A Battlement of Spears
About this ebook
So begins a narrative set against the backdrop of the timeless mountain called in Zulu uKhahlamba, “the Barrier of Spears.” Yet the story is not uniquely South African; it is not about apartheid, or about Blacks, or Whites. Rather, it is about the countless ‘gray’ people, ordinary individuals who become trapped in the consummation of historical inevitabilities that are neither of their doing, nor of their choosing.In a tragic series of events two friends will discover what sacrifices are exacted from those who would dwell in the no man’s land of the summit, where fog often obscures the vision and deprivation dulls the senses until it becomes all too easy to drift into hostile territory or stumble into the jaws of the precipice.
But they will also learn that barriers are not always what they seem. In that hauntingly beautiful land it is never merely about survival, but about the things that make it truly worthwhile, such as friendship, loyalty, and honor, regardless of the price.
About the author
Bernard Botes Krüger is a sixth-generation descendant of the Anglo-Boer War president Paul Krüger, growing up in South Africa during the turbulent Apartheid era. Born in 1952, he spent his formative years in a rural area designated a part of the Zulu homeland. At the age of 18 he was incarcerated in a Pretoria military prison for refusal to perform compulsory military service in that country's 'terrorist' war, being held for a total of 15 months in solitary confinement. After his release, he devoted the next decade to working as a full-time religious volunteer, often among African tribes in some of the remotest parts of Southern Africa. He is first and foremost a linguist who is best described as a 'hyperpolyglot,' speaking no fewer than ten languages. His life's passion has been the promotion of multiculturalism, as opposed to nationalism, to which end he has set himself the goal of visiting every country on earth. Since 1986, he has been a resident of the United States, now living and writing in Sausalito, California. He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of South Africa (UNISA), and a Master's and Ph.D. from Warnborough College (Ireland).