When the girl finally woke up it was late in the afternoon. Looking around the camp she was surprised to see how well in order everything was and that a full encampment had been made while she slept. She could see that the wounded from the battle were being cared for and that cooking fires were set and meals were being prepared. She could also see that the dead had been moved away from the immediate area because she could neither see nor smell them. She was wondering to herself how so much could have been done in such a short time without her being woken up by the men who must have done the work. She started looking out beyond the encampment for signs of where the Demon Lords army must be camping for the night. She would have to be sure that they got on their way returning to their homeland as soon as possible. It would not be a good thing to let them linger in the valley for to long, they might get ideas about not returning home.
As she started to walk around the encampment one of the warriors from her tribe approached her. The warrior stopped about 10 feet from her and bowed at the waist, keeping his eyes on the ground and not looking at her directly. This surprised the girl because that was a form of respect that was usually shown only to tribal chiefs and war leaders. When he didn't say anything to her, this surprised her even more, because a chief or war leader had to acknowledge that you were there before you could speak to them, another sign of high respect.
"Yes warrior, I see you there." the girl said, "You will have to excuse me for not knowing your name, but I do not believe we have spoken before?"
"No Slayer, we have not spoken to each other before, even though we are of the same tribe" the warrior said. "My name is Zed. I was asked by the others to ask you if you have any needs and if we could be of service to you?"
"I thank you for your courtesy warrior, but why do you speak to me as if I were your chief or war leader?" the girl asked.
"Because you are our leader" the warrior replied, looking up at the girl for the first time, "there is no other."
"Why do you say this?" the girl asked. "Are you not yourself a sub-leader of warriors in our tribe? And do I not see others here in this camp that are chiefs and war leaders in their own tribes?"
"Yes Slayer, there are chiefs and war leaders and sub-leaders throughout the camp" Zed replied, "but you are the leader of us all. We have been waiting for you to awaken so that you can tell us what you want us to do."
Feeling confused by what Zed had just said to her and not knowing exactly how to respond, the girl started looking around the encampment again. "Perhaps you could tell me where the Demon Lords army has made their camp" the girl asked. "I want to be sure that they are getting ready to return home as soon as possible."
"Ah, they have already left for their homes" the warrior told her in a quiet voice, "they left yesterday, the morning after the battle."
"The morning after the battle?" the girl asked, with a look of confusion on her face. "How long have I been asleep?"
"It has been two full days since you laid down to sleep" the warrior told her. "We would have tried to waken you earlier, but when anyone came near, you became agitated in your sleep and gripped your sword more tightly. It was decided that we would just wait for you to wake on your own, when you were ready."
"Two full days!" the girl whispered to herself. She also looked down at her right hand and for the first time since she woke realized that she still had the sword she had used in battle in her hand. "The wounded, what about the wounded? It was my duty to care for them. Who took care of them while I slept?" the girl asked.
"There were other healers that survived the battle, thanks to you" Zed replied. "They gave the mercy to those who could not survive their wounds and have bandaged and cared for those who have a chance" he said. "Perhaps your 'Powers That Be' will help them to survive" he said with a question in his voice.
Mentioning the 'Powers That Be' brought everything back to the girl all at once. The request she made to them for aid, the battle, killing the Demon Lord, telling the Demon Lords army to return to their homes, and laying down to sleep after it was all over. It all came back to her. But to find out that it was two days later, and that the Demon Lords army had already left on their return to their homeland was a shock to her.
"Perhaps" the girl said in a quiet voice barely above a whisper. "Perhaps they will."
The warrior Zed wasn't sure what to say to this strange girl next. As he stood there looking at her he wasn't even sure she was aware that he was still there at all. He didn't really know her, even though she was from his tribe. He vaguely remembered her from the village, and remembered her only a little better from the trip from the village to the meeting place at the river. As a sub-leader of warriors, and being at least fifteen summers or more older than her, with children of his own that were almost as old as she was herself, he shouldn't really be expected to know her very well, if at all. But seeing that he was the only leader of his tribe that had survived the battle, the other chiefs and war leaders had requested that he talk to her when she finally woke up from her two days of sleep.
"Perhaps you would like something to eat?" the warrior asked. "Or maybe you would like to bath in the stream up the hill?"
Just like when she realized that she was still holding the sword from the battle in her hand, the girl looked at herself and realized that she was still covered with the clotted and caked on blood of the Demon Lord. She could see that her arms, legs, breast and stomach, even her hair, was caked with blood that even now, two days after the Demons death, still seemed wet. She was about to say that she thought a bath was a very good idea, but something stopped her, a feeling inside of her that prevented her from speaking the words. Instead she said "Yes, something to eat sounds like a very good idea. I think I could eat a wild buffalo all by myself."
