Introducing
The Valerian
by LaDorian
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"All right, boys! Keep your heads on and work your arses off–' Their leading man, employer, and well hated acquaintance bellowed from the fiery lungs of his booming voice.
'—We're leavin' by when Goddess so deems it to be dawn." The Valerian's was aggravatingly loud. Bypassing his fellow men who mined endlessly. Sweating blood and iron from their endeavors right into barrel's hauled off into wagons.
"Til dawn? By the fucking Gods above and below. Does- Does the damnable sod mean to work us to bare bone? To dust?" A worker of the mine complained.
"Would it be any surprise, boy?" Another replied, bearing a heavy accent of his origin.
"Damn him and all that's worth…-" The boy grimaced with seething hate. His pickaxe clashed and sparked against stone. Just as the others had been paid to do so, if paid was what one could call it.
"Ah, chin up, boy! Once we're back home, you'll be singing his praises with all the crowns we'll be shuffled." The same man replied, barely heard by the other from all the clanking and beating on the stone, slowly being battered into a cave. One that was expertly crafted through and under this massive mountain of Winter season and covered with a blanket of deathly chilling white that only grew each passing moonlit night by hailing snow that fell like rain.
"Aw, shit! My damn axe broke." A worker grimaced.
"Well? Go get another, you lazy brusi." Another urged.
With a grumble, he tossed the broken stick in his hand away and walked off to go to the stock of supplies, which was moved throughout the man made cave system due to how many other directions there were to go.
"You, with the muck for a face. Where's the other picks?" He approached a wide man.
"Yeah, yeah-" He gestured to him away.
"Just go down that way, you'll find what you need."
With the directions between the many different tunnels, the klutz for a man who broke his pick had gone down the way he was directed towards. He was stricken with tiredness, aching at his bones. His legs, his back, his joints in need of popping as he had traversed the dim corridor where he threaded into a large emptiness. The room was still, barrel's of ore with tools faded into worn useless heaps of steel had been laid across the dusty gravelly ground. He squinted through the darkness, groaning as he carefully stepped forward, being appalled with how not a soul was around at this busy time.
"What in the hell?" He muttered, right after bumping his boot into a pickaxe.
He soon knelt down and picked it up by the neck below the steel of the tool. His brows furrowed as his lips frowned to a cringe of an expression across his unpleasant looking face. He unhooked his index and middle finger from the wood of the handle, seeing a dark liquid stain his skin.
"Ugh-" The worker plucked a rag from underneath his tunic belt, cleaning the specks of crimson liquid off of it. It was of no surprise when blood was to be found on a tool. Miners often worked til and beyond when they shed blood. However, that held little meaning now. The poor man had simply been mortified within the next second. Through the dim environment, he was terrorized by the sight of a body! One of his own, a boss of the mines that had his insides on the opposite. It would make any average man with sense go running and probably vomit in a chemical reaction for the disgust of the sickening scene.
"Peleri.." The worker uttered the name that would then fade into the world. He stepped back, nearly dropping the tool as he felt the cold terror wash over him. Then, this gauntlet riddled with five long claws as sharp as daggers with rotting blue flesh around them had planted upon the bloody guts of the corpse; a low growl emitting from the beastly arm emerging from the darkness. The miner gave an alarmed howl of fear as the sound of the worn and battered armor scraping against the ground aired above his voice. With little time or ability to see, his vision was blackened by a shadow that sent him back, immediately slashing his chest up with a loud scream that echoed through the system.
A deep, demonic snarl soon followed the silence.
Chapter 1.
The Tomb.
It was inside the walls of the mighty Imperial Haven for the Empire that its most famous tavern - The Shattered Crown - a brawling scene was taking place. All around, men and women drunk off their ass and enthralled from the entertainment before them, a couple bards singing and prancing along the fire in unison as the battle between two warriors had long since begun.
"Kick her fucking teeth in, Cercival!" A woman cheered.
"Show that foreign bastard the Valerian way, Captain!" A man jeered the chant from the woman.
So, three men, ragged and rugged looking hard working individuals had helped the warrior up to his feet, earning an eager laugh as he stood up, hitting his fists together as his leather-covered knuckles slammed together with a gash to his cheek.
