Valdis was silent as she buckled the last pieces of his polished steel armor. The preparation sounds of battle roared outside as men with pikes raced past in formation and boots crunched the sow beneath their feet, turning it into hard slippery ice grimy and frozen with dirt. Orders were shouted out for more soldiers here another few with some lord down the line. Horns and drums beat out a vicious war dance and filled the air with their harsh thrumming. Yet Valdis prepared Murtagh silently and she reached for his mailed arms and pulled his hand so it rested to her side as she buckled on his vambraces. She had donned her old healing clothes and Murtagh felt the soft brush of material between his fingers as she moved his hands to help him fit on his gauntlets properly.
"Fit?" she asked softly as she tugged on the metallic cuffs and tugged at the leather.
"Yes," he replied equally quiet. He watched her as she checked over his armor again and she did not meet his eyes as he would have liked.
"Valdis-"
"Are you sure you want me to do this? I have no idea how to properly fit armor," she rambled as though it was only a simple fitting and not a preparation for battle.
"You did well," he said simply and honestly. The squires seemed too afraid to tighten the buckles properly for fear of pinching him and most likely angering him. Valdis had no such qualms which was what he realized when she tugged as hard as she could on the leather strapping's to ensure that everything was right. He preferred the armor snug. It would be idiocy to worry about a loose pauldron in the midst of battle.
Valdis sighed and rested her arms on her waist as she stepped back to inspect him. He flexed his fingers and twisted his wrist. The glove and metal were snug and comfortably.
"Why will you not look at me? Look at me."
She did with slightest hint of frown lines around her face. She looked exhausted with worry.
"We outnumber them-"
"I know."
"This is a swift attack as I told you. They will most likely surrender within the hour."
Valdis grew angry for a moment.
"The empire doesn't take prisoners."
Murtagh's jaw clenched and his voice was tight.
"No, we don't."
Valdis sighed and turned away from him, trying to hide her extreme displeasure at the rule. Murtagh knew how much it angered her and he never spoke of it more than what was necessary. There were some things in fact that they never spoke of. They both knew with glances and tense voices from previous arguments that it was better for them to lock away what angered them. So when there was a time when their differences boiled to the surface they both agreed silently with a look that they should simply not speak of it.
He could not change the harshness of king, nor the brutality of war even if they both wished for it. Murtagh thought that she was done speaking with him, however little it was and resigned himself to silence. Valdis had other ideas.
"You're a master swordsman, correct?"
Murtagh looked up and she stood near his chest of war things.
"You can command magic like no other man can."
"Yes," he answered but his face was slightly tainted with wary confusion at her sudden questions. He waited for her point but not with great patience. He was not as eager as his men were to go to slaughter. He took no pleasure in it. Valdis walked to him and began to strap his sword to his side as she spoke in a small voice that was filled with indifference but worry bubbled to the surface with her voice.
"You can make a diamond that is the size of my hand. You could make rubies and sapphires purer than any that could be mined from the earth."
She looked up at him with a sad sort of smile and her hands rested on the lower half of his breastplate. Murtagh smiled slightly as he remembered the words he had boasted to her nights before. When she had told him the story of the sun's love of the moon, and their children, the shining stars.
"You can do all of that, milord. So this should be simple," she took his face in her hands and held him firmly with a fierce determined gaze in her eyes that set Murtagh's will on fire. He was not used to being touched as affectionately as she was touching his face. It was too…intimate for his liking. It felt embarrassing and public. Yet he knew they were alone.
"Come back alive. I will know you to be the most powerful man on this earth when you come back alive."
Murtagh kissed her hard after a stunned moment and broke away quickly.
"I am the most powerful man on this earth."
Valdis stood in the center of the camp with blank eyes utterly horrified at the scene in front of her.
Men where drowning in their own blood, laying in puddles of it as dirt mixed with their wounds and stung their torn skin. Valdis had never seen such carnage before and she could have lived every day of her life happily ignorant of the fact that men could be so reduced to nothing. Men who seemed to be made of things stronger than herself were reduced to pieces of their former selves.
The spilled and dripped on Valdis as if they were made of water. She could do nothing for the men who were being cut and broken by pieces of forged earth. Earth that they called home, now being used against them to take the life that they once lived.