The warrior Zed bowed to her and started leading her through the camp to a place where food was waiting. As she passed through the camp she could see the warriors in the camp looking at her. Most of them looked at her as a warrior looks to a chief or war leader, with respect. Some of them looked at her with looks of confusion, as if they didn't know what to make of her. Others looked at her with looks of fear in their eyes, as if she were a monster of some kind that might kill them all at any minute. But some of them, only a few, looked at her in a way that made her skin crawl. As if there was something about them that was not quite right, something that made her grip her sword more tightly as she passed them in the crowd.
Zed led the girl to a fire on the south side of the encampment, close to where the battle had been fought. Looking out over the battlefield she could see that a lot of hard work had been done while she was asleep. There were now two long mounds, one on each side of the road where the tribal warriors had first been attacked. One mound she knew would be for the dead of the Demon Lords army, the other would be for the dead of the tribes. She could see hundreds of war spears sticking up out of the ground of each mound, marking a fallen warrior who had died in the battle. She also noticed a smaller mound at the foot of the spear where she had placed the head of the Demon Lord. The head was still mounted atop the spear where she had placed it, but the Demons body was buried. She could see that if anyone came into the valley and followed the road, it would take them directly between the two larger mounds directly to the grave and head of the Demon Lord.
The girl looked around for a place to sit down. Zed pointed her toward one side of the fire and she could see that her own grass sleeping pad was spread on the ground and her travel pack was beside it. She could also see that all of the survivors of her tribes warriors were also sitting around the fire. It brought tears to her eyes that there were so few of them left. Her tribe was a small one and had only been able to send twenty-five warriors and her to help in the battle to defend the land. Now there were only eight warriors, and her, left to return home. There would be much crying in the village when word reached them and they learned of their losses. There was also a good chance that a lot of family's would go hungry with so many losses and no one to do the hunting for the family's of the dead. There would be hardship for a long time to come.
The food was cooked and ready, but none of the warriors had eaten yet. Zed went to the cook fire and cut a large leg joint of meat from a roasted deer. He then picked some roasted tubers from the coals of the fire. He place all of the food on a large leaf and brought the food to the girl to eat. Once the girl took the food and thanked him, the rest of the warriors took turns going to the fire and helping themselves to the food. The girl realized how much they had honored her by waiting for her to take food first. This was normally an honor given only to the chief of the tribe. As they sat around the fire eating, it was very quiet, no one was saying anything.
Just as the girl was finishing her food she noticed that some other warriors were approaching her tribes camp fire. As she sat there a double hand of warriors, all chiefs and war leaders, came within the light of the fire and motioned for permission to sit and speak with her. The girl first looked at Zed, who should have been the leader of their tribes camp, but he just looked back at her. She took a deep breath, then nodded to the standing warriors to be seated.
Once all of the warriors had taken seats the senior chief among them spoke to her. "You are the Slayer of Demons, you have saved the tribes from destruction by the army of the Demon Lord, and for this we all thank you." He then waved his hand to encompass those who had come with him, "We would like to know what it is you would want to do next?"
With a look of puzzlement on her face, the girl asked "What do you mean, what would I do next? The battle is over and the Demon Lord destroyed. What is there to do but return to our homes and mourn for our dead?"
"Ah, but you see, there are other things that could be done" the chief replied. "We have over six tens-of-ten warriors in this camp. If you were to lead us there is much that could be done. You sent the Demon Lords army to return home, but it would not be difficult to catch up with them and take them by surprise. They were carrying plunder from many lands that they passed through before coming to this valley. We should have taken it from them before they were allowed to leave, it is as much ours as ever it was theirs" he said with a knowing smile on his face.
"I did not come to this valley for plunder, nor did the warriors of my tribe" the girl responded in a cold voice. "We came to protect the plains from invasion and to protect our families."
"That is all true," the chief replied. "But you have lost most of your warriors, would not a little plunder be of help to the families of the dead?" Again the chief looked around at the other men around the fire and smiled at them in a knowing way. "I realize that a maiden of your age does not normally have to think about the welfare of her tribe as chiefs are expected to do, but you are in a unique position at this time and should really give the welfare of your tribe some consideration."
In a voice cold as ice, the girl said "Of my tribe, two of every three warriors died in this battle. My consideration is to take the rest of them home to their families, alive."
"Of course, I understand what you are saying. No one would expect the warriors of your tribe to be the first into battle, not after the losses they have already suffered. But still, their share of the plunder would still be a great deal of help to your tribe, would it not?" the chief responded. "And think of the other tribes who have lost their warriors, the plunder that could be taken would help them also, don't you agree?"
"I agree that plunder taken could be of help to the survivors of the tribes" the girl said quietly. "But who is going to take this plunder away from the Demon Lords army? When the battle ended, the Demon Lords army still numbered a great many more warriors than are in this camp. And what of our wounded? If we took every warrior that is able to fight in pursuit of this plunder, who will look out for and care for the wounded? And how many more of the warriors of the tribes would die or be wounded to get this plunder you speak of so easily. And what makes you think that you could defeat the Demon Lords army?"
