Thicker Than Blood
Chapter 11
Suffer the Little Children
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"Win and Live. Lose and die. Rule of life. No change rule."
- Ayla, Chrono Trigger
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12,002 BC
Schala, politely but firmly, kicked Janus out of her room before he got a chance to see the blueprints. He didn't mind, really -- it'd been a long shot, in any case, she was always too secretive for her own good. Gaspar and Bethashar were in there as well, so he wasn't particularly worried about leaving her with Dalton when he took his notes and spread himself out at a table near some open windows in the Palace's largest library.
Janus was aware that his fears were excessive, bordering on paranoia but -- well, what else was he supposed to do? Let it be, then find out he'd been right all along? Schala was all he had, he'd never forgive himself if something happened to her. Especially if it turned out to be something he could have prevented. Though if Lavos ended up as the real threat after all, he wasn't sure there was anything he could do. He was just a child, with no magic, nothing that could threaten a creature as big as Lavos.
Something Zeal had said during the meeting was kept bothering him. About Lavos being the key to immortality. It solved the why of her wanting to build the Ocean Palace, but brought up even bigger questions: Why did Zeal want to be immortal? Why were Schala and the others going along with it? Did they really want to live forever? Why? Janus was only nine and already getting tired of life. Why would someone want all those problems forever?
The possibilities were not reassuring.
And if Lavos was actually capable of something like making the entire Kingdom of Zeal immortal, what chance did anyone have of defeating him? Because Lavos would, at some point in time, need to be killed. There was no question in Janus' mind about that. Whether the creature was a serious threat to his sister remained to be seen, but it was undoubtedly evil. Just thinking about it, looking at the picture -- even being around the Mammon Machine sickened him to the point of physical nausea.
Because Janus was afraid, for himself and for Schala, and with every passing day the fear only grew.
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In all of Ivy's plans, it had never occurred to her that Bloodreaver might not even show up. Either he didn't know she was out there, wasn't interested, or -- most likely -- was merely biding his time until she let her guard down. Only because she suspected this as the real reason did she stay out there -- just to prove she wouldn't let her guard down. What some may have mistaken for patience in her, Ivy knew was simply stubbornness. So the only option was to wait him out. Which wasn't the problem; she had rations in her pack, and no one would come looking for her since she often spent hours alone in the forest. The problem was that she had to be on the ground when he showed up, and if she stayed there too long she risked attracting the other deer.
The trap was set around five trees growing about twenty feet or so away from the main forest. It was deceptively elaborate, though the whole of it was hidden from view least Bloodreaver suspect something. The two thickest of the ropes lay buried in snow between the first two trees, noose-fashion, one for each of his forelegs, both ready to pull in opposite directions. The other ends of these ropes were directly above this, hung from two heavy, entwined branches, and tied together in another noose for his antlers. It was rigged so that with every pull from his legs, the noose would tighten. A crossbow nestled among the smaller branches of a dead thorn bush at the base of one of the trees, aimed at where -- hopefully -- his left foreleg would be, and also set to fire when he stepped into the trap.
For all of this to work, Ivy had to lure him through the first trees -- using, unfortunately, herself as bait -- and get behind a third tree to pull the rope that would trigger everything else.
It was complicated, and she didn't like that because it left too much room for error. But there was no alternative, and she was too impatient to think up one, which probably wouldn't work anyway. Deep inside, she knew it was just nervousness. No. These might be your last moments, Ivy, don't spend them lying to yourself. Truth be told, she was so scared she couldn't breathe right, and her hands wouldn't stop trembling. But there would be time for fear later, when she was home and --
Oh. Damn.
There he was.
Bloodreaver seemed to have not noticed her yet, ambling along the edge of the forest, muzzle raised into the wind. Ivy swallowed hard, then narrowed her eyes. Being afraid was fine. Fear was natural. Showing the fear was the problem, letting it control you, letting others exploit it. Ivy took a deep breath and stood up, brushing snow off her knees.
"All right, you bastard," she said, loud enough that he heard her over the wind. Bloodreaver's head raised again, turned in her direction. The one remaining eye narrowed as he snorted a cloud of steam into the air. Ivy took a step backwards. "Come on, this way... I've got a little surprise for you, demon. Although I don't think you'll enjoy it."
