Warrior

'I did.' Somervile, as Hervey, had seen Ngwadi account for three men with his own spear.

'And Mbopa knows that the kraal can't be rushed, even when he creeps up by dark. Evidently he hadn't the men for a stronger attack. I believe time may be on our side.'

Corporal Cox came doubling. 'Kaffirs've bolted like rabbits, sir. Permission to follow 'em up?'

Hervey looked about the kraal. 'No, Corporal. Your zeal does you credit, but for once we must remain on our guard. I can't be certain that that's not what they want – having us come out into the open. By all means have a patrol look about – four men, not more, and no further than the maize.'

'Sir!' Cox doubled away to give the orders.

'He appears to be enjoying the work,' said Somervile, sounding faintly bemused.

'He's no doubt relishing his opportunity for command – and his survival,' replied Hervey drily. 'It's a powerful thing to discover you're on your feet at the end of your first fight. Don't you recall?' Somervile, happy to be admitted to his friend's pantheon of fellow warriors, nodded. 'I do.'

'Come, then: let us see what manner of men Mbopa sent against us. We may learn something.'

Ngwadi's warriors were already stripping their enemies and bearing away their own fallen. Hervey stepped from body to body, crouching here and there to turn over a bloody corpse. He would not use his boot, as others did, for he was not yet sure that these Zulu had no claim on being God's creatures. And besides, Ngwadi's men were their kin: they might treat their enemies as they willed, but they might take exception to an outsider's doing so.

'Older men than I have seen hitherto, I would say.'

'Distinctly so,' agreed Somervile, peering at the heap of questionable humanity with the eye of a student of natural science. 'And what thereby do you infer?'

Hervey was examining the feet of one of them. He rose and shook his head. 'Shaka sent every impi but Ngwadi's against the Pondos and Soshangane, did he not, leaving just the usual guards at the kraals? Mbopa has evidently called out the veterans. Tough old veterans, judging from their condition.'

'Many more men at his disposal than we supposed, therefore. And the would-be inkwebane that Shaka recalled from the north?'

'I fear we must proceed on the assumption that they answer now to Mbopa. Pampata says that Shaka wanted them formed into a new impi, "the Bees". Upwards of a thousand – green-horned, but chasing the bubble reputation.'

'We must trust to your dragoons' speedy recall.'

Hervey inclined his head, the sign that he was not convinced. 'We may have to quit this place. We have the advantage of horses, that is all. Much as I admire Ngwadi, we have no obligation to him. My prime duty is your safe return.'

Somervile looked at his pistols, as if asking himself what he did here, a diplomatist not a soldier. 'I hope it shall not come to that. My mission would be altogether unaccomplished.'

'You would of course live to accomplish it another day,' countered Hervey.

'But the day may not be given me. Recollect that I am recalled to London.'

'Carpe diem?' said Hervey, with more than a hint of scepticism. 'But what pain in the seizing?'

Somervile frowned. 'You disappoint me, Hervey. "Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero." Gather the day, Hervey, not seize it.'

Hervey sighed. 'Somervile, we stand here with loaded pistols, and bodies lying all about us, like . . . Medea, and you declaim the finer points of Horace! I must respectfully remind you that I have a duty to discharge, and I intend discharging it.'

Somervile looked chastened once more. 'I would not stand in the way of duty, Hervey.'

'Come, then; let us leave these fellows to the sexton's work. I confess I was always discomfited by the evidence of victory.'

His friend nodded, acquiescing (though not, to his mind, in any scheme of quitting this place), before bending down to pick up a spear. 'I am not disposed as a rule to trophies, but the iklwa is indeed a singular weapon. I believe there would be profit in contemplating it.'

Hervey had not quite thought of it thus, but he was not averse to adding another memento of his trade to those he had acquired over the years. Georgiana would be intrigued by it at least (even if Kezia might recoil . . .). He stooped to prise the iklwa from the hand of the warrior who had intended death to him not many minutes before. 'At stand-to this evening I will ride out to see who is gathered; and likewise at dawn tomorrow. If there is a swarm of "bees" then I fear I shall insist we fly before we are stung to death.' He flexed the spear in his hand, wondering indeed if ever he would be able to show it to anyone.

Later, with Corporal Cox, he rode out from the kraal on his reconnaissance. He knew the ground he had trodden with Pampata well enough – all folds and hollows – and he did not reckon it safe to go much beyond a mile or so in that direction, for there were hiding places enough for a whole impi, and the fleetest of horses would have been hard-pressed to outpace a determined envelopment. He saw no sign of Mbopa's men, however, even whence they had attacked, and whither they had retreated. Neither saw he any sign in the rest of their circumnavigation of the kraal, and at a radius of a mile and a half. The ground in all directions, he discovered, was as unfavourable to the defenders as might be. He wondered how Ngwadi could have chosen such a place, for he would surely have understood the importance of ground (Matiwane's warriors, as he recalled, could make themselves invisible in what looked like the flattest country). And he rode back with his spirits sagging, knowing the initiative lay firmly with Mbopa, or whoever was his field commander. They could expect attack from any direction or several, and he could ill afford skirmishers out to break up the assault.

He reported his disquiet to Somervile, who asked simply if he had reconnoitred their line of withdrawal in the event that an attack went hard with them. Hervey told him he had (there was a line of thorn bushes, part of the cattle drove, which would give them cover by day and direction at night), and would have a rifleman stand by with the horses at the 'sally port'. He then asked what Somervile had learned of Shaka's child from Pampata.

Somervile expressed himself disappointed in this. 'She says the boy's been taken to a place called Mpapala, Ngwadi's father's kraal, a day and a half's march from here.'

'Safe, at least.'

'Oh, indeed so. And I would not hasten thither, for I think it would not profit us greatly to find the boy if Ngwadi is then defeated.'

'I understand. If the troop were here I would suggest we convey her there with an escort, out of harm's way, but . . .' Hervey would not divide his force any more.

'Exactly so. There is no option but to wait on their return . . . Did she tell you that Ngwadi himself knows of the boy, or his identity?'

'She did. Ngwadi knows both, but no one but Pampata knows of his knowledge. Ngwadi knows because Nandi confided in him her delight at having a grandchild.'

'I begin greatly to admire Pampata, you know, Hervey. She displays an admirable constancy that is most touching.'