The TimeKeeper Series Nandi Goes To Egypt

By Sizile Ndlazi

Nandi Makhathini is a ten year old girl, from Durban, that
discovers that her maternal grandmother Mkabayi Ndlela was
able to travel through time and now, it was her turn. This
catapults her world to the extraordinary mystery and adventure
that she never dreamed of. With the help of a majestic lion
Dingani, they are able to go to different interesting countries, and
meet
historical characters in the continent to fix time fractures.
Join Nandi as, in this story, she goes to Egypt and see what
adventures awaits her along with her grandmother Mkabayi,
Dingani, Queen Nefertiti and others and get carried await in the
magical lives of Timekeepers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sizile Ndlazi
• Release date: Jun 15, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463922057

Book preview

The Timekeeper Series

Nandi Goes To

Egypt

Sizile S Ndlazi

Copyright © 2020 Sizile S Ndlazi

Published by Sizile S Ndlazi Publishing at Smashwords

First edition 2020

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system without permission from the copyright holder.

The Author has made every effort to trace and acknowledge sources/resources/individuals. In the event that any images/information have been incorrectly attributed or credited, the Author will be pleased to rectify these omissions at the earliest opportunity.

Published by Sizile S Ndlazi using Reach Publishers’ services,

Edited by Vanessa Finaughty for Reach Publishers

Danny Mose Modiba enlisted as Illustrator and cover design

(www.moseartstudios.co.za)

P O Box 1384, Wandsbeck, South Africa, 3631

Website: www.reachpublishers.co.za

E-mail: [e-mail]

Content

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Prologue

A year and a half before

You summoned me? Mkabayi asked. She tried to put on a brave face, but she knew what they required of her and she was frightened. She really shouldn’t be, but it was different when you were put in charge of changing your one and only granddaughter’s life.

She was standing at a podium in front of the Counsel of Timekeepers. She had known that this day would come, but nothing could have prepared her for what she felt at that moment. She wanted to protect Nandi, keep her innocence, and at the same time she was glad. Nandi was getting to the age where she could start living her destiny; her little girl was growing up. Most people waited a long time to find out what their purpose was, but at the tender age of just ten she was going to know.

It is time for a new Timekeeper. It was the Lady of the Lamb who spoke. She was the most stern out of them all, but with her gravity came compassion.

Of the Counsel of Timekeepers, Mkabayi preferred the Lady of the Lamb to deliver this news herself, rather than any of the others. She had a love–hate relationship with the counsel. The members were too know-it-all to varying degrees, and they were detached from human emotions and mostly did not understand the human dynamics happening in the missions. Understandably so; she sighed. They had a tough job of keeping the universe in balance and who was she to judge?

Yes, I am aware. I think she may need a little guidance, but she will be ready when the time comes, Mkabayi said, cringing at her own assessment.

Good, we are glad to hear this.

There was a pause and the high priest sitting to the left of the Lady of the Lamb spoke. Are you ready to depart the life you know and love so well? Are you ready for the next phase of your journey? he asked her, looking through her.

She cleared her throat and felt constricted for a second. Of course she was going to miss her life. She had a family who loved her and depended on her, and she loved them too. She would miss not being able to access them the way that she was used to; change was imminent, but it did not mean she was happy about it. She echoed her thoughts, but decided to keep the emotion out; the council would not appreciate it.

Good. He was satisfied. It’s time to activate and prepare her. You understand that time as we see it is different from how they see it. You have three months, which to them will translate to a year and a half, to prepare her for her first journey, but should anything happen before that she will need to be activated sooner. Your job is to make sure she’s ready for the transition when the time comes.

Yes, mam, I understand.

Chapter One

Mkabayi Ndlela, who was lovingly known as Gogo to everyone who knew her, had passed away the year before. According to Nandi’s mother, Mkabayi was still around watching over them in Heaven, so she shouldn’t feel too sad. Sometimes it helped, knowing Gogo was always around watching over her. Being born in a Zulu tribe in South Africa, it was only natural that they believed their ancestors looked after them after their passing. Nandi and Mkabayi had always been close. It was only natural that Nandi believes that Mkabayi will be one of her greatest ancestors.

When Nandi’s parents got married, they decided to relocate to a suburb in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, a coastal province in Eastern South Africa that was close to Mkabayi. It made perfect sense for them to live there, as the temperature was always warm even in the wintertime, and when it was summer, there was always a guaranteed coastal breeze to ease the glaring African sun. Also, because Mkabayi was closer, Nandi had spent her time after school at her house while she waited for her parents to pick her up when they got back from work. Mkabayi lived in an area that was a farm dwelling, and although it was sparsely populated, whenever Nandi was there, she did not feel lonely or isolated. The land surrounding the farm was lush with green vegetation and livestock. Mkabayi always believed that anything worth eating, would come from her hands. She also appreciated having the space around her.

Mkabayi was a traditional healer and she had often said she needed to have a lot of air around her so that the ancestors could roam free. As well as all the crops that were grown at her house, was a small garden of herbs and a greenroom where she had mixed all her potions. The ill had consulted her; it had been her specialty, and she had mixed potions that would help heal physical pain and illness, and also sometimes mental ailments if the ancestors deemed it necessary. The trick was to always listen and be led by the bones, she had explained. There was a massive field surrounding her house, where wild sunflowers and sugarcane grew. She would let Nandi run around when she was a baby, but as she grew older she had insisted that the girls in the family receive training in martial arts. Mkabayi had said there was nothing wrong with a girl knowing how to defend herself, and with martial arts came discipline and inner strength. Along with martial arts training, Mkabayi had encouraged her granddaughter to love animals and be patient with them; she had believed that having a good relationship with nature brought a sense of fulfilment.

Mkabayi had been the eldest in the family and the matriarch, a prestigious position in any African household, so the things she had suggested were never taken lightly. All the wisdom of the family’s past and future was in the elders; therefore, they were given a special place in the lives of the young. Even if their bodies failed them with age, they were still sound of mind and had great wisdom to impart to the young, and children were encouraged to spend time with the elders in the family. So the space at Mkabayi’s house became very useful because of the human foot traffic that came in and out, as well as for the training sessions for the children, which Mkabayi had insisted on. However, special care was always taken when it came to Nandi’s training.

Every day after school and on some weekends, Nandi was put through rigorous training, because her grandmother had believed that to keep a healthy mind she had to have a healthy body. Even after she had passed away, Nandi had begged her mother to enrol her in martial arts training, because she had promised her grandmother she would never stop training and keeping fit even when she was gone. Keeping the