She stumbled over men's limbs to reach those who were perhaps a stride from death rather than an inch. Her hands fluttered uselessly over wounds that ran with steady streams of red. Men grasped at her arms and body, drowning men desperate for survival. She could not help any of them, they were too mutilated and too dry. Their water, their life, was spilling before her and she was left with nothing but dry cold shells of men.
She couldn't speak coherently and she struggled to breath. Their eyes were the worst, their gargled words of fear and pain made her scream and sob and when she tried to wipe away their tears she smeared their life over her own face, making her appear ghoulish and frightening.
Surgeons sawed limbs that could not be saved, and threw them to the ground. Valdis was useless without magic. They sent her men who were dying and could not be saved. These wounds were crushed organs and shattered limbs. Fingers missing and pieces of flesh hacked and ripped from them. Someone was shaking her and speaking, she had drowned out the groans of the men by thinking of things that she wanted.
She wanted the snow to be white again.
She wanted to be blind and deaf.
She wanted to breathe without crying.
It was a horrible war that she didn't want to be a part of and she shook off whoever held her, a firm hand grabbed her again and pulled her somewhere and placed her hands on a bleeding limb firmly. She could feel the dirt and rock in the wound and the shaking of the person who owned that limb and panicked. She let go as soon as her hands had been placed down and scurried away. Men were black and sooty and some were covered in blood that was not their own.
The fighting was over but the real terror was just beginning. She could not heal them and she could not ease their pain. The small bottle of poppy juice she had was taken from her when she had retrieved it from her dress and her bandages were gone within moments of trying to help a few men.
She walked and walked to somewhere that she didn't know and fell to the cold snow. It was somewhere she recognized and had walked before where the tree's were far apart and seemed as tall as the sky. A place where she couldn't smell scorched flesh and the horrific clang of metal.
It was quite when she wept and the snow turned pink with blood as it washed away from her face and clothes. She didn't want to see their faces anymore and she couldn't stand it for a moment longer. She was cold and miserable and she wanted the warmth of furs and a raging fire. She wanted a friend and desperately wished for one.
Sleep was a welcome sanctuary.
"Wyrda!"
The air was so cold that some of her tears had left frozen trails on her cheeks.
"Wyrda!"
She moved her fingers and was relieved that she had tucked them into her thick dress. She raised herself on a shaky arm and looked around her. Sitting in the snow was the white raven from the weeks before looking at her carefully with its eyes blinking rapidly with intent eyes.
"Wyrda!" it cawed throatily.
"I don't know what that means," Valdis murmured as she struggled to her knees. The ground of the forest had not been completely covered in snow. Taller weeds from the fall still spotted the pristine white ground in patches of dry grass that made a makeshift bed for her to lie upon. She brushed snow from her clothes and shakily stood on weak legs.
"On the trail have we met,
There's much to be discovered yet!
Dry your tears,
Brave your fears,
Blagden is always here!"
Valdis' brow furrowed and as she tried to step forward she fell and caught herself with one arm.
"Ouch," she muttered and she looked at her wrist which was red and swollen. Sighing, she weakly scraped at snow and packed it to her throbbing wrist.
"I don't know who you are, or-" Valdis shook her head to clear her thoughts, "-what you are. But if you can help me I promise to protect you if the soldiers try to make you into soup."
The white raven cawed and flapped its wings in what Valdis guessed was amusement.
"On a journey you must seek,
To fight for those who are meek!
Help the Rider to his prize,
Whilst saving him from demise!"
Valdis groaned and slumped in the snow, but as she began to fall forward with exhaustion the white raven made an attempt to peck at her nose and Valdis sat straight again with agitation.
"I'm tired you crazy pigeon, let me sleep in the snow or help me back to camp."
"On a trail have we met,
There's much-!"
"To be discovered yet," Valdis finished, "Yes. I know. I heard." She stood and was pleased to find that she was steadier. She looked around her and sighed wearily. She had no idea where she was. She felt close to camp but knew that if she went in the wrong direction she would wander in the woods for days until she starved or froze in a winter storm.
"I cannot believe I'm asking this of a bird, but can you help me? Can you flap your wings in the general direction of the camp? Or riddle directions I can solve?"
The raven hopped in the snow towards her and cawed loudly when his foot fell through the snow and he was submerged, beak first in the wintry frost. Valdis couldn't help but giggle slightly as she knelt to pick up the bird with her fingers carefully placed around its wings; it shook its beak and cawed at her softly. She wiped the snow from its feathers with a clean portion of her apron and the crow preened at the special attention from her gentle fingers. The feathers were smooth and soft and they shone with a pale sheen in the moonlight. It wriggled uncomfortably in her hands and Valdis raised a brow.
