Rows of Dawn

Destinies of brothers

To all my Zulu and Ndebele brothers and sisters.

Tears for blood

Spear for sword

Vengeance for forgiveness

Mercy for pleading

"He will pay! His pleas will be ignored; I will not spare his life as he did not spare my father's! I, Dalisizwe will avenge my parents, their blood will not soil the ground for that man to step on and continue living lavishly. Their cries will be heard. This is my journey to grow stronger and bringing my father's killer and kingdom's tormentor to justice!" exclaimed Dalisizwe, the youngest prince of the Zulu kingdom

The crowd roared at their leaders' exclamation as they marched to ambush the eldest prince of the Zulu kingdom, who had taken over the kingdom. Dlisizwe's army of warrior was made up of; self-exiled men who ran away from Zulu kingdom after Dali's older brother who assassinated their father and older sister, while he couldn't kill Dali, because he and their mother had escaped to the land of their father's enemy, the Ndebeles, the lands were rivals and hated each other. The queen later died two after the assassination of the Zulu king, leaving a six-year-old Dali to fend for himself.

Although the Zulu queen had asked for refuge from the Ndebeles, they were still not fully welcomed and people did not want associate with them. This was because the Ndebele had betrayed their alliance and tried to ambush and take over the Zulu Kingdom but failed after King Mbeki, Dali's father, managed to stop them and since then, both kingdoms hate each other. Although the Ndebeles didn't believe that true, they always say that this was history repeating, their hate for each other ran deeper than the eyes can see. Dali of course a very young boy, didn't understand what was the difference between the two Kingdoms; they both spoke similar languages and had almost exact norms and traditions, thinking about... there were the same people. They shared the same ancestor.

The Ndebeles didn't want to associate with Dali nor his mother so their hut was deep in the forest, far away from the village, near the border crossing to the Xhosas. Even if Dali and his mother were no threat, the Ndebeles keep a close eye on them, guards followed them everywhere, the markets sold goods to at a ridiculously high price, for them to survive, Dali's mother worked long hours in people's farms for wages hardly enough to buy them a day's food and water.

Dali would get angry after a long day's work in the field complain on how unfair and the Ndebeles were; his mother will always scold him and say, "Don't bite the hand that feeds you." Dali never understand how the Ndebele helping them when they treated them like dangerous animals that they were scared would attack them but never did Dali voice his thoughts because it would further distress his mother When his mother died, Dali was tormented by the village youth, they would rampage his home then beat him up and the farms that his mother used to work in made work even extra-long hours and paid him less than they paid his mother.

Dali would sometimes hide in the forest trees so that the youth don't find him. He continued to live in a village that hated him for his father's sins. Not everyone hated him, while Dali was on his usual run one morning the youth had manage to come even earlier that day and managed to injure his left arm when he managed to escape, he met an old lady, she healed and gave him food, he asked her why she had done all that for him, she only smiled and told him to come again the following morning.

And the routine continued where he would go to the old lady's house, who he later found that her name was Ntombi, she would give him food and water to eat and to carry with to his hut. Ntombi taught Dali many survival skills and even gave him stick-fighting lessons.

She also told him stories about the gods of all the lands she knew and war stories that she heard

One day Dali's curiosity got the best of him, usually he would never say what was on his mind because his mother would either flog or yell at him for asking sensitive questions but today he decided to take his chances with Ntombi, "Gog' Ntombi, why did my brot-, that man kill my father? Ntombi didn't act like she heard him and continued to weave the basket she had in her hands, he decided to let it go, but he was about to stand up to go see if the clay pot Ntombi had made were dry, suddenly she she spoke voice raspy and sombre, "It may have been for his selfish desires or the good for the others but either way, we can't change the past, we would have flaws to be proud of wouldn't we?" chuckling lightly to lighten the mood, "Why don't I tell you a story of how the Zulu and Ndebele came to be now, my dear boy!" exclaimed and Dali nodded quietly, still wondering what old woman was try to say.