning that had virtually left most of them orphaned they were on high alert, as were the others, and they would be for many years to come. Even as they went forth, both boys were thinking of ways to keep the people safe in the future with the ones who had survived being young and old, having had the entire leading generation taken away. Mlungisi had learned very little from his father on the subject because he had other interests, and after he’d been taken last year all his mother had cared about was not letting that happen to them again. Sadly, her heart had conspired against her best intentions and allowed the Hunters to find them and he hung his head momentarily for his mother.
Noticing the movement of an animal through the leaves of the jungle to his right, Mlungisi signaled to Bhekisisa to follow him and they veered off, while trading leadership positions. They cautiously crept along the way it had gone, not making a sound as they tracked it down. Soon they came to a small clearing with a stream running through it, where their prey was drinking, and facing the other direction. Taking careful aim, they each loosed an arrow into the animal back behind its shoulders, immediately taking out its lungs and killing it on the spot. The antelope dropped onto its knees, then fell over and went into death throws and when it quieted down they went and started to carve up the best parts, leaving the rest of their kill to the animals who lingered nearby. They slung the packs of meat onto their backs and began the journey back to the village, each of them silently hoping that it was going to be alright when they got there.
As they neared their former encampment they noticed that a lot had happened in the short time they were gone, so much that it didn’t look like the same place and they glanced at each other in disbelief as they came near. There was no one about so they assumed that they were working elsewhere in the village so they went to the center as was the custom and waited for others to come to them. As earlier, it wasn’t long before they were surrounded by the remnants of their family and friends, with the exception of one of the gatherers, who was known for taking her time so there was little apprehension as of yet. The boys laid their kill out for their tribe members to see, and the elder women came and took it for processing and cooking. Mlungisi praised those remaining for their hard work, then they excused themselves to go wash up at the small stream that ran nearby, feeling a little bit better than before their excursion. They talked quietly among themselves as they cleaned up and discussed the next steps they would need to take and agreed that the first was to have the people choose a new leader, to be accomplished prior to the evening meal in the hopes that Lungile would be back by then. They decided to check the perimeter before heading back, each going the opposite way to make it faster, with a predetermined alarm if they needed assistance. When they met again there was nothing out of the ordinary to report so they made their way back into camp where the smell of roasting meat greeted them as they neared, and they went to the center of camp and waited for the group to come together.
Once everyone was accounted for, Mlungisi asked when they could expect to eat, and was informed that it was ready so with a bow to the women who had prepared it they went and helped themselves to the massive leaves that were heaped with delicious foods, and took them back and showed them what awaited. Then the elders helped the children and took turns getting some for themselves, after which the younger folks got their portions, which still left plenty so no one went hungry that day. There was talk as they ate of what had happened that morning, but it was low and cautious, and Mlungisi felt that it was a good thing, although he just listened and nodded his head towards someone who spoke truth and wished for healing. Of course a couple of the younger men wanted to go after the Hunters and rescue their parents and other tribe members, but the others were able to talk about it and make them see that it would only get them killed or taken, and the tribe needed them here if they were going to have a chance of surviving. Nqobile brought the baby and sat beside him, listening, as he was, to what the only remaining people of their clan were talking about as Londiwe began to fuss. She cleaned her baby sister up and put a new swaddling on her and rocked her in her arms to calm her. Nomusa came over from where she was sitting with her younger brother and grandmother to nurse Londiwe and the baby settled into her arms and began to suckle. It had taken several tries throughout the morning before there was a flow of milk satisfactory to let her fill up, but now that there were no problems with that she was content when she finished at her breast, and she passed a now sleepy Londiwe over to her sister.
Mlungisi felt a pride for his people, who had adopted him as their leader and the amazing transformation they had brought about in the encampment as well as their ability to come together and help each other begin to heal from the atrocities they lived through this morning. Many of the people were now starting to clean up and head to what was once a family home and now was devoid of parents, siblings, and children who would never be seen again. Getting to his feet, Munglisi took the baby so his sister could rise and clean up their supper things and put the used leaves in the pile outside the cookery and storehouse to dry out, and then be used to start and heat up a fire. When she came back he led the way to their semi-repaired home and try to sleep after everything that happened, and found that their beds and the baby’s cradle were ready for them in bedrooms that were separated by only a woven tree bark wall. After laying Londiwe down and talking to her for a minute he got up and went to his own bed where he sat down, grateful to have this place to lay his head and hoped and wished that his mother could find some comfort tonight, and as he sat there the tears finally came as silent sobs racked his slender body.
After some time, he was able to return to normal breathing and wiped his face on some of the baby’s swaddling, promising himself to help his sister with the laundry. He could hear Nqobile still quietly sobbing and he lay as still as possible so she could cry privately and he pushed the swaddling over towards her side so she’d have something soft to wipe her face on when she was ready. Londiwe was sleeping soundly, and Mlungisi allowed himself to slowly enter sleep, knowing that there were going to be two people on guard throughout the night, each taking shifts until sleep began to overtake them. It would become the practice of the group to take turns being on watch; and so the children who woke up this morning with little or no responsibility went to bed adults who were in charge of a ragtag tribe that was missing an entire generation, encompassing most of their parents and the knowledge they would have passed on. It was now up to them to become too powerful and cunning to be captured and taken from their home ever again.