Reckless Weds Barbaric.

01: Prologue.

Mutsara Wa Tsatsu, Bamba.
August,1900.

The baby kicked fiercely at the side of her womb and the cramps started at her abdomen but Dumbo shrugged it off.

She climbed the wooden gate for she had no time to waste unfastening it. She was like a young rabbit, fleet of foot and with a spring in her heels as she raced through the wood, jumping over fallen logs and even a little singing stream.

She wanted to catch her breath, longed to let her limbs rest but she could still hear the obnoxiously chanting warriors just a metre from her and she willed herself to run a little faster.

Then she was out of the trees.

A great expanse of smooth and undulating parkland was spread out before her, going on for what seemed to be miles and to her right, stretching as far as the eye could see, was a lake on which the most beautiful white birds with long, arched necks glided silently across its mirror smoothness. She did not stop to stare at them though she would have dearly loved to, but flew across the smooth grass towards a deeper forest for she needed cover or the warriors would find her and take her babe.

Dumbo's husband was a hunter and she had sometimes followed him on his hunting endeavours but she had never seen a place with so many bloody trees, she thought, as she ran on, her breath sawing in her throat and cutting through her labouring lungs.

The labor pains cut through her abdomen again, more fierce this time and she lost her footing and landed belly first into the thorny ground. Her scream blended with thunder that rumbled simultaneously. For a moment she was grateful for it till it started raining and she knew it would be impossible to find shelter for her babe,just in case she it had it there.

It began to rain heavily then as she writhed and groaned in pain on the ground. She could feel the contractions squeeze the babe in her womb and feared it would push her babe so hard it came flying out of her. It was her first pregnancy and she knew not a thing of childbirth except the infamous labor pain stories.

A hand touched her.

Dumbo gave a frightened shrill and lifted her head, turning her eyes rapidly from side to side, searching frantically for who or what had touched her but nothing was in her line of vision. Just trees. The cramps ripped at her stomach again and again and she clutched it, her face awash with unwilling tears.

She heard the cracking of twigs behind her.

Had they caught up with her? Dumbo looked about her again but could not see anyone. Her heart beat wildly in her chest and her face that was contorted in pain morphed into the tense look of a hunted animal. She was poised for flight but she had to wait until the pursuers had gone by.

She was impatient in her desire to get away that she did not wait long enough for the warriors to pass by. She struggled up and stood on her wobbling feet but just as she wanted to bolt, a dirty paw circled her hand and held her hostage.

She was roughly lifted off her feet and though she kicked and wailed, the warriors held her firm. Her voice rose in high notes as she cursed her midwife who had started this nightmare which Dumbo would never wake from.

The midwife who had nursed her, massaged her and cared for her, had informed Dumbo's father-in-law that the babe in her womb was a girl and a suitable match had been found for it. The suitor wanted the babe immediately after birth, for it to be nurtured in his home till it came to be of marrying age.

It was not unheard of, neither was it a tradition, but every suitor had their demands and this wealthy old merchant wanted his intended one groomed into a wife under his own watchful eye.

Dumbo had sworn she would not give up her babe but what was a woman's word taken for in a male chauvinistic  community?

She fought all the way to her husband's homestead where she had the baby and watched it taken away from her without it even sucking at her breast. The only wish Dumbo was granted was to name her babe and she called her Elani.

Dumbo lay on the bloody sacking,all attention drawn away from her and she was left to care for herself, battle her grief, nurse the wound and ignore her breasts that throbbed painfully with milk.

They took the babe to be blessed and married off then a famous wedding song filled the air. It had a mock to it and Dumbo swore she had never felt such a pain pierce her heart. She cursed each of them, especially the singers as she listened to the mockery.

"Nami na mboza mwanangu
Kayombo mwana yunendaee zho
Kwaatu anenda kwa mulumewe dede
Mdzungu wa utsungu na uhambalee

Sikahenzere maneno gamameyo
Gawayu wayu siga enzi
Mutsedzangu chone tembe
Cho kigoho kinanongo"

The drummers beat the drums fiercely and the sound rumbled like thunder. Dancers pounded out a rhythm on the hard earth with their bare feet. Singers ululated a lilting melody and clapped their hands to the beat being pounded out. The music swelled and rose, a synchronized cacophony of delightful energy.