Bloodlust (43 page)

The sound of a weapon sliding on the grass had Ivy and Lukor both on their feet. A goliatha stared at them with wild eyes, a bloodied hellebarde in one hand, Ivy's sword in the other.

"You killed Varo." Her voice shook, but her hands were still, each weapon pointing at one of them.

"He tried to kill me first." Lukor held his hands out. He had no weapons on him, at least none Ivy could see.

Ivy reached behind her back to the dagger she kept hidden within her belt and stepped to the left. The hellebarde shifted to follow her.

"I did everything for you. I could have killed you easily. Or had someone else do it. But instead I supported you. I helped you. And you repay me by killing..." She strangled off a cry.

"Karrina, stop. Think rationally." Lukor continued to try to talk the goliatha down, but she was too overcome by grief to listen.

A shriek erupted from her, and she tore after them. A shadow shifted from behind a nearby tree, and Ivy tucked her dagger into Lukor's hand before making a wide berth around the deranged goliatha. The female goliath had her sights sorely on Lukor, and Ivy sneaked over to the tree unimpeded. An elf was darting away, his silver robe billowing behind him.

But she hesitated, watching the two fight. Lukor, despite having a far shorter weapon and despite her having two to his one, was holding his own. As much as Ivy wanted to help kill her, she recognized this was his fight. Some battles were hers, some his, some theirs.

Which left the fleeing elf.

Ivy tore after him, her boots crinkling grass and snapping twigs. The elf glanced over his shoulder at her and disappeared.

Magic.

"Please, wait! I want to talk to you," she called. "It's Ivy."

The elf reappeared but much farther away and did not slow down, only a flash here and there between the trees as he fled.

"I don't want to hurt you."

He was all but gone and out of sight.

"Fine." Ivy yanked and twisted and bent and wrestled off a thick tree branch. She shoved it into her stomach, near where she had injured herself before. The branch had just pierced her skin when the elf appeared beside her.

"You and your death wish." He closed his hand. The branch vanished.

"You and your desire to keep me alive." She had known it was him. "For the new race. You'll do anything to ensure Lukor and I survive."

"You both are not making that easy. For any of us to survive." He glanced away, the tips of his high pointed ears turning red.

"Us meaning the elves? You're dying at a fast pace. Unless..." Ivy crossed her arms. "We're not fighting elves, are we?"

"Illusions."

Like the duke.

Ivy swallowed hard. "Where are the rest of the elves?"

"So you can go and hunt us down? You may wish to leave Celestia Forest. The dwarves hunted down the destroyer dreads, those wretched pests you and your goliath unleashed back into the wild, and those stone carvers funneled them here. They're making their way toward your people now." The elf rubbed his hands together.

"If I were to kill you right now, would the magic that you used to heal me go away and I die too?"

His grin held no mirth. "I should lie and say yes so you won't kill me, but no. What is done with magic is done and cannot be undone. You were healed. That's it."

"Why did the elves give the trolls enchanted weapons?" Somehow, Ivy couldn't see this elf, as frustrating and confusing as he could be at times, as being so reckless with lives.

"You know that not all barbarians are mindless brutes whose only desire is to kill. Nor all goliaths brutal. Even the trolls aren't all wicked."

In her experience, all trolls were wicked. Then again, how many trolls had she given a chance?

Zero.

"So why do you want all of the so-called 'lesser' races killed?" she asked. Confusing wasn't strong enough concerning this elf. Maddeningly baffling 'twas more like it.

"We elves don't. At least, not most of us. One does. Black Ruby." The elf spat out the name as if it left a foul taste in his mouth. "He has killed many of our number, and we even have cause to believe he has prevented our females from becoming pregnant, ensuring our own race's demise. We've been forced to flee our beloved forest and go into hiding. Only I and one other remained to—"

"Provide the illusions to engage us. But why? Won't Black Ruby come here since he knows you're here?"

"Aye, that he will. And that's what we want."

He had engineered the entire battle but for a far different reason than she could have ever expected. "You need all of our help to defeat him."

"Merely for you all to distract him. I can't go into details..." He glanced around, staring at the trees, as if they had ears and mouths, could hear his plan and tell this Black Ruby.

Well, hadn't Kennan talked to the plants?

"The destroyer dreads," she started.

"We can handle them for you."

If you help
he didn't say but still hung in the air.

"Now go, and rally your people. Prepare them. Black Ruby will be here—"

"How many elves are left?" she demanded.

"That does not matter." He narrowed his eyes. "Do you still wish to destroy my race when—"

"When you have all but doomed mine?" she snarled. "I wish to know that the possibility remains that a female human or a female elf could mate with the barbarians and the line go on."

"Ivy, Barbaroness of the Barbarians, understand this: we do not have time. The fate of every race, not just your own, is on the line. Black Ruby cares only about himself and power. He will not hesitate to smite us all. If we do not fulfill our purpose this night, we will not live long enough to see the purple dawn. Will you stand and be a barbaroness? Or will you crumble like a broken weed and whither into dust?"

Ivy lifted her chin. "I am Barbaroness. I will do whatever it takes to save my people — the barbarians and the goliaths. If that means saving the humans and dwarves and even the trolls and you elves, so be it. But starting right now, no more games. No more deceit. No more manipulations to have your will imposed. Now, what is it you need me to do?"

