Valkyrie Profile:
Lenneth Novelization AU:
Disclaimer: I do not own Valkyrie Profile or any other tri-Ace properties. Please support the official release.
Chapter Eight:
A Noble Destiny
"Lightning Bolt!"
The target was then blasted into splinters, which flew everywhere. Jelanda smiled confidently.
"I'm getting used to these other spells," she thought.
She tried not to think about how much easier it was to conjure magic outside of the cage of flesh she once dwelled in. It was better to focus on reviewing her spells. She picked up a spellbook she'd laid down on a nearby tree stump and began reviewing what she wanted to practice next. The Valkyrie and her two einherjar were somewhere in the wilderness on the East side of the Artolian mountains, somewhere in the southeast of the Nordrick continent.
"There are so many anomalies and dark energies throughout the land, where do I even start?" Lenneth wondered.
She hovered in the air above her einherjar, scanning the distance and trying to decide how to prioritize the individual pieces of encroaching darkness plaguing Midgard.
Meanwhile, down the ground…
"Alright, how about we see you get a moving target," Arngrim said.
He tossed a rock up and down in his palm a couple of times. He stood atop a steep hill some twenty feet above the young mage while she was down on grassy flat. Jelanda glanced over her shoulder and gave him a cocky crooked smirk.
"You throw it, I'll blast it," she proclaimed.
Arngrim caught the rock again, flashing his own toothy smile in retort as Jelanda set the spellbook down again.
"Heh, we'll see about it, little one."
Arngrim drew back his arm to hurl the stone. He threw a cutter just as Jelanda began charging up her spell. It whizzed by over her head, shrinking into the distance. Jelanda aimed her scepter, having chosen the blast she wanted to use to blast it out of the sky.
"Fire Lance!"
Lenneth looked down, watching Jelanda's spell. The fiery chased after the stone, but it proved to be too small and fast a target for her.
"As I anticipated," Lenneth thought. "Still a lot of work to do with her."
She sighed for the nth time that day.
"Einherjar are supposed trained through battle," the Valkyrie repeated to herself. She watched Jelanda agonize over missing another rock Arngrim pelted through the air. "But most einherjar chosen are not so young and inexperienced."
Indeed, Lenneth found it necessary to revise how to train Jelanda based on her performance back in the Castle Trelleborg and the mountain ruins below it. The girl was just not ready for heavy combat yet. The fact she had managed to deal such a blow to Forkbeard was nothing short of miraculous.
"Oh, to have my usual entourage of einherjar around. It'd help with training this girl," Lenneth thought.
She was about to hover down towards them, but she stopped when she felt something. It was like the vibrations of a tightly wound cord had just been strummed. She knew it was the threads of fate calling to her. The Valkyrie looked westward, in the direction of she'd felt it.
"Another soul calls," she said to the breeze.
She closed her eyes to concentrate.
Down below, Arngrim chuckled.
"Told ya you shouldn't get too cocky just 'cause you can cast more spells now," he lightheartedly chided her.
Jelanda pouted and waved The Elemental Scepter at him impudently.
"Oooh! Th-those doesn't count! I'm just warming up! You'll see! Toss another one, I'll get it this time!"
"Heh heh, sure thing, kid."
"Not a kid. I'm a respectable einherjar now!"
"Eh, we'll see about the 'respectable' part."
"Ooh! You make me so mad sometimes!"
Lenneth ignored Arngrim's woops of laughter and her mind drifted into the vortex of emotion and human thought intertwined through the threads of fate. Slowly, the voice she sought flooded into her mind.
"Being picked was this flower's destiny," a gentlemanly voice said.
"Destiny?" a woman asked.
"Do you know what it's called?" the same woman asked, though Lenneth did not know the context.
She then heard the giggle of the woman.
"…Lord Belenus," she said lovingly.
"Please, can't you save her?" begged the male voice Lenneth guessed to be Belenus.
"I was a slave to circumstance," he spoke again, lower and stricken with desperation.
"So, you have nothing to say to me, huh?" a second female voice broke in, accusingly.
When she opened her eyes, her head was still full of the sensations from the thoughts and feelings of those people.
"There was… a sad, hopeless longing," Lenneth thought. "Like, two hearts meant to be together, but are forced apart."
She tried to ignore the tightening in her chest. She shook off the fleeting sentimentality and descended until she was in view of her einherjar. Arngrim looked up, giving the Valkyrie his full attention. Jelanda glanced up from her spellbook.
"Oh, Lady Valkyrie."
The former princess jumped up from the stump.
"Another will be joining us," Lenneth said.
"What did they say the cause of death was?"
"They don't know. Just that Abigail was found dead by the maid last week."
"Really? Did no one investigate?"
"Of course, they did. Belenus gave Constable Caldwyre free rein of the house. They suspected the maid, but they couldn't find any evidence she was poisoning Abigail, and Belenus himself vouched for her."
Belenus ignored the gossiping relatives behind him. His eyes were on the freshly covered grave of his late Abigail. He stared at the words upon the slab at the base of the overturned earth with a deep, grim frown. Beside him, Asaka his maid openly wept. Not far away, Lobelia, Geoffrey, and their sons also looked on sadly. Lobelia gave her cousin Belenus a fleeting, pitying look.
