Valkyrie's Shadow

Chapter 10

18th Day, Upper Wind Month, 1 CE, 2000 Hours

“Yeah! Shake it, boss!”

Tira danced on the main deck of Ruin’s Wake. The grandmaster of Ijaniya was adorned in garb from the Draconic Kingdom, which consisted of baggy pants, a low-cut blouse that exposed her shoulders, and a crimson sash that snugly embraced about her waist. A scarf of opaque purple silk swirled as she twirled and wove her graceful form to the light melody of Saye’s lute. Rhythmic clapping and stomping from the Ninjas around the deck accompanied the tune.

Behind her transparent veil, her coral eyes shone over flushed cheeks and a bright grin. She seemed to be enjoying herself as much as her cheering and whistling subordinates. It wasn’t what one would expect of an organisation of notorious Assassins, never mind their leader…or was it?

In Tira’s movements, Liam could see bits of the combat training that he and Saye had been drilled in. All of her movements were part of a deadly dance: one that had ended the lives of thousands over her bloody career as the most renowned contract killer in the region. It was a dance that anyone would find dazzling, but one that only those in the same trade could truly appreciate.

Liam’s gaze continued to follow her. At least until he had to hobble away in embarrassment. He adjusted his pants as he looked over the starboard railing of the huge Ghost Ship. Beyond the railing was a vast sea of fog that churned under a cloudless night sky. Liam peered down into the milky mists, trying to catch a glimpse of glowing crimson gazes looking up from the wasteland far below.

“Yo.”

Something hit Liam in the back, sending him over the railing with a startled shriek.

A hand grabbed his ankle. Tira lifted him back up. Her thighs showed through the material of her pants as they came into view of his swaying vision.

“Hmm…some Beastman’s gonna eat you at this rate,” she said. “I wasn’t even sneaking around.”

Tira casually tossed Liam into the air over her shoulder. He landed lightly on the deck and rose to his feet.

“Are we going to fight Beastmen?” He asked.

“Who knows,” Tira turned around, looking out at the scenery. “But with what we’ve loaded, you’d think we’re off to war.”

The sheen of sweat on her back glistened in the moonlight. Liam swallowed, his gaze tracing down her toned figure. Someone slapped him in the back of the head.

“But they’re at war, right?” Saye appeared at Liam’s side, “The Draconic Kingdom’s always fighting the Beastmen.”

“They’re being raided,” Tira replied, “but they’re not at war.”

“But they’re getting attacked all the time,” Liam furrowed his brow. “How is that not being at war?”

Tira turned and leaned against the railing. She crossed her arms over her midriff as she regarded him.

“If a village Ranger goes into the forest to hunt or forage food,” Tira asked, “did the country the village is in declare war on the people in the forest?”

“No,” Saye replied, “but the Beastmen are hunting people.”

“The Ranger’s still taking stuff that those living in the forest need to survive,” Tira told them. “If he’s a jerk and doesn’t leave enough behind for everyone else, then the denizens nearby resort to raiding. If they happen to raid Human territory, the Humans will believe that the raiders are attacking without provocation. If they have the money, they’ll hire Mercenaries and Assassins to kill off the raiders.”

“Villagers don’t hire Mercenaries or Assassins…”

“Adventurers,” Tira shrugged. “Same thing. If someone kills someone that Humans see as ‘good’, they’re a murderer or an Assassin. If they kill someone ‘bad’, they’re an Adventurer or a hero. The definition of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ can and will change based on what people want them to be. Humans love to pretty up everything in their favour. It’s always someone else’s fault or whoever had stuff happen to them deserves it. Or whatever happened is horrible and that’s why whoever did it to them deserves to be punished. It’s ridiculous how predictable it all is.”

“But you’re a Human too.”

Tira smirked, her coral eyes glittering as if she found something funny in his words.

“Most people would call me a monster,” she said, “but yeah, I’m Human too. I’ve been around and seen a lot, though. There’s always some reason for any contract we’re offered. He’s corrupt. He betrayed me. She’s not following the rules and no one’s doing anything about it. She seduced my son. He kicked my dog. Everyone insists that the target ‘deserves’ to die and why. They don’t care that we don’t care; they’re just trying to cope with their own crap.

“Whether a country plays games with a neighbour or plays it straight usually depends on the difference in power between them. The Beastmen that raid the Draconic Kingdom play it straight. They’re hungry. You’re food. That’s life.”

“And Humans ‘play games’ because they’re weak?” Saye asked.

