The Second Witch-doctor

King Sinanda quickly found another witch-doctor to take the place of Mamazda. His name was Akamuza.

Mamazda had been tall, dignified and fearless but Akamuza was small and timid. He reminded people of a snake. He must have been sixty years of age at least, but you would guess he was not more than forty. He said only what he knew the king wanted to hear. He agreed with everything Sinanda said, and repeated the same words to the king two or three days later.

He told the king, "You will rule for ever. I see it in the sand."

He saw in the sand everything the king wanted him to see. If the king thought someone was plotting against him, the sand told him that he was right. If the king wanted a new helicopter or a higher wall round the palace, the sand said it was wise.

The king rewarded Akamuza. He gave Akamuza a small house in the palace grounds. He could also call on the king at any time. Akamuza began to whisper more secrets in the king's ear.

One night, near twelve o'clock, Akamuza hurried to the palace and asked to see the king. The servants knew the king's orders.

"Your Majesty,'' Akamuza started nervously, ''I've had a dream."

"Well?" said the king, still half asleep. ''Quickly. Was it about me? Was it about the future?"

"Yes, Your Majesty,'' Akamuza said. ''I - I -"

"Oh, for goodness' sake,'' shouted the king. ''Out with it!"

Akamuza knew that his acting was very good. King Sinanda could not wait to hear the dream.

"The dream said," Akamuza paused again, ''the dream said that all kings have enemies. People are always jealous of kings. They are always plotting against kings, even great kings like Your Majesty."

"Yes, go on,'' said Sinanda.

''Every great king - like you, Your Majesty - is meant to rule for ever.'' Akamuza watched the king's face carefully. "It is enemies that shorten a king's reign."

"The dream is right,'' said Sinanda. "I am meant to rule for ever. What did your dream say I must do?"

Akamuza took a deep breath. Then he moved closer to the king's bed and spoke very quietly.

"You must get rid of your enemies,'' he said. ''Get rid of them. In the dream I saw - I saw tombstones ... There were no prisons, only tombstones. And on the tombstones were the names of your enemies."

"You saw names," shouted Sinanda. "You saw names. More enemies! Will they never end? Will they never let me rule in peace?

Sinanda sat staring at Akamuza. He burned with anger.

The witch-doctor's voice whispered in his head. It seemed to fill his mind with wild ideas.

"Prison is too good for them," Akamuza whispered. "They can come back and plot again. Do you want them to return? Do you want them to come back? Kill them, once and for all. Finish the matter now!"

A cunning look came into Sinanda's eyes. He smiled an evil smile.

"That's no problem,'' he said. "Just remember their names, the names on the tombstones. Just give me their names and I will deal with them. Every one of them." His voice rose to a great shout.

He looked about him as if wakening from a deep

sleep.

"I must rest now,'' Sinanda said. "I have work to do in the morning."

Akamuza looked at King Sinanda for a moment and then left the room. Sinanda took a bottle of red and yellow capsules from under his pillow. To help him sleep, the doctor had prescribed two capsules just before the king went to bed. Now he took five or even

six to try to sleep. But how could he sleep when he was surrounded by enemies? No matter how many he killed, there always seemed to be more waiting to plot against him. He had not left the palace since the night Mamazda had died. He did not dare leave the palace until all his enemies were dead.

He took eight capsules and finally began to feel drowsy.

''Give me their names!" he said to the silent room.

Two days later, Akamuza came to the king's room. He was carrying a piece of paper with a long list of names on it.

He handed it to the king and bowed.

"These are the names I read on the tombstones,'' he said. Akamuza had a strange, staring look in his eye. The list was the death warrant for many people. Akamuza had great power now. The power had affected his mind. He was no longer sane.

Sinanda read the list over once and then read it again. He looked worried.

"But these people are all Gammans,'' said Sinanda, recognizing many of the names. "People will say I am a Gamman hater and that I want to kill all the Gammans in Bamanga. That would be genocide."

Akamuza laughed a low evil laugh.

''Are you afraid of your enemies?" he asked. "Are you afraid of what people will say? These people are your enemies. They want you dead, remember that! They want the king dead!"

Sinanda said, ''Do you mean I shall have to kill a whole people -the Gammans of Bamanga - to rule for ever?"

"Or they will kill you. There is no other way." Akamuza laughed his evil laugh again. "If you want to rule for ever, you must kill, you must torture, you must destroy all those against you ..." Akamuza's laugh made his face ugly. His tongue ran in and out between his lips. If a cobra could laugh, the sound would be like Akamuza's laughter.

The terrible laughter sounded in Sinanda's ears long after Akamuza had left the room. Each time Sinanda gave orders for another victim to be killed, he heard that mocking laugh.

Sinanda followed Akamuza's dream at once. The people whose names were on the list were arrested. Often the king gave no reason for the arrest. Sometimes they were arrested on suspicion of plotting against the king. All were detained in army prisons. There they were tortured and beaten. Then they would be transferred to a tougher prison outside Port Bamanga. The beatings and torture continued. The prisoners would be transferred again, until finally nothing more would be heard of them.

When he had finished with the names on the list, he turned to people he knew well. Many of them were friends. Some of them had fought beside him. He would invite them to the palace for dinner or a glass of beer. None of them ever left the palace. Some were thrown to the crocodiles in the lake in the palace zoo. Others were taken out under cover of darkness and thrown in the sea or buried far from Port Bamanga. He even killed his wife's sister. She had told Mirama that Sinanda was not as well liked among the Bamans as he had been a year earlier.

Next, he turned to the relatives of Fernando the Third. He was afraid one of them might claim the throne again one day. He killed every member of Fernando's family he could find - brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, everyone. Finally, he killed all those who had helped to make him king.

Many of them had been with him on the night of the raid and had shown him the way to the throne. He did not want them to try to do what he had done.

****

When word of the killings got to the neighbouring countries, many people asked why the Bamangans did not rebel and overthrow King Sinanda. The answer was simple. Sinanda had formed a special battalion of soldiers which he called the Special Action Unit. The recruits to the SAU were the best trained and armed group in the country. They were also the fiercest and toughest soldiers. They received higher pay and lived in better conditions than the rest of the army. As a result, they were completely faithful to Sinanda.

They struck terror into all those who saw them. Sinanda had given them black uniforms and black steel helmets. They were highly trained and went around in platoons of fifty men protecting the king and hunting down Sinanda's enemies.

Their main tasks were to protect the king at all times and kill important Gammans on Akamuza's list. They also had to make sure to leave no trace of them but this was not enough. Soon the king ordered them to kill anyone who said anything against him and the way he was ruling the country.

At first they followed their instructions carefully. But soon the smell of blood entered their heads and they began to act like madmen. No one was safe from them and they no longer cared what people sad.