Child of War (Tales of Autcrem)

Chapter Sixteen, A battle long in the making

Hensei heart began to beat again as he watched the enemy close in.

They all had hands on their weapons. The archers having their arrows drawn. Hensei could see air fluxing around the arrows. Wind magic, a common elf skill. They used wind magic on their arrows to increase the speed and damage. It was a deadly tactic and worked on your common soldier. Though Hensei was stronger than most, he still struggled with their arrows.

"Took you longer than I thought it would," Dodd said, still staring into the sky.

Hensei's heart began to beat faster. Fear gripped his body as he saw the enemy approach and Dodd's calm demeanor. Did he not see the powerful enemies before them. His hand twitched on his sword. He didn't know how many he could take or how powerful they were. If they were supposed to hunt the Double H, then they were good. What would he do? Who could he fight? He was healed, yes, but was he truly strong enough.

Suddenly a vision flashed before him. A vision that terrified him. The world turned dark and red as he went to another world. Right behind, Mezzo piled a massive mound of corpses. Reaching far higher than Hensei's. It rose and rose like a massive oak tree. Next to him was Rooshra, who had an even bigger one. It rose so high it was like a four-story building. The rest of the soldiers had large mounds, but what truly terrified him was what stood next to him. Right next to him was Dodd, and behind Dodd was a pile of corpses that was two times bigger than all of theirs put together. It rose so high into the sky, Hensei wondered if it was a mountain. Hensei wondered if Dodd never stopped fighting, would have pierced the clouds?

"Hand the boy over, and you can go on your way Dodd," Mezzo said with a twisted smile.

"You know that's a funny joke, Mezzo," Dodd said, looking down from the sky, "a really funny joke. How about you take your merry band of not so merry men, with you that away." Dodd said, pointing behind them. "And we can go on with our day."

"Dodd, I always wanted to kill you, so I don't really care if you hand him over or not." Mezzo drew his sword. "I prefer you don't, so I can kill you."

"Another funny joke," Dodd said, pulling out his ax. Hensei never really looked at the black weapon, but now seeing it up close, he saw the amazing craftsmanship in it. Smooth and beautiful, like the maker put his very soul into it. Its dark metal shined in the sunlight; its dark edge gleamed. It looked sharp enough to cut stone. "Because it implies you even have a chance at killing me."

"Well," Mezzo said as the rest of his men drew their weapons. "I think the odds are looking pretty good."

"Pretty good, for me, that is," Dodd said with a wide smile. "I feel like a soldier again, I never really realized how I missed this feeling," he stared down at his ax with distant eyes. "Though I could have gone without it." He looked back up at them then at Hensei. "Run Hensei, run far, and run fast. Find your squad, and don't look back. Come back to the monastery sometime, I'm sure Mayla would love it."

"You can't fight all of them," Hensei said with wide eyes as he tried to grip his sword with shaking hands.

"And you can't fight one of them," he laughed. "I think I'll be okay. I am kind of an overpowered monster if you didn't know."

"Dodd." Hensei choked. He didn't know if it was fear or sadness or anger at himself for being so weak.

"I thank Gashear that I was able to meet you," Dodd said, turning away and walking towards the enemy.

Everything moved slowly before Hensei as he watched Dodd walk away, weapon in hand. It was like watching a hero go into the final battle. Letting his comrades escaped as he held the enemy back.