“Pretty much,” Tira answered. “If you don’t present enough of a threat for the other guy to think you’re not worth messing with, you gotta try something else. Since almost all Humans are personally weak in the grand scheme of things, ‘alternative avenues’ are readily embraced by us. Except, well, Humans are also quick to push their advantages if they find that they’re stronger than their opponents.”

The tattered glowing sails above them snapped lightly in the wind. They didn’t need Tira to tell them to know that what she said was true. After their parents died – no, even before then – they did whatever they could to survive. They begged in the streets, spied on people and picked through the town’s trash piles every day. They watched thugs bow their heads to bigger thugs and then turn around and beat weaker people for everything that they owned.

Their world was one where everyone lived in fear of everyone else. They were too small to care about, but not too small to be preyed upon…but Liam was sure that, even if he got strong enough, he wouldn’t do all of the terrible things that he saw the adults do.

After being saved from Fassett County and seeing that people could be decent, Liam thought maybe he and his sister just had the bad luck to be born in some cruel and unusual hell. But the world wasn’t so simple as that.

“What about trade?” His sister asked.

“That’s one of those ‘alternative avenues’,” Tira nodded. “The most successful one. Countries love Merchants because they circulate resources that the country wouldn’t otherwise have access to. But, well…here’s the problem. You got territory and that territory can support a certain population. Say you got land to raise a million nuks a year. You still need to be strong to convince everyone around you that it’s better to trade than to raid. If you manage to do that, then they start competing for your trade.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad…” Saye said.

“For a time, maybe,” Tira replied. “But the balance of power between all of those countries can shift suddenly. One country loses a hero or two and bam – they get gobbled up by their neighbours. All they can do is pray that it doesn’t devolve into chaos from there. If it does, chances are that things went from a bunch of manageable countries to a few much more powerful countries. Then that food-producing country goes from a trade partner to a tributary.”

“But if you’ve been friends for so long,” Liam said, “that should count for something.”

“It might,” Tira admitted. “It’s not unusual to find countries that try to forge ties like that. But it’s not a guarantee. Even if it happens, it just results in alliances of countries fighting other alliances of countries. Actually, it’s usually a bunch of weak or middling countries banding together for security against a more powerful one. But ultimately, resources are limited. You grow so you can get more. If you don’t, others do. Then they start sizing up all the ones that didn’t grow.”

“Then why not just stop having babies?” Saye asked, “Or keep the number of people the same? Then you don’t have to look outward for resources.”

“Doesn’t work,” Tira shook her head. “Every baby is potentially a soldier. Worse, every baby that you don’t have might’ve been the next hero or at least someone decently strong. If a country was ‘even’ with its aggressive neighbours before and it falls behind, that country is in for a bad time.”

“But that means everyone is bound to fight and it never stops.”

“Pretty much. Especially in this part of the world. Other places are more ‘civilised’, but it’s probably not the ‘civilised’ that people around here have in mind.”

Liam hadn’t heard that before. He and Saye had gone all the way to Roble where the land ended and that country and its people seemed close enough to themselves. The Draconic Kingdom was just as far from the Sorcerous Kingdom as Roble was, so he didn’t think it would be much different.

“But the Sorcerous Kingdom can do it,” Saye said.

“Hm?”

“We can stop the fighting. Our soldiers don’t need to eat and no one can beat them. We can make a place where everyone can live peacefully. That’s what the Sorcerer King wants, isn’t it?”

“Well, I wouldn’t go so far as to say that no one can beat them,” Tira replied, “but that’s what our country claims it wants to do. If it helps you two get the job done, you’re free to think that.”

“You don’t think it’s true?” Saye asked.

“I’d like to,” Tira answered. “But it’s gonna take more than just a couple of months in some peaceful place to convince me. I’ve just seen too much to believe in anything easily.”

“Then why are you so nice?” Liam asked.

Tira raised an eyebrow.

“Ya think so?”

“You are! You’re always nice to everyone you work with. Even our parents didn’t treat us this nice.”

“Well…you ask me ‘why’,” Tira said. “I’ll ask you ‘why not’? Do you like being mean to people? Do you like it when everyone around you is an asshole? Is there just something wrong with everything you see so all you can do is be grumpy about life?”

Tira straightened from the railing. She placed a hand on each of their shoulders and drew them close.

“Listen. We’re Assassins. A lot of people think that means we’re just heartless killers. Maybe a lot of us pretend that we are. But we’re not Golems or mindless Undead: we’re Humans.

“Think hard, Liam; Saye. We live and die in the shadows. Any of us can disappear at any moment. Even me. How would you rather things be? Who would you rather fight for? What sort of world do you want to see? You can love life, or you can hate it. The latter sucks.”

“But if you’re such a nice person,” Saye asked, “then why did your sisters leave?”

