#caytoi

He sighed as he drew his daggers, the metal singing as it left its sheathe. He glanced over at Cayde, who was hurriedly shoving her helm over her head.

“We can’t have one day, we can’t have one damn day to relax can we?” he scoffed, twirling the blades effortlessly in his fingers, the weight familiar and comforting. Cayde returned his look, rolled her eyes and broke the gaze as her cheeks flushed and a tiny smile crawled across her face. He grinned himself, an odd sense of triumph filling him as he too turned his attention to the approaching foes.

They had simply been enjoying a day off out in the wilderness together; Keltoi skinning whatever beasts they came across for his crafting and picking up meat for their dinner in one go, and occasionally they would spar for a bit. It had been a nice change of pace from the constant travelling and fighting they’d been doing – Cayde had even packed a lunch for fuck’s sake. Tayler and Momo had stayed at the small town to go shopping for silks and threads and strange gems that would supposedly come in handy for all of them. Keltoi didn’t see how but then again, this magic stuff flew right over his head.

“Mercenaries,” Cayde said, falling in with Keltoi, placing their enemies in front of them, giving them a slight upper hand. “Humans too.”

“Fuckin’ humans,” Keltoi responded, “Why would they be coming after us anyway?” He braced himself as the first lot of armoured humans drew closer. Not a smart bunch, these were. They had dealt with warriors and mercenaries before, but they’d been a little more discreet, to their credit. It hadn’t helped them get an upper hand though.

“Maybe because someone saw a shiny trinket he liked and got caught by the damn owner who so happened to be very rich and very angry.” Her tone was very pointed and accusing, yet lighthearted. He had no time to reply with whatever stupid one-liner he had, however, before the closest mercenary swung his sword.

Keltoi dodged to the side, spinning from the blade’s reach. He raised his foot and kicked the mercenary in his side, his momentum sending him stumbling, widening a gap. Continuing with his own momentum, Kel spun and angled his dagger at the second to reach him, slamming the blade into his chest. The chainmail there stopped the blade from piercing, yet the impact was enough to push the wind from the armoured assailant’s lungs. Not missing a beat, he swiftly sliced down his second dagger, cutting through the not-so-thick leather gloves the man wore, opening the skin along his knuckles. His attacker cried out in shock and his blade dropped. Blood stained Keltoi’s blade as he expertly twisted his body to avoid the punch that followed, blocking with his right arm and spinning to thrust his left blade through his visor. The man screamed as the dagger sunk into his eye. Keltoi twisted the blade cruelly, and as he removed it with a wet sucking noise, the mercenary’s body went limp, his blood and bone running down Kel’s blade and hand.

He had no time to recover, for in the few seconds that he’d taken to cut down one attacker, three more had arrived, not to mention those that Cayde would be facing. They had moved apart, his fighting style almost like a dance; hers more rigid, yet firm and strategic. He could hear her blade whining as it cut through the air and into the mail armour of their enemies. Her brute strength was enough to cleave through the armour, and she would slide the blade from there, splashing blood over her own armour. The technique, he’d noticed, seemed to bring more pain than her initial hack. He found himself marvelling at her genius and tactics, as well as her strength.

His new attackers moved as one, swinging their blades with precision and practised ease. Unable to block all three, he danced around the strikes, twirling and spinning constantly, using his cloak to blind them instead of entangle himself. It was simple instinct that saved him from a rogue swipe aimed at his neck, dropping to the ground and sweeping out his foot, tripping two off them. Continuing his elusive dance-like manoeuvrers, he sized up the group of mercenaries. They had chainmail and decent quality plate armour covering their chest, upper arms and legs, with helms of the same material, yet must have run out of funds when purchasing the rest of the armour, and not even bothering with shields. Their swords looked shiny but he could tell they were worn out, and not looked after properly. He could use that to his advantage, he thought. All the while he dodged, he made sure to get in a few counter hits, slamming the armour with his blades and knocking the helms with the hilt of his daggers, staggering them.

“C’mon,” he taunted, effortlessly jumping out of range of a downward slash, “is that all you’ve got? Shame someone actually paid money for you guys.” His words brought about a fresh growl of anger and determination from all of the mercenaries. It only served to spread his grin further.

“Enough fooling, Keltoi,” Cayde called, barking like it was an order, “Just do what you do best and we can move on with the day.” He watched as she raised her shield to block a strike and thrust her sword into the man’s belly, throwing her weight behind it and driving him back, impaling him on her sword. When she pulled it out – roughly – blood sprayed from the open hole and stained her front and shield, adding to the mess she’d created. He counted fast – she’d downed four to his one.

“You’re bloodier than me, Paladin,” he called back as he punched a dagger through the exposed throat of a careless merc, his life essence spilling from his mouth as he coughed and gurgled. “I can’t have that now can I?” With the dead man still on his outstretched blade, he whirled about, cutting through the flesh of his neck and letting the body fall. As he did, his foot came up and slammed into his friend’s chin, sending him reeling. The third, not discouraged, cried out as he let loose a flurry of attacks. Keltoi danced backwards, before filling himself with his cold magic, pushing himself through the space around him and vanishing, appearing a fraction of a second later behind the man, making three precise slashes: one to his ankle to bring him down, a second to the exposed skin of his arm, cutting deep and severing nerve endings, his sword arm now limp, and the final down through the back of his neck, twisting the embedded blade viciously, snapping the spinal cord. The man screamed in agony and he bled out.

