Chapter 24: Valor (1/2)

“… Potent blood for the experiments, Leonard…”

“… Over there next to the others, and cover her in chains…”

“… Costly, but think of the possibilities! She is fully turned; we now have a benchmark…”

Time passes.

Sometimes I move my eyes. There are bricks.

Sometimes I hear a sound. People are crying.

Sometimes I smell fear and unwashed bodies. And blood.

Time passes.

I cough. A few droplets flash blue and turn to ash.

Time passes.

A flake of ash falls from my finger. It won’t be long now.

Time passes.

Something is traveling underground. When it emerges from the ground, all will be ash.

Time passes.

It’s cold, and sometimes very hot when I cough, but mostly cold.

Time passes.

Something grabs me. Pair of brown eyes. Worry, pain, guilt. I close my eyes.

“No, Ari, Tyr, Ari, stay with me.”

“Loth…”

“Sod off Cecil, she ain’t dead yet. I need privacy. NOW!”

Something wet falls on my face. I breathe in. Steel and Mountain. Feels safe. Can go now.

“No no no no it’s my bloody fault. Don’t ye dare. Don’t ye fucking dare leave. Alright, alright. No choice you daft old cunt. You brought her here. Now pay the price. Only ye can do it. Right. Right, hold on girl. This old fool got ye.”

I breathe in something fantastic.

Absolutely incredible. Exquisite.

I open my eyes, a red wrist. It forcefully parts my cracked lips. The pure liquid seeps on my tongue, drips down my throat.

Aaaaahhh

Yes.

I stand in the middle of a battlefield. Crags and green grass, and the sea beyond. My chest is bare but for blue woad and black hair. A man charges me, shield up. I bury a heavy ax in it. He loses his balance. I pull and he falls forward. My other ax kisses his neck. I roar in laughter and jump to the next warrior.

A vast hall. Sturdy men and women drink and make merry. Meat juices flow down my chin and on my beard and that blonde lass keeps reaching between my legs. A grey-bearded man grabs my shoulder and I smile to him. He is so proud and happy. Father, my heart is full.

I watch with amusement as that tall brown-haired human screams in outrage at Skeggi. He threatens her with a fist. She upends a bag of manure on his short frame. We all laugh as he runs screaming to the river. Her name is Agna.

My feet dig in the mattress. Both my hands grasp the sheet. Agna smiles mischievously and licks her flushed lips. I want to grab her heavy breast, tease those erect nipples yet I do not. She smiles wider, she grabs my arms with her own and lowers her torso, sinuous and sensual. I see the white of her belly, I smell her arousal. Her soft skin brushes mine. Nails drift against my skin. I shiver.

Her head is level with my chest. She kisses me lightly. I moan. I do not move.

She raises her hips and her mound rubs against my manhood. I feel moist skin and pubic hair made wet by her ardor. I pant with desire and still, I do not move. I close my eyes. Something incredibly soft and wet parts to let me in. She sheathes herself with agonizing slowness. Her sigh of ecstasy tickles my ear. Still, I do not move.

She lowers herself to grab more of me. Her hip rolls against mine and I can take it no longer. With a soft growl, I collapse as she laughs and grabs my back. I take a firm cheek with one hand, her graying hair in the other and I move inside her, slow and steady. Soon, her giggles turn to moans and she answers my rhythm with her own, guiding me towards her bliss. We accelerate and tenderness turns to a relentless dance, one we have mastered over the years. I go as deep as I can and her legs twist on my back to lock me in. After a while, we turn frantic and I barely manage to control myself. With a last moan, she rakes my back as her whole body stills. I keep the exact same speed and soon we climax together. Her body spasms as I empty myself inside of her. Our moans of release shake the walls of our home.

A minute later, we catch our breath, I roll on my back and she falls asleep on my shoulder. I am safe. I am happy.

The last shovelful of black earth leaves the hole. There, that should be deep enough.

Someone gouged my chest a day ago and filled it with brine and ice.

Agna is dead.

The pain I feel cannot be expressed with words, it cannot be expressed with deeds. It is so immense, so incredibly overwhelming, that it covers the entirety of creation and then some. Agna is dead. Her mortality caught up with her.

I pick up the covered body and gently lower it. Then I exit the tomb and fill it with earth. I would fill it with gold, diamond and the heads of emperors if she had let me. She wanted good earth and flowers instead, so I plant the flowers, take my bag and leave.

I climbed down from the mountain because the clan needs me. Father points me at enemies, and I kill. Father gave me a bride and I married her. I fuck her as well. She does not love me, but she likes the prestige and pleasure I give, I think.

My younger brother challenged me today. He and my wife planned a coup. I saw the fear when I took my ax. He knows what I can do. I do not kill him. Instead, I leave. I walk North and take a ship to Greenland, then I start walking. Let them have it if they want it so much. I care not.

It is frigid and I am too thin. I munch on the cold fish I caught from the depth. Tasteless. There is land to the South. I am tired of this. I want to travel to a better place, to forget.

“Ariane, please, Tyr, answer me.”

My consciousness rises to the surface.

“L… Loth?”

“Yes. Yes, I’m here lass. I’m here.”

I cough a bit. I spit out something sticky and disgusting. I feel a wet cloth clean my mouth.

