*  *  *  *

Benjamin's surprise at seeing Shaka vanished, and he turned quickly to
Joseph.

Benjamin: "Why not?  Why wouldn't they allow this, Joseph?  Do you
	   really know as much as you think you do?"

Joseph stammered, "I know that it shouldn't have happened..." He
paled, but stopped talking, his face angry.

Shaka blinked his eyes, then opened them again.  At first he appeared
astonished, then he just shook his head and smiled.  As his companions
gathered around him, he spoke, in perfect, though accented, English.

Shaka: "Greetings my friends, my strange strange friends.  How I have
        longed to speak to you in Bantu or Zulu, but instead, the gods
        have given me the power to speak your strange tongue instead.
        So many words... and yet, it will do."

He looked from companion to companion, and spoke each of their names
carefully. Jeanne stared at him, her face pale and her eyes wide.

Shaka: "How is it you understand what to call each other?  Some of you
        have two names, some only one.  With some the second name is
        just another name, in others, it is a title.  It is very
        confusing.  I understand that Charles is from a land called
        Aachen now, but Josephine does not strike me as a baker - more
        as a dancer."

Josephine grinned a half-smile at the mention of her name by the Zulu.

Josephine: "Oh, you could say I was a dancer... A dancer, a singer, an
	    actress...  You can call me any number of things."

Shaka shrugged and smiled. Opening his grail, he fell to eating
voraciously. The others formed a circle by the grailstone and joined
him. Joseph sat bound between Mishima and Charles. He did not ask for
food.

Shaka: "As you know, I am Shaka.  To use your second names, I suppose
        I would be called Shaka Zulu, or Shaka of Zulu, as I was in my
        first life, king of the Zulus, the mightiest warriors on
        earth.  I was born in disgrace, the bastard son of a princess,
        but I spent my life training, improving, learning.  In time, I
        became a mighty general for my adopted tribe, winning many
        great battles for them."

Shaka: "In time, when the fullness of my manhood was reached, the
        leader of my real tribe, the Zulus, died, and I returned to
        reclaim my throne.  The Zulus were a small tribe, but their
        warriors were strong and listened to my words.  We organized,
        we trained, and we fought as an army, not as a loose band.
        Marching together and not wasting our spears and shields with
        stupid throwing matches, we conquered tribe after tribe."

Shaka: "Though I was always a man of war, I also knew the only way to
        peace was through acceptance, and so every conquered tribe
        became Zulu, and our numbers grew until there were no more
        tribes between the mighty rivers but us.  If not for those
        jealous of my greatness, I am sure that the Zulus would have
        ruled the entire world."

Shaka: "I returned home, and my half brothers grew jealous of my
        power.  Everywhere there were plots against me, and though I
        was a wise and good leader, I was murdered over petty wants --
        stabbed in the back.  A death I would come to know again."

Shaka: "And then, I awoke here... in my young man's body, with my hair
        scraped away.  I had thought that this was paradise, but it
        was not the paradise I had been promised.  Everywhere I looked
        were smaller, whiter people, and no one but me spoke my
        tongue."

Benjamin: "Shaka, do you remember your previous Adventures with
	   myself, and those before my Arrival, with these Others?  Do
	   you remember your Life since your very first Arrival on
	   this World?"

Shaka: "I remember you. I remember my life on Earth. The time between
	my Earth-death and my waking with you is still blank."

Shaka: "I was alone, without followers, and we were cast into slavery.
        Together with Charles, we freed ourselves and I captured the
        mighty sword of Temuchin, the demon of this afterlife hell."

Shaka: "Still, life was strange and incomplete.  Again and again we
        seemed to fight.  And then finally, I saw my chance to truly
        die and live in paradise.  Temuchin returned, but this time
        without his sword."

Shaka: "Knowing that the way to heaven was in my grasp, we charged,
	and I take it from the surroundings here, and the friends I
	see, we were victorious."

Shaka pointed to Joseph.

Shaka: "Although I was stabbed in the back by that coward there, I
        lived long enough to kill the demon Temuchin, and so I slipped
        from life knowing I had earned my rewards."

Shaka: "Still though, paradise escaped me... though this time, I
        beheld a god.  As I lay dreaming after death, a god appeared
        to me, in the aspect of a man-lion.  He carried the Sword of
        Temuchin, or one like it.  He cast a spell on me with his
        breath, and sent me back here.  The spell must be what has
        given me the ability to speak with you."

Jeanne's countenance grew even more pallid at Shaka's words. She
muttered, barely audible, "The Lion?"

Louis stood by himself, unmoved by Shaka's reappearance.

Louis: "This, somehow, does not surprise me.  Do not misunderstand.  I
        am glad for the return of our comrade, but I have no faith in
        an afterlife or of issues of rebirth.  To me, there are no
        rules in this place."

Shaw: "No rules? Oh, there are rules, only the players in this game
       have not seen fit to let the pawns in on them."

He jammed his spear into the ground angrily.

Shaw: "And I for one am tired of being a pawn."