"Ah, but you see, Slayer of Demons, we have you! With you leading the tribes, the Demon Lords army would run from us in battle. There would very likely be very few real casualties at all" the chief replied in a condescending manner. "You should realize the opportunity that you have to be of help to all of us who have lost so much already."
It was at that moment that the girl recognized the chief for who he was and where she had seen him before. "Yes, it is true that a great deal was lost in the battle by many" the girl replied calmly. "Even a great chief like yourself must have lost something in the battle I would think. Wasn't it you and your warriors that were holding the rear ranks when the Demon Lord and his men broke through the middle? It seems to me that I remember you during the battle" she said with an edge to her voice. "Yes, I do remember you. Just before the Demon Lord broke through, I remember seeing you running away from the battle, right through the middle of the wounded. Yes, you were running so fast that you dropped something and were in such a hurry you didn't stop to pick it up." The girl reached down beside herself and picked up the sword that had been laying there in the grass.
A look of shock was passing over the chiefs face as he recognized his own sword. Others sitting around the fire recognized it also. A copper sword with a three foot long blade wasn't all that common, and was usually the property of a chief or war leader, unless it was taken as plunder in a battle.
The girl laid the sword back down and picked up the bone from the joint of deer meat she had been eating earlier. "I guess I should really thank you, in a way, for dropping it, I mean" the girl said with the edge back in her voice. "It came in very handy when it was used for the purpose it was intended for in a battle."
"How dare you accuse me of running from battle" the chief screamed at her as he jumped to his feet. "I have my sword right here" he said, slapping his hand against his sword sheath. But even he realized his mistake by drawing attention to his sword. Anyone looking at it could tell instantly that the sword was much to small for the sheath it was in. The chiefs face turned a dark blood red as he pulled his sword from the sheath. "I'll kill you, you bitch" he screamed and charged toward her.
The girl seemed to barely move, she snapped one end of the bone off, leaving the longest piece of bone with a long pointed end. With a snap of her arm that was almost to fast to see, she threw the bone in an under hand fashion directly at the chief and before he could get half way from where he had been standing to where she was still sitting, the point of the bone pierced his left eye and entered his brain. He dropped like a sack of fish and slid on the grass toward her, stopping just a foot from her sleeping pad.
The girl reached down and picked up her sword and slowly stood up, she walked to the body of the dead chief and with one stroke chopped his head from his shoulders, she reached down and picked up the head by its hair. She then turned to face the other chiefs and war leaders that had accompanied the dead chief who had spoken for them. The girl stood there, with the light of the fire reflecting off of her, still covered with the blood of the dead Demon Lord. She looked as if she were a demon from hell herself and fear gripped all of the others that had accompanied the dead chief. "I could kill you all, right here, right now, and there isn't anyone or anything that could stop me from doing it." she said quietly. "You men want plunder, to make you rich, and you want me to lead the warriors of this camp into battle to make you rich. Well it's not going to happen. If you want to go by yourselves, go, take the men that will follow you and see if you can plunder a whole army. See if you can make yourselves rich. But by morning every warrior in this camp will know what happened here tonight. Think about that, and think about how far you had better be away from here before the sun comes up." With that said, the girl turned and walked off into the dark carrying the severed head with her. Zed and the other seven warriors of his tribe placed themselves between the other chiefs and the girls back as she walked away.
It was several hours before the girl returned to her camp. The body of the dead chief was gone and her sleeping pad had been moved to a different location away from the pooled blood on the ground. As she entered the camp fire light, Zed approached her and held out the sheath for the sword she was still carrying in her hand. "I thought you might want this" he said. "If not tonight, sometime in the future it might come in handy." He smiled at her sadly and started to turn away.
"Thank you Zed, for backing me tonight. Thank all the men. If they had followed me into the dark, I would have killed them all, and started a battle right in the middle of the camp, that's not what I wanted to do" she told him quietly.
"I think I knew that. That's why I didn't let them follow you." he said as quietly as her. "We'll see what happens in the morning, but some of them may still cause trouble. The men have been keeping an eye on them, just in case."
The girl nodded to him in reply, then walked over to her sleeping pad and laid down with her back to the fire, facing out into the dark. She still had the sword in her hand, unsheathed.
The attack came about an hour after midnight. There were about twenty of them and they came in crawling over the ground, slowly, inch by inch. Because the girls sleeping pad had been moved the attackers didn't know where to go exactly. Their solution was to kill everyone to make sure they got her. What the attackers didn't know was that Zed and the other seven warriors of the tribe had put bundles of grass under their blankets and had waited all night hiding in the dark. Six of the assassins were dead before they even realized that they had been discovered. None of them had gotten within twenty feet of the girl before they died. When the remainder realized that their sneak attack had failed, they jumped to their feet and started slashing at the bed rolls with swords and knives. One of them blew on a whistle, and about twenty-five more attackers joined in the assault.