“How are ye feeling,”

“Hnn…As if Asni and the carriage trampled me a dozen times, then left me to dry under the sun.”

I crack open my eyes. It’s difficult to concentrate. Things come in and out of focus. All sounds come to me distorted.

“I… Feel so weak.”

“Ye’re lucky my blood is potent. I fear…. I fear the worst may have happened otherwise. For a fledgling to suffer so much and live… I did not dare hope.”

I try to lift an arm to my chest but I fail. The left one is bandaged tight and the right one is unusually heavy.

“Wow, slow down.”

“Bandages?”

“Ye’re still not fully healed. Yer arm was punched clean through. Ye’re lucky it’s still attached. Ye also got lacerations, burn marks and a bullet through the right lung. And yer heart was stabbed.”

“I don’t feel Thirsty…”

“What can I say, I am delicious.”

We stay silent for a while, then...

“I think I need a moment.”

I feel pain, though less than I should. More than that I feel empty, drained. I know we are probably still in danger but cannot bring myself to care. A little of the apathy I felt earlier still clings to my psyche despite the holes in my chest now being closed. I decide to focus on just breathing, not because I need air, but because it has always helped me settle. I count thirty cycles before I turn my face up to Loth again.

“Shouldn’t we be on the move?”

“We need some time to organize the prisoners we just freed. The cultists have taken some of them and regrouped higher in the mountain complex. We must prepare before we continue.”

“How are the others?”

“Everybody is fine. Dalton has cracked ribs, nothing too serious. I gave him a tonic and he will be able to function for another four hours, then he will crash down.” Loth pauses long enough for me to realize he is considering something.

“He found you.”

“He did?”

“Yes. He knew where you went, somehow. You bonded. We will have to discuss this later, in greater detail, when we have time.”

“Right. Do we have a plan to get out? I cannot fight anymore tonight.”

“I think you will need a few days to recover, at the very least. Before we discuss a plan I have to ask. What happened? What managed to take you down?”

I recount my evening to Loth. He frowns at the mention of tainted blood, raises his eyebrows in surprise when I mention that there are two mages left, and shows barely restrained anger when I share my pain.

“There, you have it. I expect that there are at least twenty more guards, fifteen tops if they did not pull back from the property grounds. The two mages are also a problem.”

“Yer immense Thirst almost killed ye because I did not anticipate this…”

“You could not…”

“Do not make excuses fer me, young one. I brought you on my raid and ye almost starved. This is my failure, and I will reflect on it when we are done here. As for the plan, I will explain when everyone is ready.”

I finally take the time to look around. We stand in the middle of a vast, rectangular room with a single wide door. Chains are attached to the bare stone wall at regular intervals. Most are empty, but some still hold captives. As I watch, Bingle and Dalton walk around to free prisoners. They are a sorry lot, thin and weakened, but most look angry and eager for revenge. A small group of women stands near the exit huddling together protectively. Every one of them is pale and filthy. The cell has a rancid stench of unwashed bodies, old sweat, and excrement.

“Maybe we should…”

“Let’s wait for a while. When we found ye, ye looked like a corpse. I thought… Nevermind that lass. Just give it one more minute. Ye’re already haler.”

Hale? A vampire? I begin to protest, however, I realize that I do not want to move. I am warm here, and safe. Just five more minutes, then I will stand up.

“Mmmrglm?”

“Sorry Ari, we gotta go now. Come on.”

Loth hoists me up and drags me to the rest of the group. I can barely put one foot in front of the other. Two women I do not know rush to take me under the armpit.

“We thought you were dead miss.”

“I thought I was dead too.”

I close my eyes for a while until I hear someone clearing their throat. I look up to see Bingle’s worried face.

“Miss Delaney, I cannot express how sorry I am to see you in this state. I failed to protect you. My shame knows no bounds.”

“Do not fret good sir, if you recall, this was my decision to put myself in harm’s way.”

“And I remember recommending against it, and if you had followed my recommendation, I would be currently rotting in a cell and awaiting a fate most cruel. You saved my life twice tonight, miss Delaney, when you braved those corridors to free me, and when you sabotaged our jailor’s muskets. I shall never forget it. You have my word as a Bingle!”

“Ah, I thank you for your gratitude, and yet I cannot accept it, for are we not saving each other? In the face of such evil, can good souls do else but to rise up to the challenge?”

“Well said, I say, well said! By Jove, what a loss it is for the armed forces that you were born a woman! I am most blessed to have met people such as you and Loth!”

“Thank you, Mr. Bingle. Now, I dare not ask, but did you find Mrs. Schaffer?”

Ah, I should not have asked. How very tactless of me.

“Alas no. But I do not despair! There are still captives to be saved, and if not, I shall find a trace of her passage. I shall not grieve, nor relent until the light is shed on her fate, whatever it may be.”

There is something chivalrous about this man, an indomitable will to fight with the belief that in the end, Good will triumph. Behind all the boisterous claims and bombastic sentences, Bingle has courage, honor, and compassion. I think he was born in the wrong time, that he should have been a knight riding fearlessly in the defense of the innocents. This anachronism makes him sympathetic and his friend’s certain death all the more tragic.

“We can but hope.”

“Indeed. Now I shall address this crowd and then we will set out to end this menace once and for all.”