"Poor man, he tried so hard to make things work out with her," she thought.
Belenus brushed the hair from his eyes, but otherwise maintained his stoic vigil at the front of the mourners.
"I feel sorry for my lady," he heard Asaka murmur.
Belenus damned his own lack of tears. At least Asaka and the overcast sky seemed to do the weeping for him.
"I'm sorry you felt so unloved," he knew this quiet apology came too late. "I know you can't hear me anymore. You deserved a household full of a warmth I couldn't give. Blast it, I'd hoped this marriage would fill the hole in my heart, but…"
He looked at Asaka in the corner of his eye.
"Even now, my heart only beats for one I cannot be with."
He shoved the thought aside. It was improper to acknowledge his feelings for his own employee at the funeral of his wife, and he mentally raked himself over the coals for it. As he continued to stare at her grave, a question came to him.
"Is it destiny that everyone around me must suffer and die?"
This troubling thought never left him. Even a couple of days after the funeral. It crossed his mind again even as he and Asaka stood in the foyer, about to leave for the slave market. He had just bid farewell to Lobelia, Geoffrey, and their sons as they left to go visit Abigail's parents on the other end of the city, leaving him and Asaka alone in the manor for at least the remainder of that day.
He paused with the top button of his jacket unfastened in his hands as he thought about it again.
"How much of it was destiny? Even meeting Asaka for the first time?"
"Ah. Lo-lord Belenus?" Asaka spoke up to get his attention.
He shook it off.
"It's nothing, Asaka. Let's go."
He opened the front door, allowing her to step out first before closing it behind them. Once outside, he took the lead with Asaka faithfully following behind him, hands folded in her lap as she walked the trail to the market. In the breeze, her long black skirt swished about her ankles. She was the picture of a perfect house servant with her modest black dress, her apron, and her frilly maid headdress. Her youthful looks made her seem a woman in his 20s, and many took her for being significantly younger than her master. She was actually only a few years his junior, entering her mid-30s.
Along the way, both observed troops both on horseback and foot congregating toward the North end of the city. Belenus well knew of the long-standing hostilities Lassen had to Villnore, and an invasion seemed more and more inevitable as the Northwestern country continued to aggressively expand every day. Belenus's hand subconsciously strayed to his sword hanging from his belt. Though he only wore it for protection since he'd never bothered with bodyguards, the thought of war coming to Lassen again deeply troubled him and had already cost his family dearly.
"Don't know why Artolia doesn't just swallow its pride and join with us to form an alliance," Belenus thought dourly. "A great many people would sleep better if the southern territories united if only to protect their own interests from being seized."
He caught a glimpse of Asaka in the corner of his eye.
"Well, there will be time enough for that issue later. I need another servant to tend to the manor with Abigail and Maria both gone now. It's unrealistic and unfair to think Asaka can just handle the whole property on her own."
Behind him, Asaka had her own issues with this outing. She walked stiffly with a grave expression as her anxious mind reeled. Her dark brown eyes glanced at the back of Belenus's head and then at the ground. She gripped her apron tightly in her hands as she collected the nerve to speak up.
"Lord Belenus," she at last said.
"Yes," he answered.
He stopped and glanced toward her.
"I really do not wish to go," there was a hesitation in her voice.
Belenus had no comment for that statement. Feeling uncomfortable under his gaze, she looked toward the grass between the path and spotted a blue flower. She walked over to it and crouched to observe it, captivated by its beauty.
"What a beautiful flower," she happily whispered. "Do you know what it's called?"
She picked up from its stem and stood up. As Belenus watched, she smelled it and smiled, finding the aroma pleasing.
"Asaka," he spoke up. "Why don't you want to go? It's only a matter of selecting a new servant to assist you."
All joy left her face, and now she could only stare at the flower looking more miserable than before.
"I do not like slave auctions!" her said louder than she'd have liked.
She gasped and covered her mouth before glancing around with her eyes to avoid looking at her master. Belenus did not reprimand her. Instead, he simply waited for her to speak again.
"Please, do not make me watch them be bought and sold like castle. It's so cruel…" her voice was soft but grave. "To just select a person like that."
"We have to do this, Asaka. It can't be helped," Belenus responded. "With Maria and my wife both gone, it's just you now. You know the manor is too big for you to take care of by yourself."
Asaka did not look any more willing than before, so he decided to try another approach.
"Asaka, you can trust me. I will free whoever we buy and pay them just like I did with you," the intention was to assure her.
Indeed, she did smile a tiny bit at that, but the torment remained in her eyes.
"I know that Master Belenus. The one you buy will be well-treated."
Her brow furrowed as empathy for the slaves' plight welled up again.
"It's… It's the fates of the others which weighs on me so," she confessed.
She sighed and reiterated:
"I do not wish to go."
"But I need you to, Asaka," Belenus was frank. "I do not speak their language and I will need you to point out a good worker…"
"I can't do it!" she cried.
She squeezed her eyes such, trying to stop the tears.
"To have that kind of power over someone's life…" her pain was bare in her words.
Belenus's eyes trailed down to the blue flower she held. He reached out his hand and instinctively, she gave it to him. He held it up, also taking in its scent.
