I'm so sorry that this took so long to put up, I was going to make it longer, but then I thought that I really should post something. I've just gotten into vidding (fan videos) so that was why this took a little while, my time is now divided. I'll try my best to post the next one faster!
The first thing Valek when he walked into the infirmary was the noise. He swept his eyes over the large room; almost every single place available was occupied. Shadows of the wounded and sick stained the pure white walls. Valek shuddered as a brief wave of claustrophobia swept over him.
"Valek, what are you doing here?" The medic trotted past him, her arms filled with lotions and various medicines. "Not dragging anymore half dead children into my ward?" She dumped the items on a bench and proceeded to soak a bandage in a light brown liquid.
"Not today." Valek eyed the liquid suspiciously. "I think you can guess why I'm here."
The medic gave Valek an irritated look before sweeping one white, sleeved arm to her left, indicating a bed over the far side of the ward. Valek nodded briskly and navigated his way around the beds. Young men peered at him through wary eyes; women looked away before they could be caught staring. Valek ignored their whispers and wide eyes. He was pondering why there would be so many casualties so suddenly, when a small voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
"Sir?"
Valek turned his head towards the voice. A Boy was lying in a bed to Valek's right; he looked closer and recognised him to be the child from the day before.
"How are you?" Valek asked softly, as he sat on the side of the thin bed.
"Sore." The boy smiled and reached for his glass of water, it was just out of his reach. Valek handed it to him.
"Thank…you…Sir." He said between deep gulps of liquid.
"What's your name?"
He swallowed noisily before answering. "Keaton."
Valek nodded slowly. "I knew a Keaton once." Before I assassinated him. He added silently.
Keaton handed the glass back to Valek. Instead of returning it to the table, Valek tossed it from hand to hand.
"The other day, why did you come to me for help? There are plenty of other people around the castle. And I'm not exactly known for helping little children."
"You seemed nice." Keaton replied.
Valek frowned and thought of the knives hanging from his belt, the pockets of darts hidden all over his body, the way he had greeted the boy and the poison books on his desk.
"I seemed nice?"
Keaton scrunched up his forehead and thought for a moment.
"You didn't try to kill me." He shrugged. "Why?"
"You gave me no reason too."
Keaton looked down and picked at a loose thread in the duvet.
"Do you think I made the wrong decision?"
The boys head shot up. "No."
Valek smiled. "Good. Now get some rest, I don't want to get on the wrong side of the medic. I'm already the cause of half her patients, and she knows it too." Valek stood up to leave.
"Will you visit again?" The boy asked hurriedly.
"If you want me too." Valek replied. Keaton nodded eagerly.
"Then I'll be back tomorrow."
As Valek left the infirmary, his mind returned to Yelena. Valek would obviously be the one to go after her; who knows how long it would take to track her, the magician would have attempted to cover their tracks. He would need a partner, someone with training that could look after themselves.
He jogged down the stairs, until he reached the soldier's quarters. He stopped outside the door when he heard raised voices coming from inside. The first voice was calm and diplomatic.
"Look, I don't know who you are-"
"You don't need too; Commander Ambrose assigned us these rooms. That's all you need to know." A rough, deep voice cut through the diplomatic man's sentence.
"Then where the hell do you propose we sleep?" A smooth voice with a strong undercurrent of sarcasm answered.
"You can sleep in the stables for all we care." Rough voice answered.
"I'd kick you're overly decorated arse right now, but it looks like someone's already done it for me." Whoever this voice belonged to, they was sounding very smug. "Judging by the ugly bruise on your forehead."
When the deep voice spoke again it was a barely controlled snarl. "My men and I were attacked by a gang the yesterday when we were pursuing a criminal. When I find those responsible, I will personally make sure that they pay dearly for their mistake."
"Going after a criminal?" Diplomatic voice made his presence known again. "That's Valek's job."
Sarcastic voice gave a chuckle. "Ohhhh. Valek will not be pleased."
"Valek?" The rough voice said in disbelief. "Valek Icefaren? The assassin?"
"Well done on that deduction." The sarcastic voice said. "Quick one, aren't you?
Valek pushed the door and it swung open with a loud creak.
"Looking for me?"
Valek scanned the room and saw two prominent groups, two men that Valek recognised to be Ari and Janco stood at the head of the group of Ixian soldiers. The other group all wore the unfamiliar uniforms that the men had worn when they tried to kidnap Keaton. Valek gave them a specific glare.
The Generals ears turned pink as he watched Valek. "You."
Valek turned his palms up, exposing his chest. "Remember me?"
"Of course I do." His lip turned up at the side, a sick forgery of the smile some women found attractive. "You're under arrest."
Valek's face hardened. "When were you planning on telling your men that their colleagues and leader were beaten by a 7 year old boy and myself?"
There was a stunned silence, and then the foreign soldiers started yelling, one pushed an Ixian, the soldier retaliated by punching him in the face. More foreigners ran forward to join the brawl. Valek dodged a punch and poised his body for a dodge to the left. The man took the bait and leaped to the left exposing his stomach and neck. Valek plunged a dagger into his stomach; the man's mouth slackened and he fell to the ground.
Valek dodged around brawling soldiers until he saw a head of loose bouncing golden curls over the crowd. He made his way towards Ari, occasionally knocking out a soldier who was stupid enough to get in his way.
He found Ari in a fast paced sword duel with an unfamiliarly dressed soldier; the man swept his sword through the air Ari dodged to the side. The blade sunk firmly into a wooden training dummy that had been taken in to be repaired. Ari took advantage of the distraction by punching the foreign soldier hard in the face; the man fell to the floor groaning. Ari turned on another soldier fighting one of his friends. Valek sighed in irritation, Ari wasn't going to listen to him when he was fighting.
"Ari!" Valek said loudly, his voice raising an octave in panic. "Dilana's disappeared!"
Ari's sword wavered in the air for a second in shock, then spun away from his opponent, who continued to swipe at Ari's throat.
"What? Where is she? When was she last seen? It's your job to-" Ari broke off as he took a blow to the head from a soldier, who had used Ari's apparent distraction to his advantage.
Valek fought back a smile; he had the suspicion of Ari's affections for Dilana for a while now. Ari was just too polite to say anything, on the account of Rand.
"Get Janco, both of you meet me outside." Ari's face reddened at the embarrassment of taking a punch in front of his superior.
"Wait a second-" He made a grab at Valek, who swept out of his reach before Ari's fingers had opened out of their clenched fist.
"Outside." Valek repeated, before he melted into the shadows.
Thank you so much for reading, please review! It keeps me going. ;D
