Chapter 17

I decided to avoid talking to Ashitaka for now. I was not used to self-evaluation, and was not keen of admitting that I was less than a perfect man. I was no hero, that was for damn sure, but I did try.

But I didn't know what I could do about it. I was, after all, a killer! Oh sure, Ashitaka had certainly killed men, but our similarities just about ended there.

I was a killer because I wanted to protect the freedom of people against those who would gladly take it from them. I was also so used to it by now, and how could I stop being a killer, and become something completely different?

So yes, I avoided Ashitaka because of the doubts he placed in my mind. The young man was naïve and idealistic, but he had so much to give to the world, unlike me. But not so deep down, I knew that he was the better man as well.

He meant well and had a tolerable spirit. He had a way of thinking the best of everyone, and for bringing out the best in everyone. If there was any man that I would never think of harming in any way, it was Ashitaka. I respected him, trusted him, and even liked him. I wasn't sure if I loved him as a brother quite yet, but I was sure that would come later.


But all that left my mind, as I paced back and forth, breathing heavily, aching for the signal to start the attack.

I was surprised that I wasn't scared of facing Luci again.

The torture, the humiliation, the pain, all of it. I couldn't forget it, and I couldn't wait to get my revenge.

Bugger Michael! I wasn't in it for him anymore.

I was doing this for me, because I hated Lucifer, hated the position he and Michael had put me in, and I wanted blood.

I paced among the trees, eyes fixed upon the fortress. For the first time in years, I was filled with hate. Ashitaka, to his credit, had instilled the idea of reform in my mind, but that would come later. That would come after I fought Lucifer, and rid this world of his stench.

Edmund had made it clear: Michael wasn't needed to kill Lucifer.

But I wasn't just going to kill Lucifer.

Oh, no! I was going to take my time with him, and bathe in his blood!

By the time Lucifer left this world, I would make him beg for death, as he had forced me to beg. An eye for an eye!

I was going to go Old Testament on his pansy arse!


San grinned toothily as she watched her brother pace in eager anticipation of the coming fight.

Now her brother was all wolf to her: merciless, bloodthirsty, and intensely focused!

She had been waiting for this day for a long time, yearning for the chance to see her Assassin at his best.

Lucifer was going to pay, and she would be there to witness it: John's baptism as a wolf would be in the blood of his most hated foe!

Let Ashitaka and anyone else disapprove, but who were they to look down at them? Righteous fury was the most powerful force in a wolves' arsenal: a wolf fought to survive and protect their pack, and fighting for what and who you loved was sacred to her.

That, and finishing her mother's work: killing that gun woman. The thought had occurred to her that she might have to go through John to do so, but she knew where his true loyalties lay: with his heart, not his human lusts.

The heart of a sodding wolf!

And no one would stop his final transformation: not Ashitaka, not the Pevensies, not even Susan!

After the slaughter, she would consider Ashitaka's words.


I could feel San's eyes upon me, her thoughts clear in her eyes: she, like me, couldn't wait for the bloodbath.

When the signal was given, we used ropes and make-shift grappling hooks to climb over the wall, with me and Ashitaka at the head, San following close behind.

Once we were over the walls, we engaged what few guards were posted on that part of the wall, killing them easily with surprise on our side. Turning to the others, at least a couple hundred samurai who were concentrating on the enemy sieging the castle in front of them, we lit into them from behind.

Although, I wasn't paying attention, as I had seen Lucifer's new vessel trying to sneak into the shadows of the keep.

"Lucifer!" I roared, and the man turned. He was much smaller than Asano had been, and younger, with a clean-shaven face and wide protuberant eyes.

"This ends today!"

Lucifer smiled. "How right you are, my little plaything! Have you come because you missed my fun?"

With a snarl, I drew my sword, and swung for his head.

He batted it aside with his own sword, which he had been hiding, smiling all the time. "Look at you, all angry and hateful! That's good. Love is a powerful emotion, but what you're feeling is life!"

I stared at him, sword aiming for his face. "Good, because I'm going to use both to send you back to hell!"

Lucifer snorted, looking amused. "You defeat me?"

His amusement vanished a second later, after he had dodged a vertical slash that would have cut him in two.

"You arrogant little shit! You are nothing without that filthy Archangel!"

I laughed shortly. "Susan was able to kill you, and now, so will I!"

