Chapter 28: Surprise

As the warriors climbed to the top of the mountains, they began rolling down stones towards the animals. Another sizeable amount of the animals were permanently stopped but the others kept advancing.

After rolling down the stones, the warriors began descending into their kingdom. They had created specific paths that had no traps and some of the traps were specifically marked so that those who failed to lead down the paths would lead some of the animals into the traps.

Trees were bent and set as traps and when triggered they would take the animals into the air. Other traps included sharp spears made of wood that would shoot an animal if it crossed a thread.

Archers hidden in the pockets of the mountain began shooting at the animals that faced reached the mountains. Others remained hidden waiting for all the animals and Mutapa to pass so that they could attack from behind.

Mutapa, however, expected this to happen when he saw the Bantu warriors retreating back into their kingdom so he decided to approach the kingdom from the southern side.

After all the animals had begun descending into the kingdom, archers who were hidden in the pockets began coming out and shooting at the animals. Some were unlucky because some of these animals turned back to attack them.

A few of the warriors fell behind as they descended into the kingdom but the majority of them made it safely into the kingdom. The archers hid in the huts and created small openings in the poles to shoot down animals.

Some of them climbed into the trees and began shooting from there. They to tried to avoid direct confrontation with the animals because they knew that they would be greatly reduced in numbers.

A few brave men like Mhare, Muchenjeri, the king and others remained in the field as they undertook the job of finishing those animals that had been shot down by the archers.

A horn blew from the South and those outside looked and saw Mutapa with another batch of animals. They were charging towards the core of the battle.

"We need more men!" The king shouted.

"The archers will help us. For now you need to be protected Changamire its not safe," Muchenjeri said as he took the king to a secured hut where he opted to use the bow and arrow.

His shoulder was still injured due to the previous battle and using the spear was more painful. Mutapa and the new batch of animals were still far from the villages.

As the battle continued, the Queen, women and the elderly were sitting in the caves listening to the shouts of men communicating in the battle. The Queen rose to her feet and said, "All our men will perish out there if we don't help them. If they all perish then how are we going to make our kingdom grow again? We need to get out there and help them."

Princess Ruva stood up and said, "The Queen is right. We can't just sit here and wait for the battle to end. Our warriors are tied because they had another battle ten days ago. There are weapons in my father's compound that we can use to defend our home. This is our home and we have to defend it. Those who can help can start by standing up."

The people hidden in the cave began looking at each other. They began standing up one by one until half of the cave stood up. Princess Ruva nodded and said, "Let's protect our home!"

They began removing the thorns from the cave entrance. Those who were left closed it again on their own. The women ran towards the king's compound where they shared the weapons among themselves. Clubs, axes, spears, as well as bows and arrows were shared. Most of them did not know how to use them but they were brave enough to take them.

They only knew how these weapons were used but they had no experience with them. This was the day when they would experience what they saw men doing in the battle.

Mutapa was just approaching the villages from the south when he noticed a group of women running towards him from the north. For a moment he just gazed at them because he never expected to find women in the battlefield.

He just laughed and continued to charge towards the villages. He picked a shield as he approached the villages because he saw arrows coming out from several huts.

He found a torch of fire and began setting some of the huts on fire. Archers found themselves between choosing to die by the flames or to die in the jaws of the animals. They all chose the latter and a good number of them met their fate as they jumped out of the flaming huts.

The others fled and climbed into nearby trees where they continued with the war. As the women approached the villages, they began approached certain animals attacking some of the warriors and shouted to scare the animals off and it worked.

Some of them actually managed to bring down some animals with their weapons. The Queen and the Princess fought side by side and Mhare was impressed when he saw her hitting a leopard in the head with a club. The Bantu men in the huts came out and began helping their women. The battle intensified and the animals became stronger.

They began killing men and women in the battlefield. "Hide in the huts!" Muchenjeri shouted as he noticed that confronting the animals was costing their lives.

They went into the huts and locked themselves whilst others climbed into nearby trees. The archers continued to shoot at the animals but soon they ran out of arrows.

Mutapa walked around alone in the villages as everyone hid in their huts. The battle went silent as one man stood outside with his animals. He began lighting a few houses trying to force the people out of their huts.

Mhare, Muchenjeri and the king were in the same hut as they looked at Mutapa through holes in their hut. "What do we do now?" Muchenjeri asked.

"His animals are coming hard at us. We can't defeat them alone. The least we can do is to wait and frustrate him. Or we just go out there and fight," Mhare said.

"Going out there is too risky. Our people will all perish. These animals are scared of the fire. If we can make torches of fire and go out there we might scare some of them," the king responded as he looked into the battlefield.

"We have to tell the others without alerting Mutapa of our plan," Muchenjeri said.

"Once we lead by example, the others will follow," Mhare said.

They all looked at Mutapa as he set one of the huts on fire and the people came out running. They were all killed instantly when they came out. As they watched, an arrow came flying in the air and hit Mutapa on the shoulder.

Mutapa groaned in pain when the arrow grazed through his shoulder. A few more arrows came flying and hit some animals around him. Mhare and the other warriors hidden in the huts were surprised to see this.

They looked as Mutapa blew his horn twice and the animals dispersed from the villages in three directions. Mhare, Muchenjeri and the king came out and smiled when their eyes landed on the Manyika people who were standing in formation from the east.

The Zezuru and Karanga warriors stood in formation from the north and south respectively. All the three groups began shouting and started running into the villages. The animals were going after them as well and Mutapa going after the Manyika warriors.

"He's going to escape. Look, a large number of his animals are going after the Manyika warriors," Muchenjeri said.

"Then we have to make sure he never leaves this kingdom," Mhare said and he began running after Mutapa.

All the other women and men hidden in the huts came out and began fighting. Mutapa was cornered and he began fighting other warriors who tried to stand in his way.

Despite having an injured shoulder, he fought like a real warrior. His animals began to be reduced in numbers as they encountered more men in the battle. All the people began fighting like it was their last day of fighting.

When Mutapa saw that he couldn't push the Manyika warriors who were pressing hard on him, he decided to take the western side which was uncovered. All the warriors had been going after him and left the western side open.

When he turned towards the west, all the women in the war blocked his way. The Queen and the Princess were leading them. "Make sure he stays inside the circle," the Princess said and all the women began shouting as they charged towards Mutapa and some of his animals.