Chương 53: Chapter 52: Grace

As I moved forward to cross the distance between my party and the Duke, Gelidia grabbed something on my back and swung her way up onto me. Only then did I realize that yes, I did indeed once again have a kind of saddle built into my armor, as I had the first time she did this. Her thighs wrapped my waist and her weight settled on my hips just above my tail, and quite naturally I shifted to a semi-bipedal gait that let me lope my way towards the knights with her comfortably astride my back.

I'd had to slow down not to leave my friends behind, a fact that the Knights of Windbinder Keep and their fell Lord took full advantage of. They brought their enhanced mist-corroded heavy shields up into a phalanx and held their polearms held out towards me to stop my lumbering charge by strength of arms, planting their feet solidly With Sir Gotthardt at the very center of the formation.

Their Duke stood confidently behind, Roxala's original plan neatly countered, and it looked to be a formidable position that I was throwing myself into the teeth of. The Duke. He was our goal. He was the linchpin of this entire fight. Despite my Wolf's desire to enter the fray, to tackle this fight head on, she listened to me as the distance vanished.

Roxala began to cry something out, but I didn't hear her - I was too busy bunching my legs under me just before I would have met their weapons, and bounded into the air, sinking a few points of Stamina into the action to hurl myself skyward and sail over their heads with about five or six feet of clearance. Time seemed to slow for me a moment as it did, I figured, for the Duke and Gelidia as well, combat high bringing our senses to the fore as we locked in, friend and foe alike.

The Duke's fiery eyes were wide with the shock of recognition of my play, impossible to a normal man but far from impossible to a monster like me, and then hardened with his resolve. I felt a tingle behind me from my precious rider, even as I felt the temperature of the air before me plummet. The head of the Windbinder dynasty brought his power up to contest my surprise rush. In that crystalline moment of descent, I had time to think about my status, to measure my overall health.

[Health: 240/240] [Stamina: 200/275] [Mana: 60/115] Gelidia gathered her power, magic seeming to mass behind me like a great cloak as a tide of gale force winds. With a cry of "Ventria!" she expressed it, bringing her sword around as a focus to transform the tsunami of wind she'd conjured into a cutting edge that matched her swing with all the force of her spellwork.

Her father before me simply raised his shield as a bulwark, and the mist that formed his body surged up around him to form a barrier of bone and screaming mist! The two powers met, and the terrible might of that exchange slowed my descent in a burst of chaotic emerald green eddies for just a moment, long enough for the Duke to shift his stance to brace himself as my claw came around at his chest.

Sparks flew, and frost formed on my fingertips as his shield was jerked aside, but he pirouetted with the blow and had that shield up and ready to meet my next swing, even as his blade came up and deflected a strike from the rider on my back as Gelidia used the rebounding blow to build up force for the next, another shower of sparks dazzling in the dimness.

Behind me, I heard a fantastic crash as Roxala met the shield wall with all the strength of her body, directed into a closed-door bull rush that snapped corroded weapons and sorely tested Sir Gotthardt's resolve and that of his men. She forced the rubber-necking knight to turn his gaze from me to her, and look upon his dance partner or lose the advantage he held, followed swiftly by his life.

I couldn't spare them a thought - the Duke's dread blade was whipping around, and while Gelidia was a powerful mage, she did not have her Sire's upper body strength, and the blade he sent for my neck wouldn't be stopped by her alone. Instead of mindlessly pressing the assault and getting shortened by a head, I jerked back with my hips and let my paws slide across the floor a moment, even as I leaned back an inch from that questing blade.

He didn't strike nothing, either - his blade struck strands of blue mana that shone in the air a moment before the sword rent them asunder - the ward. He'd carved through it with ease, Fel's power no match for the fell Duke's magical blade. Once again I'd surprised the man, and once again he adapted with remarkable speed. The Duke was better than me. My Sohei skill knew this for certain. Were it just me in this fight...

this man would easily stike me down, and we both knew it, judging by his bony sneer in my direction. I might well be able to beat him if I got lucky, but he didn't need to be lucky to beat me - he just had to fight cautiously, to play it safe and wait until I screwed up badly enough to skewer me. He made Roxala look like an amateur, and that woman beat me soundly. I was no match alone for him. Good thing I wasn't.

His appraising stare somehow seemed to gleam with approval as I circled him and my Lady gathered a stroke of lighthning to share with her sire.

"Your Beast is an impressive creature, Gelidia." he said, and while he'd clearly meant it as praise, I felt Gelidia's disapproval of the statement even before she spoke in response.