"Ha, ha! Is all you got, little lady? I'm not impressed with the shit commander's offering!" He bellowed as he quickly marched forward.
It was there, on the other side, a couple of knights were helping their superior officer up to her feet from being knocked onto her back. She stood up, panting a bit. Arose, a raven-haired woman with emerald orbs for eyes that glared at her opponent, her cheeks slightly wrinkling into a smile as she chuckled, licking her lips. Her bottom corner on the right side of her lips was busted, bleeding down her chin. She leaned to the side a bit, her disheveled hair was all swept back into a braid that was all messed up with strands in her face.
"Is that all I've got?" She asked, smugly, carrying a more foreign accent from the Norse kinsmen. It sounded more fancy and pronounced.
She sighed out an exhale deeply, raising her gloved hand up to her chest cuirass, grunting as she jerked the straps to the breaking point as she tossed the armor side, looking back at him as she took a tankard of beer from one of her men and cheered to Cercival. He only laughed a mighty one as the Captain soon raised her ale up and began chugging as much as she could, to the point where it spilled down her cheeks. She then threw it over her shoulder, adjusting her fists up as she stepped forward.
"Let's see if you're any man at all under all that talk." The cocky woman raised her voice to be heard over the crowd surrounding them both. She wasn't terribly tall for a woman. Maybe more than most, but, to him? She wasn't very tall. He was built as a powerful man. Plenty of muscle that'd hurt to run into. And, Cercival was eager to batter the Valerian even further. She was eager to return it. With plenty of beer intoxicating the fighters, Cercival released a hearty yell as he thrust his fist forward, nailing her right across the cheek and even getting a yelp from her. She whipped to the side with her feet scrambling to keep her up. She cringed as she opened her jaw a few times as she slowly reeled back, glaring at the hard hitter.
"Ah, a boy at the least." The Valerian mocked.
Even with the pain that throbbed through her face, she was eager to step right back up, looking well guarded.
"A little girl at most!" He retorted.
He immediately flung another powerful fist directly into her. This time, she made a graceful move to slap the back of his fist with the back of her own and push her body forward as she gave a true yell from the gut and threw her fist right into his face. Her very knuckles collided into his jaw as her strength sent him staggering to the side. She used this to grab onto his shoulders and knee him into the gut, earning an excited scream from the crowd as she got him to the ground, sitting onto his lap as she immediately began throwing punch after punch. She got her fists plenty bloody. Relentlessly paining herself with the pride of taking a warrior down despite what it would cost. With just a few done and out the way, she grabbed onto his padded armor chest plate and pulled him up to her.
"Is that all you've got? I'm not impressed." She fired at him, smiling so proudly down at him as she was given a dazed expression before everything suddenly blurred with blackness. She heard an "Ooh!" From the crowd. She found herself on her side on the ground, her eyes blinking a few times before widening to have her vision clear. She groaned. That hit happened to be a little harder than the other ones. Hitting a bad spot. She saw the man, Cercival, roll onto his side to get himself up. He spat out blood. She felt incredibly weakened by the blow. The ale didn't help her balance. When she tried sitting up, she only rolled onto her back, grunting a bit in discomfort as she shut her eyes tightly with her teeth bared from the headache eating at her now.
Then, a startling silence ensued.
"Davina of Valeria." A male's loud voice raised in the quietened tavern hushed by his presence.
Her head slowly lifted up as her eyes narrowed at the door, squinting due to the brightness of the sunlight.
"Captain of the First Battalion, praised by the great Emperor Tyr Malin." His footeps approached as his body's steel clanked.
"Trusted. Bound by oath. A 'Fierce Valkyrie from Valhalla itself'- They say." He sounded disbelieving of it. There, Legate Lexian Dae-Xing stood tall. A sword strapped to his side as his dark eyes stared down at her with great disapproval and disappointment.
"Yet, here you are. Drunk. Foolish. Beaten. An idiot."
The Valerian winced as she propped herself up by her elbows, glancing up at the penetrating gaze the Legate of the Imperial army had. Davina sheepishly laid there, catching her breath finally as she had soon gone to stand. Getting to her knees. A knight went to help her, however he was stopped with a warning.
