"Val-" Alex changed the word midway. "Valentine?"
"Wright." said Valek, nodding genially. There was a little awkward silence between the two as they just stood there in the doorway. "Aren't you gonna invite me in?" asked Valek, flashing his grin.
"Oh, yeah, sorry...I...er...come on in." said Alex, stepping aside. The truth was, Alex didn't really wanna let Lord Valentine come in.
Valek regally floated in. He paused in the hall and looked around with interest, almost amused. Alex silently observed him; Valek was dressed in exquisite royal blue robes. There was a shining, beautiful, silver baroque design on them which made it glint a little even in the dim light from the candles. Alex had no doubt in his mind that those clothes were more expensive than his entire homestead. A thin, sheathed, sword hung from his hips, somehow giving him an even more commanding air. His hair was long and almost down to his shoulders, his eyes black and shining with a glow of a man in control.
Alex opened his mouth to speak, but Liana popped her head in the room. "Al, what's taking so-" she stopped dead when she saw Valek standing in the hall. He turned to her and gave her a smile...this time, Liana noticed the smile reached his eyes, making them shine. "Val...Valek?" stammered Liana taking a step forward.
"Valek!?" exclaimed the other three from the dining room. There was a shuffling of chairs, and all three burst into the hall. Liana was slowly walking up to Valek who stood there with a serene air...which was somehow also sprayed with...happiness?
Liana reached Valek's tall figure and placed a soft hand on his cheek. "Val...is it you? Is it really you? My little brother?" Valek closed his eyes and placed his hand over Liana's. "The very same kid you gifted a blue teddy bear to on his first birthday." he said quietly.
"Valek!" Liana screamed, and jumped into his arms. He smiled and put a gentle hand on his sister's head as she started sobbing on his shoulder. The other four in the room observed the scene; they saw Valek's smile...the same smile they'd seen a hundred times before...the smile of an old friend...Val's smile.
"It's okay, Lee." said Valek, softly. "I'm here now." Liana shook her head on his shoulder and broke down in fresh sobs. As children, it'd always been Liana pampering Valek. Somewhere though, he'd grown up...somewhere their roles had reversed and it had been Valek looking after Liana before she even realized it.
Felicia came over, tears starting to flow from her eyes too. "Val!" she exclaimed, joining in on the hug. Just like Liana, Felicia broke down in tears too and started wetting the other shoulder of his robes.
"How have you been, Sha?" asked Valek gently. Felicia broke down in a fresh series of sobs in response.
"So, it really is you, huh?" asked Robin, grinning widely. "Same ol' handsome bastard."
Felicia and Liana stepped away from Valek, hastily wiping away their tears, and breaking into smiles. Valek went up to Robin. "And you're still the same old sarcastic bastard, huh?" he asked, grinning.
"Look who's talking." said Robin, grabbing Valek's hand in his as he pulled him into a one-armed hug.
After a moment, Valek broke off and nodded at Robin. Then he turned to Alex, who'd been staring at him with the widest grin on his face. "Little brother." he said. "You haven't changed much." Valek tilted his head and inspected Alex's wide biceps and tanner skin. "Whereas you have...considerably." he said, grinning too.
"Come here." said Alex, pulling Valek into another one-armed hug. Alex held it for a moment, patting Valek's back in his older-brother fashion. "I missed you, buddy." he said, in a low voice.
"Me too, bro." said Valek, as Alex crushed his neck.
Alex finally let go and Valek spun around, scanning the room. There, still by the doorway, stood Eve. She hand't moved much, but her eyes were glistening. Valek slowly walked up to her. "Evelyn." he said, in a low voice.
"I knew it was you, you know?" said Eve, not making eye contact for fear of breaking into sobs. "From the moment I first saw you, I knew it was you."
"Still just as smart...and just as beautiful." whispered Valek, giving her a small, lopsided smile.
"Oh, shut up." said Eve, running into his arms. She squeezed him tight and she felt her eyes give out. But instead of sobbing, she broke down in quiet tears...crying more than either of the girls, but making no noise.
For the first time since the hug-fest began, Valek closed his eyes and almost bowed his head, resting it on his partner's shoulder. He put his arms around her back tighter, and he felt her breaking down into even more tears.
Though Eve cried, she felt happy. His arms felt the same as when he'd hug her before, his breathing just the same, he even smelled just like she'd remembered him through the perfume. "I hate you." she whispered. "I hate you, I hate you, I hate you."
