Chapter 39: Renate’s POV

Sorry for the unexpected delay! This chapter has been fighting me relentlessly for the past few weeks. But despite that I hope I brought you guys something worthy of all the build up! Everything you guys have been waiting for is here! I hope you guys enjoy it!!

(i would recommend listening to some epic music)

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I turn to the knights and well-trained warriors I had been assigned command of. Most of them I trained myself, and the majority of them worked under me. TJ is among them, my right-hand man. The war drums thump in my ears, vibrating my very being.

“Only kill if absolutely necessary.” I tell them. “Aim to wound or knock them out only. We’ll take them as prisoners later. Remember, they are only doing this because their families will be killed otherwise.”

My trained warriors shout a loud “Yes sir!” and I nod back at them. I turn back forward towards our enemies and glance at Liam right in front of me. He looks tense, worried, wielding the sword gifted to him by a commoner. Finally the drums come to a close, and the shouts of war cries rise up from the army and they charge.

Liam raises a hand, waiting for them to advance for a few seconds, before lowering it. It’s go time. Immediately the animals from Elric’s team go racing forward, sprinting faster than any human. I raise my sword and yell “For Eladea!” and my cry is echoed by my people. We charge forward.

I drop to all fours and pull ahead of my human knights, running alongside a very vicious-looking cat. I watch the first wave of animals crash into Ivar’s knights, the large predators taking down people with ease. Growls and roars clash with the sound of grunts and battle cries. I hear the storm of footsteps behind me as Kate’s group joins us, followed by the woosh of the dragons taking to the air.

I grit my teeth and leap into the air, landing on the back of a bear. I run along his spine before taking off again when I reach his head. I land on the shoulder of one of Ivar’s dark knights, and swing around onto his back before he can react. I dodge his flailing arms as he attempts to throw me off of him and knock his head with the butt of my sword. Before he hits the ground I’m jumping to the next person.

This time I land a bit wobbly, and when I reach my tail out to balance myself, I find it to no longer be there. With a final smack from the person I had landed on, I fall to the ground. Immediately I find myself having to cover my head as the stomping of the fight around me happens over my head and bodies fall left and right. As soon as there is a lull in the footsteps I jump to my feet and weave through the chaos. Finding my target, I scurry up the leg of some poor bloke and cut at the back of his knee with my sword. He screams and crumbles to the ground, and I leap out of the way of his body.

I look up as a deer comes hurtling my way and I stand, facing it down. As soon as it draws near I jump up, and catch its neck in my small paws. I climb onto the buck’s back and carefully make my way up its neck.

“Thanks for the lift!” I say as I dive off of its antlers onto a woman's head. I knock on her temple and quickly jump to the next. He sees me though, and turns to catch me at the last minute. He clenches my throat tightly, and I hang there useless, my grip on my sword slowly loosening. I growl and bring my long claws up, slicing at his fingers. He doesn't react, and I feel myself slipping from lack of airflow, so as a last-ditch effort I find myself sinking my teeth into his hand. I wrench my eyes shut as I bite down as hard as possible and he yells, his grip loosening. I fall to the ground with a thud and let myself catch my breath for a moment. A body falls next to me and I yell in pain as his arm crushes my leg.

It takes a moment for me to pull it out, and I take two deep breaths. Then I grab my sword and run through the stamping feet, easily slicing the backs of heels. With every leg I cripple, a person falls and decides not to get back up, the very thought of having to walk with a slashed Achilles tendon being way too unappealing. After downing a few people, I notice a pair of feet that look familiar. I smirk and run up to them, climbing up her opponent’s legs and knocking them out the way I had done to the others. I jump from them to her and smirk at her.

“Fancy meeting you here.” I say. Kate rolls her eyes.

“Don't you have people to fight?” She asks, locking blades with a new enemy.

“Oh right, how could I forget? Bon Voyage!” I laugh before leaping to my next target.

My head whips up as a new sound enters the fray. I look into the sky as a volley of arrows rains down. They have archers? Since when?!

I jump to the ground and hide under bodies as the arrows unfortunately hit some marks. Breathing heavily, I start to climb my next target. Only this time one of their comrades kicked me off of them. I get punted into the ground, the air being ripped out of my. I cradle my chest, as I cough and gasp, desperate to get air back in my lungs.

“Ren!” I hear a voice shout and next thing I know there are two paws cradling my head.

“El, I'm fine.” I wave off my mate as I struggle to get up.

“No you're not. You just flew back like 10 feet! I'm taking you back to the medics.” He moves to pull me away but I pull back.

“No! I'm staying.” I tell him with an air of finality. He finds my eyes and an understanding passes between us.

“Fine. But you better take it slow. No unnecessary risks. You heard what Liam said, "don't be a hero.” I flash him a charming smile.

