I don't recall what exactly happened, but Himora was sure to fill me in on the events after the battle ended. After I had landed next to Himora (after bursting through the wall next to him), He spun on his heels and grabbed me, pulling me to his side.
"Bastion! Bastion, wake up! Noooooo!"
He spun around just in time to face the man who had killed his best friend.
As their eyes met, the big man snorted and swung his sword in a mocking gesture.
"Huh? There was another one!? I kinda thought the brat was talkin' to himself for a minute!"
Himora's diminutive head and shoulders bobbled just a bit as hot tears found the edges of his vision. He quickly yet gently placed my unconscious form on the ground before slowly turning to face the slayer of his best friend.
His cousin.
His sword snapped from its sheath.
His right foot slid forward, and his combat stance was adjusted for the man's immense size and matching power.
"I'll kill you…I'll avenge his death!"
Himora all but hissed.
Venom dripping from the vow.
The man rushed at Himora without another word.
His sword cocked, ready to end the fray quickly. In his haste, he sorely underestimated the speed and strength of the young swordsmen.
The battle was on.
Himora quickly reared up and blocked the attack, then he retaliated with one of his own, taking a clean slice of flesh from the giant's left leg.
"Aaaaagh!"
He grunted in pain.
"You little bastard! Stand still so I can cut you down!"
The man stumbled a few feet and, catching his balance, he threw a series of blows at Himora.
CLANG!
SWOOSH!
CLANG!
The sounds echoed in my ears as I began to come around.
I sat up and looked over at Himora, who seemed to be tiring slowly. How long had I been out? How long had he been fighting? An answer drifted above me in the form of a cloud. The sun had shifted a bit to the left, telling me it had been close to an hour.
"Uuuung...I'm...coming, Himora...hang in there!"
I managed to stand up, but not without cost.
A horrible pain shot down my back from my neck to the tip of my long, deep brown tail...
(Yes, I have a tail, I may have failed to mention that detail about myself.)
I couldn't handle the pain, yet I couldn't help but push myself. My best friend's life was on the line, and he was fighting to avenge me for all that I knew. As I pulled my armor straight and picked up my spear, I guess Himora noticed me because he blocked one last attack from the brute before he dropped low suddenly, kicking out and sweeping the man's legs from under his body before he could counter.
I slammed the blade of my spear into the ground, pulling it back hard, and flung myself forward just as Himora had launched his leg sweep. Just as the massive soldier had found himself sideways and in the air, I slammed into his stomach with a powerful kick.
He flew back and hit the ground hard, rolling several yards in a heap of limbs and a string of curses.
I flipped once, caught my spear, and landed next to Himora with a flourish.
"About time!... I thought you...I thought you would never get up...ever."
I felt kind of guilty for making Himora worry about me like that. If I had been paying more attention, he wouldn't be in the state he was in now.
"Yeah...my bad about that."
I said as I adjusted my grip on my spear for combat, as I fought off the pain that lingered in my lower back and tail.
"I kinda didn't plan on taking an extra nap, but I guess it knocked some sense into me."
I joked, trying to distract myself a bit from what was happening all around us with dry humor.
It didn't work.
"Don't worry about it, man...Uuung!"
Himora took a step forward and stumbled before he found his footing, but not without help from my outstretched arm. Now I felt worse! I could see how much the fight must have taken out of him.
"Himora, you go sit down. I'll take care of this guy."
A look of anger flashed across his face as he snatched his arm away from mine, his bruised face and other wounds beginning to heal with the time -and distraction- that my arrival had brought.
"No!... You can't...you can't do it alone...Just keep your guard, and don't worry about me.
I glanced at Himora one last time before I shifted my grip on my spear one more time and rushed the enemy.
The battle was back on, not just for myself or my village, but for Himora.
My cousin and best friend, who was equally risking his own life to save mine.
The soldier had climbed back to his feet but a moment before my charge, and he met me head-on.
"You little fucks just won't give up, will ya!?
The giant of a man shouts as he cocks his sword back like the axe of a lumber jack.
"Well then, I'll just have to kill the both of you!"
As he swings his blade with full force, I swiftly dodge it and let his momentum carry him off balance.
"You suck at this, man!"
I say as I taunt him on.
"You can't even best two kids!"
Himora and I stop and laugh at him, making him even madder than he was before. He clinches his jaw so hard that I thought I heard his teeth crack.
"I'll kill you!"
He yells as he charges at me once again.
"Not if I can help it!"
Himora says as he flips between me and the man, blocking his oncoming attack.
"You really do suck."
He laughs to himself, then he ducks as I fly over his head and unleash a barrage of thrust at the now tiring soldier. We drive him back further and further toward the wall as he starts to stumble and trip over himself, leaving his attacks flimsy and all but harmless to us.
Himora grows impatient.
"Let's finish this!"
He shouts at me between attacks.
"Yeah!"
I quickly agree.
I deflect several more desperate attacks, then I roll backward as Himora slides up from behind. Since the man was already distracted, he didn't see the trap we had set up for him, and he fell for it.
As he watched me stop and bolt to the right, Himora ducks under his turning swing (one that was meant for me) and slices both of his knees in one clean move, causing him to yell out in pain and fall backward.