"And you have every right to." said Valek gently, breaking apart when he heard Robin loudly clear his throat. With one arm still around Eve, Valek looked around the room and at his companions. All of them were beaming at him. Somehow...somehow...they'd finally seen a friendly face in this alien land. A face of the remaining member of their group.
"I hope I'm not intruding." said Valek, graciously.
"Oh, shut the fuck up." said Liana, slapping Valek's arm. "You're one of the six. Are you really gonna put up that Lord act even with us."
Valek grinned sheepishly. "Oh, you know me. Ever the courteous man." Liana did a mock grin and petted his cheeks. "Come on, let's have dinner." she said. "It's been a long...long...time since all six of us were together." Valek smiled boyishly, all his grace disappearing for a second, and nodded.
All six of them trooped into the dining room and settled into chairs. Valek took the chair usually occupied by Katherine and Eve made it a point to sit beside him. Felicia emptied almost half the cauldron in Valek's dish and placed it in front of him with a smile that communicated only one command: Eat up.
For a few moments, all six of the just sat around, grinning at each other, letting the developments sink in. Perhaps it was the strength of the bond the six had shared since childhood or it was simply that they'd finally met someone from their world, but Valek didn't feel out of place in the group, even for a second.
Valek took a spoonful of a the stew and then nodded his head at his staring companions. "I know, I know. You all have a lot of questions, don't you?"
"Yeah, no shit, bro." said Robin, laughing.
"Starting with why you abandoned us that night of the birthday." asked Liana, a little indignantly.
"Oh, that." said Valek. "Something extremely urgent came up and I had no choice but to leave... I'm sorry. But...I never abandoned you."
"What do you mean?" asked Alex, subconsciously drinking a spoonful of stew.
"I left Vicktor to look after all of you." said Valek.
"Vi...Vicktor?" stammered Felicia. "Your...your giant of a bodyguard?"
"Yep. He's been keeping an eye on all of you ever since I left. In fact, I just relieved him of his duty as I came by. Told him to go take a break." said Valek, nonchalantly. Then he spotted his friends looking at him incredulously. "I hope you're not pissed about it."
Alex shook his head a little. Am I angry? "No, I'm not pissed." he said. "I'm more surprised we didn't spot that hulk following us around."
Valek grinned. "He's a lot more talented than you can guess."
"But why?" asked Robin.
"Just in case the Drusses would try anything out of spite." replied Valek.
"I thought 'Lord Valentine's' reputation scared everyone shitless."
"Yes, and I've built that reputation by having failsafes. Just in case Druss'd try anything, he'd have died before he could've knocked on your door." said Valek. There was no anger or spite in his tone...it was as if he was discussing the weather. But the part that unsettled the five was that they all knew that Valek actually meant it.
"Yeeaaah, about that reputation..." started Alex, once again stunned by how easily his little brother talked of death.
Valek put up a hand. "You have a ton of questions, I know. And, rest assured, I'll answer all of them. But first I want you all to tell me your story. Tell me, HOW in the fucking world, did you get to Decimandria?"
And so began the long tale. Alex started with how they'd been playing cards back home...how they'd seen those flashes of light. God, it seems like those five kids are entirely different people from us...have we changed that much? He told Valek how they'd woken up in the hills. How the kindhearted smith and his wife took them in.
Then, Robin picked up on how their plan was to return to Earth with the help of the town mage. Valek seemed to suppress a laughter when he heard that, but didn't show much. He told Valek of their life in the blacksmith's household. Then, he came to the part where that...monster...had come. Robin faltered, and Alex quickly stepped in. Alex told him about the creature and how he was supposed to be the couple's son. How his jaw opened up down to his neck.
"A wendigo?" asked Valek. "A fucking wendigo?"
"Wendigo?" asked Eve.
"Yeah, a man eating creature." answered Valek, absently.
"Wait, what?" asked Robin, in disbelief. "You know what they are?"
Valek sighed. "Yes. They look like humans, but they're not. Supernatural creatures who can only survive on the diet of human flesh. Humans can turn into wendigos if they consume a little of a wendigo's flesh. They're faster, stronger, and even more cannibalistic than humans." Robin looked on in amazement. At this point, nothing could surprise me about Decimandria.
"Yeah...we saw that cannibalism first hand." said Felicia, her eyes far away. Alex squeezed her hand under the table.
"But a wendigo?" asked Valek, incredulously. "A fucking wendigo fucked your lives up?" It looked like Valek was almost insulted by the fact.
