Roche pressed the palms of her hands into her eyes until she saw stars. "I can't do this!"

"You can, you just need more practice." Verita insisted, holding up the still unenchanted dagger. Roche opened her mouth to reply when alarm bells began to clang loudly. Roche jumped to her feet, scrambling to the windows. She could see a cluster of Silvian grey cloaks gathering, weapons and torches hoisted.

"No, no, no." Roche cursed, flipping through the spell book. "I need more time."

"There is no more time!" Verita wrenched Roche away from the book roughly, her withered fingers biting into Roche's shoulders. She shook her harshly. "You must go."

"But I'm not ready." Roche pointed to the unenchanted dagger.

"If you don't try now, there will be no other option other than failure." Verita snapped. Roche swallowed, the truth of the words dawning on her. The Atrex would stop at nothing until it found her.

She couldn't let more people die.

She grabbed the dagger, as useless as it was, and bolted for the door. The halls were filled with confused nobles, bustling maids, and shouting knights directing people to safe places. Roche stuck to the shadows and barrelled down the hall, swerving around terrified people until the crowd thinned. Just when Roche thought she was safe, she turned the corner and promptly collided into two other people.

A tray clattered to the ground loudly at the same time Roche dropped her dagger.

One of the two figures cursed, and she recognized that voice.

"Kai?" she asked, dumbfounded.

Kai blinked at her in confusion. "Roche?"

They both turned to the third person. Roche gasped. "Ivie? Aren't you supposed to be in a cell?"

"The princess let me out. She's going to get herself killed. I'm going to help." Ivie panted. Her dark skin gleamed with sweat.

Roche raised a brow. "With no armour? Or weapons?"

"There's no time!" Ivie grumbled. Roche sucked in a breath, turning to Kai.

"And, pray tell, what are you doing out at this hour?" she asked. Kai's cheeks darkened with a blush.

"I thought I'd see Finn and give him a snack. He's not doing well." he frowned at Roche, "You?"

"Same as Ivie." Roche swallowed, "Tigris is going to get herself killed. I'm going to help."

"Both of you, stay inside. I'll find the princess." Ivie said quietly. Roche snorted.

"The princess needs all the help she can get." she argued, crossing her arms.

Ivie watched Roche carefully for a moment before nodding. "Alright, let's go."

Kai glanced between them both. The alarms had increased in volume and pitch, grating on Roche's ears. "You're taking Finn's warning seriously, then?" he asked. Roche nodded, and he sighed, "Well, then you can't go out there without armour. Or weapons."

"We have to go now." Ivie said sternly, looping her hand around Roche's wrist. Kai bit his lip for a moment before beckoning for them both to follow. He charged down the hall towards Finn's chambers, throwing open the doors. He made a beeline for a large cupboard.

"I only have one set. Aodh might have another, but it'll take extra time to get there." Kai explained, holding out a sword that must've been Finn's. Roche nudged Ivie towards it.

"We both know you're the better fighter." she whispered. Ivie nodded, taking up the sword easily. Kai and Roche slipped on some extra armour plates onto the knights before Ivie insisted she was fine and that they really had to go. Her urgency wore on Roche's already frayed nerves. As Roche went to follow, Kai grabbed her wrist.

"Where's Aodh? It isn't like him to leave the princess before a battle." he asked lowly.

"You haven't seen him?"

"None of the knights have." Kai said grimly. Roche tugged out of her friend's grip.

"Find him." Roche told him, "Tell him what's happening."

Kai nodded grimly, and Roche sprinted after Ivie, hoping that they weren't too late and that no one else would need to die because the Council wanted to draw her out.

-------

The night was colder than any other. The breeze sliced against Roche's skin, sharper than any blade. Her skirts tangled around her feet as she ran after Ivie, her lungs burning. They scrambled into the courtyard, and Roche nearly stumbled into Ivie's back. The knight had slowed for a moment, and it only took Roche a moment to figure out why.

There was a trail of carnage leading out the courtyard, dead, mauled bodies gruesomely laid out like a terrible work of art. Huge bite marks were carved into their stomachs and throats, leaving none untouched.

Burned torches laid abandoned. Ivie turned to Roche, her face grim and pale. She bent over one of the dead, grabbing a still burning torch.

A loud, baritone shout split the night air. Roche grabbed Ivie's wrist, yanking her towards the edge of the forest, towards the source of the cry. They tripped over more bodies, slashed by huge claws. A beastly snarl echoed through the clearing, followed by an unmistakable voice.