"First you like me now you don't?" She tossed the bird up into the sky and he flapped till he stood on a branch, "How very ungrateful of you."
The bird turned its head to look at her with one black eye in a rather haughty manner. Valdis cringed for a moment as she shifted her bad wrist, then something from her memory caught her attention.
"Is your name, Blagden?"
"WYRDA!"
It was good enough for Valdis and she could not help but smile.
"That is a very interesting name."
Blagden cleaned his white feathers pompously for a moment and then his head stood straight and stiff and he moved it smoothly side to side as only birds could. He cawed and cawed flapping his wings angrily at something he saw.
"What is it?" Valdis looked to the distance behind her; she saw nothing but an expanse of bleached forest. Blagden hopped up and down on his branch, spraying snow from the pine needles and cawing loudly.
"Háski!"
Valdis shook her head and shook her arms in frustration and with worry.
"I don't know what that means!"
"As harm draws near,
You clearly lack,
The wits needed,
To get back!"
Valdis looked through the white snow and a shadow moved yards away from her. It was covered in a battered black cloak and a huge beak protruded from the hood, a foul smell barely reached her nose but it made her feel dizzy and clouded as though she had drunk too much ale.
"The leatherwings have flown far,
To become the little race that they are."
Valdis tried not to move but she was covered in a dark cloak and stood out in the snow. Whatever was cloaked yards from her was sniffing the air and its head snapped to her direction. Perhaps it smelled the blood from her clothes.
"The bird ssspeaks the truth of old agesss."
Valdis walked backwards slowly, Blagden stayed determinedly on his branch. His feathers shook and his beak and black eyes were tensely focused on the dark creature in front of him.
"A mighty race such as yours,
Should not go killing human whores."
Valdis glared at Blagden and hissed at him.
"You are going to be my dinner, pigeon."
The cloaked figure laughed and hissed in amusement, Valdis wished to not see what was underneath its hood, but she saw its back was hunched sharply and it seemed a bad imitation of a human form. In its clawed hands was a dark crude blade, spilling blood from the tip and dying the snow a bright pik.
"I will keep you, yesss? You may pleassse our massster."
"Kill them both!"
A second cloaked figure appeared from beyond the trees and the first stranger seemed unsurprised at the sudden appearance. This creature was shorter than the other and stockier beneath his cloak. His shorter twisted blade was also dripping with blood.
"We have no ussse for prisonersss or birdsss who ssspeak too much." The shorter one's voice was harsher and clipped, angrier than the first hooded figure who regarded the odd pairing of raven and woman with amusement. The taller one hissed in displeasure at his counterpart's words.
"We haven't feasssted in weeksss," the tall one spat and his gaze twisted to Valdis in a fashion that reminded her of vultures, "The woman looksss plump and pretty. Ssshe would make a fine meal for usss!"
The shorter cloaked figure turned to Valdis and clucked its beak together several times, what Valdis painfully assumed was the equivalent of someone licking their lips at the sight of a tempting feast.
"Agreed."
Blagden cawed viciously and loudly flapping his wings and snapping his beak in the air.
"Go!" Valdis whispered quickly as she waved her hands at Blagden, "Go you stupid thing, don't become the first course!"
Blagden ignored her and cawed while they figures approached her, fanning to the sides of the trees and moving silently through the snow to flank her. Blagden continued to caw furiously and flapped his wings while his harsh cries rang through the forest. Valdis breathed in and felt faint with the smell of the creatures that were paces from her. Then Blagden's caws were replaced by something far more astounding and terrible. A mighty roar erupted from the sky above her and rang through her ears in great waves of sound. She felt her skin stand on end and her lungs vibrate and a great whoosh of air threw her over into the snow. Blagden flew off into the distance and became one with the white scenery.
Valdis hit her head against the trunk of a bleached birch tree and her vision swam, the creatures hissed in terror and anger and backed away but a steady loud voice rang clear and they were lifted into the air struggling and kicking furiously against their invisible bonds that had strung them into space likes puppets. A voice spoke as something slowly thundered toward her, Valdis curled up and waited for sharp teeth to rip into her skin but hot breath blew in her face and she heard a great rumbling.