"But it is well enough to pick a flower?" he asked. "It will now shrivel and die because you severed it from its stem."
Asaka made an unhappy noise with her throat but kept quiet.
"How is choosing a servant any different from picking a flower?" Belenus questioned.
Again, no answer.
Belenus reached up and put the flower in her hair on the right side. She blushed and looked away bashfully.
"Being picked was this flower's destiny," he told her.
"Destiny?" she asked.
"Yes, destiny. The path chosen for us by the gods," Belenus replied.
"Just how much of my life has been the making of the threads of fate, though?" he silently wondered.
Although it'd been twenty years since she'd first come to work in his home, he still remembered it well. Seeing the flower in her hair helped the memory to surface from the depths of his mind. Maria, the elderly maid who'd served Belenus, as well as both his father and his grandfather, had been sent to the slave market to buy a new servant to assist her. She was already getting on in years. Her once brilliant red curls had gone completely white and old age had turned her into a frail remnant of a formerly stout individual capable of running the household for her employers.
When she returned, it was with a frightened Yamatoese girl barely into her teens. Belenus remembered Asaka was still adorned in the garb of her people, a pink kimono tied with a light blue sash and ponytail tied with a matching blue ribbon. She didn't speak a single word of Nordic when she walked in through the front door with Maria. The girl's head was held low, and she quietly sobbed as Maria tenderly guided her in by the shoulders.
The instant Belenus and his father came to the entrance hall to meet them, Asaka looked frightened of them and cowered, all but clinging to Maria's side.
"Ko… Kore wa… wa watashi no atarashi masutādesu ka?" Asaka had asked Maria, pointing at Belenus's father with a trembling finger.
Maria's brow wrinkled.
"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I don't understand you, dearie?" Maria replied.
Asaka said something else in her native language but wasn't close to the first phrase as far as any of them could tell. Belenus's father scowled as the frightened, shaking girl. The then current master of the house was already vehemently against his trusted maid's selection, and she was about to hear it. He already looked angry as he put his fists on his hips.
"What is this?" he demanded. "Maria, I specifically requested an experienced servant who could begin right away."
Not knowing why the man was so angry, Asaka gasped in fright. She shrank into herself as she backed up a step from the scary, shouting man. Belenus felt pity for the girl. Maria looked guiltily away at her master's reprimand.
"Does this girl not know our language?" the master of the house inquired.
"I'm afraid she doesn't, Milord Grannos," she replied. "She's just been brought up from Yamato after being sold to The Thormøhlen Trading Company. She hasn't had time to become accustomed to things up here at all yet."
Grannos palmed his face, growling in frustration at his maid's antics.
"What in the Nine Realms even compelled you to purchase this… this child!" he shouted.
"Father, calm down, you're scaring her," young Belenus urged.
Asaka tried to utter something else, but Grannos butted in mid-sentence.
"No one can understand you, child. So please do be quiet," he rebuked her irritably.
"Father!" Belenus protested.
"What?" Grannos retorted.
As father and son exchanged displeased stares, the already scared Asaka fell onto her knees and began sobbing. She buried her face in the ends of her long, loose sleeves. Why was she here? Why was the big man shouting at her?
Belenus broke eye contact with his father and hurried over to the girl and knelt beside her.
"Hey, now. It's alright," he spoke comfortingly to little effect.
Grannos continued to glare at Asaka for another moment before turning his anger on Maria again.
"Maria, explain," he commanded.
"There was no reason. I just felt sorry for her," Maria quickly explained. "Please forgive me, Milord."
Grannos snorted.
"Please allow her to stay," Maria begged. "I will pay for upkeep with my own salary."
"Yes, I think rejecting her out of hand would be far too hasty," Belenus added, looking up. "Maria can show her what needs to be done and I can teach her Nordic."
Belenus never knew what made his father relent in that moment. Perhaps it was because the money had already been spent and there was no guarantee they'd get a good price for selling a slave who'd have to be taught before she could work.
"Very well," Grannos answered after giving it some thought.
He pointed right at Belenus and then Maria.
"But she is your responsibility. See to it that she is educated as you promised."
Then he turned and left them. As soon as he was gone, Belenus turned to Maria.
"Are you sure that was a good idea, Maria?" he asked.
Maria didn't seem sure at all. She just bowed her contritely.
"I am sorry, young lord," she said in earnest.
"'Tis alright," he smiled. "Do you know what her name is?"
"Asaka."
"Asaka," he repeated.
The girl in question reluctantly lowered her hands from her eyes upon hearing her name twice. She looked at the two remaining occupants of the room with red, puffy eyes. Belenus smiled pleasantly at her.
"Asaka, so you really are a child of Yamato," he said.
She wiped her eyes, giving him full attention even if she had no idea what he was saying.
"Please don't cry anymore. The scary man is gone. Oh," Belenus happened to glance up and spotted some flowers in a nearby vase.
He stood, plucked one out, and then offered it to the girl. Her mood seemed to brighten as she accepted it, smelling it once and finally looking up with an uncovered face. Belenus smiled again.
"We finally get to see your face," he beamed.
Back in the present, Belenus still found his eyes drawn to her. She stood by the river, staring at the reflection of the buildings on the other side.
