Valkyria (19 page)

“
You have done more for me
than I could have ever asked of anyone,” said Haze. “So from now
on, I will do anything I can to help you.”

She leant towards his, her lips
pressing against his. Einar could not help but open his eyes wide,
his heart racing as he felt himself sweating. Without a thought, he
wrapped his arms around Haze and pulled her closer. She was warm,
and her skin was as soft as feathers.

He let his eyes close, the warmth of
Haze’s body smothering him. He lifted one of his hands and brushed
a strand of her hair behind her ears.

There was a knock on the cell door, and
Einar felt Haze jump, and the moment was over. There was a loud
creak as the handle on the door span around before the door itself
swung open. The pilot that had saved them stepped in as Haze
stepped away from Einar, smiling at him as she moved
backwards.

“
You two,” said the pilot
as he moved in. “You are to come with me. The Captain wishes to see
you.

He has heard your tale, and has a few
questions for you.”

The pilot stepped to one side, leaving
the door open, before extending one arm to signal Einar and Haze to
step out of the cell.

“
I will go first,” said
Einar. He wiped his eyes again, before whispering to Haze. “I won’t
let anything happen to you. I promise you that.”

*~*~*

33

SERAN

Seran drove the steamcar slowly, trying
to stay a safe distance behind his target. The cloaked man’s car
had driven east from Argent before turning southward through a
forest track. Since that turn, Seran had not seen another vehicle,
and thus knew he should keep his distance so that he did not draw
attention to himself.

After almost an hour of tailing their
steamcar, he saw smoke rising in the distance and slowed his own
car before turning off the road and into the trees. One good thing
about the Ringlands; there are so many trees to hide
behind.

He stopped the car, turned off the
steam engine and climbed out, taking Firethorn and his other
belongings as well. From the trees he followed the road toward the
smoke. It was coming from a compound.

The front gate had been torn apart, and
the main courtyard was a sea of bodies and debris. Bullet holes
covered the walls of all the buildings, and the burnt husks of
vehicles decorated the grounds. This cannot have been done by
Creatures alone. He moved closer, standing to the right of the main
gate, on the outside of the compound. In the center of the
courtyard stood the cloaked man and the young woman. The driver was
still seated in the steamcar.

Seran watched carefully from his hiding
spot behind the external wall as the pair examined the dead bodies.
The young woman seemed to stare into space as the cloaked man knelt
down by each body that was still intact and checked their pulse
before moving on the next. After the tenth body, he knelt down to a
man near the external wall, close enough for Seran to make out his
face.

The man’s skin was cracked and twisted,
his eyes a dark green and bloodshot. His face was pale, as if it
had never seen the light of day.

He checked the man’s pulse before
tilting his head and placing a hand on his forehead and breathing
deeply. He closed his eyes, his eyelids looking as though they
would snap if they were moved too much.

“
Give this man strength
enough to speak,” said the cloaked man. A strong breeze flew across
Seran and into the compound, making the strange man’s cloak dance.
The injured man at his feet coughed and opened his eyes. Seran
shuddered. Something is not right here! How did he do that? That
man was clearly dead!

“
You there,” said the
cloaked man. “Tell me. What happened to the prisoners I had brought
here?”

“
The boy and girl,” said
the injured man, “were taken during the attack. There was nothing I
could do, milord.”

“
Taken by who?”

The cloaked man’s voice rose in volume,
his skin tightening and his fists clenching.

“
It looked like the
Valkyria, milord. But the ship that picked them up was like nothing
I had ever seen.”

“
The Valkyria, you say,”
replied the cloaked man as he wiped a hand across his face and
smiled. “Good. Then everything is going according to her
wishes.”

“
Milord?”

“
Do not fret,” said the
cloaked man. “Your actions have helped her plan come to life.
Everything seems to be falling into place, albeit faster than she
or I had anticipated.”

The injured man turned his head and
gazed at the young lady who hovered behind the cloaked man in a
daze.

“
Tell me,” said the injured
man to the young lady. “What is this plan of yours?”

“
Her?” The cloaked man
laughed. “I do not refer to this young lady. She is but one of the
keys to unlocking our dreams.

And you, my friend, have played your
part well. But I am afraid your fate is not mine to
decided.”

The cloaked man rose to his feet and
gazed into the sky.

“
Tell me, old friend,” he
said to the sky. “What is your decision for this man?”

Another breeze flew over the compound,
the cloaked man closing his eyes and nodding. As the breeze faded,
he looked down to the injured soldier and smiled.

“
She has decided to spare
you the heartache of this life.”

The cloaked man drew an emerald green
great sword from underneath his cloak and drove it into the heart
of the injured man, killing him almost instantly. Pulling the sword
from the man’s body, the cloaked man turned to the woman and
smiled.

“
Our business here is done.
If the Valkyria have them, then it is only a matter of time. For
now, let us return.”

He moved toward the steamcar, seeming
to float rather than walk. The young woman followed silently, both
climbing into the car.

Seran moved swiftly away from the
external wall and back into the trees as the steamcar drove out of
the compound and back up the road toward Argent. For a moment he
sat still, unable to comprehend how someone could slaughter their
own soldier in cold blood and who the cloaked man had been talking
too.

After a few minutes, he rose to his
feet and walked back to his own steamcar, trying to formulate his
next move.

