‘When, your greatness?’ Shiri asked him sounding desperate.
‘When I am done grieving, Shiri. When the Vadhindi, the soldiers and my people are done grieving.’‘But even grief is meant to be temporary, my chief,’ Dombo tried to reason with him. ‘The Ndebele could attack us whilst we are still “grieving”. ’‘Dombo is right, Your Greatness,’ Gumbo said, ‘if the Ndebele find us in such a vulnerable state, I’m quite sure they won’t wait for us to finish grieving.’‘So what do you suggest?’Dombo cleared his throat pretentiously, ‘I suggest we mobilize the army fast and strike them hard and scatter the dogs into hiding.’‘Is that a unanimous suggestion?’ Brahmuhn asked eyeing Gumbo and Shiri.The two nodded simultaneously.He grabbed his knobkerrie from beside his throne and stood up. ‘I’ll have to think abo
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Mighty Brahmuhn 19. The Ndebele
Brahmuhn had gathered the Elders in his throne room once again.‘Your Greatness, you summoned us?’ Dombo asked.‘I have decided that it is best to attack the Ndebele.’The three Elders looked surprised. ‘Really, Your Greatness?’‘Yes, Dombo, and I’m sure it’s best we all put our grief aside and focus on the enemy at hand.’Gumbo cleared his throat, ‘But why have you decided to accept our advice, Your Greatness because with all due respect- you’ve never “needed” it in the past?’He sighed sharply, ‘Well…that’s because in all these years you have been advising me this is the only good advice you have ever come up with.’The three all looked insulted but had to disguise their feelings.‘The rest of the advice you have ever given me was just folklore and donkey dung.’ He grabbed his knobkerrie, got up and left.&lsq
Mighty Brahmuhn 20. Preparations for War
Brahmuhn was sitting on his throne, all alone in the room. Besides the grief for his father, Chief Kindi and his two comrades, Mamba and Hippo, he was also meditative of the impending war which would take place the next day. The third Elder, Shiri, came in walking in hurried paces. ‘What is it now, Shiri?’‘My Chief, it is very urgent…’‘You know very well that you cannot consult me in the absence of the first or second Elder.’ Brahmuhn sounded very irritated. He had grown weary of the Elders. He had always watched them as a child when they provided his father with “advice” and never really saw their importance and therefore never grew to tolerate them. He began to see their services as irrelevant to the chiefdom.‘Forgive me, my Chief but I have to tell you this.’He sat up straight. ‘Then out with it.’He knelt at his feet. He was breathing heavily in anxiety and he was ne
Mighty Brahmuhn 21. The Great War (Part I)
He suddenly woke up with a start. He was sweaty all over. He realized that it was just a dream but this same dream had reminded him of his vow. His promise that he would not see death until he had killed Chief Mbada.*The anticipated day had come. At Brahmuhn’s side were Cheetah, Tortoise and Shumba and behind them were a thousand Chaponda soldiers clutching their spears and daggers wearing faces of courage and fearlessness. They were all standing on a small mountain and below them, across a small shallow river was the Ndebele army. In number, they were three times that of the Chaponda army. Brahmuhn turned to his soldiers. ‘Men! The time has come to test the limits of our power! The time has come for us to victor over our triumph and triumph over the victory!’The men roared loud in great courageousness.‘The time has come to end it all! After today, not a single Ndebele fool shall corrupt our ears with their funny clicks
Mighty Brahmuhn 22. The Great War (Part II)
The sun was slowly setting and as if by some miracle, the Ndebele began to retreat. A great yell sprung from the Shona warriors as they pursued the Ndebele far into their villages.Realizing that the Ndebele were retreating too far into their treacherous hills, the Shona stopped in their tracks and began raiding their villages. Some of the Ndebele soldiers stopped from a far distance and watched powerlessly as their wives and children were ravaged, forcefully dragged from their huts screaming, kicking and wailing for mercy.Brahmuhn looked on as the civilians were brutalized and captured. But this was normal… this was rational… this was war. He sat himself by the entrance of a hut and wrapped his arms around his knees as he watched his warriors pillage and plunder. The scene of soldiers beating, raping and killing innocent civilians had disgusted him on his first day on the field, so much that he had stopped his soldiers and freed the poor commoners. Wh