"Asaka," he spoke.
She turned to him, folding her hands in her lap, ready to obey.
"Let's go."
Her face fell, but she followed him, however unenthusiastically. It wasn't far to the slave market from Belenus's house, and they arrived within minutes without any further delay. Much to Belenus's chagrin, the cages were empty. The customers were gone, and the only people still milling about were the man in black as they closed up shop for the day.
Asaka was relieved and guilty all at the same time. Belenus unhappily looked on the scene in silence.
"There aren't any today," he heard Asaka say.
"Yes, I see…" Belenus said with a sigh. "It can't be helped."
They'd arrived too late, but they'd also set out later than he would have liked. Their conversation at the river hadn't been long enough to make much a difference, so there was no blame aimed at Asaka in his mind. It was almost like they were meant to leave empty-handed that day.
"Meant to?" Belenus internally questioned.
As he turned to return home, Asaka could tell something was wrong.
"Lord Belenus?"
"I am well. But come, we should head home, Asaka."
"Yes, Milord."
"We will just have to return tomorrow."
"…Yes, Milord."
As he began the return trek, Belenus's thoughts again turned to his recently departed wife and the flower he'd put in Asaka's hair.
"Being picked was this flower's destiny."
"Destiny?" his thoughts grew dark as he contemplated the word. "Was it destiny that killed my wife and Maria? Was it destiny that sent my friends and my father to die repelling Villnore at the end of the Princes' Civil War?"
He looked down at the path before him.
"It is the reason I'm here now? Walking this very path to and from my home?" He looked at Asaka in the corner of his eyes. "Is it the reason I met Asaka? How much is our own choice, and how much do we move on fate's strings?"
He recalled his wife's strange illness, which had confounded the doctors and medical mages alike. It was like her body just stopped trying, and her death was just as inexplicable. As though she'd just stopped living. He remembered Abigail's sad final days well.
"Asaka! Asaka! Get in here, you lazy girl!"
Asaka had hurried into Abigail's bed chamber to serve the lady of the house. When she'd arrived, a sickly and pale Abigail was sitting in her bed with the covers pulled up to her waist. She was deathly thin and gaunt at this point, with her bone cheeks outlined perfectly under her skin. Her sandy blonde hair was slightly messy. As Asaka approached, she just glared hatefully at the young woman.
Asaka was a bit taken aback by her lady's sheer hostility, but still approached, ready to serve.
"How can I help you, Milady?" she asked politely.
Abigail gestured to the tray of half-eaten food she'd put by the bedside.
"Take that slop out of my sight," she ordered.
"Oh, but there's still food left," Asaka said.
"Rubbish!" Abigail snapped. "I can't eat that unpalatable swill. Take it away!"
Asaka looked hurt by that comment.
"What did I do to upset you, Milady?" the question in earnest, which just made Abigail all the angrier.
"I can't eat your food. Get out," Abigail rebuffed.
Asaka sighed sadly, but silently picked up the tray all the same.
Belenus stepped into the doorway, looking on the scene. He cast a stern eye on his wife.
"Asaka worked hard to prepare that meal for you," came his scolding tone. "Now stop being so fussy. There has never been an issue with Asaka's cooking and you know it."
Abigail didn't meet his gaze. She loured fiercely at him out of the corner of her eye. When she answered him, she spat the words through clenched teeth out of the corner of her mouth.
"You… You always protect her and take her side."
"You misunderstand entirely," Belenus's protest boomed from across the room.
She ground her teeth at the apologetic look her husband gave that girl and narrowed her eyes at Asaka's light giggle in response to his kind assurances about her food. Oh, she saw what they had.
"I know what's going on here," Abigail said.
She stared at Asaka through narrow slits.
"You needn't admit it, but I've seen how you two look at each other."
"I have never been unfaithful to you, Abigail," Belenus vowed.
He approached the bed, grabbing a chair from the nearby writing desk. He sat it by her side, managing to avoid making a sound. His expression softened.
"I wish you could find it in yourself to believe me," the profuseness of his tone did not reach her, and Abigail looked away.
"Lord Belenus," Asaka said from the doorway. She still held the food tray.
"It's alright, Asaka," he replied. "You may leave. I will remain by my wife's side for a while."
"Yes, Milord," she bowed and backed out of the room.
"Even now, you wish to go with her, instead," Abigail muttered.
And that was the problem. He did. Belenus didn't know when he started having feelings for Asaka, but his affections for her were great. If he could, he'd tell her that his heart beat for her, but that wasn't proper. Despite where his heart laid, he had been faithful to Abigail to the last. No affair with his maid ever took place behind closed doors while the lady of the house was out or not looking. Apparently, that wasn't good enough, and Abigail resented not having his heart.
Like any noble marriages, it had been arranged by their parents. While Abigail seemed fond enough of him, Asaka had already caught Belenus's attention long before, and tried as he might, the Lord just couldn't make himself fall in love with his intended. And he hated himself for it. He wasn't the only one, though.
"Everyone! Everyone die!"
