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zweetpea · 4 months

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Chapter 5 The prospective (TBRAHE)

(That mean the future^)

cw: infidelity, swearing, gore?

“How am I going to tell him, Riko?” You asked your little dragon as you laid on your bed. “I have to. I should be the bigger person and tell him. Besides, or marriage was never one of love. He is in love with little miss Pissa. Ugh! This sucks.” You rolled onto your stomach.

“(Y/n)? May I come in?” Addison asked.

“Sure.” You responded. She gently creaked the door open and peered in. “Hi.” You waved not really moving from your position.

“Your husband was wondering where you had gone. There was a bit of a fight in the garden.”

“What?! Is everyone okay?”

“That new guard of yours had challenged the Duke and the King to a duel for your honor. The three of them are currently being treated by Shoko in the hospital.”

“Ugh, great! Another thing I have to worry about.”

“It was quite amusing actually. I’d never seen your husband so wound up about you before.”

“What do you mean?” You were slightly apprehensive to ask.

“Well…”

——

“I think these are the documents.” I’d told this new guy who was with (Y/n). We headed back to the boys.

“I never actually caught your name, I’m Chisa.”

“You can call me Addie. So, and I mean this respectfully, why are you here?”

“Her majesty’s father has hired me to protect her after news of the Kings affair got out.”

“That’s probably a good idea. I’m worried about what Parliament will do if the Royals split. I believe a majority actually favor our queen but the minority that supports the king is powerful, and influential. We may not make it if a war breaks out and our government is split.”

“You’re quite knowledgeable for a maid. Quite skilled too.”

“Thank you. (Y/n)- my lady has funded my education from her own pocket money.”

“She’s terrifying.”

“Only if you piss her off.”

“Speaking of pissing people off, we’re back with these jerks.”

I hadn’t even noticed that we’d returned. “Your majesty, Duke Geto, we have the paperwork.” I set down the papers and the king signed, however Geto insisted on reading the stupid thing first.

“Just sign.” Chisa growled.

“Excuse me?” It was less of a question and more of a ‘how dare you speak to me like that’.

“…please just do ask the queen request of you and sign. The stupid. Paper!” Geto begrudgingly signed. I took the paper back afterward and Chisa glared at the two men.

“What?” The King asked. Chisa took my hand and removed my riding glove; then he proceeded to smack Geto and tried to hit the king but it went around him due to his cursed technique. He then threw down my glove.

“I challenge you both to a duel for my lady’s honor!”

“ Your lady?” The king snarled.

“Yes! Her father picked me out for her!”

“Fine. If you want to be obliterated that badly Suguru and I’d be happy to do so for you.”

The three men stood to face each other. Chisa gripped the hilt of his sword. Blue light emitted from the Kings fingers as Chisa was sucked towards him.

Once he was five feet away from the king he unsheathed his sword and uttered a phrase. “Cursed technique, dream stasis.” As Chisa said those words a red circle appeared on the ground beneath him. Gojo stood inside it bewildered before he passed out and dropped Chisa.

“SATORU!” The Duke cried as he sent out a chimerical mess of curses with a crows body and wings, an eagles gold talons, and a small goat head, with a second head of a cat.

Chisa quickly sliced through them. Then he turned his attention back to the king. “Domaine expansion, sleep paralysis. This allows my prey to be conscious but unable to move or use cursed techniques. I want you to suffer.” He said as he kicked gojo in the head and stabbed him in the shoulder.

“STOP!!” Geto called. The domain was clear enough so everyone could see what was happening. “Baku go!” Another chimera was summoned. One with an elephant head, tiger body and an ox tail. That thing sucked up the domain as Gojo still laid on the ground. Chisa then ran towards Geto and cut apart the Baku.

Chisa swung at Geto but he dodged. Chisa kept swinging and even managed to cut him a bit. “Dream stasis!” He called out and Geto passed out. Chisa fell backwards and coughed up blood. “I think… I’m dying.”

——

“And that’s when Shoko came running out with her subordinates and brought the three back to the infirmary.” Addison had informed you on your way down to med bay.

“Ugh, those idiots.”

