Brahmuhn was shattered by the Elders’ decision. He realized that he should have had considered Shiri’s words before Dombo and Gumbo had executed their plot against him. Another ironic twist, to Brahmuhn, was that he had actually disrespected Shiri more and he, Shiri, was the only one of the three Elders who had actually cared about him. If only he had listened! Now it was too late. The banishment was official. The village was now a distance from him as he walked slowly towards the forest. He was carrying nothing except his knobkerrie and a small pouch both tied to the side of his loincloth.
The pouch was loaded with mbanje. He liked his mbanje very much. It always distracted him from his worries and grief. He was smoking it while he walked, pondering over the people he had left behind: Buhle, his trusted comrades-in-arms and the Vadhindi.He blew a cloud of smoke into the air. His eyes were beginning to turn red from the smoking. He began swaying sideways, muHe nodded his head slowly. ‘Are you not Brahmuhn?’‘That’s “Your Greatness” when a dirty rat like you is speaking to me!’The man did not look offended. ‘All the Ndebele tribes know about you…your victories…’‘Who doesn’t?’ he laughed, returning his knobkerrie to his side.‘I am Bhekumuzi. I am the chief of this village. We are truly grateful for your help in chasing away the Ntokoloshi from our village. They have been terrorizing us for many years, burning our huts and abducting our children, but after seeing your mark I doubt they will ever show their faces here again.’‘Yeah, whatever. I deserve a reward for this. Or else I will be the new toko…toko…whatever nightmare upon your village.’‘Uh…sure…anything,’ he stuttered, now becoming afraid of what wrath Brahmuhn might unleash upon them.Brahmuhn l
‘Your worries should not be placed on her, my chief. Only a man with a death wish shall wish to harm her, and if they do harm her, I shall die as many times as the bruises they inflict upon her.’Brahmuhn nodded and beat his chest with his fist.Tortoise responded with the same action. This was their way of showing gratitude and respect. This was their way of showing how much they meant to each other. This… was a way of saying goodbye.‘Forgive me, Your Greatness but…where are we going?’ Cheetah asked him after they had walked for quite a distance.‘I don’t know.’He stared at him, confused, ‘But, Your Greatness…’‘Where did Shiri go?’ Brahmuhn interrupted him.‘As soon as he resigned, we never heard from him again.’He began to ponder to himself. Cheetah was walking two paces behind him.‘Your Greatness, where exactly did you
dozed off in his temporary home made of leaves and sticks. It was just sticks for support and closely knit leaves for the roof just like Cheetah’s. The appearance of the first star was like a knockout blow to his senses.Cheetah, however, was sitting outside his shelter with his back leaning on a tree.Brahmuhn was sound asleep like a dead baby. As if he had no care in the world. No enemies that would catch him unawares and slit his throat, or worse.‘Humph!’ Cheetah smiled at himself after staring at Brahmuhn for a while. He envied him. A boy who had worshipped the Vadhindi on his arrival at Chaponda Village during his teen years. A scrawny child who used to struggle with the simple concept of clutching firmly a spear. That scrawny child no longer existed but had been reborn as a mighty warrior. A man among men. “The Mighty Brahmuhn”. Just then, Cheetah heard soft footsteps from behind some bushes behind him. He tightened the grip
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
Only one of them was bald. This one stood up last and he took his sweet time. They began walking slowly towards Cheetah, their massive feet making audible impact on the ground. What intensified Cheetah’s anxiety was that he could not tell whether these men were Shona or Ndebele. He began swinging his whip slowly but as the ginormous men drew closer he increased the momentum of his swings. ‘I advise you to stay back!’ The “advice” sounded more like a plea. The men however did not heed it and continued advancing towards him. Like lightning, he cracked his whip in the face of the man who was in the lead. The tip of his whip narrowly missed the man’s nose. Cheetah’s miss was intentional but a desperate effort to persuade them to redraw their steps. His efforts were vain. The men continued to walk towards him with the same, slow and steady pace. It was as though his whip was invisible, or worse, harmless. He swung his whip
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
Cheetah had finally made it to the riverbank. His nightmare was over.The waters had become still. Not a single sound could be heard, not only from the waters but from anywhere else. The still silence unnerved him. He had forgotten about the pain in his shoulder. He wanted to yell for Brahmuhn’s name but he was beginning to think the worst. All he could do was scour the river with his eyes.Suddenly, one or two bubbles rippled on the surface. The bubbles would ripple once every two seconds but eventually, the interval would lessen. They finally stopped and the ghostly silence returned.Like logs that had been held underwater for too long, one by one the bodies of the women floated to the surface until finally, Brahmuhn’s knobkerrie.Cheetah was aghast. Had the “Great Brahmuhn” finally met his fate? He refused to believe that something so impossible could be proven possible. Just then, Brahmuhn’s hand reached forth from the dept
‘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,