They returned to the town. They called a gathering of the people at the tribal building. There they told what they had witnessed.
"Why are they doing it. It is almost suicide to start a tribal war during winter," said one grey skin.
"It is obvious. They do not have a choice. They are not able to survive through the winter unless they go raiding. The Trisong tribe are not strong enough to attack and raid our town so they decided to attack our tribe's smaller settlements and leave no survivors to warn the others," Tenzin explained.
"Then we have to do something. Stop them. Before they sack another village," said another grey skin.
"We will. We will gather the warriors and destroy them all. We will not let our tribe suffer," said Tenzin dead set on stopping them.
Tribal warfare was normal among the grey skins. Even though the humans were considered the largest threat and enemy too many times had the tribes entered a war with each other. These wars were small in scale, but bloody.
Most times the war had broken out almost out of necessity when one tribe had to somehow invade another so they would survive. Alliances among tribes were formed sometimes making the wars larger by scale.
Edward entered the room.
"I might not understand grey skin tongue, but I do understand the language of people readying themselves to go to war.....I want in," said Edward and pointed at himself with his thumb.
"This our war. Not yours. You have all done enough for our tribe," said Tenzin.
"Rufus has done enough for you. Rufus has also done a lot for me. It is time I do my share also. This is not negotiable. I am not like Doreen or Haley who are smart, and their insight is valuable. My only value is my sword, and I am aching for a fight. I am ready to fight with or without my sword," said Edward and looked at everyone in the room.
Tenzin thought for a second. He looked at Edward and realized he was joining in to fight with you without his sword.
"Alright. We will allow you to fight. You will also have your sword back," said Tenzin and sighed.
~ ~
The grey skins were getting ready for war. They put on thick furs along with their iron masks. They sharpened their swords and spearheads. Made sure they had enough arrows and then rode or marched out of the town. Some had helmets and some had round shields. Some had thicker armor than others. There was not much-standardized gear and every warrior provided his or her own weapons and protection.
The Dechen tribe had all in all less than a thousand warriors, but the town had only a couple hundred warriors among them. The Trisong tribe had gathered themselves around the same number of warriors. It seemed like an even battle.
Tenzin was leading the small army personally. Rufus and Edward joined them by riding black yaks.
~~
Tenzin sent a scouting party ahead to find the exact location of the Trisong tribe's army. After the scouts came back Tenzin called all the leaders to go through their plan.
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"They are moving towards another village nearby on the mountain slopes. We have to get them while they are here in the forests between the mountains. If we attack them in the mountains it is harder to use the element of surprise in the mountains and our losses could be great. We need to fight them now so as not to let them escape. They are desperate and have no other choice than to fight but so are we," Tenzin explained and showed the situation by drawing on the snow with a stick.
"It is very hard to ambush them while we have to catch them. They will notice us easily. It would become a free for all very fast," Amala said.
"Again do not understand what you are saying, but understand by the drawings in the snow. So you need someone to work as a distraction? I'll gladly be your distraction," said Edward.
"What do you mean?" Tenzin asked.
"Just attack them when you can. I will stop them and keep all their eyes on me while you catch up to them. That should be good enough?" Edward asked and looked pumped up for battle.
"What are you going to do?" Tenzin asked trying to get a grasp on Edwards's plan.
"No time. Just come when you can," said Edward and dashed to the direction of the Trizong army.
Edward ran through the snow with ease and with extreme speed. It looked like he was able to walk on top of the snow without sinking into it.
"Wait no! We have to plan this better," yelled Tenzin back at Edward.
Edward ran extremely fast and surprised everyone. His physical abilities had increased drastically in just a few months.
Edward had gained in just fifteen minutes the enemy army. He ran faster than a horse even though the thick snow coverage would have surely slowed him normally.
The enemy army spotted Edward. They prepared for battle. Edward in return just smiled.
"COME, YOU GREY SKINS. LET ME DROWN MY BLADE IN YOUR BLOOD!" yelled Edward in excitement.
Edward jumped high and landed at the center of the grey skin army. He then started to slash down the grey skins with his long sword. With one swing he was able to cut two grey skins in two by the waist. Edwards's divine power had increased a lot and was feeling happy.
Edward had been using image training to increase his power. The loss to his father had propelled his motivation to new heights.
A few of the grey skins had divine powers themselves. Edward was not fazed and just continued to fight with relentless fury. In his mind, though he was not fighting grey skins. He was fighting his father.
The grey skins with divine power attacked Edward. One had the power to conjure fire and the other had extremely high physical capabilities. The one with strong physical power attacked with an ax. Edward was able to stop the ax with his sword with just one hand. He then smiled and punched the grey skin at his guts making him fall to his knees and puking into the snow.
Edward jumped in front of the other grey skin who tried to kill him by shooting fireballs at him, but he just slashed down the fireballs. He then landed in front of the grey skin and slashed him down with just one swoop.
The Trizong grey skins looked terrified at Edward. Edward had gotten a few cuts and bruises, but he just smiled and reveled in the bloodbath. He didn't stop once and was constantly looking for the second victim.
"COME! JOIN ME IN THIS DANCE OF BLOOD. HEAR THE ROAR OF TEUTONS!" Edward yelled and intimidated the grey skin.
Soon a stone arrow hit one of the Trizong tribe grey skin warrior between the eyes. The Dechen tribe had arrived and had already surrounded the Trizong tribe's army.
"SHOW NO MERCY!" yelled Tenzin and ordered his warriors to attack.
Rufus and Pema joined in on the melee showcasing their martial arts. Rufus was able to destroy any grey skin that he touched while Pema hardened his hands with his carbon divine power and used his fists to take down the enemy.
The battle was over fast. The Trizong tribe refused to surrender so they all were cut down to the last man. The losses for the Dechen tribe were minimal and it was all thanks to Edward.
After the battle was over Edward was breathing heavily. His eyes were wide open and he was covered in blood. Even the Dechen tribe's warriors looked with fear at Edward.
Rufus walked close to Edward. Edward then turned around. He still emitted an extremely strong divine aura of pure hatred and rage. He was breathing and his gaze towards Rufus was like Edward didn't recognize Rufus.
"You okay Edward?" Rufus asked in a worried tone from Edward.
Rufus then snapped out of it.
"Yeah...I.....I am good. Thank Rufus," said Edward and then breathed heavily like gasping for air.
~~
The battle was over. It still had been costly for the Dechen tribe. From all the looted food at least three villages had been pillaged and destroyed. Tenzin looked around the corpses. Edward had killed even the tribal leader very easily.
Tenzin looked mad. He looked tired of all of this.
"When will this end," Tenzin thought and clenched his fist.
The warriors returned to the town. No one wanted to feast or celebrate. This small war had just been for nothing in many ways.