Valkyria

by Ink Blood

  Einar lifted his body, turning so that he was seated on the bed, and wiped a lone tear from her eye. He smiled at her as he put his hand on her chin, lifting her face so that their eyes met yet again.

  “Trust me. I'm really okay.”

  He wiped a piece of cloth from his shirt over his face to clean away the sweat and blood. The whips has felt like chains when they had hit his face, cutting like rose thorns. Haze had told him that his back was worse, and had used other pieces of cloth damped from the dripping walls to clean the wounds.

  “What did they want to know?”

  “About me,” Einar replied. “They asked me where I was from and why I was here in Esterland. When I told them I had come to find my sister, they asked me about her.

  Then they asked me about Rin’s murder. They wanted to know what I knew about my sister’s location and what happened to Rin. I told them I don’t know anything, but they didn’t believe me.

  They just kept asking, whipping me each time I told them I didn’t know.”

  Haze wiped his arms with one of the clothes, cleaning the blood stains from his skin.

  “What are we going to do? You will not survive another beating like that.”

  Einar sighed and looked at the stone ceiling. Shaking his head, he rose to his feet and moved toward the square hole in the wall that was supposed to count as a window. Through the bars he could see only darkness. He looked left and right, checking to make sure he was not imagining anything.

  “It's silent,” he said.

  “What do you mean? What is silent?”

  “The entire facility,” said Einar as he turned from the window. “There are no lights anywhere, and no one seems to be making a sound.”

  Haze opened her mouth to speak, but Einar gently placed a finger on her lips to stop her. He listened carefully, waiting to see if he would hear that noise again. He did.

  There was a faint clicking noise coming from outside. It was coming from beyond the prison's walls, out in the wild.

  “I have an idea,” he said after hearing the clicking once more to make sure he was correct.

  “Do you hear that?”

  He could see Haze straining to hear anything out of the ordinary, until her eyes widened at the sound of the clicking.

  “Is that what I think it is?”

  Einar nodded. It was a sound every living person knew, and one many dead people knew every better. It was the sound of the Creatures communicating to one another.

  “I'm going to shout for help,” said Einar.

  Haze's eyes widened further until it seemed they could very well fall out of their sockets.

  “But that would draw them. They are attracted to sound!”

  “Exactly,” he replied. “Why do think the prison is so quiet? My guess is they built this place next to the Creatures' pack house, and that's why they don't want any lights or noise at night.”

  “So you want to bring those things right to us?”

  He nodded, knowing entirely crazy the idea must have sounded.

  “They will keep the guards busy whilst we escape. What do you think?”

  “Honestly? I think it is a terrible plan. However, I do not see any alternative means of escape.”

  “Alright then! Well, this is going to be tough, that is for sure. We will have to be careful on the way out.”

  Haze nodded and smiled, but Einar could see she was trembling. Everyone was scared of the Creatures. They were intelligent pack hunters that wanted nothing more than to feast on your flesh, and Einar was about to bring their pack down upon the prison.

  He breathed deeply before yelling out as loud as he could. The clicking stopped, replaced with the Creatures' hunting scream, the sound of which better fit the banshees of the Old World's legends.

  The sound of the Creatures grew louder with each heartbeat, Einar’s heart sinking lower with every second. They were coming, and they were coming fast.

  “I really, really hope this works…”

  *~*~*

  27

  SERAN

  It took most of the night for Seran to row across the open waters to Midland, but luck had been on his side; the sea had been calm. Moonlight and stars glittered in the water’s reflection throughout his journey, but now they had been replaced with a fiery red blanket as the sun began to rise.

  Mildand, the smallest of the three isles of the Ringlands, was blanketed by a dense forest, and remained the only one of the islands that had not seen construction of towns and cities. As such, there was no dock for Seran to sail toward. Instead, he rowed up to the beach and pulled the row boat through the sand, hiding it between two piles of rocks that had washed ashore.

  Once he was sure that the row boat was safe and secure, he made his way into the sea of trees. The forest itself was dense, the early morning light barely breaking through the canopy. Branches whipped his arms and legs as he pushed through bushes and thickets. Birds of all kinds began to sing, their waking songs bringing a strange sense of peace to Seran’s mind, but even that was not enough to calm the thoughts in his head.

  Images of the Creatures and the carnage they had left at Lord Eerhart’s estate ran through his mind over and over, like a broken record. With every few steps he remembered Eerhart’s final words.

  “What sort of secret do the Inquisition fools have?”

  Whatever their secret was, he knew it would, in some way, spell danger to the citizens of the Alexandria Empire. The Inquisition had destroyed many towns and small cities of the Empire during their revolt, taking much of the Empire’s fleet with them when they relocated to the Ringlands.

  It had taken years for the Empire to rebuild the military might that was lost, and even longer for their engineers to design and build an airship that could equal the Tempest, now the Inquisition’s flagship.

  The loss of the Tempest had been a major blow to the Empire, as it had been their pride and joy during the past wars with Three Peaks and the other nations. However, the Inquisition’s thirst for revenge against the Empire had not be sated with the theft of the Tempest. They had slaughtered the engineers who had built it so that they could not build another quickly.