In the privacy of her bedchamber in the dead of night, Abigail performed a ritual in secret. One that Belenus and Asaka never found out about. She sat on her knees in the middle of the floor with a round clay disc which had a spell carved into it lying on front of her. A six-pointed star surrounded by runes had been hand molded into it before Abigail baked it. The lady of the house held out a hand directly over the disc. In the other hand, she held a knife. She reached out and cut her wrist.
Abigail winced and whimpered from the pain. She watched as her life essence flowed from the slit and dripped onto the clay disc, completing the seal. The noblewoman grinned madly, watching the runes slowly begin to shine a deep crimson.
"Oh, Lady Beliza," Abigail chanted. "Grant this petitioner their request. Bring death to that servant girl, and my husband. I seal this contract with my own blood. Come O Dark Angel of the Night. Bring to life my darkest desire."
Then a breeze drifted through the room. Abigail looked toward the window as she held a cloth to her wrist. She sat blinking at the window, not remembering ever opening it. The curtains fluttered in the wind, but no specter appeared before her.
"I… I didn't open that, right?"
Abigail glanced back down at the seal, which continued to glow.
"Were you responsible for that?" she wondered.
"Indeed," a voice spoke out from the dark.
Abigail let out a breathless cry, turning herself around on the floor, frantically looking around for the source. As her eyes scanned the shadows, she'd almost missed him, but there he was in the darkest corner by the door. He'd just stood there, appearing as a black shape with red gleaming eyes.
"Who?" Abigail sputtered. "Who are you? Are the one who will grant me my wish?"
"That's your blood and your wish, are they not? Revenge against an unfaithful husband and a harlot of a maid, am I correct?" his voice was fine and smooth as silk.
When he stepped out of the shadows, Abigail couldn't help but marvel at his youthful, fair handsome features, tainted only by the fangs poking down from behind his upper lip. She smiled vindictively and answered him.
"Yes."
He smiled, flashing those dagger-like canines in the moonlight.
"And you may call me… Orlok. Are you ready?"
Abigail held out her bleeding wrist. He purred in response, slowly dropping to all fours and stalked closer to her in a manner which reminded her of a wolf. He opened his mouth wide, leaning in to bite down on her wrist and lap up the blood already there.
"With this paid tribute," he breathed. "The deal is sealed. In seven days hence, your life will be traded to begin your revenge. You are really certain?"
Abigail could only think of the loveless marriage she was trapped in, and her fury superseded any fear she might have had.
"Yes," she replied.
"Very well. Nine days shall pass after you fall to Niflheim and then your disloyal husband and his mistress will know your vengeance."
Then as he bit in, Abigail whimpered only once more, but bore it.
In another week, she died from an illness no one could explain, as was agreed. In another week after her passing, the funeral was held as family from both sides came to bid her their final farewells. It was now the night of the second day since her final rites had been performed. It was also the evening after Belenus and Asaka returned home, having failed to purchase a new servant to assist the maid.
Both persons dwelling in the manor had turned in to sleep in their separate bedrooms. Belenus had slipped into a restless sleep, concerned about several things at once.
Asaka lied awake in her bed, staring at the rectangle outline the moon cast upon her wall as it shined through the window. Not far away, the bed Maria once slept in now lied empty. Currently, Asaka lied on her left side, facing the door with the window was behind her.
She sighed wearily. Tomorrow, shed' have to brave the slave market again, and she knew that however kind her lord was, he wouldn't tolerate another delay. She hadn't wished to displease him, but the thought of having to pick who to rescue from a life of bondage and potential cruelty while leaving the rest still crushed her heart.
Asaka shifted on the mattress, trying to get comfortable, but her own worries were robbing her of much needed rest. Her eyes fluttered sleepily, and she started to close them hoping to fall into a peaceful slumber.
The shutters of her window suddenly flew open, banging against the walls on either side. Asaka gasped as her eyes flew open. She sat up in bed and was about to roll over to inspect the problem but froze. She happened to see the shadow on the wall cast by the moonlight. In the middle of the usual rectangle on the wall was the shape of a man. Now gripped in fear, Asaka swallowed and slowly turned to look.
A dark man stood just inside her window. His long black cape fluttered about in the wind with the curtains. He was obscured from being fully seen by the drapes, but she knew he could only have wicked purposes for her. The man reached up and pushed the curtains aside. It was none other than Count Orlok, come to finish Abigail's bidding.
Asaka's eyes slowly widened in terror when she saw those red pupils blaring at her. She knew what had invaded the sanctity of her bedroom.
"Vampire," she uttered.
Orlok hissed and was across the room leaning over her bed before Asaka even knew what happened. She screamed.
Across the hall, Belenus bolted up in bed.
"Asaka?"
He threw off the covers and sat on the edge of the bed. He hand strayed to the longsword leaning against the wall beside his bed, within arm's reach. Before he could grab, a glowing orb materialized in the air at the foot of his bed.
"What on…?" he rasped in alarm.
The glowing orb then took on the appearance of a translucent skull surrounding by a foggy aura. Its jaws opened as if to bite him.
"A specter!" Belenus cried out and dove for the sword.
The skull let out a scraping, ringing shriek and lunged as well. Belenus snatched up the blade. There was no time to take it out of its sheath, so he wheeled around, swinging on instinct. He managed to smack the specter away. It recovered instantly and lunged again. It was so fast, Belenus had no time to comprehend its movements before it'd latched onto his throat. He looked down in panic, opening his mouth to cry out.