"Do not." He urged.
The Knight nodded and simply stepped back. She had simply done her best to stand up, doing so quite easily once it was all said and done. She was a fair bit winded, but all there and coherent nonetheless. She was bold enough to not look fearful of him as most did. Her eyes halfway open with apparent boredom as her lips formed a small frown with one corner slightly raised.
"Ser." The Valerian coyly remarked.
She so graciously earned a genuinely cynical stare from him. Most people in the Hold disliked the General for the sheer fact he was foreign from a far away land of warriors of his own religion. One he abandoned selflessly for who he is now.
"You." The General, Legate, and superior officer to them all had directed his unwanted gaze to another loyalist, a knight.
"Ser?" He replied, straightening his form.
"Return your Captain's suitables to her person." Dae-Xing spoke as if she wasn't there.
The Valerian averted her emerald eyes and barely uttered a scoff. She disliked him, too. Not for his differences to her, because he was just a bastard for influence.
"I'm standing, aren't I, General?" She asked.
"Are you now?" He asked, with meaning behind it.
Her eyes narrowed a bit. The corners of her lips wanted to raise. Not from amusement. But, challenge. Even with her disliking, she had respect for him. His stature, his place as a person.
"Yes, Ser." She replied, forcing any foolish desire to be witty down.
Afterwards, there was silence. The Knight from before, the one called onto with an order to give his Captain her belongings, he then quickly did so. Davina didn't tear her gaze from her superior as she took her cuirass in one hand, hugging it to her side. Then, taking her sword bound by a brown leather sheath in the other. It was lined and decorated as an Imperial sword sheath would be.
"Where is her helmet?" The General asked, spiting her furthermore by directing the question to the loyalist that he ordered around.
"I d—" He couldn't even hiss the word before the Captain stepped forward a bit.
"I am here before you at your will and wishes, General. As your Second, I am here to serve the Emperor as always." Davina spoke, raising her voice a bit.
The man who ran this city, this hold called Winter's Ark, he looked down at her in silent judgment. His thoughts, most of them, never really aired from his lips. He was as pragmatic as the word could be defined.
"As my Thane, Davina of Valeria, I expect you not to act as your ancestors." He finally spoke.
His voice was cold and cruel, as it was meant to be. He even took a step towards her, speaking more sternly.
"You will suit yourself as such." Referring to her title.
"And you will not be a second late to returning to my side." He made his wishes perfectly clear.
Davina's jaw muscles clenched as the General said what he did. He knew where to hit her. To straighten her attitude out into the person she was bound by oath to be. Not the mess of a reputation that Valeria, a Kingdom well-known for being one of tyranny and terror in its history, had left behind.
"Yes. Ser." She stated through slightly gritting teeth.
Lexian Dae-Xing had then reeled his head back a bit, inhaling deeply before just turning around to walk out of the tavern with a scowl on his face. The disheveled Thane of Winter's Ark had glanced down, shrugging her brows once at the rather uncomfortable tension within the tavern. She had almost forgotten there was an audience. She looked around at them, squeezing onto the sheath of her sword. She even looked at Cervical, who held a good blank expression as he wiped blood off his lips. She dryly scoffed, turning away from everyone and beginning to head for the door.
"Come on then!" She ordered her men, shoving the door open with clear anger in her movements as it slammed against the wall. Her men were to follow.
It was now not long before the sun would set over the mountains. It was within the castle that the Valerian stood in the war room. It was massive, with a wall covered with an enormous map nearly covering it all. It was aged, the paper browning at the edges as it was detailed with the dozens upon dozens of landmarks, holds, Kingdoms, and the such. It was all the Empire. The entire world, too. They seemed to own a large portion of it. More than half.
"What is it, do you think? Petty bandits?" The Steward, Calveri, had discussed matters with the General.
To whom, stood tall with his arms crossed as he gazed up at the map with furrowed brows.
"Bandits wouldn't cause a massacre just to leave all the gold there." He replied, with much certainty.
The Steward stepped closer, lowering his voice.
"Do you think…- It's the Regime? Their government has grown since the last twenty years." He suggested.
General Dae-Xing only glared at him.
"You will not speak of that again." He replied, firmly.