As he falls, I bolt behind him and prop my spear against my foot and brace myself.
The man's own massive size and immense weight do the majority of the work as he is instantly impaled by my waiting spear. I roll to the side as he hits the ground.
As we pant for breath from the battle, we both take a moment to just stare at the gutted man.
He lies still as stone with my spear protruding from his chest and a look of horror and defeat forever locked on his face. Although this small fight was done, the war still raged on around us.
Himora and I had no idea where to go from there.
Himora broke the silence.
"Well... ain't you gonna get your spear back?
He said with a hint of laughter in his voice.
"Oh, shut up!"
I snapped at him.
After retrieving my spear from the corpse and cleaning it on the grass, we started towards the gait. I knew that the majority of the men from our village would be there fighting, for that's where the main army was flooding in, and as we approached the entrance, we found to our dismay that my hypothesis was right.
To our right was a huge burning hole in the main gate. Once, there had been a wall of the greatest oak trees piled one atop the other, forming a protective barrier against the outside world of danger. It was now nothing more than a pile of ash, a door welcoming the enemy.
To our left, my father stood with just under a hundred men. I could tell that we were outnumbered, and I knew that my father knew this too, but we were a village of warriors, and we wouldn't fall without a fight.
At the head of the enemy's army was a man clad in heavy armor.
He looked like a God come to our world...
His armor was made of gold and sapphire, laced with white chains.
He held a rather large battle axe in his right hand.
The man stepped forward and raised the axe above his head.
In all, he stood at about 6'8 and a giant of a man he was.
I didn't know if it was the armor or his body, but he looked really muscular on top of that.
"I am Yatsimoto Shicato, and I claim this village in my name! Drop your weapons or suffer the fate of your fellow man!
The man's voice boomed, and most of our men started to lower their guards, for at Yatsimoto's feet lay the bodies of the 10 men who had been guarding our front gate, but my father was no coward. He would not surrender to such scum.
"I don't care who you are...you oppose my people, and slay them like dogs!
That puts you on our list as enemy! You will pay with your life...Or I will die taking it!"
It was too late for me to stop my father from attacking, but I didn't worry too much because I knew he could take any of those men out, but I did worry about their leader and hoped my father would avoid him... Alas, and as always, I was wrong.
My father raised his spear and bellowed a bone-shattering war cry.
"Attack!... Don't let any of them get away!"
At this, the real battle began.
40 of our men charged the enemy lines armed with lances, long spears, and javelins. Some wielded battle axes or war hammers, though rare. Several of our best-trained men, whom we called the Halberdiers, came second, numbering 10 in all, and behind them our Archers launched a barrage of lethal arrows from the rear. Like rain, they fell upon the enemy, piercing armor and bone all in all.
But just as our men charged forth, so did Yatsimoto's.
His men were vast in number, but their skills were far less than those of our warriors. The men were dressed heavily in blue and white armor and stumbled and tripped as they ran at our men, all along throwing javelins and large rocks, both of which almost never hit their mark, or bounced off shields.
To me, it didn't look like the Shicato army was doing too good, especially with my father in the fray. He danced toward Yatsimoto, jumping, flipping, and slicing with his spear at any man who opposed him. At the young age of 65 (our tribe lived to be very old. Being 65 in human years made him just over 32 in "Leafarian years") he was not even near his best, yet he could very easily take out 20 men of theirs on his own.
As I stood and watched the battle commence, Himora grabbed my arm, pulling me from my dream-like state. I couldn't help but to stair in shock, for this was more than any child could bare, but it was only to get worse.
"Bastion! Let's go help! Your dad and his men are far out numbered!"
He was right, but although we had taken out that one giant man, THIS was the war. We would be surrounded by enemies at all times, way different than that one-on-one battle.
"I...I don't know, I want to, but...I am sca-"
Himora cut me off before I could finish.
"SCARED!?"
He yelled, outraged
"I can't believe you! You just killed a man alone, then helped me topple a giant! How can you be afraid of these men!?"
He was right again.
I had to keep reminding myself that it was okay to not be okay.
I was only 10 years old after all.
I also had to keep reminding myself that this al was really happening.
I felt like a coward, but I somehow pushed the fear out of my mind and braced my spear for whatever was to come.
"Let's go!"
As Himora and I made our way down the hill on which we stood, several things flashed through my mind. Like, how we were ever going to make it out of this alive, but I was soon to find even that out.
As we entered the fray from the side the sound of weapons and shields clashing hit us like a brick wall. Men from both sides put out their all in an attempt to cut down the competition, but from the looks of it, my village was well-off.
It took one one of our men to take out two of their men, so numbers weren't the problem. It was in fact quite taxing to be pushed to the limit constantly, so our men began to tire rapidly. That was starting to become a problem.
Yet still, they fought on. We had managed to push the soldiers back to the hole, and almost out even, when the Shicato army caught its second wind, and oh...what a wind it was.
"Enough!"
Yatsimoto shouted over the din of the battle.
"Destroy them!"
At this command his army seemed to regain their confidence because the war was nearly doubled in size as more men stormed the gate. Slowly but surely, our men began to fall one by one.
But even as we fell, we failed to realize that help was on the way.