Shaka: "The god did not speak to me, but he made it clear to me that
        the sword of Temuchin came to us from the north, and somehow I
        felt I should go there.  Perhaps that will do something to
        explain why we are in this strange place, and not in
        paradise."

Josephine leaned over and whispered to Shaw.
Josephine: "My, that one sure has a lot to say"

Shaka sat up, and his expression changed.  He flexed his fingers, the
muscles on his arms writhing, as he turned to face Joseph.

Shaka: "And now, do not think I have forgotten you, coward.  You fancy
        yourself a warrior?  Let us see how well you fight with no
        treachery to aid you.  The King of the Zulus seeks to avenge
        his own death.  Defend yourself coward, as I crush the life
        from you with my bare hands!"

Shaka smiled a grim smile and moved toward Joseph, confidence on his
face and death in his heart.

Louis too addressed Joseph.

Louis: "I wish there was a final death in this accursed place.  I
        would like, very much, to see you executed after you tell us
        what you and yours are about."

Louis sighed. "But I fear it is all for naught.  If he dies, will he not come
back to haunt us once again?  This begins to appear futile to me."

He turned to Shaka.

Louis: "Kill him in vengeance for your own death, yes.  But do you not
        think that he might be able to reveal something of the design
        we find ourselves in?"

Louis: "You state that you appeared before a God.  Might not he have
        been a man in a costume?  I do not proclaim to have knowledge
        as to how a rebirth happens, but if it does, why does this
        person have to be a God?  And I know what you who are
        believers are going to say...who else but a God could do this?
        I am not concerned with providing an answer.  Suffice it to
        say, I would like to confront this lion-man and see for
        myself."

Mishima: "The being that returned Shaka to us, now able to speak with
	  us, is no enemy of ours."

Louis shifted his spear from hand to hand.  "I would like to remain a part
of your group, but I feel a pressing need to ascertain for myself who is at
fault.  If I die, I will be reborn to pursue this goal.  If not, I have
died once before, and I remain unconcerned."

Louis: "I will strike out north at daybreak."

Charles stood and spoke in Latin. Benjamin translated his words to
Shaka and the others.

Charles: "Shaka, you are truly a noble lord from a foreign land.  You
	  agreed once, to follow my lead.  Do you still?"

Shaka paused for a moment, and nodded in a regal fashion, as of one
king regarding another.

Charles stood near Shaka and Joseph, and placed his hand on haft of the
metal scythe.

Charles: "Shaka, this tool bought your revenge, and granted us our freedom."

Charles: "If you kill Joseph now, perhaps this "God" you saw (Though
	  he cannot be the true God of our lives), will give him power
	  again, to create Evil here in this land...."

Charles: "We must learn to Live with the evil that is among us.  We
	  must control it.  It is God's way that we deal with our own
	  affairs in this way of common sense. "

Charles: "I decree that this man shall live among us and learn from
	  us.  If he causes a threat, I shall deal with that
	  separately.  He shall not walk free to harm the innocent.
	  He will remain bound.  He will be fed minimally from his own
	  grail to keep him alive.  We will teach him and learn from
	  him what he knows. "

Mishima spoke up thoughtfully. "So...there is control to this place after
all."

He pointed to Joseph with his thumb.

Mishima: "The more reason for Shaka to kill this offal, here, now.  If
	  he does not return near us, so be it.  This being Shaka saw
	  does not interfere with every rebirth.  I have died here
	  without such an encounter; so have some of you.  If it does
	  intervene, it must be to guide the happenings.  If Stalin
	  has further part to play in our fate, then we must let it
	  happen."

Mishima turned to Charles.

Mishima: "You are right on one point: we must control the evil among
	  us.  But you say it falls to us to teach him.  I wonder if
	  you would feel the same about your own murderer.  Does
	  keeping such among us seem to be the 'common sense' your God
	  demands?"

Charles: "Shaka, Take this scythe, this mark of honor and office, and
	  carry it well.  If you revenge on Joseph, you forfeit this
	  badge of office.  Remember your learning of Peace."

Shaka reached out casually and took the scythe. 

Shaka: "It is mine to take...perhaps more than yours to give."

He held the scythe to Joseph's throat, and the pale captive tensed
himself for the blow that never came. Shaka lowered the blade and
instead kicked the man in his stomach. He spat on the Joseph's
curled-up, retching form.

Shaka: "Keep this dog bound and away from me if you think you can learn
        something from him. My vengeance will wait...for a time."

Shaw: "Before we go follow Shaka's dream we have to take the slavers'
       camp, we may find more answers there. At the very least we can
       outfit ourselves better with what we find there. But we must
       get there before anyone else has a chance to seize control."

Josephine smiled at Shaw.

Shaw: "How else will we travel? On foot? You would be dead with in a
       week, or slaves. And does anyone have any idea of just how far
       north we will be going? I for one think it would be much more
       efficient, and safer, to go by boat.  My boat was not built to
       hold a dozen. Oh, for short distances it would be ok, but for a
       voyage of undetermined length? For that we will need a larger
       boat. We can get one from the slavers' camp."

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