The Princess and the Blade

[Emora Deen]

Tenara’s face paled. “A rut?” Her only experience with a rut had been with Havitharon, alone, in her room. He had said that an untamed rut could make them feral, but she had not seen a side of violence from him—likely because she was his chosen female.

But Laurius was out there with him now. They were supposed to be fighting, and if Havitharon was in a rut then it was likely Havi would kill him. She—they—would lose.

She bolted for the door. “I demand to see the fight! You can’t keep us in here! You can’t keep me from them.” She beat her fists into the door, feeling helpless panic open the door to her magic as surely as popping loose a latch.

[Soran Nightblade]

Ren rushed after her, unsure what to do. He knelt behind her as she pounded at the door, bowing his head in the face of so much female energy. "If you are present, it will be seen as interference," he said. He reached out and pulled lightly on the hem of Thvoros's shirt. He scoured his memory. He'd seen Thvoros fight before. It was one of the reasons he was so unsettled by him. Wasn't there something he could remember... anything that could help?

"Weapons," he murmured. His chin jerked up to look at her, his hand pulling stronger at her shirt. "You may choose the weapon for your champion. In ever case I've heard of, the Yurivis chose hand to hand combat to reduce the chance of their challenger being killed. You have the right to choose it."

[Emora Deen]

Tenara looked back at Ren. Was he saying… It took every ounce of focus to cram her magic back down, to not rip the door off the hinges. “My sword,” she said, strained. “I want my challenger to have my sword. That is my weapon of choice.”

[Soran Nightblade]

Ren's green eyes hardened with pride and admiration. "Then tell them."

[Emora Deen]

Tenara banged on the door again, and shouted through it for them to retrieve her sword, wherever it may be, and give it to Laurius. At least, with it, he would have a chance. It would mean using the sword against Havi, but it was the only choice they had.

Tenara heard someone scurry away, the clatter of their shoes echoing off the walls. She slumped forward into the door, trying to calm her racing heart and the pressure of her magic. She told herself it was okay now. As long as Laurius was still alive.

——

“Sit. Down. Get in your knees,” Laurius snarled, tugging Havi’s head this way and that. “You stubborn goat-headed creature, just cave!”

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi's claws dug deeper into the man's arms. Being taken by the horns might have weakened him as a reflex, but being commanded by a male in his current state also drove his fury to new heights. "I will never kneel to you," he snarled, ripping into his flesh. "It's hard enough just to keep from killing you!"

"Halt."

Cera's voice echoed through the room, and the female command lodged in the rutting Ivis's chest like an arrow. It was more than just the effect of a Yurivis's influence. The sensation was familiar. The sword.

Havi stood frozen, shuddering with the effort of controlling his rage. "This was your idea," he growled at his sister without looking away from his opponent. "What are you stopping me for?" He'd never wanted to badly to kill someone and lose to them at the same time. What if she knew what the sword did? If so, they were all doomed.

His sister sighed, flicking back a strand of dark hair. The messenger who had just whispered to her scurried away from the obviously irate woman. "Laurius Marr, your master has chosen your weapon for this duel. Brother, you shall bear one in kind."

From beside her chair, she lifted the sword she had confiscated from Tenara. One of the guards examined it, and rushed to collect one of similar ilk from their armory.

A minute later, the guard re-entered the arena with two swords, one of which was encrusted with crimson stones. She offered the weapon to Laurius.

[Emora Deen]

Laurius hesitated in releasing Havitharon. It felt like a trick. If he let him go, would he be able to get to the sword before the being caught him. How the hell would he be able to weird it anyway with one hand…But then, Laurius caught a better look at the weapon.

Tenara… that beautiful, brilliant woman.

Laurius took a breath and released Havitharon, reaching to collect his weapon.

[Soran Nightblade]

By the time the guard reached them, Havi was at his breaking point. Between the false rut, his sister's commanding him through his blade, and the relentless pressure on his horn, darkness had begun creeping into the edges of his vision.

Take it first. No, take it first! Take the sword first... he barely registered the thought, much less spoke it to his opponent.

Laurius's death grip on his horn released. Havi's eyes flared wildly as the pressure eased and Laurius turned to take the sword. Laurius may as well have been moving in slow motion, while Havi's racing thoughts were burning up his mind. It took less than an instant to sweep up the weapon Cera had assigned him. Child's play to draw it back, and drive it home through Laurius's stomach.

[Emora Deen]

Laurius froze as his hand rested over the hilt of Tenara's sword, fingers half curling around the hilt before the shock of what Havitharon had done froze him rigid. His green eyes flicked down to the blade in his belly, knowing he should feel pain. Like the nails in his arm, like the broken nose, like the cracked ribs at his back, he knew that he was injured and yet... felt no real pain. Just dull, terrible wrongness. What the hell was in that drink?

It surely wouldn't stop him from dying, he thought. It wasn't slowing the flow of blood from the wounds he already had. It filled his mouth like wine. Havitharon, in the stupor of his rut, had completely lost the plot of their game. He laughed, sharp and short. Every instinct that was Laurius Marr told him to give up. To sit down and beg for a healer and let Havitharon deal with the repercussions of letting his animal get the better of his mind.