“You’re thinking about it the wrong way,” Tira answered with a sad smile. “It’s because I love them that they aren’t dead.”

The grandmaster of Ijaniya released their shoulders and wandered off to chat with another group. Liam stared absently at the mist beyond the railing, which thinned out to reveal a broad river that flowed south to the sea.

Tira was right. Her sisters were supposed to be Adamantite-rank Adventurers, but Tira was in the Realm of Heroes. She had the rest of Ijaniya, too. There was no way her two runaway sisters could survive if she didn’t want them to.

Ruin’s Wake followed the river – it was supposed to be the same river that ran south of E-Rantel – until it fanned out into a broad delta and joined the sea. From there, the Ghost Ship sailed along the eastern shore until the lights of a city appeared on the horizon.

“That must be Blighthold,” Saye said.

“How do you know that?” Liam frowned.

“Because I studied. You need to stop failing that test, by the way.”

“H-how did you know about that?”

“You didn’t say anything about it. If you passed, you’d tell me right away. I bet you felt better about yourself when you saw that Vicar Aspasia and Sister Alessia failed their test too.”

He turned away. Saye was way too good at reading people.

They sailed into a port city about a third the size of Rimun. The city was asleep, but four dozen men waited at the pier. It took them a minute to board through the hole in the Ghost Ship’s side. Ruin’s Wake sailed off again. Tira went to stand in the middle of the main deck, waiting for the men to come up and join them.

Liam narrowed his eyes at their appearance. They looked like thugs from Fassett Town. Most were in labourer’s outfits while a few were better dressed. If it worked the way that he knew, Liam could tell who was who at a glance.

The two groups eyed one another as if sizing each member up. After several moments, one of the better-dressed men stepped forward. Then he and his men jumped back when an Elder Lich appeared.

“Iškur,” the Elder Lich said. “Captain of Ruin’s Wake. Welcome aboard.”

The new passengers blinked at Captain Iškur. After a couple of seconds, the well-dressed man stepped forward again.

“Aykut Balik,” he said.

“Tira.”

Tira smiled and waved. The newcomers only stared back with straight faces and crossed arms, feet planted firmly on the deck.

Yup, they’re thugs.

They had a way about them that screamed ‘goon’. Image came first. Nine hundred ninety-nine times out of a thousand, having a lot of men looking big, tough and confident was enough to make everyone else fall in line. And when they fell in line, they stayed there. The one person that refused to fall in line was beaten down or killed as a warning to the rest.

Aykut and his men were trying to establish their dominance over Ijaniya, which wasn’t the brightest of ideas. Not that they knew. Ninjas were expert infiltrators and Assassins were masters of disguise. Their expertise allowed them not only to use what people thought of as ‘stealth’. They could also impersonate others and conceal their strength to avoid being casually profiled by security forces. Only those with sufficient detection abilities could see through them.

Tira continued to smile, but something about that smile started to unnerve Liam.

I’m Human too.

Were Tira and her men doing it on purpose? Waiting for a ‘reason’ to put some cocky thugs in their place?

Liam went still as the tension in the air grew thick enough to cut with a knife.

“This some sort of Human ritual?” Iškur asked, “Sorry, I’d join in, but I’d scare two-thirds of you overboard. The Baroness may get upset with me if I do that.”

Aykut sighed.

“Where’s Zahradnik?” He asked.

“Fighting a war,” the Elder Lich answered. “Lady Zahradnik will join us when we enter the Bay of Ors. That’s about two hours from now. Her instructions in the meantime are to get yourselves sorted out.”

“What does ‘sorting ourselves out’ entail?” Tira asked.

Captain Iškur pulled a note out of his breast pocket. He held it out between Tira and Aykut. Aykut leaned forward to read it in the darkness. Tira remained where she was.

“Let’s get belowdecks,” she told her men. “Bring our cargo up from the hold. Whoever finds a black bag: bring it to that table on the tween deck.”

The Ninjas melted into the shadows around the deck. Aykut and his men stood blinking at their sudden disappearance. Saye didn’t waste any time, heading over to the ladder. Liam followed her down. They caught up to Tira, who was already emptying the aforementioned black bag on the rectangular table in front of her.

“Roll out that map, will ya?” Tira said.

Saye moved to take the map while Liam looked for something to hold down the corners. In the end, he used four small pouches of coins out of a row of pouches on the table.

One of the Ninjas – a man named Pon – came over with Aykut and several other ‘upper-rank’ thugs.

“Working for this country sure is different, boss,” Pon said.

