Chapter 160 - The Thorn in the Crown
The streets of M’banza-Kongo were never truly quiet, even at night. But the further Zara followed Lumingu into the outer quarter, the more the noise thinned—drums became murmurs, footsteps became echoes. She walked a careful distance behind him, blending with shadows cast by clay lanterns and the uneven torchlight of patrolling guards.
She wore a loose, faded tunic borrowed from a local washerwoman, her hair wrapped in worn cloth to mask her face and features. Her only weapons were her memory and a thin blade sewn into the back hem of her cloth sash—barely enough to count for anything if she were discovered.
But she didn’t plan to be discovered.
Ahead, Lumingu ducked into a narrow alley flanked by stacked crates and broken pottery. Zara hesitated, crouching behind a low wall where the scent of burning fish and goat entrails wafted from a nearby tavern. Beyond the alley, she glimpsed movement—three pale men, one bearded and fat, the others tall and lean with hardened, sunburned faces.
Portuguese.
They met Lumingu with curt nods. One of them reached into his tunic and passed over a rolled parchment. The exchange was silent but urgent.
Zara lowered herself further. Her heart pounded against her ribs. One wrong breath. One scrape of her sandal. If they noticed her, she would never escape in time—and Nuri would lose everything she knew.
She strained to listen.
"You disappoint us, Lumingu," the fat one said, speaking in fluent Kimbundu, a local tongue the Portuguese had begun to adopt.
Lumingu raised a hand calmly. "I assure you, my reach grows by the day. The current king’s men grow tired of him. And I’ve begun to sway the clergy."
"It is not enough," the Portuguese said sharply. "Your neighbor—the kingdom called Nuri—is no longer a minor disruption. They’ve disrupted everything."