Shimunenga’s men were carrying their injured with them, their faces were a mixture of loss and relief. Relief that they lived to fight another war but saddened by the brothers they had lost. 

In war, loses were to be expected, but one never gets used to seeing men you trained with and fought with buried or burned. Some of the deepest bonds are formed in the heat of battle, friends are made and friends are lost.

It took Shimunenga five days to return home with his party, they were stopping along the way every now and then to rest. On their way back, they had avoided entering any village along the way, trying to avoid any battles. With the casualties they had, a simple group of bandits would give them a hard time.

Shimunenga had set out with army of fifty men, only six returned. Four of them could walk and the other two were seriously injured and needed immediate medical attention.

Entering the village gave the men a sense of relief. They were exhausted and were carrying injured men with them, if they were attacked, they wouldn’t have the strength to fight back. They were finally home, their fears could be put to rest.

When they entered the village from the south, they saw a party of soldiers, armed to the teeth with spears walking towards them. If this was a welcome party it should have found them some distance away from the village.

When they were near enough, both parties came to a stop. Shimunenga, who’d been trailing behind walked past his men to meet the man who’d led the other party, blocking his path.

“Shimunenga, still alive, I see.” said a tall huge man leading the welcome party, who wore more a sadistic smile than a happy one. That smile, though, said he wasn’t happy to see Shimunenga because he was a long lost friend.

“What is the meaning of this, Impumbe?” asked Shimunenga gritting his teeth.

It was high noon, the sun burned his exposed back and sweat trickled down his forehead. Shimunenga, like his men, was tired, hungry and thirsty, this unexpected encounter made him very irritated. 

He was a few steps away from solving his problems. Cold water to drink, followed by warm nshima and some Chibwantu was the only thing on the mind of the weary travelers, but a line of men stood in their way. The frustration.

“It looks to me like a dying dog came back with its tail between its legs,” the man, Impumbe, looked bent his head to the right to have a good look passed Shimunenga, “and I see you’ve lost a few of your mongrel followers. The poor dogs were unfortunate enough to die under your suicide match, for shame,” said Impumbe, slowly shaking his head. 

“Out of my way!” growled Shimunenga.

“Oh what is this?” Impumbe turned to his men, “This mongrel is growling at me, maybe it is sick of Kalyelye and needs to be put down,” mockingly said Impumbe, prompting his men to laugh.

Kalyelye was a term given to a dog that would suddenly become vicious after fighting a dog that had the same symptoms. The dog would be infected the sick dog, the progression of the disease took only a few hours. 

First, the dog would start barking more than usual, then it would suddenly become extremely aggressive towards people and other dogs. The dog would then stop eating and drinking water until started forming at the mouth. 

It wouldn’t take long before the dog started exhibiting signs of confusion. It would wonder around facing down, biting anyone and anything in its way. The best solution would be to put the dog down before it infected the other dogs.

Impumbe was saying that the angry Shimunenga was behaving like a dog that had Kalyelye. Not a light insult.

The gathering started attracting attention. It was broad daylight and the villagers instead of going on with their everyday lives started forming a crowd, watching the two parties exchange, ‘greetings’.

“Remind me Shimunenga, under who’s charge did you go on this little war? I seem to remember you being put under my charge and I didn’t give you any word to do this, look you even lost a lot of good men for nothing,” the man laughed, “they did a number on you. This is what happens when you bite off more than you can chew.”

The faces on the men behind Shimunenga looked grim. They just realized what was happening. Their commander had lead them to a battle no one had authorized.

“W-Well it was—”

“Be quiet Kaanda!” Shouted Shimunenga, stopping Kaanda before he could say a word, “they are my men, and I don’t need anyone’s word to send them to war now get out of my way. Know this Impumbe, I answer to no one.”

Impumbe had way more authority than Shimunenga, he commanded over one hundred men while Simunenga commanded fifty, well, five now. While Shimunenga had command over his own men, his commanding officer was Impumbe and the tone Shimunenga was using was nothing short of disrespectful.