Lucifer laughed. "Nonsense! You cannot even touch-"

I lunged forward, opening a deep gash in his side. Lucifer roared, and flicked his wrists. A powerful force flung me backward, slamming my back into the stone wall.

My vision dimmed, and I saw a constellation of stars before I heard a shout, and I turned to see Ashitaka running to my aid, his sword out.

"No, Ashitaka, no! Wait!" I roared, but the foolish boy ignored me, his sword meeting Lucifer's with a clash of metal, as the Iron Town soldiers clashed Lucifer's men.

San helped me to my feet, as Ashitaka pushed against Lucifer, their swords locked together.

Suddenly, Lucifer reached his hand out, and Ashitaka was pulled into his grasp by an invisible force, and lifted into the air by his throat.

I held San back, as Lucifer spoke. "Do you want to know how you got that curse, boy? I gave it to you, not that boar. You think you can escape your fate? You are going to die, a delicious agonizing death!"

Lucifer snapped his fingers, and Ashitaka's arm seemed to writhe against itself, his sleeve ripped away, and the purple stain spreading all the way from Ashitaka's fingertips up to his shoulder. Ashitaka groaned harshly, and Lucifer laughed a giddy laugh. "Hurts, does it not? That's only a taste of what will happen!"

San broke free, and charged for Lucifer.

With a sneer, he dropped Ashitaka, and swept her back with contemptuous ease, and she was flung into the wall next to me. She was out like a light, her head glancing off the stone wall.

I howled in rage, and charged back into the fight.

I didn't care whether I lived or died. I wanted him to die screaming for what he had just done.

Ashitaka writhed on the ground in agony, and San was out of the fight.


Whirling my sword aloft, I sent him back-pedaling under my merciless blows.

After I had driven him back a few steps, Lucifer locked blades with me, as the two forces battled around us. "Very good! I knew you would react that way if I threatened your precious family, but even I underestimated it-"

I disengaged, and slammed the hilt of the sword into his face.

He staggered back, nose broken. "Oh, my face! You fucking hairless monkey, you ruined my face!"

I snarled in feral joy. "I'm only just getting started!"

Lucifer nodded, smiling almost genially. "That's the spirit. Now, give into your hate. Strike me down!"

I laughed, despite the situation. "What are you, the Emperor sodding Palpatine?"

He smiled proudly and shrugged. "One of my many vessels. Although I do enjoy controlling worlds and planets, I prefer murder and chaos, the fun little random cruelties."

He advanced, and I had to work hard to keep up with his blows. "You and Michael are so full of yourselves that you believe that you will always be the center of my universe. You both are the most powerful distractions to my plans, but only just distractions."

As he said this, he opened a gash on my left arm with lazy ease. "As you have found out, I delight in the little things: torture, suffering, despair. The Stone Table was so much fun, was it not?"

Screaming hoarsely, I lunged forward, and we battled our way up a flight of stone steps, and onto the wall itself.


Once Peter and Edmund saw that the enemy dissapeared from the battlements, they assumed that the diversion had work.

"Cease firing, and prepare for a frontal assault!" Peter called, and the various Captains spread out, preparing to march.

"You know, Peter, this could be a trap," Edmund suggested, ever the skeptic and perfectionist.

Peter shook his head, years of military experience kicking in. "I don't think so, Ed. Something tells me otherwise."

Edmund shrugged. "If you say so, mate. Regardless, it's about bloody time we went forward. I'm not about to let our allies fight without help!"

Peter placed a calming hand on his brother's shoulder. "It's easy to get your adrenaline up, but it's discipline that carries the day!"


While the battle was continuing, Susan and Eboshi were still conversing, this time about John's relationship with San.

"They seem to love each other," Susan was saying.

Eboshi smiled grimly. "That's putting it lightly! They are practically inseparable. If she wasn't such a thorn in my side, I would be touched by their devotion to each other."

Susan nodded. "I suppose that is what happens when two people are around each other that long, and fighting together certainly helps."

Eboshi sighed. "They are two of the most efficient killers I have come across."

She saw Susan shiver slightly. "I don't like to think about that. I wish things could be different. Goodness knows that I've tried to put a stop to that."

Eboshi was touched by Susan's obvious devotion. "Despite that, he is a good man. He has many noble qualities, and he is a loving and caring man," she said, both to tell the truth, and to make the young Queen feel better.