Then a flash of light blinded him, causing Belenus to stumble back against the wall. He sucked in a terrified breath and noted with both confusion and relief that the skull was gone. As he reached up and touched his throat where its teeth had just been about to bite in, he saw wisps floating around in front of him, slowly fading into nothing.
He looked past the wisps at the source of the new glow in his room. A shimmering woman in battle armor stood before him. She was a pale beauty with silver hair and a winged helm. Belenus knew her right away.
"Th-the Valkyrie?" he uttered in awe.
She regarded him, as inscrutable as ever.
"Death has come to your home," Lenneth turned her sword and rested the tip on the floor. "A vampire's curse hangs over this place. The young woman is in danger."
Belenus's eyes widened. That was right! He'd almost forgotten about Asaka's cry in all the commotion. He darted to the door, throwing it open, and dashed out into the hall clothed only in his nightshirt.
"Asaka!" he hollered, running the entire length of the second floor to reach her.
In Asaka's room, Orlok stood over her still form. She lied limp, nearly dead. Two puncture marks were on her throat, which was now covered in her own crimson fluids. As Orlok dabbed his lips with a handkerchief, he sighed in satisfaction.
"She is yours', Lady Beliza," he said to no one. "With this sacrifice, this girl shall become the new hive chief of the stronghold we shall build here in Lassen."
"Asaka!" he heard the man of the house call from the other end of the upstairs, followed by Belenus's stomping footsteps as he made a mad dash for Asaka's room.
"That fellow took down my specter? He's made of sterner stuff than I thought," Orlok mused.
He smiled, staring at the door, gleefully anticipating the lord's reaction when he came upon the scene. In a moment, Belenus threw up the door, sword in hand and now unsheathed. Grief and shock crossed his face as he beheld his beloved lying likely dead at the feet of this monster. He fixed Orlok with a vengeful gaze.
"You…" Belenus shouted.
Before he even knew what happened, Orlok had him by the throat. The vampire's other hand had a vicelike grip on his wrist, keeping his sword at bay. Orlok squeezed his wrist, forcing him to drop the weapon.
"Well, well, speak of the Devil," Orlok hummed.
He lifted the struggling Belenus into the air.
"Why… why are you doing this?" the nobleman shouted.
Orlok smiled, letting Belenus get a good look at his bloodied fangs. His grip around Belenus's throat tightened, causing the man to begin choking.
"Why? I'm just here to fulfill a contract," the Vampire Lord answered easily. "'Twas your wife that cursed you."
"Abi… gail…?" Belenus couldn't believe it.
"That's right. Her soul in exchange for your suffering," Orlok's sick amusement was evidence in both his voice and his eyes. "And soon this girl will become the progenitor of a new hive to battle the gods with."
"I will not let that happen."
Orlok reeled about, looking for the source of the voice.
"Who speaks?" he demanded.
By the window, Lenneth and her einherjar duo appeared in the air. They dropped to the floor, landing nimbly on their feet, weapons drawn and ready to battle the beast. Lenneth was front and center with Arngrim and Jelanda to right and left, respectively. Orlok growled and tossed Belenus aside, drawing his own sword, a slightly curved sabre. He eyed both the Valkyrie and the large warrior with glowing sword cautiously.
"Defiler of souls!" Lenneth barked sternly at him. "Prepare to be destroyed."
"The Valkyrie again?" Belenus uttered in surprise.
Orlok merely laughed mockingly at her accusation.
"So, you are the battle-maiden Lord Brahms told us to be wary of," his tone was no less scornful.
Arngrim lifted a brow.
"We've gotten Brahms' attention already?" Arngrim's surprised was mixed with elation. He grinned eagerly. "Sounds fun! If the lord of all vampires wants to be our opponent, I don't mind one bit! Eh, Valkyrie?"
Orlok's snarled at the former mercenary's impertinence.
"Lowly insect!" he shouted. "I will sacrifice you all to Brahms right here!"
As Orlok took flight and tore at them, Jelanda held up her glowing scepter to cast. She'd prepared to a spell in the moment Arngrim had kept the Vampire Lord talking.
"Mystic Cross!" she chanted.
Orlok was blown to one side, his body badly burned, and his right arm and leg had been completely incinerated. Jelanda smiled victoriously, but the instant Orlok vanished, so did the young mage's grin. He appeared beside her, sabre raised and ready to cut her down. Jelanda screamed and raised both arms in defense.
Lenneth cut in between them, blocking Orlok's attack while Arngrim closed in from the side. The Vampire Lord saw the large warrior coming and flew back, cutting it close enough that he felt the blade part his hair.
Valkyrie and warrior both readied themselves to attack the vampire again. Orlok snapped his fingers, and more of the floating skull specters appeared, and joined him in another attack.
All the while, Belenus watched them, standing beside Asaka, sword in hand again. As soon as Orlok start charged at them, a thought came to him:
"Do I interfere?"
He looked down at Asaka's lifeless form, and something awakened in him. He looked back up at the vile thing which had taken her life, and determination blazed in the blacks of his eyes.
