Battlefields: Veil Walkers Book Three

Chapter Eight

Denmark, 1387 CE - Nobility Camp - Ming Yue

Ming Yue rounded the corner at the top of the rise to find the girl trapped between three wooden herringbone blockades. Someone had sectioned off this part of the camp with the hastily made walls meant to keep non-nobility out of the nobility area. She had the child backed against the northern checkpoint, which had no guards right now. They probably helped with the now-quieter northern situation. That made this task easier.

She advanced a few steps, calling between haggard breaths, "Irem, take point. Sumiko, I need you—"

"You're alone, old woman," the girl-demon grinned, displaying fanged teeth. She swirled her hands, bringing a ball of soft purple energy to float before her. "Your teammates abandoned you. The dancer has become a delightful treat for our master. The other was useless. Disposed of like those to the north and south."

Ming Yue glanced over her shoulder, never fully taking her eyes off the girl. Was she actually alone, or was she bewitched? If she was alone, what had happened to the others? "You speak lies," she said, using her commanding gift, the Voice, to counter the child's actions. "If the others were taken, the game would end."

The girl laughed, too dark, too sinister, for something so small. "You think my master is an honest man? Would the man who holds my parents' souls hostage bother to end the slaughter just because he claimed six? No. There are still marked remaining, and the killing will continue even after they are taken. None of you survive this time, not even the child."

Ming Yue closed in, bringing her rarely used mint green energy to life, ready to counter any move the child would make. They stood in silence, daring each other to make the first move.

If the child spoke true, if her parents were hostages, and she in turn, then any action taken against the girl would only bring that much more suffering and loss to the world. But she couldn't let her escape, either. She formed her energy into a pair of kris daggers and assumed a ready position.

The girl grinned again and turned her sphere into a short sword. She took two steps forward and raised her weapon.

A small boy in servant livery interrupted them. He crashed into the girl, knocking both to the ground, and was first back to his feet.

Ming Yue shouted for the boy to take caution, but he summoned a green scimitar and took an offensive stance, holding the blade above his head threateningly.

"Get up," the boy snapped.

The girl was already halfway to her feet. She spat on the boy. "Don't order me around. I outrank you." She summoned her short sword again, and both turned on Ming Yue.

Behind the children, Ming Yue saw something move in the darkness. The figure shimmied through the blockades and slid down the embankment without sound. As it approached, and the children failed to react to it, Ming Yue worried that a third opponent had arrived. The figure stood stock still for a long moment, but then the telltale insignia of Astrid's sutra appeared in pink for the briefest of moments.

Thank Shangti, Ming Yue thought. She had backup. She smirked at the children and turned one of the kris backward, intending to use it in a different style than the other. It was all for show, of course. What she needed was to cover for Astrid.

The children shifted as well, the sound of their feet moving covered the noise made by her teammate. The boy went stiff, his sword vanished, and her teammate's voice cut the darkness: "Justice, be done."

That spirit, a green imp-like creature, tumbled forward as the boy's body collapsed. Astrid swirled to plant a second sutra on the girl, but had to change her tactic to dodge the short sword instead. She ducked beneath the blow and got a hand on the imp's tail, yanking him along as she stepped to the left, which put her on Ming Yue's side of the encounter.