Roxana, Elias and Aleks left the burning keep and watched the the horrible spectacle in front of them.
A great smoke arose above the burned fort and spread the ash throughout mountain. The foul stench of burned corpses attracted flocks of ravens that feasted on scattered limbs and torsos of soldiers. Between these piles of bodies laid commissar Lukevich, crawling in desperation as the bloodied golem picked up his axe and moved ever closer to him, stomping over burned remains of his guardsmen. Lukevich looked for any survivors, the only one alive seemed to be the three rebels who right had exited the burning keep and watched from afar his miserable state.
“No, please. Please stop!”
The golem stood before him, blood dripping from his armor onto Lukevich, his crimson red eyes locked with commissar’s widened eyes.
-“P-P-Pathetic.” said golem as he raised his axe, ready to finish him. Roxana, Aleks and Elias watched them from afar, unsure what to do now. Roxana wanted to try a sneak attack on golem but Aleks wanted to retreat while the golem was distracted and again, they started arguing, while Elias puked, overwhelmed by gory scenes around him.
-“You’re insane!”, Aleks yelled at Roxana, “That thing just destroyed entire squads and you still want to try?!”
“And how do you know that it want come down from this mountain and start attacking nearby cities? How do we know it won’t come after us?” As two of them argued, sickly Elias placed himself between them, fuming with anger as their constant arguments finally broke his nerves. But before he could scold any of them, he suddenly stopped and his eyes widened in horror. He pointed to the courtyard, where in front of a unstoppable golem stood a girl dressed in familiar dark green tunic and hoodie.
“Guys, is that Mendy over there?!”
***
Mendy stood between commissar and the golem, her body trembling with fear as the crimson red eyes of bloodied giant seemed to gaze into her soul itself, but she still held her hand high and stood her ground.
-“You already killed enough men today. Spare this one.”
“And who are you to stand here b-b-between me and my p-prey?”
“Name’s Mendy. And you are…?”
This question took golem by surprise.
-“Don’t you have a name?” she asked again
-“…No.”
“Well, what are you exactly?”
“S-s-shut up! Why am I even speaking w-w-with you! I’ll split you both in half!” Mendy didn’t flinch.
“Then go for it!”
She stood her ground, her eyes wide from fear, watching as the enormous weapon arced through the air. The wind from the swing whipped her hair around her face, but she remained rooted in place and awaited the death blow.
And then, just inches from her head, the axe halted.
The golem’s arm trembled violently, the axe vibrating as if caught between two forces—one of blind fury, the other of reluctant restraint. The bloodied axe hovered above Mendy, so close that she can feel the cold, deadly energy radiating from it, but it did not descend. The golem was confused - he was clearly going to attack her and yet she showed no will to defend herself.
“Why aren’t you d-d-defending yourself? Why are you p-p-protecting h-him?
“Enough blood was spilled today, please spare him.”
-“Move away!”
-“No!”
“Move r-r-right now or I’ll crush you!”
-“I said no!”
Breathless with anger, golem raised his axe but Mendy didn’t move an inch, closing her eyes and waiting for the impact… that never came.
The frustrated golem let out a scream that scared flocks of raven around him and in his rage threw his axe in the air, spinning above them before crashing into the earth with an impact that shakes the ground. It skid and bounced across the blood-soaked terrain, tearing through the wreckage of battle until it finally came to a halt. Mendy exhaled, a shaky breath escaping her lips. She turned around to tell the commissar to take this chance and run, only to see that there was nobody behind her, only a trail of bloodied footsteps and small silhouette of a man descending the rocks. The golem sat on the stone block, observing the carnage around him. The smell of blood and burned meat, croaking of ravens and huge clouds of black smoke that covered the blue sky - it was an all too familiar scene to him. Be it desserts, mountains, green fields, vast battlefields or sieges of castles - it looked, smelled and felt the same. That was his purpose, he thought; he never had any doubts about that. The only exception this time was that he actually let not just one but two people live. And then he suddenly remembered.
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“The humans in the keep…”
He turned around to see all three of them outside, hugging Mendy, but once they realized he was watching them, they pulled their weapons, waiting for his attack, except for Mendy who walked towards him, much to everyone’s surprise.
-“M-Mendy!”
“Get back here!”
“Mendy, please!”
She continued nonetheless and stopped a few meters in front of him and raised her hands and pointed towards him with open palms.
The golem was even more surprised than her friends, taken aback by her lack of fear and her innocent look in the eyes as if he was just a harmless being.
“Listen here, human! You’re really testing the limits of my patience right now! If you and your friends don’t remove yourself from here immediately, I will -”
The golem stopped as he felt a gentle rise in his energy inside his chest, as if his liquids were multiplying. The smaller wounds were completely shut down, while bigger ones now leaked less liquid. His mind was purified of desire for blood and a sense inner peace grew in him. He was bewildered by all of this as he was certain that he lost all of his reserves and was essentially doomed to slow death by liquid leaking.
