2023-01-03 11:14:28Val’s stomach growled. It had been nearly two weeks since Reginald had dropped them off. Her mother Celeana had tried to buy passage on one of the passenger ships leaving port but the attendant just laughed at her when she presented her meager coins.
“That wouldn’t even buy you a stay in a broom closet, let alone a room. go beg somewhere else.”
“I am trying to get somewhere else to start a new life,” Celeana muttered under her breath.
Her mother was a proud woman who hated to take charity. Val remembered helping her mother hand out soup and hot drinks to the poor during the winter and they gave the worst of their old coats. Now, they were the ones in need, but so long as there was coin in the purse, her mother insisted they were better off than most.
Each day they had walked as far as Val’s little legs would allow. “Come Val. If we can reach the mountains, my friends will guard us.”
Val looked ahead to see the snow-capped peaks that never seemed any closer. “Do they come all the way to the water?”
“Yes, dear. The Cian mountains separate our land from most of the other eight realms of Calogan.” Her mother said, as they walked onto a market street that skirted the far side of Caradon, the capital city.
“How much farther?”
“If we are lucky and can find a ride?” Her mother paused to consider before answering, “Three days. On foot? I am not sure.”
“I am sure you can find a warm bed over here.” A gruff voice called from an ally.
Celeana pushed Val behind her as three men stepped out of the shadows.
“We don’t want any trouble, we are just passing through.”
“Passin through our turf comes with a cost,” One said, sliding his hands into the pockets of his long coat.
“You look young enough. Maybe twenty four… Still got a few years in ya.” One sneered.
Val could barely understand these dirty men. They wore fine suits but clearly had not taken care of them. Her father would never have been seen in something that was covered in grime.
“The little one might make for a slip easy enough. Bet the boss wouldn’t mind another little for the beggin corners. Those always bring in the best coin. Its pity you know. Them richy rich’s are all bleeding hearts for the littles but they see us comin and they start squacking about getting jobs and all.”
“They fail to realize this is the job.” The tall skinny one said, eying Val.
Celeana grabbed Val’s hand and tried to hurry off when the broad-shouldered brute grabbed her. she spun and slapped him. Val screamed as her mother fought three men, keeping Val at her back. Celeana kicked one in the balls, dropping him to his knees.
“You will pay for that, Bitch!” his friend hollered, flipping open a previously hidden knife.
Celeana produced a dark blade from her cloak and held it before her, “Don’t test me,” She said, her voice shifting to a deeper more commanding tone than Valkyrie had ever heard.
Val’s eyes roved the length of her mother’s blade, it was almost as long as her forearm, with silver swirls mixing in the dark material that made up the dark double-edged blade. Small runes were etched along the center line, emanating a slight silver glow.
“What the? Fracking witch!” hollered one thug as he lunched at Celeana with a wide slash.
Celeana caught the blade with her own, deflecting the blow. Val watched her mother’s fluid and graceful movement. It was as if she danced around these brutish men, her black dagger flashing as she opened cuts and gashes along their legs and arms.
The men began to stagger from blood loss, but Celeana was also tiring fast from the exertion of fending off three untrained brawlers. As two fell to the ground, blood pooling around them, Celeana let out a grunt of pain. She whipped her blade behind her, catching the last gangster in the neck. He fell back, clutching at his throat.
Celeana stumbled over to Val, taking her hand and leading her away from the carnage.
That night, Celeana pulled Val close and kissed her forehead. “I am sorry, Val. I failed you.”
Val cuddled into her mother’s embrace and wrapped her tiny arms around her. Celeana winced as she did, and Val pulled back, finding her hands covered in red.
“Mama?” Val asked in a panic.
“I was not fast enough, child. If you can, you have to try to make it to the mountains. Find the Order. They will watch after you.”
“Mama!”
Celeana tapped Val’s temple with a finger and Val slumped, knowing no more.
*** Celeana***
Celeana looked down at her daughter as tears streamed down her face. “I am so sorry, my love. You will have a hard life ahead of you but perhaps, just maybe I can leave you one last ray of hope.”
Celeana pulled a long chain from around her neck and held up a locket with a rune etched across it. She lifted her unconscious daughter's hand and using her black blade, she pricked her finger. A small drop of red blood rose to the surface.
Celeana sighed, “I had hoped your father’s experiments had offered you an edge.”
