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Origins
Hunter Queen’s birth name was Regina Natassia Haversham, only child of James and Lucy Haversham of London, England. Her parent’s plane crashed somewhere high atop Mt. Kenya in Northeastern Africa. Her parents, who were very wealthy industrialists, were killed and 18 month old Gina somehow survived. The shaman of the local tribe, the Kanutu people, was out collecting herbs, when she saw and heard the crash. She quickly ran to the site and found the beautiful little raven haired Anglo-Grecian girl with piercing green eyes playing happily with a leopard cub under the watchful eye of the mother leopard!
As the shaman, whose name was Upenda (Swahili for love) approached the mother leopard and the cub left the child in Upenda's care. She was surprised that the leopard did not take the girl as an easy meal, but took her up in her arms and carried her home to the village. Gina was wearing a necklace that had a very special diamond shaped ruby pendant on it. A cameo of her mother was carved on one side and her name on the other. Upenda could not read English and the tribe didn't have contact with the outside world very often, so she adopted her and called her Jini Msaka, which means "Hunter Spirit" in Swahili. Upenda called her this because of the strange power she seemed to have over the leopard when she was found, and the amazing, almost supernatural hunting and fighting skills she demonstrated as she matured showed that the name was no coincidence.
Gina grew in stature, strength and beauty. She also became a great warrior under the tutelage of Nakombo, the leader of the tribe’s mighty warrior group. She petitioned for admission into the group and was at first turned away, but Gina persisted and through a victory over three of his best warriors, Nakombo allowed her into the sect. Very soon after, the wise elder warrior saw the reason why his best fighters had been defeated by this young white woman. Gina had somehow bonded with the spirits of the animal kingdom. The leopard, the gazelle, the great ape, they were all present within her and manifested themselves through her physically. Nakombo, with the help of her adopted mother, Upenda the shaman, helped Gina to harness this ability and hone it until she was a greater, wiser and more cunning warrior even than Nakombo himself. Nakombo gave Gina the highest assignment that any of his sect could receive, the charge of protecting the life of the High Chief and his family.
For this honored task, Gina was given the choice of any 20 of the warriors in the sect to be under her authority and help her to carry out her charge. Gina chose her warriors well and soon began to be known as “The Invincible Ones”.
While performing her charge, Gina and the High Chief's youngest son, Malik, had fallen madly in love. He asked her mother, Upenda, for her hand and she gave her blessing. The betrothed couple was out with Gina's band of warriors on a hunt, when the scout spotted a group of men with long staffs walking through the jungle. Gina scented the air and suggested they avoid contact, saying that something didn't smell right about these people, but Malik thought they should be cordial and greet the strangers warmly. He was the chief's son and as his chosen guard, she could not override his wishes. He held out his lance and gave the ceremonial greeting. Because there were so many in their hunting party, the strangers misinterpreted Malik's greeting as a show of force. The strangers pointed their staffs in Malik’s direction and fire and noise spat from them. Malik fell at Gina's feet. She kneeled by his side trying to use the shaman skills Upenda had taught her, but it was no use, Malik was dead.
She screamed in rage and grief, drew her knife and ran at the lead shooter. Her incredible jungle cat-like agility allowed her to completely avoid the bullets and she plunged her knife into his heart. She withdrew the knife from the man's chest and wiped the blade across her tongue. She then spat the blood and saliva in the dead man's face, a show of disrespect for an enemy who would kill an emissary of peace. Her other warriors attacked and killed 4 of them before the remaining men opened fire and slaughtered them. With her other warriors dead, Gina cut herself across the abdomen, a show of defiance and grief, and with a loud battle cry, charged the armed men ready to die with her warriors. Suddenly, there was an explosion and Upenda appeared in a strange green glow. She roared like nothing Gina had ever heard before and what looked like green lightning shot from her hands. The armed men that had not been hit by the shaman’s attack, fled back into the jungle. Gina, exhausted from the battle, fell to the ground unconscious.
Later, after Upenda had tended her wounds, Gina went before the High Chief and offered him her life for her failure to protect his son. The High Chief stood from his council seat, walked over to her and raised her up from her kneeling position. He lifted her head and told her that there was nothing she could have done to prevent Malik's death. This was the work of the strangers, that she did not fail him and the two embraced, weeping. Gina, however, was inconsolable. She vowed vengeance and would find the strangers and make them pay. She asked Upenda to teach her the remaining lessons of the shaman and after 9 more months, she made ready to take her leave. The High Chief asked her if this is what she really wanted and she said yes. He then had her kneel and touched her with his battle lance and gave her a new designation, Malkia Msaka, Queen of Hunters.
As Gina left the village, Upenda said, "Be careful binti (Swahili for daughter), there are many strange and wonderful things you will encounter when you leave the mountain. Perhaps, you may even find your family out there. I know that the totem (the ruby pendant) you wear will be your guide to them." Gina smiled and said, "That may be true, Upenda, but you will always be mamangu (My mother-Swahili) to me." Gina kissed and embraced the only mother she ever really knew, turned toward the old beaten path and began her journey out into the unknown world beyond the mountain.
