Valkyrie

-This is the third bloody time I've tried to post this story. If it doesnt work this time I'm beating my head against a wall. On another note, if it does work, enjoy :)- Oh yea, and if I butchered any facts or anything about any gods, goddesses, or religions, well, get over it. This is fiction-


Val clung to Camery’s back, her knees clenched around the bunched up muscle pumping beneath her thighs. She sucked in breath, and it stung her throat. She heard the thundering hooves behind her, and knew that she couldn’t out run Apollo’s men. They were insane, vicious, and utterly devoted to their god; but you could say one good thing about them. They were great horsemen. And they rode great stock.


Camery was a little brown quarter horse, fourteen three hands tall. He was fast and strong, but the sun god’s followers rode race bred quarter horses; thorough -quarter horse mixes, and they were sixteen hands and taller. Camery couldn’t out run them.


Val stayed hunched over Camery’s sweat slicked neck. The horse would run himself to death for her, but she didn’t want to ask him for that. She touched his neck with one hand, and dropped the reins over the saddle horn. She reached for the bow at her knee, and risked a look over her shoulder. Her blue eyes immedietly met the gold eyes of the lead man. He wore the leather vest piece with the sunburst on it, and wore a helmet. It covered much of his face, except for the slit for his eyes, and it stopped short of his nose in almost razer points. Even from this distance Val could see the curl of his lips. She’d been a scout, a favorite one because of her eyesight, and her skills on horseback.


She held her bow, a stout recurve, against her knee, and slipped three arrows out of the quiver at her other knee. Her stomach muscles flexed as she turned, fitting one arrow to the string, and firing over the back of her horse. The arrow missed the grinning leader, but took out the man to his right’s horse. The squeal of pain, the sharp crack of breaking bone broke her heart. It wasn’t the horses fault their owners were evil.


But now the other men were pulling out their own bows, and an arrow zipped past her head. She ducked off one side, half hanging off the horse. One foot slipped out of the stirrup and she hooked that knee over the horn. Arrows hissed past, and she felt reluctant amazement that she hadn’t been hit yet.


Then Val heard something she’d never heard before. High pitched shrieks, and trumpeting horns. The horns were also high pitched, and the sound made the hair on the back of her neck stand up.

Tyris’ teeth bared in a feral grin as she spotted the unit of the bastard Apollo’s men thundering across the valley below. She shifted in her saddle, hands idly resting on the pommel of her saddle. Her horse, Larkspur shifted under her, the big grey beast let out a sigh, and shook his head. His bridle jingled, and Tyris patted his neck. Sweat trickled down from under her helmet, and a fly buzzed past her face. Apollo’s men were making a nuisance of themselves, but Freya had ignored it. As long as they stayed off her lands she didn’t give a shit. But as of now, they were in her lands, and Tyris wouldn’t fail her lady.


Tyris slid her round shield from her back and slipped her left arm into it. She wouldn’t pull her sword yet. She raised her right hand, with index and middle finger raised in the peace symbol. Approach at a trot. Then she jerked her hand in a forward motion, and squeezed her knees.

Larkspur tossed his head, and launched into a trot. Tyris, and twelve other valkyries followed the slope of the hill, but Tyris spotted something yards in front of the sun god’s men. A brown horse, with a rider firing back at the mass. As Tyris watched, one of the men went down in a screaming tumble of horse and man.
Tyris tilted her head to the side, then raised her hand with four fingers raised. Attack. Then she jerked her hand forward for the ‘go’ motion, and pressed her heels into Larkspur’s sides. And she let out a battle scream, while behind her Tera and Aniya pulled their amber horns out and put them to their lips.

Val saw them; twelve people charging towards her, with a giant grey horse in the lead, and its rider brandishing a round shield with dark tanned leather stretched over it. Around the border was a thick strip of amber metal. There was a symbol in the middle, but they were still too far away for Val to see.


But she didn’t need to see the symbol now; she knew who they were. Really, she should have known before she even spotted them. Valkyries. Freya’s warriors. From what Val remembered there weren’t many of them. They held the same kind of spot that Apollo’s men held in his lands. But the valkyries were women, and they didn’t venture into other’s lands trying to convert people.


Camery’s sides billowed between Val’s knees, and the horse’s neck white with lather. She was killing him, but she didn’t know what else she could do. The sun god’s men would catch up to her, and she didn’t know if the valkyries would execute her along with the men. She was trespassing after all as well.


Val looked down at Camery’s neck. She used her right leg against his heaving side to turn him left, towards the valkyries. If faced with two evils, try the one you haven’t tried before. She already knew that the sun god’s men wanted to kill her.


The smell of fresh turned grass, horse sweat, and her own sweat touched her nose. The green rushing past her vision, the sound of metal, screams, and thundering hooves.


“Svero ok sigr, mattr ok bloo!” Tyris bellowed out the valkyries battle cry. Sword and victory, might and blood. She had a moment of surprise when the strange horse and rider changed directions on the fly. They headed right towards her. But she didn’t let hesitation show, because Larkspur would feel it. She just hoped the stranger would move.