"HOLD!"

No, no, no, she was too late.

Roche ran past Ivie, leaping over bodies. She arrived in time to watch the beast tear through another three knights with one swipe of its paws. The men went flying, arcing through the air with a spray of blood.

They didn't rise again.

Tigris bellowed in anguish, holding her sword up. "CHARGE!"

"No!" Roche cried out, summoning her inkblood, "Mordoc qui heuill blant-"

She didn't even finish the incantation before Tigris had grabbed a handful of fur and was pressing her gun to the beast's nose. She fired a shot up its nostril, but the bullet skittered away easily. The Atrex's eyes widened, its nose flaring as it locked on the scent of gunpowder. It reared up, and Tigris flew.

"Skuedo!" Roche gasped, weaving the inkblood shield around the princess as Tigris crashed into the ground, her green eyes fluttering. The princess went deathly still and Roche howled, grabbing her body. She pressed her fingers to her neck. After a harrowing moment, she felt a thready pulse beneath her fingers.

Roche nearly wept in relief. The shield has somewhat worked.

A chilling lupine howl emptied the thoughts from her head. She looked up to find the Atrex lifting its glinting green eyes towards her. Its nostrils flared, and the inkblood in Roche's veins seemed to freeze.

She could have sworn the beast smiled.

Roche's throat went dry as she took a few careful steps away from Tigris' body.

"You want me?" she shouted loudly, "Here I am!"

The wolf howled with delight, bounding forward. Roche braced herself, focusing her concentration to get her inkblood to thaw in her veins. Another call split the air.

"Hey!"

The Atrex spun around. Ivie was standing there, smacking her shield and sword together. The Atrex' lips curled, torn between feasting on a nuisance and a well of inkblood. It turned back to Roche, but Ivie raced forward, sword aloft.

"Get the princess out of here!" she shouted to Roche, grabbing the wolf's tail and yanking hard. It yelped, spinning around to throw the girl off. Ivie flew through the air, but managed to snag another handful of fur between the creature's ears. She flipped forward, her legs dangling over the Atrex's crystal eyes. She locked her legs around its snout, holding her sword aloft.

Now or never. Roche realised, holding out her hand. She gathered her inkblood, feeling it rumble in her veins, turning molten with her desperation.

She held the Atrex's gaze, hoping the Council was watching as she hissed the crackly words,

"Mordoc qui heuill blantros."

It felt like fire shot out of her palms as her inkblood whipped forward, curling around Ivie's sword. The length of metal blazed brightly with shadowy, obsidian flames of inkblood as it pierced the Atrex's eyeball, shattering the socket with a deafening crack.

The Atrex howled deafeningly, the sound sending a violent chill up Roche's spine. She jumped, covering Tigris' body with her own as the Atrex thrashed, sending Ivie flying. The knight twisted in the air like a cat, landing roughly on her feet. They watched with horrified fascination as the obsidian flames turned into shifting black veins, radiating from the stabbed eye. The Atrex writhed, its throaty cry shaking the earth as it fell to the ground. The inkblood pulsed from the stabbed sword. There was a flash and the Atrex' cry cut off sharply.

The wolf's corpse seemed to shrink in on itself for a moment.

Then inkblood exploded out from it in a wave, knocking Roche onto her back. When she looked back up, there was nothing but a tangled, gruesome mass of fur, bones, blood, and teeth where the creature had once stood.

A groan split the air. Roche scrambled away. It would raise too many questions with Tigris if Roche remained there, so she disappeared into the trees, where she watched Tigris rise unsteadily, holding her head. Her emerald eyes focused on Ivie, standing over the mangled remains of the Atrex.

Tigris stared for a moment, and Ivie turned, her jaw dropping.

"My lady," Ivie's voice trembled. She dipped into a curtsy, ignoring how her maid's outfit was stained with gore.

"Ivie," Tigris' voice was serious and still. Then her face split with a grin of disbelief. "You killed it?"

Ivie nodded slowly, her eyes concerned.

Tigris threw her head back and laughed, long and loud.

"You killed it! You did it, Ivie, you did it!"

Ivie's low chuckle filled the air as Roche crept back to the castle, glad that the princess was left in good hands.

A/N: Woohoo, the Atrex is dead! What did you think of this chapter? What do you think will happen to our stoic, steady Ivie after this?