"Yeah." said Alex, a little irritated. "If you'd fought a creature like that, you wouldn't be here mocking."
Valek almost scoffed but held himself. "I'm sorry." he said. "Please, continue."
"Well, after we killed that...wendigo...he...dissolved into this purple liquid." said Alex.
"Wait, dissolved?" asked Valek.
"Some jewel on his wrist kinda exploded and then purple liquid consumed his entire body. Not a single trace of him remained." said Alex, a little confused. "Wait, that isn't a standard thing, is it?"
"Must've been a cursed bracelet..." muttered Valek, half to himself.
"Well, anyway." said Alex, and he told Valek how they'd buried the couple and fled Lemara. Valek nodded knowingly. "Burying them was the smartest move you made." he said.
"Why?" asked Alex.
"Have you never wondered why nobody sent hunting parties from Lemara after you five?" asked Valek.
"I...just assumed we'd made a good getaway. That's why no one ever found us." said Alex, feeling stupid.
"No, no one ever found you, because no one was looking." said Valek. "Apparently, the Captain of the garrison in Lemara knew all about the smith's backstory with his son. The lieutenant had also met you five and neither of them believed you'd all murdered the couple. Seeing the graves and the message marked on them, they figured the couple's son had killed them, and then you fled in fear of being blamed for the crime."
"Wait, how the fuck do you know that? asked Alex.
Valek grinned, shrugging. "I have sources." he said. "After I saw you all, I had all your steps retraced to find out exactly how'd you ended up here."
Robin was a bit irritated. "If you already knew, why're you-"
"Because information can be incomplete." said Valek. "I didn't know how you'd all ended up in Decimandria. Neither did I know about the...what's their name?...Fegg couple's son being a wendigo. I wanted to hear from you all the exact story."
Alex sighed. "Makes sense."
After that, Alex told him of all the incidents that'd happened since they'd come to Barfoss. How the mage said he couldn't help send the five back to Earth...how they were stuck here now. The incident with Arrdem Moof, the run-in with Barrassen, the incident with Eve. At this point, Valek gently squeezed her hand and she responded by grabbing his hand with a fierce grip. The girls told Valek about all the assassins, the mysterious black skulled savior, then the birthday party.
When it all finally ended, the moons had come well out and all six of them collapsed in their chairs. The entire stew had disappeared and they were feeling fulfilled.
After a minute of silence, Valek spoke up. "You know...I'm proud of you, Alex." he said, sitting up straight. "I'm...proud of all of you." he said, looking around. "All of you...all of you have come so...so...far. You were suddenly dumped in a foreign, alien land...no resources, no friends." Valek got up. "Yet you all survived. Not only that, you all thrived." Valek pointed all around him. "I mean, look at all this! You five have...have carved out a life for yourselves. You...lived. You held each other together...you." Valek sighed. "None of you are the same people that you were on Earth...Hell, you're a smith now, Alex! The same guy who was about to dive into the business world. Robin, Liana, Eve, Felicia...all of you..." Valek laughed. Was it relief in his voice? "All of you changed...yet...yet you're all the same." Valek fell silent and took in a deep breath. "Coming this far...surviving this long? I'm...I'm really proud of you all."
There was a sincerity in his voice mingled with an odd sense of relief. He was no longer Lord Valentine in that moment...the man who's always in control...but Valek Arkwright...a kid thankful his friends were alive and well.
"We're fine." said Liana, getting up and hugging Valek. Only the three girls had picked up on his real emotions. Valek smiled and kissed her on the cheek.
"It was mostly Al anyway." said Eve, grinning.
"No, that's-" began Alex.
"Yep, it was mainly him." said Robin, "As much as it pains me to say it." he added for fear of sounding too sappy.
"He's always held us together...always looked after us." said Felicia, linking her arms with his.
Valek looked over from Liana's shoulders at his brother. "Thank...thank you, Alex. For...looking after this group...for looking after yourself. I'm truly proud of you, Alex. I'm proud to call you my brother.
Alex looked at him, almost bewildered. It wasn't often that people could make him feel like the younger child, but now his own little brother, his gaze fixed at him, somehow made him feel like a kid. For a moment, Valek was the older of the two.
"I just did what you'd have done too, little brother." said Alex, smiling gently.
"Heh," said Valek, breaking apart from Liana and sitting back down. "I could never hold this group together as well as you have, Al. Could never have given them such a...fulfilling...life."
