The Tale of Ren - Book one: The Hunt Begins

22. Time to execute the plan

Kyle and Ren are crouched on a tree branch each on the side of the little sand path that leads to the village. As the sun sets behind the trees, the chilling wind of the night blow through the village, making everyone shiver. The small animals in the area have gone silent and have hidden themselves. The torches are lit around the village and the men are armed with everything they got, swords, bows, pitchforks and pickaxes. You could feel the tense atmosphere and hear the heavy breathing. Suddenly, they all here the sound of a tree falling in the distance. The men gasp and look in the direction of the sound.

      Kyle's ears twitch. 'It's coming.' He whispers. The ground rumbles and they see the glowing eyes. Still hidden in the shadows, it jumps and comes down with a bang. The ground shook, and the men wobble out of fear. It swiftly moves around the village, circling closer.

'Where is it!' Ren shouts. Its howls appear to be combing from every direction. A man screams, and everyone turns to the man standing at the back of the group. 

       A gigantic, monstrous dog-like creature stands on top of him with its claw. A crocodile-like tail, the body covered in green fur and green-yellow glowing eyes and more then 4 meters tall.

'It's here, charge!!!' Brosé shouts and all men run screaming at the demon, holding their weapons high. The Hodag growls loudly at them, almost blowing them from their feet and jumps up from the man on to the rooftops of their buildings. Showing them that he's more agile than his build would give away.

     'Bring the woman and children out of the houses and guide them to the cave!' Brosé shouts to three men.

'Leave that to me!' Ren shouts back at him. Brosé nods and runs off after the Hodag. The Hodag moves from rooftop to rooftop while taking out one man at a time. Slapping them away with its tail or grabbing them in its mouths and throwing them away like rag dolls.

      A child cries out by the looks of the demon. He has attracted the Hodag's attention, making it run towards the child. The child cries even louder and before the Hodag could reach the child, Kyle comes flying down and punches the Hodag's head in ground. The Hodag whimpers. Kyle turns around, grabs the child and throw him over to Ren, who stands beside his mother.

      'Catch!' Kyle shouts and jumps away just in time before the Hodag's claw comes down at the place Kyle was just standing. Ren catches the child and hasty guides the mother and child away. In the meantime, the Hodag got its head out of the ground and goes after Kyle, who's just jumping around avoiding its furious and fast attacks. The Hodag swings its tail around, knocking the torches out of the ground and landing them around the village, setting fires to the buildings. Because of the old and dry wood, the buildings are made out of, the fires spread fast. Kyle turns around and uses his magic to try and control the fires, but he gets interrupted by the Hodag. It is faster and more agile then he thought he would be, considering its size.

      Kyle got tired of just dodging and concentrate his magic in his left hand. Red glowing light start to gather around his hand and just before they turn into small flames, Kyle hears a whistling sound. Not a second later and a glowing green arrow makes its way through one of the legs of the Hodag, causing him to let out a horrifying howl of pain. Kyle stops the gathering of his magic.

'Nice shot Shun. Took you long enough!' Kyle shout in a direction outside the village. Shun stands crouched on a high tree branch and, just like with the water serpent, sniped an arrow at his target. He stands up and jumps from tree top to tree top closer to the village. At a tree top, just in front of the demon he jumps high in the sky. Shun holds his free right hand in the middle of his bow as if placing an arrow. He gathers magic in that spot, pulls his arm back with a bundle of glowing magic sticks, aims and fires multiple arrows at the same time.