Assegai

by Wilbur Smith

  Before they went to their hut Leon issued instructions to the two Masai and Ishmael to have the horses saddled and make all preparations for departure at dawn on the morrow.

  The night was quiet and still but they slept only fitfully. When they started awake they reached out for each other instinctively, seized by a formless sense of dread. When the birds in the surrounding forest began their symphonic chorus of greeting to the dawn, and first light showed through the chinks in the walls, they made love with a desperate abandon they had never known before; a passion storm that, when it passed its climax, left them trembling in each other’s arms, their naked bodies drenched with sweat, their hearts racing wildly. At last they drew apart and Leon whispered, ‘Time to go, my beloved. Get dressed.’

  He rose and threw on his clothes before he went to the door and pulled it open. He stooped through the opening and stood upright. The forest around him was black. The morning star was still aloft, and pricked the dark velvet sky. The light was leaden and dull. Eva came through the doorway behind him and he placed his arm around her. He was about to speak when he saw the men. For a moment he thought they must be his own, for they were leading horses.

  They had been waiting in the darkness at the edge of the forest, but now they came towards them, and as they drew closer, Leon saw that there were seven. Five askaris and two officers. They all wore slouch hats and khaki campaign uniform. The askaris carried rifles slung over their shoulders, the officers only sidearms. The senior man stopped in front of them, but he ignored Leon and saluted Eva.

  ‘How did you find us, Uncle Penrod? Did you have somebody watching Percy’s Camp who followed Ishmael here?’

  Penrod nodded. ‘Of course.’ He turned back to Eva. ‘Good morning, Eva, my dear. I have a message for you from Mrs Ryan and Mr Brown in London.’

  Eva recoiled. ‘No!’ she said. ‘Otto is dead and it’s all over.’

  ‘Graf Otto von Meerbach is not dead. I grant you, it was a close call. The doctor had to amputate his left arm, which was rotten with gas gangrene, and sew the rest of him together. The Graf was completely non compos mentis for a long time - in fact, until very recently. But he is as hard as granite and as tough as elephant hide. He is still very weak but he is asking for you, and I had to make up a cock-and-bull story to explain your absence. I think he truly loves you, and I have come to take you back to him so that you can finish the job you were sent to do.’

  Leon stepped between them. ‘She is not going back. We love each other and we are going to marry as soon as we can get back to civilization.’

  ‘Lieutenant Courtney, may I remind you that I am your commanding officer and the correct form of address is either “sir” or “General”? Now, step aside at once.’

  ‘I can’t do that, sir. I can’t let you take her back.’ Leon hunched his shoulders stubbornly.

  ‘Captain!’ Penrod snapped, over his shoulder, and the younger officer stepped forward smartly.

  ‘Sir?’ he said. Leon recognized his voice, but in his distress it was a moment before he grasped that it was Eddy Roberts, Froggy Snell’s toady.

  ‘Arrest this man.’ Penrod’s expression was grim. ‘If he resists, shoot him in the kneecap.’

  ‘Sir! Yes, sir!’ Eddy sang out jubilantly. He drew his Webley revolver from its holster and Leon started towards him. Eddy stepped back, cocked the hammer and raised the weapon, but before he could level it Eva jumped between them and spread her arms. Now the pistol was aimed at her breast.

  ‘Hold your fire, man!’ Penrod shouted. ‘For God’s sake, don’t harm the woman.’ Eddy lowered the weapon uncertainly.

  Immediately Eva switched her attention from Eddy to Penrod. ‘What do you want of me, General?’ She was very pale but her voice was cold and calm.

  ‘Just a few minutes of your time, my dear.’ Penrod took her arm to lead her away, but Leon intervened again.

  ‘Don’t go with him, Eva. He’ll talk you around.’

  She glanced back at him, and he saw that her eyes were veiled and the spark had been extinguished. His guts shrank: she had gone back to that place where nobody could follow her, not even the man who loved her. ‘Eva!’ he pleaded. ‘Stay with me, my darling.’

  She gave no indication that she had heard him, and allowed Penrod to walk her away. He led her to the edge of the cliff so that Leon could not hear a single word of their conversation. Penrod towered over her, head and shoulders. He was twice her bulk. Eva looked like a child beside him as she gazed up solemnly into his face and listened to what he was saying. He placed both hands on her shoulders and shook her gently, his expression grave. Leon could barely restrain himself. He wanted to protect and defend her. He wanted to wrap her in his arms and cherish her for ever.