The other man was smarter, though, not coming back for more but closing in on Cayde from behind. She hadn’t heard him approach as she took down yet another attacker, brutally disembowelling him. Keltoi couldn’t help but feel a little pride at seeing her use a trick he’d shown her. But he wasted no time on that.

“Cayde!” he shouted, “Shield on six, now!” Without missing a beat, she spun, parrying an attack from in front, and raised her shield to take the powerful downward slash coming from behind. But she lost her footing under the sudden shock of the hit, collapsing to the ground beneath them. He kicked off into a full spring to close the gap between them as the four towered over her, slashing and kicking. One raised his sword in an attempt to stab down, but Kel flipped a dagger in his hand and threw it, wishing its path to stay true. The blade sang as it sailed through the air at an impressive speed, burying itself into the soft flesh of the mercenary’s underarm. Keltoi cried out in triumph and it mingled with the shriek of terror the man gave out. It was short lived though, as he spotted the glwing aura of Cayde’s magic – she’d been hurt bad enough to warrant immediate healing. Worry crept up into his chest, his step faltering. But it was pushed aside.

A deep burning again rose from the pits of his stomach. The mercenary behind Cayde had abandoned his large sword in favour of a small dagger. It was simple for Keltoi to figure out that he was going in to finish the job. Using his bottomless rage, he pushed himself once again through the space between them and found himself crashing into the hired killer, sending them both tumbling to the ground. He regained himself first though, and gave the would-be-assassin no time to recover as he slashed violently with his remaining dagger, opening the throat of the man beneath him. His blood spurted upwards like a fountain. It was warm on Keltoi’s exposed skin, and it soaked his black hair.

Looking back, Cayde was kneeling on one knee, blocking as well as she could as she mended the fracture in her other. More attackers moved in on her.

“Get away from her, you filthy fucking humans,” Keltoi growled, hurling his second dagger into the chest of the one standing over her. It punched right through the plate and chainmail. Not so good quality after all, Keltoi thought as the man gurgled and went down. Running towards the fallen Paladin, Kel scooped up a large, two-handed broadsword. The weight of this blade was significantly more than his daggers and he was most certainly not used to it. When he swung, it was careless and messy, but he did so with such force that it drove into the side of the mercenary he had hit before. More blood and guts spilled as Keltoi struggled to remove the large blade, all the while the man shrieking in absolute pain. He removed his dagger from his underarm before he let him fall.

He turned to Cayde, who was still trying to get up. They must have really done a number on her. He placed his hand on her shoulder as hse continued healing injuries he couldn’t see.

“Breathe normally,” he said calmly, sheathing his dagger and gently brushing her face, “Look at me, focus on me.” He eyes met his, annoyance flickering within.

“I know how to do this Kelt-” A sudden cold chill rushed through both of them and Keltoi swayed. Moving an external being with his extremely personal magic was tough. Cayde blinked a few times, unsteady herself

“Gods DAMN YOU, Keltoi! Warn me when you’re going to pull that shit.” Keltoi removed the dagger from the other body, and taking the other from it sheathe once more. He’d moved them barely ten metres but he felt like collapsing. He glanced over at the dwindled group of confused hired killers. In their rush to dig their swords into both of them, they’d taken no caution, so when Keltoi has warped them away, two impaled each other on their swords. Excellent.

“Sorry, love,” Keltoi replied, unfazed by the chastisement, “but it was necessary.” He held out a hand for her. “Care to wrap this shit up with me?” She nodded once, curtly. A soldiers’ reply.

Together they stood as the remaining few mercenaries charged at them, swords raised high and their pathetic screaming doing nothing to intimidate the two seasoned blood elves.

Steel met steel and the clangs rang out as a cloud of gore and blood erupted. Cayde and Keltoi moved as one, cutting down their remaining foes swiftly and efficiently. Always they were aware of each-others’ position, and they used each other to their advantage. Keltoi pushing off of Caydes raised shield to ram both daggers into a particularly burly man, Cayde spinning elegantly, despite her heavy armour, behind Keltoi, swinging as he ducked and nearly decapitating the foe they tricked. At one point Keltoi flipped over a blade to slice open a throat, the thought ‘fucking acrobatic show off’ running through Cayde’s mind as she marvelled his skill. Red mist filled the air as blood sprayed this way and that. They didn’t utter a single word, nor share more than a glance as they cut down the last of the men hired to take them out. When the final man fell, that was when Keltoi allowed himself to feel the sting of his own cuts and injuries.

His armour was torn and ruined, bloodstained too badly to remove by washing, shreds falling off it. His daggers would need some attention too, but they would be fine for now. Cayde’s armour was dented and broken in some places, thought her sword and shield remained well enough intact. They stood there together, breathing heavily after such exertion, revelling in the sudden silence, one which Cayde broke.

“I need to clean this stuff off me, it’s starting to dry and I’d rather not deal with that again. Plus my armour is stiff with it too. Gods damn…” Keltoi looked at her, amused. “What?”

His heart was beating fast for more than one reason as he looked her up and down, fresh from battle and covered in gore and soaked in blood. He leaned in a pressed a kiss to her cheek.