“Tell me about it,” Tira flipped through a thin black binder. “I wonder if every big job will be like this. Let’s see…”

She leafed back to the front of the binder, placing it on the table to the side of the map.

“Says here that you sent men ahead to Helama. With luck, they’ll be waiting for us near the Wharf Gate…?”

“This one,” Aykut pointed at the western gate along the riverfront. “They should have volunteered for the night watch, so they’ll be the militia manning the gatehouse.”

“…what’s this other gate?”

“The Ferry Gate.”

“Mmkay…their instructions were to contact the Suna Family and secure a safehouse. I have no idea how hard any of this might have been to accomplish.”

“If things in Helama are anything like Blighthold,” Aykut said, “everything should be ready for our arrival.”

“What was it like in Blighthold?” Tira asked.

“The Beastmen lived in the countryside, raiding for food when required. Otherwise, they stayed in the settlements they made in the copses. It’s easy for Humans to get around. Our people shouldn’t have been detected at all.”

One of the lessons that Liam and Saye learned early on was how hard it was for security forces to detect infiltrators. Trying to sneak by a member of the city militia in a narrow lane or hallway was difficult, but no one had so many people that they could make it just as hard to travel across the countryside. Running into anyone at all in rural lands was unlikely unless one purposely travelled on roads and other areas that saw local traffic.

The only real threat in that situation was being chased around by a Ranger or something else of similar leanings. In that case, the infiltrator was in for a rough time.

“What would happen if they got caught?” Tira asked.

“Any Beastman out in the open is likely to be on the hunt,” Aykut answered. “If our men were somehow caught, it would be a fight for their lives.”

“So they wouldn’t be questioned or anything like that?”

“No,” Aykut’s voice was firm. “We give as little as possible to invaders. There is no point in quietly going along with a prowling Beastman when one knows that they will get eaten shortly after.”

“Hmm…”

Tira crossed her arms, pursing her lips as she studied the map of the city. Liam thought he knew what she was thinking.

If Aykut and his men were any indication, the people that they sent to Helama weren’t very strong. All of them were stronger than Liam and Saye, but nowhere close to the Ninjas dispatched with Tira. The thugs were Silver Rank, at best. Probably Rogues like Liam. Silver-rank Rogues weren’t so physically strong that they couldn’t be subdued by a group of Beastmen. Magic that affected the mind and body was a problem for Rogues, as well.

A Beastman looking for food would probably eat first and not think of questioning their prey, but all it took was a bit of suspicion. Charming one of Aykut’s men would reveal everything.

“How strong are the Beastmen?” Liam asked.

“It tells us what the Royal Army’s run into so far here,” Tira tapped the binder. “Mostly civilians around Difficulty Rank 30. It mentions that there are tribes or clans made out of warriors, but they’ve barely encountered any so far. Got anything on these ‘warriors’, Aykut?”

“Warriors were common enough during the Beastmen’s advance,” the man replied. “They became rarer over time. After the last Adventurers and soldiers defending our city were killed, the Beastman warriors disappeared as well.”

“Well, that’s convenient. Let’s get all these supplies distributed before Zahradnik drops in to brief us.”

Tira placed an arm over Saye’s shoulder and headed to the aft of Ruin’s Wake. Liam went out into the tween deck, finding his pile of stuff and changing into his equipment. Over his shirt and pants, he wore a jack of plate with a base of matching material. Leather gloves and steel bracers went over his hands and forearms.

He had a new pair of leather boots since his old ones were getting tight. Steel greaves went over his boots. Liam fitted his black cloth mask and tied on a metal headband, then sheathed two daggers behind his back. Two knives went into his greaves and six kunai went under his bracers.

Liam walked around, testing his mobility. All of the equipment combined weighed about eight kilograms. It felt heavy, but his trainers said that it would feel as light as a gambeson before long.

“You look like a precocious little fuck.”

He turned at the sound of Pon’s voice.

“Weren’t you the one who told me to get all of this?”

“Doesn’t change what I said,” Pon replied.

The Ninja was in traditional Ijaniya garb, which covered him from head to toe in pitch black cloth. He wore a black metal breastplate and sported black gauntlets and bracers. A belt with loops and pouches dangled from his hand.

“What’s that?” Liam asked.

“Bandolier. Did you see all the stuff they packed off with us?”

Liam shook his head. Pon went over and grabbed a bandolier from one of the crates, tossing it over to him. Someone clapped their hands nearby.

“Alright, boys, gather ‘round!”

Tira stood at the mainmast with Saye. Both of them had changed into their equipment. Tira was in mostly the same garb as the other Ninjas, though her stuff was fitted for a woman. A chain shirt peeked out from under Saye’s leather vest.

