Valkyrie Black

Chapter 6: Young Blood

When Valkyrie awoke, she was stiff and sore. Her ribs hurt immensely as a small yellow light blinked in her vision.

[ Power Low. Shadow Plasma required. ]

Val blinked and the message vanished, leaving just the small yellow warning in her mind. Val felt numb. She knew she had ended that boy’s life. But he had almost ended hers.

Grown versions of that boy had been the ones who had killed her mother, perhaps even part of the same gang if this was their turf. She had not seen much in the way of gang members but she reasoned that as a small girl, she likely went under the notice of such criminals, thus they didn’t reveal themselves or trouble her. Only the kids who tried to use the same street corners to swindle people where an issue for her.

Val looked out of her fort to her mother’s resting place and shed a small tear, seeing that her mother was no longer there. Someone had cleared the body and there was just a red stain remaining. Val was now truly alone.

As she pulled herself out of the fort, she wondered if she should start building a new home for herself somewhere else. After she killed the kid yesterday, the other kids might come back better prepared to hurt her. she collected her coin purse with the single silver and checked her shoes, making sure the others were in there. She had thirty drets now, thankfully it was easy to carry as three silver was all it took to equal that much. She grunted in pain as she stood and held her side.

She strapped the dagger to her thigh, the only place such a blade would fit on her small frame. Her mother’s sheath still felt large, but it held the blade secure. She wished she had a better place to hide it while keeping it close.

As Val considered the last few days, she remembered how those shadow things had seemed to help her feel stronger and smarter before, curious if she should try to hunt one. If she sneaked up, perhaps she could kill one without others noticing. While the first two had been easy to destroy, she feared if they ever realized what she was doing, they might attack her directly.

As she made her way cautiously back toward the lemon merchant, she kept her eyes peeled. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted three shadows dart into an alley following a small form. Val followed them and peered down the alley way. Three boys had cornered the girl she had seen the other day. Her long brown hair was gripped tightly in one boy’s hand. The boy had her head wrenched at a bad angle as he slapped her face.

“Think you can escape the work? Think you can avoid us?” the boy was several inches taller then the girl. Val guessed the oldest boy was fourteen for fifteen and the girl was maybe twelve. Two younger boys of about eight helped block off any escape. Two shadow creatures stood nearby watching as a third sunk his vaporous claws into the elder boy’s back.

He pulled a hand back and smacked the girl hard as the shadow creature twitched its claws in his back. She was still hurt but if she could free this girl, perhaps they could be friends. She glanced behind her just in time to see another small shadow creature enter the ally and flow toward her. she withdrew her blade and as it passed she acted without hesitation and drew her blade silently across its neck. The beast didn’t even have a chance to scream as it was absorbed into the blade. The other three shadows didn’t even notice.

Val hoped she would see runes appear and she might gain some advantage but all she saw was a short message.

[ Scath Lurker hatchling. Minimal Plasma. ]

She sighed and started forward. While the boys were the real threat, if she could get the shadows while they were preoccupied, the boys would be easier to handle. She snuck down the ally as the boy raised a fist and smashed it into the girl's face, dropping her to the ground.

Val targeted the two watcher shadows, slicing through them just as they twisted toward her. As their smoke was being absorbed the final one turned and shrieked, releasing the boy and fleeing down the passage before she could bring her blade back around.

Damn. She wanted to get them all. She wondered if she had made a huge mistake letting that one get away. She hoped it would not bring friends.

“Looky here! A wee thing things she can play with sharps! Think you can be the warrior princess or something?” sneered the older boy. Val saw the other two were not so sure. Even an unskilled opponent could do damage with a blade. 

“Leave her alone.”

“And who do you think you are to tell us what to do?”

“She unclaimed property?” one of the younger boys asked.

“She’s a fighter. Think we should brand her to our crew?”

Val frowned at the words, realizing they might want her in their gang. Should she join?

“Hmm, interesting idea. She is a bit small, but if we catch her now, she can grow into her place. We would earn a reward from the den leader for bringing him a new girl. He likes the young ones.” The older boy sneered.

Val held her dagger before her as red appeared around the oldest boy, and yellow showed around each of the others. The girl showed signs of life but didn’t register with a colored light like the others.