Alex was aglow inside. Hearing his friends praise him, it felt really good. In his mind, he was just doing what was right...what his duty was. But even he couldn't deny it, hearing the compliments felt soothingly cozy. "Oh, I dunno about that, Val." said Alex. "You seem to be holding your little group together well enough."
"My group?" asked Valek.
"Your Order." said Alex.
"Ah." said Valek, bursting into laughter.
"Come on." said Eve, holding Valek's hand. "It's your turn to tell your story now."
Valek looked at her, her keen violet eyes looking searchingly up at him. Almost subconsciously, he raised his hand and pushed a strand of her red hair behind her ear and then suddenly snapped out of it.
Valek sighed deeply. "Well, I guess I do owe you all the trut-" he suddenly stopped. He'd sensed them. Running footsteps...snarls...growls. Six...no, eight...no ten. Fifteen? Twenty!? A whole herd...headed right here!
"What's wrong, Val?" asked Eve, bringing him back to the five. He blinked and looked at his friends across the table; they were staring at him curiously, all confused.
Valek's expression changed. "There's no time." he said, urgently. "They're coming."
"Who're coming?" asked Eve.
Valek ignored her and stretched out his right arm like he was going to shoot something from his palm. As if attracted by a magnet, Alex's and Robin's swords, which were standing against the far wall, flew into his hand.
"What the-? How'd you do that?" asked Robin, in amazement.
"There's no time." said Valek, urgently. He pushed the two boys' swords into their hands. "Guard the girls." he said, his voice commanding.
"Against what?" asked Robin, almost irritated by Valek's behavior.
Valek jumped up to his feet. They're not very far now...almost here. Alex got to his feet too; he could sense Valek's emergency...he knew something was wrong. Valek looked around, apparently seeing more than just the walls of the room. Shit...shit. Snarls...inhuman groans. He unsheathed his sword, and Alex, even in that moment, looked on with wonder. It was a thin, jet black blade. It completely resembled a katana, except the blade wasn't curved. The sword seemed...demonic. As if it was sucking in all light around it.
"Stay in here, and guard the girls." said Valek. At this point, even Robin realized something was coming...something Valek had somehow sensed. He unsheathed his sword, followed by Alex.
"Val...what's goin-" began Eve, but she stopped dead. She heard it. Dragging footsteps running up the driveway. It was as if a bunch of rabid dogs were rushing up; loud snarls, groans, and screeches reached the five. There was also a clang of...weapons?
"Whatever, comes through that door, you kill it." said Valek. "It doesn't matter if it's someone you know. If it's not me, you kill it."
Alex nodded, his heart starting to beat faster as he heard the snarls cross the driveway and almost come up to the main door. "Look after the girls." said Valek. And without another word, he rushed out with his black sword in hand.
The five stood there, frozen with fear. They heard Valek burst out of the main door and in response, the snarls increased in volume. They heard a clang of weapons, and even louder growls. It was as if a battle was taking place against a thousand demons, and somehow Valek was holding the fort alone. They heard snarls be cut short midway as if the screamer had had his windpipe cut. There was a clamor of weapons and the unmistakable sound of metal hitting metal. The bellows of the attackers loud and angry.
"What is he fighting out there?" whispered Robin hoarsely, his sword slippery from his wet palms.
"Whatever it is, it's not human." answered Alex, his ears straining, trying to make out what was going on. Whatever Valek was doing, he was doing it with efficiency. The sound of the snarls was decreasing.
Suddenly, the was a loud bang and something came crashing in through the window as if it'd been thrown, breaking the wooden flaps. It hit the opposite wall and fell over as if stunned. It looked like a muddy boulder wrapped with a flimsy cloth. But even as the five looked, the pile moved and stood up.
Alex's and Robin's stomach disappeared and the girls were too frozen to even scream. What now stood in their dining room was a tall, decaying body. The skin was brown and falling off, most of the bones visible. Its cheeks were sunken, the teeth black and rotting, barely a few strands of hair hanging down from its head. A short steel sword hung from the tight grip of his right hand. By all accounts, it looked like a rotting body that had been dug up and given a sword. But his eyes...his eyes were alive. They darted around the room and registered the people in it. When it spotted the five, he let out a long, inhuman wail.
The girls screamed and ducked behind the table, and that brought Alex and Robin to their senses. The undead ran forward, its bones jangling, his sword raised. Alex raised his defense and stepped forward to intercept the attacker. With a loud clang, the two swords hit. A strong tremor went through Alex's arms from the shock. The undead looked weak and rotting, but it was anything but.
