Wolf Riders, Part 10

The corpulent corpse of Dieter lay in the doorway of the Baron's bedroom with one side of his head caved in. Elysia imagined she would bolt out the door in a rage when a prepared enemy struck her from the side.

She leaped like a lioness over the body, rolling to the ground before standing up and looking around the room. The old baron lay in bed with a knife through his heart, his blood soaking the bandages on his chest and the sheets.

The catgirl glared at the chair Manfred was sitting on. He had the sword stained with blood.

"The curse has been fulfilled at last." the playwright stated in a strained voice, which also contained a high-pitched note of hysteria.

He looked up, and Elysia shivered because Manfred's face seemed like a mask, as if something strange was looking at her from inside her.

"I knew it was my destiny to end the curse." declared Manfred as if making a comment to pass the time. "I knew it from the moment I killed my mother. Garfield had her imprisoned when she began to change, locked her in the old tower, and brought her food himself. Nobody was allowed in the tower except Garfield and old Winter. Nobody else went in there until the day I did. Gods know I wish I hadn't."

She rose to her feet as she gripped the hilt of her sword, and the poet stared at him, mesmerized by his own hatred.

"I found my mother there. Despite the way she had…changed, I knew she was my mother. And she still could recognize me, she called me son with a horrible raspy voice. He implored me to kill her because she was too cowardly to do it herself, just like Garfield was, who thought he was doing a nice thing for my mother, keeping her alive, keeping a mutant alive."

Manfred began to approach slowly, and Elysia noticed that the blood that soaked her sword was dripping onto the floor. She felt dazed and tired, and the insane young aristocrat became the center of her world.

"Feeling my mother's blood running down my knife, everything changed. I saw things clearly for the first time in my life. The power of the future Empress is compared to the power of a dark god, she is a dark goddess in physical form, her power twists and corrupts everything, as she had done with my mother's body. I knew I was her child and that within me, running through my blood, lurked the Mark of a Demon. I was a creation of darkness, sired by him. He was a child of Darkness, and it was my destiny to destroy the Von Deyl bloodline, as I have done." She burst out laughing.

"The banishment was the perfect opportunity that hell sent me. The avalanche was caused by me; a good start. I thought I had failed when I let the undead go free, and they failed to destroy my uncle and his followers; but now nothing can save you. The Darkness will seize you. The curse has been fulfilled and the will of the Emperor and the future empress will be fulfilled."

"Not yet." Elysia replied, her voice choked with her nervousness. "You are a Von Deyl and you are still alive."

She laughed insanely, and once again the catgirl had the feeling that she was looking at a demon incarnated in a human being.

"Miss Elysia, you have to admit you have a sense of humor. Very well! I knew I was going to have fun with you, but how can you kill a Devil?"

"Let's find out." Elysia proposed, who jumped into the attack. With lightning speed, Manfred's sword was raised to parry the opponent's weapon, and then he began a counterattack. Swords flashed as steel clashed against steel. The catgirl's sword arm was already numb from Manfred's mighty blows, for Manfred had the strength of a maniac.

Elysia gave ground. Normally, the fear of the other's insanity would have paralyzed her, but right now her senses were at their peak due to the adrenaline coursing through her body and there was no room for terror. Her world had been emptied and she lived only to kill Krisvel's killer.

The so-called crazed demon and the merciless cat girl continued to fight in the baron's bedroom. Elysia advanced with feline grace and smiled confidently. Her sword movements weaved a web around Manfred, while his eyes shone, indifferent and inhuman.

But slowly she Elysia began to back away, for after a few moments she felt the cold of the wall against her back, and then she launched a thrust towards Manfred's face, but he stopped her with lazy ease. They stood facing each other, swords locked, faces inches apart. They pushed with all their might, since both wanted to gain an advantage. Elysia had the muscles of her body tense and her arms burned with fatigue; Slowly, inexorably, Manfred gained ground and brought the razor-sharp blade of the weapon close to the poet's face.

"Goodbye, Miss Elysia. It's a real shame I never slept with you." Manfred said nonchalantly. "Every time you wag your tail, it turned me on."