The large snout of a ruby colored dragon nudged her huddled frame cautiously.
I think she's gone mad. Thorn commented warily as he twisted his head side to side to try and peek at Valdis' face.
She's scared. You're not helping. Murtagh growled as he directed the steady stream of magic at the Ra'zac.
Thorn moved away from Valdis and launched his neck and head toward the Ra'zac and let loose a deafening roar of anger, he also blew smoke and backed away with a smug disposition that Murtagh could not help but smile at.
Good dragon.
Thorn hummed at the comment.
"Let usss go traitor! We are worth more than you and your lizard put together!"
Murtagh bound the magic tighter and the Ra'zac struggled as their outer exoskeletons cracked under the weight of the Red Rider's magic. They hissed at him angrily and continued to struggle.
"I am sure your master will be delighted to learn of your well being. He has been so worried that he lost such useful and loyal allies."
"We ssserve out of choice, traitor. You ssserve out of enssslavement."
Murtagh's face darkened and his palm itched with the gedwey ignasia. He was eager for payment for such an insult.
"I serve as you do. Insults will not spare you and they will not make your journey to the capital any easier. I will drag you by dragon if I must."
Thorn-
She is alive, but she is injured. One of her claws is damaged. She will not use it.
Murtagh grimaced and allowed the Ra'zac to drop to the snow.
"Mathinae," he murmured tiredly and the Ra'zac were still in the snow though their eyes moved constantly as they surveyed the happenings of the scene around him.
Murtagh strode through the snow to Valdis who was slumped against a tree. She was pale and drawn looking and stirred slightly when he called for her. When he moved her head he saw a bloody smear on the bleached bark of the tree behind her.
We need to get her warm. Fly fast and low to the ground. We may not have time to waste.
As you say, little dragon, I will do.
Murtagh grunted a little as he lifted her and his cloak of sable swept the ground as he moved her over to Thorn's saddle. Once he himself had mounted he pulled Valdis up to him by her good arm and set her in front of him. He wrapped his cloak around her and strapped her into the saddle.
Quickly, Thorn.
What of the Ra'zac?
Murtagh glanced over to them with a hard face.
Let them freeze. I will entertain the amusing idea of leaving them unharmed when I have rested and eaten.
Thorn grumbled at his rider's dark sense of humor.
The king will not approve.
The king is not here, and since they have been missing I doubt it would be surprising if they sustained some injuries on their long and incredibly perilous journey. He may even be suspicious if they were so unharmed.
We are doing them a favor then, Thorn noted casually as he launched himself into the clear chilling winter sky.
They will thank me for any treatment they receive at my hands when they are treated with the hospitality of the king.
Thorn chuckled at the dark remark.
Yes. Yes they will, little dragon.
Valdis and Murtagh watched from a standing distance.
When she had first awoken she felt rested and in a rare state of tranquility. Her wrist was no longer broken and she was happy to find it healed and workable. Her head did not ache and she was cleaned of all blood and was given her clothes of fur and wool to keep her warm. The healer who had attended her was an old matronly woman with sparkling eyes and a cackling laugh that reminded Valdis of the old tales of witches meant to scare children into good manners.
Murtagh had been informed of her awakening in the afternoon during his duties and promptly left them to go to his tent. He was pleased to find Valdis awake and warm. She had not troubled him with blubbering thanks or a weepy confession of love and loyalty. She had simply curtsied and placed a chaste kiss to his cheek and requested with an air of authority to see the creatures of the forest. He had gestured silently with an arm to exit the tent before him where their horses waited saddled and ready. He had expected nothing less. He already knew of her thanks from the way she had looked at him and she already knew he was thankful that she was alive; he wouldn't have left his duties in the middle of the day otherwise.
On the ride out of the camp soldiers who Valdis had healed before smiled at her and called out thanks while the rest of the men stopped their work to dutifully kneel and bow to the prince as he past. Verena felt strangely proud as she rode through the camp and Stahl gave her a wink from his place outside of the armory where he had been polishing a sword.
When the camp disappeared from the horizon behind them and nothing but white glared before them Murtagh pulled his horse in front of Valdis' to stop her.
"You will take offense to the words that I say to you but I ask that you listen anyways. Can you do that?"
Valdis' eyes narrowed but she nodded her head.
"Yes, your majesty."
