It was another half hour before they arrived at the Black estate. As they crossed roof tops Val saw the estate wall come into view.When they made it to the roof top across from the estate, Valkyrie pulled up short. While she had vague memories of the layout of the grounds, never had she imagined the number of scath moving across the grounds.“Are those-“ Alexa’s breath caught as she looked over Val’s shoulder. “Val, that is a lot of Scath. Are they patrolling?”Val watched as both human guards and scath moved around the estate. The scath did indeed seem to move in patterns but not the same as those the human guards were taking.“What the fuck is Gregor into?” Val asked the night.“I don’t know but if we are going to fight that horde… Val I don’t like the odds.”“Do you see any spectre or Thrashers?” Val asked as she scanned over the lurkers below.“No, but with that many wraiths there is bound to be some hiding in the shadows.”Val fished in her waist pouch and found five crystals th
“Val, is that really you?” Valkyrie paused and glanced over her shoulder, instantly regretting it and averting her eyes. “Put some damn clothes on. No one wants to see that.” She heard Gregor quickly grabbed for a robe as he said, “Valkyrie, it’s you, isn’t it?” Val sighed and said to the room, “That girl died twelve years ago while cold, dirty, and without a home or a father.” “Celeana?” Gregor asked, a glimmer of hope in his voice. “Killed that same night, abandoned by the man she thought would love, cherish, and protect her and their daughter. But clearly, we both know that was not the case.” Val walked out into the hall with Gregor close behind her. As he stepped out into the hall to follow, Alexa stepped out of the shadows and placed one of her blades back at his neck. He froze as the cold runed blade bit into his skin. In a deadly tone, Val said, “I wouldn’t test her. Go back to your play thing in there and pray we never meet again, or I might be inclined to unman you. Wh
Val’s world went black as she fought the bear hug and struggled to draw in air. Vaguely she remembered Lilith telling her to be careful when fighting the pirates and large men. Men die easily enough when they come at you one at a time.However, now there were twelve against two. Well, maybe less. She had taken out three and Alexa hopefully had gotten a few.The hulk in front of her drew back for another punch when his eyes went wide with surprise. He fell forward, face smashing the wood floor at her feet, a blade embedded in the back of his head, just below the skull. Alexa shot her a look of scorn as she flew back into her own battle.Val slammed her head back into the man holding her and connected with his chin. He loosened his grip just enough for her to concentrate her weight and drop out of his grip. As she landed in a crouch she immediately shot back to her feet with her elbow behind her, scoring a power shot to his crotch.As he doubled over,
When the girls were set and Val returned to Alexa, her friend was just waking up.“Morning sleepyhead.”“Fuck off,” Alexa said groggily as she sat up and pushed wild strands of black hair from her face.“You are in a good mood,” Val joked.Alexa turned an icy glare on her. “Twice in one night you almost got me killed. This second time erased any scath I had collected to fix the damage caused by your so called ‘men’.”“But we won…”“This is what you consider winning? Val your winning sets us back in scath, cost us any level of surprise with Gregor, and now set you back half a guild's worth of personnel if that was really your goal. What did you actually gain out of this besides blood? Barclay is still out there, you own me even more scath…”Val looked at her friend sheepishly, “Its an investment towards future profits?”“An investment? Val, this is not really what they mean when they say ‘pour your blood, sweat, and tears into a business.’ It’s supposed to be metaphorical blood, not fu
Reilynn just hummed in agreement as she stood and looked at her braided hair in the mirror. “Thank you! Now… about your face. Are you planning to come down to breakfast or do you want me to have cook send something up?”“Could you have something sent up?”“Sure. I suppose we could just tell everyone its your time of the month. You are due soon right? Guess it might not be too far of a stretch.”“Time of the month?” Valkyrie had heard the phrase but had never really understood it.”“Yea, you know, your flow?”“I-” Val honestly had no idea how to respond.“Well, the boys know how bad my cramps get so they know to stay the hell away and just chuck chocolates at me from across the room. It’s a good way to get sweets and to keep people at bay for a few days. I will see what Cook has for breakfast and have a tray brought up. We really should still touch you up with some makeup. If you do come out, those bruises are rather startling.”“Thanks,” was all Val could manage.“I don’t suppose you
Late that afternoon, Reilynn accompanied Valkyrie into town. Val had thought about trying to go on her own, but realized the General and his wife would protest and raise an issue. She was stuck between two worlds. One where she was an underworld queen of the sea, Durres, and now Caradon guilds and another world entirely where she was thought to be a helpless young woman whose outings could damage her chances of a marriage proposal.The notion made her sick to think about. Most of the men she had met thus far had died at the end of her blade or deserved to die in the near future.She thought of Alexa and considered sending for her to join them, but thought her friend likely wanted time away from her for now. The thought stunk in ways she had not expected.Morgessa had trained them both to be ruthless and to kill efficiently. Most of her training had been focused on Scath, but from time to time she had an especially nasty brute who had been sentenced to death by the Surian council of El
That evening, Val made the now familiar trip across the estate grounds, dodging the praetorian guard patrols as she slipped over the wall and onto the streets of Caradon.She had hoped to find Alexa waiting for her on the roof top across the way, but her friend was no where to be seen.As she slipped through the town, scath scattered as if they could sense her presence. Val had never had issue hunting scath, but they had begun to avoid her turf in Durres growing up. If they were as sentient as the ancients, perhaps they could communicate.There was definitely a congregation near areas of greed and debauchery in the city. While Valkyrie observed this most often around brothels and gambling houses as well as the one fight club she had come across by pure accident, the scath seemed to shy away from the razor’s edge brothel, as if something there had scared them.Val shrugged it off as coinciding with the decrease in business. Most of the doxies had likely departed under Alexa’s guidance
Valkyrie scowled at her friend. She supposed she should expect nothing less from Alexa and pushed to her feet. “I got your peace offering,” Alexa said over her shoulder before stepping off the roof and disappearing from sight. Val rushed to the side just in time to see Alexa tumble off a metal awning and then roll to her feet on the cobbled street. “Brazen showoff,” Val hissed as she followed Alexa to the street. Val rolled to her feet and set up to catch Alexa but when she turned the corner, Alexa was nowhere to be seen. “I like the chocolate covered strawberries,” came her voice from just behind Valkyrie. Val spun to find Alexa leaning against the brick wall. Alexa pushed off the wall and walked past Valkyrie with a determined gate. “You still owe me a lot of scath units, but the chocolate was a good place to start. Come on, there was a swarm of wraiths down by the fair. Its easy kills and we can likely load up for the night in a few hours.” Val had to run to keep up with Ale