In that instant, Elysia slammed a boot heel down on Manfred's instep with all the force she could muster. She felt the bones of the other contestant break; the highborn's face contorted in agony, and the pressure eased. Then she lowered her sword and opened a slash across his neck. The playwright staggered back, and Elysia seized the moment to pierce his heart.

The young nobleman fell to his knees and stared at the other with blank, stunned eyes. The cat girl knocked him down with one foot and spat in her face.

"Now the curse is over." She said.

♦ ♦ ♦

With a clear mind, Elysia stepped out into the cold night air. She expected to meet the wolf riders and death. She no longer cared, she had accepted her imminent death. Suddenly, she had fully understood Frey's feelings.

At the entrance to the fortress, the dark hero Frey stood in the middle of a pile of corpses. Blood oozed out from the horrific internal injuries Frey had sustained due to the use of his skill [Overdrive], who was leaning forward and leaning on the sword; he was barely able to support himself. Near him lay the corpses of Hef and the other defenders of the small fortress.

Frey turned to look at her, and the catgirl noticed that Frey's armor had been scratched in places. The dark hero staggered forward, fell forward, and tried slowly and painfully to get up.

"What amused you, cat girl? You have missed a good fight."

The catgirl advanced on him.

"So it seems."

"Those bloody yellow-eyed goblins are all cowards. You kill their leaders, and the rest turn and run." She uttered a laugh that caused him pain. "Of course, I had to kill about twenty of them, give or take, before they agreed and ran away."

"Of course." Elysia replied as she looked at the pile of dead orcs and goblins, among which she could make out the shaman's lupine headdress.

"Most troublesome of all." Frey commented. "I just can't seem to get up." He closed his eyes and lay very still.

♦ ♦ ♦

Frey watched the small line of survivors, who began to walk north towards the Kingdom of Lothal, under the watchful eyes of the remaining soldiers. He thought that perhaps some city would accept them, since they no longer traveled escorted by the baron's full force. He hoped so, for the children's sake.

He turned to look at the mass grave, the mound under which the bodies had been buried. He turned to find himself looking up at the mountains.

"Goodbye, Krisvel." he said he. "I will miss you."

Elysia irritably rubbed the bandages that covered parts of her body, and then she handed the sword back to Frey.

Frey stood tall and confident, although his wounds had barely healed. With a confident smile he looked at Elysia.

"There are trolls in these mountains, catgirl. I can smell them!"

When Elysia replied to her, she went with a deadpan voice devoid of all energy."

"Let's go get them."

She and Frey exchanged a look filled with mutual understanding.

"You'll see Elysia. I will make you a troll hunter."

Wearily, the two set off towards the promising mountains.

♦ ♦ ♦

"My lord." Initially an armored figure, he had equipped a powerful Adamantite plate armor. "All the Von Deyls are dead, Lady Marinette has confirmed it."

"Perfect, one less." Said Emperor Sebastian Kaisar Octavian, the current emperor of the Kaleth Empire, as he took a sip from a glass of wine. "What is our current situation with those Moroi clan bloodsuckers?"

The armored figure, one of the four judges of the Empire, walked over to one of the chairs that stood near the emperor and took a seat. "Her influence from him is kept isolated and every known agent of the vampire queen is under surveillance. The situation is under control, the help of our infiltrated agent was crucial."

"I can imagine, the countess is a very effective agent, too effective."

"Yes…" the judge agreed. "It's very suspicious, do you also think she could be a double agent?"

"She is a vampire of the Moroi clan, being a master manipulator is in her nature. I wouldn't be surprised if our suspicions were true."

"Do we remove it? I can personally take care of her. Neither the countess nor any of her guards are a match for me or any of the other judges."

"I know. But the countess is an extremely useful resource, even if she is a double agent she can still serve us. Keep your distance for now, it would be unfortunate if she suspected us."

"It is understood." said the judge before standing up, bowing and heading towards the exit, but just before leaving, he was stopped by one last order from the emperor.

"Tell Marinette to meet me, I want to talk about some things in private with her. Also, during our match, I don't want anyone to disturb us."