Valkyria (22 page)

Blood now covered the dirt and grass in
the yard, and had sprayed onto the walls of the buildings and
containers. It was a horrifying sight, and one that Seran hoped he
would never have to see again.

“
When all of this is done,
I am seriously going to request a holiday,” he said as he ran
through the shadows toward the fortress. “That girl had better be
here,” he continued.

He climbed up a pile of containers to
get a view point of the yard. The Creatures were winning, as
expected. Seran had not heard of anyone surviving a surprise attack
by those monsters. However, the soldiers were still fighting back,
and we starting to rally themselves. A line of soldiers with
automatic rifles had formed between the Creatures and the fortress.
Yet Seran knew it would not be enough to hold them at bay. There
were simply too many. He had to find the girl fast. The line of
soldiers was moving toward the Creatures, leaving space behind them
for him to run through. So he did, and he reached the main entrance
to the fortress.

Carefully, he opened the door, trying
not to bring attention to himself. Behind him, the Creatures
launched themselves at the line of soldiers, consuming them
all.

He stepped inside and closed the door
behind him. The building was old, with images he had seen in books
of the old world. He remembered the carved stone archways and large
ornate organs from the books. In the old world, the fortress would
have been called a cathedral.

Seran moved to the left hand side of
the giant hall, hiding behind the pillars as he moved further into
the building. It was silent inside, except for the constant screams
from the battle outside.

He reached a set of stone stairs the
wound upward in a circle. Taking one last glance at the large hall,
he reassured himself that no one was there, and moved up the
stairs. She had better be here. At the top of the stairs he found
himself on a long balcony with two doors. The stone pillars
continued upward along the side of the balcony, so he quickly moved
to them and made his way forward between them.

As he continued, he heard a deep yet
crackling voice from the second room and noticed that the door was
ajar. He moved in closer and hid himself just behind the large oak
door.

Inside stood the cloaked man. He was
standing over Alexia, who was hunched over a chair.

“
Well, my dearest Alexia,”
he said. “It seems as though she has decided your part in this play
has come to an end. You have played it well, but I am afraid we no
longer need you.”

The cloaked man stepped away from
Alexia, turning toward the nearby window.

“
I shall not kill you. Do
not worry about that. She has decided that your death would better
aid our cause if it came from the Creatures down there. As such, it
is time for you to sleep.”

He waved his hand over her head. At
that same moment Seran felt that the air seemed to freeze. Alexia
keeled over and flopped to the floor whilst Aeon nodded.

“
Now then, it is time for
me to exit the stage. Preparations for the next act of this play
must be made.”

He turned and began to walk toward the
door. Seran leapt backwards and moved behind one of the pillars,
enveloping himself in shadow. He watched as the cloaked man exited
the room and launched himself from the balcony before landing
softly on the ground floor below. He walked over to the main
entrance and flung open the doors.

Creatures poured into the fortress, but
they all parted and seemed to stay clear of the cloaked man as he
strolled out into the battlefield.

“
How the hell?”

Seran spoke quietly, but could not
comprehend what he had just seen. How does someone survive a jump
like that? And why did the Creatures ignore him?

The questions repeated in his mind over
and over, but he did not have time to dwell on them. The monsters
would find both Alexia and himself soon enough. He had to get them
both out of the building.

Seran stood up from the shadows and ran
into the room, closing the door behind him. The room itself was
largely empty, with only a small desk and two chairs.

“
Dammit,” he cursed.
“Nothing to barricade the door with?”

He frantically looked around and saw
another door on the opposite wall. Seran picked up Alexia and put
her on his shoulder before opening the second door and finding
himself on a veranda outside. There was no way for them to get
down, and he could see more Creatures running into the
fortress.

Above him he could see Anastasia’s
air-taxi circling, waiting for his signal from the clearing. Making
a split second decision, he lay Alexia down on the veranda and
pulled out Firethorn, starting the motor. He knew the noise would
give away his position, but could see no other way to gain
Anastasia’s attention.

As the chain-sword roared into life, he
slammed it into the stone wall that surrounded the veranda sending
sparks into the air. He continued to drive Firethorn down into the
stone until he saw Anastasia’s air-taxi turn and begin its descent
toward him.

“
Good, she saw
it!”

As the air-taxi came closer, he could
hear a myriad of footsteps closing in on the other door. He picked
up Alexia again, holding her like a child in his arms as Anastasia
pulled the air-taxi up to the veranda and Shelly opened the side
hatch.

“
Here,” Seran shouted as he
passed Alexia to her. The door behind him burst open, and the
Creatures filed into the room. “Get her in quickly!”

Sherry pulled Alexia into the air-taxi
and strapped her into one of the passenger seats. As she span
around back toward Seran, he felt a sudden pain in his arm. One of
the Creatures had reached him.

He looked up at Sherry, who now had
tears streaming down her face. He grabbed the Creature’s head and
smashed it into the stone wall before turning to face the others,
bring Firethorn up from the wall.

“
Get that door closed! I
will hold them here!”

“
But,” said
Sherry.

“
Get going,” said Seran,
not letting the young woman finish. He began hacking through the
Creatures as Sherry closed the side hatch. Anastasia pulled the
air-taxi away from the verdana.

Seran continued to hack and slash away
at the Creatures, but there were far too many. He knew that. He
turned to look at the Sherry and Anastasia. They were moving away
from the fortress. He smiled.

“
At least I die a hero,” he
said as the rest of the Creatures swarmed over him. Seran had never
know such pain, but after a few seconds the bites and the clawing
seemed to fade away as everything went dark. At least I die a
hero.