"The creatures from the forest are called the Ra'zac. They will recognize you as prey that they have not finished hunting and they will be angered to see you so intact. They will be violent and cruel and may say things that upset you or anger you. They may even goad you or humiliate you enough where you will want to lash out at them. It's what they want and you will win by remaining calm and passive to their words. They gave me a difficult time this morning and there are craving a taste for blood sport. Do not move from your place and do as I do. It will keep you alive."
"Are they not imprisoned then, milord? Would it not have been wiser to bring your guards?"
"They are caged, but I would be foolish to assume that fact alone would keep us safe."
Valdis nodded determinedly with a hum after a moment of appraising her face Murtagh nodded and kicked his horse forward for another league before he dismounted and began to walk into the woods. Valdis cautiously followed him and kept silent. When a loud sound of roaring came from the distance it echoed through the woods and made Valdis freeze. Murtagh turned to her without apology.
"They smell you. There's no use hiding, we are nearly there."
Valdis eyed the forest ahead of them with a wary eye but trudged forward past Murtagh in the snow and followed the tracks of a cart. Murtagh slowed his pace and watched her as two great masses of blackened iron came into view. Men scrambled and yelled to each other as the Ra'zac shifted and rocked their cages, one even managed to tip it over onto a guard who Valdis knew from the sudden stop of the man's scream that he was dead.
One of the Ra'zac looked up from his kill with blood pooling around his face and bits of flesh clinging to his beak. He clicked at her in something she was sure was a language and the other Ra'zac, the taller one stopped his attempts and clawing at a soldier to turn and look at her. The soldiers stopped to watch as Valdis approached. She could feel Murtagh close behind her and when the soldiers tried to bow Murtagh waved them off with his hand.
The crunch of snow beneath her feet was deafening to her ears and the Ra'zac shifted in their cages with anticipation as she approached them.
"You were sssilly to return, little sssparrow. You only wet out appetitesss with you presssence."
The shorter Ra'zac clicked his beak sharply in agreement.
"Do you have names?" Valdis asked sure that she would be laughed at by the soldiers but they made no remark, they simply watched with nervous expressions.
"Yesss," the taller Ra'zac clicked. "But your tonguesss could not sssay them properly in our language. Too uncivilized we think."
"Then why bother eating us?"
"Why bother eating your animalsss? You would wisssh to ssspeak to the goatsss you ssslaughter? Or the deer you ssskin?"
Valdis nodded.
"I understand your point."
The taller Ra'zac clicked and hissed in amusement.
"Where is your friend, little sssparrow?"
Valdis' brow puckered and her head tilted to the side in confusion.
"The white bird who ssspoke of the thingsss of old."
"He ssspoke too much!" the shorter Ra'zac hissed harshly.
"I don't know," Valdis said honestly, "He went away when-"
"The traitorsss dragon appeared. Yesss, yesss."
Valdis could feel Murtagh's questioning gaze but the soldiers seemed too terrified to notice any of the conversation that was transpiring.
"He wasss a ssstrange thing," the taller Ra'zac admitted, "Hisss feathersss were white as the sssnow."
"Do you know what he is? Why he is?"
The Ra'zac turned his head to stare at Valdis with a beady birdlike eye and appraised her cunningly.
"Perhappsss, little sparrow. Perhapsss."
"You want something then," Valdis growled.
The Ra'zac clicked in unison.
"What is it?"
"We want our steeds. The lethrblaka as your wissser humansss call them."
"I don't know what that means,"
"Their parents," Murtagh suddenly said and he came forward to stand by Valdis, "The lethrblaka are their parents. The Ra'zac you see know are still growing, its why they look so strange to us. Their shells and their lives are not complete."
The Ra'zac hissed in anger and shook their cages the soldiers jumped and shifted nervously.
"Hold!" Murtagh called to the men and the soldiers rallied in their places.
"You ssspeak of thingsss that you ssshould not reveal, traitor!"
"You seemed willing enough to speak."
"To the sssparrow, yesss."
Verena turned her back to the cage and looked tugged discreetly on Murtagh cloak, he leaned slightly to listen.
"Is there anything that the king needs to know?"
Murtagh's brow perked in confusion but Valdis slowly tilted her head and rolled her eyes in the Ra'zacs direction.
"Do you think the king would want to learn of their whereabouts?"
