Ivy climbed the tree nearest them. She had lost her silverbow early on in the battle, but she had several more daggers on her person, and she grabbed two.
"Barbarians!" she called, but none looked at her. "Goliaths! Trolls! Stop this madness!"
If anything, the fighting, the killing, increased.
Ivy slid down the tree and entered the fray, elbowing and pushing her way. Most of the barbarians were lost in the throes of Bloodlust and beyond her reach. Trolls and goliaths both attacked her, and she struggled to protect herself, even as she continued to reason with them.
She was failing.
Ivy could not fail. She would figure out a way to succeed.
Somehow.
A weaponless Lukor backed up as Karrina withdrew the dagger from her stomach. Blood gushed from the wound before slowing to a trickle. The hole in the leather showed her torn skin, and Lukor watched, transfixed, as the gash sealed up, bloodied but healed.
Karrina glanced up from her stomach and grinned evilly. She tore after him, and Lukor wove between the trees back to Varo. Without his axe or another blade, he'd be dead.
But with each step he took, his strength ebbed away. Blood still oozed from his wound, and he placed his hand there to try to staunch the flow. He misjudged how close he was to a tree and slammed into it. Bouncing off it, he continued forward and ran into the skuleader, who held the cane he had given Lukor in his hand.
"You lose this." He sounded displeased but handed it to Lukor.
The golock grabbed it, pivoted, and held it up in time to block the hellebarde. The cane held despite the blade pressing down on it, and Lukor managed to lift his leg and kick Karrina's stomach. She winced and staggered back. The cane pushed the hellebarde tip toward the ground, leaving her torso exposed, and Lukor smacked the cane against her shoulder before pulling back, ready to repierce her stomach wound, but Karrina dropped to the ground, eyes glassy, no longer breathing.
Dead. From one touch of the cane.
Lukor glanced over at the skuleader, who grinned. "Do you have more like this?" He held up the cane.
The skuleader pried the hellebarde from Karrina's grasp. "Now. Return people."
For some reason, Lukor did not feel frightened or worried that the skuleader had such a powerful weapon. Any other troll, yes, even a few goliaths. Barbarians did not need the extra help the weapon provided.
They hurried back to the battle scene, with the skuleader paving the way and Lukor trailing behind due to his injury. Only no one was there. The cries of a fight still raging had them continuing through the forest and leaving the tall trees behind.
Utter chaos greeted them, with goliaths, trolls, and barbarians all attacking one another.
Lukor glanced at the skuleader. "If we go in with these, many..."
The skuleader snapped the tip of the hellebarde in half and eyed the cane.
Without hesitation, the goliath did the same.
"No magic." The troll nodded to the ruined weapons.
Lukor grinned. He had seen several trolls engaging elves with broken weapons and had thought naught of it. While Trakil had had no shred of honor or decency, perhaps this troll actually did.
"Cheating." The skuleader shrugged. "Now stop." He rushed into the teeming bodies, pushing and shoving and yelling, brandishing the spear tip of the hellebarde and the blade still attached to its hilt in the other.
"Darcia!" Lukor yanked on her arm, tugging her from the fray. Her face was flushed from fighting, her chest heaving for breath. "Stop this."
"They have to die," she said, her voice flat despite her violent struggles against him. Her eyes looked strange, unfocused and far too light.
"Darcia." He shook her slightly.
His cousin shoved him away from her, jerking backward. Her head collided with a troll's elbow. Dazed, she tossed her head from side to side, and her eyes appeared normal.
"What happened?" she asked.
"We have to stop the fighting."
Darcia was already yanking on Golic's arm. Heated words were exchanged, and Lukor grabbed the nearest goliath — Thul.
"Halt," Lukor demanded.
Thul shrug him off. "The trolls have killed too many goliaths. They have to be punished."
Unlike the other barbarians and goliaths who Lukor glimpsed at, Thul's eyes were their normal hue. Thul was just being his obnoxious self.
With the two halves of the cane, Lukor managed to disarm Thul, and the axe fell to the ground. "Varo and Karrina are dead. How many more goliaths have to die, whether by goliath or troll or barbarian hand?"
