Crusade

Chapter 2: A new world

  Xersera closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath of the cool night air; a slight breeze brought with it the smell of maize mingled with the smells that the campfire made. Xersera thought it was a pleasant mix, but his general had his own opinion.
“Bloody hell this place reeks!”
“Then why are you here?” Xersera said frowning at the disturbance of peace.
“Because, this farm is a spoil of war!”
Xersera simply rolled his eyes and went back to looking up at the stars; he had always wondered what they were. His theory was they might be the souls of the great men and women of history watching their legacies unfold.
“Besides, you should be grateful! This farm is now providing for us now those bloody Borgarian pigs are gone! Good thing we kicked ‘em out ay?”
“It’s not like the people that lived here were Borgarian spies that would kill us in our sleep.”
“Of course they were! Didn’t you see the look on their face when we came?!” The General was a stubborn old mule called Targaroth; he was strong despite his age of 36, however his age showed in his intelligence, and his solution to everything was to cut someone’s hands from their wrists. Xersera wasn’t as strong as him, but being 19 years of age he was a lot quicker, not to mention smarter.
“Yeah, they looked like an absolutely vicious 13 year old girl and 60 year old man,” Xersera said sarcastically.
“Finally you see my point!” Targaroth said, Xersera sighed and didn’t bother responding. “You know I think I might settle here, I like this place.” Targaroth
“Do you even know how to farm?”
“Well…” he said unsure of what to say, “SHUT UP BOY, THAT’S IRRELEVENT!” he roared “Keep mouthing off like that and you’ll be going the right way to have your hands cut!”
Xersera didn’t say anything else; instead he simply opened the glass bottle of what he thought was water beside him and had a mouthful. But spat it right back out again when he realised it was vodka, he never got how anyone could ever drink that horrid stuff.
“HAHAHAHA! That’ll teach you!” Targaroth snickered, snatching the bottle off Xersera.
Xersera leaned back in his seat and stared at the sky again, but then, just for a moment, he thought he heard a noise come from the field, he sat bolt upright, staring intently into the long stalks of the maize plants, it was dark and the plants were taller than a full grown man, which made it difficult to see anything past the first row of the bloody things. An entire army could be there and they wouldn’t see it.
“Feeling sick boy? Can’t handle a man’s drink?” Targaroth grinned, taking another swig of the vodka.
“Shhhh” Xersera whispered, and after a moment, he started to think he might have been imagining things, and then came a loud crunch of leaves under foot. “Who goes there?!” he shouted calmly.
“Show yourself!” Targaroth roared, putting down the bottle and getting to his feet, but there was no reply save for the crickets chirping, “I’ll teach you for trespassing on my land!!” He roared even louder, picking up his two handed sword. Still, there was no response.
“You realise there are ways to deal with people when their head is still on their shoulders?” Xersera said, still struggling to see anything among the tall maize.
But of course Targaroth paid no attention to him, “THAT’S IT! Here I come bastard!” And with that the General stormed into the darkness, it was barely seconds before he shouted “AHA! Found ya!”
There was a slash and a thump as something was cut off, “poor bastard got too close” Xersera muttered, waiting for Targaroth to come back with the intruders head and boast about his kill “Probably one of the poor farm hands.”
However, Xersera fell back off his chair when the Generals head rolled out from the crops! Only to be closely followed by a tall, slim young lady with striking features. She wore odd looking ornate armour and carried what looked like a scythe, but the blade was short and there was an even shorter blade on the opposite side and a spike protruding from the top, like a halberd. Xersera scrambled to his feet and drew his sword, in the blink of an eye she had taken up an offensive stance, weapon poised to take his head. At that moment a large number of thoughts flashed through his mind, and then one of the thoughts screamed above all the others: DROP IT!
