The enforcer led her to a back room where a man sat in a high backed chair facing the back wall. “Hello, Tobi. You wanted to see me?” “Red hair is not going to hid you from me,” said a familiar voice. “Hold her tight, Grayson. That one is spark blessed too.” Val felt the vice like grip of a spark reinforced hand clamp down on her arms and then wrenched her hands behind her back. TOO? Val thought furiously, trying to understand the situation. The man at the desk spun his chair slowly and the cold eyes of the assassin Darius looked back at her. “You murderous bitch have taken so much from me.” “You were the ones who attacked me first! I never did anything to the assassins guild, yet you continued to hunt me. And for want? A few dret? I could have paid that fee easily had you stopped and asked.” Val was a bit panicked now that she was nearly certain the enforcer behind her was a spark blessed. With his weight and height, he might just be more than she could handle alone. Not to me
A scream from outside the office drew their attention to the door. Blood from the corpses had seeped under the door and into the hall.“Shit. We need to not be here. The city watch will be alerted any minute.” Val said, looking to the window. “There, lets go.”She stumbled to the window, her arm still not wanting to work correctly. The window opened on its own and Val saw Samiel holding out a hand to her.“Bastard.”“Think what you will but I was still near by.”“Near by wouldn’t have stopped them from killing us.” Alexa spat as she climbed thought the window.“I was near enough that I could have acted had it become necessary. I had full faith in Valkyrie’s abilities and you have shown a knack for handling yourself up to now.” Samiel replied to Alexa.“Your still a bastard. I should geld you and feed it to the fish.” Val said sadistically. As they made their way down the street.Whistles sounded as the city guard began running from various parts of the city. As neared high street un u
Valkyrie tried to imagine what it would have taken to use such a weapon in that situation but while it was an option, she knew deep down that it would have been a waste of precious scath units.“Adriel, we have both fought many scath, but almost always one or two at a time. If Allocen is massing an army, how would we fight such?”“Battlefield?”“Fort Uthril.”The world shifted to a mountain pass that opened out to the north of the barrier mountains. Unlike the valley that was situated before Fort Lorilis, Uthril was near the bottom of the mountains. High passes reached thousands of feet over head and the fort itself was little more than a ten foot wall carved out of the rock of the mountain. A low two story keep sat at the back of the wall with a small garrison made of the same stone. It was less than impressive if Valkyrie was honest.Lorilis was built into the mountain and it would be near impossible for any army to get through. Uthril was set near the middle of the mountains, and t
The next morning, Valkyrie awoke sore and mentally exhausted. Unlike when she had trained with Lilith before her big fight with Vex, she had not had the luxury of a day of rest for her body at the end of the training.It still amazed her that dream training with a spark could wear the body down so drastically. Such training had saved her life in the past, but after she had seen the rigor and devastation of total war, she wasn’t sure she or Alexa would make it out of this one.Chef Brown was already making breakfast when she arrived down stairs.“Chef, expect a few more to arrive.”“Of course, I can easily make more. Any idea how many I should be prepared for?”“At least four, plus Alexa.”“Very good miss.”It was just a few minutes more before Farson and his second arrived, followed quickly by Jonah and his second.Valkyrie spent a few minutes going over her immediate plans for them. They were to help Maggie build a new bakery and a storage warehouse as soon as possible. In addition,
The train arrived the next evening in eastern Sadeas. Val and Alexa found a hotel to stay the night and inquired about how they might get to the far west boarder. Hesitant to explain their true purposes, Val hedged a small lie.“We hear there is some amazing rock climbing along the Stormwall mountains there.”“Ah, there is. Its getting a bit late in the season for that. We could get snow any time now and the mountains already have snow higher up. There is a town near where you are referring to. It is not huge but it is part of the main trade route from Vintas and the Rift. You should be able to find a guide there that will point you to the local climbing spots.”“What is the best way to get there?”“Best way would be on a carriage but its 250 km, so it might take upwards of a week. Beautiful scenery though. If you are wanting fast, there is a shuttle bus service now from one end of Sadeas to the other. It’s a passage vehicle with room for around twenty. It will take about five hours t
“That or the scath that created that vortex killed everyone off.” Valkyrie replied somberly.There didn’t seem to be scath around but they had been in the previous town. Maybe they were massing somewhere nearby.“Its dark, and this trunk is heavy. Lets go to the inn and then we can see about getting a different pack, maybe some hiking packs and ship the rest of this back to Durres.” Alexa suggested.They made their way to the inn and lugged the trunk up the steps of the one building in town that had any light sources. As they pushed the door up, an innkeeper came around the counter to greet them.“Ah, I didn’t expect anyone this evening. You from Vintas?” the innkeeper asked, then his eyes went wide, “You two ok? You look like you were run over by a herd of horses!”“Accident on the way here. Got caught in a tornado. As for where we are from, Durres,” Valkyrie replied.“Impressive you made it this far. Come on in. lets get you taken care of. KATE!” The innkeep called to a teen age gir
A gunshot range out as the men got within shouting distance, the horse on the right going down hard in a heap. Its rider lept free and started running towards them.“Fuck that was impressive.” Val said as she swung down off her horse and drew her rune blade. “Possessor Scath. I see four.”The approaching man on horse back looked hard at them but nodded as they stepped aside and let him ride on. His companion rushed up to them on foot.“For Suria, will you help me hold them off? Carlson must get through and warn the watch commander!”“We will! We came to warn the commander too!” Alexa declared.Another gunshot sounded and Val spun to see the rider named Carlson slump off his horse and crash to the ground.“FUCK! For Suria!” The other man said as he drew his own rune blade and took position near Valkyrie.The four possessed mercenaries crashed into them with a ferocity Val had only seen in her worst thrasher fights. Thankfully with a skilled hunter and Alexa by her side, the three on fo
“What? No! raise the alarm! The scath will be here any time!” Val yelled. “We saw no scath! You were standing there, and now the Commander has been shot! Healers! To the commanders! Guards, take these two to the brig until we can arrange transport back to Suria for trial.” Al Lune ordered. Val was seized by two large men and she watched as Alexa was also grabbed, “No! Lune! At Least sent out scouts! Go find the bodies of Carlson and his buddy!” “Yes, Yes. We will need the bodies of the other men these two have killed. Go send someone to collect the evidence of their treason against Suria.” “Bloody fuckin hell you are dense. Sound general quarters! There is a huge army of scath heading this way!” Val screamed as she was hauled into the fortress. While she might be able to fight one or two, where would she escape to? By now, scath would be blocking the mountain passage, and the only other way to go is through the fort to Suria! The soldiers around her looked worried and glanced over