"Karrina?"
Lukor wrapped his arm around another goliath's neck, forcing him down onto his knees. "Look at his eyes. Possessed. Maddened. The others all are." He thought fast, reasoning how these people could be so influenced and came to one conclusion. "This is the elves' doing. Today, the elves are the enemy."
Thul rubbed his temple, where a large bump sat. "Fine. For today." He slapped the goliath upside the head.
Lukor sighed and helped the dizzy goliath to his feet. "Find a safer way to wake them," he demanded.
The goliath bared his teeth. "What of the trolls at least?"
"Safer," Lukor reiterated.
Unfortunately, Lukor soon learned that the quickest way to stop the madness was indeed to hit those afflicted on the head, and a light tap wasn't sufficient either.
But with thousands of them gathered here, it would take them all night to regain them to their senses. At least no elves were nearby to hinder them, which in and of itself was beyond strange.
Lukor tapped the two halves of the cane onto the heads of a barbarian and a goliath when a monstrous barbarian with a triangle patch of skin missing above one of his ears barreled into Lukor and slammed him to the ground. His eyes were not dazed or lightened like those Lukor assumed were influenced by the elves, but crazed with Bloodlust.
Thick, meaty hands wrapped around Lukor's throat, and despite the heavy weight on his chest, Lukor lifted his head high enough and fast enough to headbutt the barbarian.
Flesh and dark gray leather flashed in front of him and struck the barbarian's triangle. His grip loosened, and Lukor jerked free, lifting with his hips and legs to knock the barbarian from on top of him.
"Pike, listen to me. Stop this. Turn it off." Ivy pressed her hands to either side of the barbarian's face. "It's me. It's Ivy. Your barbaroness. You're safe."
Pike blinked a few times, and his eyes cleared. "Ivy... O Barbaroness..."
"One elf is responsible for all of our ills. One elf. He wants us all dead. If we can stop fighting each other, we can hinder his plans, and maybe we'll have a chance to save the world for us all."
"Including the trolls," Lukor added.
Ivy flashed him a surprised look, pleased as well. Then her gaze shifted to above Lukor's shoulders, toward the forest, and she swallowed hard.
Lukor turned around to see a tall figure standing on top of a deep purple, almost black dragon.
"He is our enemy, not our fellow allies." Ivy whipped out a morning star.
A sudden cold air burst around them, and Lukor shivered. This elf was not going to be easy to take down. Death, on their accounts, was not an option.
Where were those elves? Here was Black Ruby. Go and get him. Kill him.
Ivy grabbed a bow from the back of a barbarian. The dragon was far too high for her to have a ghost of a chance of striking the elf. Of course he could just burn the arrow before it could touch him.
The barest traces of sunlight graced the sky, but it disappeared beneath a veil of clouds. Water fell from the heavens in huge droplets. One landed on Ivy's head and beaded down her cheek. Warm.
Behind her, the sound of fighting, of arguments and shouts, all halted. Could the rain have ended Black Ruby's influence? If so, why hadn't the elves done that earlier?
Her gaze went back up to the forest. The dragon still hovered there, but the elf on its back was gone.
With a loud bellow, the dragon swooped towar
d them.
Ivy shoved the morning star into her belt and grabbed Lukor's arm. "Come. We're going to help the elves."
"Me." The skuleader approached.
After a moment, Ivy nodded.
Deep into the forest they went. Lukor kept her swift pace, but his breathing was labored. That was when she saw the blood.
"You're hurt."
"I'm fine. Do not worry about me."
Ivy wanted to stop, to give him time to catch his breath, to help him. But as the elf had said, they did not have time to spare, so they rushed along past where the dead goliatha lay, running beyond where Lukor had killed the goliath.
Colorful arrows streaked with red, orange, blue, or green flashed between the trees. The elves were fighting fifteen different similar elves. Black Ruby must have duplicated himself.
Ivy fired off several shots with her stolen silverbow, but each arrow fell short of their mark. She abandoned the weapon. Lukor and the skuleader had already engaged two of the Black Rubys, and Ivy followed their lead.