“No promises.” He sighs and shakes his head before kissing me.

“Don't die.”

“You too!” And then he disappears between the fallen bodies and the maze of legs.

I jump to my feet to avoid a pair of legs and weave through the bodies once again. I come across the cat from before about to get stomped on, and I grit my teeth, latching onto the foot. I slice the back of the knee and stab into the ankle, making the man cry out and crumble. The cat rolls back onto her feet and flicks her ears at me.

“Thanks, vermin.” She drawls before stalking off to go scratch up a new victim.

“That's not as offensive as you think it is!” I say, a smirk gracing my lips for a moment. I take a deep breath and continue my reign of terror.

When the next volley of arrows reigns down from the heavens I'm too slow to get to cover, and hiss as a painful gash is sliced across my side. It only grazed me, but it still hurts like. A lot. I stumble and let out a growl as my fur soaks with blood.

“Bloody archers.” I mutter under my breath.

“Careful, rat, or you might actually get hurt!” A mouse squawks from nearby as he skitters past with his friends.

“How about you be careful, mouse, you might get squished. Wouldn't want someone to mistake you as a cockroach.” I grumble, starting to run after them. A few of the mouse's friends peel off to skitter up the pant legs of the knights.

“You're just jealous!” He mocks before slipping into a nearby womens trousers without her even noticing.

“I bloody hate mice,” I grumble as my side burns.

I jump up onto one of our allies and perch on his shoulder, surveying the area for a second before launching off him to my next opponent. But with my hurt side I falter and almost miss, throwing myself off balance. The man sneers at me and grabs me hard around the ribs, most likely bruising them, and flings me off like a bug. I slam directly into the side of a medic. She frets over me and immediately starts wrapping my side with the bandages she had brought.

“Let's get you back up the hill. You might have a fractured collar bone.” She says calmly, crouching low as the fight rages on around us.

“Nope, nope. No can-do. I can still walk, so I can still fight.” I say pulling myself into a stand with a pained grunt.

“Well I mean you don't have any immediately life-threatening injuries but the pain alone-” I cut her off before she can finish, yelling over the roar of battle.

“That's what adrenaline is for, darling. Take care of the people whose life is in danger. Come get me when I can't move anymore.” I flash her a pained smile.

“But Sir Renat-” She tries.

“That's an order.” I say strongly, suddenly remembering my position as General. She furrows her eyebrows but nods. I turn and limp off, trying to shake off the pain.

I take deep breaths, trying to ignore the blinding sting in my chest as I jump up to another opponent. Just a little longer, Ren. I tell myself. My arms feel heavy, yet the adrenaline getting pumping into my body takes the edge off of the ache. Don't give up on me now. Come on. See through this till the end. Just a little longer. Some substantial time must have passed since the battle started, due to the fact the sky had become even darker with thick storm clouds. The sun was nowhere to be seen and the thick smell of rain mingles with the stench of sweat and blood.

I glance up as the unmistakable sound of V’s roar echoes overheard and I smirk. I take up a sprint, keeping my eyes to the sky. I huff out labored breaths as my entire body flares with pain but I dont notice it, my gaze focused on the nearly invisible dark figure flying against the dark skies.

“V!” I cry when I catch up to him. I catch sight of his violet eyes and his superior vision picks me out of the crowd. He angles his wings towards me and flies low over the crowd. People duck and the fighting is momentarily paused as they cleverly get out of his way. When he gets near me his tail swoops down to brush the ground and I leap up to catch it. It snags me, and I get pulled into the air as he veers back into the sky.

I climb my way across his back in a way that is so familiar to me I could probably do it with my eyes closed. He cruises over the battlefield, ceasing his fight for the time being. I come to his long-broken horn and hang onto it to keep me up.

“How's it going?” I say, my voice tight with pain.

“You don't look so good.” He says. I glance down at his many scratches and arrow wounds.

“Neither do you.” I retorted.

“Touche.” He smirks. I turn my attention back to the wide battlefield. The forces are evenly spread, though we are closer to the river now then when it had started. Amber stays at a safe altitude, using almost exclusively her fire to fight. Good, the kid doesn't need to be in the thick of it. Myshica however, doesn't care. She rams into the forces on the ground with such force she no doubt kills at least a few each time she does it, though she gets many wounds each time. The stench of smoke tickles my nostrils more clearly from up here, small fires surviving anywhere they aren't trampled by the pounding of feet.

“How are we looking?” I say distractedly.

“Not good, Ren, not good. We are down…so many people. We’re fighting well but the archers keep popping up out of nowhere and they are hurting us badly. They have spears too, so me and my family are having a hard time targeting them. Our forces are spread too thin and we’re having a hard time getting a count on us, but from the looks of it, well, we’re losing. Bad.” He reports. I take a deep breath, trying to calm my racing heart.

