The Carnival of the Damned

The expression that now adorned Rose's face caused the hearts of Ryn and Blood to sink. She stepped forward against the two, wildly swinging the necromancer's dagger as they dodged each to the opposite side.

"Rose! Damnit, Rose. Listen to me!" Ryn tried to reason with her as she swung at his side, yet neither the pounding of the rain nor her deafened ears would allow he words to sway them from their course. The pegasus flapped his wings once to lift up over the attack as a few curses lingered on his breath.

"It is in vain, Kuromaru." Ancient Blood shook his head, avoiding one of the dagger's wild thrusts as Rose changed targets. "She is clearly not in her right state of mind. I fear Fayt has planned this from the very beginning. He knows all too well that we will not harm her. Our only chance lies with releasing her from his control. That, or we shall die trying."

"Tch," Ryn glared as he sidestepped Rose. "Easy for you to say. You're already dead!"

Blood parried the dagger with his horn, gently nudging his attacker off course as he did so. "This is hardly the time for technicalities. We need to come up with a course of action immediately!"

"What the hell do you think I'm trying to do?!" Ryn moved backwards as Rose advanced, nearly tripping over Dimitri's body as he did so. The gypsy groaned in pain, wincing as he slowly blinked and looked up at the pegasus in confusion.

"Ah...s-so I am not dead yet...?" He made an attempt to pull himself upright, moaning as he sank back down to the soaked earth below. "J-just leave me in peace..."

Ryn ducked at the dagger's close proximity, nearly trampling Dimitri underhoof as he moved to better avoid Rose's relentless charge. "If you're going to die, go ahead and do it already! I have more important things to worry about right now."

"M-more important..." The wounded gypsy turned his gaze to the mare. Though blinded as she was by pointless anger and drenched with the constant rain from above; a few glimmering tears could just be glimpsed at the corners of her dulled eyes. She plunged the dagger down against Ryn, nicking his front hoof as he dodged clumsily. A flash of lightning illuminated her darkened visage to show an unexpected change. Dark fury still reigned on her features, yet it warred against the sorrow that now wrenched a broken sob from her chest.

Dimitri scrambled to move out of the mare's path, stumbling over to Ryn. "Quick! Th-there is hope! There is...AH!" The rash movement had torn the cut wider as the gypsy collapsed under his own weight.

Ryn shook away his own excess blood from the cut as the crimson unicorn close by wrinkled his nose in disgust at the scent.

He had not missed Dimitri's words, nor had Rose's emotion gone unnoticed by him.

"What are you talking about, Horatiu? If there is something that can be done, tell us!" Blood dodged the attack Rose now aimed at him, acting quickly to draw her away as Ryn lifted the gypsy up by the scarf on his neck.

"What do you know?"

"Ah.." The stallion coughed, grimacing through the smile that played on his blood-stained lips. "Information has cost..."

Ryn glared. "The cost will be your life if you don't hurry!"

Dimitri paled, knowing how very true those words might prove to be. With a trembling hoof, he pointed to his top hat. The headpiece was muddy, soaked with rain and blood as it had fallen by the wayside. Ryn followed the line of sight, raising his eyebrows in question.

"M-Mortis...his blade is quick...but not so much as myself." He laughed, instantly regretting the action. "The antidote...t-the real one...it is there. Under my..." The stallion's words trailed off as his green eyes rolled back into his head. The pegasus carefully returned the body to it's reclining position on the ground, closing the gypsy's eyes in grim quiet.

"Blood!" He turned to ascertain the unicorn's position, yet was surprised to see him already in a mad dash for the top hat.

"I know. I heard." Rose was right on his tail, gaining ground quickly through the muddy earth.

"Damn it all..." The slick mud may well prove to be their undoing at this rate, Ryn mused. Spreading his wings wide, he shook off the excess water before dashing to the sky.

It was a close race for the fallen hat and for the potion underneath. Rose and Blood raced against each other as Kuromaru rounded in the air to begin a straight dive to the object.

...

"Go, my army! You see your target before you. Now, the time is here. Rise up! Take the castle!" Mortis' voice bellowed across the rain drenched landscape as the skeletal horde descended upon Rosecroix. The bones bashed against the gates and stumbled forward, Luferius and his troops lined against the assault. The return home from the town called Ponyville was recent, yet they did not falter. Each member stood their ground, glaring at those who would dare intrude on their domain. Fanged snarls twisted, noses wrinkled to better show the sharpened teeth.

"Steady, men...steady..." The unicorn captain took up his stance before the others, eyes still focused on the figures at the gate. "Wait for it..."

The guards heeded the captain's command, each eye unblinking as the horrendous sound of bones against iron echoed in the stale air above. The hinges were already loosening from the relentless collision, each groaning of the bars putting the troops even more on edge. A few prepared to bolt forward, yet the steady hoof of the captain held the back with a warning.

"No! Not yet!" He glared at the over anxious guards before turning back to survey the scene.

One last crash against the weakened gate, and down it fell with an audible groan. A resounding thud of the metal reverberated as the two armies now stood face to face. The scene was still for that moment. Silence reigning as the last sounds of the gate's fall faded away. Unblinking eyes stared into empty sockets as Mortis made his way to stand in front of the soldiers of bone. He grinned in his madness, Luferius answering the expression with a seasoned glare as he moved to stand opposite the foe.

Silence, and then the cry of war.

The feral sound was taken up by both sides as they lunged one at the other. Immortals of blood against immortals of bone, all for the seat of power in the land of darkness.