Murtagh's mouth twitched in amusement at her attempts to speak discreetly but he winked at her and Valdis nodded in understanding. Yes was his answer. Valdis turned to the Ra'zac with a smooth expression.
"When you found me in the forest what would you have done with me?"
The taller Ra'zac clicked his beak sharply in amusement and hissed at her.
"It would be too gruesssome to hear, little sssparrow."
"Little sssparrow," the shorter Ra'zac echoed.
"We would have eaten you sssslowly. Raw and bloody with you sssinging sssweetly as pretty sssparrowssss do."
The shorter Ra'zac clicked and squawked in hunger and shook his cage slightly, a soldier with a pike jabbed him and the short Ra'zac hissed at him. But the taller one paid him no mind and laced his claw like hands around the bars of the cage. Even though they were as thick as Valdis' thumbs she doubted they would hold a vengeful- or hungry- Ra'zac for long.
"Singing?" Valdis questioned.
"Sssinging," the shorter Ra'zac chanted hungrily.
"They mean screaming," Murtagh whispered into her ear.
"Why were you there?"
The Ra'zac chuckled at her and the taller one tilted its head as if to silently say-
"The blood," Valdis realized, "You were following the blood from the battle."
"Feasssting on the remainsss of our work. Ssso fresssh!" the shorter one jeered happily clicking his beak and shaking the bars of its cage.
"Then you ate the party of the Varden as well then. Soldiers too," she realized, sickened. "That's why some of our men were missing their arms. You were hunting us. Varden ad Empire alike."
The Ra'zac's sharp faces turned to each and they laughed and hissed amongst themselves for a moment.
"Clever sssparrow," the tall one cooed, "Sssmarter than we thought."
"There was a soldier there, scouting them. He was tall and had red hair."
"The one kissed by fire, yesss. He gave usss trouble before we killed him."
Valdis' jaw clenched and her hands fisted as she heard of the fate of Hyatt. Her gloves of leather protested with a stretching sound.
"You killed my men and by campaign law that is punishable by an equal sentence of death," Murtagh said smoothly with authority.
The taller Ra'zac growled as he sharply turned his beak towards Murtagh.
"We are not your sssoilders or your ssslavesss, traitor. We are not held by your lawsss. A hunter doesss not oblige the prey!"
Murtagh's eyes glinted menacingly but his face remained passive and his voice was cool and disinterested.
"You are not in a position to negotiate. You abandoned your king-"
"We do not ssserve the mad man! It is sssport to usss to do asss he sssaysss. We are not broken asss easssily asss you were," The tall Ra'zac chuckled and watched Murtagh as he heard his words.
Murtagh's nostrils flared in anger and his hand shifted toward his sword. Valdis under the cover of their cloaks touched his clenched fist with her cool fingers. Murtagh blinked at the touch but otherwise remained silent.
"You want your parents, as you said the lethrblaka. But how could we find them? What guarantee do we have they will not kill those who approach them."
"Would you prefer them ssstealing away into the night and killing you asss you ssslept, little sssparrow?"
"That doesn't answer my question."
The shorter Ra'zac clicked his beak so sharply that Valdis wanted to count her fingers to make sure she hadn't lost any.
"Ssshe hass fire. Letsss jussst kill them and take her!"
"No!" the taller Ra'zac said with obvious authority.
"They are in the mountain far south of here outside of the Great Keep."
Valdis shook her head in confusion.
"I've never heard of such a place."
"Gil'ead," the shorter Ra'zac snapped, "Gil'ead."
"That's dozens of leagues from here!"
The Ra'zac stared at her blankly for once not hissing or clicking at her.
"What would receive in return?"
"Twelve leaguesss from here there isss a sssmall camp of Varden ssscoutsss who youdo not know of. They are the sssecond ssscouting party that was sssent. That information wasss an act of good will, little sssparrow. Ussse it!"
Valdis turned to look at Murtagh who was silent for a moment as he thought. His eyes ever left the Ra'zac as he called for the captain, a short man with a robust figure.
"Take 30 men of all rank and go to the mountain of Marna. It is east of Gil'ead and southeast of us here."
"Yes, Majesty."
"It will be some time before you get what you want," Valdis pointed as a few men assembled and mounted horses, "Are you truly content to wait here for as long as need be without hunting or killing any men?"
"We will wait-"
"We will wait," the shorter one echoed.
"But not for long."
