Now the multitudes were leaning against the woods, demarcating the kraal. Some amongst the crowd, shushing the next person.
“My father’s inyanga, told me that I should do anything to retain the throne. He told me he has a way, all I need to do was just agree that I will make him my doctor, once I am officially crowned King. I agreed without knowledge that he had planned such,” he confessed tearing, “If I knew he hid such, I would’ve denied, I swear!”
Then the oldest men of the seven, in the counsel stood forward, “Ever since I was a boy, I was told that only a thorn can remove a thorn. This traitor here was a King, and if he is no longer King, the person who bit him should be King!”
One old man from the crowd shouted, “But we don’t even know who he is, how can he be our king?”
The man who had been with Sibazi from his home stood forward and kneeled before the counsel, “Bo baba, nani sizwe sonke. I know most of you might not know this young boy besides me but you may know his father. He is the son of Khozi, the one who was betrayed and murdered in the battle field and his wife renounced a witch and was chased to die in the wilderness. His fighting skills throughout the tournament were unparalleled and the blood of your hero, who gave you this peace, flows within his veins. I say he is my king!”
The oldest man in the counsel, the wisest, stood forward, “He is my king!”
Then a man here, a woman there, a father, a gogo, all shouted together, “Bayethe!” as they bowed to their king.
The man went near the gate to the hut where they were allocated to when they arrived. The people were now shouting that Nkabi should be executed for his crimes.
In agony, Sibazi gathered strength to say a few words, “If you people really think I should be your king, then I say, spare this man’s life. I shall make him induna yebutho — the commander of warriors. Even though I was not fighting at my best and without my sticks, I have never fought a finer stick man.”
From afar, people were mumbling to each other, “He is wise, you wouldn’t want to execute a man some had considered good enough to be their king, that might just divide the kingdom.”
Some were questioning Sibazi’s wisdom and many things about the him. They released Nkabi, and Sibazi limped to the his now new hut, the Kings hut. When he got there, he was received by the man who has been with him through the journey.
“Your father would be proud,” he kneeled and opened his bag. Inside was the leopard’s skin they had brought. He took it out and placed it on Sibazi’s feet, “A gift for the king!”
*****
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