Moving slowly, he lowered his sword to the ground and held his hands open out in front of him. However the girl’s stance did not change, so he began to back away slowly. For a moment she held the stance, and then seemed to relax slightly. She lowered her weapon and walked to the chair the general had sat in, and with a sigh she sat. She let her weapon fall to the ground beside her and did the same with her bird-shaped half-helm. She unclasped her hair and let it fall down her back, it was blonde, but there was so much blood and filth strewn through it that Xersera could barely tell. He slowly walked back to the campfire, not daring to even go near his sword, and picked up his chair, sitting down by the fire opposite her. As the fire illuminated her front Xersera noticed not only her weapon was covered in blood, but the front of her breastplate and even her face were covered in blood and an array of different coloured fluids. Whatever this girl had been through it must have been horrific.
For a few moments he just sat staring at her in silence, something seemed odd about her, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. Then he noticed the puncture in one of the arm plates of her armour, flowing out of it was a blue substance,
that can’t be blood, surely, must be a trick of the light. Xersera thought to himself. “A... Are you ok?” he managed to say.
The lady looked up at him, that’s when he realised her sky blue eyes, which made her look even stranger. She looked at her arm and then back at him, “I should be ok when I find a healer.” She said her voice was like nothing Xersera had ever heard before; it was like a mixture of a songbird and a summer breeze.
“A he-healer?” now he was scared AND confused.
“Yes, you know the kind of mage that deals mostly in regeneration?”
Xersera was suddenly gripped by a new kind of fear. Not only was this woman deadly, she was insane as well. He had dealt with enemy soldiers like this before; it was not an experience that is easily forgotten.
Seeing the look on his face the lady spoke again; “I take it you aren’t very familiar with them?”
Xersera shook his head, and she let out a sigh.
“How much do you know about the overworld?” she asked, he stared blankly, unsure of what to say, then she said “most call it the kingdom of heaven.”
At that moment Xersera saw what had been staring him in the face this entire time, he had read about it recently and hated himself for not recognising the signs of the blue blood and the ornate armour, but he was afraid to say it out loud.
“It... It can’t be....” He stuttered.
“What can’t be?” She replied, slightly confused.
“You’re... you’re an angel!” he finally said.
She wordlessly tried to rub the grit off her face in an act of exhaustion before sighing “yes, yes I am.”
Again, Xersera sat there unsure of what to say, Then she spoke for him, “Do you know how to get to a place you call the Corinthian Empire?”
Xersera wanted to be careful, he didn’t want his head rolling on the ground as well, so he decided against mentioning he was with the military, “You’re in it. Everything from the castle just north of here to the southern coast is Corinthian land”
“And how far is the capital?”
“The capital is a couple of leagues south east of here. You can find a doctor there, or I could have a look at it now? I have done some medical training, and it looks rather painful” he said cautiously.
She glanced from her arm to him and back. Then reluctantly held out her arm, “You don’t know the half of it.”
He pulled his chair around and sat next to her, tenderly grabbing her arm, “I’d have to take this plate off before I can give you any details, but from the looks of it I’d say this needs to be stitched up, would you mind stepping inside?”
After a moment of hesitation, she went to grab her things and get up.
“Here, let me” he said reaching for her helm and weapon. As he picked them up he was surprised by how light they both were, normally a helmet and weapon that size would weigh a ton, but these were as light as a pillow.
As they got inside Xersera lead the angel down a hallway and into a dimly lit bedroom, the whole house was lit only by candlelight, whoever lived here must have had very good vision.
“Now just wait here for a second whilst I get a medical kit.” He said and walked back down the hallway.
She sat on the bed next to the wall and waited for him to return. Then came a noise from the hall, it was kind of like a galloping sound. “Who’s there?” she asked. 
Xersera was checking the medical kit to make sure everything was in there when he heard the Angel let out a scream; he grabbed the kit, drew his dagger and bolted back towards the bedroom. When he flew into the door, he laughed so hard he almost fell over. The sight before him was an angel standing on the bed as a young girl does when she sees a mouse, and on the floor sat Wolf, Xersera’s German Sheppard companion, his tail wagging wildly, he was always excited to see new people.
