Ama by Manu Herbstein Read Free Book Online

unfair.
    Nandzi had observed this incident. Now, as she passed, the woman collapsed into a heap of flesh and crumpled cloth by the road-side, knowing that her son was surely dead. Looking back, Nandzi felt for her, all alone with her grief in the small cloud of dust thrown up by the horses and the excited crowd. She wondered whether it was one of Itsho’s arrows which had killed the woman’s son.
    â€œWe must be the first party to return,” said Damba to Suba, who was walking alongside his horse, one hand on the bridle. The boy had become quite attached to him and was diligently striving to expand his vocabulary.
    The traders had dispersed and there was little activity in the market square. A horse was tethered to an iron hook which had been driven into a tree trunk. Small donkeys, their front legs hobbled, browsed in a patch of dry grass. Goats scavenged amongst the unswept debris. In one corner, in the shade of a tree, a class of boys droned a recitation of passages from the Holy Book under the watchful eye of a malam.
    Abdulai drew fiercely on his mount's bit, forcing the white beast to rear. The small boys whistled their applause. He turned the horse to face his men.
    â€œDamba, Issaka,” he called out, “Muster the prisoners under the tree over there. Check that their hands are well tied. Then let the rest of the troop fall out. The two of you remain on guard until I send you a relief.”
    * * *
    A first-time visitor to Yendi would have been at pains to pick out Na Saa Ziblim’s palace. It was no more than a group of seven compounds, some larger, some smaller, disposed, seemingly at random, about an unwalled open space adjacent to the market. One of the main roads of the town passed right through the palace grounds.
    The largest compound housed the private quarters of the Na. The bleached shoulder blades of a foal guarded the great entrance doorway against the passage of evil spirits. Most visitors passed no further than the first room, an imposing reception hall with a conical thatched roof. Here the King gave audience during the day and the favourite royal horses were stabled at night.
    The Na reclined on cushions arranged on a lion's skin. This in turn was spread upon an ornate Moroccan carpet. He was dressed in voluminous cotton trousers and a heavy long-sleeved batakari intricately embroidered in the Muslim style. He wore silver rings on his fingers; leather amulets containing fragments of parchment inscribed with short passages from the Holy Book hung from a silver chain around his neck. Around him sat numerous chiefs, elders and officials, several of his wives and his eldest son. The Tolon-Na, Commander-in-Chief of the King's army, was there. So too were the Kumbong-Na, Commander of the Royal Archers, and the Galidima, Chief of the Eunuchs. The Owner of the Land was also present. At the periphery stood the head barber, the head butcher and the head blacksmith. The principal court musician stood ready to give the signal to his drummers. Sundry slaves and lackeys hovered in attendance, waving fans, offering tepid water in silver goblets and kola nuts on trays. This was the court of the Ya Na, King of Dagbon.
    Bowing low, the Chief of the Horses led Abdulai into the royal presence.
    When Abdulai had completed an elaborate obeisance, Na Saa indicated with his fly-whisk that he should rise. Saa Ziblim was not yet forty, handsome, as befitted a king, sharp of eye, in his own estimation a progressive reformer, a man who, though he relished power, used it wisely.
    â€œLet us hear your man's report,” he said to the Chief of Horses.
    The Chief of the Horses launched into a long, obsequious recitation of the virtues of the Na and his ancestors.
    Na Saa cut him short.
    â€œAre you the Chief of Horses or the Chief of the Royal Praise Singers?” he asked, looking over his shoulder at that very person.
    Those entitled by rank to be amused at the discomfiture of the Chief of the Horses