"Go. Lead your people." The elf's form shuddered and flickered before disappearing. "Be a barbaroness," his voice said despite his not standing before her any longer.

The barbaroness nodded, willing to do her part, and rushed back to the clearing. The grass was drenched in blood.

But no bodies, alive or dead, were there.

Through the forest, Ivy raced. She tripped over a hidden tree root and landed on top of a fallen barbarian. Club. Although she couldn't hear his heartbeat, she placed her ear to his chest. Several arrows had pierced him, including one in his chest. The elves — despite being illusions — truly had killed.

Fury directed toward that elf whose name she still did not know pumped throughout her body, and she channeled it into energy. She raced as if her life depended on it and returned to the front of the battle.

"The elves are falling back," Maul greeted her with a vicious smile. Blood splatter covered his clothes.

"The goliaths?" She whipped around, searching for Lukor. No sign of him anywhere. No sign of that goliatha either. Or the skuleader for that matter.

"Held their own." But he sounded unimpressed.

"Decent allies," Katar added. "Not like the trolls."

"None of their weapons this battle seemed magical. They had to fight as any of us did." Maul twirled his hellebarde around, but no elves were nearby for him to fight. His nervous energy filled the space between them, and Ivy shared it.

Had Black Ruby been responsible for the enchanted weapons during the major battle? Why would he remove the magic? Perhaps he needed his strength. Ivy knew not enough about the ways of magic. She could only hope their ignorance would not be the death of them.

"Gather all of the barbarians and goliaths together," Ivy commanded.

"What of the trolls?" Maul brandished his weapon.

She pushed the tip toward the ground. "If provoked, engage. If."

Maul scowled, and Katar shoved him away.

Ivy stood still, waiting for the warriors to be moved away. Once this region of the forest was emptied, Ivy forced herself to go into Bloodlust, desperate to find Lukor. The sounds of heartbeats flooded throughout her, but she waited, straining to hear the most familiar one.

Minutes passed and still she did not hear it.

Sparks flew as Lukor's dagger crashed against Karrina's sword. The thin tip of the hellebarde swooped toward Lukor, but he jerked his body out of the way, almost dancing in his flight.

"You betrayed me." Karrina's teal eyes flashed.

"So Varo should have killed me. You two betrayed me. You expect me to believe he did not attempt to kill me at your biding?"

"Varo never was strong enough," she hissed. The goliatha jumped, her leather clothing not flapping in the wind despite how fast she flew toward him, her hair freeing from the leather strap binding it back.

"Did you ever love him?" Lukor darted to the left before jerking to the right and out of the reach of the weapons. His foot connected with her wrist, but she did not drop the sword. The hellebarde grazed beneath his armor, and he sucked in his breath.

"Love makes you weak. A barbarian," she scoffed, twisting about to swipe him again.

But Lukor rushed to her backside and kicked her square in her spine and then in the back of her knees. Her legs crumbled, and his boot connected with her wrist again. The sword skittered out of her hand, and Lukor snatched it. Karrina was already up on her feet again. Blasted speed. She was faster than a celezard, the fastest land runner.

He barely had time to bring up the sword to block the hellebarde. "You let me believe what I wanted to."

"A fool." Karrina attacked him as if she had been possessed by a barbarian. Up and down, her sword arched through the air, nipping through his defenses. He landed blows too, but more blood trickled from his wounds than hers, and soon the grass was drenched in blood.

Lukor smacked his blade against hers. She slipped on the blood, and lay there for a moment. He stood over her, ready to end this.

Instead he held out his hand and helped her to her feet. This time, however, he initiated the assault, forcing her back. Sweated dripped down his forehead, burning down his cheeks.

"Your barbarian fled so fast. Only cares about her own skin. She doesn't love you." Karrina slashed up and then low, striking his sword every few words.

Ivy. He couldn't think about her now, but he had been so glad when she left, giving him the space to handle the rogue goliatha, and the respect to know he would be the victor.

So he did not bother to respond verbally, just pushed and attacked. Sweat fell into his eyes, and he stumbled on the blood. She lunged, and the hellebarde poked into his torso. Karrina fell, and the blade eased out of his skin. Lukor regained his footing, managing not to fall, and took off deeper into the forest. They were too evenly matched.

The wound in his side pained him far more than the other cuts and scrapes all over his body. The sound of footsteps behind him had him lifting Ivy's sword while slipping behind a wide tree.

"You often fight your own kin?"

The voice mocked him, and Lukor risked looking around but found no male around to account for it.

"Rude too."

Lukor continued to ignore the voice. Karrina was approaching, glancing around, obviously not certain where he was. If that blasted voice would keep quiet, she might not find him, and he could sneak up on her.

"You often fight your own kin?" the voice repeated.

Karrina jerked her head up, gaze sweeping the lay of the forest all around her. Lukor was still many feet away. "Who goes there?"

"Why are you trying to kill him?" The voice sounded every bit as close to Lukor as it had before, but Karrina reacted as if the voice's owner stood near her.

"He doesn't deserve to be golock."

"And you do?"

"Golempress. And yes." She held the hilt of the bloodied hellebarde up, still glancing about.

The lyrical nature to the voice, combined with the lack of a visible body, led Lukor to believe the owner to be elven. Still interfering. Always interfering.