  Thus, Seran could not help but feel a strong concern about the Inquisition’s new “secret”. They had one of the most powerful and devastating airships in the known lands; what else did they need?

  As he continued through the forest, he realized that he had neither means of navigation, nor any idea what his heading should be. Through the trees, he saw a large mountain; the Midland volcano. It was the only landmark visible from any location of the small circular island. As such, he took it as his heading and began northwest, hoping that he would find some sort of sign.

  Thankfully, his hopes were answered by the sound of a steamcar trundling along, west of his location. The rumbling of the engine was unmistakable.

  He picked up his pace, sprinting through the trees. The branches continued to slash at him, now hitting his face as he ran forward, his arms no longer shielding his head. The Midland was supposed to be unoccupied land, and yet there was a steamcar there.

  “Someone else is definitely on this island,” he said as he ran. “It would seem, milord Eerhart, that you were correct.”

  He ran for what seemed like hours, although he knew that the island itself was only a few miles in diameter. Eventually, much to his surprise, the trees opened up and gave way to a huge clearing.

  Tree stumps, the remains of a once beautiful forest, were scattered around. A chain link fence with barbed wire stretched along a few feet from the start of the clearing, with a single dirt track leading to a large steel gate in the fence. Armed soldiers with pistols, muskets and rifles patrolled the fence, protecting a large red brick building in the middle of the compound.

  The building was covered in windows, and a large stone chimney rose from the far side of it.

  “A factory, I assume.”

  Behind it stood the remains of a castle that appeared to be a remnant o
f the Old World. The external walls of the structure had been reinforced with metal braces, and glass had been used to fill the windows of the castle.

  Seran made his way through the trees, staying in the shadows as he followed the chain link fence around the compound, getting closer to the castle. From his vantage point, he could see steamcars in abundance, as well as seven large cannons stationed around the compound, all pointed at the sky.

  “They have anti-air cannons? What in the world are they protecting down there?”

  Piping and tubes stretched from the cannons to a single building in the middle of the compound. Steam constantly poured from the building, the sound of machinery whirling away coming from within.

  “A power station,” he said to himself.

  Continuing around the facility, Seran found himself close to the castle. There were even more Inquisition soldiers than at the factory.

  He knelt down on the ground and watched the guards, trying to determine their patrol locations. However, as he watched he heard the same of another steamcar coming closer. Dust and sand flew up behind the vehicle as it drove through the compound and stopped at the entrance to the castle.

  The vehicle’s doors opened, and a cloaked man with a walking stick stepped out, followed by a young girl. The girl wore a brown tunic more befitting a farmer than a member of the Inquisition, with a purple shawl wrapped around her shoulders. She seemed to sway from left to right, as if her body was there but her mind was shut to the world. The guards stopped their patrols and each gave a salute to the cloaked man.

  The man signaled to the girl to go to the castle, before turning around and walking back toward the factory. Seran followed him, moving through the trees’ shadows again.

  He moved as close to the chain link fence as possible as an engineer stepped out of the factory to meet the cloaked man. As the two men began to speak, Seran was able to make out a few words, although due to the distance, he was unable to hear the entire conversation.

  “.. Almost ready,” said the engineer.

  “… Empire will not be able to withstand,” replied the cloaked man.

  Seran moved to the left, trying his best to get closer so that he could hear the conversation better.

  “No matter what they do,” said the cloaked man, “they will not be able to hold out against our latest weapon. With this, the Inquisition will finally hold the greatest power in the known lands.”

  “The fools of the Empire will not know how to react,” said the engineer. “We will be ready for testing within three days.”

  “I am glad to hear it. All of my pawns are slowly moving into place. Soon, our plans will come to fruition. Do not fail me.”

  With that, the cloaked man turned away and headed back toward the castle whilst the engineer returned to the factory. Seran stepped backward into the trees once again.

  “This is bigger than I had thought,” he said to himself and he walked further into the forest. “Preparations must be made...”

  *~*~*

  28

  EINAR

  The sound of a hundred pistols rang out through the compound, echoing in the prison cell as Einar watched the chaos through the window. The Creatures, contorted and rotten, were flooding over the outer walls of the prison cell, filling the courtyard in a matter of seconds. Their speed was incredible, running faster than anyone Einar had ever seen.

  The Inquisition guards had set up a defensive wall, rifles and pistols firing over and over to try and take out the threat. However, there were just too many of them.

  It only took a few minutes for the courtyard to be completely overrun, the Creatures tearing through and feasting on the guards. The silence of the night had been replaced with a constant screaming from both the guards and the Creatures.

  The screaming from the guards was horrifying, the wailing sound of death pouring out from their mouths. Yet the screaming from the Creatures was far worse; the ear-piercing cries of the hunt, the soul shattering sound that the Creatures made whenever they saw their prey. That was the sound of death approaching, and Einar had brought it straight to them.

  “I really hope this works,” he whispered to himself as he stepped away from the window.

