Blood Diamond Chapter 13

It was only days later, as the Royal camp up-staked again and set off on its strange perambulations northward, following some unseen path, some unstated direction, that Daniel had the opportunity to learn more about the green Bird.

Tregoning was walking with his awkward gait, leaning heavily on a gnarled length of hard wood he had fashioned into a walking stick. With his damaged limb, Tregoning could not walk long distances, and even short distances he could not walk fast so, from time to time, space was made for him on one of the litters and he was borne across miles of countryside as he mopped his brow and winced, perhaps in pain, perhaps in shame at having to be thus carried.

“I am fortunate,” he said when Daniel questioned him about it. “Because I am the Princess’s property, I am suffered to be thus borne. Were I some ordinary member of the tribe and unable to keep up, I should long ago have been left behind, beneath a thorn tree, for the beasts to devour.”

“Tregoning,” said Daniel, eager to reach the nub of his curiosity in the small time they had to speak. “What is the green Bird?”

Tregoning stopped in his tracks and stared at Daniel with a face like thunder.

“How came you into the shrine?” he demanded.

“The Princess,” stammered Daniel. “She took me there. She showed me.”

Tregoning stared at him, as though trying to assess whether he spoke the truth. Then, apparently satisfied, he sighed and resumed his slow, laborious gait.

“Well, then,” he said, “if it was by Royal invitation, the Princess would certainly have me tell you all.” He looked sharply at Daniel. “It is few who are permitted to gaze upon the Bird. I myself have seen it only three times in the years upon years I have served the Princess.”

They walked in silence while Tregoning gathered his thoughts.

“If you have seen the Bird,” he began, “you have seen into the most cherished secret at the heart of the Annuba. It is the Bird that is the centre of all worship, the Bird that is the locus of Annuba faith and power. And yet it is not the Bird at all.”

Cryptically he fell silent again. Daniel knew better than to prompt him.

“It is the Stone,” said Tregoning at last. “This is how the legend goes. When the royal family came unto the Annuba, a gift from the gods, they renamed the tribe and drew it together under their protection. They carried with them the Sacred Stone. They brought it with them from the north, and its provenance it is sacrilegious to speculate upon. But the Stone has the powers of protection. As long as the Annuba have the Stone, as long as they unite around it, and as long as they cherish it and keep it in the bosom of their people where it belongs, the Stone is benevolent and protective. The Stone will ensure the continuance of the Annuba, now unto all eternity, so long as they keep it in their hearts and it never leaves their sight.”

“And the Bird?” asked Daniel.

“The Bird is only the embodiment of the Stone’s power, a symbol. Once, long ago, there was a great kingdom to the west, with stone palaces and cities. The king heard of the power of the Stone of the Annuba and sent forth his armies to capture it, that he might have its magic and protection. The Annuba resisted, and bravely, but the armies were too strong and their numbers too great. They carried off the Stone to their capital. But cursed is he who takes unto himself the sacred Stone of the Annuba, for misfortune and disaster must surely follow him.”

Tregoning paused to catch his breath and Daniel stood beside him in the hot sun, his mind turning, turning back to the glittering diamond upon the breast of the Bird, the diamond that shone with shades of red, the colour of blood.

“Within two years a great empire was destroyed. The citadels of stone were fallen, the granaries were empty, the people of the empire were dead or scattered across the land, some sold into slavery, some to be the vassals of neighbour tribes. When the then King of the Annuba heard of the fall, he gathered together his people and walked into the ruins of the great city. It was a vast place, encircled with smooth walls of stone that fit together so perfectly, and with such weight, that even the conquering armies could not pull them down. They walked through the shattered gate of the city walls, great wooden shards hanging from the rock cornices. All was fire-scorched and ruined. Bodies lay rotting around. Great clouds of black carrion birds arose at their entrance. This is what the legend tells us.

“The King found the great round tower in the centre of the city, and he climbed the ascending spiral of steps and there, in a round chamber at the height of it, he found the treasure house of the empire, containing all the spoils and booty of their wars of plunder. But the King ignored the gold and the pearls from the coast, the rubies and emeralds and ivory. All he sought was the Diamond, the Stone of Blood, and he took it back and walked away from the cursed place.”

“But the Bird …?”

“The stone Bird was the emblem of that civilisation, the mascot, the symbol. The stone Birds stood guard from pedestals and upon the gates. They were stamped on the coins. The Bird was their guardian. The King took one of them and suspended the Annuba Stone from its neck as a sign to all believers and unbelievers alike, that the Sacred Stone is all-powerful, all-conquering. The Bird is a constant reminder of the consequences of rising against the Stone and taking it from its rightful place. It is both a reminder of the lowest moment of the Annuba, and an affirmation of their inevitable triumph.”

After that Tregoning fell silent. as though exhausted, and merely walked on, keeping his own counsel, lost in his own thoughts. Daniel had the feeling that there was more to be told, more that Tregoning was keeping from him, but he knew the old man well enough by now to realise that further probing and questioning would be met by silence.

“Thank you,” said Daniel. “Thank you for telling me that.”

Tregoning regarded him thoughtfully and said one more thing.

“Do not think that you will ever understand the Annuba, or be secure of your place among them. For friend and foe alike, to know the Annuba is to know misery.”

Copyright Ranulph Moore

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Ranulph Moore describes himself as an explorer, who became a writer to purge himself of the adventures that were crowding his life. He says he has seen it all, in a life spent observing the lives of others. He will travel anywhere – as long as he can make a decent cup of tea and launder a linen jacket. He describes Africa as one of his great loves. He has spent time in every country on the continent. If he can’t find a good champagne, he has been known to resort to gin. He has homes in Paris, Jura and Cape Town. At present, he lives in Madagascar, where he is researching his latest book.

Read an interview with Ranulph Moore.