Valkyria Sample Chapter - Rin

Rin

Rin ran. He ran as fast he tired legs could carry him, jumping from left to right in order to avoid the market carts and girls of the night who were just making their way to work. He ran in the hope that Einar wouldn’t follow. How could he have let the boy see him?

Alley after alley shot past in an instant, from brick stone to mortar which was finally followed by the snow white marble walls of the wedding hall where his beloved Ari awaited his return. She was waiting with that horrid man.

Rin barged through the door, the splinters tearing at his skin as the old wooden frame buckled. The lights were still out, the candles smoking just enough for white streams to float away from them. The hall was a large open room of emptiness except for the dining table and twenty chairs that surrounded it from head to toe. It had been far too many chairs, fifteen too many, but they were already there when Rin and Ari had arrived.

Everyone must have been in the waiting room where he had left them. The door to the room was covered by a lilac and sky blue cloth, Ari’s favourite colours, in preparation for the celebration. Rin opened it hastily, the handle cracking under the speed.

“There you are, dear boy,” said the raspy, empty voice that Rin had hoped was just a dream. Yet there stood the vile atrocity of a man. His night black cloak concealed his body entirely, but the weathered and eroded face was enough to freeze one’s very soul.

He called himself Aeon, Rim remembered. He had said he was doing this for the good of the Ringlands, ‘preparing for the coming storm’, although Rin had no idea what he meant. He had said that by taking Ari and her family hostage he was protecting the freedom of the Ringlands. It was all a bull’s tripe as far as Rin was concerned.

“Have you any news of my quarry, dear boy,” continued the gargoyle of a human.

“Yes I do, so release my family and I shall tell you.”

Aeon’s neck cracked like and earthquake as he twisted his head to one side like a bird of prey examining its next meal. Approaching Rin, his cloak hid his feet and gave the impression that he was floating. Rin took a step back but leaped forward again when the rotten door to the hall behind him closed itself.

“You think me a fool, do you not?” Aeon continued his snail paced advance as he spoke, his eyes not moving a single inch away from Rin’s. “You think I am to give you what you desire and then you will flee from me?” A breeze filled the room, blowing the curtains of the open window like wings, yet Aeon’s cloak lay still like a statue. “There is no where you can run. So tell me of my quarry.”

“She is with her brother,” said Rin. “They are returning to Caim as we speak, and I believe that it will take them at best three hours to reach the tree you mentioned.”

“Very good, dear boy. You have done well. I take it they suspect nothing?”

Rin could feel his legs weakening quickly. Aeon had said that Alexia must not know she was being followed, yet Einar had seen him. He didn’t want to say anything, but from the closed eyes on Aeon’s face, he was sure the horrid man already knew.

“Einar saw me,” he said. “But I said nothing and fled before he could reach me. I do not think he suspects anything.”

Aeon moved not one inch, his bright green eyes piercing Rin’s heart like a thousand spears. His left hand appeared from his cloak, open, and rose toward Rin’s face.

“Fear not, dear boy,” said Aeon, “you have done well. You have helped the Ringlands far more than you could possibly understand. You have given me the knowledge I need to protect this wonderful land.”

He paused. His hand was still raised. The breeze grew in strength and the delightful wedding glasses and statue of a dove fell from their stands, splintering as the crashed to the floorboard below.

“Although it is such a shame you were seen,” continued Aeon. “What I can do now I do not know, but she will tell me. Of that I am sure.”

Rin tried to reach for the decorative sword that hung on the wall above his head, but found his arms and legs would not move. Ari was still seated behind Aeon, her golden hair flung by the wind and her wedding dress tearing in the breeze revealing far too much of her before her bedding night.

“He must understand the consequences of failure” said a voice far more beautiful than Rin had ever heard. Yet there was no one speaking.

“Who said that?” Rin’s head turned left to right in an attempt to see if there was someone in the room he had missed. There wasn’t.

“She did,” answered Aeon. “And my dear, I truly am sorry for this.” His fist clenched shut tight, and Rin felt like he had suddenly donned a hundred coats of chainmail. He saw Ari and her parents fall to the floor as he did the same.

Ari’s father tried to stand, managing to get to his hands and knees, but they were shaking like an old man, which he certainly was not. He pushed against the floor, but the hidden weight was too much and his arms and legs snapped, the sound echoing throughout the room before he left out a high pitched scream that was more like a lost bat than a strong man as he had been.

Aeon glided toward Ari, drawing a great sword with an emerald green blade. Rin tried to call out, to shout for Ari to run, but no sound came to his lips. In a flash of green and red his beautiful bride’s golden curls were stained crimson as the blade sliced through her soft waist like water. Her mother followed soon after.

The weathered man turned his attention back to Rin, raising the sword once again.

“Allow me to introduce you to Judgement,” he said. “It served me well against Alexandria, and even better after the revolution.” He closed in, the breeze growing even stronger, the paper on the walls beginning to tear as wooden supports groaned. The weight that held Rin to the floor grew heavier and he felt his arms and legs giving in, splitting into pieces within his skin.

“I truly am sorry for this, dear boy,” continued Aeon. “You did so well, but she has decided your fate.” The blade, Judgement, came down.