“I see you’ve met Wolf!” He said, trying to stop laughing, “don’t worry he’s completely harmless, well, towards the right people!” what he didn’t tell her was, there had been several occasions during raids where Wolf had easily killed several armed men.
“What is it?!” She yelled from atop the bed, she dared not move.
“HE is a German Sheppard” Xersera replied, Wolf folded his ears back and turned to look at him “and a brave warrior of course!” Wolf barked in approval.
The Angel shot a glance at Xersera and then continued to stare at Wolf, she was still unsure of what to do.
“You can come down now, he won’t hurt you. I need to look at your injuries.”
She slowly got down from the bed, and sat down; Xersera carefully helped her remove her armour so she sat in a short sleeved white tunic and trousers. After a second examination of the gaping wound on her arm he said “I was correct, this will have to be stitched up”
“stitched up? You mean like clothing?”
Xersera chuckled, “not quite,” he grabbed two pieces of cloth and the needle and flesh thread, with them he demonstrated what he was going to do to her arm, she cringed at the thought. “Don’t you worry though; it’s not as painful as it sounds.” He reassured her, “but it may sting a little, and I’ll have to clean it.”
“How will you do that?”
“with this” he picked up the bottle of vodka from outside and poured a few drops on a small piece of cloth, he now praised Vodka for being so good with cleaning, but in his mind that was all it was good for. “Now this is going to sting, so just bear with me.”
He dabbed the wound with the cloth, she winced but held steady.
“There we go, now to stitch it up.” He began the careful process of closing her wound. She cringed as the needle slid through her skin.
“You seem really tough at first, but under that hard shell, you’re quite a delicate little flower aren’t you?” Xersera said smugly.
“Just wait until my arm’s better and I’ll rip yours off.” She growled.
Xersera grinned but didn’t say anything.
“Are you nearly done?” She said through her teeth. 
“Almost... There, done.” He tied off and cut the thread and proceeded to wrap the wound in a bandage. Then when Xersera got up Wolf came and sat down in front of her and sniffed her leg. She glanced at Xersera.
“You can pet him, he won’t bite, just let him sniff your hand first, and so he’s comfortable with you”
She slowly held her hand out and Wolf sniffed it, when he saw that she wasn’t a threat, he licked her hand and edged closer. Valkyrie petted him on top of the head; Xersera even thought he saw her smile. Bet she hasn’t done that in a long time, He thought, he suddenly felt sad for her.
“Wait, one second” Valkyrie said suddenly, looking puzzlingly at Wolf.
“What’s wrong?”
“Where did you get Wolf?”
“In a marketplace, a man was going to serve him up as someone’s lunch. But I wouldn’t have it, so I seized the five pups he had, he was the runt of the litter so I took him in for myself, not much of a runt now are you!” Wolf barked in approval.
“Why do you say he was the runt?”
“He was oddly coloured, most of his breed are brown and black, and he was a golden greyish colour. Plus he was a bit smaller.”
“Hmmmm,” Valkyrie looked at Wolf’s teeth and said “Look here” She pointed to the fang right at the back of his mouth, it was curved the wrong way, it curved towards the front of the mouth rather than the back, and it was slightly bigger than all his other teeth.
“Yes I noticed that before, I thought it was just a defect. Am I wrong?”
“Very, this is no runt. Those other pups may have been German Sheppards, but Wolf certainly is not.”
“So he’s a different breed?”
“Different species, what you see here is what the Angels call Galldervark, It grows to the size of a horse, has the strength of a large bear, and the speed of a tiger.”
Xersera couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing, but it made sense, He didn’t seem to have stopped growing yet, and he was already larger than most breeds of dog. “And the back teeth?”
“They’ll form tusk like fangs that will enable him to kill things easier, though I haven’t seen one in action since our last cavalry charge about a year ago.”
“Cavalry? You mean you can ride them??”
