The Bizarre Adventures of a Half-Elf

3. The House War

**Warning: This is a combat scene. There will be blood, major injury, and death.

**AN: You're going to see a race called "Woad Elf". This is the correct spelling, and not a typo. It was a running joke that stuck and became canonical lore.

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The horn sounded.

The front-line fighters, Kano included, immediately marched forwards. Charlotte followed, but kept her distance as she scanned the line of the other side, analyzing the types of combatants they were against. She almost instantly picked out another back-line scoundrel head-to-toe in black who was doing the exact same thing as she. Their eyes met for the briefest of moments, and his flashed with the same sense of recognition. He would be watching her as carefully as she would him. Well, hopefully not as carefully.

The Faistraad fighters encircled the Cornello fighters, and Charlotte heard instructions to fall back so they did not become flanked. She positioned herself to one of the sides, keeping the cheekier enemies from getting too overzealous. The scoundrel positioned himself on the other side of the field, meaning that she would have to divert some of her attention from the people directly in front of her.

Luckily, the enemy who seemed to be the most trouble was in the middle. He was tall, well over 6 feet, and wore heavy plate combined with a tower shield and bastard sword. He wore a helmet, so she could not see his face, but in the dim lighting she could have sworn that his eyes were a rare gold color.

As she stared at the tall warrior, an arrow zipped past her head, nearly clipping her cheek. She quickly crossed her swords in a defensive position in case another arrow came, and scanned for her assailant.

In the back of the Faistraad line, only two archers who looked of any remarkable talent stood out among the others. One was a tall Human with long hair dressed in all red leathers, but his attention was not on her. The other one, the one who had fired the arrow, was a stocky Woad Elf with spiked blonde hair who was barefoot in the wet grass. When he saw Charlotte, a grin spread across his face, and he had the gall to wiggle his fingers at her in a wave.

Snorting in annoyance, the Half-Elf leapt forwards, taking the person across from her by surprise as she lifted his guard with one sword, and jammed her other one up through his chin, crimson spilling out over her gauntlet. The one standing next to him, a woman, paled and tried to flee, turning her back. Dropping the sword that she had used to parry, Charlotte caught the blade between her knees, grabbed a throwing knife from the sheath that was wrapped around her thigh, and threw it, burying the knife up to the hilt in the woman's exposed flesh.

The rogue briefly remembered a time when killing someone without regard had bothered her. But this was business. She felt no remorse or anger as she stepped over the dying bodies, glancing about for the scoundrel. A cleric would come to drag their bodies off the field, anyway.

Her gaze fell on the other roguish man pacing at the other side of the field, waiting for a moment to strike. Her teammates had failed to notice him, and it wouldn't be long before he found an opening. Grinding her teeth, Charlotte risked shouting, "Oy! Watch your flank- someone's closing in!"

The others stared at her in surprise for a moment, but then spotted the scoundrel she warned them about. The champions on the other side closed their flank, making sure to keep him outside their line.

Just as Charlotte was about to turn back to the frontlines, however, another arrow stuck itself into her shin, piercing deep into the leather armor.

Charlotte dropped down to a knee, grimacing in pain and anger. She ripped the shaft out of the greave, which would now shred like butter under any blade. The wound was superficial, but any skilled adversary would know to strike for it. Not wanting to waste any more time, the Half-Elf sprang forwards, sprinting straight for the archer as he tried to notch another arrow.

Taken by surprise, the Woad Elf fumbled with his new arrow, but in his panic he couldn't set it straight enough to aim. Charlotte swung both blades down at him, and he managed to get his bow up to block. The maneuver saved him, but completely shattered his bow in two with a sharp snap as the metal bit through the wood.

The archer in red beside him saw the commotion, and had the sense to take off running in the other direction. But the Woad Elf took out two slender blades of his own, twirling them in his hands before giving her another grin.

Charlotte thrust forward in anger, but he skillfully parried. Before he could strike, she leapt back, and they slowly circled around each other. She searched for any misstep he might take, but even for someone who was not wearing shoes, the Elf was sure-footed.

Everyone else gave them a wide-enough berth, focused on the main fighting that was happening in the center of the field. Charlotte had lost track of the scoundrel in her mad rush, but she couldn't spare the time to try and find him again at present moment. As the thought passed through her mind, the Woad Elf struck out at her, but she was also able to parry, and then parry his other blade which came soon afterwards. It seemed that they were equally skilled with dual-blades, and the Half-Elf knew that it would take concentration and luck to outmaneuver the other.

The two began trading blows, hopping around each other as graceful as cats, as the metal of their swords sang out in a deadly melody. Charlotte felt her boots almost slip a couple of times, and cursed the fact that his bare feet did not.

It also did not help that he kept trying to lead her towards the torchlight coming from the boundaries of the field. Every time he stepped in front of it, she was momentarily blinded and had to use the outlines of the shadows she could make out to anticipate where he would strike. She had been correct thus far, but it was only a matter of time before she made a mistake.

The Woad Elf was crafty, but he was also cautious. He would only press his advantage when he had one, but otherwise he stayed on the defensive. So Charlotte decided to make her own advantage, striking for his side to try and turn him towards the torchlight.

Using his own trick against him proved successful, and she could see his facial features twist as he struggled to block her attacks. Finally, her sword struck true, tearing into the outside of his knee. He dropped down before her, the grin all but gone from his face. She went in to finish him off, but he continued to swipe at her. He destroyed her in-tact greave completely, and nearly took her foot off on the other leg.

Panting angrily, Charlotte knocked his swords aside with her own. Spinning her blades around, she breathed out "Good fight" before driving them deep into his collarbone. The Woad Elf's cocky smile finally faded, blood spurting from his lips as he went limp. She pressed her foot against his shoulder and kicked him off her swords, where he collapsed onto the grass, staining it red.

The Half-Elf struggled for breath, whipping her swords to fling the gore and bone shards off her weapons. She began to take inventory of the rest of the fight, when a piercing pain erupted from her shoulder blade.

She cried out, dropping the sword in her right hand and swinging around, coming face-to-face with the scoundrel from before. He had a victorious look in his eyes as Charlotte felt the hot blood start pouring from her wound. But the look did not last long, as an axe lodged itself into his neck, tearing through the skin, muscle, and bone until his head was completely severed. It rolled onto the grass, an expression of surprise on its face, and the body toppled forwards limply soon behind it.

Kano stood behind it covered in blood and muck, and he slowly lowered his axe before giving her a thumbs-up. The horn sounded once again, declaring House Cornello the winner, and the clerics began flooding onto the field to attend to the injured.

**AN: What did you think of the battle? Please comment your thoughts and don't forget to vote!