"She is her own, she is not mine, though I love her dearly." she replied, and it seemed such a naked, real thing to say in that moment.

"She might even be a formidable fighter one day if-" and he blurred at me mid-sentence, this time catching me off guard. I tried to get out of the way of the blow as his shield came up and clipped me upside the head, disorienting me a moment, but I could do nothing at all to stop the ice cold edge that struck into my chest viper-quick as part of the dancer-like fluid movement. He'd moved... so FAST in the middle of a statement, and, apparently, without breaking the rhythm of his speech.

"-she weren't doomed never to see another dawn." He went on as if nothing had happened, and my strength just... I just felt cold. My eyes were wide as I looked down to see his blade... buried to the hilt in my breast, right through my sternum. It didn't hurt at all - my body was numb, and I could feel where he'd pierced me through, front to back, with that quick and deceptive motion.

[Health: 60/240] [Stamina: 230/275] [Mana: 40/115] I was bleeding terribly, great bubbling splatters of my blood rushing down my chest and belly from the wound under arterial pressure, and each pulsing splatter of my life's blood on the cold stone saw me growing weaker and weaker as my heartbeat faded, bit by bit. I was... dying. I realized it, and so, clearly, did the Duke. He stared right into my eyes with his own fiery regard with something approaching... what, regret? I might have imagined it.

Gelidia brought her blade down at her Sire's head with a cry of horror, and with almost casual disdain, he deflected the blade strike as I felt my chest grow colder, as numbness spread through me, as a twist of his blade with a meaty pop I felt in my bones and an explosion of static in my breast stopped my heart's beating completely. I tried to muster my mana, but the blade... something about it just...

wicked it away, stole the power away from me, drank it down into the weapon itself, even as he left it buried in my chest. I went sideways, and he followed me down, grabbing his daughter's sword-bearing wrist as he did. I was so cold... [Health: 30/240] [Stamina: 200/275] [Mana: 0/115]... And then a crossbow bolt buried itself to the feather in his left eye, and Torch arrived, long blade flashing out, followed closely by a trio of balls of water!

The Duke screamed and had to retreat - even if he was higher level, that didn't make him invulnerable, and he'd just suffered a wound that would have been debilitating or perhaps even fatal if he were alive! The blade left my breast as he recoiled on pure reflex. Some of the mana he'd drank from me flowed back into me, but it was so clearly too little. I couldn't even seem to rouse, to muster myself [Health: 5/240] [Stamina: 100/275] [Mana: 10/115]"No! No Nono NO!! Stay with me! Emily!"

Gelidia cried as the world began to go dark.

"Emily!" She was so beautiful... I wanted to cup her cheek, to comfort her as Torch stepped up to the Duke, blade flashing and sheathe held to parry returning strikes, but I couldn't... do anything at all. I just didn't have the strength. There was a distant sound like... rushing water? No... it was... a growl. My Wolf was saying something to me... she was... I was... what was going on? Everything seemed so confusing.

The world stopped making sense to me and the sister of my flesh desperately tried to survive, simple as she was. NOT DEAD [Health: 20/240] [Stamina: 135/275] [Mana: 0/115] baDUM! Splatter. Power flowed into my breast, and I let out a gasp as heat and awful sensations flooded my body, as my Wolf called upon my little remaining power, drained as I was by the dark blade of the Baron. Gelidia seemed to sense it, and pressed her mana into me as well with desperate intensity!

My Wolf lapped it up greedily, and latched onto her through our bond, the Wolf Pendant, to pull more... and more... and more, and spent it instantly, staunching my bleeding breast. She literally could not spend it fast enough. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. [Health: 45/240] [Stamina: 160/275] [Mana: 10/115] baDUM! Another heartbeat! My chest wound closed and burned as it did.

Heat flooded through me, and I felt a terrible pain overtaking the static that seemed so refreshing after the numbness of death I'd been experiencing. BaDum! BaDum! BaDum! The world swam back into focus, and Gelidia just held onto my neck, looping her arms around me and holding on for dear life as I shifted my weight and moved to sit up. I shook off a bit to get the tinglies out, and realized... I'd nearly died. And that if I didn't do anything, Torch surely would.

I still couldn't move exactly - I was moving, but it wasn't me doing it. With some trepidation... I realized that the Wolf in me was the one at the reigns, not me. The fight was NOT going well for Torch at all. He'd gotten the drop on the Duke, and he was a good enough fighter to completely hold the man's attention, but Torch was far from his equal in a fight. Sohei informed me that Torch badly needed backup.