Celeana gasped suddenly as her locket glowed and opened. “What? But the Spark shouldn’t react to any but a silverblood!”
A long hair thin tendril snaked out of the locket and tagged her daughter’s bloody finger. Where the tendril and blood met, the red blood shifted to silver!
“Maybe my child, you will indeed be a blessing from the ancients! May the order forgive me for burdening you with keeping the Spark alive.” Celeana rolled Val onto her stomach and pulled her hair away from her neck. Carefully she used the black blade to slice along the spine right at the base of her skull.
Carefully she removed the Spark from her locket and held it over the cut. Hundreds of tendrils came to life in the presence of her daughter’s blood and reached for the wound. Suddenly, the Spark pulled itself from her grip, sliding into the cut, the skin sealing behind it. Where the slice had been, a black tattoo began to form as two black wings unfurrow across the skin clutching a downward-facing blade.
Celeana coughed suddenly, red staining her hand as she looked wide-eyed at her daughter’s neck. “The Reaper is born, the Ancient’s return. My daughter, Be the light.”
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Authors note
Dear Readers, This has been one wild adventure and I am blessed to have been able to share it with you. This tale has now come to a conclusion and my contract for this book has run its 6-month course. It has been a long road, and so far its been a great experience. Valkyrie Black has some amazing readers but as we come to the end of this season, it will take a lot for my editor to be ready to sign an extension contract. While Valkyrie has a 10 star rating and amazing reviews, it just isnt where it needs to be right now as far as views. other books released in the same contest managed to get 3-5x as many views and subscribers. Sadly that means that for now, it just isnt resonating with the meganovel audience or, remains undiscovered. Hopefully, we will see Valkyrie again in the future but kinda like Tinkerbell, the readers will have to clap really loud to get my editor's attention to authorize a new season of this online exclusive novel. How to get an editor's attenti
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Chapter 157: Quad Defense
[System analysis complete.][Triskele defense system.][ Down-loading defense matric][ Defensive system available]The schematics began to flood Valkyrie’s mind and she began to grasp what was to happen.A commanding elite spark was to station themselves here on the tower. Warrior Sparks would take up position on the twelve pedestals below. Then average silverblood warriors could position themselves in teams of three around each knight.The Triskele was a hive mind and created a quad squad, one primary warrior with three swords. The central warriors spark would then take command of the entire unit, moving them in such tandem that it was beyond human understanding.They would no longer be individual soldiers and would have no will of their own. In that state, every fiber of being would belong to the quad. No self interest would exist or sense of self preservation. It would simply exist fulfil one directive, defend the fort as a
Chapter 156: Triskele
Valkyrie knew very little of the politics of Suria. She had dealt with the soldiers at fort Lorilis and her position as a Spark blessed as well as a student of Morgessa had given her some level of privilege or notoriety but she had never been in the chain of command, answering only to Morgessa and Desmond as mentors.Now, she had chosen to be bold and play on the myths and legends as she knew them. The Elite spark were renowned and the power of ones spark dictated a lot about a persons position in Surian society.However, She was not part of that hierarchy, at least not in the past few hundred years.Repeating what she had said before, she replied “I am General Valkyrie, Avatar of Azrael, First Spark of the Ori. You WILL arm your men and assemble the knights of this fortress. You have fifteen minutes to address the garrison and prepare for battle.”“Or what? Valkyrie General of the Ori? Girl, you are invoking the gods and your blasphemy
Chapter 155: Prepare
Cade turned to follow his centurion and Alexa up the stairs when he suddenly froze. It was just him and Valkyrie in the room. Well, Al-Lune snored his way through a log on the cot but otherwise they were alone.“You said Alexa was now Spark blessed… you called her Shadow slayer, or hunter… How? Who did you kill to take an elite spark from? Val, if you did kill those hunters and stole their spark,” he paused, trying to collect his thoughts, “I will kill you myself if you put her in danger like that. A stolen spark with a death sentence and she will be hunted the rest of her day’s till the council sees justice. Theft of a spark is one crime they will not tolerate at any level.”“How big is the bounty?” Val asked casually.“The bounty is sizable but Val, there is a whole order of hunter sparks that see it as a religious duty to hunt such traitors. The official sanction is all they need to pursue their in
Chapter 154: Jailed
“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
Chapter 153: Commander Grant
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
Chapter 152: Fire
“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
