Trav didn’t see much, only a flash of an image and some feelings, likely because he and Yaakova had never tried sharing a memory before, but it was enough. His eyes widened and he called Bravoosa over, then ordered, “Captain, go get Hravalin. Also, get ready to lead the company to that hill over there,” he said, pointing, “and dig in. I need to leave for a while.”
“Yes, Commander. How long will you be gone? Should we find a valley to stay hidden instead of a hill?”
Trav thought about it and looked at Yaakova. “Will it take long to get there?”
“If you are on Narnaste...maybe a little over an hour.”
Trav decided to explain his reasoning to Bravoosa—this way she could inform Hravalin too. “So far we have won against a force of over a hundred and only lost five, but we’re tired, and we’re running out of weapons. Half the Belchers are out of power, we only have a few grenades left, and everyone is losing energy. The reason we won the last big battle was because it was getting dark, we knew they were coming so far ahead of time, and dug in with such great defense.”
“That’s true, Commander,” said Bravoosa. “Isn’t that more reason to hide, though?”
“No, because if you are attacked while you have the low ground, what enchanted advantages you’d have left would be less effective. It won’t be night time for a while, too. I want to make some distance after Narn and I get back before we actually strike camp.”
“Wait, New One, am I going with you?” asked Yaakova.
Trav shook his head. “Me leaving is enough of a risk as it is. I need you to support the Pinions.”
“Then how will you find the structure?”
“I have my ways.” Trav grinned. “Just point me as closely as you can in the direction I need to go.”
***
“Master, are we lost?” Narnaste didn’t sound worried, at least not yet, but it was also hard to hear emotion in her voice sometimes when she was transformed.
“I don’t think so,” said Trav. “We just have a bit further to go.”
The two of them had been moving at Narnaste’s loping cruising pace for over an hour. In her giant wolf form, Narnaste could move very quickly. Just how fast does Yaakova fly? thought Trav. The truth was he was using a trick to help navigate.
When Yaakova had been scouting, Trav had been keeping track of her relative direction. The entire time she’d been gone, Trav and the Pinions had been traveling in a straight line. Now that Yaakova was staying with the Pinions, Trav had just reversed the direction in his head and accounted for where he’d been when he judged she’d found the structure. Simple. It helped that he still had a little bit of her impression from the runework he’d done earlier.
Constantly searching the massive amount of Odin’s memories that he had stuffed in his brain had made him good at memory-related things now, it seemed. He could still recall the edges of Yaakova’s experience when she’d found the alien structure.
All around, the dead land was uninterrupted other than hills, dry grass, and the occasional weird chunk of metal, or half-eroded stone statue rising out of the ground. It was enough to drive someone crazy if they thought about it too much.
“Let’s go to the top of that hill there so we can see around us better.”
“Good idea,” rumbled Narnaste.
Trav shook his head. This dead place was even getting to Narnaste. He hoped they could go back to Asgard soon or his companions might truly lose it. Some of the harpies had already begun getting irrational and snappish when they weren’t practically falling down tired.
At the top of the hill, Trav saw what he’d been looking for. About a half a mile away, the land suddenly dipped, and Trav could catch a glimpse of something different, something that glittered. “Let’s go that way,” said Trav. He grabbed Narnaste’s giant ear and gently moved it in the direction he saw the anomaly.
“Ah, I see it now, Master.”
It didn’t take long to reach what Trav had spotted. Half the time was spent by Narnaste slowly picking her way down the eroded hill. Even with her giant paws and graceful walk, she still weighed a lot in her wolf form and had to be cautious.
But then they reached their destination, and the ground leveled out, at least in a small area. Trav leapt off Narnaste’s back, and as soon as he did, she changed back into her Kin form. Narnaste drew her rapier at the same time as Trav summoned Hex, and they both stood crouched, silently listening for several minutes.
Trav carefully scanned his surroundings, looking for any sign of movement or disturbances. In the Veil-overlap, there were very few structures or anything of note, so now that he’d finally found something interesting, he wasn’t taking any chances.