But he couldn't get Tenara's wide, frightened eyes out of his head, and he couldn't face her if he lost—even if none of this failure was his fault. He gave a scoffing snarl and snatched the soulsword from the guard presenting it to him, curling his hand too-tight around the hilt. At the same time, he took a step back from Havitharon, drawing himself off the man's weapon. It was, of course, the wrong move. Laurius knew weapons and he knew what they were good for, he knew what he shouldn't do when run through. But, he did it anyway, and felt the heat of his life wash down the front of his body, presenting him with the strangest sensation of hot wetness, like he'd pissed himself. Less than three minutes. That's all he had left before he bled out.

"You thick-headed animal," he said, because that's what he was. An animal led by his biology and not his mind. "You're going to be the thing that breaks her, aren't you? Not Elias, not that bastard soldier she's terrified of, but you. You and your fucking base instincts." He choked up on the blade and lunged at Havitharon.

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi's brain washed blank the moment Laurius took the sword. Even if he wanted to counter the man's attack, it would be impossible. He was holding the sword, and its sway over him far outmatched the drugs in his system. He'd woken from bad dreams before, but this was the first time he'd woken into one.

"You thick-headed animal!"

What had he just been doing?

"You're going to be the thing that breaks her, aren't you?"

The sword in his hand fell free and clattered to the stone.

"...fucking base instincts."

He stared at the wound in the other man's gut and simply watched Laurius come at him.

______________

Ren was still on his knees where he'd dropped beside Tenara. He was stretched forward on the ground, horns bent to the earth, whispering something again and again. Praying.

[Emora Deen]

Laurius drove the sword into him, a wound to match his own. A kinetic explosion happened the moment he did, like he'd delivered a single vial of explosive powder to a flame. It knocked him back and sent a shockwave through the room. Laurius crumpled to the floor, the sword still in his vice-like grip. He dizzily launched himself up, not sure where the hell he was getting any of this strength from, and staggered to where Havitharon was prone on the floor. He dropped to his knees hard enough to chip bone and half-fell over him, pressing the sword to his neck. It hissed and arced subtly against Havi's skin, threads of magic angry at being so close to him. "Yield, you fool," he half-grunted.

---

"It will be okay," Tenara said, a little prayer to match Ren's. She couldn't really tell what he was saying, but it was rhythmic and pleading and matched the beat of her heart. Then, the room rattled and dust drifted down from the cracks in the stone above their heads, and it had nothing to do with her magic. She touched the cold door, her breath fogging slightly in front of her face as she exhaled a shaking, worried breath. She listened, and heard nothing.

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi hit the ground with a pained grunt and grasped reflexively at his searing wound. The skin was sizzling hot where the weapon had entered, as if it had been lit on fire and not stabbed. It had been the worst sensation he'd felt all day, and that wasn't a small list. "I yield," he groaned immediately at the man's command. He forced his voice loud enough for those seated in his sister's pew to be certain of it.

At first, there was no sound from the spectators. A sense of shock seemed to hold a spell over the room. Then, they finally realized what had happened, and things began happening quickly. Havi was vaguely aware of the sound of people barking orders and moving around. He caught the word "toothsbane" on someone's lips, and wondered if his sister would even bother treating either of them with the expensive medicine now that she'd lost her prize stallion.

[Emora Deen]

Laurius exhaled a sigh of relief and rolled onto his back, staring up at the stone ceiling covered in glowing moonmoss. It was really pretty, he thought. Such a strange place, this world. He felt at his belly, touching wetness and lifting his fingers to admire the red staining his skin. Still, he had very little pain. He still had that manic feeling buzzing in his chest, which warred with the exhaustion blood loss was dragging out of him. He still held Havi's sword, but held it away, down at his side. He was afraid of releasing it, afraid it wouldn't go back to Tenara but mostly afraid Havitharon would finish the job of killing him if he did.

He did not hear the word Toothsbane, but he wouldn't have turned it down if it was offered to him.

"Well, that was fun," he huffed, closing his eyes.

---

Tenara banged her fists on the door out of frustration. How could they just be in here, with no word on how things were going? She racked her brain for what she could say to get them out of this room, or to get them any amount of word on how the fight was going or had gone. "What right do you have to keep me in here? To keep me away from my Ivis if you have put him—them—in a rut?!"

[Soran Nightblade]

Havi's sanity was flooding back to him the longer Laurius held the sword, finally a dominant voice in the power struggle inside him. He dragged himself to Laurius's side and propped himself up to examine the man's wounds. "This is not fun," he argued sourly, tearing his shirt free and balling it up. He located the entry point of Laurius's gut wound and pressed the wadded fabric down against it firmly. The stone around him was very dark and wet. "Shit. How are you still conscious?"

____________

Outside their ritzy cell, the door finally unlatched. The guard who opened it looked flustered, and it wasn't clear why. "Princess Tenara... Your challenger has won the duel," she announced.

[Emora Deen]

Laurius stared up at the ceiling. "I imagine its whatever's in that drink," he said, his eyes getting heavy. "I think its wearing off though..." Or the blood loss was finally tipping the scales of its effectiveness. "I'm going to rest my eyes..."

----

Tenara felt dizzy from relief. She reached down and grabbed Ren, pulling him up. "He won. Ren, he won!" She took his face in her hands, joy bringing tears to her eyes. Then, she turned to the woman. "I demand to see them. Now."