Shaka the Great (89 page)

A familiar face that snags his attention. The immediate movement sideways—he has already been edging in that direction and now, with the udibi's recognition screaming a warning at him, he has but a few paces to cover and then he's outside, with those he pushes past barely aware of his dash to escape.

Another reason for the udibi to curse himself. A face he should have recognized, and then Vala still reacting quicker than him, after he places that familiar sneer. Lungelo at the river that day, when Philani was with him …

And there is a burning in his gut as the assassin stands over him, with spear raised.

Khanzijana, son of Zwide.

Who will spare him a killing thrust, so that his agony might be drawn out long enough for him to tell someone who has done this thing to Shaka …

The Induna's head comes up. He's had the strangest dream. He glances over at his udibi, half expecting to see the boy writhing in pain. And Shaka was here … He looks at the spot the King had been occupying moments before in his dream … wearing Imithi Emnyama, and out of season, too.

The Induna stands up and yawns.

A stretching.

A final piss.

Laying a few of the bigger branches on the fire.

Then lying back. The warmth on your face warming your eyes, making their lids droop …

No idyll, this African night. No Elysian dream. Don't be fooled: there is nothing idyllic about it. The sun came and stamped on the thorns, stamped and stamped and stamped, a thousand impis driving their moist heat into the ground. Then it went away, and the veld sprawled in its wake, its head buried in the crook of an arm. Happy just to be rid of the blaze, finding relief in a darkness veined with tender breezes. Little gusts that blow up, tickle the leaves, then ripple through the grass, and vanish. But this stillness is merely a phase. Soon the nap will be over, and the veld will be on the move again, stalking and fleeing, creeping and crawling, hiding and dying, as the crickets thread their melodic beads and, somewhere far off, a jackal laughs.

And the udibi's thinking that can't be.

He's thinking: two wounds. One covered in sand, one clean.

(Three, if you count the blood pumping between his fingers.)

But two wounds. One clean because it was administered
after
Shaka fell—and the assassin had fled, taking his assegai with him. (Because a dancer without a spear would have been spotted quicker, even in that mob.)

Two wounds. Two spears. And someone seeing their chance in the confusion, and seizing it.

And the udibi is thinking:
Mbopa?

This is a work of fiction. Which means some things are made up, while others aren't. Shaka, for example, did change the way the First Fruits was celebrated, and there really was an attempt made on his life by a Ndwandwe assassin.

In
Amazulu
, I sought to explore the popular view of Shaka within the parameters of that, ahem, paradigm and see how things might have been. E. A. Ritter's
Shaka Zulu
was, therefore, the logical place to start. Hugely influential in the way Shaka has come to be seen, it cannot be ignored; but it would be of little value to anyone attempting a more scholarly study of the period. Then again, neither are more recent “revisionist” histories which seek to debunk “the myth of Shaka” out of hand—not least because they arrogantly ignore the oral accounts diligently collected by the likes of James Stuart and others.

Such nonsense only serves to underscore the “con” in “deconstructionist,” and a powerful antidote is Carolyn Hamilton's
Terrific Majesty
. It was a key source for this novel, and a book I always turned to with awe and pleasure. Doubtless she will find much amiss with my own “historical invention,” but I would recommend
Terrific Majesty
to anyone wanting to learn more about Shaka's life and times, as well as the ways he has been “interpreted” and “(re)invented” by subsequent generations—especially readers who find military histories heavy going.

Speaking of which, as with the first novel, I found John Laband's masterly account of the Zulu army,
Rope Of Sand
, indispensable. And then there was Ian Knight's
The Anatomy of the Zulu Army
.

Eileen Jensen Krige's
The Social System of the Zulus
(first published in 1935), A.T. Bryant's
The Zulu People
and C.T. Binns's
The Warrior People
were similarly indispensable when it came to the lifestyle and culture of the Zulu nation at this time.

Also deserving of special mention is Axel-Ivar Berglund's
Zulu Thought-Patterns and Symbolism
.