“We need to take out Ivar. If we do that then there is nothing forcing his men to be here and maybe we can convince them to stop their fighting.” I say.

“I thought we weren't killing?” He asks, though it doesn't sound like a question.

“We aren't. Except for him.”He turns his head to look at me and we make eye contact, an agreement being made between us. He took everything from us. Not only our home and people, but our best friend, our sister. We won't let him get away with that. Not ever. Not now.

“Whatever it takes, then?” He asks, a strange weight to his voice that suggests something deeper, but I'm too tired to decipher it. I nod grimly.

“He needs to die by the end of today. One way or another.” The words form as a sort of unspoken promise between the two of us and we turn back to look down at the battlefield, the weight of the changing barometric pressure pushing down on us.

“Wait…is that…?” He trails off, locking his gaze on a moving figure. I follow his eyes and try to see what his superior vision sees, and eventually I do.

She isn't fighting. Of course she isn't. Why would she? She’s never been one for honor. She’s probably waiting for the battle to be over so she can pick off the stragglers.

She stands off to the side, pacing back and forth like an impatient animal, twirling her sword in her hand. There's no way she can be here, right? But at the same time it makes perfect sense. Of course she would be here. She can't resist.

She looks different. Her head is completely shaved, and a new scar runs down her cheek. She’s older as well, no longer the awkward teenager but still somehow thinner. She turns her head like she’s stretching her neck, and rolls her shoulders.

Griselda.

Niece of Tempus - the man we had risked everything and lost a whole lot more to kill - and the woman who murdered Lance. The woman who had put a sword through his gut and didn't even stay long enough to watch the light leave his eyes.

She was here. That snake was here.

“That wretched little-” Viserion growls deep in his throat and turns as if he were to intercept her.

“V! Stop.” He pauses, looking wildly at me with the most hate-filled eyes I had ever seen on the gentle giant. He was almost scary. Almost. “Look, I want to kill that maggot just as bad as you do, but it's not our place. You know this. We never verbally agreed on it, but I thought we had an understanding that Sage would be the one to kill the bloody murderer.”

“But she’s-”

“Recovering.” I put strong emphasis on the word. We have a stare-down for a few long moments before the anger almost disappears from his eyes. Almost.

“Fine. But if Sage is not well enough to hold a sword and put it through her stomach, then I'll take matters into my own hands. And it won't be nearly as merciful as that.” He growls, not a threat, but a promise.

“And I'll be there to eagerly assist, mate.” I tell him. He takes a long look at the small figure down below, before turning back to the battle.

“We need to return to the fight.” He says, his voice devoid of emotion.

“I guess we do need to get back to it, don't we?” I sigh, stretching my stiff muscles and wincing as my body flares with pain. He starts to descend. “Do me a favor, yeah?” He twitches his ear my way.

“Try not to die, ok?” I try for a joke but when he looks back at me there's something in his eyes that makes my brows furrow. It confuses me and…scares me? “And don't do anything stupid.” I add as an afterthought. The look from before dissipates and my old, gentle friend is back.

“And the same to you.” He smiles fondly. “Good luck, brother.” His deep voice echoes in my head. I smile back at him and place a paw against his forehead, glancing back at him one last time, before I leap off his back and land straight into the fray once more.

I tumble and come up running, jumping onto my first victim. I knock him out before jumping onto the next one, but this time a column of fire appears from the sky, reigning like hellfire. I duck out of the way, feeling it scorch the ends of my fur as I dive for cover. People crumble to the ground with fresh burns on their skin, their cries drowned out by the crash of battle. At least they're alive to cry in the first place.

I jump over a small flame still kept alive on a tuft of grass and continue on in the seemingly endless fighting. My muscles ache and my limbs feel heavy. The smell of blood and death burns hot in my nostrils and my wounds scream with every movement. But I can't stop. We’ve come this far, I couldn't possibly stop fighting when we’re this close to victory. We’ve suffered too much for me to just stop because I'm tired. Too many have sacrificed themselves and we’ve lost too much.

The first raindrops start to fall from the sky, splattering onto the foot-beaten grass. I no longer zigzag through stomping feet, but bodies. Most of them are simply wounded and lay there groaning in pain or yelling for help. But some are still. Completely utterly still. I go around two people locked in battle and come across the mouse that had teased me earlier. He's still and quiet, his fragile body having been broken and crushed from the much bigger enemies.

I pause, covering his body as a fight moves past us, the people swinging their weapons angrily at each other. Once they move past I pull back and take the smaller rodent into my paws. He’s long gone, his dirty body cold to the touch. His dark eyes stare sightlessly towards the heavens, and I can't help feel a weight drop into my chest as it dawns on me just how many of the people I had spent the last few months protecting look just like him, scattered around the battlefield. How many of the bodies that I had passed are someone I know? How many will make it out?

