Mwonga the Trickster Warrior

The words of the great Mwonga echoed in my head with each step I took.

I could not believe what he had just said. He had really gone and done it. The stories that I heard as a child were nothing compared to the reality in front of my eyes.

"You have lost your mind, Mwonga! Have you forgotten who is standing before you?" The mighty Shujaa shouted.

Mwonga turned around and looked at him, "I'm afraid you're mistaken, my king." He said calmly.

Shujaa's face twisted with anger as he clenched his fists tightly. "How dare you speak to me in such a way?! You will regret your actions!" His voice was filled with rage as he pointed an accusing finger at Mwonga.

Mwonga smiled at him and shook his head in disbelief, "Forgive me for speaking freely but there is no need for us to be enemies." He continued walking towards the king while ignoring all the soldiers surrounding him with their spears aimed at his chest. "We can be friends and rule this land together." He added casually as if nothing was wrong.

I watched from behind with a mixture of excitement and dread, hardly believing what I was seeing. I wanted to shout for joy but I also feared for Mwonga's life and remained silent.

The soldiers moved closer to him and Mwonga stopped walking when they were close enough to prick him with their spears. Shujaa walked up next to him and looked down at him with a scowl on his face that made fear crawl up my spine. Shujaa raised his hand and swung it downwards as if he was going to slap Mwonga across the face but stopped just before it made contact with his cheek.

Mwonga did not flinch or even look up at Shujaa, instead he kept looking straight ahead as if nothing had happened. Shujaa gritted his teeth and roared furiously before turning away from Mwonga who continued walking forward despite the sharp objects pointed at his body.

The sun beat down mercilessly on us as we waited for the king's reply to our request for peace negotiations between our two nations who had been at war for many years now. We were confident that King Shujaa would accept our offer after hearing about how we had defeated the Xaxas tribe who were once our allies in battle but now were under our control after we won a decisive victory against them about two weeks ago in a battle that left most of their warriors dead or severely wounded while only one of ours received minor cuts on his arms when we defended ourselves against an attack by some of their best warriors who thought they could surprise us while we slept during the night during our journey back home after winning a major battle against the Zululand tribe earlier that day which left almost all of them dead or severely wounded except for their best warriors who escaped into hiding so we decided to go back home instead of going after them later that day when we saw smoke rising from the village where they lived which led us to believe that they started a fire inside their house because they wanted revenge on us for killing nearly everyone in their tribe especially their leader Kayombo-Lombeza who had tried multiple times to kill us because he thought he could defeat us despite knowing full well that we are stronger than him because we have superior weapons and better training plus we have more experience fighting each other than those stupid tribesmen do but he refused to listen which lead to his demise along with everyone else who was foolish enough to stand before us in battle except for those four best warriors who escaped into hiding so I went back home instead of trying again later that day when we saw smoke rising from the village where they lived which led us to believe that they started a fire inside their house because they wanted revenge on us for killing nearly everyone in their tribe especially their leader Kayombo-Lombeza who had tried multiple times to kill us because he thought he could defeat us despite knowing full well that we are stronger than him because we have superior weapons and better training plus we have more experience fighting each other than those stupid tribal people do but he refused to listen which lead to his demise along with everyone else who was foolish enough to stand before us in battle except for those four best warriors who escaped into hiding so I went back home instead of trying again later that day when we saw smoke rising from the village where they lived which led us to believe that they started a fire inside their house because they wanted revenge on us for killing nearly everyone in their tribe especially their leader Kayombo-Lombeza who had tried multiple times to kill us because he thought he could defeat us despite knowing full well that we are stronger than him because we have superior weapons and better training plus we have more experience fighting each other than those stupid tribal people do but he refused to listen which lead to his demise along with everyone else who was foolish enough to stand before us in battle except for those four best warriors who escaped into hiding so I went back home instead of trying again later that day when we saw smoke rising from the village where they lived which led us t...