Hellbrandt wrote:
"You are a real prince then Kuublu? What strange times these are that bring the likes of myself together with such fine men as yourselves."
"I offer my services to you then Prince Kuublu. I can move like a panther in the night, no more than a shadow. Like a panther I can strike quickly when needed."
"If it is your will, I shall scout the village and the long house and report what I find"
If Kuublu approves, Mthunzi stealthily moves through the village towards the long house. He wants to avoid contact with any people at this stage. While sneaking along he whispers to himself "You are fortunate Mthunzi to make the acquaintance of a prince. Princes are wealthy, Kings even more so"
Kharille wrote:
"I would be most grateful if you could. Perhaps I can wait nearby, you can be my eyes."
Mthunzi disappeared into the shadows and moved away and down the slope.
Mthunzi made his way north down the hill and through the village gate. The gate stands open and the gatehouse is deserted. The street is empty and the huts have covered windows. Every door is firmly closed. Many are decorated with charms to ward off evil spirits: small leather bags, dried birds and carved wooden figures.
You reach the central clearing of the village, obviously used for the market by the hard-packed earth and pole marks, with the long house standing proudly on its north side. Opposite the longhouse is a small building, possibly a storehouse. There is a faint light from within and the door is ajar.
The road continues north-east, sloping down to a rope bridge over a stream. There it passes through a gate before turning east towards the black edges of the forest.
He moved carefully towards the longhouse, trying not to be seen, the longhouse casts a moon-shadow across the market clearing, black and foreboding.
A figure appears at an upper window, silhouetted in firelight, for a moment Mthunzi fears he has been seen but the figure simply moves a wooden shutter across and vanishes from sight.
Mthunzi can hear many rough voices singing in the lower portion of the longhouse, the rhythmic banging on tables, and breaking pottery.
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