At the sound of the whistle, the girl was on her feet. Five men were headed straight for her. Instead of waiting for their attack to reach her, she charged into the middle of them and in less than a minute, all five were dead. When the girl realized how many men were attacking and by how many the men of her tribe were out numbered, she charged from group to group, coming to the aid of her tribesmen. She did not try to wound or disable. She cut them to pieces. She slaughtered them like animals. She sought them out in the dark and killed them all. When the fight was over, there were thirty-seven dead attackers, and blood trails leading off into the dark from several others. There were also two of her tribesmen dead and three more were wounded. Zed was one of the wounded.
The girl was enraged by what had happened. She had tried not to start a battle in the middle of the camp. She had tried to let the greedy bastards leave the camp. She had tried to spare the men of her tribe any further death or injury. But the bastards wouldn't take her refusal. They thought that if they could kill her, they could get the rest of the tribes to follow them into a war for plunder. They thought that they could kill the Slayer. The girl stood there shaking with rage, she held up the sword she was still holding and looked at it, the blade was covered with the wet blood of her attackers and the dried blood of the Demon Lord. A look of determination settled on her face and her eyes almost seemed to glow in the dark of the night.
The girl told the remaining men of her tribe to care for the wounded and to stay in their camp area. She told them not to come out of the camp area for any reason. For the rest of the night the men of her tribe could hear the sounds of battle moving through different parts of the encampment. They couldn't believe that one girl, even the Slayer, could be doing what they seemed to be hearing going on in the encampment. Maybe other warriors from other tribes had joined forces with the Slayer and were helping her to battle her enemies. Maybe fighting had broken out between different tribes in the encampment and that explained all the noise of battle that they were hearing. But Zed, wounded but still conscious, knew it was the Slayer hunting her enemies down and killing them.
When the sun came up, the encampment was in shock. Some of the warriors had run off into the dark to escape what was happening in the encampment. Most of them had pulled the warriors of their tribes into large and small huddles of men, facing out with weapons drawn, hoping to survive the night alive. Tents were burning in different areas of the camp. Dead bodies could be seen laying everywhere. Heads were mounted on spears all around the camp. Some of the bodies had been impaled and left to die slowly. In some areas where the greatest fighting had taken place there were body parts scattered everywhere. So many parts that you couldn't tell to whom they belonged. It was as if a savage monster had passed through the encampment slaughtering everyone alive in some areas and leaving other areas untouched.
When the sun was fully up, it was estimated that over one hundred and fifty men were dead. When you added in the thirty-seven at the girls camp and the two dead of her own tribe the count was almost two hundred dead in one night. That was nearly half of the number killed in the battle with the Demon Lords army. The surviving warriors in the camp that had not taken part in the fighting were scared nearly speechless. They didn't know what had set the Slayer off on her killing rampage, and most were afraid to even find out. Zed, though wounded, started moving through the camp with the rest of the survivors from his tribe looking for the Slayer. They combed the whole camp and could find no sign of her anywhere.
Around noon, with the camp still in turmoil, someone spotted the Slayer approaching the camp from the north. As she got nearer, Zed went out to meet her. The first thing he could see, with great relief, was that she was not injured. Hard as that was to believe considering all the fighting and killing she had done through the night, she did not have a single wound on her anywhere. The second thing he noticed was that she was carrying a large sack full of something.
When the girl saw that Zed was on his feet walking around she smiled at him. It was a grotesque site to see, blood from her victims was all over her body, mixed with the blood of the Demon Lord that she had never washed off. There were even bits of human flesh and bone stuck in her hair and sticking to her skin in places. The girl continued on past him and walked on through the encampment out to where the head of the Demon Lord was mounted on a spear shaft. Warriors from other tribes were watching her closely, not knowing what to expect from her or what she might do next. When she got to the Demon Lords head she dumped the contents of the sack on the ground. There were ten heads, the head of the first chief that had tried to kill her and the heads of the other nine chiefs and war leaders that had planned and lead the attack against her in the night. She motioned to the men from her tribe and they came forward with ten spears. She slammed each of the spears into the ground in a circle around the head of the Demon Lord and mounted a head on each of them. When she had all of the heads mounted to her satisfaction, she turned to face the remaining warriors in the encampment. She spoke to them in a voice that every man could hear, without seeming to raise her voice at all.