The royal guards battled unwavering against their dead opponents, aiming only for the exposed bone in a flurry of fanged assault. Luferius however had only one target in mind. His first charge was against the one in power, the sole adversary. The necromancer. Both met the charge at once, unicorn against unicorn slashing with their horns, parrying once, and following up again in a near even danse macabre.

Luferius was firm, a trained veteran through decades of experience on the field. This showed clearly as he followed a set strategy, moving forward to execute each move in precision. He marched constantly forward as the lich snarled, moving backwards to defend.

"Just what I would expect...Nothing but the best of bloodsuckers." He smirked in his sarcasm, the other not daring respond as his mind focused on each action one after the other.

The sounds of the rattling bones encroached them on both sides as they moved through the warring factions in their battle. The captain slashed again, lunging for a follow up as Mortis grinned and paused in an unexpected move. He allowed the horn to pierce his stomach. intestines and organs already decayed with time as they spilled through the gash. Luferius glowered in disgust as he flung back his horn to rid it of the putrid flesh that clung there.

"Vile corpse!"

"Oh?" The lich would not be outwitted so easily. He felt no pain from what would have been a fatal blow in a different circumstance, using this to his advantage. Mortis quickly slashed at the upturned visage of the royal guard, Luferius moving to attempt a quick avoidance.

The timing was off. The captain seethed, glaring at the other as lightning revealed a bloody cut upon the muzzle.

"You will pay for that!"

They both charged again, thunder echoing the scene's massacre. Each side had their difficulties, and already the field showed signed of the casualties. Broken bone fragments and piles of ash littered the landscape as Castle Rosencroix stood tall in the shadow of the storm.

...

The three combatants closed in on the potion bottle, yet only one could reach it first.

Ryn turned his wings up as he neared the ground, barely avoiding a crash as he ascended centimeters away from the muddy earth. He soared past the two below, the potion bottle securely clenched between his teeth. Rose and Blood skidded to a halt below, shifting the path to follow the pegasus.

"Quick, Kuromaru! Open it!" Blood fended off another of Rose's attacks as the blue pegasus touched back down to the ground. Ryn would have cursed the unicorn's impatience, yet to do so vocally could cause a swift end to the only hope available. He settled for rolling his eyes, uncorking the bottle and dripping a little on his own wound to validate the concoction. The gypsy was correct, As soon as the small droplets hit the mark, they bubbled up in reaction to the venom on the hoof before fading away to leave not a scratch in it's place. Ryn inwardly sighed in relief, yet it was short lived. The question still remained as to how they could get Rose to willingly take the elixir.

Blood seemed to be struggling as well with this very thought, gently parrying Rose as he made his way closer to Ryn.

"Well? Thoughts? Solutions? Anything helpful would be nice."

Ryn was careful to keep the potion away as Rose wildly swung the blade at him. Weariness was clearly seen on her features, the mare panting with exhaustion as the immortal blood continued to slowly drip from the necromancer's cut. Ryn felt a twinge of guilt, remembering how very frail her state of health could be. The potion would need to be given soon, or she would continue fighting them until death.

"W-was this what Fayt meant?" His eyes widened as the thought occurred to him. 'Kill or be killed'. Were they inadvertently killing her in their attempts to simply keep from being killed? "Quick, Blood! We need to hold her still. Just long enough for this to work!"

Blood nodded, giving Ryn a cold glare as he already knew what the pegasus intended to do. "You better pray this works..." Rose lunged toward Ryn as Blood intercepted, the dagger driving deep into him as he pulled Rose to hold her close in his embrace. "Hurry! Do it quickly!" He coughed, wincing at the dagger embedded in him as Ryn moved forward.

Rose struggled in the Lord's hold, tears staining her eyes as her will faltered. She was crying, shoulders wracked with silent sobs as anger still flicked to regain it's hold.

Ryn wasted no time. He imitated Mortis' action, pouring the elixir into his mouth and sealing it against Rose's lips that she would have no choice but to swallow. Immediately the struggle stopped, her grip on the dagger slackening as her body slumped down into Blood's arms.

Ryn moved back to allow room as the crimson unicorn lowered her down and pulled to dagger from his chest. He tossed it away, shadows moving to close up the wicked cut.

"Y-You could have been quicker." He scowled at Ryn who simply smirked in response.

"And miss the chance to kiss her? Tch, not on your life! Or well, y-know...death...unlife...thing." He moved over to Rose's opposite side as the rain overhead began to die down. The mare lay still, pained expression gone from her sleeping features as her breathing softened to a steady rhythm. The cut from the lich had already began to close, lifeblood ceasing to flow from it as it now focused on healing the injured area.

Ancient Blood nodded, satisfied that she was herself once again. "Now, there is no time to lose." He carefully lifted her onto his back. "We must return to Rosencroix."

"H-hey! I can carry her!" Ryn glared in indignation, but the unicorn simply pointed to the gypsy nearby.

"He is still alive. I can hear his heartbeat from here. Pour the remainder of that antidote on his wounds and bring him along. I'm certain his sister will be grateful. Besides," He chuckled as he carefully adjusted Rose's position. "I allowed you to kiss her once. Do not think that I will give you the opportunity to do it again." Blood smirked, not waiting for a response as he dashed off with Rose.

Ryn threw a healthy dose of curses after him, reluctantly doing as told and dripping the potion onto Dimitri's wounds. The pegasus then roughly lifted the wounded gypsy onto his back, and took off after the others.

...