“You don’t want to meet Shoko’s new assistant. His name is Landon and he’s a total pervert!“

You sternly stopped and looked over at Addison. “What. Did. He. Do. I command the truth!”

“He asked me if he could watch you “rail me” then when I told him that I don’t see you in that way he asked if I’d rather have him rail me, because he thinks I have a “thing” for sorcerers.”

“I’m gonna kill him!”

“No! If you do, Shoko will be mad at you. Then your relationship with your husband will be ruined!”

“You let me worry about Satoru.” You sigh. “If you don’t want me to go to med bay then please just get Chisa and bring him back to my suite. I’m going to the park to think.”

“Be careful. Teleporting drains your cursed energy.”

“I’ll be fine.” You grab her hand and squeeze it reassuringly.

You teleport down to the middle of the park and walk through the trees. As you walk closer to a bench you see a little bird fall out of a tree and you rush to save it. You catch it and put it back up there.

“Poor Aya. She’s always been a bit… slow.” A man on the bench shook his head. He was bald and rounder in size. “Thanks for saving her.”

“You’ve named her?”

“I’ve named all the birds in that family. Naka is the small one that likes to puff out his chest. Howie is the one who the white spots. No matter how far they fly they’ll come back to find me. Just like their father Alucard, and their mom Koyo. Very similar to my own son.”

“What’s he like?”

“Passionate about work. Not the strongest or the brightest, always getting beat in the fights he’d pick, but loyal to a tee. And always so very good to me. He became a knight for a rich family and ever since he’s been stuffing me with delicious meals. Enough about me. Why are you here, for something on your mind?”

“Got it in one sir. My husband and I are going through a bit of a rough patch.” He doesn’t seem to know that I’m the queen, I’ll just leave him be without that knowledge then. “We’re in a bit of an open relationship. Married for our parents best interests. I recently found out that his girlfriend is cheating on him. He’s so happy with her, so… should I tell him? Would he believe me? We’ve never been happy together but he surely doesn’t deserve this. But he’d be crushed.”

“Tell him. Even if he’s upset, you shouldn’t lie to him. You don’t want to hurt him right?”

“No, even if he deserves it.”

“Then tell him.”

“Okay. Thanks sir, may I come back to talk to you again?”

“Anytime.” He smiled at you. Once you teleported back home the old man muttered. “Your highness.”

Back at home you decided to tell him over breakfast tomorrow.

You got bathed and dressed in a pink dress and walked down to the dining hall. You took your seat across from miss Pissa (dressed in magenta) and looked right to see Satoru.

“How was the park yesterday?” He asked.

“Stalking me?”

“Addison told us. Is there a particular reason why you’re eating with us today?”

“Gojo.” You said in a serious tone. You looked into his visible eyes, then looked away.

“Yes Gojo?” He responded back teasingly.

“There’s a cheating whore to your right.” Marissa dropped her fork and it clanked on the ground.

“That’s outrageous! Ruru tell her!”

“Is that why that bastards cursed energy was on you? Landon was it?” He doesn’t look up to meet her eyes. That’s right, the six eyes can see cursed energy more in depth.

“Huh?” She peeped as he rose from his chair and grabbed her by her blond hair.

“DO YOU THINK THAT IM STUPID?! I CAN SEE IT! HOW THAT BASTARDS KISSED YOU JUST THIS MORNING!!” He throws her on the ground. “Guards! Take her, that Bastard and her maid away!” He commanded as tears weld in his eyes and rolled down his cheeks.

“Wait! Ruru! No! I’m sorry!”

His face lit up for a second. “Halt!” He walked over to her. She smiled at him like she knew that he’d forgiven her. Until he ripped your ring off her finger and her face fell in horror.

He then walked over to you grabbed your hand and slid the ring back on you. “Right we’re it belongs.” He voice was shaking as he sobbed.

“Don’t cry. It’s unbecoming of a king.” You snatch your hand away. “A weak king means a weak country.” You start to walk away. “Go to the guest suite and take a nap. I’ll auction off anything that whore’s touched.”

“I want it burned.”

“Suck it up. We need money to go to war. If you want to survive and be king, then you need to trust me.” You grab him by his chin. “You will play the role of the bloodthirsty king. I will play the role of the gentle queen. You scare off our enemies. I keep relationships between our allies and our citizens. Got it?” He nods.