  Haze was covering her ears, knelt down against the wall. Part of Einar wanted to join her, but there was no time to allow fear to take control; they had their chance so now they had to find a way out of the compound.

  A scream rang out from the corridor. They got inside already? The Creatures were overwhelming the guards far quicker than Einar had expected. He watched as the guard outside of the cell leapt from his chair and drew his pistol, firing wildly down the corridor.

  The constant scream was getting closer, and Einar could see Haze’s eye widen as the Creature came into view. It charged the guard, who managed to dive to the ground fast enough that the Creature pounced straight over the top of him. However, he lost his grip on the pistol, which flew away from his reach just as quickly as his chance of living.

  The guard rolled over, drawing a short sword from its sheath as the Creature launched itself at him again. Haze turned away as its claws drove their way into the guard’s chest, the guard letting out the same dying shriek that had taken over the compound. However, the Creature’s scream slowly faded.

  The guard had managed to raise the short sword just enough that it pierced the burnt, decrepit body of the Creature. Its eyes, normally filled with rage, looked hollow as its rotting arms slumped to its side.

  Now’s our chance. Einar slowly slid across the floor to the bars at the front of the cell. The keys were sitting on the floor, connected to the guard by a flimsy carabiner that was just in reach.

  Einar pushed his hand through the bars, reaching toward the keys. As he managed to get a finger on them, the Creature stirred, making him jump backwards. It had just been a dying reflex, however, as it remained still after the twitch.

  He reached again, shaking his head as he managed to get a grip on the carabiner. Come on Einar, you can do this. He had never touched a dead body until now. He had not even seen a dead body until he had seen Rin. Come on, you have to do this. His hand was shaking as he opened the carabiner and pulled the keys into the cell. Rising to his feet, Einar unlocked the cell and opened the gate of bars before turning to Haze.

  “Come on Haze. We have to get out of here.”

  She did not move, instead staring at the dead guard and the rotten corpse that covered him.

  “Haze!”

  She jumped, looking Einar in the eyes. She was crying, tears streaming down her face. She’s seen too much death recently. He knew that, but Einar also knew they would see a lot more before the night was over.

  “Come on, I’ll protect you,” he said as he extended a hand to her. She sat still for a couple of seconds, gazing at his hand, before finally grasping it and letting him pull her to her feet.

  Outside the cell, the corridor’s marble floor and stone walls were stained red and the gas lanterns flickered in the cold night breeze. Einar and Haze carefully stepped over the bodies in front of the cell and started walking toward the open door at the end of the corridor. However, just a few steps later, another Creature appeared at the door, its eerie smile almost peeling the skin from its face.

  It bent forward, drool pouring from its mouth as it prepared to rush Einar. He readied himself to push Haze into another open cell. Well, I guess this wasn’t the best idea after all... He could feel his heart racing, and his stomach sinking further into his body. This can’t be happening! I don’t want to die like this! I don’t want to die!

  He tried to raise his arms, to push Haze to safety, but realized he had frozen, staring into the cold, empty eyes of the Creature. What do I do? His eyes scanned the area as fast as they could, finally fixating on the guard’s pistol that lay just a few steps away. I can do it! With that, I can do it. He dived forward, sliding toward the pistol, wrapping his hands around it. The Creature put its weight on the back of its feet, ready to pounce. It pushed
forward, toward Einar.

  A splash of blood shot from the Creature’s head, covering the door to the corridor. It had not finished launching itself before a shot had come from the left, outside the door. The Creature crashed to the floor, bouncing as it slid across the marble.

  Behind it appeared a guard, rifle in hand. The guard turned and looked straight at Haze before raising his gun. Einar fired. Shot after shot rang out as he squeezed the trigger of the pistol, each one hitting the guard in a different part of the body until he collapsed.

  What have I done? Einar dropped the pistol to the ground, his hands trembling. I killed someone. What have I done?

  “He was going to kill us,” said Haze, placing a hand on Einar’s shoulder. He felt her grip tighten as she pulled him around to face her, before putting her arms around him. “He was going to kill us, so you had no choice. You had no choice, Einar.”

  She was right. He knew she was right, but he could not stop the feeling of his gut twisting in disgust.

  “We have to go,” she continued. “You said you would protect me, and you did. But now, we have to go.”

  She gave him a kiss on the cheek, and nodded to him. He breathed in deep, trying to swallow the bile in his mouth, and nodded back.

  From the prison corridor, there was only one other corridor they had to pass through before they reached the courtyard. The sound of battle rang out throughout the compound, gun shots, screams and the shouting of commands. The Creatures had overrun the entire complex.

  In the courtyard, some of the Creatures were still feasting on the bodies of the Inquisition soldiers and guards. Fires burnt their way through the steam-cars and velocycles lay in wreckage.

  Einar and Haze ran forward, toward the center of the courtyard; it was the fastest way to the breaches in the outer wall. As they ran, the Creatures looked up from their meals and began to encircle them.

  Einar stopped running, Haze crashing into his back. He looked around the courtyard for a way out, but they were completely surrounded. He sighed deeply and turned to Haze.