"These men wanted me to lead you into a war for plunder. Plunder to make them rich at the cost of your lives. When I refused one of them attacked me and I killed him in our camp last night. I told them I would not lead you into a war for plunder and told them to leave the camp by morning. I tried to spare them all. In the middle of the night they attacked my camp, trying to kill me in my sleep. They thought that if they could kill me, they could convince the rest of you to follow them to war. They made a mistake. I do not die easily, and when I fight I fight to win, totally. They have paid for their mistake and so have the men that followed them. I told you once that I am the Slayer of Demons. That no Demon or any human that follows them is safe from me. These men were not Demons themselves, but they were the followers of a Demon. The Demon was greed. Greed at the cost of as many of your lives as it would take to make them rich. They never expected to have to face me directly, they sent their killers to do the killing for them, but they expected to reap the reward. This is their reward." the girl told the crowd as she pointed at the ten heads. "It is time that we all start heading back to our homes. It is time that we leave this cursed place forever. But I want to warn all of you before we leave this place. I will be going back to the plains with you, and I will be looking for Demons and for the followers of Demons. Remember what I do to Demons and the followers of Demons.
The girl led her tribesmen back to their camp and told them to get ready to leave. She then headed up the hillside toward the stream. When she got there she walked out into the cold water, then squatted down until she was totally immersed. She stayed under the water for over a minute before she stood up. Most of the filth and blood had been rinsed off, but there was still a lot left. She heard a sound and turned around quickly. Zed was standing there holding a small sack of cleansing sap. He tossed the sack to her, then turned around and left. She poured some of the sap into her hands and worked it up into a lather then worked the lather into her hair. She used almost the whole sack of sap before she was satisfied that she was clean enough. She then walked around the area gathering up long stalks of green grass and wove them into a new skirt to replace her old one that had fallen to pieces in the water. Being green, the skirt should last her until she was again back home. When she was finished with her personal needs, the last thing she did was pick up the sword from the bank of the stream and washed all of the blood off of it. She then put the sword into the sheath for the first time since she first picked the sword up on the battlefield to fight the Demon Lord. She slipped the strap of the sword over her head so that it ran crosswise her back and between her breasts. She adjusted the strap until the sheath was at a comfortable spot at her hip where she could reach it immediately. She practiced pulling the sword a few times to be sure that it came free of the sheath easily and didn't hang up. When everything was as she wanted it, she returned to the camp of her tribesmen.
When the girl returned to her camp, the men of her tribe stopped what they were doing and stared at her. For the first time since the battle with the Demon Lord they were seeing the girl without a thick layer of blood and filth covering her hair and body. For the first time they were seeing her for what she really was, a very young maiden of their tribe. As she stood there they could see her skinny arms and legs, they could see her immature young breasts, they could see that she was barely more than a child. The dissonance between what they were seeing and what they had seen her do was confusing. How could this child do what she had done? How could anyone do what she had done and still look like a child? Was this really the Slayer? Was the Slayer really this child? As the men continued to stare at her the tension between them started to build.
"You'd better watch where your eyes are looking Meza" Zed said in a mocking tone of voice, "and you to Toca! If your wives find out you've been chasing after young maidens, they'll skin you alive. And you Sheb, at your age if you ever caught a maiden you wouldn't know what to do with her anyway" Zed continued to tease.
A look of shock and confusion passed across the faces of most of the men. Sheb was the first to understand what Zed was trying to do and responded in a sad voice "Yes, it's true." He shook his head so that everyone could see, "it's the knowing what to do with them that has always been the problem."
Pala thought this was exceptionally funny coming from Sheb, who had three wives and was known to flirt with the maidens all the time. He started laughing so hard he choked and Toca had to slap him on the back to get his wind back.
With the tension eased, the other men started getting in on the joke and started teasing each other about where their eyes should look and knowing what to do with a maiden if they caught one. The girl stood there for a minute, blushing at what the warriors were saying in front of her, then looked at Zed and smiled at him in appreciation for what he had just done.
Zed walked over to her and said quietly "the men didn't mean any disrespect Slayer, it was just seeing you like this after the last few days, it confused them for a bit. They'll be alright now."
The girl looked at Zed and nodded, "it's a bit confusing for me too" she said. "I know I'm not the same girl that started this journey, but in some ways I still feel like I'm the same girl. I don't know what this change is going to mean for me in the future, but I thank you for making things easier. We have a long trip before we get home and I would not want the men to be afraid of me or uncomfortable the whole way."
"The men are not afraid of you. They know you would not harm them" Zed replied smiling. "But they are simple warriors and changes can be confusing for them. By the time we are on the trail a few days, any discomfort they feel will be in their feet, not in their hearts."
In a short time all of the men were ready to travel. Zed and Tocas wounds were slight and would not slow them down. Tords leg wound was the most serious, but someone had made him a crutch and the other men were carrying his equipment and weapons, so he should be able to keep up with them on the march without to much trouble. If his leg became to much of a problem they would see about making a litter if he needed one. When Zed was sure that everyone was ready he nodded to the girl to signal they could proceed.
