Chapter 27: War

"Sometimes you need to fight in order to get peace."-Unknown

he tenth day arrived and all the warriors looked nervous as they left the kingdom towards the outer eastern plain where they were going to fight with Mutapa. All women, children and the elderly were taken to the northern caves where thorns were placed in front of tha caves for protections.

A quarter of the warriors remained hidden in the mountains in case Mutapa was going to fool the warriors and reach from another side. The sun was just coming up when the warriors reached the battle field.

The stood there with their spear facing upwards. The king was present and everyone was just quiet as they looked to the east waiting for Mutapa to appear. The sun was the only thing which appeared in the east.

Mhare walked in front of the warriors and began shouting, "Today, you bravery will be put to test! We are going to fight our enemy to death. If any of you is afraid, then he should leave right now."

Mhare looked around and none of the warriors walked away. "Our goal is to protect our kingdom. Right here in the plain, Mutapa is powerful and he will defeat us. We are going to look like cowards when we retreat back into our kingdom, but we are going to surprise this man when he approaches it. Are we clear?!"

All the warriors shouted at once in agreement. "We are going to use everything that we have. Spears, arrows, our bare hands. If you want to live peacefully with your family, then fight to defeat this man!"

The warriors began shouting as they raised their weapons in the air. After shouting they began their final formation. Those at the front had their shields placed on the ground against each other. Their arrows pointed forward.

Archers were behind them with torches of fire to light the tip of their arrows. The king was behind the archers because Mhare feared that he would be killed before the battle got any further. The king came forward and Muchenjeri and Mhare looked at him.

"Changamire, we agreed that you will be at the back of the warriors," Muchenjeri said.

"I just want to face this man before we finish him," the king said.

They stood there for a while and noticed a man approaching the field from a distance. As he walked towards them, it began to be clear that it was Mutapa. He was alone and he stopped. Between them was the spaced filled with pits and traps.

"Why is he alone?" The king asked.

"Let's wait and see," Mhare said as they continued watching him.

Mutapa took his horn, looked into the air above him and blew the horn continously. As he blew it, movement began to seen in the trees behind him. It was like there was flood in the trees. The warriors looked on and animals began approaching the field.

There were various kinds of predators like leopards, lions and hyenas. An elephant walked behind these animals and stopped at his side. He stopped blowing the horn and the animals also stood in formation.

The elephant bent to the ground allowing Mutapa to climb on its back. The elephant rose to its feet again and Mutapa remained still as he watched all the Bantu warriors.

"He's boasting about his power," the king said.

"At least he fulfilled his promise. No ambush, just us in the battlefield and I think we will be just fine," Mhare said.

The Bantu warriors began hitting the ground with their weapons in accord. Certain man among the warriors began pounding on the drums for a while. When they stopped, the battlefield went silent.

Mutapa pointed forward and whistled. The animals began moving slowly towards the Bantu warriors. They got ahead of Mutapa and began running towards the Bantu warriors.

"Archers!" Mhare shouted as he raised his hand into the air. All the archers placed their arrows into the fire and pointed them into the air. Mhare kept his hand up waiting for the animals to get a little closer.

He dropped his hand and all the archers released their arrows into the air. The arrows flee into the air and began descending on the animals. As the arrows descended, Mhare shouted, "Archers, again!"

The arrows descending on the animals began landing on the ground and on some of the animals. The archers released their arrows again and managed to decimate a few more animals. But some of these animals continued to charge towards the warriors with arrows in their skin.

Soon, the animals approached the area covered with deadly traps. Many of them began falling into the pits. Mutapa quickly blew his horn twice and the animals changed formation and began going around the pits.

"Archers forward!" Mhare shouted and the archers came forward and knelt in front of the warriors. They began shooting down some of the animals that had successfully crossed the area with pits and traps.

Their efforts managed to reduce a sizeable number of these animals but it was not enough. The animals kept on coming closer and closer.

"Warriors! Shields tight, arrows forward," Mhare shouted as he pushed the king back to protect him. They all went behind the warriors who were creating a barrier. The animals slowly began approaching them and hit their shields.

The warriors began inflicting injuries on this animals using their spears. Some of the warriors' spear landed into thw mouths of these animals. But pressure began mounting up as the number of animals approaching the barrier increased. Some of the animals began jumping above the barrier and began attacking the warriors inside.

Several warriors began attacking these animals that jumped but some of them were unlucky as they fell into the jaws of these animals. Mhare looked at the torches of fire used by archers and threw them towards the animals trying to break through the barriers.

Soon, other warriors followed suit and began throwing torches of fire at the attacking animals. Mutapa watched all of this as he avoided the pits with his elephant. He laughed as he could see that the Bantu warriors were struggling to keep the animals away.

The warriors kept their shields intact and began retreating slowly back to their kingdom. Mhare looked behind him and ordered a few warriors to light the grass behind them and leave room for the man to escape.

The warriors ran behind the battle front and began setting the grass on fire in a straight line but they left a few gaps to allow the warriors to escape. They planned to close the gaps and create a barrier when all warriors and crossed.

When the grass was set on fire, the warriors began running back to their kingdom. They escaped through the gaps of fire but some of them were caught by these animals before they could cross the fire barrier.

When all warriors and a few animals crossed the line, they began joining the fires to create a barrier that would stop the other animals. The fire managed to keep the rest of the animals behind the warriors who ran and began climbing up the mountains.

They dealt with a few of the animals that had crossed the fire boundary. But soon, the remainder of the animals began jumping over the fire whilst the others avoided the fire and went around it.

Mutapa kept following the warriors slowly as he grinned when he saw them running away. His animals charged furiously behind them as they climbed the mountains.

Meanwhile, the other three kings and their warriors were still in their camp. Everyone was silent and they had heard the battle cries and the sounds of drums made by Bantu warriors in battlefield.

Mambo Gwati and Mambo Tenda had ordered their warriors to leave for their kingdoms. Only Mambo Wasu had taken the stand to believe that Mutapa had fooled them into believing that he was one of the Bantu people.

He took his Manyika warriors outside the barrier and they made their formation as the faced towards the Bantu kingdom. Soon, the Zezuru and Karanga warriors followed suit.

Mambo Gwati and Mambo Tenda looked at each other as their warriors willingly disobeyed their orders to leave and go back to their kingdoms. They approached the Manyika king and stood in front of him.

"We all heard the sound of the drums and the battle cries. The Bantu king was telling the truth. Mutapa is having a war with them as we speak," Mambo Wasu said.

Mambo Gwati and Mambo Tenda looked at each other. "Then I think we all have to go there and finish this man once and for all," Mambo Tenda said.

Mambo Gwati nodded and said, "Then what are we waiting for?" He pointed towards the Bantu kingdom and all the warriors began running towards Bantu kingdom.