She wished the girl would get up and silently begged her to join the fight. Three-on-one was not good odds. She remembered how battered she had been last night with a much smaller boy kicking her.

She backed toward the entrance, putting space between her at the boys.

“Oh no. you started this girlie. Now we will finish it. You can come back with us and get your brand like the good little pet you will be.” The boy faked a lunge at her and she swiped, missing him and placing herself off balance. The boy grabbed a broken board from a pile of trash and swung at her head. She ducked it but felt the wind as it passed over her head.

She glanced back at the girl on the ground and was heartened to see she was getting to her feet, a broken chunk of brick in her hand. She advanced from behind while Val distracted the boys with her dagger, slowly backing out of the ally. As she came close to the entrance, the girl made her move, striking one of the boys in the back of the head with a resounding ‘CRACK’!

When the older boy turned to see what had happened, Val lunged and caught him in the side, her blade sliding easily into his flesh. The boy screamed and backhanded her hard across the face.

The other boy ran off in terror as the girl smashed her brick into the back of the oldest boy's head. Val recovered from her beating and stood, quickly grabbing the hilt of her dagger and wrenching it free before stabbing the boy in the neck.

She slumped to the ground then, exhausted. The girl lowered her brick and stared at Val. “You killed him.”

“And? He was hurting you.”

“Yes well… I mean… I am branded. I… have to obey…”

“Not anymore.” Val didn’t understand what the brand was supposed to mean, but she felt that now that this boy was dead, it shouldn’t matter anymore. Suddenly a new set of runes formed before her, translating into words she knew.

[ Human soul: Dark Gray. ]

[ Essence: extreme potential. ]

[ not enough storage space. Use excess for healing? ]

“Yes,” Val said aloud.

“Yes? Yes, what?”

“I need to heal. I… my side hurts a lot.” Even as she said it, that strange itching, stretching of skin sensation moved from her neck down around her ribs and began easing the pain. Her hand flew to the spot and she could feel small tendrils beneath the skin working on her.

[ Health restored ]

[ Available skills: Friendship, commerce, endurance, agility, strength.]

Val’s eyes flicked to friendship and then to agility. Commerce would be helpful but she had some skill with barter already. Strength would come with time.

“What now?” the girl asked.

Val held out her hand, “I am Valkyrie.”

“More like a reaper.” The girl said, but carefully shook her hand. “I am Emma.”

Val looked down at her dress with the fresh bloodstains. “Maggie is not going to be happy about this.”

“Maggie?”

“The baker. You should come. She seems to need a lot of help. Perhaps we can both work there. If we can earn coin together, there is a meat merchant who gives a great price!”

“The meat merchant will sell to you? He always chases us off. Even when I did have a few Dret!” Emma exclaimed.

“Well, maybe I can buy enough for both of us next time!” Val offered.

“You should come back to the guild. You… well when these two don’t come back, the den master will send out hunters looking for whoever did it.” Emma said.

“So you want me to walk into the den?”

“If you join up, the master will not be so mad. He is always looking for strong ones. You are smaller than me, yet you took out two of them. Means if you join, you are worth more.” Emma explained.

“Let's get some food first. Maggie will let us work for a few hours for some soup and bread.”

“Likely better than the options at the den. But tomorrow, we really need to go, or you may never be safe.” Emma insisted.

Val led Emma to the back of the bakery a few streets away and knocked on the back door. When Maggie opened it, she gasped and covered her mouth. “Val? What happened? Are you ok?”

“It’s a long story, but I am ok.”

Maggie said, “I cannot let you in here looking like that… but I had worried about you yesterday, so this morning I found this.” she pulled out a dress out from a bundle next to the door. “I wasn’t sure your size but I think this one can be mended to fit, and then we can let it out as you grow.

It was a soft leather dress that came down to Val’s knees. The sides were split up the leg a decent way, allowing for easy movement.

“Go change and we can see what work we can set you to… who is your friend?” Maggie asked, eyeing the older girl.

“This is Emma. Can she work here too?”

“I don’t have enough work every day for you both but didn’t you say you were working with the Lemon merchant? Perhaps you two can split the work and alternate between the two.” Maggie suggested.

This proved to be a good arrangement for both girls over the next few weeks, turning into months as they lived and worked together to scrape together enough of a living to survive.