Val shoved her bow back into its case, and grabbed her single edged sword. It was a short blade, that curved to a wicked point with three holes to let the blood slick off towards the base of the blade. She held it against her thigh. If the valkyries saw it they might mistake her as an enemy, but galloping towards a group of armed warriors without being armed herself just wasn’t possible for Val.


Behind her Apollo’s men answered the valkyries cry, with their own. “Nendra dos sol, mi en dio!” The sun is my god, and I will never waver.


The two groups closed on each other, with Val in the middle. She felt the pressure, but at the last moment, when only feet separated them, she dug her left heel into Camery’s side, and the horse made a desperate turn to the right. And then the two groups collided.



“Captain?” Syra asked, standing to Tyris’ left side. Tyris waved her forward before taking off her helmet, and resting her sword against her thigh. Her curly black hair had matted together with sweat and blood. It would be a nightmare to wash later.


“Yes?” she asked when Syra remained silent. Syra was her second command, and not one known for her silence. She was a big blonde, six feet tall, and built more like a man than a woman. A perfect valkyrie, and a perfect warrior. Tyris still didn’t understand why Freya made her Captain instead of Syra.


“The stranger is a follower of Jesu.”
Tyris handed Syra her helmet, then sheathed her sword. The heavy weight bouncing between her shoulder blades was reassuring. Talking to a follower of Jesu was always a bit nerve racking. Most of them were zealots, and trade into their territories had been suspended because of their hostile attitudes towards those that didn’t believe in their god.


Tyris stalked over to where three of her warriors were standing, their shields resting on the ground and making some sort of wall.


On the ground, with legs crossed, and face in her hands was a girl. Tyris wasn’t big herself, barely 5’5, but this girl had to be five foot if she was lucky. And she was petite, but her short sleeved armour showed tanned muscled arms.


“What’s your name?” Tyris asked the girl. The girl lifted her chin, and drilled Tyris with black eyes.


Val didn’t fight the valkyries when they dragged her off her horse. She let then lead her over to where others we gathered, and they shoved her on the ground. A few feet away was a mound of male bodies, four, she counted. The rest had fled the scene with their tail between their legs. Val let out a hysterical gurgle. Relief made her a bit giddy. Sure, they valkyries could kill her, but unlike Apollo’s men, they didn’t torture people.

So she crossed her legs, and put her head in her hands, trying to calm the little giggles that wanted to pop out. She had to keep her cool to keep her veil on. The veil hid her black eyes from everyone else. Black signified a Guardian. Val didn’t want to be a Guardian, she wanted to be a scout. Guardians spent all their time keeping the peace, enforcing the peace, and making people do things they didn’t want to do. And Guardians died young.


Val heard voices, then startled when a young female voice, slightly accented spoke. “Whats your name?”


Val glanced up, and met jade eyes. Not just a washy green, but jade. The woman blinked, and the pupils flicked vertical for a moment before they snapped back to normal. She blinked again, and Val realized her mouth was hanging open. This was… was the Captain. The god damned Captain! Her breath hitched in her chest, and she scrambled backwards. She hit a shield, and jolted. The Captain was still watching her, holding her eyes with a worried look on her face. And it was a strange face. Most of the valkyries followed the stereotype. Tall, blonde, muscled. And green eyed. Always green eyed, because of their ties to their goddess Freya. It went with all the gods and goddesses. Or so Val heard.


The Captain had a narrow face, darkly tanned, with thick black lashes and a mass of curly black hair that hung in glistening ringlets down her shoulders. She blinked again, then shook her head.


“Any one injured?” She asked a big blonde standing next to her.



Val took a deep breath, and let it out, feeling relieved that those eyes weren’t on her.



Black eyes. Black eyes! Tyris left the girl with Aniya and Tera, following Syra over to the horses. Syra waited until they had the horses between them and the other before she spoke.


“Eris lost a finger, and Tamin dislocated her shoulder. Those goat fuckers were determined to get past us,” Syra’s lighter green eyes moved to where the girl was sitting,” she must be something special.”


Tyris followed her gaze. “She’s a guardian.”


Silence. “A guardian. There hasn’t been one spotted in twenty years. And that one got snapped up quickly.”


Tyris nodded. “I know. Guardians are dangerous when their on their own. We all know why.” Because if someone like Apollo got a hold of one… Tyris sucked in a breath, hissing. That’s why.


“He wants to open a gate.”

Val watched the Captain, and the big blonde walk away with worried eyes. Something on the black haired woman’s face made Val’s stomach churn. She still felt the slight hum of magic that told her her veil was still working, but still… she rubbed a tanned and calloused hand over her eyes. Freya was a neutral, she’d turn Val over to the Guardians if the Captain brought her in. The goddess was very solid in guiding her country and her people. Val often wished she’d been born in Furin instead of the Republic of Jesu. Val was raised by her brother, and she was thankful for him. He wasn’t an insane believer like most of the Republic, and he raised her to have an open mind and an open heart. It had been months since she’d seen him last; if she got free she’d have to make a visit to his shop.


The Captain marched back, and the blonde went towards the pile of bodies. Val flinched back as the woman stopped in front of her. She held a helmet cradled on her hip, and she rested a shield against her thigh. Jade eyes studied her.


“You never did tell me your name.”