Matombe had a wife called Mabaka. She gave birth to two of his children. He had more wives, of course, and more children, however Mabaka was the most proud, independent and sometimes even disobetient wife.
Matombe was a king of a small nation, but not very war-loving one. They were descendants of the far forgotten Kush tribes and now their special ability was an agriculture, not a weaponry. They were peaceful neighbours to the Carthaginians and they were deeply impressed when they realized that one day the Carthaginians disappeared, destroyed by the Romans, a mighty nation from the other shore of the Sea.
Matombe wanted to live quietly as he lived up to now so he took his courtmen and wives and priests and few guards - not very impressive as they were armed with wooden maces and bows - and went to the nearest camp of the victors to congratulate them and to offer peace to them. The Roman legate approved the king's proposal, however in return he demanded a dozen of slaves and a dozen of slave women to be delivered to the Romans. Perhaps Matombe never realized that the demand was a fancy of a Roman legion officer and not a will of the Emperor.
Matombe prepared his people to the sacrifice they are asked for. He had few dozen of prisoners so he easily selected twelve men but the problem was with females. After many attempts, he finally succeed and twelve girls and unmarried women from the poorest families agreed to travel overseas to work for new masters. Perhaps they didn't understand what is a real meaning of a term "slave women" for the Romans, but they were indeed very poor and the year was very hot and the lake near their village nearly disappeared so they would be happy with any kind of job if they would only have water to drink and a bread to eat.
The only obstacle was Mabaka. She was perhaps more wise or at least more farsighted than her husband, she heard him talking with the legate and moreover she heard a legate words (they talked Carthaginian language of course) and she realized that the two dozens are only the first batch of what the Roman's would demand from their new allies. So, she protested against the idea of sending the slaves to them. Of course, the king's wife was not a king or independent queen herself, so Matombe ignored her speech but decided to send her together with the warriors escorting the slaves to the Roman camp to allow her speak with the legate herself and tell him her opinion if she thought she was wise and brave enough. And Mabaka agreed and the next morning she departed with four maids and twenty warriors and a twenty four slave men and women.
And this was the last time Matombe had seen her wife Mabaka and her four maids as well as his twenty warriors, because the legate after listening of the Mabaka speech ordered her to be flogged, raped, impaled and crucified and her warriors to be disarmed and her maids together with twelve prisoners and twelve poor village women to be fully unclothed and to be walked in chains to the nearest harbour and sent to the port in Ostia and to the Rome as his gift to the Senate.
To be precise, Matombe met Mabaka once again, when he travelled to the Roman camp again after half a year, but he didn't find the Romans here. They abandoned the camp returning to their mainland, no longer required in Africa after the destruction of the Carthago. But Matombe never recognized his wife Mabaka, looking at her skeleton still nailed to the cross and pierced with a pole, half-buried in the desert sand few paces from the former Roman camp walls.