-“It feels good doesn’t it?” Mendy asked, her palms shining with bright green light. “I can’t bring back your arm, but I can at least stop the bleeding.”
The golem’s eyes widened in shock. She was healing him. The human- his target of destruction since the day he was created - was restoring his liquids and closing his wounds. He could stand again and his limbs were light again as if there was no battle earlier. The green light from her palms slowly and eventually dissapeared when golem’s body was fully recovered. Mendy was sweating and breathing hard as her healing skills were quite demanding of her energy.
-“I think… that’s it from me.”
The golem was silent, still in disbelief about his healed body and even more by her motivation.
-“But… why?”
“Well, you showed us mercy, so I wanted to return the favor. I hope you wont use your healed body again for senseless destruction anymore. Anyways I have to go now, my friends are waiting.”
-“W-wait-” Before he could ask her anything she turned and ran back to her friends, escaping with them through the gates. Golem stood in the courtyard, unsure why did he just let them live. But even that question wasn’t as confusing as the one the girl uttered to him.
“What is your name?”
***
After hours of walking through the mountain the group found a small cavern to spend the night under protection from the rain. They sat around a small lantern that made a dimly light. All of them were pale and tired, unsure about their next move. Roxana anointed Mendy’s bruised hands with salve made from forest herbs - the healing ability took a toll on her body, mostly on her hands which became bruised and trembled uncontrollably. Aleks was carving wooden arrows with his knife while Elias checked their food supplies which were dwindling.
-“Anyone want some bread and sausages?” I’m still sick from that gory scene.”
“Same with me. What’s even worse, that monster is not just alive, but healed.” said Aleks while looking at Mendy, who kept her head down as she could feel judgmental looks from all three of them.
“H-He’s not just a monster intent on killing others. I can’t explain but-”
“Are you serious?? Let me get this straight - you think that killing people is wrong but at the same time you have no problem healing a 16 foot tall killing machine that wiped out at least a hundred men a few hours ago? What if he decided to kill us right after you got him healed? I… I simply don’t understand how your mind works.”
“Guys, leave her alone! ”, yelled Roxana, herself also close to the breaking point,” She saved our lives back there. Show some gratitude for once.” Elias sighed in frustration.
“Fine, whatever. We should get some sleep. The journey tomorrow will be long and we have new mission.”
“But where are we even going?” asked Mendy, feeling sick from mere mention of a new mission.
“To the nearest town to start recruiting new fighters.”
“Ok, hold on now.”Aleks interrupted him and moved closer to him, looking him in the eyes with serious look on his face, “Elias, we need a plan. A real, concrete plan. Not just barging into nearest town and picking up a few desperate men and women who aren’t really committed to our goal. It hasn’t worked before and it won’t now or ever.”
“Fine then, what’s your plan?” Aleks stood up and started walking from one end of the cave to the other with his hands behind his back - a definite sign that he will give them a long presentation.
“Well,our main problem is that we’re always choosing quantity over quality. We don’t need mass support, we need to create a professional resistance fighters who are ready to give to it all for victory. I’ve seen young men and women, even kids in barracks and schools of Republican border towns being taught about revolution and how to achieve it. They don’t pick just anybody - only the most committed idealists are chosen to be trained to become Vanguard of commoners revolution, or something like that. ”
-“No, no, no. I will not use the same tactics as the Republicans. No way. I will not indoctrinate people to sacrifice themselves like lambs for us. "
-“It’s not indoctrination, Eli. We’ll show them the truth behind Republic and its Grand Chancellor.” And besides, we failed so many times that people simply don’t believe we stand a chance against Republic. ”
-“Girls, any suggestions?” Roxana lifted her head up, wiping of tears off her puffy eyes.
“How about taking a break?” she said with depressing tone, much to the surprise of other three, “We’re all tired from constant running and fighting across the continent. Why not just give ourselves a rest in the nearby town to recuperate and plan our next move?”
-“Yes, please!”, Mendy exclaimed in support, “Just a small break. A week, or two. Or maybe a month. Actually, three months would be just enough.”
Aleks and Elias were silent. Both of them had will to fight, but their bodies were broken - lack of food, water and sleep has made its toll over the last two years. Both were like a pale stickman with loose, dirty clothes covered with a rusty chainmail. As much as they wanted to keep the fight on, they were simply at the breaking point, with no allies, resources or any luck.
-“Aleks”, Elias finally broke the silence, his lively eyes suddenly becoming calm and still, “What’s the nearest town for us?”
Aleks pulled an old, yellowed map and moved closer to the lantern to read from it.
“We’re right here beneath the mountain and the closest one is Southport, 20 miles south.” Elias lay down on the floor with a bag as a pillow and covered himself with a black cloak.
“Get some sleep tonight. We’re going to Southport at dawn. We’ll stay there… indefinitely.”