Battle for Survival

Eil went ahead on his own, he wanted to get a good vantage point before anything began, and he didn’t have faith in his allies talents for silence. He needed to find the giant as soon as possible, and to kill him as soon as possible.

His vantage point, it turned out, offered very little in the forest’s darkness. When Kilo led Kasai into attacking in the night, there were usually a few spare fires in the village to guide them, it was never entirely dark. That wasn’t the case in the forest. Even if the giant stood up, Eil knew he’d have a hard time spotting the bandit unless he moved jerkily in the inky blackness.

There were only two fires on opposite sides of the camp. Two lookouts stood at the edge of the lighted area. He couldn’t judge them too harshly for wanting some light to accompany their surveillance, he’d have a hard time not falling asleep or succumbing to paranoia if he were to keep watch in the darkness of a forest, even alongside sleeping company. He was much more grateful because it ensured that Cautious and Lank could do their tasks without a struggle. He’d suggested Cautious for the job because he had a knack for only being heard when he wanted to be. Lank was an equally easy option, he knew where the spear’s sharp end was supposed to go.

From atop his tree, Eil saw Lank approaching a yawning lookout, and he saw Cautious do the same from the other side. Far behind Lank, the rest of the villagers hid in the grass. The makeshift bandit camp was too dark to spot either Bite-Sized or the giant. It was possible he’d have to go down himself. Besides that, it was clear they wouldn’t be able to corner every bandit without one of them waking up and alerting the rest. If he’d had a way to communicate with them, he’d tell them simply kill as many as they could before the bandits got their bearings. Or perhaps to focus on grabbing the spears, weaponless enemies would be much easier to handle.

Even so, he realized how fruitless a demand that would be. They’d never killed before, more than half of them would just freeze up.

Cautious struck first. His spear went through the man’s skull and he flopped to the ground without much more than a chortle. Lank followed. He aimed for the woman’s heart. She had a moment to grasp the nature of the pointy stick going through it before she collapsed. Lank pulled the spear out of the woman’s body, but only took two steps before he noticed that a spear had found his own heart, and he collapsed as well.

Eil froze, long enough to regret it. The branch he stood balanced on snapped and he dropped to the ground, his back flaring up against the hard dirt. From this close, he did not miss sight of the giant.

“We were watching, and we were waiting,” he said.

Fires flared up across the camp and he could hear a dozen bodies getting off the ground.

“It’s us or them,” he heard Tall Boy yell, and dozens charged into the makeshift camp. They could have turned back. It wasn’t too late, only Cautious and Lank had been seen. He heard the mass of bodies rising and running, pitched roars echoing.

Eil hurried to his feet and desperately reached around the ground for his spear, holding it up as soon as he grasped it to keep the giant at bay.

“You could join us, you know.”

“I’m not much for scrapping for food for the rest of my life.”

“Sometimes simple lives are better. You find food. You take care of your family. You live. It fulfills more than you think. And, you get to serve no one but yourself.”

“Sorry, I just want a bit more out of life.”

The giant grunted, then, using the oversized branch he’d broken off from the tree, swung wildly at Eil. He had more than enough time to duck under it, but the wind flew so furiously in the wake of the branch, that he still stumbled to the side and only caught his balance on the tree. The giant swung a second time, and once again Eil ducked under. The branched crashed in the tree so heavily it nearly tipped over. A third time and the tree slowly crashed into the makeshift camp, crushing an unsuspecting bandit.

“Look at what you did,” the giant said, mostly unperturbed.

“Where’s the girl you took?” Eil asked.

“Best you forget about her. You know, the thing about a simple life is that sometimes it bores men, and bored men become cruel. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure she dies quickly once we’re done with you. I don’t want my men to become too cruel, you can’t trust cruel men. You have to satiate their boredom just enough, but not too much, you understand? It’s a delicate balance.”

It disturbed Eil that the giant never tired of swinging, and never lost a breath, while seeking to flatten him.

“Where is she?” he asked again.

The giant instinctively gazed towards a tent across the makeshift camp. Eil followed his eyes, and instantly regretted it. The branch crashed into his side and he lost all sense of where he was, and where the ground was. It was a bittersweet moment when he finally felt the ground again. The dirt tore at his skin and rejected him over and over again until he tumbled into the very same tent he’d been made to look at. He wasn’t sure if he should have been grateful that the giant’s eyes hadn’t lied. Bite-Sized was there, but Eil could barely keep his eyes open from the ferocity of that strike. He turned around to look at the rest of his encampment, and quickly wished he’d have a harder time keeping his eyes open.

