Chapter 21: Blade to Blade
Rayla's eyes were angry, determined, as she glared at the human.
"Why are ya doin this? You're barely older than me, you're a kid! You don't need to kill for him." She said, pulling out her swords. "For anyone."
"He's all I have left." Talon replied, stepping towards her. "Our people are gone. Why not take? When all has been taken from you?"
"Because taking a life doesn't bring your old one back!" Rayla replied. "I'm sorry your people are gone, Talon. I really am. I saw...what you saw. It must've been horrible. I wish I couldn't imagine it. I wish I hadn't seen. But killing me, killing anyone, it won't bring them back!"
"Nothing will." Talon replied simply. "It is a hole in my very being. In my soul. You have one too, elf." He said, looking into her eyes. "I can tell. All assassins do."
"How do you fill that hole, Talon? All these years? Cuz I can't!" Rayla said, putting a hand on her chest. "I don't know how."
Talon sighed.
"Today...I will fill this hole by killing you. Tomorrow...by killing others. This is the assassins way."
Rayla's eyes narrowed.
Her blades flitted out of her sword handles.
"I have to get back to mah friends. You can either get outta my way. Or I'll...I'll have to kill you."
Talon smirked.
"See, that's the spirit you're missing." He said, charging forward.
Rayla held up the blades, deflecting his attack.
He turned, swinging both swords, but she ducked, and swung to the side, sliding across the snow on her knees.
"I left you two openings to cut me down. You ignored them." He spat, holding his blades firmly.
"Is there a reason you keep leavin me openings?" Rayla asked, swinging at his shoulder, a blow he easily dodged.
"Curiosity." Talon replied.
Their swords met again, and he pushed, knocking her back.
"I'm going to kill them." He said, after missing a jab. "Not the king. Azrael wants him alive. No. The mage. How long do you think he would last against me?"
Rayla gritted her teeth, as she looked up at him.
"You stay away from him! From both of em!" She shouted, swinging wildly.
Rage coursing through her.
Talon dodged the wild swipes easily, then turned, and brought his blade across her side.
Cutting into her light armor, and drawing blood.
Rayla let out a gasp of pain, grabbing at it for a moment, before focusing her angry eyes back on the human.
"Somehow, that burns less than my words, doesn't it?" Talon asked. "What is it about that mage? Is it love?"
Rayla swiped across his chest, but he hopped back.
"Oh. It is." Talon said with an amused smirk. "An elf. In love with a human. Touching."
"Shut up!" Rayla shouted, swinging at his head.
He ducked down, then slashed across her knee.
Rayla let out a grunt of pain, swinging blindly at him, as she looked down at the wound.
She looked up in time to see a fist. She had no time to prepare for the punch.
It knocked her back, several steps.
She could smell blood. It was dripping from her nose. She glared up at Talon again, swinging her blades.
"Come on. Use it!" Talon shouted.
The elf let out a cry of rage, charging at him.
He met her attacks, then sliced his blade across her stomach.
This time she dropped to the ground.
It wasn't the deepest cut. But it was a cut. And it was bleeding. She gripped the wound, her hand coming back red.
"So many openings I've left you. This is a fight for your life, but you won't go for the kill!" Talon shouted. He stepped forward, and kicked her hard in the side. "You hesitate!"
Rayla spit up blood as she collapsed onto her side.
Her vision was getting blurry. She needed to get up. She needed to fight.
She did. Slowly rising to her feet.
She let out another cry, trying to summon as much energy as she could.
She swung, connecting, slicing into his side.
He backed away. A look of disappointment on his face. Of disgust.
"I left an opening for you to kill me! And you go to wound? What is wrong with you?!"
Rayla swung again, and this time, Talon blocked her attacks, holding her swords in place, his face came inches away from hers.
"What a waste of time you are." He hissed. Then he brought his head back, and head butted her.
She dropped to the ground again.
The attack had been a complete surprise. She had been focused on his swords. Now her world was spinning. She was dazed.
"Get up. For Callum. For Ezran. For the frog. For yourself. Come on Rayla! Get up!"
She saw Callum's worried face when she closed her eyes.
She saw tears in his eyes.
Those tears wouldn't be for her. She wouldn't allow it.
She looked up. Snow was falling slowly around them.
And they were near the edge of a snowy cliff side. She narrowed her eyes, looking up at the smug Talon.
Then she charged. From the ground, into a full on attack.
Her blades clanging off of his, sparks flying as they met. Fury coursing through her, as she pushed him back, toward the edge.
The snow below her was red with blood, as she bled across it.
Talon had nothing to say now. No comment about her fighting. He was fighting for his life, eyeing the cliffs edge nervously.
Rayla let out a cry as she spun and brought the blade slicing across his chest, drawing blood. He swung his, but she deflected it with her other blade.
The momentum was hers.
And then it wasn't.
She pulled her swords together.
And drove them both forward, toward his stomach. Going for the kill.
And he tapped them both aside with his blade. Then swung out of the way, and kicked her in the back.
Sending her sprawling forward. Toward the edge.
She collapsed ahead of it.
Heaving. Desperate to catch her breath.
"Admirable." Talon muttered. "But too little too late."
Rayla jumped up, and spun around to face him.
But he was ready.
She swung her blades, one by one, going for his head.
And before she could even register it in her mind, her hands were empty.
He had knocked them out of her hands with two swift, hard blocks.
She turned, in time to see her two beloved blades fly over the cliff's edge.
She quickly turned back to him, in time for both his blades to come together, and slice across her midsection.
There was a choking sound.
And she dropped to the ground.
For good this time.
Gripping her stomach. Feeling the pain course through her body.
"Get up." Talon commanded.
She gritted her teeth, letting out a cry of pain, as she tried to do just that.
A hand grabbed the collar of her armor, and she was yanked up.
And dragged across the snow. Toward the edge.
Her legs kicked out, and she squirmed to get free, as she saw where he was taking her.
But it was futile. She had nothing left.
"A worthy opponent should die on their feet. Not on the ground." He said, pulling her up to eye level, as he held her over the edge of the cliff.
Defiant eyes glared back at him. No more fear in them. Only rage. And a hint of sadness.
Then she spit in his face.
Talon's face wrinkled in disgust.
"You won't find them. You'll fail." Rayla hissed.
"Maybe." Talon admitted. "Maybe they will find a happy ending." He looked into her eyes. "But I'm afraid there will be no happy ending for you in this life. May you find peace in the next."
He let go of Rayla's collar.
Her eyes widened.
It was over.
She dropped. Straight down.
Toward the dark, snowy depths below.
As she felt the wind whip past her, she closed her eyes.
To see Callum one last time.
