Vendetta's Rise (The Dragon Realms Saga: Book 1)

Chapter 42

The winds howled as Elucard entered the compound. The rain was relentless. It pounded on his shoulders and the wind bid him to turn around. But his hatred possessed him and so onward he marched.

Staggering into the familiar center of the clan, Elucard hunched over, leaning slightly on his and Inle's swords, as if they were canes. Elucard lifted his head and jeered at Ryjin, who seemed unmoved by his dramatic reappearance. "The Black Rabbits have tipped the scales..." Elucard could hardly speak, faint with the loss of blood.

Ryjin snapped his fingers, signaling for all the assassins to draw their weapons and move closer to Elucard. "You are nothing but a rabid dog. You must to be put down."

Blood dripped down both sides of his mouth as Elucard responded, "Will you put me down, Ryjin, or will one of your other dogs do it for you?"

Ryjin smirked, "Kill him."

The Rabbits roared as nearly a hundred bodies leapt into the night to strike Elucard down. Elucard spun wildly, parrying and deflecting steel with his two swords. Taking well placed strikes, Elucard moved his way through the crowd, decimating and maiming his former clan mates. Bodies dropped to a bloody heap behind him. However, Elucard moved slower and slower as swords, sais, and daggers shredded and punctured his body. The closer he moved to Ryjin, the weaker and more sluggish he became.

Elucard fell to his knees at the feet of the Silent Master, blood and rain soaking through his clothes. He could no longer lift his arms, nor his head.

"Who k-killed J-Jetta?" he murmured, barely aware of his surroundings.

Ryjin grabbed the weary Elucard by the throat, lifting him up so that they were eye to eye. "You'll die, never knowing," the Silent Master whispered in his ear.

Adrenaline pumped through Elucard's body, he let out a soul shattering scream as he lifted both his swords and cross cut the hand that choked him. Ryjin reeled his head back in pain as his handless wrist gushed and sprayed blood across Elucard's face.

Ryjin sneered, gritting his teeth as he landed a savage blow to Elucard's chest with his remaining fist. Elucard's chest compressed as his heart rattled. Landing hard, several feet away, Elucard lie sprawled on his back, drifting dangerously close to death.

The rain patted down on Elucard's sleepy face. "Jetta, wait for me. Wait for me at the old willow tree."

Elucard heaved in a great whiff of breath as he rolled over. Sputtering up the iron taste of blood, he used his last bit of new found energy to stand. Rabbits to either side of him cautiously shuffled forward, their clansmen blanketed the ground. Ryjin seethed pure anger, shivering in pain while grasping his bloody stump.

It was as if all time paused in a brief moment of solace. Elucard reached into a pouch and exploded a smoke pellet on the ground, concealing a last ditch effort to escape the dire situation.

"After him!" Ryjin shouted over and over as the pursuing assassins pierced through the smoky cover.

***

Elucard ran as fast as his battered body could take him, but collapsed at the cliff face of a waterfall. The waters rushed, more powerful from the stormy weather. Elucard gripped his swords with a slippery, blood-soaked grip, waiting for any assassin to catch up to him. Legion moved into the moonlight from the shadows.

Elucard surrendered his blades to the feet of his friend and mentor, "So it ends here?"

Legion kicked the swords aside in a clatter. He lifted up his student's bloody heap of a body, "Elucard, do you remember when you asked me if I kept any humanity?"

"Yes, Master," Elucard sputtered.

"You are my humanity, Elucard," Legion kissed the forehead of the dying elf, before dropping him over the waterfall.

Several assassins approached Legion, "Where is he?"

Legion passed them heading back to the compound, "It is done."