Finally, after about ten minutes, Trav relaxed and said, “Let’s check it out.”
Narnaste nodded and asked. “What is this place?”
“I’m not sure, but I have a suspicion.” He walked around the edge of the level area, peering down the hill and started thinking out loud. “See, I think this was all buried before, and there was a landslide because all the vegetation died. Maybe that’s what covered it up, and the same sort of thing uncovered it years and years later. Then the wind blew around, uncovering it even more. But either way, I think we’re standing on a parking lot, and the building is part of an old strip mall, or something like it.”
“What?”
Trav pointed to the metal squares rising up out of the flat surface. “I am guessing that some of what you are seeing used to be frames. It looks like the walls were made of concrete, or something similar. It’s probably why this stuff is still standing. Concrete is super durable.”
He moved slowly, heading into the bones of the ancient building. The more he poked around, the more he grew convinced that whatever this world had been before dying, there had been some sort of vehicles, and some sort of commerce, enough that it reminded him of Earth.
Speaking slowly, Trav said, “This ruin kind of reminds me of where I came from. I wonder what happened here. An invasion? Nuclear war?” He looked at Narnaste and saw she wasn’t really understanding, and had already begun poking around. That was probably a good idea. “Narn, if you see anything interesting that is small enough to carry, let me know, okay?”
“Yes, Master.” Narnaste might not have understood Trav’s wandering thoughts, but she was definitely curious about the structure.
Trav began combing through the ruins, moving through the metal poking out of the stone or concrete, some of which must have functioned like rebar. Whatever dead civilization had built this place had built it to last. Trav couldn’t identify anything, though. Nothing in Odin’s memories was helping, at least what he could access.
Finally, he found something. Shifting around dust and sand with his foot, he caught a glimpse of metal and bent to pick it up. “Bronze or something, definitely weird-looking,” he muttered.
“Master, I think I found something!”
“Okay, I’ll be right there.” Trav searched around with his foot and the butt of his spear, and found two more oddly shaped bronze...things with unfamiliar markings or writing on them. Then he walked over to where Narnaste was in what might have been a different room in the distant past.
“What’s this thing?” The lupine Kin woman held up what looked like a metal cylinder with markings and glittering ovals. “Is it a wand?”
“I’m...not sure.” Trav gingerly took the item from her, and frowned as he turned it. Something tickled the back of his mind from Odin’s memories and he slowly nodded. “I think it might be something interesting, though.”
After that, the two of them searched for another hour, but Trav didn’t find anything new, and neither did Narnaste. They met up in the flat area again. Everything they’d found had already been stowed. Trav sighed and leaned on his spear. “At least we found something,” he said. “It might not mean anything, but at least we aren’t empty-handed anymore.”
Narnaste gave him a crooked smile. “Yes, that’s great, but now that
we’re both here, all alone, what should we do about it?”
Trav barely got out a confused, “Huh?” before he was hit by a growling Narnaste. She clawed at him and passionately kissed him, nuzzling his neck between kisses. Her tongue slipped into his mouth, and Trav pulled back, half out of breath and half laughing as he said, “I thought you were tired!”
“I am, but since we’ve been in this horrible place, we’ve just been on guard. This world is making me insane. I need…I don’t know. The bond is strong, and I’ve been getting stronger like you have, but I’m not here for power, Travis Sterling, human from Earth, High Master. I’m here because we saved each other in a cave right after I met you and we decided not to kill each other.”
Trav hugged her and softly said, “I remember.” He chuckled. “You know, I—” His words trailed off as he felt something spasm through his bond with his other valkyries.
“Maser? What is it?” Narnaste put her hand on his bearded cheek.
Trav’s voice was grim as he said, “Narn, I’m really sorry, but we need to go right now. Something is wrong. We need to get back as fast as we can.”
