Chapter 6.

Although The Prince of the Noldor had missed the sound of nature on horseback trips, he came to accept that it was for the better that right now the snoring of the drunk and the roar of the truck were preferable to this...

"To think that the day would come when my children would dress like savages and spit on their relatives wielding raw metal as if they were swords." Feanaro looked at his firstborn from the other corner of the back of the vehicle. With his arms crossed and his brow furrowed, he didn't bother to hide his disdain for Nelyo's state. The wind of the next storm blew over his copper hair, mixed with the smells of the machinery it overwhelmed his sense of smell a little. He would have liked the fragrance of the nearby storm.

"These weapons and clothing will serve me well on future journeys, until I find a willing Noldor, it won't be a long task." The redhead did not return his father's gaze as he inspected the sheet of metal resting in his lap.

"Time? Did you think about that when you offered yourself as a simple servant before that shameless woman?" The former prince did not respond.

"The more you think about playing with these brutes? Do you want to pretend to be a farmer too? To forget the weight of your words?"

"I owe them."

"Is your debt to mortals more important than the oath to your Family?" Feanaro stood up, towering over his son and the unconscious man. It was strange that he didn't raise his voice but perhaps that made him more intimidating.

"You spit on the sacrifice we made, on the lifeless body of your grandfather!" His finger pointed accusingly at Nelyafinwe who still did not look at him.

"Every second you play with these fleeting creatures Kano moves away, will you leave your brother at the mercy of my half-siblings' greedy children!?" He remembered the bodies of Turko and Moryo resting on the ground, their lifeless eyes open and the ground around them bathed in blood.

"Who will go after him? All our relatives have fallen! Don't you feel the air around you? Don't you feel how the world has forgotten us? Can you say that Kano is still treading the same ground as us? Nelyo just looked at the reflection of his own eyes in the metal of the blade. His father did not respond and the noise of the trip filled his ears again.

He already had everything he needed, clothes and weapons suitable for the trip. What else tied him to these people? an imaginary debt that was nothing more than a simple act of courtesy towards strangers. He could leave now if he wanted to. Jumping and fleeing into the forest, the maiden would not be able to keep up with him. Finding his brother would be the real challenge but once that was done...

Once that is done... A screech and some turbulence pushed Nelyafinwe forward slightly. The vehicle had stopped abruptly in the middle of the road.
The elf leaned towards the next window which Amber immediately opened.

"What's happening? Why have we stopped?"

"There is a girl in front," the maid responded as she got out of the truck. He looked ahead and there in the middle of the dirt road was a small creature crying next to a contraption with two wheels. It was a girl with strange green hair and dark skin dressed in blue clothes, she was lying with her face hidden against her hands and knees. Why was there a child here, where were her parents? Those questions didn't matter in the end and the elf just exhaled tiredly as his companion walked slowly towards the girl.

Without much motivation he followed her step from behind.

If Amber wanted to take care of her until her parents arrived he wouldn't object, but he's had enough of children these last few years. At least Elrond and Elros had been calm, they understood the situation and the dynamics of their relationship, the children of men were wilder and slower developing creatures prone to uncontrolled crying and tantrums.

He watched as Amber crouched down and delicately extended her hand to that girl. When she showed her face, Nelyo expected to find tears, snot and drool all over along with bruises from some unfortunate accident.

There was nothing like that, it was a perfectly normal face of a child.

The wind blew again, the cool breeze of an approaching storm reached his nose and with it three aromas. The wind revealed how the dust of the earth moved several feet in front of the woman and the girl.

It happened in less than the blink of an eye.

Amber caught a faint smell of hot metal, which mixed with the girl's strangely deep breath. Her eyes widened and her legs began to push to roll away, but the bullets were much faster than delayed reaction. The girl's image dispersed like smoke, broken by the first wave of bullets. However, they never reached her.

