Valkyria (12 page)

The path wound to the left, then jumped
back to the right, repeating this dance every few steps. The ground
was uneven, with stones sharp enough to tear the flesh from your
feet. Einar felt as though he was walking over broken
glass.

“
Let go of me!”

The sudden cry of a girl’s voice spread
across the area, originating further up the hill.

“
Come now, my pretty.
You’re coming with us,” said another voice; a man’s voice, this one
crackling and croaking.

“
Help!”

The second the girl’s voice said that
word, Einar was sprinting. He had no idea what he would be able to
do, but he had to help.

As he round the third corner along the
path, he drew his dagger. There were two Inquisition soldiers and a
young girl. The soldiers were stumbling, their words slured and
their mouths agape. But it was the look in their eyes that was the
worst.

The girl was strewn across the ground,
her simple dress tattered and her face bruised.

“
My Lord requires your
presence, little one,” said one of the soldiers as he leered over
the girl. “But he did say we can do whatever we want with you, as
long as you’re still alive.”

The soldier cackled, sounding more like
a witch than a man of the military. As Einar rushed forward, he
could almost feel the bile in his mouth the sight of that man
caused.

He pounced, both hands gripped around
the dagger. Normally, he knew, he would stand no chance against a
trained soldier, but this man was drunk, and his skill was severely
limited. So much so that he did not notice the dagger flying
towards him until it was too late. The blade pierced his shoulder
and he let out a shrill cry.

Einar pulled the dagger out again,
positioning himself between the soldiers and the girl. He glanced
down at her quickly. Her hair was red, disheveled from the violence
of the soldiers. She was terrified, but more importantly, she was
not Alexia.

He turned back to the soldiers. The one
he had stabbed was holding his shoulder and crying in pain, whilst
the other was fumbling for his gun. As he finally managed to pull
it from its holster, Einar kicked it from the drunkard’s hand and
down the hillside.

“
Get out of here,” he
shouted as he readied himself, dagger in front of him. “Leave
now!”

The soldier looked down at where his
pistol had fallen, barely able to stand because of the alcohol. He
then glanced at his partner, who was still bleeding and clutching
his shoulder.

“
You shall regret this,
peasant!”

The soldier grabbed his partner and
fled down the hillside into the growing darkness of
night.

Einar waited for the sound of their
footsteps to fade before relaxing his stance and putting the dagger
away. He turned around to face the girl, who was staring back at
him, her eyes watering.

“
Can you stand?”

He spoke whilst stretching out a hand
to the girl. Slowly she placed her hand in his; it was soft, the
skin felt gentle and warm. Einar helped her to her feet and saw her
eyes in the fading light, the emerald color dazzling.

“
Are you
alright?”

She was breathing very heavily, her
eyes still darting toward the darkness every now and
then.

“
Yes, I believe so,” she
said after a few seconds before tears burst forth from her eyes and
she flung her arms around him, sobbing into his chest.

Einar could feel she was getting
heavier, her knees weakening, so he slowly knelt down, allowing her
to rest whilst she sobbed.

They seemed to sit there for an
eternity as light faded and night took hold. In the moonlight, her
red hair looked like strands of fine silk. Finally, her tears
seemed to stop.

“
Thank you,” she said as
she looked up from Einar’s chest. “I- I am sorry for acting like
that.”

Einar, with his arms around the girl,
helped her back to her feet.

“
My name is Haze,” she said
as she wiped the last few tears from her face.

“
Call me Einar,” he replied
with a smile. “And you certainly don’t need to say thank
you!”

“
But I do,” said Haze, her
voice sheepish and weak. “I do not know what would have become of
me, and although I have some idea, I dare not think on
it.”

She was shaking, the fear of her attack
obviously still holding its grip on her. Einar brushed her hair
back from her face and smiled.

“
It’s over now,
ok?”

As he spoke, he felt his exhaustion
take over again, and could not stop himself from
yawning.

“
You are tired,” she said
with far more energy than Einar had expected. “You absolutely must
come to Mama’s house. We have a spare bedroom!”

She grasped his arm and headed up the
hillside, dragging Einar behind her. He felt awkward going to her
house, but the sound of a bed was far too tempting.

Once they reached the top of the hill,
Einar’s eyes grew wide. There was a small dip at the top of the
enormous hill, with a village situated within it. As with all towns
and villages, a large wall surrounded it, but this was made of
stone and not wood like Caim.

The village itself had twelve houses,
all made of stone with thatched rooves. They were built in a circle
around a central tree. On each house was a gas lantern, giving off
a warm and inviting glow.

“
Come,” said Haze as she
made her way down a short flight of steps to the gate of the
village. Einar followed, in awe that such a village lay at the top
of the hill, secluded from everything.

The pair made their way past the
houses, moving across to the opposite side of the village from the
entrance. Haze stopped at the doorway of a white stone house. The
windows were circular, and there was smoke escaping from the
chimney. She turned around and smiled at him before opening the
door and heading inside.

“
Mother, I am
home!”

Haze’s voice echoed through the
spacious living room, itself larger than Einar’s entire house. The
walls were decorated with large wagon wheels, a bow and arrow set,
and various framed flowers.

A large open fire burnt on one side of
the room, sending dancing shadows across the other side. In the
corner was a piano; something Einar had only read about and never
thought he would see.