Chapter 24
Narnaste practically flew over the grey, dusty ground as Trav tried to focus on his connection to Yaakova and Ysintrill. He’d felt something was wrong, but it was hard to get much more information through the bond other than direction, even for him. It was like holding a piece of string with someone else. Direction was easy to figure out, but if someone flicked the string, sometimes it could be difficult to tell how hard.
Trav had never ridden on Narnaste going full speed before, and the experience would have been terrifying and thrown him off if not for his physical enhancements. But even as strong as he was now, he still had to hang on for dear life.
The two of them made it back in less than half the time it’d taken them to find the mysterious, ruined structure. Trav crested a hill and took in the scene before him. The Pinions had dug into a hill like he’d ordered. All the harpy soldiers had their own fox holes, and the horses had been sheltered behind earthen berms. Normally on Asgard, digging fox holes or other earthen defenses was an alien concept, but the Pinions had quickly seen the utility of earthworks since they had the Belchers and other weapons Trav had supplied them.
To one side of the hill was a formation of unfamiliar Kin in light armor. Trav squinted and studied them as Narnaste ran forward. They had grey skin and black hair. Almost all of the newcomers were standing in formation, but behind them, Trav could see their strange mounds—giant lizards. They looked like huge komodo dragons. Trav tried to get a better look at the grey-skinned Kin, and conceded that he wasn’t actually sure they were Kin. All he could tell for sure at this point was that they were definitely not human.
In front of the formation of strange soldiers, the ground was torn up and burned, like there’d been a fight, or at least a scuffle. The Pinions had dug in all around the hill for three-hundred-and-sixty-degree coverage, but now they were all massed towards the strangers. Trav quickly realized that the newcomers weren’t trying to flank, or fight—they were just standing there.
What is going on? he thought.
As they got closer and both sides saw Narnaste, he read calculation in the other soldiers’ faces. One of them stepped forward with a spear in one hand and a raised arm, but Trav ignored him. “Narnaste, get to the Pinions,” he ordered.
“Yes, Master.” With a few more steps and one giant leap, the huge red wolf cleared the first row of defenders, quickly transforming after Trav slid off her back.
Trav’s entire body hurt, and he was tired from the ride, so he couldn’t even imagine how Narnaste was feeling. “Commander!” Bravoosa hurried over with an exhausted, harried expression.
“What’s going on?”
“Mistress Yaakova didn’t see these Dokkalfar until they were right on top of us. They were using cloaking magic of some kind. They didn’t know we were here either, though. There was a standoff, they tried to move in. I don’t know who shot first but we hit them with Belchers and they hit us with magic and steel. We lost five, and another may die. They lost close to twenty.”
Trav ran a hand through his hair. “Not that I’m complaining, but why isn’t there a fight right now. Why are you just staring at each other?”
“They retreated at first, then came back and shouted that they wanted to talk to our leader. To help protect Guide Hravalin, we said that you were our leader, and you would be back shortly.”
“Alright, got it. Be ready to back me up,” said Trav.
“Always, Commander.” Bravoosa saluted and her eyes gleamed.
On the way to the standoff, Trav noticed the sheet-wrapped bundles he hadn’t seen before. He didn’t want to think about which of the Pinions had died this time. As he walked, he reviewed what he knew about Dokkalfar. There were three large Kin countries of Asgard: Kyvendi, Demona, and Stefna—Dokkalfar ruled Stefna.
Trav had heard things about them on Asgard, and Odin’s memories told him more. They were elvish-looking, and liked order and process. It was said that bureaucracy in Stefna was a sort of religion. So these guys are from Asgard, he thought. Cold fury was crawling up his spine, made stronger after seeing the bodies of his harpies, but he tried to push it down, to stay calm.
He moved to the front line and deliberately stepped past it. Some distance away, every Dokkalfar’s head turned to watch as he made his way across the dead land to stand halfway between the two Kin forces. His intention was obvious, so he wasn’t surprised when only minutes later, a Dokkalfar man made his way to face him.