Once Gina reached the foot of Mt. Kenya, she realized that the local towns and cities were a place to start her search for those who murdered her betrothed and her friends. Since she spoke fluent Swahili, it wasn’t hard to get information, although her clothing did get some admiring glances from black men and white men alike, not to mention women also. She cashed in some of the gold she had been given by the High Chief, who insisted upon giving her a dowry even though she was not his daughter, and bought some clothes to disguise herself.
Gina spent a month in Embu, close to Mt. Kenya, but still a good distance form her home on the mountain. She began to study the English language and picked it up amazingly fast. After some time studying it, she showed the man who was teaching the class the ruby pendant that was about her neck. He read the back of the pendant to her. It said: Regina Natassia Haversham born: 12/24/1982. Her instructor suggested that she go to the British Embassy located on Upper Hill Road in Nairobi. She went to the nearest railway station and booked her way to Nairobi. When she arrived, she asked the taxi driver to take her to the British Embassy. Although she obviously did not know her way around Nairobi, she could sense the deception in the cab drivers manner and his heartbeat.
She asked him to stop by the side of the road and asked him to look at her. It wasn’t an unpleasant task considering her unparalleled beauty. Her luminous green eyes seemed to bore into his very soul as she hypnotized him. She commanded him to take her to the British Embassy. Sure enough, he was taking her the opposite direction from it! When they arrived, Gina asked him where he originally was taking her. He told her that he was going to take her to a remote spot, rape her at gunpoint, rob her and shoot her! She asked how many times he had done this before. He replied over 25 times! She wanted to slit his throat herself, but Gina commanded him to go the nearest police station and turn himself in. She got out and walked into the Embassy as he drove off.
Gina walked over to the receptionist desk and asked to speak to someone that could help her determine who she was and what the name on the back of the pendant meant. The lady at the desk took a look at the back of the jewel and her jaw dropped open. She immediately called a special number and a tall distinguished looking man with a grey handlebar mustache came out to greet Gina. He took her to a small office and asked her to sit down. He asked about her background and she sensed no evil intent from him, so she told him everything she could remember.
The man, Colonel Simon Tanner, a retired Royal Air Force intelligence officer, made another phone call. After describing her to the person on the other end of the phone, he asked Gina if she would be willing to take a blood test to determine who she was. She raised an eyebrow, but allowed the test. He had Gina taken to The Stanley Hotel and told her that he would contact first thing in the morning. Gina was taken aback by the opulence of the suite she had been given and asked how many would be staying with her in the room. The bellman and hotel director laughed until they looked at her face and she wasn’t joking. The director smiled and apologized for laughing and explained that it was hers for the night and if there was anything she needed, all she had to do was pickup the phone. With that, the director and the bellman left, closing the large ornate double doors behind them.
Gina found the bed to be too soft, so she slept on the soft plush carpeted floor, nude. When Colonel Tanner came the next morning, Gina still hadn’t dressed yet. He knocked and Gina told him to come in and he immediately averted his eyes covering his face. He apologized profusely and Gina didn’t understand at first, then remembering where she was, she threw the hotel robe around her. Colonel Tanner told her that according to DNA testing and the description given to the family law firm, she was indeed Regina N. Haversham, the only child and heir to the Haversham legacy. Tanner could see in her eyes that the only thing on Gina’s mind was finding out who her family was, not greed or avarice. He told her that the family solicitor, Sir Jeremy Trench, was arranging for her to come to England as soon as possible.
The travel arrangements took about 2 weeks, mostly because Gina had no official ID in Kenya and the bureaucracy. Gina thanked Colonel Tanner for his help as she stood at the gate for her flight from Jomo Kenyatta Int’l Airport, and soon was on her way to London. The limo driver met Gina at Heathrow, and took her directly to Sir Jeremy’s office at St. Mary’s Chambers in Lichfield, Staffordshire. One look at Gina, and Sir Jeremy’s eyes filled with tears. He embraced her and welcomed her home. Sir Jeremy explained that he was her godfather and James Haversham was his best friend since their Oxford days, he even introduced her mother, Luciana (Lucy) Kuriakos and her father at a cocktail party!
He took Gina into his private office and explained that James had made him promise that if anything happened to him on the trip to Kenya, that he was to hold his shares in trust until it could be absolutely confirmed that there was no surviving member of his immediate family. Gina asked Sir Jeremy if he suspected that the crash which killed her parents wasn’t an accident. He held his head down for a moment, then lifted it and said that he thought it was sabotage from the very beginning after the plane disappeared over Mt. Kenya, but no one heeded him. Gina walked to the window and looked out. She pondered his words and the reason she had come down from the mountain.
“Gina, what is it? May I help you in any way, my child?” said Sir Jeremy, his hand on her shoulder. Gina turned and looked into his eyes and said, “Sir Jeremy, I came down from Mt. Kenya in search of vengeance against those responsible for the death of my husband-to-be. Now, I find myself on another quest for the same thing involving my parents. It seems that fate, destiny, call it what you will, has brought me to civilization to hunt and find those who do evil. I will satisfy my own hunt first, but who knows perhaps the Hunter Queen will find other prey to hunt as well!” “I’m sorry, I don’t understand what you mean, Gina.” said Sir Jeremy. “Sir Jeremy, let me tell you a little story…”
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