There was a slight creak as the left of
three wooden doors on the far side swung open. Behind it stood a
frail looking lady wearing a fine dress covered in
embroidery.

“
My lord, Haze! What
happened to you!? And who is that man!?”

Haze’s mother rushed into the room to
take a closer look at her daughter, and upon seeing the state of
her dress and the bruises on her face, turned toward Einar with a
fire in her eyes.

“
What is the meaning of
this!? I demand to know what happened to my daughter!”

“
Mother! Please! This man
saved my life!”

The lady’s lungs appeared to empty in a
second as she started gasping for air. The fire in her eyes quickly
dissipated, replaced by fear and concern as she looked toward
Haze.

“
What do you mean, my dear?
What happened?”

Haze explained the events of the attack
to her mother, with every word seeming to cut both of them like
razors. Her mother had taken a seat on the cushioned seater, whilst
Haze had taken the armchair. Einar continued to stand whilst they
spoke, remaining silent until her mother turned her attention back
to him.

“
You have done us a great
justice, Master Einar. I cannot begin to thank you for helping my
dear Haze.”

“
That’s fine, ma’am. I’m
just glad I got there in time.”

The lady paused for a second and
studied him. Einar could feel her eyes piercing him.

“
You have a most peculiar
accent, my boy. Where exactly are you from?”

“
Caim, ma’am. I came across
from the Westerland Island in search of my sister.”

“
In search of your sister?”
The lady raised an eyebrow and titled her head as she spoke. “What
has happened to your sister?”

“
I don’t know,” said Einar,
feeling deflated. “She went missing from our home and was
apparently brought to here to the Esterlands.”

“
She has been kidnapped,
you believe?”

“
Yes ma’am,” he said. “By a
man claiming to be from the Inquisition…”

His voice faded as he tilted his head
forward. The lady let out a sigh and began patting the cushion of
the seater.

“
Come and have a seat, dear
boy. You must be exhausted. Dinner is almost ready and we have a
spare bedroom. You will stay here for the night and regain your
strength. That way, you will be able to continue to look for your
sister in the morning.”

The meal was delicious. They had sat
down at the oak dining table and feasted upon roasted pig with
tomatoes and lettuce. It had been a meal for Lords and Ladies as
far as Einar was concerned.

The bed was equally delightful, with
the mattress feeling as though it took the exact shape of his body.
And yet, he was unable to sleep; thoughts of Alexia continued to
run through his head. As he gazed out of the window in the bedroom,
he noticed a strange flickering light coming closer. A
torch.

It hit the ground just beyond his
window before another and another flew over the outer wall of the
village. They were under attack. A torch landed on the thatched
roof of the house next to theirs, which immediately caught
fire.

Einar flung himself out of bed and
threw on his clothes before barging out of the bedroom.

“
Haze!”

Einar banged on the door to Haze and
her mother’s room, which subsequently opened. They were already up
and had just finished getting dressed.

“
We have to get out of the
house,” he shouted as they all moved across the living room towards
the front door.

Outside was chaotic. The villagers were
running around trying to douse the fires, but they just kept
growing. Then the gate fell.

Inquisition soldiers flooded through
the gate and into the village, their pistols firing and more
torches being thrown. The fire was consuming everything.

“
This way,” screamed Einar
as her pulled Haze and her mother around the side of the house. “We
need to go around the back of the houses so we don’t get
seen.”

They moved to the back of the next
house, and then the next. However, as they went to move to the next
one, Haze’s mother let out a scream.

Her hand slipped from Haze’s and she
felt to the ground, crying in pain as she held her leg. Einar and
Haze turned back for her just in time to see the life escape from
her eyes as she was shot in the head.

“
Mother!”

Haze’s scream rang in Einar’s ears,
tearing at his soul. Her mother’s body fell limp, crashing to the
ground as tears streamed down Haze’s face. Einar grabbed her arm
and pulled her along with him.

“
We have to go,” he shouted
as they ran around the side of the next house, toward the gate.
Turning around the final corner, Einar felt as though he had run
into a horse, his eyes going red. He had been hit in the fact with
the butt of a rifle.

As he fell to the floor, he could just
make out the soldiers hitting Haze with the end of a rifle as
well.

“
We have them! Take them
and let us get away from here!” Einar tried to turn to Haze, but
everything went black.

*~*~*

19

NATE

“
He’s playing you for a
fool, boy,” said Charles.

Nate sat on his bed, tucked away in an
alcove in the wall of the room. A curtain hang from the top of the
oval entrance to the alcove, and a second sleeping capsule was
positioned above his.

Charles sat on a wooden chair, his left
arm leant on an oak desk covered with the blueprints of the
Seadawn. He had not looked up from them for hours, even whilst Nate
told him what the captain had explained.

“
Three Peaks would never
work with the Empire, and to think so is folly,” he continued.
“That man is trying to fool you so that he can have the Seadawn for
himself.”

Nate glanced around the room, following
the pipes across the ceiling to the outer wall of the airship. A
small circular window allowed a tiny amount of daylight into the
room. Clouds were drifting passed outside, whilst the constant
whirring of the Valkyria’s engines rumbled through the
airship.

“
Charles,” said Nate after
a long pause, “you were the one who said the Peak Lords were asking
a lot of very strange questions, right?”

Charles let out a sound more suitable
for a pig as he shuffled in his chair, leaning closer to the
blueprints.

“
Do you not think they were
trying to get information to pass to the Empire?”