Her emerald eyes watched the inaudible chatter from afar. Her lips curled up and down at the corner of one side. She was more finely dressed in the steel of the Empire with a brown leather suit underneath. She held her sword at one hip and her helmet at the other. She was curious as to how a Steward would be better fit to speak to about war when the very man couldn't carry a tray without stumbling.
However, she held her tongue. She watched with a disinterested looking gaze as the Steward walked off from Lexian and simply went to exit the room.
"Captain." He greeted with a smile.
"Fuck off." Davina replied, calmly but cruelly. She walked up to the General, setting her helmet to the side onto the table in the middle of the room. She had then been at his side.
"You actually look as a fitting soldier." He stated, not even looking at her.
"As does Calveri, apparently. Should I hand him my blade to slay all your enemies?" She asked, clearly with a heavy lace of sarcasm.
"No." He replied.
"We're being raided. By an unknown element. One at the mountains." He directed his index and middle finger to point up at the specific part of the map where mountains were designed next to. Right next to her home.
"Shouldn't be too surprised. Thieves tend to get more bloody now. And, the religious followers there believe things should rest as they are. Untouched." She said, gazing up at the map.
"If it was your people, they would've taken the spoils for themselves. If it was thieves, they would've done the same." He replied.
She quirks a brow as she glances at him.
"Nothing was taken?" She asked, quite surprised to hear this.
"Not a thing." He replied, looking back at her.
She turned her head away, being puzzled by this.
The people there were more bandits and thieves than an actual noble hold. Hell, the ruler there was even crooked. Nonetheless, her home wasn't filled with anything but ritualistic madmen and thieves. But, both of those things weren't people to leave behind riches.
"What's a petty mine to us anyways?" She asked.
As puzzling as it was, it wasn't something she found to be worthy of too much concern. General Dae-Xing inhaled a deep breath then sighed silently. He soon turned away and then stepped around to face the war table. Where she was to follow at his side.
"This petty mine holds great importance… On a confidential level specific to our Emperor's request." He was careful with his words.
Noticeably so. Davina was smart. She read in between how his words required pause and thought. How his tone seemed slightly dreaded. His mistake on lacing too much emotion in his voice. She moved closer, putting her gloved hands onto the table before lowering her voice to speak,
"So His Majesty has a secret." She stated, bluntly.
"One we can't afford the people to learn." Lexian answered.
The Captain scoffed, shaking her head a bit with a small smile. She immediately knew what this meant.
"The only thing a Nord would keep in a tomb that was of risk would be heritage. Our beloved Tyr Malin isn't of blood is he?" She mockingly spoke.
"Mind your tongue." The General calmly demanded.
"My sincerest apologies. But, the man isn't even fair-haired. People already suspect him to be a liar." She reasoned her argument. It was basically her saying, 'Why give a damn?'. Her allegiance was to protect his life, not his dirty secrets.
"In this tomb, we must retrieve the Malin book. His Father, Titus, was said to have left it in the crypt there. That's why…-" He shook his head.
"We so foolishly sent men to their graves there. The mountains are rich with ore, so no one would suspect us setting up a mining establishment there. Yet, here we are." He said as he leaned against the table, putting his fists onto the table. She stared at him, brows furrowed a little. She slowly reeled herself back. The General was on his fifth, nearly sixth decade on this Earth. His hair was all grayed out nearly. This job was stressful. Taxing. And, it clearly ate away at one's heart.
"You need someone to go there, do you not?" Davina broke the silence, tilting her head a bit to him. She wasn't one who shared sympathy with him. Only a mutual understanding.
He nodded.
"You will require your battalion. Only the God's know who killed those men." He confirmed in agreement.
"We'll be off before dusk." Davina stated.
He stood up straight, placing a hand on her shoulder, which was covered by steel armor. He put on a more serious tone. Somehow.
"We mustn't allow that book to prove what it does to the public. You now know a secret that people such as us would be killed for, if we weren't in the Emperor's graces…" He stated, lowly.
"I don't doubt your allegiance. But, I doubt your will in doing these types of missions. This is my order to you, Davina of Valeria—" He spoke a bit louder, releasing her and putting his hands behind his back.