Valdis looked to Murtagh who after a moment nodded his head at her. He gestured with an arm for Valdis to go ahead of him and they walked in the snow till they were out of sight of the cages in the forest. Valdis heard the clicking and hissing as they left.
"They won't keep their word will they?" Valdis asked as they stopped before their horses.
"No, it's not likely," Murtagh looked at her with a calculating expression and Valdis waited for him to speak.
"I don't understand why they would speak to you that way. Tell you those things."
"Perhaps they think it won't matter since they'll kill me."
Murtagh dryly chuckled at that and nodded.
"I won't say it's like they trust you. But there's something there that I am not seeing clearly."
"What are they?" Valdis asked as the things in the great cage railed and screeched.
"They are servants of the king, and the last of their kind in all of this land. They disappeared many months ago until you so cleverly found them."
"I wasn't looking I was just lost."
Murtagh nodded but did not take his gaze away from the road in front of them
"That is usually the best way to find things. You are lucky, milady, I have never heard of a story where an encounter with the Ra'zac was left without blood."
"I have you to thank for that, your grace. They had just agreed to eat me moments before you and your mighty dragon arrived."
Murtagh's eyes narrowed at her words.
"They had just agreed to eatyou?"
Valdis nodded and pulled her reins tighter her horse slowed to the pace of Murtaghs and their legs touched. They acted as though it was nothing unusual, but they both felt it.
"Yes, they said that they hadn't eaten in weeks."
Murtagh was silent. Valdis watched him for a moment before pressing.
"Do they-? Are they-?"
Murtagh looked down at her with a rather apologetic face as her mind wrapped around the truth.
"They hunt humans? They actually eat us? I thought perhaps it was a farce."
Murtagh looked down at her with a look that chastised her for being so naïve.
"There are many tales of the Ra'zac's doings. There was simply no one left alive to tell of it. Think hard, milady. Has there ever been an attack that was so brutal and so horrible that the people of your village turned against each other? That they locked their doors and barred their windows against neighbors and never let the children play in the street?"
Valdis looked away to the mountains as she thought and Murtagh waited patiently as they rode along.
"Oh," she finally murmured.
"Tell me," he commanded.
"They never came to the sea though. The attacks were always in the valleys and mountains when the merchants came twice a year. They told us stories of creatures on the road that stole men in the night and left bones in the morning."
Murtagh nodded again and adjusted in the saddle.
"Any worthy lady would give a man a kiss for saving her life as you did mine. Yet, I suppose it would make the spy in the woods behind you suspicious wouldn't it?"
Murtagh looked over to her, slightly impressed.
"You noticed."
Valdis shrugged innocently.
"He's not very good at staying hidden. I saw him on our walk back to the horses."
"She is a spy for the king."
"He watches you?"
"Always," Murtagh gruffed and he kicked forward on his horse to quicken their pace, "You have spies as well you know."
"Following me?"
Murtagh shook his head.
"At your command I mean," he looked over at her and shook his head, "I would have thought you would have used the power you have by now. Being my mistress is much more than simply bedding me in the evening and being pretty."
"Oh, so you think I am pretty?" she teased.
Murtagh laughed.
"Very."
Valdis colored. I was a rare moment of light heartedness that she wished to not ruin.
"You can do what you like you know; you don't have to stay in the tent all day. Rumor has it that I chain you to the bed."
"But you don't!" Valdis protested, outraged.
"No," he chuckled, "But you rarely leave." He shifted in his saddle and his eyes darkened. It took him a moment to speak but when he did he spoke clearly and firmly, without a tone of uncertainty or nervousness to color his voice.
"I do not regard you as my slave, Valdis. You are as free as you were before. You can do as you like."
"Thank you," Valdis said gently looking away from him, "but I am perfectly content to be chained to your bed all day and night."
Murtagh laughed loudly and shook his head at her when his laughter faded he was serious again but the ghost of humor trailed in his eyes still.
"I am contented you find it a pleasurable place to be, mistress Valdis."
When she looked over at him he was gazing at her with the dark eyes of desire.
"Your grace-"
"Yes milady."
"Would it be terribly disgraceful to have you in front of the spy? When she leaves then we can continue on with even more scandalous behavior and make a night of it."
The Valdis from a few months ago would have been horrified to learn that she would say these words in her future, but now she was excited and thrilled to see the Rider's reaction as she did so.
