Tara & Tal - A sword age

4. Chapter - Battle, maybe

It was still in the morning. Single sunbeams broke through a thick layer of gray clouds.

Tal looked over his shoulder. A bunch of trembling men stood there, clutching their weapons as if their lives depended on them.

As Tal turned his head forward again, he laid eyes on the source of their despair.

Only a few hundred yards away, at the foot of the small hill they stood upon, gathered an army; thousands of soldiers in shining blue armor.

Tal let out a sigh.

The only ones who actually believed they stood a chance were those who trusted in their powers as gods ... and of course Tara herself. There was a wide smile on her face.

She, too, wore armor, as did Tal himself. The gear was way too big for their small frames and made them look silly, like they were wearing costumes at a carnival.

But no one felt like joking. It was so tense that you could hear the wind blowing through the grass, the racing heartbeats of the soldiers.

Tara cracked her knuckles and broke the silence. "How is it? Can we begin?"

"You can," Tal mustered.

"Great." She raised her left hand to the sky. "Then let's do this!"

The clouds moved faster. A swirl of wind tugged at their hair, growing stronger and stronger, howling like wolves under a full moon.

A nervous racket went up on both sides.

Tal looked at the sky—the darkening clouds—and ...

A bolt of lightning came crashing down.

Screams went up in the enemy's lines.

It all happened so fast, that no one could even react.

"How did you do that?" Tal asked.

"I—I—" Tara looked down at her hands, "—I didn't."

As the clouds parted, a voice echoed across the sky. It was a thunderous voice like ... well, thunder. It went down their spines like an electric shock.

"Good morning, everyone. I bring a message from the gods." They heard the sound of someone clearing his throat. "Well, this message regards the former deities now known as Tara and Tal. For their crimes against godkind, they are declared criminal. Beginning now, they are given exactly one day to conclude their worldly affairs, then we will send someone for them. Until then, sayonara."

With a clack, the hole in the cloud cover filled and the voice faded.

Tara and Tal looked at each other.

For a long moment, there was just silence.

"AAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHH!" Tara fell to her knees. "I can't believe it ... I ... I mean, what the HEL!? Are they serious?! What have we done to deserve this?!"

"What have you not done?" Tal muttered.

Tara gritted her teeth. "Oh, shut up, you know what I mean; what, in all names, have I done now?! They were perfectly fine with banishment, so why are they suddenly sending someone out to kill us?"

"Maybe because you have, once again, declared war on someone."

"Y... you think that could be it?" Tara pulled her hair. "That's bad, oh gods. Humans are easy to kill, but gods? ... We're screwed. We're totally dead!"

"Hey! You are not already giving up right now, are you?"

"What? Do you think we stand a chance against a real, full god?"

"Well, they may be stronger than us, but he is alone, and we are together."

"That's stupid."

"But we cannot simply accept our defeat, can we?"

"I mean, no ..."

"Then we have to do something."

"... Right, right." Tara nodded. "For once, you're absolutely right."

"So, what do we do?" he asked.

"Okay, we have one full day." She bit her lip. "That's some time. We can prepare. Even gods can technically be killed, so perhaps ... yeah, it's not entirely hopeless."

"That means ..."

"That we'll probably die, but whatever, who cares about probability! We will win!"

"Then let's do it."

They turned to go back home, as Tara suddenly stopped. "Wait a minute ... what's with the army?"

Tal scratched his head, as he looked around. Only a few smoking bodies lay scattered around where the lightning bolt had landed, everyone else was gone.

"They must have run away," he murmured. "Even our own men."

"Pathetic. Let's go home."