“Listen good ‘cause I don’t wanna repeat this long-ass list,” Tira waved the black binder in her hand. “Actually, forget that. Bring one of ‘em boxes over here.”

One of the Ninjas picked up a crate and placed it at Tira’s feet. Saye opened the cover and pulled out a vial filled with blue liquid.

“Middle Cure Wounds,” his sister said.

A low murmur rose from the gathered men. Potions imbued with Second-tier spells were expensive. The ones selling in E-Rantel were going for eight Re-Estize gold coins each.

“Middle Cure Wounds…” Tira murmured as her eyes scanned the binder, “Each person gets three.”

“You sure about that, boss?”

“Uh, that’s what it says here. I’m not crazy, right?”

She held out the binder for Saye to look at.

“No,” Saye said.

“If you break one,” Tira said, “you won’t get another. Says there should be two crates of these so find the other one.”

The men formed a line. Saye passed out the potions. Liam slid his vials into a small leather case on the bandolier with loops inside.

“Light Cure Wounds,” Saye examined a scroll from the next crate.

“Six Light Cure Wounds scrolls each,” Tira read off the page.

Once Liam received his scrolls, he placed them into another leather case just big enough to stick them all in. In addition to the healing items, they received two minor Barkskin potions, two potions of Reinforce Armour, two potions of Cure Poison, one potion of Lesser Strength, one potion of Lesser Dexterity and one scroll of Fly. In addition, they received several vials of potent venom.

“This last crate here is for team leaders. We’re splitting up into groups of six for this job. Each team leader gets four Silence scrolls, two Message scrolls, six Lesser Restoration scrolls, six Invisibility scrolls and six extra potions of Middle Cure Wounds. Also, a box of junk.”

“Junk?” Aykut frowned.

“Stuff for traps.”

“What about these other crates here?” Someone asked.

“Those are supplies for the safehouse. Three of them are for Saye.”

Six dozen gazes turned to his sister.

“Me?” She said.

“The safehouse is doubling as a field hospital. Looks like we’re gonna be doing a lot of fighting. On a related note, if you’re not familiar with using this venom that we got, I’d suggest you leave it for someone that does. They gave us some good stuff, but the last thing we need is someone killing themselves with it.”

Roughly half of Aykut’s men returned the vials of venom.

Liam wrapped the bandolier over his belt, shifting his daggers so he could pull them out from under it. He went over to join Saye, who was going over her inventories. The crates assigned to her were filled with even more restoratives as well as some magic items of unknown use.

“They’re not letting you fight,” Liam said.

“It’s better like this anyway,” Saye replied. “And it’s not like I wanted to fight.”

“Why did they give us so much stuff?”

“Because it is better to have and not need,” a woman’s voice came from behind him, “than it is to need and not have.”

He jumped at the new voice, as did three-quarters of the room. Liam turned to find Baroness Zahradnik, shrouded in a forest green cowl and mantle.

“Are you all sorted out?” She asked, “It’s four hours to dawn.”

“As far as what we’ve been given,” Tira answered.

“Then I’ll get right to your task,” Lady Zahradnik said. “The Beastman clans in the area are rallying around Helama. Instead of spending the next week or so chasing them across the Forst River, we’ll be taking care of them here. Over the next two days, upwards of eighty thousand Beastmen will arrive.”

The few whispers drifting around the deck fell silent. Aykut’s men stared incredulously at the Baroness.

“We…we can’t fight eighty thousand Beastmen!” Aykut said, “I thought we were sent to help clear the city, not defend it.”

“You are still here to clear the city,” Lady Zahradnik told him. “Right now, only a portion of the Beastmen – those camping outside Helama previously – are inside the city walls. Your tasks are as follows. First, get in touch with the Suna Family and move into the safehouse they’ve prepared for you. You’ll rest until nightfall while familiarising yourselves with the city. Once night comes, you’re to seal the gates and clear the walls. After that, exterminate the Beastmen trapped inside.”

“How many Beastmen are there in the city?” Tira asked.

“No more than six thousand,” Lady Zahradnik answered.

“And what are the conditions? There must be something if you’re not just crushing everything here with the Undead.”

“Minimising collateral damage to the Draconic Kingdom’s citizens,” the Baroness replied. “The Royal Army will do all the work out on the field, but we don’t want Beastmen holing up in the city while we do that. This operation is also a primer for your people. We still have half the Draconic Kingdom to liberate and you’ll be working on the next city after this. New orders will arrive once things settle down in Helama.”

“Fair enough,” Tira said, then looked out at the gathering with a grin. “You heard the lady: we got some work to do.”

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