Assegai

Eva was filled with a consuming joy and a profound sense of relief. Otto was dead. The nightmare was over and she was free to go to Leon. Lying in his crystal coffin Otto opened one eye, looked directly at her and blew a perfect smoke-ring. She began to laugh, she could not stop, and the bell-like peals rang out across Unter den Linden.

Kaiser Wilhelm turned in his saddle and glared at her. Then he urged his horse forward and leaned over her to reprimand her. ‘Wake up, Eva!’ he told her sternly. ‘Wake up. You’re dreaming!’

‘Otto is dead!’ she answered him. ‘It will be all right now. Now they will have to let me go. I will be free. It’s over.’

‘Wake up, my darling,’ said the Kaiser, and leaned out from the saddle to take her by the shoulder and shake her briskly. The fact that he was the Emperor of Germany and that she had been presented to him at court on more than one occasion was no excuse for such familiar behaviour. She was quite offended. How dare he call her ‘darling’?

‘I am Leon’s darling, not yours!’ she told him primly, and sat up. Leon had lit the candle, so it was light enough in the hut on Lonsonyo Mountain for her to make out his face close to hers and see his anxious expression. ‘Otto is dead,’ she told him.

‘You were dreaming, Eva.’

‘I saw him, darling Badger. He really is dead.’ She paused to consider this statement. ‘Even if my dream was a fantasy, even if he is out there somewhere, living and breathing, for me he is dead. He no longer means anything to me. I don’t even hate him any longer. Now that I’ve found love with you, there is no place in my life for barren emotions like hatred and revenge.’

She reached out for him, and he took her within the circle of his arms and held her tightly. ‘Together we will transform all this ugliness into something bright and beautiful,’ he promised.

‘I want you to take me to Lusima Mama,’ she whispered. ‘The very first time you spoke of her I felt as though I already knew her. I have a strange feeling that I am spiritually co

‘We will go to her today, as soon as it is light enough to take the pathway to the summit.’

Manyoro and Loikot warned Leon that the last section was too steep and narrow for the horses so he sent Ishmael and the groom back down to the base of the mountain with orders to circle to the southern side and bring the horses up along the easier, more familiar route.

Once they had disappeared, Leon, Eva and the two Masai started up the track beside the waterfall. The way became more difficult with every step they climbed. At some places they were forced to traverse the face of the mountain on ledges along which only one could pass at a time, and always the exposure to height became more severe. For the most part the waterfall was hidden by rock, but twice as they edged around a buttress they were presented with a spectacle that bated their breath. The torrent seemed to swirl around them in silvery sheets, confounding their senses. The rocky walls and the shelf under their feet were wet and slippery with a coating of slimy algae. Their upward progress became more and more laborious.

The sun was reaching its noon when they came out on the plateau of the summit. Manyoro and Loikot sought shade under one of the trees and threw themselves down to rest and take a little snuff. Leon led Eva by the hand to the brink of the precipice. There they sat together with their feet dangling over the void. Leon picked up a pebble the size of his fist that had cracked from the ledge on which they sat and dropped it over the edge. They watched with fascination as it fell three hundred feet without touching the rock wall. The tiny splash it made as it struck the surface of the pool was barely apparent in the tumultuous waters. Neither spoke, for words seemed superfluous in the midst of such splendour. At last Manyoro called them and, reluctantly, they stood up and backed away from the void.

‘How far to Lusima Mama’s manyatta?’ Leon asked.

‘Not far,’ replied Loikot. ‘We will be there before sunset.’

‘A mere stroll of twenty miles or so.’ Leon smiled. ‘Let’s go.’ The two Masai picked out the overgrown pathway unerringly and set an easy pace. For once there was no hurry and the three men could enjoy their surroundings, which seemed so remote from the floor of the Rift Valley. It was Eva’s first visit to the mountain, so the scenery and vegetation fascinated her. She delighted in the flowering orchids that hung in festoons from the high branches of the rainforest trees, and laughed at the antics of the Colobus monkeys that scolded them as they passed. Once they stopped to listen as a herd of heavy animals crashed away through the undergrowth, alarmed by their presence.

‘Buffalo.’ Leon answered her silent question. ‘There are some enormous brutes up here in the mist.’

At one point they descended into a steep gorge and climbed up the far side to reach an open tableland as flat as a polo ground and devoid of trees. At one end the cliff fell away abruptly for hundreds of feet. A pair of large, reddish antelopes stood against the forest at the opposite end of the clearing. Creamy stripes were emblazoned across their shoulders and their ears were large and trumpet-shaped. Their horns were massive black spirals with sharp white tips. ‘How beautiful they are!’ Eva exclaimed, and at the sound of her voice they slipped into the forest, without disturbing a leaf of the dense shrubbery. ‘What were they?’

‘Bongo,’ Leon told her. ‘The rarest and shyest of all our animals.’

‘I hadn’t known how beautiful everything is in this country of yours.’

‘When did you make the discovery?’ He laughed at her enthusiasm.

‘At about the same time that I realized I was in love with you.’ She laughed back. ‘I don’t ever want to leave this land. Can we live here for ever, Badger?’

‘What a splendid idea,’ he said, but she could see he was distracted.

‘What is it?’ she asked.

‘This!’ With a sweep of one arm he indicated the clearing in front of them. Then he strode down the length of it, counting his paces and examining the ground underfoot. She noticed that at no point was the undergrowth higher than his knee. Suddenly she felt hot and tired. She found a tree stump and sank down on it thankfully, mopping her face with her banda

‘Loikot says that in the time of his grandfather the Mkuba Mkuba, the great god of the Masai, was displeased so he threw down a bolt of lightning to warn the tribe of his anger. No trees or large plants have grown here since that day.’

‘And you believe that?’ Eva challenged him.

‘Of course not,’ Leon replied, ‘but Loikot does and that’s what counts.’

‘Why are you so fascinated by this bare ground?’

‘Because this is a natural landing strip, Eva. If I side-slipped her between those tall trees at the end of the clearing I could put the Bumble Bee down here as sweetly as spreading a spoonful of honey on a slice of buttered toast.’

‘Why on earth would you want to do that, my darling man?’

‘That’s the only thing I don’t like about flying,’ he answered. ‘Every time you take off you have to think about where you’re going to land. I’ve got into the habit of making a note of every possible landing strip I come across in the bush. I might never need it, but if I ever did I imagine I’d need it pretty damn badly.’

‘But on top of this mountain? Aren’t you carrying your search a little too far? I’ll give you a kiss if you give me one good reason why you might ever want to put her down here.’