Susan smiled. "Oh, I know. And I love him regardless."


While this was going on, San woke up, and sprinted to Ashitaka, who was still on the ground, clutching his arm, which had swelled and become a deep mottled purple color.

"Ashitaka!" She cried, kneeling next to him, and cradling his head in her lap.

Despite his horrific agony, Ashitaka reached out, and took her face in his hands. "Don't be afraid, San. It's going to be all right."

San started to cry. "Please don't leave me!"

He wiped away her tears with his thumbs. "I never will. I'll always be with you. How can I do otherwise, with you as my beloved?"

The Iron Town villagers, after they had finished defeating their enemies, gathered around the couple. They were shocked at the spread of Ashitaka's curse, of the obvious agony it caused, and the emotional damage both did on the girl that they had hated for so long.

"What are you standing around for? Get help!" San shrieked up at them, and for once, they obeyed her, opening the gates for their allies.


As the Narnian vanguard entered the huge courtyard, Lucifer and I paused to watch. I was breathing heavily, but he had not even broken a sweat.

"It's over, Luci. You've lost!" I growled.

Lucifer shook his head. "Quite a lovely gathering, wouldn't you agree? Nothing that goes on between you and me will ever end. I win some, Michael wins some. You are just a pawn in our little game, just like your fellow sentient beings!"

San's desperate scream filled the air, as Ashitaka went limp in her arms.

Lucifer laughed. "Listen to her, look at her! Drink it all in. No matter what you do, no matter where you go, I will always come back!"

I shook my head. "And so will I!"

With that, I used the last bit of energy I had left to lunge my sword forward.

He frowned as the sword buried itself into his chest until my hands were touching his chest.

Lucifer gave another giddy laugh and spat in my face. "This means nothing. How does it feel to know that all your sister's pain is because you wanted revenge, that you are to blame for Ashitaka's death? I will see you in another universe, and tell the brats that Jadis send her regards!"

With a roar, I took up Michael's sword again, and decapitated the vessel of Lucifer on the spot. The body fell as if his strings were cut, and black smoke issued from the corpse. It disintegrated into the air a few seconds later, Lucifer's hysterical laughter ringing one last time through the afternoon air.


After a moment of standing, staring down at my fallen foe, I descended to the courtyard.

San bent over Ashitaka, while I shoved my way to them.

I was in no mood to be polite.

A few seconds later, I knelt next to my sister, and looked down at my friend. He was only barely alive, and I knew he didn't have long without help.

"Ashitaka!" San cried, shaking his body. I called her name, but she didn't seem to hear, shaking Ashitaka wildly.

"San, listen to me!" I said, taking her face in both my hands.

She tried to push me away, but I wouldn't let her go, my voice breaking. "Look at me, look into my eyes!"

Finally, she did so, and I continued. "He's not dead, but he's going to need help."

She nodded, and I bent over Ashitaka's inert form. The purple stain and swelling had spread from his arm to his upper chest.

"John, please..." The despairing look she gave me was something that would haunt my dreams for many years.

"We need to get him to Lucy," I said, and the brother wolves charged through the crowd, right on time, stopping in front of us.

"We have to get him to the youngest Queen," I said, as San lifted Ashitaka's body onto one of their backs.

The Iron Town soldiers burst into mass protest, not trusting the Wolf Tribe.

Losing what little patience I had, I drew my sword. "Get out of the way, or I'll slaughter the sodding lot of-"

"Do as he says!"

We all turned to Peter and Edmund, who had just entered via the open gate.

"Who are you to tell us what to do?" One of the more vocal villagers asked rudely.

The Narnian's, angered by this, went for their various weapons.

Peter stopped them with a wave of his hand, and Edmund spoke for him. "If you want your friend to live, shut your gob, and get out of the bloody way!"

The townspeople reluctantly parted, some muttering rebelliously, as I made to join San as she mounted Tommy's back.

"You stay here!"

I opened my mouth, but she shook her head. "You've done enough damage for one day! Stay away from me!"

I flinched, and looked at the ground, as she and the brothers sped off.

"Now, wait just a minute!" Edmund called after her, but I shook my head at him.

She blamed me for this, and I didn't blame her for doing so.

Lucifer's blade had not cut as deep as his words did, but the latter had some truth: it was my fault.