  ‘Yes, Courtney, do it!’ Eddy Roberts said, in a gloating tone. ‘Just give me the excuse. You got away with it last time, but that won’t happen again.’ The hammer was cocked, his finger was on the trigger and the weapon was aimed at Leon’s right leg. ‘Do it, you bastard! Give me the excuse to blow your bloody leg off.’

  Leon knew he meant it. He clenched his hands until his fingernails dug into his palms, and ground his teeth. Eva was still staring up into Penrod’s face as he talked. Occasionally she nodded expressionlessly and Penrod kept talking, in his most charming and convincing manner. At last Eva’s shoulders slumped in capitulation and she nodded. Penrod placed an arm around her shoulders in an avuncular, concerned manner, then led her back to where Leon stood under the menace of Eddy’s pistol. She did not look at him. Her expression was dead.

  ‘Captain Roberts!’ Penrod said. He would not look at Leon either.

  ‘Sir?’

  ‘Use your handcuffs to restrain the prisoner.’

  Eddy unhooked the bright steel chains from his webbing belt and snapped the bracelets on to Leon’s wrists.

  ‘Keep him here! Don’t harm him, unless he deserves it,’ Penrod ordered. ‘Don’t allow him off this mountain until you receive orders from me. Then take him to Nairobi under guard. Don’t let him speak to anyone there. Bring him directly to me.’

  ‘Yes, sir!’

  ‘Come along, my dear.’ He turned back to Eva. ‘We have a long ride ahead of us.’ They walked to the horses, and Leon called after them, his voice cracked with despair, ‘You can’t go, Eva. You can’t leave me now. Please, my darling.’

  She paused to look back at him with opaque, hopeless eyes. ‘We were two silly children playing a game of make-believe. It’s over now. I have to go. Goodbye, Leon.’

  ‘Oh, God!’ He groaned. ‘Don’t you love me?’

  ‘No, Leon. The only thing I love is my duty.’ And he was not to know that her heart was breaking as she walked away, the lie still scalding her lips.

  As soon as Penrod and Eva had gone down the mountain, Eddy Roberts had his askari drag Leon back into the hut and sit him down with his legs on each side of the central pole that supported the roof. Then he unlocked the cuffs from his wrists and clamped them on to his ankles. ‘I’m not taking any chances with you, Courtney. I know just what a slippery brute you are,’ Eddy told him, with sadistic relish. He allowed Ishmael to visit Leon in the hut once a day to feed him, to carry away the night-soil bucket and then to wash his backside, as if he was an infant. But apart from that Leon was forced to sit there for twelve long, degrading days until Penrod Ballantyne’s messenger came up the mountain track with a note written on yellow order paper. Then Eddy Roberts allowed him out of the hut and the askari lifted him on to his horse. His ankles were so swollen and raw where the manacles had galled him that he could barely walk. Nevertheless Eddy ordered his men to rope his ankles together under the horse’s belly.

  It was an unpleasant journey up the Rift Valley to the railway. Eddy made it more so by riding behind Leon’s mount and prodding it into a trot over the rough ground. With his ankles bound, Leon was unable to pace with the gait of his mount and was bounced around savagely.

  Penrod was furious when two askari almost carr
ied his nephew into his office in the KAR headquarters building in Nairobi. He came out from behind his desk and helped him into a chair. ‘I did not intend you to be treated in that fashion,’ he said, which was as close to an apology as Leon had ever heard him come.

  ‘That’s perfectly all right, sir. I suppose I made it impossible for you to do anything else but have me hog-tied.’

  ‘You were asking for it,’ Penrod agreed. ‘You’re just bloody lucky that I didn’t have you shot out of hand. The thought did cross my mind.’

  ‘Where is Eva, Uncle?’

  ‘She’s probably somewhere in the Suez Canal by now, well on her way back to Berlin. I only sent for you when the liner steamed out of Mombasa.’ His expression softened. ‘You’re well out of the whole sorry business, my lad. I think I did you a great service by bringing you to your senses and getting rid of her for you.’

  ‘That’s as may be, sir, but I cannot say that I’m overflowing with gratitude to you.’