A morning star identical to hers appeared in his hand, and he blocked the blow with ease, his strength far greater than she anticipated, her biceps burning in agony. Toward her head he brought the morning star. She ducked and slammed her morning star into his chest. He lowered his head to look at the weapon, and she smacked the flat of her palm onto his neck. The Black Ruby crumpled to the ground. Foot on his shoulder, she jerked out the morning star and turned to face another one when the skuleader yanked on her arm.
She glowered at him until air rushed behind her like a fierce tornado wind. Her Black Ruby had climbed to his feet and had tried to destroy her back. The troll leader had spared her life.
"Thank—" Ivy's morning star knocked down a red arrow aimed for the skuleader, and the two returned their focus to the battle.
A female elf shrieked, and her skin turned ashen as she sank to the ground. Another female and a male had already been slain, their bodies grayer than stone. This couldn't be all of the elves... could it?
How strange, how lifelike each of the duplicates were, each identical save for their weapons. Even the elves were showing equal attention to them, seemingly unable to differentiate between the faux and the true.
The gaping hole from her morning star remained within the elf, but he continued to attack her with ease, parrying each attack and countering with gusto. She blocked down low, near her knees, and Lukor swooped in from behind Black Ruby to choke off the hand holding the morning star. The weapon disappeared, and Ivy smashed the morning star into Black Ruby's neck. The elf started to fade.
"That's it." Lukor sliced the saber across the elf's throat. Now it was merely an outline.
Ivy grabbed an axe from the ground and hacked off the head. Before it could land on a bed of blue flowers, the head and the body disappeared.
"You have to decapitate it," Lukor called out.
The infuriating elf returned, "We know that already."
"A sentence to have explained that to us earlier would not have been remiss," Lukor muttered as he ran over to help the skuleader.
Ivy hesitated a moment. Only four good elves remained compared to seven Black Rubys. Including the other rulers, that made seven versus seven, but Ivy had a feeling they were far outmatched.
They had to turn the tide in their favor if they had any hope of surviving.
One of the multiple elves swiped a scythe at Lukor's head. He ducked, bending his back, the arced blade narrowly missing him. Another threw a glowing spear at Lukor, and he jumped out of the way. The skuleader had his hands full. Lukor had been helping with that one, but too many were here, focused on him.
Ivy fared better than he did. He wished he could admire her body as she pivoted and lunged and squatted and thrust, but he was too busy trying to keep his head attached to stare.
A small bird flew overhead. Ivy kicked her foe back and slashed at the bird. It plunged to the ground, still alive. She darted over to it, her back now to Lukor. He chopped one of the elves' spears in half and retrieved the now-discarded bird as yet another foe had attacked her. That she kept glancing at the bird had Lukor examining it closer, and he spied a small hole in its feathers.
Five of the look-alikes remained now. Four. An elf, in a slick move, leapt off a high tree branch and crossed two blades to slice off the head.
The skuleader hacked away at one's neck and managed to kill it. An arrow flew through the air, toward the troll leader’s back, and Lukor, reacting on instinct, threw the bird. It collided with the magical arrow, sending it off course.
Toward Ivy. But she saw it and swerved out of the way. Flipping heels over her head, she landed on her boots and sliced and cut off yet another's head.
Only two. Lukor raced over toward one and engaged its hellebarde. Several parries and Lukor struggled to find an opening, but the distraction was more than enough for an elf to use a feather that appeared to be made of steel to chop off the head.
Only the last remained.
His smile flashed teeth so white they almost had a blue hue to them. "You've all certainly put up a fight."
"More than you bargained for, Black Ruby." A male elf wiped blood from the corner of his mouth with a leaf.
"More than you." Black Ruby held out his hand and stepped on top of the fallen elves. "Only three elves remain in all the world." He cupped his long, bone-like fingers around the female's chin. "How would you like to rule by my side? We could—"
She lowered her head and bit his finger.
"You always were a—"
"Have some respect." Lukor eased between them, not liking the harsh tone in Black Ruby's voice. "What exactly do you want?"
"The world. For the goliaths, barbarians, and trolls to be wiped out. Abominations, that's what you all are."