The rotting body shrieked in Alex's face and raised the sword again to strike. Just as Alex was about to side-step, Robin rushed in and sliced the undead's abdomen. But it was like it didn't even feel anything; he changed targets and aimed his attack at Robin, who ducked. Alex screamed and thrust his sword inside the undead, but again, it was as if it felt nothing. Adrenaline flowing and anger boiling, Alex twisted his sword and pulled it out from the side of the undead, slicing him in half.
As the two pieces were falling apart, Robin kicked him and he flew backwards and hit the wall. The legs collapsed, but the undead was still moving. Dragging his upper body with his hands with an unnatural speed, it came rushing at the group again. Robin stepped in front and neatly lobbed off its head.
The head hit the wall, but even then the eyes were still alive. They looked around angrily, and the mouth howled. The legs and the torso were still moving around like a lizard's tail. "Get it out of here!" shouted Alex, and with a well aimed kick, he flung the dismembered head out of the kitchen window. The legs and torso started darting around, and without thinking, Robin grabbed the torso. As he hurled it out of the window, he noticed it was surprisingly light. Alex followed suit and threw the legs out of the broken window too.
The clamor of weapons still continued out there. How many of those things is Val fighting alone...should I go and...but he told me to look after the girls... Alex looked around and suddenly realized their defense had been compromised. There was a gaping hole in the form of the broken window from which any undead could jump in. "Out of here!" shouted Alex. "Into the hall!"
The girls instantly obeyed and rushed out of the dining room with Robin. Alex stayed behind for a second just in case anything came in through the window, then he too ran after them. "Robin, you watch the rear." he barked as he entered the hall. "I'll watch for anything that comes in through the front door."
Just as soon as the two boys had traded places, the main door crashed open. The figure standing there blocked most of the view outside. Alex noted, despairingly, that this was another undead. But this one was different...it was taller, and less rotted. The skin was stretched over the bones, but it was still together. It wore some black, light armor and a huge sword was clutched in his hands. With a heavy foot, it stepped inside. This undead wasn't flailing like the other did...it walked straight and with a direction.
Alex backed away a little, the undead towering above him. It hadn't snarled or shrieked at all. Instead, it'd locked Alex in its gaze. This is no grunt...this one's truly dangerous. The undead raised a long hand to wind up its strike, and Alex braced for impact.
All of a sudden, it was as if the undead's chest had been stabbed by a red beam of energy. The undead felt the blade and it tried to look behind at its attacker, but the blade sliced through him, ripping half of his chest apart. The tall body fell with a loud thud, and behind him, stood Valek. His black blade was now glowing bright red, and Alex realized the sword must've been enchanted.
Valek did a flourishing move with it as if tossing off blood from the blade, and looked up at the group. He wasn't sweating or injured in any way...in fact, he didn't have single scratch on him. But his expression was one of fear and they suddenly realized why. He's afraid for us!
Valek walked in, somehow scrutinizing all five of them at once. "You okay?" he asked, worriedly. His blade's light slowly faded and it returned to its normal jet black.
"Yes...yes, we're fine." said Alex, breathing heavily. Valek shot a look at the other four and they nodded. Out of habit, Valek flourished his sword with a windmill motion and used the momentum to sheath it.
"What...what the fuck!?" asked Liana, sinking in on the sofa. She felt her nerves wouldn't be able to hand much more of these inhuman surprises. Eve and Felicia sat down beside her and wrapped their hands around hers, all three of them shaken.
Robin slid against the wall and collapsed on the floor. What is with us attracting so many fucking monsters!? Alex, steadying his breath, got down on one knee. It was his way of not letting his guard down, but still steadying his nerves.
"What were those...things, Val?" asked Eve, looking up at Valek who was inspecting the corpse in their living room.
"Voodoos." said Valek. "Corpses reanimated to do the bidding of whoever resurrects them."
"Voodoos?" muttered Alex.
"But this," said Valek, knelt over the body on floor. "this one's different. There were quite a lot of these black armored undeads in the group that attacked." Valek seemed to be half talking to himself. "Usually, voodoos are puppets not able to form their own thoughts. But these ones were the work of someone skilled...someone powerful. They can adapt and improvise according to the situation."
"What do you mean?" asked Robin.
"They were basically resurrected with a more powerful spell. That means they retained some of their human intelligence." answered Valek.
He looked around and saw scared and confused faces looking at him. Suddenly, something clicked. Someone...powerful...? We're not out of danger yet! Valek jumped to his feet. "We have to leave. Now!"