Iron Elf - A Race Reborn (Book 2) (34 page)

They’d removed the tilt barrier so we could fight after dismounting. They handed me a lance, a real one. Eleven feet of sturdy ash, designed not to break, but to destroy. Hafgan had one like it too. I sat in the saddle a long time, aching everywhere. I’d be covered by bruises, if I lived.

If I lived.

I snickered in my helmet. If I lived. I giggled. I had no reason to worry about bruises, or aches, or anything anymore. This was the end, I saw that now. I was done running. And once you stop caring about mere survival it gets easier to think about what to do with your life. Doesn’t matter if you’ve got minutes left—you can still do something meaningful. And this was the best thing I had ever been asked to do.

I laughed and spurred my horse. This was my choice. My responsibility. Every doubt in my head was gone. A single voice spoke, and it told me to fight proud. It might have been my father. I laughed and spurred my horse. Levelled my lance. I thought about my friends. Heronimo, Mina, Meerwen. May you never need to know.

This. This is it. This is it. Today’s the day. Today’s the day!

“Veeneanaar!”

WHAM

The crowd leaped to their feet.

“A double knockdown!”

The impact jerked me from the saddle. I went flying, but so did Hafgan. We threw away our shattered lances and tumbled to the sand.

We got to our feet and drew swords. We both had estocs, longswords made for plate armour. The edges weren’t too sharp, but the points were, and sturdy besides. I screamed and lunged. He batted the blade and I dodged his return thrust. We circled. Or he tried to. He was bigger, faster, stronger. I couldn’t outfight him or outlast him. But maybe he wasn’t as eager to die.

“Raaagh!” I gripped the blade in one mailed fist and thrust it like a spear. He half-sworded it as well and then we both fought from of a crouch, stabbing at the seams in our armour, points sliding along the steel. He got me in the thigh. I got him in the armpit. I jabbed up to catch him under the chin and he punched through my breastplate. I staggered and he grabbed my left arm. Crack.

He threw me several feet. Tried to twist my other arm behind me, but that didn’t work. My right arm moved like a snake and knocked him off his feet. I drew my dagger and leaped at him. He kicked me before I could stab him in the eye. I rolled to my feet and almost fell down. He’d stabbed me in the guts, it felt like, and my left leg was bleeding too. I was dizzy and having trouble thinking. He had his knife out too. But then he threw it away.

“Fool!” I staggered into a running attack. He picked me up and dropped me over his knee. I heard something snap, and then I couldn’t move my legs. Didn’t matter. I still had my knife. I slashed at him but he stepped back.

“Fight me,” I said, as lay there. “Fight me, you coward. Fight me!” I stabbed the sand, trying to pull myself toward him. My broken arm flopped uselessly. “Fight meee!”

He shook his head. “I will not.”

“I don’t need your mercy! Get over here. I’ll tear your eyes out! I’ll bite your ears off. Fight. Me.” I started to curse him. “Fool. Fight me now and live a long life. Fight me not and your father shall bury you. Destruction will meet you in a distant land and your death shall not come quickly. Fight me.”

He shivered. “Though I may regret this, I will not.”

I couldn’t lift my head anymore. “Meerwen… Meerwen… No, Tamril. Tamril! I am killed, Tamril. Please take me away.”

A shadow fell over me. I looked from the spreading pool of blood and saw Arawn—

I woke up to a strange bed and unfamiliar ceiling. There was a skylight. I definitely wasn’t home.

“The sleeper has awakened.”

Arawn sat at my bedside. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days, and I told him so. He waved a hand over a table full of empty bottles. “Energy potions. They’ll give you wings.”

“I’d settle for legs.”

“My doctors did a good job. Stennik himself supplied your medication. Your hair might grow out blue, but you will walk again.” He pulled a bottle from under the table, which proved to be an icebox. “Recognize this?”

“That’s Elrond’s strawberry champagne. What’s the occasion?”

“You stopped the invasion.” He unwrapped the bottle and with his sword struck off the top. He poured a little out the window, muttering something about absent friends, then filled a glass. He checked it for glass shards and gave it to me.

I sipped. “Sweet. Yeah, that’s party wine.”

“I thought you’d like it. It’s a royal vintage.”

“They all knew, didn’t they? Hafgan and the nobles.”

He took another drink. “I needed to convince them that war would be a mistake. It usually is, but not one of them has lived as long as I have.” His argument was that elves were not soft or decadent. We only looked that way. Take away an elf’s advantages—his allies, his magic—and you were left with a fighting spirit that could burn the world.

“We are proud that we dealt with our centaur progenitors. But it seems elves have forced more than one race into the darkness. And I would not have us be the next victims.” He refilled his glass. “You impressed them, you know. You even scared Bedvir. I’m sorry I misled you, but it’s worked out nicely.”

He left to find his wife and go to bed. That made me poop a little. I dozed off to uneasy dreams of being chased by hunters and dogs. I was naked and Arawn was brandishing a pair of scissors.

“I’ll snip ‘em! I’ll snip ‘em good!”

The nurses were finishing up my sponge bath when Vitus knocked. “Good t’see you, prince. You had me worried back there.”

“Could you open that icebox? I think there’s another bottle.”

He’d brought chocolates. Manly chocolates. This was candy that would put hair on your chest.

“Aaah! Aaah! Aaah!”

“They’re a little spicy…”

Something was bothering him. “You’re not still guilty about Arawn’s ruse, are you?” I asked. “Or are you upset the invasion’s cancelled?”

He shook his head. “I am proud to do my liege’s work. And we did secure the peace. As for the invasion, there are other ways. No, I am embarrassed for a smaller deception. You see, Prince Angrod—”

“Hi Vitus!”

“Madame Ambassador! I was on my way out!”

He left. Tamril grinned. “I see we’re alone.”

The woman had never learned subtlety. She’d never needed to.

“Oh, my king, such pain! Such heroism! I cried so hard when they carried you away. I thought I’d die. I am so glad you survived, and in one piece too.”

I was still wearing the disguise ring. “Uh, Tamril, there’s something—”

“Something you want me to take care of? Naughty! But it has been a few days. The doctors assured me you wouldn’t tear anything if you just… lay there…”

“Tamril, what—what… aah! Stop that!” But she was already climbing into bed and slipping under the covers.

“Hee hee! Guess what I didn’t bring?” She was wearing a skirt. And underneath? Maybe she’d given another good-luck charm. “Ooh, did it miss me? Why don’t you lie back and let your wife take care of this?” She giggled. “It did miss me!”

“I… ah… oooh…”

“Glurp! And if you should feel like giving me a little kiss, well…” She spread herself before me.