"Until now, I've always been passive, accepting that things are as destiny wills them, but now… my dear Asaka… Was your murder and my wife's death really destined?"
His grip upon his sword's hilt tightened.
"Even if so, this is a destiny I cannot allow!"
Lenneth slashed the two skull wisps that attacked and then blocked another or Orlok's strikes. The Vampire Lord grinned wildly as he flew upwards and made a dive at her. To his surprise, Lenneth met his strike and they struggled against each other for a moment. Then a cold yet burning pain cut right through Orlok's middle, knocking the wind from him. Orlok stared in stunned silence as Belenus's sword burst from his chest.
Orlok roared, breaking off from Lenneth, who was set upon by more skulls. The Vampire Lord elbowed the man away, knocking Belenus onto his back.
"Your impudent human!" he shouted balefully.
With one swift motion, he pushed the sword back out the way it came. It clattered against the floor behind him. He turned on Belenus to take his revenge, but stopped. Even before he looked, he felt the last of his specters perish. He looked around, noticing the Valkyrie and her einherjar surrounding him.
His upper lip curled up into a sneer.
"Fine, you win this night, Valkyrie," he told them with deep contempt. "But the day is coming when you will be brought before Lord Brahms."
He vanished, and Lenneth could feel his evil had truly departed the manor.
"Is that it?" Arngrim scoffed.
Jelanda palmed her face while Lenneth simply sighed.
"Asaka? Asaka! Please wake up! Oh, heavens above, please tell me you're not truly gone!"
The three turned to Belenus, now cradling his beloved's limp form. Belenus sat on his knees, holding the woman in his lap. He pressed his ear to her chest, and still detected a faint heartache. His hopes swelled for just an instant. He turned to Lenneth, his last desperate hope.
"She's just barely hanging on. Please, save Asaka, goddess!" he begged.
Lenneth came over to him, blade still at the ready.
"It is already too late," she answered. "No one can defy their destiny. Now step aside, if I do not act now, she will become one of them."
That just made Belenus cling even tighter to Asaka. He even turned so his body would be between her and the goddess. Lenneth's eyes narrowed in anger at the man's defiance. Jelanda felt sorrow for the man and looked toward Lenneth, taking a step to intercede. Beside her, Arngrim held up a hand to stop her. Jelanda looked at him pleadingly, but he just shook his head.
"Destiny?" Belenus spat the word. "You speak of destiny?"
Tears began to run down his face as he stared at Asaka's closed eyes, terrified at the thought they would never open again. A pang of regret hit Lenneth as she looked on them. Her eyes softened as she began to realize the depths of his grief.
"As though that makes it alright! Do you think to ease my mind with such words?" he demanded.
He brushed a strand of hair from the maid's face. All at once, he felt all care about social acceptability and propriety fade away. Now, nothing but her mattered.
"I loved her," the words flowed softly from his lips. "Please, don't leave me, Asaka."
Lenneth's eyes widened as Belenus's words pulled something up from the depths of her mind. Her heard a boy's last, desperate pleas, all too similar to those of the man before her.
"Don't leave me! Please… PLATINA!"
Lenneth stared into space, confused by the emotions that now beset her mind and heart. She hugged herself, trembling slightly. She half consciously wondered where she had heard that boy's voice and words. Behind her, Arngrim and Jelanda looked at her in concern.
"Eh, Valkyrie?" Arngrim called out to get her attention.
"I cannot let this stand," Lenneth realized.
She stepped in beside Belenus, and he turned again to keep Asaka from her. The Valkyrie swallowed, finding herself more nervous than she thought capable of speaking to the man again.
"There is a way," she confessed.
Belenus looked up, eagerly.
"I will do anything to save her," he declared. "Tell me."
Lenneth took a deep breath and continued.
"The ritual of Soul Transference," she explained. "If you really wish to save her, you can take her place in death this night. You will inherit her fate, and she yours'."
Lenneth stopped, hesitant to get to this part. She made herself press on.
"But you will be parted this night. There is no stopping that now."
Belenus hung his head. Parted from Asaka eternally? His heart ached, but he knew what had to be done.
"I was a slave to circumstance. I thought it was impossible for us to be together, and now, I must leave her," Belenus spoke, but it seemed it was more to himself than anyone else.
What a fool he'd been.
"She will be spared this miserable fate?" he asked breathlessly.
"Yes," Lenneth answered.
Belenus gazed upon the face of the woman he loved one more time, running his hand through her hair lovingly, noting every detail in her delicate features.
"Do it."
Lenneth rose into the air and her wings appeared, flashing brightly. And then it done.
Asaka's body jerked back to life. In the same instant, she sucked in a deep gulp of air and her eyes snapped open. She stared up at the ceiling, uncomprehending.
"Where am… this is my room?"
She lied there blinking dumbly as she tried to make sense of her surroundings.
"What was I…? I was trying to sleep when that man…"
She gasped as the frightening memory hit her like a hammer. She'd been attacked by a beast of the night. But after that? What had happened?
"Master Belenus!" Asaka cried.
She had to find out what happened. Asaka bolted up into a sitting position, and then stopped. There was something around her waist, a weight. She looked down and saw a human arm in a long white sleeve wrapped around her middle. Yet, he didn't cling to her. It just lied there, limply.