Her entire world changed when the sky appeared before her vision. The ground fell away and crashed into her back instead. For a moment she felt his arm on her chest. It was the same amount of time for the bullets to pass over her, close enough for her to feel the wave of air. Her eyes flicked to the side to see Nelyo rolling ever so gracefully to his feet with his sword already flashing forward.

The prince did not know exactly what type of arrows they were, but even their speed and small size were no match for him. The second wave came mere moments after the first, barely giving him time to breathe, but the flat of his sword met each and every one of them. His hand was blurrier than the projectiles, and even that amount of effort did little to quicken his breath. The sharp sound of metal against metal was a stark contrast to his calm, his handsome face lit up by the shower of sparks and tiny pieces of shattered metal. I hardly consider the fact that a lesser sword would break under such force. Instead, he simply took a step forward, as if to cut off the illusion that was hiding his enemies.

Despite her initial surprise, Amber stood up almost as quickly. While their movements were a little clumsier than the elf's, there was no doubt that each of them was trained. She quickly pulled out her staff and prepared to receive a hail of bullets, but there was a significant lull in the battle.

Tap. tap. tap.

It was the unmistakable sound of boots hitting the ground at high speed. The maiden and the prince joined their backs forming a protective circle as they turned to look for the attacker. The elf's ears then caught the march coming from his left and without wasting any time he turned on his heel and raised his sword upward receiving the invisible blow with the familiar metallic sound that grated raining hot sparks all over the route. The weight of another person impacted against his left arm, just like a hungry vulture, yellowish eyes looked unfocused at a rival.

With an agility unknown to the men of his time, the rival stabilized himself using the Elf's body as support, with one foot on his shoulder he jumped back, doing a complete somersault and falling to the ground with feline grace. The wave shook the nearby trees and Amber thought for a moment that she would lose her balance again, but without being intimidated, the young woman planted her boot on the ground and with her cane facing forward, she unleashed a current of air that sent the man half a yard away.

He was tall, not as tall as the redhead, but his build was similar. He looked middle-aged, with dark brown hair tied up in ridiculously long braids. He was wearing black boots and an open brown trench coat, underneath this was a set of tight-fitting white clothes that left his scarred chest visible. In the destroyed sleeves of his arms rested a duo of circular blades with a firing mechanism included. From the psychotic expression on his face, he was eager to use them.

"Who are you? What is your intention?" Answer before I cut out your tongue!" Neyafinwe pointed his sword in the direction of the stranger. He stood up in a surprisingly refined manner with one hand on his chest and another hidden in the small of his back.

"Who I am is not something you should care about, although I admit it! You are interesting." He said while pointing his finger at him casually. He began to walk, circling them like a cat around its prey, instilling tension in the stormy air.

"No no no" He shook his head "I only matter to you."

Amber had no idea why that crazy man was looking for her, but if he wanted to fight, she wouldn't deny him the chance. The crystal on her staff glowed brightly as she turned it, the flames swirling around it forming a ring of red flames around the duo. The message was clear and the lunatic understood instantly. He launched himself towards them at such speed that the air broke with a sound similar to an explosion that echoed through the forest, despite such impressive acceleration, both the Prince and the Huntress saw him coming.

The young woman unleashed the ring of fire as a circular flame so concentrated whose heat burned the earth, the trees and the stone like a knife cuts butter, her rival was far from being foolish, having predicted such an offensive he slid on his knees below. of the red ring with enough momentum to reach her and deliver a lethal blow to her belly with his foot.

It was a shame for him that she wasn't fighting alone. A strong pull from the back of his neck and the lunatic found himself receiving a metal blade in the abdomen. Although his aura prevented him from being gutted, it still hurt like hell. The elf took advantage of the fact that the braid under his shoe limited the madman's mobility, unleashing a series of cuts that although the first managed to hit him, his rival showed good reactions and blocked the subsequent ones using the blades of his arms while responding with his own offensive.