“Good. As of today I’m taking executive control of the treasury.”

“I’m so sorry!” He sobbed.

“I may forgive you in time, if you play your role well.”

“I’ll do whatever it takes!” He promised, tears gushing from his eyes.

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rangamberi · 7 years

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Roger, over and out: Chinx and the rhythms of unity

It was 1980. The war was over, freedom was in the air.

Within days, a new country, Zimbabwe, would be born. There had been songs to win the war. But now, new songs were needed. Songs of celebration, to capture the mood.

Cde Chinx had just returned from the Dzapasi/Foxtrot Assembly point in Buhera. They asked him to write a song to be performed by a choir at Rufaro Stadium, where the Union Jack was to be lowered, replaced by the new Zimbabwean flag.

Prince Charles was in town, to take back the Union Jack to Britain.

So, as Prince Charles settled into his chair that night at Rufaro Stadium, the song Mukoma Charleh was heard for the first time. One part mockery of Britain, another part celebration.

“…Mukoma Charleh, takura shoko unopa Mambokadzi … You better carry our message to our Honourable Mother, Her Majesty, the Queen, tell her Zimbabwean people were the happiest on that day, 18 April, Nineteen Eyiteh, when Zimbabwe became real independent country. Saying real. It’s real. Very, very real. Takura shoko unopa Mambokadzi, Mukomah Charleh..”

Charleh got his flag and left.

Chinx had staked his claim as one of the many voices that came to mark the tough transition from war. It’s a role he was to play even more in the early Independence years.

After Independence, war vets were given jobs in government institutions to help them settle. Chinx found himself at ZBC. But the job of transmission controller never caged his passion.

His old choir mates were still around, and Chinx tried to get them to record. But the big, white-owned record companies then, such as Gallo, were so over the war choir stuff. They wanted new, urban stuff to reflect the vibe of the time.

Chinx spoke to a friend, Maria Gazis. Did she know anyone in the music business, he asked? He was in luck. Gazis knew two people in the business; Jane Bartlett and Benny Miller.

Miller had been part of the Otis Waygood Blues Band, a punk rock outfit that had rocked Rhodesia since the 60s. He’d also been front man for a hard rock band called Klunk.

Soon, Chinx was spending nights at the Millers’, making music well into the night so he could still make it back to work at ZBC in the morning.

So, here you had it: On one side is a war vet, fresh out of the bush where he had been leading choir songs mocking white people - “kumusha kunonhuwa nhamo, mhino dzakareba” – a man whose grandfather Chingaira, after whom he was named, was beheaded by white settlers. On the other is Miller, guitarist for an all-white rock band. Different backgrounds, making great music together.

This, right here, was the new Zimbabwe.

Chinx played no instruments, so he would verbalise the instrumentation he wanted. “Play it like this… bham bham bham bhaaam bhaaam”.

Then another reconciliation thing happened. There was a genius white kid, a keyboardist, that Miller knew. Keith Farquharson was his name. He could play anything on his synthesizer. He soon joined up.

That was how the first new independent music label in Zim was born. They called it One World Records, fittingly. Their first recording, Marching Together, was a reflection of themselves, and their time. A black war vet fresh from the war front, a white punk rock artiste, and a teenage keyboard wiz recording together in a country still struggling to reconcile after 90 years of racial bitterness and war.

“I dearly want to believe, that the people ought to unite…Marching together, it binds us together,” Chinx sings, to the accompaniment of Keith’s screeching synth.

It was under this One World label that two other new talents came to the fore; Don Gumbo and Andy Brown. Chinx and Keith were recording as the Barrel of Peace at the time. Ilanga, with Don Gumbo and others, was just taking shape. Their arrival meant Keith didn’t have to play everything on his synthesizer any more. There was now a proper bassist, Don, and a guitarist, Andy.

This is how they ended up recording and performing together.

But it appears their relationship with Chinx was never that warm early on. Chinx never felt the Ilanga boys supported him enough. When he needed to record Ngorimba, they didn’t show up.

