Battling Evil

Dalthenya crouched on the leaf-strewn ground and began to wait. Seconds passed. Minutes. Finally hours. Yet he waited without moving. What did he wait for with such astounding patience? The enemy. The Reolai.
What was the Reolai? A beast so terrible and treacherous that even the most faithful could not resist it. Except Dalthenya. The king had sent him on this mission because he was special. So unique, in fact, that no one else knew about him except the king.
"Dalthenyaaaa....." His name floated on the breeze like an eerie whisper full of foreboding danger.
Dalthenya tensed. This was it. The Reolai was here. Dalthenya scanned his surroundings. Trees, vines, boulders, poisonous plants. Everything was as it had been three hours ago.
The voice drifted by his ear again, carrying his name.
But Dalthenya did nothing. He could not risk falling into the path of the Reolai. The Reolai must come to him.
"Dalthenyaaa.... Listen to meeee....... You are putting yourself in great dangerrr..... Flee noowww...." Tempting words that could break any normal man, but not Dalthenya.
For the first time in a day Dalthenya spoke. "Come to me, O Reolai. I know you lurk here. If you are as fearless as they say, come and face me." His voice was deep and commanding, and shook the trees that he was sitting by.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw a flash of red. "You cannot resist the chance of killing me, Reolai. You shall come and try."
He heard quick, frantic breathing to his right, but he kept staring straight ahead. "Come. Come, and reap the rewards of killing me."
"You shall dieeee......." The Reolai jumped out in front of Dalthenya and swiped a talon at his face, barely missing it. The red and black scales and feathers glistened in the sunlight. His sharp, bird/wolf like head hung suspended from a long neck in front of Dalthenya's face. It's beady red eyes seemed to be trying to penetrate Dalthenya's soul, to find some weakness in him. It's long tail swatted the empty air behind him.
Dalthenya set his bow on the ground because he would never be able to fire an arrow with this beast breathing down his neck. He slowly drew out his golden dagger and held it by his side.
"Your evil has thrived too long in Ethias. I will banish it now."
"Evil shall always remainnn.... People's hearts shall always be corrupted by my stainnn.... Evil will always find a wayyy...."
"You lie not," Dalthenya answered. "But I will offer a way of escape from evil."
The Reolai's beak snapped and his head thrust towards Dalthenya's throat. Dalthenya grabbed his scaly neck and pushed it away and swiped his dagger forward. He missed the Reolai's body.
At the same time, the Reolai freed itself from our hero and bit down on his chest, and Dalthenya pushed his dagger through the Reolai's heart. Both eyes widened in shock.
"It is finished..." Dalthenya said with his dying breath. "I go home to my King today, for I have completed my purpose."
The two figures dropped to the ground. Dead.