The girl started leading the men through the camp, on the road for home. As they passed through the camp she could see that others had already left the encampment ahead of her and that others would be ready to leave soon. She could also see that no one had done anything about the dead from the night before, bodies and parts of bodies were still lying where she had left them in the night. There was no one left of her attackers, and no one else wanted to be associated with them by showing the respect of burying them. Their bodies would lie in the open to rot, carrion birds would feed on them, wild dogs would chew their bones.
As the girl was passing through one of the areas of fighting she noticed a spear with a heavy copper spear point. She picked it up and claimed it as her own, then continued on her way out of the encampment. When they were out of the encampment and several hundred yards down the road, Sheb made a noise that made her turn around to look. She could see that back in the encampment, those who had not left yet were moving through the areas where fighting had occurred and were looting for weapons, equipment and anything else that hadn't been destroyed.
The girl walked over to Zed, shook the spear to draw his attention to it, and said to him, "I really wasn't thinking, was I, when I picked this up? I just thought it might come in handy on the trip, it looked like a good one." She looked back at the looting and sighed. "If I had thought about it at all I should have let the men try to gather up some useful things before we left. The Powers know we have lost enough men and equipment on this journey, the tribe will have a difficult time replacing both. Instead I sent a signal to all of them to take what they wanted."
"It's better that the tribes gather the plunder than to let it go to waste" Zed replied seriously. "We weren't the only ones to take serious casualties and loss of equipment. In a way it's good that it's happening, a lot of that loot will help the families of the warriors that were lost."
"But what about the families of our warriors? I did not think to provide for them, and now it's to late" the girl replied.
"Ah, I forgot, you did not know" Zed responded with a crooked smile on his face. "You were asleep and didn't see that after the battle with the Demon Lord the men and I gathered up his copper axes and claimed them for you. Four of us are each carrying one of the axe heads in our packs, and copper is very valuable among the tribes. The tribe will not be rich, but it will not go hungry this winter."
The girl stood there with her mouth hanging open. She then smiled and said, "Thank you Zed, thank you. You have greatly eased my heart. Nothing will stop the pain of loss the families will feel when they learn what happened, but to know they will not go hungry this winter will be of some comfort to them."
For the rest of the day the girl felt lighter of heart knowing that the families of the dead warriors of the tribe would be taken care of during the coming winter and that no one would go hungry. She also thought about her mother and how much she missed her. She had never been apart from her mother until she left with the warriors to fight the Demon Lord. She had known when she left that there was even a chance that she might never see her mother again if they had lost the battle. But now she was heading home to her mother and she grew happier with every step forward.
Because of the late start on the first day and Tords leg wound it took the girl and her tribesmen three and a half days to return to the river crossing where the gathering of tribes had been held. All of them were tired and foot soar and were looking forward to a rest over night. Other tribes were still at the crossing, some who had come late to the gathering, others who had returned ahead of the girl and her men. As they were drawing near to the crossing the girl could see that there was some excitement going on around the crossing.
When they got to the crossing the girl could see that there was a large number of warriors blocking the crossing of the river and the path to the plains beyond. There were also a number of warriors arguing with each other, shaking fists and weapons in the air, making threats. As she drew nearer, some of the warriors arguing became quiet and backed away from the confrontation. Most of them started looking at her as she approached. Some of them looked at her with fear in their eyes. Many of them were looking at her with hope and respect. She could also see that there were two dead bodies lying in the dirt near the large band of warriors blocking the crossing.
The girl stopped and Zed walked up beside her. "There is something very wrong here" Zed said quietly to the girl. "Blood has been spilt and men have died, but the men of the tribes seem to be afraid of something. There are more than enough of them to force a crossing if they wished to do so, why have they not?"
"Yes, you are correct" the girl said quietly to Zed, "there are only sixty of seventy warriors blocking the crossing. There must be three or four times that number to oppose them. I do not understand what is happening."
It was at this time that a warrior stepped forward out of the group of warriors blocking the crossing. He was painted for war and had feathers and shells braided into his hair. He was carrying a very large war club with long spikes of copper driven through the head of it. He was also the biggest man that the girl had ever seen. He was not as big as the Demon Lord had been, but for a man he was a giant. He was over six feet tall, with massive arms and legs. His chest was huge, as was his belly. As the girl looked at him more closely her skin seemed to crawl and her eyes began to burn and itch.
"There is something about that man that is not right" the girl whispered to Zed. "I can feel the wrongness about him. He is like some of the men that attacked us in the encampment, I can feel the evil that surrounds him."
"What are you going to do" Zed asked? "There are only the seven of us and I'm not sure the men of the other tribes will support us. They haven't supported each other before this, or they would have already forced a crossing."
