Echoes From a Distant Land Read Online Free PDF Page B

skirt.
    When the time came, Mothoni chose Wangira.
    In the seclusion of the sleeping space, behind the calf-skin curtain, Mothoni removed her upper garment. Her breasts were as perfect as he’d imagined, and his body responded as she untied his cloak and let it fall to the ground. She drew him down onto the bed pallet, and when he pressed her body to his, she entwined her legs with his. The feel of her small tight breasts against his chest was sublime.
    Wangira’s climax was like none he’d experienced before, but he knew that had Mothoni chosen him on that first night, when she was the centre of all his lust and love, it would have been better. And he knew in his heart that he must never again let a woman control him as he’d let Mothoni do.
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    The tension between the Kikuyu and the Maasai, which was never far from erupting into a fight over territory, became widespread along the frontiers of Kikuyuland.
    The northern Maasai swept like a black storm through the Nyundarua ranges, raiding livestock and stealing women. Wangira heard a rumour that the Maasai had been forced from their northern homelands by the British, who wanted to give their land to white settlers, and had lost most of their livestock during the forced march to the southern reserve. Large numbers of these displaced people refused to make the treacherous journey and preferred to fight the Kikuyu for a stake in their territory.
    The Maasai cause won no sympathy from the Kikuyu, who had fought territorial wars with the Maasai for centuries. Wangira andhis brother warriors went on long bivouacs into the disputed areas and, with neighbouring tribes, engaged the invaders in combat.
    Wangira enjoyed his new life as a soldier. He visited many different places far from his village. He met other Kikuyu tribes, many of whom had slightly different customs, grew slightly different crops, or had slightly different ways of doing the many routine tasks of village life. He’d previously assumed there was but one way to do these things, and was fascinated each time he discovered a new one, spending as much time as he could learning about it.
    The months of war greatly suited him. He was skilled in combat and enjoyed the excitement of the battle. He and his brothers didn’t win every encounter, and Wangira had his share of minor wounds, but there was never a time when he felt incapable of defending himself. His skills and his confidence grew.
    He and his fellow warriors were always given a joyous welcome when they camped near a Kikuyu village on their way to the next skirmish. Under the disruptive settings of war, many of the tribal taboos were forgotten and the local women seemed particularly attracted to the exotic visitors. There was seldom a night when Wangira needed more than the warm body of an obliging young maiden to keep the chill mountain air at bay. On extended camps, when he and his warriors remained stationed at one camp for prolonged periods, Wangira sometimes permitted a particularly attentive girl to be his temporary wife. She would feed him and spoil him with pleasures, but importantly, he always remained in control.
    Moving on to the next battlefield offered a convenient means of severing any emotional attachments the young woman might entertain.

CHAPTER 4
    1916
    The intermittent bloodshed that had been the Maasai–Kikuyu wars of 1912 came to an abrupt end when the British sent soldiers to enforce the peace. Wangira and his fellow warriors resumed their lives helping their fathers increase the family’s holdings in land and livestock.
    Wangira’s father set him to work clearing the bush for a new plot. He’d been gone since early morning when a group of children came running to him from the village. Breathlessly, they told him that a white man and six others had come to Igobu demanding to speak with the chief, who had sent them to find Wangira and the other men working outside the village.
    By the time Wangira