To put down a first cut of the song, he had to scramble together a few old comrades, a mbira crew called the Revolutionary Recreation Group. He still needed vocals. Doreen and Busi Ncube, two talented sisters, came to his aid. The other vocals were provided by a certain guy, Oliver Mtukudzi. Yes. That guy.

In the end, Ngorimba was recorded, and became one of Chinx’s biggest hits. The song, again, was about the unity he lived; the mix of traditional and modern instruments creates good melodies, he sings. Why can’t we learn from musical instruments, he asks. Our diversity can produce good things.

The Barrel of Peace days gave us songs such as Zvikomborero, a massive hit recently sampled by Alexio Kawara, one of my fave artistes.

Then there’s my personal favourite Chinx song, Nerudo. From the first strain of Keith’s bassline, I could hear Chinx instructing him, by mouth, how it should sound: “bham bham bham bhaaam bhaaam”

Somewhere, midway through the track, the two have a convo;

“Nhai Keith!” Chinx shouts.

“Chinx” Keith replies.

“Hanzi nababa, rudo rwusingachepi chete ngerwani? Ngerweruzhinji”

He never stopped singing about unity, through the Mazana Movement days. Who can forget Roger Confirm, arguably his biggest hit?

Somewhere in those ungovernably indecipherable lyrics is the same call to unity that he loved.

“The promising truth of our living, that of becoming one world, hwani people, one neeehshen, to the same destiny to the right….to the good of all…”

And, and…

“…the winning buzzword we love is that of reconciliation, to be one, enemies to become friends…”

Half the time, we hadn’t the foggiest idea what he was on about in that song. But we understood. Somehow, we understood. We felt the song. We felt him.

And who can forget watching Chinx, in that video, dancing on the Africa map, singing Vanhu vose vemuno muAfrica?

As Alec Pongweni puts it in his book Songs that Won the Liberation War, this song was a “vivid description of the indomitability of the human spirit”, and a call for cadres to be “united in purpose”. Years after it was composed in the camps by Zanla, Chinx brought it to life, and did it so well that some wanted it to be the national anthem.

“Vanhu vose vemuno muAfrica, tamirira kuchipedzisa zvehutongi hwemarudzi ekunze, ayo akaunza rufu, kudai tachibatana tikurire…”

Like many war vets, his relationship with his own government was never easy. An enduring image of Operation Murambatsvina in 2005 was that of a defeated Cde Chinx sitting on the roof of what was left of his destroyed home in Unit M, Chitungwiza.

This was despite Chinx’s role in the Hondo Yeminda series, songs in praise of land reform foisted upon us through the early 2000s. His critics want this part of his career to define him, but there really must be no shock about a fiercely Zanu PF man, one who went to war to fight for land, singing songs in praise of a Zanu PF government’s programmes.

He never changed. Even when he sang songs critical of his party, it was never from outside of it. Gedye Yaramba, is a cry against the economic crisis at the time. He even sang Musadzingane Mumusangano, which is all rather self- explanatory.

In life and in music, he was all about unity. In his death, with tributes from all corners, he defies division still.

I am happy that many have refused to allow debate about Chinx and his contribution to Zimbabwe to be bogged down in petty party politics. Or to even debate whether it matters if a Politburo of the likes of Chombo and Chipanga decides for us whether Chinx is a hero or not.

After all, these are the people that have for years let down war vets, Chinx included. They stand square against the values of hard work, honesty and unity that he sang of and lived.

Over his coffin, they would wave fists, make long speeches and chant the slogans that they have cheapened. The band would play Nzira Dzemasoja, a song urging respect for the masses and cautioning against greed; a song that they only use to bury their dead but never apply to their living.

No. It’s not for them to determine Chinx’s place in the history of Zimbabwe, or his place in our hearts.

They are, frankly, not qualified.

Not even worthy to hold his bhareta.

Alexander Kanengoni, the late war vet, writes in his novel Echoing Silences: “What I fear most is that we will not leave anything to our children except lies and silence”.

Thankfully, Cde Chinx left us his music to tell us his truth, and that of many other comrades like him.

Rrrrrrroger!

(Listen to the album “Cde Chinx’s early hits” here)

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