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. Which had been a huge mistake. The commoners he had shown mercy to, the enemy he had saved from the spear and lust of his men, had gone and alerted other tribes and rallied them into a fury. And so Brahmuhn accepted the status quo. His men deserved the spoils of war. The deserved rewards for risking their lives for him and his people. And now he was used to it. He watched, but from a distance, he never partook in the acts, just a soldier doing what was best for his people.
He suddenly heard whispers from within the hut he was sitting by. He grabbed his knobkerrie from beside his leg, stood up and cautiously entered the hut.
A young woman was kneeling on the floor with her hands clasped together under her chin as she softly recited what sounded like a prayer.
He walked slowly towards her and placed a hand on her shoulder from behind her. 'Hey,' he shook her.
She did not open her eyes but continued with her prayer-like whispers.
He squatted in front of her. She looked peaceful as her beaklike lips twitched and danced as she murmured her prayer, her face a scowl, but on a pretty face still, which made her look like a child. Her braided hair spun into short strings at the base of her neck, and her skin looked smooth, probably from the paranoid washing down the river.
'Hey!' he shook her again.
She stopped and opened her eyes, slowly. They looked innocent but annoyed nonetheless.
Virgin eyes, Brahmuhn thought to himself. Even her bulging breasts looked as if they had never been touched as they lay docile behind her bra loincloth.
'Do you have no respect for God?' she asked him frowning sternly. She was still kneeling as though in defiance and not at all intimidated by the massive brute in front of her.
He was quite astonished that she could speak his language, ChiShona but he concealed his daze. 'In case you didn't know, your "warriors" lost the war and currently we're raiding your village; beating and killing your fathers, husbands, mothers, children etcetera…'
'What is it with you men and war? Can you not try to solve disputes with words for once?' She hissed out each word with careful, calculated and bitter precision.
He put his knuckles over his mouth for a while as if pondering over her question. To him it seemed rhetorical. He lifted her up and placed her on his shoulder. As he expected, she was very light. She slapped his back repeatedly and wriggled, trying to break free from his grip. He however was whistling a tune as he carried her out.
'Your Greatness,' Tortoise approached Brahmuhn. 'We have rounded up all the civilians.'
'Good.' His eyes scoured the area, ignoring the fact that there was a young woman screaming on his shoulder. 'Kill the men that are weak. Select at least a hundred of the biggest and strongest of them. These shall be part of our army. The women and children should be spared. These shall serve as our slaves back home.'
The young girl struggled more when she heard these commands.
Looking at the woman with the corner of his eye, 'Forgive me, Your Greatness, but…we have never taken captives before, so…why now?'
'Well, I think it's high time we showed the Ndebele that when we get serious, we do get serious. By killing the rest of their men it will show them just how ruthless we can be. That Brahmuhn is a peaceful and merciful warrior, but if you corner him within his kraal, he will fight back with a fearless and vengeful fury.'
'But won't the captives give them more reasons to attack us, Your Greatness?'
He looked proudly into the skies. 'Let them. These captives will draw all of them out and we will smite them once and for all.'
Tortoise reached for the woman on Brahmuhn's shoulder so he could relieve him of her but he swerved to the side. Tortoise looked confused, 'My chief?'
'This one is coming with me.'
'My chief?' he looked even more puzzled.
'She shall be my own personal slave.'
'But, my chief; you do remember that if we are to take captives it is forbidden to…'
He laughed out loud, 'Seriously, Tortoise what do you take me for? Me; your chief? Trust me, I know what I'm doing and what I am going to do with her and it's definitely not…not that!' He slapped Tortoise's back playfully as he walked past him, still laughing at what he had warned him against. He turned to the woman hanging on his shoulder as he walked away and said, 'I hope you know how to scrub floors.'