Brahmuhn woke up with a long yawn. He felt the ground around him and grabbed his knobkerrie. ‘Cheetah.’Cheetah was exhausted. The leopard had drawn most of his energy and even worse still, he had stayed up to keep guard for another three hours before sleep slew him. Brahmuhn walked towards him and shook him awake.‘It’s time to move,’ said Brahmuhn.He slowly got up and with weary eyes, looked around him like clueless prey. He looked as vulnerable as a chicken in the rain. When he tried to support himself with his arm to get up, his wounded shoulder reminded him of the violent and bloody struggle he had had the previous night. The wound stung a lot and he could not help but scream. The intense pain made him fully awake.Brahmuhn grabbed his arm and pulled him towards him. He examined the shoulder then looked into his eyes.‘I fell.’Even if Brahmuhn would have been intoxicated by mbanje, he would still no

The giants ran towards him and knelt before him. The fear in their eyes was clear and could not be hidden.‘I never asked for anyone to kneel before me. I asked, who is next?’‘We implore you, oh Great Brahmuhn! Spare us!’ one of them begged him.‘I do not spare the lives of cowards! Now get up and get ready to fight! And… how do you even know my name?’‘Some men call us demons. We were only following our master’s bidding,’ the other one spoke.‘And where is your master so he can taste my bidding?!’ He waved his knobkerrie in the air.‘Uhm…’ the first one spoke, ‘…you are sitting on him.’He looked confused for a while. He stared at their master beneath him. ‘This fool was your master? I thought or at least heard that a demon’s power actually meant something?’‘Except maybe to one with your mark,’ the fir

‘You should have pretended to be dead, Brahmuhn!’ Akunda advised him, flashing a threatening grin on his face.‘Cowards lie on their backs, warriors die on their feet, but I am a god; I soar through the skies!!’ Without warning, his entire arm grew numb and he dropped his knobkerrie. He tried to pick it up with his other arm but it also became numb. He was now running out of options.Suddenly, an unpredictable and violent wind began to blow around them. Clouds began to gather in the skies with rapid speed as if they were long overdue. With them they brought flashes of lightning and the sound of terrifying thunder. The powerful wind pushed the Vakunda into the wall of a hut. The sound of broken bones could be heard on impact. The two witches tried to crawl their way to safety but like the blinking of an eye, a flash of blue light engulfed the entire village. The light stung everyone’s eyes. It was over faster than it had started. Vakunda,

Neither of the two had noticed how quickly time was flying. They had come to an agreement that before they attack Mbada, they unfetter a few more villages under his oppression. They encountered the most gut-wrenching situations in their conquest but nevertheless, they triumphed over them. In every village they passed through, they gained support from the inhabitants. The Shona now had a trustworthy liberator who was open to sacrifice his life for their freedom. The Ndebele too began to rally behind Brahmuhn and were willing to place their rivalry on hold since they now had one common enemy. Brahmuhn knew that it would not be long before the same atrocities that the other villages were going through reached Chaponda Village. Three weeks had gone by like the blink of a day. They both missed their families very much but they also knew that in order to keep their families safe, they had to terminate the threat which was Chief Mbada. As they stood and stared at Matanda

It was as if she was embracing a son who had risen from the dead. ‘Oh, Tawana! Tawana, mwanangu (my child)! Oh mwanangu how I have missed you so much!!!’He could no longer control himself either and without restraint, and for the first time in his life, he permitted tears to run down his cheeks. He felt so young and happy in her arms. That warmth, that motherly love that had kept his hope alive for so long. After a well-deserved moment of tears, he managed to compose himself. ‘Mother, mother where is father?’She could not stop sniffling, ‘Oh, my son, my son. This wicked man, this wicked monster speared him that same night…that same night you ran away. He first had him whipped for what seemed like hours by Ngoni and Bhonzo, but even then, your father continued to confess his undying love for you and me and how he would get his vengeance. Mbada then speared him in the ribs and even then, your father refused to die. That is when…that’s when…’ she broke down in tears again.