You Must Have Faith

Chapter Twenty-Three

Vera's POV:  

This time around I actually knew why I was standing in the front lines.  Not because I remembered the planning session, but because of the conversation Thranduil and I had directly after the first battle.  This time, it seemed like I was alone.  Of course I had the entire rest of our army spread out around me, with Thranduil in the trees directly above my head, but to the casual observer, I was alone.  She was a coward, and coward's always go after the easy kills.  Thankfully, I had never been easy.  

As I stood there, waiting for their advance, a new thought occurred to me.  The mention of Galadriel's letter had triggered a waterfall of various thoughts, but one stuck out to me.  If this was the final attack, if this was our last-ditch effort, than I knew what would happen.  We would either win this battle completely, or I would sacrifice myself to protect this land.  There were no other options, not for me.  And I knew, that for Thranduil, it was the same.

The drums began to pound, the slow, steady march of feet upon the leaf-covered ground.  I was in human form this time, my blades drawn and ready for use.  They very nearly gleamed from my own rage.  A single humanoid figure, flanked by a myriad of disgusting creatures, emerged from the darkness.  She stood a good foot taller than I, with a single great sword and a bandoleer of throwing knives.  I saw red when I realized that they were our father's.  The sword was new, but she had been wearing the knives when she was taken.  Clothed in all black, she was like a shadow among the trees.  Long, greasy tendrils of hair disappeared down her back, so different from the short, rebellious hair that she used to have.

Her red eyes shone from the darkness, her violent gaze locking with my own.  I bared my teeth, long and sharp even when human.  She did the same, her long fangs stretching down and out of her mouth, in contrast with the rest of her human teeth.  She was gaunt, thin, with unnatural muscle bulging out of her lithe frame.  Nails like claws graced her hand, poking out of her fingerless gloves.  To my surprise, she wore no armor, instead opting to wear normal leather garments.  She grinned a sickening smile, showing the rest of her blood-stained mouth.

She stopped a good ten yards away, staring me down.  With a flick of her wrist, her army attacked, and yet she stayed completely still.  I could hear my warriors responding to Thranduil's silent command, jumping down from the trees to meet the creatures head on.  My nostril's flared, and I began to slowly walk forward, keeping my blades down and slightly away from my body.  There was a blur of movement, and I just barely dodged a throwing knife to the throat.  I was ready for the next one, catching it in midair and tucking it safely into my belt.

She immediately growled at me, low and menacing.

"Oh come on sister dear, use your words.  Or your actions, whichever works best for you."  I taunted, spinning her old blade around in my hand.  Her eyes latched onto the movement, widening when she realized that it was hers.  She looked into my face, narrowing her eyes down and huffing out a large puff of air.  Suddenly, she sprinted forward, holding her great sword at the ready.  I lowered myself into my ready stance, holding my position and waiting for her.  With a loud shout, she leaped up into the air, holding her sword in a position to impale me.  I jumped sideways, using a tree to redirect me so that I stood behind her, and brought her old blade around to lop off her head. 

Sadly, it wasn't that easy.  This was my sister, trained by the clan leader himself, and who knows what other alterations had been made to her body.  Quicker than I could hope to achieve, she swung around, blocking and stabbing simultaneously.  I brought up my own blade, the comfortable feeling of it increasing my resolve to end her.  And there, in sight of both the mountain we came from and the castle that I had come to love, we dueled.  It seemed as though we had passed beyond the binding of time, into an eternity of battle.  The night once more faded, the sun came up, and the screeches of her yrch told me that we were finally winning.  That was my mistake.

The briefest of distractions gave her all the opportunity she needed, and the feeling of a blade made of fire entered my abdomen.  I screeched, loud and shrill, both in anger and in pain.  Growling, I lifted one foot up and shoved against her own midriff, pushing myself off of the blade and falling prone onto my back.  I fought to get back up, succeeding in blocking her death blow by a hair's-breadth while still on my knees.  I glared up at her, seeing the sick joy in her eyes as she stared down at me, raising her sword to finish me off.  I snarled, smirking slightly as I staggered the rest of the way to my feet.  I could feel the blood pouring out of the gaping wound as I lifted my two swords.

The elders used to say that battle was a haze.  If they used haze to describe a startling clarity, maybe they were right.  All I could see, all I could feel were the two swords in my hands, and the monster that I used to call my sister.  My movements were exact, precise, and yet it still seemed like it wasn't enough.  Her movements were unnatural, her innate skill enhanced by whatever changes had been made to her musculature.  Through the haze in my peripheral vision,  I could feel the strange sensation of eyes watching me, but I dared not look closer.  I had already done that once, I refused to do it again.  I was so engrossed in my motions that I didn't notice when she changed tactics.  A sharp shove, and I was on the ground, fighting once again to regain my feet.  But no attack came.

I looked up, only to see her standing, arms at her sides as she looked down at me.  I stood up, slowly, carefully, making sure to not antagonize her or my own wounds.  A twisted pleasure filled me when I noticed that she was bleeding rather heavily from a gash down her thigh, but I only caught the sight of it in passing.  She began to talk, words mangled and almost mushy, accented by the Black Speech she had come to use.  To my surprise, it was in our native tongue, one that no one else in those trees knew.

"You have grown strong, Queen."  She spit out, the words harsh and demeaning.

"Maybe.  You got taller."  I sneered back, refusing to rise to the bait.  She smirked, taking a casual step forward as she sheathed her sword.

"Oh yes, so you noticed?  I had wanted to ask, but you didn't stick around to chat when you visited Dol Goldur."  

I knew that I was paling, but by that point I didn't care.

"So.  You let me go, obviously.  For what purpose?"  

"I needed to know if my gift had passed to you.  I wasn't pleased when I realized that it had."

I growled, feeling the hairs on my neck stand up as we locked gazes.

"You lost the stature, the worthiness to stay a queen.  Did you actually think that Eru would just turn a blind eye to that fact?  Heritage never mattered for our people, it was for Eru that we lived, and it was by Eru that we grew.  You lost the faith, I was the only one who remained.  Who else was it supposed to go to?!" 

I could feel my rage growing, building as I spoke.  She dared to question the fact that Eru had transferred the gift to me?  It was in that moment that I knew, that I solidified the truth in my brain.  This, this creature, this monstrosity.  This, was not my sister Kira.  This was a demon for Sauron's cause.  And demons, were meant to be put down.

Translations/Explanations:

Yrch: Orcs; plural.

Eru:  The Middle Earth equivalent to God.

A/N:  Well, here is chapter 23.  Did I shock any of you?  This chapter took longer than the others because I wanted to get it perfect.  After receiving some advice from a fellow writer, I realized that I was becoming a bit lax in my editing and my particularity, so I decided to take it slow and perfect this chapter.  Thus, it has become my favorite.  I'm sure that will change a bit later on in the story though, knowing what I'll be writing down the road ;)  Comment below what you thought of this chapter, and be sure to vote if you liked it.  Love you guys!