"If that man is what I think he is, this isn't something for you and the men to get involved in anyway" the girl whispered back to Zed. "This is something for the Slayer to deal with alone. I just pray that the 'Powers That Be' will help me in my time of need."
As she said these words the girl could feel the energy coursing through her body. She could feel the tiredness of the journey slip away. She could suddenly hear and see better, she could feel a lightness in her step, the heavy spear she was carrying and the copper sword at her hip felt as light as feathers. She let the pack on her back slip to the ground and stepped forward toward the giant warrior. As she neared him she could sense that there were other men behind him that also made her skin crawl, she could sense their evilness.
As the girl neared the giant warrior he stepped forward and swung the war club he was carrying through the air in an arch between them. "So this is the little girl you are all afraid of" the giant shouted out to the surrounding crowd. "This little bit of nothing? This is who you claim defeated the Great Demon Lord and vanquished his army? I say you lie. I say you are all cowards that have run from battle and have made up lies to cover your cowardliness. You say this child killed over two hundred men all by herself in battle? I say you lie. Who of you dare to face me and say that I do not speak the truth? You are all liars and cowards."
The girl started to laugh and in a voice that every man at the crossing could hear, she said "For a fat man you make a lot of noise don't you? Who are you to accuse real warriors of being cowards? I did not see you at the battle with the Demon Lords army. Where were you hiding when they went into battle against an army twice their size? Where were you and the cowards that follow you hiding when they marched out for battle to protect their homes and the plains beyond this river crossing?"
The girls words seemed to have a double effect on the listening crowd. The tribal warriors who had gone to battle seemed to take heart and regain some of their courage. The warriors who were blocking the crossing seemed to fade as a threat they needed to be afraid of, they seemed to be less than they had been minutes before. Her words also seemed to effect the warriors blocking the way. They started looking at each other and at their leader with doubt in their eyes.
"These lands and all the lands surrounding this crossing belong to my people" the giant roared out to the crowd. "Only a fool goes off to fight someone else's battles and leaves his own lands unprotected. We stayed where you all should have stayed, on our own lands to protect what is ours. We protected our lands from the Demon Lords army and we protect it now against all of you cowardly scum. If you want to run home, you will pay to cross our lands. If you defeated the Demon Lords army like you cowards claim then you will have the war plunder to prove it."
The girl started laughing at the giant again and said, "Protected your lands by hiding? That is the talk of a real coward. You hide while real warriors fight the battles, then you claim you protected the land. These men were the ones protecting your people and the lands. While you were hiding in the reeds of your river, shiting all over yourself, these men fought and died to protect you. They do not have to pay you to prove they are men. If anything, cowards like you should be paying them for the protection they gave you while you were hiding."
"Enough little girl" roared the giant as he swung his war club through the air again, "if you want to cross the river you will pay me to do so. Or you can fight me in single combat for your right to cross. If you win, you can cross."
The girl now understood why the warriors of the other tribes had not taken the crossing as a united force. She also understood why there were the dead bodies lying in the dirt. The challenge of single combat was a point of honor among the warriors of the tribes. If a warrior made a challenge of single combat it was dishonorable for more than one man to attack him at one time. That was why they were all standing around not knowing what to do, honor wouldn't let them attack the blocking force in mass, honor was what this was all about.
The girl started laughing again, "Do you really think you could stop me from crossing this river if that is what I want to do" the girl asked? "Do you really think that all by yourself you could stop me?"
The giants face got redder than before and he growled out, "Come on little girl, let's see if you can pass me." He then started swinging his war club back and forth in an effort to intimidate her.
"I'll tell you what" the girl said. "I'm going to give you a real chance. I'm going to let you have some help to try to stop me from crossing." The girl then started pointing out different warriors standing behind the giant. "You, you, and you" she said pointing to the warriors that she could feel the evil within, "and you, and you." She kept pointing out warriors until she had pointed out ten of them. "All of you together can try to stop me, if you can."
The picked warriors gathered around the giant for a moment then started to spread out to surround the girl and take her from all sides at once. A look of anticipation was on their faces, they wanted in on the kill, the girl could see it in their eyes. There was evil in their eyes, real evil, and the taste for blood was in their mouths as they approached her.
The girl let the point of her spear drop level with the ground. She then started moving in a sideways fashion on the balls of her feet. The speed with which she moved was hard to believe. The crowed of warriors watching her seemed to hold their united breaths, they were seeing the Slayer in battle again, and their united tension was overwhelming.
