Lucy’s POV
Eventually, I started to get worn out and tired from the fight. I knew that I couldn’t give up, but I also wasn’t oblivious to the fact that I needed some source of strength to help myself. The more we kept on fighting, the greater the chances of me eventually slipping up and giving the admiral an opening to finish me off.
My tiredness didn’t seem to escape her sharp eyes. As we stood across from each other, she stood up straight and leaned back, staring me straight in the eyes. “I see that you’re getting tired. Sooner or later that wolfsbane in your blood will get the better of you, and you will lose. Why delay the inevitable?”
Despite the nausea turning me from inside out I forced myself to remain standing. Speaking would only consume the very energy I was trying to conserve, so I simply glared at her.
Rosa looked even paler before. Some guards had put her into a sitting posture, so now I could see all the blood staining her dress. I knew that they had done it so that I would have been thrown off guard.
In that split second that I had looked at Rosa, the admiral used the opportunity to attack, rushing forward with her blade pointed at my midsection.
I was too slow to dodge.
“No!” I heard Shaun shout, but it was already too late. My knees buckled underneath me as I made a weak attempt to dodge the attack. Although I wasn’t in the direct path of the blade anymore, it still managed to slash the side of my abdomen deeply.
Hot pain went through my whole body, but I tried to keep myself in check. The world spun, and my vision split into twos and threes.
Weakly, I tried to drag myself out of the way, but that was when my opponent’s leg came down heavily on me, pinning me in place. As if that wasn’t enough, she moved her leg to the very point where I had been injured, and pressed her boot into it.
This time, I couldn’t hold back my scream of pain.
“I told you that this fight was already over even before you started. But of course, werewolves like you always think that your strength is absolute and will get you out of every trouble. Now, look where your pride has led you.”
Shaun kept shouting, trying to free himself from those holding him down, but it was impossible. But the admiral looked up at him. “Oh, you wish to share the same fate as her?”
“Let her go!” he shouted gutturally, almost roaring. “Or I’ll rip you apart!”
“The audacity of you werewolves has to be studied. You still think you can do anything to me, even with the way you are?” She got up, looking angered for the first time since we had started fighting. It appeared that she was more offended that we weren’t cowering and begging for our lives like she had anticipated-which was an insult to one who judged their authority by the level of fear her subordinates possessed.
She was just someone with an inflated ego. This realization caused me to start laughing, despite my pain.
“Why are you laughing?” She growled, turning to me. Her insecurities were as clear as day now. She couldn’t handle it when people reacted differently from what she expected. She took two steps towards Shaun, but stopped and turned to me, torn between berating me and going over to him.
I just kept on laughing, allowing my voice to rise higher and higher.
“Be quiet!” She shouted, her eyes growing wide. “Quiet!”
“What’s the matter? Are you afraid of a little laughter?” said Shaun, looking up at her. Then, he too, started to laugh as well, sensing her discomfort.
Her hand tightened around her sword as she shook with anger. “I will silence you both forever, and then we’ll see who has the last laugh.” She commanded her guards, “Hold them down!”
As they moved to obey their master, Shaun bit the hands of one of them. I didn’t know how he even got the strength, but he ripped off the man’s hand from his wrist. The guard shouted, bringing up the bleeding stump to his face in horror. The other guard, shocked, froze up, watching as his comrade bled. By the time regained his senses, Shaun had used the opportunity to shove him into the ground and sink his teeth into the neck, making quick work of his flesh as well. In seconds, Shaun had successfully finished off the second guard, whose neck was now a gaping mess of flesh and spurting blood.
The other guard who had lost his hand, tried to attack using his good hand, but Shaun used the chains holding his wrists together to hook him by the ankle and throw him off his feet. As that one too fell, all he could do was scream as he met a similar fate as his friend.
Even though I still bled, and every movement was torture, I dragged myself up to my feet and approached Admiral Fern, who was still watching the chaos unfold before her eyes. Other guards were rushing to Shaun to finish off what the others had tried to do, but even as they went towards him, I could see the fear and uncertainty in their eyes. They had no idea how to make things right.
With the last of my energy, I lunged for the Admiral, and she whirled around at the same time, swinging her sword. But I had already anticipated her move, and held on to her blade, already bracing myself for the excruciating pain that would follow after touching silver.
My skin started to burn, but I didn’t leave the sword alone. Instead, I allowed the blade to tear into my skin.
No matter how bad I might have been poisoned with wolfsbane, I always felt a little drop of power left within me. I had been nurturing it for the time when I was going to need it.
And I needed it now.
“You are nothing but a Halfling with an overinflated ego, Elizabeth Fern.”
The admiral’s eyes went wide as she watched me turning the blade towards her.
“Impossible . . .”she muttered, unable to regain control of her blade. “You shouldn’t be able to hold this.”
“Silver is our weakness. But it doesn’t change who we are.” I grabbed her wrist and twisted it swiftly, causing her to lose her grip on the blade.
Without even wasting another second, I took control of the blade, kicked her back to create a little space between us, and swung.