“Well they are much more effective than a horse.” She slumped back on the bed, she seemed exhausted.
“It’s getting late, if you’d like I can prepare a bath for you and you can have a rest after that”
“that would be nice” She said not bothering to move.
“Ok, I’ll let you know when it’s ready.” He went to leave but turned around when he was at the door, “I think you’ve made a friend” he said with a smile. She looked down to see Wolf had curled up on the end of the bed at her feet..

The following morning Xersera woke early to bury Targaroth, in the process taking the Corinthian amulet of generals. The amulet was a fairly simple iron disk with the Corinthian emblem imprinted in the middle, but it signified a great deal amongst those in the empire. It had passed from general to general over four hundred years since its making by the first Emperor of the Corinthian Empire.
When he got back inside the Angel was up, she was a bit of a mess after having just woken, but she was clean, she was sitting at a small table near the kitchen.
“Morning,” he said, she looked up at him and lifted a hand, she was still very tired, in fact this was like;y to be the first time she had slept properly in ages. Xersera went into the kitchen and returned with a plate of bread and cheese, “here, eat up, we have a fair ride to the capital.” As he sat with her he pulled up a piece of parchment and a quill and began writing.
She took a piece of bread and asked “what’s that?”
“We owe someone a visit on our way to the Capital.”
“That doesn’t tell me what that is.”
“You’ll see.” He said. She rolled her eyes and took a bite of the bread.
“We should be off soon, I’ve cleaned and packed your armour, but we’ll have to see a smith about that punctured arm piece, and there are dents all over the place, it’s a wonder you’re still alive.”
“Mffrmrrrrmmrmfff” she said with a mouthful of bread.
“Hahahahahahaha! What??” Xersera couldn’t resist laughing, a creature as elegant as an Angel caught talking with her mouth full.
She swallowed “I said, I hope it isn’t irreparable. My father made me that armour when the war started.”
“Don’t you worry; I know the best of the best! Now when you’re done meet me outside, I’ll start saddling up. Oh and by the way, I’m Xersera.”
“Valkyrie, nice to meet you,” She grinned.
Xersera chuckled to himself and went outside.

When Valkyrie came outside she looked a lot neater having fixed up her hair and clothes, as she approached the second horse she said.  “Wait, where’s Wolf?”
Xersera looked around, and sure enough Wolf was nowhere to be seen, “Wolf!” he called, Wolf appeared from the house with the papers Xersera had been writing earlier. “Oh! Good job!”
“If I may, you’re an angel yes? So then why haven’t you got any wings?” He had wanted to ask the question all day and could no longer hold it back.
“Haven’t earned them yet.”
“Oh so that’s how that works, and who judges that? Is there some kind of test?”
“No one knows for sure, it just kin of happens.”
“Hmmm, interesting. We need to make a stop here.” He said pointing down a gravel path to a small house.
They went down the path and Xersera dismounted and knocked on the door “Just stay there” he said to Valkyrie. A young thirteen year old girl opened the door carefully, he bowed and as he rose she slapped him in the face, hard. He didn’t say anything, he simply handed her the papers he had worked on. She snatched them from him and opened them, glaring at him the whole time. As she scanned the papers her scowl changed to wide eyed surprise. She suddenly leapt up and hugged him and then ran back inside without even closing the door.
“Wow, you must be quite a catch with whatever you wrote on that letter.” Valkyrie said as Xersera got back on his horse.
“Hm? Oh no it isn’t like that, the letter was an apology, I was giving them their farm back.”
“Oh, well that’s good of you. But why did you have it in the first place?”
He thought carefully before answering the question, “I am the lieutenant of the Corinthian empire, the man you killed was the General, he sought the property as spoils of war after we took the nearby Castle. I didn’t get a say in it.”
“So you are at war as well?”
“Unfortunately there will always be wars wherever you are, as horrid as it sounds, true peace can only be achieved through total victory.”
“True. As much as I hate it, I have to agree.”