"What?"
She turned to get a look at who was holding her. She gasped again, recoiling in surprise. It was Master Belenus himself, but why was he sleeping with her on the floor? She scooted away from him on instinct before realizing he might need her help.
Asaka got onto her knees, leaning forward, supported by her hands pressed to the floor.
"Master Belenus, are you alright?"
He did not react. Did not move. He just continued to lie there. In fact…
"Master Belenus?" an urgency entered her voice as she called again.
Still no reaction. Asaka crawled on all fours over to him. In the moonlight, she could see his eyes were open, yet behold nothing. His mouth was open, but there was no breath. She held out a palm, holding it close to his nose and mouth, but felt no breath. Panic gripped her heart.
"Belenus?" she called in a shaky voice. "Please wake up."
She grabbed him by the shoulders, lying him on his back before putting her ear to his chest. Her face fell at first into a blank stare at the silence within his chest. No heartbeat. She slowly lifted her head from his body and stared into his dead, lifeless eyes.
"No…" she whispered, tears already rolling down her cheeks. "No, not you, too. Oh, Heavens, please no! Please! Don't leave me, Belenus!"
She threw himself onto her, violently weeping into his chest.
Hovering in the air above the manor, Belenus now floated beside Arngrim and Jelanda while they awaited Lenneth to rejoin them. The Lassen lord looked down at the window of Asaka's bedroom, sorrow in his eyes. Arngrim and Jelanda exchanged uncertain glances, both unable to find anything to say to the man.
"Asaka… Abigail… Please forgive me," Belenus thought. "I failed you both in life. I hope you will both one day find it in yourselves to forgive me."
"You really loved her, huh?" Jelanda asked sadly.
Belenus could only nod and bow his head again. The other two gave him a moment of silence.
A short while later, Lenneth flew up from the manor to join them. She held up the clay disc with the spell for them to see.
"This is the cursed object your wife used to bring that vampire down on your household. It was hidden in one of her drawers," she told Belenus.
He said nothing, merely narrowing his eyes somberly as the Valkyrie crushed the disc in her hand. As Lenneth watched the pieces fall to the earth below, she couldn't shake what she had experienced in there.
"Bringing in the undead over such a trivial matter," she thought. "Over petty jealousy, too. But…"
The battle maiden stared out onto the horizon contemplatively.
"What was that memory back there?"
"Don't leave me! Please… PLATINA!"
Her body shook involuntarily. Something, pain perhaps, stabbed at her heart. Lenneth tried to shake it off.
"What are these memories which keep coming to me?" she wondered. "And why did that one in particular move me to help this human?"
"Valkyrie?"
"Mm?"
She looked at three pairs of eyes all staring at her expectantly. She cleared her throat awkwardly.
"Let us go," she said.
With that, she led them away, crossing the night sky. Belenus watched his home shrunk into the distance, his heart still longing for the woman he'd have to cross the stars to hold in his arms.
"Be well, Asaka," his words were gentle. "I hope you may yet find peace in a place unbridled by social class. Please find happiness, even if it's in the arms of another."
After Lassen had vanished from view, he stared toward it a moment longer. Then he turned to his new comrades.
"Forgive me, I have been terribly rude," he said profusely. "My name is Belenus. Pleased to meet you."
"Arngrim. Hope you can keep up, friend," the warrior answered.
Jelanda gave him a withering look before smiling for Belenus.
"And I, Lord Belenus, am Jelanda, Former Princess of Artolia!" she gave a curtsy for him.
"Princess Jelanda," Belenus was surprised. "I had heard rumors about a recent tragedy in Artolia, but this is… more than I expected."
He looked at Arngrim, who just crossed his arms and looked away. He turned to Jelanda again.
"How did you get wrapped up in this, young one?" Belenus asked.
Jelanda looked away unhappily.
"I don't really want to talk about it," she said.
"Very well. Forgive me my prying," Belenus answered respectfully.
Lezard slowly looked up from the washbasin he had observed the events through. The spell died and the water's surface became normal again as the sorcerer stepped back from it. The young wizard stroked his chin as he considered what he just watched.
"Dear Beloved, you actually answered that fool's request?" he chided Lenneth, chuckling.
He smirked, deeply amused that she would see fit to use even an ounce of her power to help some useless man. For what, just because it turned out he was in love with his maid.
Then realization flickered in Lezard's eyes.
"Is it possible, that she… actually cares for the meatsacks called humanity?" he softly muttered. His mind tried to wrap around this. "But why? All that Belenus fellow did was confess he loved that woman…"
The question died on his lips, and then a wide smile crossed them.
"Oh," he purred suggestively, as though he'd just discovered something private. "Lady Valkyrie, are you a secret romantic?"
He reached out and playfully swished the water's surface with his fingers.
"Does your heart long to find someone it can beat for?" he asked. "Does it long to go pitter-patter in the presence of one who can give your stomach butterflies and redden your cheeks?"
Then a thought most foul entered his mind, which soured his mood.
"Does it… already beat for another?" he hesitantly asked, scarcely allowing himself to consider the possibility.
He frowned at the imagery of her in the arms of another this question conjured.
"No. It will beat for me," he growled. "Only me."