He could just about fend the man off, and even one handed with his shield arm occupied as he clutched his stricken face, he was fighting Torch to a standstill, strike and parry gaining momentum as the Duke seethed with fury, lucky stray slashes opening lines on Torch's legs, his arms, his chest, but never quite striking home! And Torch, clever devil that he was, had maneuvered the Duke so he wasn't looking in my direction.

When he tried to turn, to glance at me again, to keep astride of the fight, Torch pressed the attack and carved little blows of his own. Pay attention or die, that dance said! And so, the Duke had no choice. Mana was pouring into me from Gelidia now as she shook with anger and tears alike, giving no care at all for mothering her strength in favor of saving my life. She was running out of steam.

I could feel it as the tide of her power ebbed and she began to grow less substantial - she didnt have much power left in her, as she sank buckets and buckets of it into my body, gave me what she could. I was no longer bleeding, and a deep breath made my sternum ache teribly but also made it give a soft crackle as my ribcage repaired itself. [Health: 125/240] [Stamina: 200/275] [Mana: 40/115] BASTARD"Foolish man.

That monstrous creature is dead - and your death will be equally pointless, I assure-" I don't remember crossing the distance, and only realized we had when my hand struck the Duke full on in a suckerpunch slap with all forty points of mana I had left, spending it with will that rode bang alongside my Wolf's own. Unlike the other times I'd used my strength like this, I didn't just let go of it again right off the bat - it was... invested in my muscles, and it left me feeling almost painfully tense!

I couldn't hold it in for long, this much power, but maybe... it wouldn't matter? It was a beautiful hit - my paw was big enough to cover his whole head and a bit of his shoulder, so the ferocious, claws-out slap caught him on the whole of his upper body! His eyes went wide just a heartbeat before I hit him with all the strength of my hips and the supernatural power that had torn apart the front gate, all at once. He had no defense ready, and Torch was left standing exactly where he was, blade lowering.

"... Yes? you assure me of what?" Torch mocked as the duke's body hit a pillar. Both he and the stone shattered to pieces with a sharply curtailed cry of pain that broke into a sound like an industrial accident at a stone quarry. Wolf didn't wait to see what had happened to the man - She didn't want to give him a chance to recover.

She pursued the Duke into the chaos of the falling masonry, berserk rage pounding in our veins as Gelidia cried out in fear and exultation, equal parts terrified of my fury and speed and profoundly relieved I was alive! My paw closed on a piece of tabard to drag him into my grip before he even hit the ground, and rather than try to get the Duke's stunned hand away from his sword... Wolf simply pulled arm and shoulder away from each other with one brutally expedient motion that felt...

so, so dreadfully easy, even as his spectral flesh resisted before spraying white phantom blood in a display of savage, brutal power that deeply satisfied the savage beast inside me, not just her, but myself as well, something dark red that flowed like a river of magma. We threw the still screaming figure of the Duke to the ground brutally, and his mist-clad bones bounced as breath and will to fight fled him. Then, lifting a paw, wolf and woman alike, we began to stomp down at his chest to finish him.

That was when Sir Gotthardt intervened in a desperate blur of motion that sent his shield crashing into my side. It must have been like hitting a wall - it saved his Duke as it knocked me off balance, but it earned him my Wolf's undivided attention, also. Gotthardt brought his shield up to full guard, halberd raised in defense"Back, beast! You will not have -" and Wolf didn't bother with his shield.

She just grabbed his halberd behind the head, gripped his shield, and planted her paw in his chest all in one smooth, viper quick movement that sent the hero of his kingdom backward with a shocked cry at the sudden and vicious savagery of the motion, leaving Wolf holding his armaments as it was either let go of them... or lose his arms too.

Gelidia was shouting at me, even as I snapped the halberd like a toy in my fingers, the Duke's power long fled from it, and raised the shield above the cowering duke in both paws, aiming to chop him in two with the blunt metal object. I watched the Duke raise his remaining arm to shield himself in pure animal terror. A futile gesture, pathetic, and to me in that moment, it was hilariously pointless.

I laughed in pure scorn - the noise was terrible from my lips, something out of a nightmare as Wolf and Woman alike in my heart cackled at a volume that made the rest of the world go silent and recoil in horror. That is, until Gelidia appeared suddenly in front of me with a cry of"PLEASE! NO! HE'S MY DADDY!" Her terror, her pain, the tears in her eyes... I rocked like a statue. Wolf wouldn't strike her - not for anything, for me or for anyone, and my mind caught up to the rage that pounded in my veins.

