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 again at the one in the lead.
He grabbed it.
Cheetah began trying to free it from his grasp but the man was just too strong, even when he tried with both hands.
He snatched it from Cheetah's hands with such ease and threw it to the side, far from his reach.
Cheetah now knew that these men were definitely not friendly. Making a loud battle cry, he ran towards the one in the lead like a robust and furious child. He was grabbed by his shoulders and thrown against a tree back first. He could have sworn he heard his spine shattering.
The other three men slowly walked back to their fire and sat down while the one continued battering Cheetah like a stray dog found in a chicken coop.
The man's strength seemed to be beyond just brute strength. Cheetah would punch and kick with all his might but it was like striking a mountain.
The man began throwing fists and kicks like boulders.
At each blow, Cheetah felt like he heard a bone break in his body.
After about fifteen seconds of the pummeling, the man began throwing Cheetah around.
Cheetah was now powerless.
He then picked up a massive log and held it above Cheetah's head as if with the intention to beat him to death with it.
They suddenly heard movements in the bushes behind them.
There was silence as both Cheetah and his attacker waited for who or whatever it was to appear.
Just as Cheetah had expected, Brahmuhn emerged from the bushes, mbanje in his left hand and his knobkerrie in his right. His eyes were as red as blood.
'B…r….aaaah….muuuuhn!' he wheezed. He was slightly staggering, choking on his own smoke.
The giant force of nature swung the log at Brahmuhn.
Brahmuhn dodged, flipped his knobkerrie once in his hand then swung it. It connected squarely at the side of the giant man's head. The sound was like lightning striking an old tree.
The giant staggered a few feet backwards before falling with a heavy thud on the ground.
The other three giants' faces grew grimmer but undoubtedly, looked stupefied. Two of them stood up but the bald one, that seemed to be the leader, grunted once and they paused in their tracks and stooped their heads low. The baldheaded leader stood up. He shook his arms to relieve the tension in them. He walked two steps before jogging towards Brahmuhn.
Unlike Cheetah, Brahmuhn did not seem to be intimidated by the man's size. As if ignorant of the impending threat advancing towards him, he took another long smoke of his mbanje. He started coughing but only for a brief moment. He could not help but laugh. 'This stuff is pretty good.'
The baldheaded giant grabbed him by his shoulders and began slamming his back against a tree. The assault was however ephemeral and the giant immediately slammed him to the ground. It began trying to stomp on his head but Brahmuhn was too quick, rolling and jerking like a man literally on fire as he dodged the colossal feet of his opponent. The giant's feet would make loud and heavy thuds when they pounded the ground.
When the giant made a ninth attempt to crush Brahmuhn's skull under its heel, he grabbed its foot. The monster was truly strong but Brahmuhn enjoyed such kinds of competition. He quickly kicked the giant's standing foot and it fell back first with a very loud and heavy thud.
Brahmuhn immediately got up and planted himself on the giant's chest. He began battering its face with his fists. When he realized that it was no longer fighting back, he reached for his knobkerrie and with one forceful swing, struck the giant at the side of its head.
It now lay motionless but its white eyes were wide open.
Panting, Brahmuhn got up and stared at the remaining two. Then, as if disinterested, he rolled the dead giant onto its belly before sitting on its back. He was now facing the remaining two giants again. 'Right…' he grabbed the remnants of his mbanje from the ground and continued smoking, '…who's next?'