As regards Fynn, Farewell, King and their attempts to establish a settlement at Port Natal (which would later become the city of Durban), I found so many discrepancies in the oeuvre of “classic accounts” that I finally threw in the towel and relied on Brian Roberts' account in
The Zulu Kings
and Fynn's own
Diary
. The latter has rightly attracted a fair amount of controversy, but what the hell—this is a work of fiction.

As I've said, some things in this novel have been made up, but it should be noted there really is a form of Zulu zombie. Two cases of relatives believed dead (and buried!) returning home with tales of being held captive by a witch were reported even while I was writing this book.

Also there really was a bandit called Beja. He lived a little later, in the latter years of the nineteenth century—and gun-running was one of his crimes in addition to cattle rustling and robbing travelers—but his modus operandi (including the singing of the songs) was as described here. Readers seeking more information are directed to W. T. Brownlee's
Reminiscences of a Transkeian
(Shuter & Shooter, 1975).

Patient colleague Zanele Mbatha of
Bona
magazine helped me with various translations. Any errors are entirely my own.

The “Talking muthi” column in the magazine by Force Khashane, veteran journalist and practicing sangoma, was a further source of valuable information. A kind, gentle man brutally murdered, he will be sorely missed.

Patricia McCracken lent a sympathetic ear during what turned out to be the worst eighteen months of my life, while Reg Vermeulen's occasional growls also helped.

Thanks must also go to Quercus, for their unstinting support and encouragement—to Nick Johnston, for making a very important phonecall, for Richard Arcus, for taking up the slack, and everyone else who helped get this one out there.

Then there are my editors Peter Lavery and Liz Hatherell, who knocked it into shape.

As with the first novel, the spirit of Goscinny and Uderzo hovered over the proceedings.

Then there are the “stalwart companions”—Alan Cooper, Bobby Peek, Rob Askew and Andrew Gilder—who keep me sane.

As does Norma, who also continues to provide a welcome distraction.

Dr. Paula, meanwhile, helped keep the black dog at bay (and was willing to discuss primitive brain surgery).

Speaking of medical matters, my apologies to Messrs. Brook and Wheatley for appropriating a certain “medicinal remedy” employed by the Induna.

Becker, Peter:
Path of Blood
, Panther, 1966;
Rule of Fear
, Panther, 1972;
Hill of Destiny
, Panther, 1972;
Tribe to Township
, Panther, 1974

Berglund, Axel-Ivar:
Zulu Thought-Patterns and Symbolism
, Indiana University Press, 1989

Binns, C. T.:
The Warrior People: Zulu Origins, Customs and Witchcraft
, Howard Timmins, 1974

Bryant, A. T.:
The Zulu People: As They Were Before the White Man Came
, Shuter & Shooter, 1967

Bulpin, T. V.:
Shaka's Country: A Book of Zululand
, Howard Timmins, 1975;
To the Shores of Natal
, Howard Timmins, date unknown;
Southern Africa: Land of Beauty and Splendour
, Reader's Digest, 1976

Fuze, Magema:
The Black People and Whence They Came: A Zulu View
(translated by H. C. Lugg; edited by A. T. Cope), University Of Natal Press & Killie Campbell Africana Library, 1979

Hamilton, Carolyn:
Terrific Majesty: The Powers of Shaka Zulu and the Limits of Historical Invention
, Harvard University Press, 1998

Kenney, R. U.:
Piet Retief: The Dubious Hero
, Human & Rousseau, 1976

Knight, Ian:
The Anatomy of the Zulu Army: From Shaka to Cetshwayo, 1818–1879
, Greenhill Books, 1995

Krige, Eileen:
The Social System of the Zulus
, Shuter & Shooter, 1965

Laband, John:
Rope of Sand
, Jonathan Ball, 1994

Lugg, H. C.:
A Natal Family Looks Back
, T. W. Griggs & Co, 1970;
Life Under a Zulu Shield
, Shuter & Shooter, 1975

Miller, Penny:
Myths and Legends of Southern Africa
, T. V. Bulpin Publications, 1979

Mutwa, Credo:
My People
, Penguin, 1971;
Indaba My Children
, Kahn & Averill, 1985