"Milady-"
"Yes, your grace?" she replied demurely.
"That would be wonderful if I was a not already frozen."
"I'm sure our activities would warm you."
Murtagh chuckled again at her enthusiasm and sighed.
"Would you prefer a tree or the snow?"
"As it please you."
"You always do."
Valdis giggled.
"It heartens me to hear it, milord," she replied honestly hiding her knowing smile. She wouldn't tell him though that her recent skill arose from a long and delightful conversation with a girl from a pleasure house that had taken up residence in Lord Rohm's tent for the past week. Her sudden knowledge with pillow tricks would perplex him for a while longer, and Valdis stifled a large grin at the thought of that future conversation. Needless to say it would be a hands-on demonstration. For the full effect.
Valdis did not have the Rider in the snow or against a tree. She did not have him at all that night and she didn't mind. Their teasing came and went and nothing was taken seriously when they quipped sly insults back at one another, delighting in the verbal challenge. It was a rather youthful thing to do and it took her mind away from the battle she had witnessed days before.
But not all things are forgotten.
Murtagh growled suddenly and pushed away his plate. Valdis looked up startled and watched as he sat back in his chair with the slightest of huffs.
"Are you ill?" Murtagh demanded staring at her forcefully.
"No, milord," Valdis lied meekly.
"Has something happened?"
Valdis shook her head.
"You are unhappy. I want to know why."
"I'm not-"
"Denying it will make this night longer and I will bind you to that chair if it's what it takes to beget the truth from you. Speak."
"It's silly and weak and female. I won't trouble you with my troubles, milord. It's not why I'm here."
Murtagh tilted his head to the side for a moment before he spoke and Valdis rolled a grape around her plate.
"Do you consider being my mistress a chore?"
Valdis brow furrowed as she looked up.
"No, milord."
"Do you think that you are treated unfairly?"
"No, milord," Valdis replied truthfully. She knew she was given the treatment of a noble lady. A very rich one.
Murtagh paused for a moment and his eyes grew dim. Valdis tried not to wither under his gaze.
"Do you have…news…to tell me?"
Valdis saw the apprehension clearly in Murtagh's face and his hands were balled into fists against the armrests of his chair. Valdis understood in a moment and smiled warmly at him.
"I am not with child, milord."
Murtagh relaxed visibly and he took a deep breath the air seemed to clear.
"Then…what makes you so unhappy?"
Valdis looked down at her plate for a moment before pushing it away. She braced herself with her hands on the table and rose. Murtagh watched her as she walked over to him she stood for a breath before he pushed out his chair. She sat on his lap but instead of embracing him as she usually did she folded her hands.
"I could not save a single man that day on the plains. When you fought the Varden."
Murtagh was silent. Valdis was glad for it.
"I was walking and I heard a moan from the edge of the camp. There was fog and snow and then there was a figure and another and another. Covered in grim and blood and moaning for help from anyone. I thought that the end had come and that the dead were walking."
Valdis laughed and brushed a loose strand of hair away from her face.
"Some were burnt clean through their skin. I peeled away leather and linen and I took flesh and vein with it. There was nothing I could do. By the time I stumbled into the forest I was half mad and slick with blood from a hundred soldiers. I fell asleep in the snow and woke to be greeted by the Ra'zac."
Murtagh didn't move or say a word and it was Valdis was expecting and what she wanted. The things she saw that night were things that she would never forget even if she lived for a hundred years. It tore at her in ways that she was not expecting and buried itself inside of her. Murtagh shifted in his seat and Valdis looked at him. What affected him was that way she looked and he couldn't believe he had been s blind as to not notice how grey she looked. How pale and drawn with shades of purple beneath her eyes and a weakness in her presence. As if what she saw had taken a piece of her.
"It's not something that you will forget," Murtagh whispered firmly. "It is not something that leaves you easily but it will not last forever."
Valdis nodded and stood with the beginnings of tears starting to sting her eyes, Murtagh missed the weight of her immediately. Yet, Valdis would be damned if he saw her cry.
"Thank you…Murtagh," she whispered and with a slight curtsy she left the tent and Murtagh was left to ponder what she had told him.
That was brave of her Thorn commented after a time.
Murtagh hummed in agreement but he hadn't heard what Thorn had said.
She trusts you. Perhaps that should count as something.
I am a traitor. Her trust means her death.