Suddenly the Slayer reversed her direction and in an underhand throw she launched her spear, it passed completely through one warrior and imbedded itself in the chest of a second warrior. The Slayer then drew her sword and changed direction again. Four of the warriors came at her in a group, swinging swords and war clubs, one advanced with a spear. The Slayer charged them and was inside their reach before they could withdraw. She stabbed one through the heart and while deflecting a war club she cut the throat of a second. The warrior with the spear thrust at her, she spun sideways, letting the spear slip past her back and brought her sword down on his shoulder cutting halfway through his chest. The forth warrior tried to back up to get away from her, but she moved in on him and swung her sword with both hands. He tried to block her sword, but her blow shattered his sword and struck his head from his shoulders.
The giant warrior tried to close with her, swinging his war club. She dodged to one side, changed directions again, then dodged again. The giant tried to catch her with a double handed swing, but she moved so fast he missed her and caught one of his own men in the side, the copper spikes ripping out through his stomach. The Slayer danced away from the giant and moved to put his remaining men between herself and the giant warrior. She then moved in on one of his men, blocking his sword and stabbing the point of her sword into his throat. Blood spurted out of his throat and drenched her arm and one side of her face. As she danced away from the falling body she shook the dead mans blood out of her eyes and smiled at the remaining warriors facing her. One of the warriors seeing her face covered with blood and seeing her smile, turned to run away. The Slayer reached down and picked up a fallen sword and threw it at his retreating back, it struck him between the shoulder blades and the point emerged from his chest. There was now only one warrior and the giant left. She dodged away from the giant, blocked a sword stroke by the other warrior and with a backstroke ripped his stomach open and let his intestines spill out on the ground. There was now only the giant and the Slayer left, ten bodies laid about the ground.
"Now, fat man" the Slayer said so the whole crowed could hear, "show me how you are going to stop me from crossing this river." The giant warrior was badly shaken by what he had just seen occur. The warriors of his tribe who were still blocking the way to the river crossing were looking at each other in fear, and several toward the back made a dash toward the river in an effort to slip away. Others started moving to one side to open a way for her to pass them without getting in her way. The giant warrior screamed at them and made threats with his war club. The warriors held their positions, but their fear could be seen plainly on their faces.
The giant warrior moved out further to gain more open ground and to avoid the dead bodies lying on the ground. The Slayer moved in on him, holding her sword out to one side, the blade level with the ground, the point toward him. As the giant swung the war club toward her with both hands, the Slayer stepped into the blow. Using both hands on her sword she met his blow with the edge of her sword. Anyone seeing the two weapons meet would have expected the sword to shatter or at the least be knocked from the Slayers hands. Instead the sword met the war club and stopped it dead, cutting halfway through it. With a twist of her wrist the Slayers sword was free of the wood of the war club, which now had a big chunk chopped out of it just below the long copper spikes that stuck out of it. The Slayer danced back and laughed at the look of confusion on the giants face. Never in a hundred battles had anyone ever been able to stop his war club in mid swing. No one had ever been able to do more than chop a small piece of wood from the club that was hard enough to shatter stones. The Slayer moved in on the giant again and blocked three more of his massive blows. When their weapons met on the third blow the Slayers sword chopped completely through the war club and the head of it with the copper spikes fell to the ground. The Slayer then moved in for the kill and blocking the swing of the shortened club. She thrust forward into the giants huge stomach and twisted the blade sideways opening him up like a gutted pig. The giant grabbed at his wound as if to force his guts back into his stomach. The Slayer spun on her toes, bringing her blade in level and chopped the giant warriors head from his shoulders. When his head hit the ground a sigh went through the entire crowd of warriors watching the battle. The Slayer walked over and picked up the head by it's hair and turned toward the warriors that were still between her and the river.
"Do any of you want to get in my way" she asked them? In a flurry of motion the warriors blocking her way scurried toward the river and ran away down the shore to clear the area anywhere near the crossing.
The Slayer walked over to the spear that one of the warriors she had killed had carried and moved down to the river. She slammed the point into the ground, then mounted the head of the giant on it. She then walked back up the bank of the crossing and faced the tribal warriors who had watched her in battle with the giant warrior and his men. She signaled to Zed and her men to join her, then turned to the waiting crowd. "The crossing is open" she announced, "I don't think anyone is going to try to stop you from going home now."
When Zed and the other men of her tribe were standing with her, the Slayer said "There was something wrong about those men, something evil. I want all of their heads mounted on stakes before we leave." The Slayer smiled at them and said "And Zed, let's take those copper spikes with us, they might be of value to the tribe, don't you think?" Zed and the rest of the men smiled back at her as she walked back down to the river to wash the blood off of her and her sword.
As warriors from other tribes started crossing the river they watched the Slayer standing out in the deeper water washing the blood out of her hair and off of her body. As they watched her they were struck with wonder at how this young girl could do what they had seen her do. But as they talked among themselves they decided that she was beyond their understanding. She had told them at the battle with the Demon Lord that she was the 'Slayer' and that she followed the 'Powers That Be'. They didn't understand what that meant, but they all agreed that a new power had come to the plains.