Bloodreaver seemed to draw himself up at this, one cloven hoof poised above the snow. His lips pealed back to reveal saliva coated fangs, the corners of his mouth twisting up in what Ivy could have sworn was a smile. He shook his head at her, pawed the ground, shook his antlers at her. Bloodreaver seemed more amused than angry, and it was his blind anger she was counting on.
"Come on, you bastard! Get your ass over here and fight me!" He could not understand the words but there was no mistaking the challenge. She needed something to piss him off, so she took out one of her daggers, and then a few seconds later it was embedded up to the hilt in the tree beside the Bloodreaver.
It achieved the desired effect, and Bloodreaver roared into the snow, plowing his way towards her at an alarming speed. Ivy turned and ran, through the trees to the back of the third one, pulling the rope tight.
It actually worked.
To avoid slamming into the third tree, Bloodreaver had dug his hooves into the snow, planting them directly in the nooses at the moment she got to the rope. For one fraction of a second, Ivy saw the utter bewilderment on his face at finding himself spread-eagle between two trees, with a rope tangled in his antlers holding his chin up. Then the crossbow fired, at nearly point-blank range, and drove the bolt completely through his left foreleg. Bloodreaver screamed, though it was more from fury than pain. Obviously, the leg was broken, -- thank the gods -- and an unforeseen side effect of this was that Bloodreaver was now stuck, because while he could wrench one leg free, doing so with the other would leave that part of his body with only a shoulder. Though until he figured out to chew through the rope, she was going to use his immobility to her advantage.
Within seconds she had her other crossbow notched and ready, and she stepped from behind the tree. At the sight of her, Bloodreaver Alpha roared even louder, throwing himself left to avoid her arrow, loosing his balance to fall on his side in the snow and in the process breaking the ropes on his right leg and antlers. The arrow found him despite this, burying itself in the thick muscle of his right shoulder. A few seconds of thrashing to get his legs beneath him. One single, fluid motion and Bloodreaver rolled to his feet, snapping the final rope holding his broken leg as he stood. He paused for all of two seconds, though for Ivy it seemed much longer, and exaggeratively slowed down. Narrowing his glowing orange eye then inhaling deeply, Bloodreaver charged her.
For this part of the fight, Ivy was just winging it and hoping that the closely set trees and his wounds would prevent him from outmaneuvering her. Ivy noticed something else to her advantage as she circled swiftly around the tree to avoid his fangs; the snow, while not deep enough to effect her, Bloodreaver with his broken leg and slender hooves was having, well, maybe not considerable difficulty, but he was slow enough that a little of the fear fluttering in her stomach and throat dissolved.
Ivy pulled out another dagger, weaving between the trees fast enough to avoid the limping, enraged cannibal deer on her heels. This wasn't an exercise she would be able to maintain for long she realized because she was already getting tired, feigning left then turning right and around behind the tree, panting to catch her breath. Anticipating her next turn, Bloodreaver cut her off, and she whirled around to run the other way -- and tripped, neatly, over the noose ropes for his legs, and then couldn't get up again because the damn rope had caught and twisted her ankle until she heard bone snap. White-hot pain surged through her body, and for a moment she couldn't even breathe. Bloodreaver hadn't expected such a sudden stop, and with only one whole leg, he came crashing down on top of her, ending up on his knees. Ivy was pinned with a tree at her back, and his antlers held her there as several of the tines were deep in the tree trunk. Without a seconds' hesitation Ivy plunged the blade in that one furious orange eye.
Thick, dark blood gushed from the wound, soaking her arm in the hot liquid. Bloodreaver uttered a scream so loud and shrill Ivy felt her eardrums pop. He began thrashing, violently whipping his head from side to side, to either free himself from the tree or shake the dagger from his eye. Savage fangs gnashed mouthfulls of bloody snow in attempt to get at her, saliva making a foamy pink lather around his lips. Gurgling snarls burst from his throat. Ivy realized that if she didn't move he was going to eat her. She looked around frantically. The tines of his antlers were too closely spaced to allow escape.
Bloodreaver roared again, mouth gaping wide and spraying her with flecks of blood. Ivy felt herself tremble. This was it, he was going to eat her just as he had her mother --
Her mother. This bastard had eaten her mother, those fangs had ripped the flesh from her bones, while Ivy watched. And she would be damned before she gave up, not here, not now, not this fight. Ivy's blue eyes had narrowed and her breathing came deep and even. A roaring filled her ears, a rushing that was not the sound which erupted from Bloodreaver's gaping maw. It seemed like it came from inside somewhere, and it sounded like the wind. After a moment, she realized it was the wind.