“I have every right to execute all of you here right now, do you understand?” The smile on Impumbe’s face was long gone. Eying Shimunenga with a lot of animosity with his one good eye.

Shimunenga grabbed a spear from one of his soldiers declaring that he was ready for a fight, though he held it weakly in his left hand as result of the injury on his right shoulder. He glared at Impumbe with the desire to kill.

“I just won an impossible war, what’s one more fight against a dying old man?”

Impumbe’s men seeing Shimunenga take a spear and then pointing it at their leader were about ready to attack, they were just waiting for him to give them a reason to.

Murmurs started to spread around the crowds, the people were now starting to fear that a fight among the soldiers might break out.

“That is enough, all of you!”

An old man with a walking stick stepped between Shimunenga and Impumbe. His voice carried so much weight that everyone including members of the crowd went quiet. The old man was short and looked like he was having trouble opening his eyes,

“H-Headman Budima!” stuttered Impumbe, surprised to see one of the village headmen in such a place.

“Now what is the cause of this commotion?” he asked, feigning ignorance.

“Headman, this soldier here acted on his on and got a lot of men killed in a war that was not authorized by the council.”

Impumbe explained the situation in a way that painted Shimunenga as an irresponsible and disobedient soldier, not that he was wrong of course, but his report did not tell the full picture. Impumbe failed to mention who Shimunenga went to fight or the outcome of the battle.

“Mmh I see,” the headman put a finger to his chin as if evaluating the information he’d just received.

“So, tell me Impumbe, are you going to shed unnecessary blood and put the villagers in danger to bring in this one man?” asked headman Budima, slowly.

The headman’s question made Impumbe flustered. The headman had made a good point though, if a fight among the soldiers broke out there was bound to be a good number of dead bodies in the village and many villagers would also be caught in the fight.

“But headman Budima—”

“Now, now, let’s all calm down and think rationally. Shimunenga will clearly answer for his actions,” he gave Shimunenga a piercing look that sent shivers down his spine. That look made it clear that he wasn’t taking anyone’s side.

“Are you all mad? Shimunenga brings victory to our village. Our enemies cower when they hear his name, is this how you would treat a hero of our village? Have you not seen the things he has done for his people? Over the years, Shimunenga has risked his life to lead us to victory over and over, do you not see how much we have gained? The Ngoni raiders have raided our villages again and again, they will now have to think twice before they do that.”

The person that spoke up was Shimwala, with the village headman present he knew he was speaking out of turn and this would invite trouble for him but he couldn’t let Impumbe paint Shimunenga as a villain. However, his words started inspiring protests from the crowds gathered around them.

“Shimunenga is a hero!”

“Let him be!”

“He’s fighting for our people!”

The crowd was in an uproar, chanting Shimunenga’s name, praising him for his efforts.

The murmurs from the crowd started to fade. The tension in the atmosphere grew thicker and thicker, the clashing of spears was only mere moments away.

“Put your spears away. Now!” Shouted the headman.

Both sides hesitated. Noticing that Shimunenga was not going to attack, Impumbe instructed his men to be at ease.

“Impumbe, you have every right to take in Shimunenga but not like this, his men are tired and some of them are on the brink of death. Yes, he went to war without the council’s blessing, we will call a council meeting to discuss his actions, for now, Shimunenga see to it that your men get treatment. That is all.”

Shimunenga gave the spear back to Kaanda, he and his men proceeded and none of Impumbe’s men tried to stop him. After this, the crowd quickly dispersed and peace returned to the village.

Shimunenga’s men were quickly given treatment, unfortunately one died while being treated. Since he died because of injuries sustained in battle, the spirits of his ancestors were pleased with him.

What followed was for the village headmen to bring the council together to discuss Shimunenga’s actions.

He was given a day to nurse his injuries, then he would appear before the council and explain to them why he did what he had done, then there would be judgement.