The world was still... or at least it seemed that way as She held Her breath. Torch was nursing numerous cuts, the Duke was wide-eyed and staring in terror. Gelidia stood before me, standing over her father protectively, the fight completely gone from him. Gotthardt was laying draped over a ruined table, and Roxala stood back to back with Fel in a ring of wounded spectral mist knights, heaving heavy breaths.

"Please... Emily..." Gelidia breathed, and... and... the cruel smile left my snout. The Wolf was suddenly uncertain, as was I. The Bandit I'd killed a lifetime ago had begged for mercy too. I hadn't been at home to miss Reasonable then, and I felt my past decision not to spare her loom up in my mind. I remembered how good I'd felt in the moment when my baseball bat had cracked her skull... again. And again. And again until it was pulp. But now, as I had not long after... I felt sick.

I could choose vengence, I could choose anger. I could choose to be a killer. I wanted to. I wanted to badly. The Wolf and I were in agreement - the Duke was a wretched, honor-less coward who had tried to kill my Gelidia, who had almost killed me, both times in duplicity and deceit and we wanted nothing more than to crush him utterly. I felt my growl rise in my breast.

The Bandit woman had tortured members of my found family, she'd pillaged and laughed at our pain, and she'd broken bargain after bargain, just for another fix, another high. This Duke... didn't deserve my mercy. Part of me wanted to destroy this duplicitous snake of a Duke that had nearly dealt me a deathblow, who absolutely would not have spared me in my position. It would be so, so easy to just push Gelidia out of the way and crush the bastard flat anyhow. Part of me wanted to do just that. Or.

I could choose love. I could choose mercy. He thought me a monster... but I wasn't one. Not because of what I was, but because of choices I had made. Gelidia... didn't want me to kill this man who so richly deserved it, didn't want me to kill her father in front of her, didn't want me to be... just a monster, a killer, a destroyer. And as I stared into her eyes, the growl faded in my breast. Maybe if my sweet Alex had been there to talk to me, I wouldn't have killed that raider either...

not with him looking at me, not with him to see the expression on my face. I didn't want revenge. I didn't want to hurt anyone. I wanted to live in peace and... and make pies and gnocchi and hunt and...! HE TRIED TO KILL US And now he's been disarmed. He's no danger to us now. HE IS A BASTARD. HE TRIED TO KILL HER! Wolf was so much angrier about that than the first fact, I realized. I felt the same. But it was her who was asking me to spare his miserable hide. But he's her father.

We beat him already, and his stupid guards. We don't need revenge - look at him, we got that already. Wolf did, and... let go at last. The moment of the Wolf had passed. I tossed the shield aside, and the sound of its clatter seemed very loud in that perfect moment. Gelidia threw her arms around me, buried her face in my blood-soaked fur as she became more real, as her contact with me forced her to manifest more strongly. The World let out a breath of relief, and Sir Gotthardt pushed to his feet.

He had neither weapons nor shield, and his armor, corroded by the mist, looked patchy and frail, just as he did. He looked on the scene, on his shattered and wounded duke, still what passed for alive among the shades and skeletons of Lambstock, and... made a decision.

"So, Mote It Be." he said in sepulchral tones.

"I... on behalf of my Lord, surrender the throne of Windbinder to thee, Gelidia Windbinder." he said, and looked exhausted.

"What is thy will, Duchess?" he said, and she glanced at him. Then, back to me. Then, she promptly ignored him. Something in that moment was much more important. Gelidia's fingers dug into just the right spot for several seconds behind my ears, and the pleasure of it was obscene. I collapsed to the ground, and shamelessly whined and made little doglike chuffing noises of delight. Gelidia, with little 'Good girl's and 'I'm so proud of you's, followed me down and then got at my tummy.

As a human, this would have been too much, and in public? It would have been mortifying! I didn't give a heck, neither of me did. I made little noises and, quite out of my control, I squirmed. I didn't react like a human. I reacted like the monster I was and... wiggled my leg helplessly as she gave me a tummy rub. Right there. In front of her stunned father and all the nobles, knights, adventurers, servants, and even Ms. Birchwood in attendance.

"Good Girl." she said, patting me on the tummy one last time. Then, her hands soaked in my blood which had caked my tummy and body below the wound pretty completely, she rose, and at last faced Sir Gotthardt. I rolled to my paws beside her, golden eyes glowing and tail wagging steadily as I knelt, one part faithful hound, one part her Knight, and perked my ears. Her hand rested on my head as she said.

"I accept your surrender. I am your Grace, the Duchess Gelidia Windbinder." she called, in a voice to carry.