Mighty Brahmuhn 23. Law
When he got into his sleeping hut, Brahmuhn placed her on the ground. As soon as her buttocks touched the floor she quickly crawled to the far end of the hut. She eyed him maliciously, her back against the wall and her arms drawn protectively across her shoulders. ‘Tomorrow you start working,’ he told her then turned around to leave.‘You’re making a big mistake.’He paused and turned around to face her. ‘Excuse me?’‘I may not be that well informed of your ways but I do know that keeping a Ndebele inside your house is unacceptable. To sleep in the same hut…’ her eyes moved everywhere inside the hut, ‘…and I can tell that this is where you sleep; the royal hut.’‘So you are well informed of our ways.’ He walked over to her and squatted in front of her which encouraged her to cringe her back into the wall. It looked more like it was out of disgust than fear. &ls
Mighty Brahmuhn 24. Medium
Brahmuhn’s three Elders were quarrelling amongst themselves, obviously in his absence.‘What I can’t figure out is why the brute is still alive?!’ Dombo ranted.Gumbo had his thumb and forefinger on his chin, immersed in thought. ‘Those were well over a thousand Ndebele warriors!’ he said looking gravely disappointed.‘How do you know? You weren’t even there,’ Shiri said.‘Dombo and I sent spies to spread threats and insults to their gods and to their ancestors and lied that they were from Brahmuhn to provoke wrath from them,’ Gumbo informed him. ‘In addition to that, the spies also sabotaged their wells, burned a lot of huts and killed a few dozen women and children in the villages. We were positive the Ndebele would attack with a vengeance that could not be quelled, let alone countered!’‘How absurd is that!’ Shiri looked flabbergasted. ‘That would mean the Ndebeles would kill everyone in our village including you!’‘Absolutely not,’ Dombo said. ‘We had made a de
Mighty Brahmuhn 25. Treason
‘I have been sent to congratulate you on your victory by the first and second Elder.’‘Acknowledged.’Shiri raised his head slightly. He saw Buhlebenkosi and flinched.‘Is there something else, Shiri?’ Brahmuhn asked him.He quickly turned his eyes to the ground again, ‘No, Your Greatness.’‘Then leave. And never show yourself to me on your own without either the first or second Elder.’‘Yes, Your Greatness.’‘So are you with us, Shiri?’ Dombo asked him when he had come back from Brahmuhn’s hut.‘What?’ Shiri was totally in another world. He had been pondering over what he had seen inside Brahmuhn’s hut.‘We said we bribe one of the soldiers to kill him in his sleep!’ Gumbo told him getting impatient.‘Kill him in his sleep?’ he almost laughed in mockery of their plan. ‘Do you even know how loyal
Mighty Brahmuhn 26. Against the Law
He tossed his mbanje to the side. ‘What is the meaning of this, Dombo? Gumbo?’ He asked them as he stood up.The two Elders began laughing wickedly.‘I fail to find humor in my question,’ Brahmuhn said, looking furious.‘That’s funny because we find humor in your very existence,’ Gumbo spat at him with a look of disgust on his face.The Vadhindi stood up in fury but Brahmuhn restrained them with a gesture of his hand. ‘What do you mean, Gumbo?’Dombo chuckled, ‘Do you consider us ignorant of your repulsive deeds?!’Cheetah tried to reach for Dombo’s throat but Brahmuhn restrained him again.Brahmuhn gritted his teeth, ‘If you do not explain the meaning of this, I will have you speared within seconds!’Gumbo turned around and clapped his hands loudly to get the villagers’ attention. There was a great silence. It was as if this action held some unseen unnat
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