Snark clumsily lunged at a bandit, and lost her balance when he easily avoided it. The bandit lunged back, his spear tore through her gut, and she fell over to the ground, bleeding out after he took back his weapon. Elsewhere, Middle Band was lifeless in his older brother’s arm while their younger brother tried to fend off two armed bandits. Across the encampment, so many of them were on the ground, eyes lifeless. He doubted they still numbered more than the bandits. Halia caught the bandit who’d killed Snark from behind. Her face was drenched in tears and fear, eventually her eyes landed on his. Seeing him like that didn’t help assuage her fears, even so she ran over to his side.

“You don’t look great,” she said.

“I hope you’re just being negative.”

“Couldn’t kill the giant after all,” she added.

The only reason the giant hadn’t come to finish the job was because Tall Boy had taken his attention. Tall Boy was surrounded by a spectatorship of bandits, but they let the giant take him on on his own, only circling about to cheer him on and to ensure Tall Boy didn’t take the coward’s way out.

“Perhaps I’ve got confidence issues.” He twisted around to get on his belly and slowly crawled to his fours. “This isn’t happening. Take her and go back to Sami. And leave. I don’t know how much the animist will want to help us if they follow.”

“What are you going to do? Distract them.”

“Of course not, I’m going to kill the big guy.” He got to his feet, but it took all his energy not to fall back over. He’d never been hurt like that before, all because he let his guard down. “I’ll see you later.”

“I doubt it.” She moved over to Bite-Sized. He couldn’t be sure if she was still alive. She was folded over in a bundle of cloths. When Halia touched her, she jerked back before she recognized her. Halia practically hurled Bite-Sized on to her feet and doing her best to stay small, began hobbling away from the encampment. Fortunately, none of the bandits seemed interested in anything beyond Tall Boy and the giant. There was no one left alive to be interested in.

Eil was grateful for the distraction, he doubted he’d have been able to stumble towards his spear without moaning the journey there. He held the spear with his bum hand, he didn’t dare get close again, and he certainly did not want to invite the attention onto himself.

Tall Boy couldn’t avoid the giant’s wild swings with the same efficacy as Eil, but he was a lot more prone to poking at the giant with the spear, and his length allowed him to draw blood as well. The giant made sure not to stand still, and he could see Tall Boy already starting to tire. He lunged into the giant’s reach, and this time, his lack of energy showed. The giant caught the spear’s shaft in one hand, and in the other he shoved Tall Boy away. He smacked Tall Boy’s head with the spear’s shaft then tossed it aside. His oversized foot crashed into Tall Boy’s chest, and Tall Boy stumbled backwards, even falling. Tall Boy hurried to his feet and the giant’s fist caught his chin. Tall Boy fell flat on his back. The giant did not press his advantage. He grinned madly. Tall Boy struggled to get onto one knee. The giant planted his feet and held his log-sized branch with both hands. He pulled back and swung, the veins in his arms near bursting. On par with the giant, Eil took one last step and lunged too, his spear flying across the encampment, between two bandit heads, and landing right into the giant’s throat. He’d aimed for his skull.

The giant let go off his bloody and brain splattered log and reached for the spear. He pulled the spear out from his neck. He looked around to see who had thrown it but collapsed trying to stop the blood from flowing out before he could find Eil. He spat blood and turned around, hobbling in the direction of Halia & Bite-Sized.

He stopped when he found them. Halia was on the ground. He did not turn her around to see what her face would look like with a hole in it. He had a hard time feeling anything in that moment. Bite-Sized was still breathing, but unconscious. He hurried over to grab her, and found the task hard. If the bandits were coming after them, he wouldn’t get out of there anytime.

“Let me help you,” Cautious spoke, as if from nowhere.

Eil was startled to see him, but he behaved as if nothing had happened. He grabbed Bite-Sized's other arm to drape over his shoulder, and it was only in that moment that they both noticed she no longer had hands, the stubs were burned at the end. Eil forced himself not to stare. They hurried back to their former expanse without sparing a word to one another.