Mighty Brahmuhn
The Battle for Supremacy

Chief Mbada looked threatening and voracious like a cornered leopard as he now stood ten feet from Brahmuhn. The entire village had made a large circle around them. Mbada was breathing heavily. His eyes were like that of a lion, engrossed with both hatred and disgust for Brahmuhn. ‘Ngoni! Bhonzo! Kill this bastard!’ he ordered them without even taking his eye off his enemy.

The two brutes shuffled their feet hopelessly in the dust. ‘But…but, my chief,’ Ngoni started.

He grabbed them from behind their necks and pushed them towards Brahmuhn as easily as little children. ‘Kill him or I kill you!’

Two of the Gorivas threw their spears at Ngoni and Bhonzo’s feet.

They hesitantly picked the spears up. They seemed to be actually taking their time. ‘My…my chief…’ Bhonzo this time.

‘KILL HIM!!!’

Without thinking, they rushed towards Brahmuhn, waving their spears in the air yelling their “battle cry”.

Cheetah stepped in front of Brahmuhn. He knocked the spears out of Ngoni and Bhonzo’s hands with his whip.

The two were now fumbling around as if they had no idea where they were.

He zigzagged thrice and went behind them and wrapped half of his whip around their throats and began choking them simultaneously. When he realized that they were now fading into unconsciousness, he spun them around with his whip knocking them to the ground, releasing them from the hold of his whip at the same time.

They were now lying face first in the dust, rubbing their necks.

Cheetah grabbed both of their spears from the ground and stabbed them in their backs. He walked back to Brahmuhn and stood at his side as before. He was not even panting or sweating. It was as though he had been taking care of something minor.

The villagers’ mouths however were wide open in awe. Their eyes looked like they were ready to pop out of their sockets.

Mbada did not look impressed. He did not even express sympathy for his two bodyguards laying down dead on the ground.

The Gorivas ran and picked up the bodies of Ngoni and Bhonzo and threw them to the side then ran back to take their position beside Chief Mbada again.

Mbada rubbed his knuckles. ‘Gorivas! Kill Brahmuhn!’

They too began to shuffle their feet timidly in the dust.

He gritted his teeth in impatience and frustration, ‘I said..!’

Brahmuhn chuckled. He said, ‘It’s what I thought. You really are a coward, Mbada. You’re not willing to fight your own battles like a real man.’

‘I don’t want to fight you, Brahmuhn because your blood is too inferior to touch my skin!’

Brahmuhn said, ‘I have slain mosquitoes that were more threatening than you. You are a disgrace to your people!’

Chief Mbada’s frustrated expression worsened.

‘At least now your people know which chief is “Courageous”.’

Chief Mbada closed his eyes for a while. When he opened them, his breathing had relaxed. ‘Hand me a spear.’

One of the Gorivas gave him a spear. It was very long; almost as long as Shumba’s. He began to slowly walk towards Brahmuhn.

Brahmuhn followed suit. As usual, his knobkerrie was his weapon of choice.

Mbada was now circling Brahmuhn like a vulture.

The villagers could definitely sense that what was about to unfold was not just a battle. This fight was going to lie to rest the question of who was superior: The Mighty Brahmuhn, or The Courageous Mbada: The leopard of the hills. They opened a much larger circle for the two competitors.

Cheetah was standing beside Tsitsi. Her hands were cupped over her mouth in fear and anxiety.

As Chief Mbada continued to walk in circles around Brahmuhn, Brahmuhn stood still like a corpse on its feet. His expression was calm, yet alert.

Like a cobra, Mbada lunged at Brahmuhn, thrusting his spear at his neck at the same time.

Brahmuhn flung his head back with great force, narrowly dodging the tip of the spear. He took five steps backwards, flipping his knobkerrie in both hands. Both warriors were focused. The spectators were silent as if dead.

Mbada began to swing and thrust his spear at him.

But Brahmuhn was like a slippery fish. His movements were as swift as death to a man in his deathbed. Mbada managed to slice his collarbone when he tried to dodge one of his attacks. Blood was now seeping from the cut. He decided to ignore the pain. He began swinging his knobkerrie at Mbada who also displayed great agility in dodging his opponent’s attacks.

As Mbada was dodging, he was also moving backwards and without warning, he slipped and fell on his back.

Brahmuhn quickly took the opportunity as Mbada lay on his back. He made a swing for his skull.

