Chapter 8) Darkness


Lady Sarah was very unprepared to fill her mother's shoes, especially with the added stigma of being a traitor's daughter. So, instead, she forged her own path, and created the first Valkyrie unit of the Etrurian army, led by herself, all riding Hanover horses.

Then, slowly, she made other countries reliant on Hanover horses, just to have a chance in a fight should things come to blows. It was in her reign that Hanover's power was absolutely secured. No one could make it falter. After all, no one wanted to anger the house that supplied your cavalry.


I really did enjoy flying. It was not quite as good as riding a horse at a gallop, but it was a close second.

"Enjoying yourself back there?" Maria laughed, flashing a grin over her shoulder. I simply smiled back in reply. "Ah, I love flying at night. I feel like I am swimming through the stars." Moonless night too. Those had always been the best for assassinations. "Oh, but we better keep a look at the ground. We're supposed to be finding a good place to camp for the night."

"Very true," I confirmed. It was a little hard to remember, being so far up. I wonder… if I made a wish on a star right here, would the stars actually hear it? Ah, probably not. Such things were worthless anyway, and I doubted being closer would help at all. "I am surprised how easy it was to leave Laus."

"Yeah, I keep expecting something." We left Laus yesterday, and had experienced no trouble as we made our way to Ostia. "But we're already towards the mountains." From up here, I could almost peek over them and see Hanover. "Anyway, where was I?"

"You were telling me about your friend and her daughters?"

"Right, Anthea!" Maria laughed, warm and bright. "So, Anthea was my senior when training. We grew up together, so she's always basically been my big sister. She has two daughters now. Cute little Fiora is two, and Farina was just born. I haven't met her yet, but I got a letter!" She sighed. "Damn well gave me a heart attack. I thought she died!"

"Why would you think that?"

"It's tradition among the knights, both the cavalry and pegasi units." She sighed, drooping now. "Ilian mercenaries sell their blood for money. If one of us dies in a bed, it's because it's in an infirmary and we served a nice person or we're sick. No Ilian has died peacefully from old age since Barigan's time."

"I… imagine Etrura does not help with that."

"Etruria uses us, but they also pay well when we manage to survive. It's like a destructive romance." Ha… "But, anyway, the letters. They're like our wills. They are our way of informing our loved ones that we're dead. We're gone. And no, you're probably not going to get the body back."

"Body back?"

"There are not graves in Ilia. Just memorials, mostly in Edessa, because few Ilians die on Ilian soil." Oh… "You can write multiple letters. It's even encouraged. Family, lovers, dearest friends… Anthea promised me that one of her letters would go to me. I promised her the same." She paused and glanced back. "All of my letters are in my saddlebag, marked with a red star. If something happens…"

"I will make sure they are delivered." What else could I say? It was clearly important. "So, Anthea."

"Right, I got the letter about Farina, and thought it was her will." She giggled, back to good cheer. "Ah, I can't wait to go back and meet her. She's probably adorable. Fiora is. Apparently, Fiora's all happy about being a big sister too, and about Anthea's new boyfriend."

"New boyfriend?"

"Anthea's husband was killed a few months ago, on some job from Bern. She found out she was pregnant a few weeks prior to it." Oh. "So, it's probably not a new boyfriend, but rather a male friend who is helping out Anthea, but it wouldn't surprise me if they ended up together. Relationship turnover tends to be fast in Ilia, and I know there was always strong affections between her and him."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah, our lives are short. Unlike other countries, Ilia doesn't have special colors for mourning, or special funerals, or anything. It's too much money, and too much time. We mourn quickly, fall in love quickly… all because we know that we're most likely dead by thirty." That sounded… so sad… "Oh, I bet if they have a kid, it'll be a girl with pretty purple hair like him!" Why a girl? Then again, maybe girls were just more valued in Ilia. Ilia's chief 'export' was the pegasus knights, after all, and pegasi only let girls ride them. "Hey, Amanda?"

"Yeah?"

"Is there something glinting below?" At her words, I glanced down. And I froze when I realized… "I was right?"

"Dodge. Arrows." Maria got her pegasus to arc up, out of range of the arrows that tried to shoot us down. I thought I saw a couple brush against the pegasus's hooves, but there were other things to worry about now. "Well, damn." Etrurian soldiers, lining the road, and hiding in the woods based on the rustling. "Chances of us being able to just turn back?"

"Not very likely. I'm honestly not sure we're going to make it back before the others ride into them, and there's more than enough to cut off our escape back." Oh, hell. "I hate being right." Yeah, but why was there a trap here? I would have expected something as we left Laus, or when we got into Ostia, but why on the road by…?

My breath caught when I saw Albert looking up. Right at me. And he was smiling slowly. He had figured it out. He had figured out that it was me back there. That was… he knew it was me, and he knew that Uther was an enemy to him. He was here to deal with both 'problems' in one fell swoop.

Never did I think I would hate the night so damn much. This was going to be bad.


I was wrong. It was even worse than bad. This was far beyond 'bad'. Albert had people stationed all along the road, so we were surrounded on all sides, and there were far too many people to kill. It was a free-for-all, and we were losing because we got ourselves trapped from not paying enough attention to the sides of the road.

"Please tell me that whoever is at my back is an ally?" That shaky voice belonged to Madelyn. I barely registered her warmth at my back. "Please?"

"It is me, Madelyn," I replied. I heard her breath a sigh of relief, and glanced back to check on her. She was completely splattered with blood and mud, and her hands shook. "So, how we doing?"

"Let me get back to you on that one." She gave me a tired smile, and I noticed how wan she looked. "Forgive me, but do you have a trick?"