His new enemy's combat style was something he had never seen in a man, more similar to the big cats or even the enormous white bears that resided in the north. He fought with wild claws, his movements were acrobatic and fluid, not dependent only on the weapons on his wrists as he also used kicks, jumps and even his own raincoat to confuse the Noldor.

Although he was initially forced to retreat by the stranger's unusual way of fighting, Nelyo quickly adapted. The movements of his muscles were after all human, biologically limited, and although the weapon was unknown to him a few moments ago, he lacked the range advantage necessary to close the distance between them.

After deflecting a slash with the blade of his sword, the redhead landed a blow with the stump of his right wrist right on the stranger's nose. Stunned, the prince kneed him in the crotch, twisting him in pain long enough for his sword to lower with the intention of separating his head from his shoulders...

Then the same sound of the beginning of the conflict reached his ears and a stabbing pain in his abdomen caused the elf to stagger back. It was like the sting of half a dozen wasps piercing his flesh, burying themselves in his abdominals with a metallic burning that gave the assailant the opportunity to get up, turn and counterattack with a series of kicks and claws that gave the elf almost no time to react.

The exchange of blows would have been invisible to the eyes of a normal human, only the flashes of metal would be perceived, but Amber was not a normal human. Just as the maniac freed his braid with a kick that pushed Nelyafinwe against the side of the road, The Maiden returned the favor with her boot crashing straight into the back of his head.

Such a kick disoriented him enough that Amber managed to deliver a combo of blows to his back and the back of his knees with her cane that temporarily knocked him down. Taking advantage of the opening, the crystal on her staff shined and a concentrated flare of impact hit her rival's side.

But he responded quickly, rolled on the ground and reduced the distance between them.

She raised the staff as a defense and he used it to his advantage, holding it and using it to propel himself over her to her back and kicking her legs, which caused the maiden to lose her balance, he used his hands to jump, then he opened fire in mid-air, and she sent a cyclone-shaped stream towards him, stopping the bullets and separating them a good distance.

She didn't send him as far as she would have wanted, he ran towards her like a wild beast, but the redhead crashed into him from the side. They both rolled on the ground with Nelyo spinning to land on his feet to get up smoothly. He ran towards him, still stunned mad. The blade of his sword tried to cut him again but still without success, however the impact pushed the man towards Amber who, taking advantage of the opening, hit him in the face using her cane as an improvised bat. The prince saw that he was stunned and without wasting any time he kicked him in the stomach that twisted him and knocked the air out of his lungs.

Amber was about to end the battle by stabbing the crystal into his twisted smile when out of nowhere, three black arrows whistled through the air. They embedded themselves around the ground and then a wave of infernal flames erupted, consuming the three in an incandescent explosion.

When the brown-haired woman stood up dazed, she checked the surroundings, through the smoke, in search of her companion. Despite his impressive abilities, Nelyafinwe did not seem to possess an aura, and having been at the epicenter of the explosion only aggravated her concerns. Her amber eyes found him lying on the ground unconscious, bleeding from his abdomen, but mostly intact, it was as if the flames couldn't burn him, how it was possible, she had no idea. But he was not the only thing that was revealed from the dust, a few feet from his companion, was the man responsible for everything.

She had never been a person to hate. Of course she had her family arguments with her aunt and brother, but she had never wished them harm. Even with their rivals in Beacon, this was nothing more than a mere competition between children that did not escalate beyond intense combat sessions. But this time Amber let the hate run through her like a gathering storm. Her eyes glowed with golden flames as she rose above the ground, winds swirling around her and thunder echoing throughout the Kingdom. The earth shook so intensely that nearby towns believed they were witnessing an earthquake.

The man seemed more excited when he saw Maiden's state. From the corner of her eyes she saw a second black figure approaching at full speed.

Well then, she would make them pay.