*~*~*

40

EINAR

The Tempest drifted further toward the
ground, flames consuming the airship like a wolf eating its first
meal in weeks. Einar span the Seadawn’s cannon to the right, the
bullets flying through the sky straight into the engine of another
of the Inquisition’s air-taxis.

“
The Seadawn really is
fast,” Einar said as he continued to fire, taking out two more
enemy fighters.

“
That was the idea behind
its design,” said Nate. “Charles and I wanted to make the fastest
fighter in the known world.”

“
You certainly managed
that,” replied Einar. “Head’s up! Six more coming
around.”

“
Understood,” said Nate as
he wrenching the Seadawn’s navigation lever. The fighter dropped in
altitude almost instantaneously, flying underneath the
Valkyria.

One of the air-taxi fighters chasing
them was caught in the Valkyria’s fire, the shells tearing the
small airship to pieces in a split second. The Seadawn tilted into
a near vertical rise after passing the last of the Valkyria’s
girders.

“
Hold on tight,” said
Nate.

Einar gripped the cannon hard with his
hands and pressed his feet against the sides of the cockpit. Nate
pulled hard on the Seadawn’s lever and the airship’s nose tilted
further upward until finally they were upside down and flying over
the top of the Valkyria. From above the massive airship they could
see the battle from a distance. The Inquisition’s air-taxis were
falling like flies under the constant fire from the Valkyria and
her own air-taxi squadron. Anastasia’s ship was flying toward the
Valkyria at great speed, dodging past falling debris.

The Tempest finally crashed into the
ground, exploding into pieces of metal that flew up in every
direction. Debris cut through air-taxis, both from the Inquisition
and the Valkyria.

The Seadawn continued forward, Einar
feeling the blood rushing to his head as Nate increased the power
to the engine, increasing the airship’s speed. As they passed over
the Valkyria, he put the Seadawn into a nose dive before leveling
out underneath the Valkyria once again.

Einar watched as the air-taxis that had
been following them attempted to pull up as well, opening fire on
them as they tried to level out. It was like shooting fish in a
barrel, each one falling apart as the bullets ate through their
hulls.

“
That was the last of
them,” shouted Nate.

Einar looked around at the battlefield,
seeing the remaining Inquisition air-taxis crumbling in the
air.

“
Good,” he said. “We are
almost out of bullets!”

“
Roger that,” Nate replied.
“And Einar… You did well!”

The Seadawn turned around, pulling up
next to Anastasia’s air-taxi. The two airships flew toward the
Valkyria’s port hangar bay as the hangar door slid open. Behind
them, the remaining air-taxis from the squadron fell into place,
ready to land.

Nate brought the Seadawn down at the
far end of the hangar in order to leave room for the other
airships, the Seadawn bouncing slightly as it hit the floor. One by
one the rest of the squadron flew into the hangar bay and landed,
filling the hangar in minutes.

Einar finally let go of the cannon’s
controls, his arms flopping to his side. It was hard to catch his
breath, the adrenaline still pouring through his viens. He watched
the rest of the squadron landing until he felt a hand on his
shoulder. Looking up, he saw Nate smiling at him.

“
I cannot believe I am
going to say this,” Nate said, “but you can be my gunner any
time.”

Einar smiled and stood from his chair,
extending a hand to Nate.

“
I would be happy
to.”

They shook hands before looking out of
the cabin’s windows. Anastasia’s air-taxi had landed, but a group
of guards had surrounded it.

“
What are you waiting for,”
asked Nate. “Get out there and see your sister!”

Einar and Nate climbed out of the
Seadawn onto the floor of the hangar bay and saw Anastasia walking
toward them.

“
You two,” she said, “are
by far the craziest people I have ever seen!”

Einar felt his heart sink, and he could
see the embarrassment and disappointment on Nate’s face.

“
And yet,” she continued,
“I would not change that for the world!”

Einar’s eyes opened wide as he watched
Anastasia lean toward Nate. Her lips pressed gently against Nate’s
cheek before she pulled away and smiled. She turned to Einar and
wrapped her arms around him, holding him tight. She let go of him
and stepped back, her head facing the ground.

“
Seran,” she said. “He did
not make it.”

Einar felt a sudden wave of guilt run
through his very soul. He had not even noticed that Seran was not
in the hangar.

“
The Creatures got him,”
she continued. “He… He died saving your sister. I never thought a
man from the Empire could care for others…”

“
We should hold a funeral,”
said Nate. “No matter where he was from, he died a hero. He
deserves a hero’s send off.”

“
I agree,” said Einar. “If
it were not for him, who knows what the Inquisition would have done
to the world. And I would probably never see my sister
again.”

“
I will speak to Irving,”
said Anastasia. “But for now Einar, go and see her. Just be
prepared.”

“
What do you
mean?”

“
Whatever it is that the
Inquisition did to her, it may take time to wear off. So be gentle
with her, alright?”

He nodded and stepped past Anastasia,
heading toward the growing crowd of guards near her air-taxi. As he
approached, they all moved aside to let him through. Tears began to
pour down his face, his mouth forming a smile so large that it hurt
his cheeks.

Alexia sat on the floor, her legs bent
at the knees and her arms holding her weight. He knelt down in
front of her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“
Alexia,” he said. “Finally
I have found you.”

She looked up at him, her eyes
seemingly empty.

“
Who are you?”

*~*~*

EPILOGUE

AEON

The ground seemed to crack as Aeon
walked across the debris. Bricks, bodies and machinery lay strew
across the ground, his fortress in ruin. He stepped into the throne
hall and gazed upon the burnt husk that had once been
Selina.