You Must Have Faith

Chapter Eleven

A giant mountain lion emerged from the doorway and slowly paced over to the hunk of meat, growling occasionally at any orc that so much as breathed too heavily. The beast was impossibly large, even larger than Vera herself as it stood seven feet tall at the shoulder, whereas Vera was only six feet in both of her forms. Its eyes were a dark gold shot through with a malevolent red, and filled with madness. Unusually large, genetically enhanced muscles rippled under the rough, ungroomed fur, which was an unnatural color: a dark, midnight black, causing it to almost disappear into the shadows. The only thing keeping it from being invisible were the traces of its original gold that still showed up in its fur, specifically on the tip of its tail and ears, and a small patch on its chest.

Vera's jaw dropped and her eyes filled with tears as she looked down at the giant that had just walked into the courtyard. It can't be, she thought. She's dead.

As though the beast had heard her, it looked straight up at her, meeting her green eyes with its own red-gold orbs. A malicious grin spread across its muzzle, baring blood-stained teeth, and it roared, an unearthly sound that ripped from its chest as though it had been fighting to break free for years. The orcs instantly turned to look at what it was roaring at, and then began to screech, running towards the doors and beginning to climb up the walls.

Forgoing any sense of stealth, Vera jumped up and took off, sprinting for her life to get away fromthe orcs and the memories that were trying to drown her.  Every single one of her mental barriers shattered, leaving the flood of memories free to come crashing down on her, making her stagger and fall.

She bolted back up to her feet and kept running, hair flying behind her in a golden tail, but the damage was already done.  Orcs came crawling down the walls in front of her, jumping down and creating a line across the hallway.  She didn't slow down in the slightest, drawing her swords mid-stride and slicing through the orcs like a scythe through wheat. 

She kept running, beheading orcs as she went when they tried to swing at her.  Another roar echoed through the fortress, startling her to such an extent that she ran right into a wall, knocking herself over.  She stood, but had to immediately begin fighting again, desperately slashing through the hordes of orcs that were surrounding her, trying to fight her way free.  Thuds could be heard from behind her, quickly getting louder, and a menacing hiss whipped past her ears.  Her eyes grew wide as terror gripped her, leading her to fight even more recklessly.  Orcs lay dead by the dozens, horribly mutilated by her sword.  But Vera herself was not unscathed.  Over the course of the minute or two she had been fighting she had gained innumerable nicks and scrapes, a slash across the forehead that dripped blood into her eyes, a nasty stab in the thigh, and a jagged tear in the armor protecting her stomach, the knife that caused it still stuck in her skin and being driven deeper with each movement she made.

A scream of anger and fear fought its way free from her throat, startling her enemies with its ferocity and allowing her to force her way out of the mound of orcs surrounding her and sprint across the bridge.  Arrows flew towards her from the walls, one lodging itself in her shoulder, but the rest missed and she disappeared into the forest at a dead sprint.  Several orcs made to go after her, over the bridge, but a voice called them back.

"Do not bother with her," it growled, "she shall be dealt with in time, by me."

One hour later, one in the afternoon

Vera staggered to a halt in a mossy clearing, falling to her knees, exhausted.  She was still bleeding but payed no attention to it, instead bracing her hands on the ground in front of her and frantically trying to banish her memories from the fore-front of her mind.

"Kira, stop it!"  Young Vera giggled, writhing on the ground as her twin sister vigorously tickled her.  "Never!"  Kira replied, golden eyes shining.

"No, stop, go away."  Vera muttered, shaking her head slightly.

"Come on Vera, you and I both know that you can do better than that."  Kira scoffed, looking disdainfully at her younger twin laying on the grass, chest heaving for air.  

"I'm not perfect Kira."  Vera glared at her, eyes glinting as she reached for her fallen sword.  Kira's face softened.

"I know you're not, but you need to try a little harder, okay?  Let's go one more round then we'll be done for the day."  Kira reached a hand out to Vera, who grabbed it, and pulled her upright, slapping her gently on the shoulder.

"Please, stop!"  Vera was holding her head now, clutching it tightly, as she shook.  But the memories kept coming.

"MOM!"  Vera screamed, trying to run to her caged mother.  Men with whips and chains were approaching the cage, smirking evilly. 

"Vera, no!"  Kira shouted, grabbing her around the waist and lifting her over her shoulder, turning and sprinting away.

"No, Kira, we have to go back, we have to save Mom!"  Vera sobbed punching her sister's back weakly.  Kira put her down abruptly, letting Vera see the tears running down her cheeks.

"No, Vera.  We cannot go back, we would be killed.  You saw what happened to the rest of our people, to our father.  Do you really think we would be able to save Mom?"

The harsh reality came as a slap to the face to Vera.

"We are the last, aren't we, Kira."  It was a statement, not a question.

"Yes.  We are.  But at least we're together."

"NO!"  Vera stood, screaming her pain at the heavens before collapsing to the ground, sobbing weakly.  Hours passed unheeded, as her sobs slowly calmed and the memories abated their vicious attack on her mind.   She looked down at herself, mind numb.  The blood had stopped flowing, drying enough to keep the wounds from killing her from blood-loss.  She noticed the knife stuck in her abdomen, and reached down to pull it out but then thought better of it.  If it was poisoned it would have killed her already, and at the moment it was checking any internal bleeding it might have caused.  She stood, oh so slowly, fighting through the pain, and reached around to pluck the arrow from her shoulder.  Luckily it wasn't lodged very deep, due to both her armor and the distance it traveled to get to her.  Deciding that she was once more fit to travel, she broke into a lope, somewhere in-between her usual fast pace and a jog, a pace designed to jar her body as little as possible so that she felt as little pain as possible.

The forest was eerily quiet as she ran, not a single spider to be seen.  The webs were all there, but the spiders were gone.  In her befuddled state of mind she payed no attention to it other than thanking the Valar that they weren't there to attack her.

It was nightfall by the time she walked over the bridge into the palace, having had to give up her lope only fifteen minutes in and walking the rest of the way.  Focused on getting her report to Thranduil, she ignored the guards and the various servants she passed in the hall who gaped at her horrible appearance.  She walked slowly, limping slightly from the wound in her leg, until she reached Thranduil's study.  She reached up her hand and knocked softly, praying that he was still in there.

"Come in."  His deep voice answered her, and she breathed a silent sigh of relief.  Vera reached out and turned the door handle, pushing it open and limping inside, closing it and leaning against it in exhaustion.  He hadn't looked up when she came in, still focused on some papers on his desk.  

"I'm back from my scouting, King Thranduil."

His head whipped up so fast she was afraid for a moment that he had given himself whip-lash.  His eyes widened at the sight of her and he stood from his desk in shock.

"Vera, what happened?"

A/N:  Hope you guys like this chapter, it's a bit longer than normal.  Bet you weren't expecting who came through the door, huh?  I've been planning that scene since I started this book, lol.  I'm not quite happy with the ending, I couldn't quite figure out if it was good or not.  Oh well.  Also, I'm not exactly an expert on wounds and such, so if I made any errors with them I apologize.  Vote if you liked it, comment what you think I love hearing your opinions.  Love you guys!