  ‘Not now, perhaps, but you will be later. She’s a spy, did you know that? She’s totally scheming and unscrupulous.’

  ‘No, sir. She’s a British agent. She’s a beautiful young woman of great courage who has done more than her patriotic duty for you and Britain.’

  ‘There’s a name for women like her.’

  ‘Sir, if you speak it aloud, I will not be responsible for my actions. This time you really will have to shoot me.’

  ‘You’re an idiot, Leon Courtney, a lovesick puppy, incapable of rational thought.’ He reached for his uniform tunic, which was hooked over the back of his chair.

  As he buttoned it on Leon saw three stars and crossed-swords insignia on the shoulders. ‘If you’ve finished insulting me, sir, perhaps you might allow me to congratulate you on your meteoric rise to the lofty rank of major general.’

  Leon had broken the tension and Penrod accepted the peace-offering. ‘So, no hard feelings, then. We all did what we had to do. Thank you for your congratulations, Leon. Did you know that while you were honeymooning on Lonsonyo Mountain some Serbian madman assassinated the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary and the heavy-handed retaliation of that country against the Serbs has set off a chain reaction of violence? Half of Europe is already at war, and Kaiser Wilhelm is spoiling to get into it. It’s all happening just as I predicted. Full-scale war within a few months.’ He searched his pockets for his cigarette case and lit a Player’s. ‘I was with “Bloody Bull” Allenby in the Boer War, and now he’s in charge of the Egyptian Army. They’re ready to go into Mesopotamia, and he wants me to take command of his cavalry. I sail for Cairo next week. Your aunt will be pleased to have me home for a few days.’

  ‘Please give her my love, sir. Who’s taking over from you here in Nairobi?’

  ‘Good news for you. Your old friend and admirer Froggy Snell has been promoted to colonel and given the job.’ He saw Leon’s face fall. ‘Yes, I know what you’re thinking. However, I can perform one last favour for you before I leave. Hugh Delamere is raising a volunteer unit of light horse unconnected with the KAR. I have transferred you from the reserves to act as liaison and intelligence officer to him. He’s keen to have you fly reconnaissance for his unit. He knows about your rift with Snell and will protect you from him.’

  ‘Very decent of him. But there’s one small problem. I have no aeroplane for these reconnaissance flights.’

  ‘The minute Kaiser Wilhelm declares war you’ll have your aeroplane - in fact, you will have two. Hugh Delamere borrowed a seaplane pilot from the Royal Navy base at Mombasa and sent him to Percy’s Camp to ferry the Bumble Bee up here. Both of von Meerbach’s aircraft are safely parked in the hangar at the polo ground.’

  ‘I’m not sure I understand. Didn’t he take them with him when he sailed?’

  ‘No, he left them with his mechanic, Gustav Kilmer, to take care of them. As soon as war breaks out they become the property of an enemy alien. We’ll lock up Kilmer in a concentration camp and commandeer the planes.’

  ‘That’s good news indeed. I’ve become addicted to flying, and wasn’t relishing the thought of having to give it up. As soon as you dismiss me, sir, I intend to go out to Tandala Camp to check on what Max Rosenthal and Hennie du Rand have been up to in my absence. After that, I’ll go down to the polo ground and make sure Gustav has the aircraft safely stowed.’

  ‘Oh, you won’t find du Rand at Tandala. He’s gone to Germany with von Meerbach.’

  ‘Good Lord.’ Leon was genuinely surprised. ‘How did that come about?’

  ‘The Graf must have taken a shine to him. Anyway, he’s gone. As I will have next Friday. I expect you to be at the station to give me a hearty send-off.’

  ‘Wouldn’t miss it for the world, General.’

  ‘A bit of double-entendre there, I suspect.’ Penrod stood up. ‘You’re dismissed.’

  ‘One last question, if I may, sir?’

  ‘Go ahead and ask it, but as I suspect I already know what your enquiry concerns, I don’t promise to answer.’

  ‘Do you have an arrangement in place for exchanging messages with Eva Barry while she’s in Germany?’

  ‘Ah! So that’s the young lady’s real name. I knew that von Wellberg was a nom de guerre. It seems you know a great deal more about her than I do. I apologize if that’s another double-entendre.’

  ‘None of that answers my question, General.’