"I would not recommend it." I glanced around the area, relying on my good sight to try and figure out if we were actually making a dent in the attackers. I froze when I noticed Albert fighting Uther, sword flashing and scoring deep hits. Albert… had always been good at dueling…

"Hilda?"

"Y-yes…?"

"Is that a paladin coming up behind us?" Startled, I turned to look, blinking slowly as I realized she was correct. There was a lone paladin, coming right for us. "Green hair, brown eyes, moustache?"

"Yes?" I glanced at her. "Why?"

"Oh, good. I was making sure I wasn't hallucinating." She waved her arm tiredly, smiling. "Eagler! Help us out!" Who?

"Lady Madelyn!" The paladin rode straight for us, smiling warmly, even though his eyes were worried. "I am glad to see you are still alive," he murmured, bowing in the saddle. "What is going on? Why are you…? Where did you even learn to fight?" Apparently fight well, since she was not dead yet. Hassar was an amazing teacher.

"Later, Eagler," Madelyn replied. Her smile was relieved. "As I said, we need assistance, now. The whole thing is complicated. Where's Wallace?"

"We split up to try and find you."

"Well, he's lost in the mountains by now." Ha! "So, Eagler, get moving. I am most serious."

"Lady Madelyn, you should fall back and-"

"Eagler, that was not a request." Her smile fell, and for a brief second, I was reminded of Hellene of all people. The same air of command. "Go assist. Amanda keeps me nice and safe." I had not been doing such a thing, but I waved anyway. I smiled when Eagler gave me a wary look. "Amanda, where is a good place for him to go?"

"Uther," I answered immediately. I glanced over in time to see Albert score another hit. "I think he is losing the duel with Albert." That… was a bad one… "Actually, I think Uther is in danger of dying." Well, that got Eagler moving. By my eyes, he reached them easily too. Good. "That is…?"

"Eagler, knight of Caelin, and one of my two guards," she answered easily. Oh, right she mentioned… wait, I thought she had told me she had only one guard? Maybe I just missed the mention of the second one. "Amanda, I think… I think we need to get out of here." Yeah… okay, we were on the way to Ostia. We were not far, but the way to Ostia was definitely blocked. So, perhaps…

"Coordinate with Hassar and Maria to find a weak point, ideally to the north, and then get Marcus and Elbert to charge through and make for the mountains." I flipped my knife in my hands, breathing in deeply to steady my nerves. The only place I could think of that was safe was across the mountains and into… "I am going to continue fighting." At least we had more horses than 'walkers'. "Go, quickly."

"On it!" She was off, and I charged into the fray, singing a nursery rhyme as I fought. It echoed rather… eerily over the battlefield. Even by my standards.

"There was a crooked man…"

A lance user caught Madelyn in the leg not three steps away from me. I cut them down in a heartbeat, and kicked their corpse into another to knock them off guard. When their helmet flew, I took their head as my prize, and I kicked it at a charging cavalier to make the horse freak out.

"Who walked a crooked mile."

Elbert took a lance straight through his shoulder, but despite what had to be massive pain, he kept on charging, actually ripping out the lance to kill the knight that tried to cripple him. Blood streamed down his face from a graze above his eye, forcing him to keep it closed, but he kept on fighting. He was a man who could not die, apparently.

"He found a crooked sixpence…"

Someone tried to run down Madelyn, taking advantage of her wounded leg. Hassar intercepted it, taking a horrible injury to his side. He had just enough strength, or momentum, to drag Madelyn up into his saddle. She repaid the favor by cutting down the cavalier as they passed, though the poor way she held the sword meant she lost it in the corpse.

"Against a crooked stile."

Marcus ran down an archer aiming for Maria, swaying in his saddle. His eyes were wide, terrified, and I did not think he was entirely in the present. He was slipping into the past, trying desperately not to, and it led to a bad injury to his leg. But he slammed his lance straight through their skull, and kept on fighting despite the terror.

"He bought a crooked cat…"

Eagler nudged his horse in the side, and his horse suddenly reared, lashing out with hooves to try and cave in Albert's skull. He dodged, sadly, but the action bought Eagler enough time to heft Uther into his saddle. Uther's axe slipped from bloody fingers, and I truly wondered if he was dead. There was so much blood…

"Which caught a crooked mouse."

Elbert yelled wordlessly as he rode to Eagler, taking Uther from him. I thought I saw Uther breathing, but was not sure. Elbert was crying, and Eagler went with Marcus to punch a hole to the north. Hassar shot someone to cover him, but I was not sure who bled more: him or the dead man.

"And they all lived together…"

Something snagged my hair, jerking me back. I twisted to try and gut the person, but was frozen by a kiss. Dominating, painful, forceful. Albert. His kisses were still the same. He pulled away with a smirk, eyes glittering in triumph. It took everything I had to move, cutting my hair to break free. He only seemed to laugh, casually tossing my cut hair into the mud as he stepped forward. I settled into a stance, seriously debating if I was going to try and stab him, or kill myself to make sure I escaped.

"In a crooked little house."

Maria swooped by me before I had to decide, and I jumped into the saddle. She lifted into the air, wincing as she twisted and urged her pegasus higher and higher, and I noticed her injuries. Grazes mostly, but bleeding badly. I pressed against the worst one, and looked down. Albert was looking up, smiling right at me again, and I shuddered, leaning into her. I knew exactly what was going on. I had seen him do this before, many times. He had done it to me. We were not escaping. He was letting us run so he could enjoy the chase.

He had not changed one bit in five years. Ugh, why did he have to be involved in something like this?


Next Chapter – Tears