"Find that damn book."
"By your orders, Ser." She nodded.
"Mount your horse's! We're to be off before the moon rises."
Her voice yelled. There, Davina of Valeria had been marching her way to her own horse. She was quickly gripping the reins and stepping up onto it. After mounting the horse named Beatrix, she had pulled on the reins to turn her around to face her Battalion. More than twenty men. Soldiers readied with blades, hammers, steel and shields. She was level headed plenty. She knew what she had to do and she was going to go to any length within her power and person to do so. She watched as all her battalion looked to her, awaiting their orders.
"Listen to me!" She yelled out.
"The General expects us to fix a problem within the lands of our home. Somebody dares to oppose us in these dire and desperate times. Are we to simply fall back idly by and watch these fools oppose our ruler? I think the fuck not." She kept her voice loud as she rallied their loyalty with ease.
Even with the hidden truths behind her words. She knew she wasn't to utter a word to these men. Even as much as she trusted them. She wasn't fond of it, but after what the General said, it was safer for them this way.
"Ride with me." She ordered, waving her hand as she turned on her horse Beatrix, soon to begin riding ahead towards the gate. That was, until she was immediately stopped. The gates were not opened. Not yet. There was a presence right before her. Two, to be precise.
"What is it now?" Davina cynically asked, sounding already tired of this interruption.
The Legate and General had been standing there. Alongside a gentleman dressed in very fine clothes. He stood just a hair or two below Dae-Xing. He had red hair swept back to the length of his shoulders almost with vibrant yellow eyes. He wasn't a very strongly built man. It didn't really look like he could throw a punch or take a hit with the all black leather suit he was wearing.
"Your new company." The stranger remarked arrogantly.
He bore the same defining accent as her.
"Oh, how mortifying it'd be for a child's death to be on my hands for wandering around the woods. Get out of my way, if you will." Davina retorted.
"Captain." Her superior spoke.
"This is the Emperor's Specialist. He was requested by His Majesty himself to accompany you." He explained, gesturing to him. Davina glanced at Lexian before her emerald eyes dulled at the very sight of the other.
"I'll have a good ol' time being a babysitter, then. Tell me, Nobleman,-" She crossed her arms and leaned forward, resting her forearms on the horse.
"Have you ever worked a day in your life? Your hands look soft. Your face, a little too pretty. Your attire? Not even a wrinkle." She made her disapproval well-known.
This man only chuckled a bit before stepping forward. His skin was fairly complected to a tan appeal. He was truly stunning. Which heavily inferred he wasn't a warrior. Warriors tended not to dress in fancy clothing such as he. Fresh black leather for his coat with fur on the collar and a clean white for a shirt underneath and hanging at his wrists for the sleeves, whilst the coat sleeves had fur on the end as well. He had nice boots strapped to his legs.
"I am Wrafe of Savencrone." He introduced himself with a small smile.
"I work plenty. And, I can protect myself. I assure you." He stated as politely as one could.
Davina's lip curled up a bit in disdain. She was quick for judging character. And, she didn't like such quick enforcers of one's presence.
"Well, Wrafe of Savencrone,-" Davina replied.
"I hope your steed is as steady as your bullshit. Open the gates!" She yelled out to the ones occupying the gate above. They were immediately going to slowly start lowering it.
"Indeed it is." Wrafe replied.
He had been brought a horse. Afterwards, Dae-Xing walked up to Davina's horse and patted it's neck while looking at Beatrix to hush her neighs.
"Ensure his safety. He's…- Very important for these 'desperate times' as you put it." He spoke somewhat quietly. She leaned upwards and looked down at him with a rather disinterested look. As much as she wished to remark on his claim to protect himself, she didn't wish anymore stress upon him. For now.
"He will live." Is all she replied with.
He nodded to her. Afterwards, he stepped away, directing his gaze at the many men ready to ride off.
"Remember your mission. Long live the Empire. Long live the Emperor!" He exclaimed to them.
They all repeated it, aside from Davina and Wrafe. shouting 'Long Live the Empire! Long live the Emperor!' as they began to ride off. She rolled her eyes as she had Beatrix gallop. "Long live the Emperor." She huffed out under her breath with an uncaring tone.