Cinder cursed internally as the mission had proven not to go as planned. Not only did the Grimms attack long before their time, but the maiden was not expected to have company. She must have been alone during the ambush. She didn't know how this stranger could see through Emerald's illusion, but she decided not to risk it and ordered the green-haired girl to stay in the shadows until she gave the signal.

Tyrian obviously did not know the meaning of prudence and rushed straight into battle. The stranger and the Maiden had proven to be a formidable duo, there was no doubt that the assassin would not have won the fight if not for Cinder's interruption. Just as the explosion went off, Cinder ran towards them as fast as she could, things were not going as planned and she would not take any more risks, which was why she used the Dust infused into her clothes to shape a black leotard and mask.

As the distance became shorter, the clouds above them increased in mass at an alarming speed. The lightning accumulated and attacked Tyrian like blinding flashes, who barely had time to move out of the way. Cinder would be lying if she said the sight of the lunatic running around like the insect he was didn't amuse her even a little.

Then the naive girl seemed to notice her. Using the wind she lifted towards her an enormous amount of leaves that had fallen as a result of the collision between the murderer and the redhead, the air then acquired a winter temperature, freezing them until each one became as solid as a dagger. The black-haired woman saw the intention and combined both sabers on her hips in a bow. Using some of the dust on the fabric of her arms, she manifested a duo of arrows which she unleashed towards the Autumn Maiden who rained down a shower of icy blades upon her.

The arrows served their purpose, bursting into flames and creating an opening over the storm of daggers such that Cinder emerged relatively unscathed. Using the ashes, she created another trio of arrows and fired once more, but this time without much success as the maiden only summoned a stream of flames that reduced them to nothing.

Gritting her teeth, the masked woman had no choice but to fight hand to hand, fortunately they were two against one.

Tyrian took advantage of the distraction to jump off the maiden's back, his semblance allowing him to overlook her aura, so that the blades on his wrists left a rather nasty cut on her tanned skin. The pain distracted her enough for her to fall to the ground, now without the high ground to her advantage.

The cinder sabers immediately met the staff, and transmitting the heat, melted the maiden's weapon to her surprise. Amber kneed her in the gut, sending her flying backwards, but she composed herself quickly, digging her heels deep and propelling her body forward. Tyrant was not far behind and the three engaged in a fierce battle.

It was clear that the girl had no experience using those powers, the strength of her blows fluctuated too much and she was also not an exceptional hand-to-hand fighter like the assassin was. After a while the movements became predictable from miles away but due to a mistake, a fraction of a second in which the duo was late, she took the opportunity to unleash a typhoon against the ground that raised an immense amount of earth. Such was the gale that the trees throughout the forest were left without leaves, the nearby truck was overturned and the three were thrown backwards.

Such a desperate attack ended up working against her, because lacking experience, the stupid girl received most of the impact, probably her aura was at its limits.

Cinder got up and searching through the dust found the Maiden crawling towards the redhead who seemed to be just waking up. Wasting no time, she drew the bow and fired one last explosive charge, cursing as the man threw the girl aside. The explosion dispersed the dust over a wide radius allowing her to see clearly again.

However, her danger senses were triggered and with as much speed as possible she raised her bow to receive a red-hot sword. The crash shook the ground and cleared the route. Cinder's golden eyes were reflected in the cold silver of that man's gaze. She had to fall to her knee, slowly giving in to the redhead's force as he put more pressure on the dual blades. Their faces were inches apart, Cinder felt their breaths mix. Seeing it closer awakened a strange desire in her, and for once she regretted the thought of killing someone a little.

Then a piercing scream resounds. A maiden was dying while poison ran through her veins. And an old crow caws announcing bad fortune.

Mae Govannen Eruhini~✨
Salutations!~✨
I'm not going to lie, writing all of that was a total pain in the ass. Don't expect action scenes after the next chapter for a while, in the end I had to keep things simpler than I would have planned. I curse myself because I will have to continue things for next time... Anyway, I don't take Oaths.
Any criticism or review is welcome.
Namárië!~✨