Mbada brought his spear above him to protect his face. The knobkerrie only managed to break the spear. When Brahmuhn made another swing, Mbada rolled to the side and onto his feet. He tackled Brahmuhn onto the ground and wrapped his hands around his throat, trying to choke the life out of him.

Brahmuhn now began to realize that he may have underestimated Mbada.

Tsitsi was now weeping softly.

He took one look at her then returned his eyes to Mbada. He grabbed his wrists. Summoning all of his strength, he began to slowly remove Mbada’s hands from his throat. In a flash, he removed his hands from his wrists and grabbed his arms, pulled him towards his face and their skulls collided. From the sound of Mbada’s grunts as he fell from Brahmuhn’s body, it was clear that Brahmuhn literally had the thicker skull.

Panting, he got up and stared at Mbada who was now crawling away from him. He pounced at him and grabbed him by the waist from behind and with all his strength, he lifted him high up in the air and body slammed him four times into the ground.

Mbada was now immobile. He was alive but breathing heavily and covered completely in dust. His body was completely sore all over.

Brahmuhn picked up his knobkerrie, aimed it at Mbada’s skull and swung it with all his might.

Mbada dodged the knobkerrie and it struck the ground instead. He grabbed Brahmuhn’s arm and pulled him towards himself. He grabbed the front end of his broken arrow from the ground which had been covered by the dust and thrust it thrice into Brahmuhn’s ribs.

There was a huge gasp of shock from the spectators.

With uncontrollable tears in her eyes, Tsitsi tried running towards her son but Cheetah pulled her back. She was now screaming, ‘Tawana! Tawana, mwanangu! Mwari ndibatsirei!!’ (God help me). She fell onto her knees and continued weeping.

Brahmuhn staggered backwards. He was now drifting in and out of consciousness. Everything was blurry. His knobkerrie was hanging loosely at his fingertips and blood was gushing freely from his side.

Mbada managed to summon the strength to get up. He was laughing. ‘Is this “The Great Brahmuhn”? The unconquerable warrior I’ve heard so much about? I always knew I was stronger than you, boy; I just don’t have the patience for overzealous children!’ He stretched his hand towards the Gorivas and one of them threw a fresh spear towards him. He licked his lips maliciously when it landed in his hand. He said, ‘Mbada is the greatest warrior!’ He made a leap for Brahmuhn with both hands clutching his spear.

Brahmuhn felt very weak but oddly, he could hear his mother crying. He thought of his fathers, both Farai and Kindi. The thought of his people and also the Vadhindi swept into his mind. Like a demoniac he spun around, Mbada’s spear narrowly missing his neck. Summoning the last of his strength, he grabbed tightly onto his knobkerrie. As soon as Mbada turned around, he swung his knobkerrie in an uppercut motion with the last of what remained of his strength. The knob connected with Mbada’s chin. The sound produced from that impact was nothing short of deafening.

Mbada’s head bounced to the back and the cracking of a bone in his neck could be heard. His feet detached a foot from the ground before his whole body came crashing down onto the ground back first. He was now totally static. The Courageous Leopard had fallen…dead at Brahmuhn’s feet.

There was so much noise from the spectators after a while. The soldiers among them took up their spears and began walking towards Brahmuhn, yelling profanities.

Tsitsi and Cheetah ran to his side.

Brahmuhn fell onto one knee, breathing faintly.

Cheetah was panicking, ‘My chief! Your wounds look fatal!’

He gave a feeble laugh, ‘You cannot kill a god, Cheetah…you can never kill a god.’

Tsitsi clasped her face into her hands. Tears were all over her face, ‘My son…so much blood…so much blood.’

He gave her a faint smile, ‘Mother…it is done. I have done right by my father. I have done right by your husband.’

‘But at what cost, my son! At what cost!’ she placed his face in his chest and continued weeping.

The Matanda warriors had now encircled Brahmuhn, Cheetah and Tsitsi.

Cheetah tightened the grip on his whip. ‘Your Greatness; I feel my end is close. I shall lose my life protecting you.’

Brahmuhn looked into the sky, at the sun, and lengthened his smile. ‘No…there is no need.’

Like a herd of buffalo, footsteps began rushing from all directions into the homestead. The battle cry was that of the Ndebele. With no introductions, they rushed towards the Matanda Village warriors with arrows and spears in their hands. The Matanda warriors were hopelessly outnumbered and they had no choice but to make a run for the hills with most of the Ndebele soldiers hot on their trail.

Brahmuhn brought his eyes back to Cheetah. He gave him a feeble but reassuring pat on the back, ‘You see, Cheetah? No need at all.’