“Couldn't just stay out of the way, could you, mate?” I mutter under my breath as the fights still happen around me. “Mice…always meddling in things that aren't your business. You buggers have always been so nosy.” I say fondly before gently closing the small mouse’s eyes.

“May you rest easy in the care of Kismed, soldier.” I tell him before tenderly placing him back onto the grass, the rain beginning to pick up. I take a deep, shaky breath as I stand. I try to ignore my aching body as I twirl my sword in my hand, forcing my ever-stiff limbs to carry me forward towards the bulk of the fighting.

The sun has almost completely made its way across the sky, the battlefield growing steadily darker. Rain lightly taps at my back as I take down soldier after soldier, everyone blending together. I don't even register when I get hurt anymore, I simply pick myself back up without a moment to waste. I'm sure I'm bleeding somewhere, or maybe that's just the rain. I dont have the energy to care anymore. I've never been more tired in my life, yet I still find enough energy to make the jump to the next shoulder, or hit the next enemy on the head, or slice the next wound open. The fighting has almost come to an end, and we’ve no doubt lost. We may not win this battle, but I won't stop fighting until I've taken down as many soldiers as I am physically able to.

That's when a strange sound reverberates through the valley. Trumpets? Breathing heavily, I look around but due to my small stature I can't see anything. By the time I climb my nearest ally to get a better view, all I am met with is a vast sea of people running forward, yelling a battle cry. They are all adorned with gold armor and a crest I should recognize, but cant register. My head whips up as the call of a dragon I don't recognize penetrates my eardrums, followed by the call of half a dozen more. They swoop through the air, overtaking Viserion, Myshica, and Amber, diving and swerving into battle. Arrows reigned from their backs as their riders pelt Ivar’s men with aerial attack. I look to my equally surprised ally as the new mystery soldiers race past us, weapons held high.

I find a smile forming on my lips, followed by a loud hysterical laugh. I must sound manic as I double over, my friend chuckling a bit herself. Backup had come. From where, I don't know, but that matters little. What does matter is that the army that had previously more than tripled ours looks a little more balanced.

Calming myself, I wait a moment to take in the scene before me, and then I jump down from my perch. New energy surges through my veins, hope rekindling in my body. Adrenaline pumps through me, dulling all previous pain and wicking away my fatigue. I'm going to finish this. Now.

And then I see him. No longer on his horse, he stands backed up against the river, water rushing over his ankles. He wields his sword surprisingly well, keeping our men off of him with a puzzling level of expertise. Ivar looks more dishelved than I've ever seen him, his perfectly styled hair falling into his eyes and his clear skin covered in dirt and sweat and blood.

I stop in my tracks, staring forward, only coming out of my trance to dodge a falling body. All things fall away, the battle, the pain, the tiredness, the blood and the rain and the cold. All that's left is anger. Unquenchable, unmatched, desperate anger that burns red hot through my veins. I clench my fists, my sword digging into my palm. My breath picks up as my heart hammers in my chest, my teeth grinding together.

“Ren.” The voice breaks through the screaming thoughts in my head, demanding blood. I glance up to see V circling above. We lock eyes and an understanding passes between us. “Whatever it takes.” He says calmly. I nod, and then look back down at him, my feet starting to move by themselves.

I dash forward, my eyes unwavering from my target. He dies today. He has to, he must, he deserves to, even if I have to use my own teeth. He does not get out of this fight alive. He’s taken too much, made us suffer too much, to walk free. This is justice. This is right.

And then I see it. Be it a flash of light, or the slight movement in the underbrush, or even a divine intervention, it doesn't matter. I see it. The shift of the grass, the shaking of a shadow. And suddenly I see it all. The dozen people lying in wait at the other end of the river, their bodies almost completely invisible in the bushes and thick forest. But what isn't invisible is their large crossbows. And the giant harpoons attached to them.

Suddenly it all makes sense.

Suddenly Ivar doesnt matter.

Suddenly the world goes into slow motion.

I slide to a stop, my feet skidding on the wet grass. A desperate scream of warning rips from my throat. Ivar smirks. Viserion dives.

The sound of crossbows firing echoes in my ears- and will continue to for years to come.

The deafening roar of a dragon. An earth-shattering thud.

And then silence.

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Word count: 4097

muhahahaa…..AAHHAHAHHAHHAHHAH SUFFER

*ahem* anyway, despite the cliffhanger, what do we think of the chapter? Predictions? Theories? Hopes? Dreams? Please do tell, so I can decide if I want to crush them or not.

I’ll try my very best to post next week and not take a surprise month off lol

Cya next week!