“
If the Valkyria is in the
vicinity, perhaps they would be willing to assist me…”

The road back to Argent had been
silent, the somber air now reaching out from the city and seeming
to infect the rest of Esterland. Only two other vehicles had passed
Seran by, both of which carried passengers dressed in black and had
black ribbons extending from the front of the engine housing to the
top of the cabin.

Clouds were beginning to fill the sky,
their shadows covering the ground below. Seran’s steamcar trundled
along the road, bouncing as it rolled over the uneven
ground.

“
Why is the Valkyria in the
Ringlands?”

It made very little sense to Seran.
There was no logical reason for a self-proclaimed neutral airship
to be flying within Inquisition airspace.

“
Unless,” he said to
himself. “Are they planning on flying south?”

None but the crew of the Valkyria knew
where the airship made port. It never docked at ports controlled by
others, and vocally proclaimed itself an enemy of all who seek to
control. The Valkyria was, in essence, the largest sky pirate ship
in existence.

Despite that, Seran knew that they were
the best chance he had to destroy the Inquisition’s secret. Even
though they would not want to help a man of the Empire, he was sure
they could not allow the Inquisition to create anything that would
give them supreme power.

After all, the Valkyria publicly stood
for, in Seran’s mind, a childish sense of justice. They would
attack any military force that grew “too powerful” in their eyes.
They acted as a referee in the game of life and war. He had to find
them.

He pulled up outside an air-taxi rental
store and walked inside. It was common place in the Ringlands for
those who wanted to travel long distances to rent a small airship
like an air-taxi for a few days, and such traditions would surely
benefit Seran now.

“
Welcome good sir,” said a
rather plump man with slicked back hair and a suit that seemed as
if it would fit one of the upper class members of the Grand City of
Alexandra, rather than an air-taxi rental store owner.

“
I need something small but
fast,” said Seran.

“
Ah, we have exactly what
you need, sir,” said the shop owner as he extended an arm toward
the backdoor of the store. “If you would come this way, I can show
you all kinds of small airship. I am sure one will be to your
liking.”

Seran followed the man through the door
and into a large open space with several different models of small
airship, although in truth they were just different body styles of
air-taxis. The man continually turned and looked back at Seran,
repeating the action every couple of steps. Something is wrong
here. He could not put his finger on it, but he was sure of it none
the less.

“
So, why do you need a fast
airship?

“
My business is my own,”
said Seran as he followed the man around a corner, only to find
himself in a dead end alley.

“
Are you sure it is not to
escape from Argent?”

Footsteps closed in behind Seran. He
turned to see five large men with bats standing behind him,
blocking his exit.

“
You see,” said the store
owner, “milord of the Inquisition came to see me. He told me of a
man who had been following him, and said that he would come to see
me very soon looking to escape Argent. And milord is never
wrong.

I still do not understand how he knows
what will happen, but he is never wrong. And once again, he was
right; here you are.”

Seran breathed in deeply, tensing his
arms as the men behind him stepped closer.

“
He put a pretty price on
your head. Just your head mind you. The rest of you; well it does
not matter.”

Seran moved his hand to Firethorn’s
hilt, spreading his legs and twisting his body in
preparation.

“
Well, boys,” said the
store owner. “It seems we have a brave one here. Teach him a lesson
will you? And make it quick. I would like my coin
today.”

The five men shot forward, but Seran
was ready. He span around, unsheathing Firetorn and driving the
blade into the neck of one of the men. He proceeded to start the
chain-sword’s motor, the teeth spinning and cutting the man’s neck
further.

Splatters of red sprayed across Seran’s
face as the other four attackers stood in shock. He pulled
Firethorn from the man’s lifeless body and swung it toward a second
man, severing his arm in an instant.

Spinning once again, he swiftly removed
the head of the third attacker before standing still, his legs
spread and Firethorn ready to strike again.

“
A chain-sword?” The store
owner’s voice shook as he spoke. “Then… You must be a
Dragoon?”

“
So, you know something of
the Empire,” said Seran. “It is a pity you did not realize sooner.
Although it would not have helped you. Either way, I cannot suffer
you to live now that you know who I am.”

He dived forward and ran the fourth man
through before driving Firethorn into the fifth attacker’s chest.
Seran turned toward the store owner and smiled.

“
Allow me to thank you for
the airship. I have a good number to choose from now.”

He shot forward and pushed Firethorn
through the store owner’s abdomen. The man did not last
long.

Seran returned to the store’s front
office and entered the room marked as the toilet. After washing his
face and Firethorn’s blade, he walked back outside and climbed into
an air-taxi, starting the engine.

“
Now then,” he said. “Let
us find the Valkyria.”

*~*~*

34

NATE

“
So,” said the Captain,
“you are now outlaws within the Ringlands.”

The boy, who called himself Einar, had
told Irving and Nate that his sister was kidnapped, and that the
Inquisition had attacked the home of the girl, Haze, and taken them
prisoner. It was a wild story, but for some reason Nate believed
him.

So did the Captain, it seemed, as he
stood with a smile, rather than a frown. He had even told the
guards to remove the restraints on their arms.

“
Do you know why they
captured you, rather than killing you?”

“
No,” replied Einar. “They
asked me various questions about my sister and Rin, but that was
all.”

“
And you attracted the
Creatures to the compound?”

“
Yes, sir. It was the only
idea I could think of that would allow us to escape.”

“
You realize that those
Creatures took the life of one of my crew, and the close friend of
the man standing beside you.”