It hit them full force from behind, frigid and screaming, and a wall of snow came with it. Ivy was blown over Bloodreaver's muzzle down his back where she tumbled to the cold snow beside his flank, too tired for the moment to move, even though he smelled of evil, and blood, and steel. Then with one smooth tug, Bloodreaver freed his antlers and rocked to his feet, turning on his heels to snap at her -- she had already gone. Bloodreaver completed the turn, fury momentarily lulled by bewilderment.
Getting his eye had been a lucky move, now all she had to do was stay downwind and pick at him with arrows until he wearied enough for her to move in with her dagger to his throat. It was a good plan, it was safe -- and she forgot all about it when he turned to search for her. The sight of that bloodied muzzle brought back vivid memories of seeing his head lowered to nip delicately at her mother's body. The wind slammed into them again, but this time only whipped Ivy's hair and clothes around. Bloodreaver was nearly floored by the blast, bellowing almost piteously.
Something hot and wild and painful rushed searingly through Ivy's body, making her see all black for a fraction of a second. When the world came in to focus again the pulsing heat sill had not left her, and white-hot energy had collected in her hands, making them glow transparent. It had also collected in the blade of her dagger. She had no time to focus on this because the light had enticed the Bloodreaver. The demon took a confident step towards her, ruby liquid streaming from the remains of its eye.
Then she noticed Melchior, leaning on one of the further trees, gasping for breath and staring at her in wide-eyed shock. What the fuck...? But then Bloodreaver Alpha charged her and her attention was required elsewhere. The thing obviously could not see, but the damned light was attracting it somehow.
Of course, Ivy knew what the light really was. The thing she'd waited for all her life. But there would be time for that later, when she did not have several hundred pounds of demonic cannibal deer in her face.
Ivy waited until he was close, and dodged left, on his weak side. He'd anticipated this as well, apparently, and savagely swung his antlers sideways at her. Because she had nothing better to do, and because she knew he wouldn't expect it, Ivy grabbed two of the tines -- careful as not to loose the shining dagger in her left hand -- and swung herself up and towards his back so that when he straightened to keep running, the force of it sat her neatly astride his neck. Inching upward carefully, mindful of the dagger and her ankle, Ivy moved until she was perched just behind his ears. Ivy raised her glowing dagger above the thick, flat plane of his skull with two hands and then with all her weight behind it, plunged it in.
Bloodreaver exploded.
She was aware of flying through the air, then falling -- then stopping, just shy of the ground, before some gentle force lowered her to the snow on her feet. Ivy's sight was edged with soft black but Melchior was in the center of the picture and seemed to be trying to talk to her. Ivy could only manage two staggering steps backwards before her broken ankle remembered itself and she fell, unconscious, into snow still soaked with demon's blood.
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Rast: Okay, if the format is messed up its 'cause I'm uploading as .txt instead of .html like usual, so things like italics and stuff won't show up. I'll fix it when I get the chance. Also if some of the spelling is bad. Yeah. The computer here has no spellcheck and..ah, hell. Not important. Anyway...
I'm sorry this chapter was mostly Ivy! I put as much Janus in as I could but obviously I had to include the fight with Bloodreaver, and I would have done more Janus, but my computer can only handle documents up to about 20KB or so. Too much and chunks get deleted. Okay, so maybe chapter eight was mostly Ivy too, but I hadn't intended for it to be so it feels different.
I want to thank all of my reviewers for all the lovely reviews. It would be pompous if I said that's the only reason I write, but it sure as hell makes for good motivation. There's just nothing as inspiring as a good review -- or any review, for that matter, even if all it says is 'update.' Thanks people, and keep 'em coming. Also, this next chapter should hopefully get out a little sooner, as half of it is already written, but it all depends on if the library computers feel like working or not. And...well, SailorStar gave me kind of an idea. Is there any way I could entice you people into telling me -- well, not which chapter, but which parts you like? So I know which bits are good and which need improvement? Maybe practice does make perfect, but if you're doing something wrong, practice gets you screwed.
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