The dark elf was tall, with a sharp nose and wide set green eyes. He wore elaborate armor with either horn, metal, or perhaps chitin pieces elegantly worked with leather. A long, curving sword rode at his hip. Trav studied the Kin with his magical senses and concluded the Dokkalfar was stronger than most other Kin he’d met—not to the level of the Rakshasa that Trav had killed at Faith, but not too far away, either.
Trav counted nearly two hundred Dokkalfar. This might not be a large force on Asgard, but it was the biggest he’d seen so far in the Veil-overlap. If it came to a serious fight, the situation would be grim. Of course, the dark elves had been blooded enough after a short scuffle that they’d hesitated. Trav still didn’t know why they hadn’t just left, though.
“I asked to speak to the leader,” said the Dokkalfar.
Trav nodded. “I’m the leader.”
“You’re a human.”
“And you are a master of observation.” Trav didn’t bother trying to hide his sarcasm.
The Dokkalfar frowned. “What are the harpies trying to accomplish with this? Humans are slaves. Send your master out here.”
After giving the dark elf a flat look, Trav called, “Yaakova! Come here.”
Yaakova walked up to stand next to him. She gave the Dokkalfar a flat look and said, “Yes, New One?”
Trav casually put an arm around her, tipped the harpy back, and gave her a deep kiss. He brought her back up and even through the tense situation, felt amused by the sudden smoky look in his valkyrie’s eyes. Then he very deliberately grabbed Yaakova’s ass, and grinned when she jumped. He looked her in the eyes and said, “You can go back now.”
Yaakova’s eyes flashed, but she said, “Yes Commander,” and moved back to safety.
Trav was glad the harpy was so smart. Despite being surprised, irritated, and maybe a bit humiliated, she’d still grasped the situation and understood the role she needed to play. He’d have to do something nice for her later and acknowledge her cool head. “These are my people,” Trav said, his eyes and voice flat.
“So it seems.” The look on the dark elf’s face was like someone who’d stepped in something disgusting, but there was no way he wouldn’t believe Trav now. Yaakova had grown a lot. She would not be a pushover anymore if she were to fight this Dokkalfar.
“What do you want?” asked Trav. “You attacked my people, and both sides have been bloodied.”
“To be honest, Human, I am curious about something. You see, another Dokkalfar group came across and destroyed a group of harpies in this cursed place. It was only after they were all dead that we realized we’d also killed a Bernacian Guide. Since harpy territory is a province of Demona, none of this was immediately obvious to us. Having an ally, or perhaps a guest that we could bring back with us would be of much greater value than any trinkets we might find on harpy soldiers.”
The Dokkalfar grinned and the expression didn’t touch his eyes. “Of course, that was before we met your group. These harpies are using some very interesting weapons. We are curious about the weapons, and would also like to meet a living harpy Guide. Frankly, I was expecting a Guide to come out and speak to me, not a...someone like you. Perhaps there is still a Guide somewhere behind you? I would love to meet her. Perhaps she could travel with us, back to Stefna, and you could give us all of your wonderful weapons. That way, we could all avoid any unpleasantness.”
Trav drew Hex and noticed the dark elves behind the leader he was talking to stiffen, only to relax when they saw it was just a crude shiv. “You came here—concealed—hurt my people, and now you want us to rob us? This is insane. I think maybe you should give us your weapons instead, seeing as how you attacked us first and killed some of my soldiers.”
The dark elf lifted one eyebrow. “I don’t think you understand the situation you are in.”
“Sure I do. If you attack us again, you may win, but you are going to lose many fighters. It’s why you’re trying to convince me to give away our weapons. It’s not working.”
“No, you don’t understand. We are just one small part of a much larger task force. In fact, I should probably send someone to fill in my superiors now.” The dark elf raised his hand to make a gesture, and one of the Dokkalfar on a lizard mount took off, leaving the main group.
“I see.”
Trav did some quick thinking. One thing he briefly considered was Narnaste’s truth-telling gift, and he wondered if Dokkalfar also had anything similar. Probably, he thought. There were ways to mimic lie detection with magic, too.
Asgard Awakening 2 Page 22
