Of Gods & Valkyries: Book Three

The Boy

He was thin. But he always had been.

Even before the slavers had taken him far across the Kanton continent. Far from the frigid airs of the city that lay within the mountains. The winters felt colder to him than they ever had. Even at such a young age of ten winters he knew enough to know what longing felt like.

He longed to go back to those of strange tongue and hard wintered appearance. To the man that was closer to a tree than anything else and carved him a small wooden horse that now hung on a string around his neck. Back to the slightly shorter but strong jawed man that made strange pouches that exploded with colour. And most of all... Back to the magical lady that could make pure fire from her hands and send men running for the hills.

His parents had him surrounded with black furred guards at every moment now. He chaired meetings with other warlords to secure the city.

He feared that his friends would never escape the city now they had revealed themselves. It was all very unfair to the boy. Tayah had saved his life countless times. It had earned her a target on her back and her friends.

No one would stop talk of them.

"It was more than unnatural." A thick bearded man spoke gravely around the table. "She stepped through the air and was upon the other side of us like it were nothing."

Grumbled agreements and gasps sounded.

"–she drew a torch into her hand when it weren't there before! A true witch of the highest order!"

"Here, here!"

"Not a witch it be!" Another called in anger. "A devil–from the gods!"

More rumbling agreement and fear sparked the room. And so it went as the candles drew lower in their wax. The stories would always grow more outlandish the more people had their say. But the boy knew them all for who they truly were. Language was only a barrier until the blonde woman with silver eyes had explained much to him.

They were not devils or witches. But demi-gods.

The cruelest part of it all was that no one would believe the words of a boy. They would never hold in court or his father's table. He could only stare at the war table as wooden figures were moved around in hunting formation in the city. The wooden horses much less detailed than the one Kaden had given him around his neck.

He rubbed his thumb between its ears as he watched the board and imagined where his friends were now. If they were safe. How long it would be before they were not safe.

All the while the adults shouted and argued, the small boy started constructing ideas of his own. Dangerous ones. Ones that saw himself slipping from his guards as he had done all those winters ago. Only now in pursuit of those 'devils'. He bounced his legs under the table as his father rumbled on and something caught his attention.

"–last sightings were near the market district. They must be collecting food there. We need only to hear that foreign snakes tongue and we have them."

The boy considered this.

The market district was large and their were many crooks drawn to the supplies. But he would not fail to recognise his giant friend or John's smaller form. Tayah was the easiest to recognise. Her walk was much more distinct from any woman he had ever beheld... and her eyes. Like the stars themselves.

He started smiling to himself without realising.

"What are you giggling at boy?" His father's general barked beside him.