  ‘It doesn’t, does it?’ Penrod agreed. ‘Shall we leave it at that?’

  Leon rode out to Tandala Camp, and when he went into his tent he found Max Rosenthal packing his kitbag. ‘Leaving us, Max?’ Leon asked.

  ‘The locals are starting a pogrom against us. I don’t want to spend this war in a British concentration camp, like the ones Kitchener put up in South Africa, so I’m heading for the German border.’

  ‘Wise man,’ Leon told him. ‘Things are going to change around here. I’m going to the polo ground to talk to Gustav about the two aircraft. If you’re there at first light tomorrow morning, I may be able to give you both a lift south to Arusha and safety.’

  It was dusk when Leon rode down the main street of Nairobi, but the entire town was bustling. He had to weave his way through the throng of Scotch carts and wagons, all crammed with the families of settlers coming in from the remote farms. A rumour was flying about that von Lettow Vorbeck had massed his troops on the border ready to march on Nairobi, burning and plundering the farms along the way. Major General Ballantyne’s men were erecting army tents on the KAR parade-ground to accommodate the refugees. The women and children were already settling in while their menfolk headed for the recruitment office in the Barclays Bank building where Lord Delamere was taking on men for his irregular regiment of light horse.

  When Leon rode past the front of the bank the volunteers were standing in excited groups on the dusty street, discussing the prospect of war and how it would affect them in the colony. Their horses were saddled up, and they were dressed in hunting clothes. Most were armed with sporting rifles, ready to ride out to oppose von Lettow Vorbeck and his murderous askari. Leon knew that few of them had had any military training. He smiled pityingly. Silly beggars. They think it’s going to be a guinea-fowl shoot. They haven’t considered the possibility of the Germans shooting back.

  At that moment a man ran out of the cablegram office across the street from the bank, waving a buff form over his head. ‘Message from London! It’s started!’ he yelled. ‘Kaiser Bill has declared war on Britain and the Empire! All aboard for glory, lads!’

  There was a raucous chorus of cheers. Beer bottles were lifted high, and there were shouts of ‘Rot the bastard!’

  Bobby Sampson was among a group of men, most of whom Leon knew. Leon was about to dismount and join them when a thought occurred to him. How is Gustav going to react to this declaration of war? What orders did Graf Otto leave for him to cover this eventuality?

  He whipped up his horse and pointed its nose in the direction of the polo ground.

 
; It was dark when he reached it. He pulled his mount down to a walk as he approached the hangar. There had been rain earlier and the ground was soft. The turf muffled the sound of the horse’s hoofs, and he saw light in the hangar through the tarpaulin wall. At first he thought that somebody was moving around inside with a lantern. Then he realized that the light was too ruddy, and that it was flickering.

  Fire!

  His premonition of trouble had been realized. He kicked his feet out of the stirrups and dropped to the ground. Silently he ran to the door and paused to assess the situation. The flame he had seen was a burning torch, which Gustav was holding aloft. By its light Leon saw that both aircraft were parked tail to tail on their usual stands at opposite ends of the hangar. Each had its own doorway, an arrangement that allowed them to be wheeled in or out without the other machine having to be moved.

  Gustav had chopped up most of the heavy packing crates in which the planes had been shipped out from Germany and had piled the wood in a pyramid under the Butterfly’s fuselage. His back was turned and he was so preoccupied with his preparations to burn the planes that he was unaware of Leon’s presence in the doorway behind him. He held the burning torch in his right hand, an open schnapps bottle in the left. He was in the middle of a drunken valediction to the two flying machines.

  ‘This is the hardest thing I have ever been asked to do. You are the fruit of my mind. You are the creation of my hands. I dreamed up every line of your lovely bodies, and I built you with my own hands. I laboured on you through long days and longer nights. You are a monument to my skills and genius.’ He broke off with a sob, took a long swig of schnapps and belched as he lowered the bottle. ‘Now I must destroy you. Part of me will die with you. I wish I had the courage to throw myself on your pyre, for after you are gone my life will be ashes.’ He hurled the torch towards the pile of wood, but the schnapps had affected his judgement and it arched up, leaving a trail of sparks. It struck the propeller of the near-side port engine and rebounded, falling to the floor of the hangar and rolling back to Gustav’s feet. With an oath he stooped to pick it up.