"And the dwarves and the humans?" Lukor stepped to the right, toward the dead bird. It wiggled slightly.
Ivy scooped up the bird, but Black Ruby did not seem to notice.
"Inferior as well, but as long as they accept my leadership, all shall be fine. I've always been the strongest. I deserve this." Black Ruby shoved his thumb toward his chest.
Lukor slid to the right a little more.
"No one understands what I have been through," Black Ruby continued.
The goliath held out his hand. Ivy threw him the bird. Lukor yanked out the destroyer dread. The insect was wingless so he had to shove it onto the elf's finger. It burrowed its way in.
Black Ruby closed the fist of his right hand, and his left index finger disappeared. He furrowed his brow, and the hand vanished next. Then his forearm and upper arm.
"It's too late," the male elf said with satisfaction.
Black Ruby's face turned red. "No. It cannot be. I am invince—" He collapsed.
"You're dead." The elf slammed his spiked cane into Black Ruby's ear. The elf twitched a few times before laying still.
A few minutes later, the destroyer dread wormed its way out of Black Ruby.
The elf blew onto his wrist, and a speck of fire appeared, singeing the air, flying toward the dread.
Ivy jumped in front. "Do not kill it." She managed to capture the creature in a patch of jagged hide. Wolf, maybe?
The bemused expression on the elf's face had to be identical to Lukor's.
"So ends the threat." The elf clapped his hands as if to get rid of the dirt and blood from them. He turned to Ivy. "Thank you for all of your help. All of you." He bowed deeply to each of the ruler's in turn.
The female elf dipped her head three times as well, her blue lips blowing each of them kisses. "Yes, thank you."
"So that's it?" Lukor nudged the dead elf's body with his foot.
"Aye. His dragon your people have killed, and no more threats exist to terrorize the races." The female elf closed her eyes. A single tear slowly slid down her cheek.
"None save time," the male added. "I am Gold Tongue. She is Blue Ice."
"So glad you finally designed us worthy of learning your name, Go
ld Tongue," Ivy said dryly. "Are you two truly all that remains?"
Blue Ice nodded regally. "I fear we are. We know how much you want the barbarians to continue on, for we wish the same with our own race, but the stars have foretold the destruction of one race would give rise to a new one."
"But a female human could yet save us, right?" Ivy stepped forward, swaying. Lukor raced to her side, but she pushed him away. "The line will be diluted, like my own, but the barbarians could still flourish one day."
The hope in her chest burned within Lukor's. He did not envy his future wife's plight, but he also saw the resignation within the elves' eyes.
"Not any two of different species can produce children. A new race can only ever be created through a love so true it defies all odds. Love like yours. One that survives and thrives despite the dangers inherent of loving one from another race." Gold Tongue glanced at Blue Ice.
She held his hand for a moment. "I have loved Gold Tongue for many centuries now. Even if he were to have fallen during this battle, I would not have ever been able to mate with another race, barbarian or otherwise." She tilted her head back, exposing her long, white neck as she gazed at the sky. "The stars have foretold this. We had no knowledge of which race would fall though."
"So the stars know for certain that no human female could fall in love with the barbarians." Ivy tapped her foot impatiently on the ground. "I do not believe that. You two can go off and have a zillion elf babies because time is on your side, and soon there will be more elves than ever before, but the barbarians will die out in maybe twenty years, if we're lucky. Is that what you're telling me?"
"I'm afraid so." Gold Tongue clasped Ivy's hands. "I am so sorry."
Ivy jerked free. "Do not ever ask for our aid again. And do not ever designate yourself as our guardians. If you ever dare to try to manipulate us..."
"That was all Black Ruby. Allow me to reassure you—"
"We're done here." Ivy glanced at Lukor and then the skuleader. As one, they turned away.
"Wait. At least allow us to heal you," Blue Ice called.
"We do heal over time," Lukor called over his shoulder.
The three rulers marched through the forest to rejoin their people. Several fires burned, dragon meat cooking over them. It warmed Lukor's heart to see that each fire was circled by multiple races, working together, talking. Maybe not laughing and singing but progress nonetheless.
Bloodlust Page 28
