The Names We Shed

Chapter 11- I think they know

Chapter Playlist- One Woman Army- Porcelain Black, I AM WOMAN- Emmy Meli, Believer & Like I'm gonna lose you- Vitamin Sting Quartet, 

'You don't get it- I have to go first to make sure we take the right path but if you miss a wingbeat or slip- you'll be sucked into a dangerous current that will slam you into a cliff. Normally for your first few flights, someone is behind you- just in case, but we don't have that luxury.'

He's silent. Perhaps we should have stopped but at this point we're an hour past the castle, maybe he doesn't realize it but with everything that's happened, both him and the girls will have to train a lot harder, a lot faster. Unless they want to die that is.

"Use the bond."

"What?"

'Use the bond, to tell me where to fly, and you stay behind us.'

It's my turn to go quiet. On one hand it could work, on the other hand even if we did it the odds of me successfully catching anyone when I'm not sure I can fly through it are slim. But if it gives him enough time and hope to get into the estate, that's what's important.

'Okay.'

This is a really stupid idea.

As we get close, I back off and started to guide him.

'Bank up and to your right... dive left..'

I watch as in one smooth moment Kalan slips, just a bit, but it's enough to send him flying back. I whip around and slam my back into him, stopping him before the air currents could slam him into a cliff.

I shove him down and he dives to the ground, the two girls quickly following.

Headwinds come straight for me, shoving me down, and it's all I can do to push through the last part. Then I dive after him and land in the third courtyard where Helen is meditating. Albert slides out of my arms, grateful and exhausted, Kalan just sways back and forth and after a moment faints.

Helen approaches me unsure as to what is happening. "What happened?" She asks.

Both of the girls simply trudge up to their rooms. I motion to the Seraphim laying in the middle of the courtyard.

"He's my mate." I point over to Albert. "The governor tried to kill me, but I got him. Then I saved his life."

The world around me starts to spin as Helen helps me into the house. I feel blankets being pulled around me.

"Kalan.. You have to help Kalan.."

"Don't worry Valkyrie, I'll protect your mate. Go to sleep."

"If he dies..." I trail off, sleep pulling me under.

"If he dies, I'll already be dead. Now sleep, child."

It takes me one day to recover and the others three. Kalan doesn't start to wake up until day five.

Four fucking days, not knowing what was going on with him. I thought I was going to go insane.

But somehow, despite that, my days fall into a routine. Wake up at five in the morning, make me and Helen breakfast, go and train with her. At seven go and make Albert breakfast and take it to him, in the shop, he set up where we used to have a blacksmith. Then I garden while Valerie and Makasha work with Helen in ancient Valkyrie and martial arts. When they move to the garden and work in the apothecary I go to visit Kalan. Mostly I talk to him, while I eat my lunch. After lunch is the time I use to work on their flying abilities as well as air combat.

On day nine of training Kalan rejoins them, quickly proving himself to be a good student, the bond means that he can speak ancient Valkyrie fluently, but all of those years in captivity did nothing for his body or his wings.

I watch them fight while Helen calls out instructions before wandering over to join me.

"They remind me of you and your sister fighting."

I freeze, air seeming impossible to find. "What do you mean?"

She points to where Valerie and Makasha are dueling. "They fight the way that sisters are able to do. The way they know weaknesses, and patterns, and where to hit that'll hurt."

All Valkyrie consider themselves sisters, but I had a biological sister. She was younger than me, but we were still trained to fight as a pair, my mother liked to tell us that she had two girls on purpose, so we would never be alone.

Of course, that didn't work out, did it?

"You want to train them as a pair." I say slowly.

"No. I want you to train them as a pair. I never did anything with pairs. They're too... finicky. Too many things can go wrong. I'll continue working on the basics separately, but you're the best one to train them as a pair."

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to fight in a pair, let alone train as a pair? It's more than hard, my sister and I grew up fighting together. We had a hundred years of learning together. They do not."

"I'm not saying that they'll be the best pair that ever was, but pairs are more dangerous than single warriors and unless if you want to take a new partner and train either Kalan or Fenca to match your fighting style and speed, they're what we have."

"Generals are supposed to train pairs and have pairs. I'm no general!"

I'm not half the Valkyrie that any of the generals were. They wouldn't have dated a dragon, they wouldn't have lost control and they wouldn't have reduced themselves to selling their killing skills.

"You're the most powerful Valkyrie I've ever met or heard of. If anyone deserves the rank of general, it's you."

"What army do I have?"

"Why aren't you asking what enemy do I have?"

"Everyone treats me as an enemy."

"Then you will find an army in those who are also hated."

"What are you talking about?" I ask.

Helen motions to the training happening in front of us. "Kalan was a slave, hated by his family, people, and his fellow slaves. Valerie and Makasha are only accepted in Asher society because the other option is Duka. My name was erased from history for a reason, Alfred had to flee because his own neighbors wanted his blood. But you.. You took all of us in. This is where you find your army."

She walks away, yelling at Kalan's form. I smile as she makes him do push ups while demonstrating the right way to swing a club.

That day I make the trainees focus on entering and leaving the estate by flying. Kalan is the best at it, as he has my map of the winds and the experience of doing it once.

I also fly across the forests for several miles, carrying weights and looking for the alpha wolf.

I can feel him.

I bring the trainees out to a valley surrounded by mountains and filled with massive boulders.

Kalan smirks. "I think I know what we're doing." Valerie and Makasha just look confused.

"You'd be correct. We're breaking mental barriers today."

I position them in front of a boulder, size depending on level of power. "Shatter it."