Valkyrie's Lament

Chapter 11

Castle Invasion IV

“Damn it girl do you want to die? Run!” Rose screamed at the top of her lungs.

Kathy bolted the opposite directions from Rose. The Kilkenny yelped in excitement as it pounced forward, running after Kathy. The two other Kilkenny splitted apart and each one went after Tyler and Rose.

Tyler cursed. He hopped over a dead tree and went flying past Jasper, while Kathy headed straight towards Silver. When she went by, her eyes made contact with Silver pleading for help.

Silver knew instantly what Kathy was asking for, but she didn’t move. Instead, she watched for a chance to strike without compromising her locations. It wasn’t that she was going to abandon her, but to use this predicament to her advantage as she was hidden partially behind a bush.

The pitter patter of the Kilkenny paws crunched with rhythm as they destroyed the branches under its paws. Saliva dripped from its mouth, its nose shot up straight in the air and followed every direction Kathy ran.

Silver pulled out her sword as it lay hidden from the moonlight. She didn’t want to give off a hint towards the Kilkenny that she had something to kill it with. The moment Kathy passed Silver, she skidded to the right, throwing the Kilkenny directly in Silver’s path. The sudden change of events made Silver grip her sword tighter in annoyance, making the fight three times more difficult for her. The element of surprise was gone, she now had to fight it head on without the full cover of the darkness.

When Kathy run past her with her hair trailing behind her, for a split moment, she noticed Kathy lips curl up into a smirk. Kathy hands reached forward and pushed her by the shoulder, catching Silver completely off guard. She stumbled backwards as Kathy ran away into the bush, hiding herself away from the Kilkenny.

Damn. She cursed in her head at the unexpected turn of event of Kathy leading the Kilkenny straight towards her. Her feet shuffled to catch herself as she reorient back. She should’ve stay more vigilant, even though she expected something like this to happen. Using the Literally, the Kilkenny’s face was about to crash head first into Silver’s path, she had barely had enough time to jump to the left to escape the full on collision.

The Kilkenny snapped its ugly jaws towards Silver, she felt its hot breath close to her neck as it skidded on top of moist leaves, barely missing. Its legs slipped underneath it, giving Silver a chance to slip out of harm’s way. If Silver knew that Kathy would directly bring trouble to save her own skin, she wouldn’t had thought to help her at all. Instead, she would’ve let her fend for herself and die.

The Kilkenny stumbled to get back on its feet. Silver sharply turned to face the Kilkenny that was stumbling to get back on its feet. She used her momentum to jump towards the Kilkenny with her swords up in the air. Like a predator, she snapped downwards with one fluid strike in its head, pinning the Kilkenny down with her sword.

A loud yelp, followed by a bone crushing sound of sword going through skull, and eventually going into silence. With a huff of a breath, she twisted her sword sharply to the right, making the Kilkenny sporadically twitch as it die. She then turned around to see where the other Kilkenny was.

Not to far away from her, she saw Jasper hopping around like a bunny, he was trying his best not to get snapped up by its vicious jaw that tore into his clothes. His pale skin on his shoulder was shown, but Jasper luckily was able to take a single step back, before he could get whacked by their giant bear size paw.

Silver was quite pleased with Jasper progress. He was already becoming a small force to be reckon with, especially of someone his size. Not only that he didn’t stop in his attempt to attack and bulldozed forward, dodging out of harm’s way with a skip. He took the initiative to strike forward with his dagger, snacking his hand under its neck in the attempt to get its jugular. The dagger missed by a inch as the Kilkenny pulled backward.

For someone so small, he was doing a fabulous job sneaking in an attack, when he got the chance. He didn’t scream or shout for help and instead pushed forward, gritting his teeth with the dagger in his hand.

Jasper lunged to the side, slicing through the air and into the pelt of the Kilkenny’s side. A large line appeared as blood seep out from its would. With a hiss, the Kilkenny spat in anger and scuttled backwards. He watched wearily as he Kilkenny attention was fully focused on him.

“Dieeee!” screamed Tyler. He was running around in a circle, eventually came around just in time to  slammed into the Kilkenny’s body, allowing Jasper to break free from the ruthless cat and mouse chase. Both went tumbling onto the ground as the Kilkenny snake its head forward in attempt to bite Tyler’s shoulder.

Tyler snacked over towards the Kilkenny’s neck, choking it out with sheer brute force. His muscles bulged with strain as he desperately tried to win. Even his face became red from the amount of pressure he was using.

All of a sudden from the right, another Kilkenny jumped out towards Tyler. Alarmed Silver  ran towards the Kilkenny, she pulled up her hand behind her head and threw her sword straight at the Kilkenny’s body. Her sword flew through the air and pierced into the thick muscles of the Kilkenny, faltering onto its side.

Even still, this didn’t stop the Kilkenny from trying to get up and attack once again. Jasper jumped out from the bush with his dagger held up high and slammed into the back of its neck. With every ounce his small body could muster, he ripped downwards, skinning the Kilkenny in the process. With a howl, the Kilkenny fell forward dead on the ground, while Jasper was sprawled on top of the Kilkenny exhausted.

Tyler thrashed and tumbled together with the Kilkenny in hand as they both tried to overcome one another, his arms didn’t budge from the Kilkenny neck. Blocking its airway from breathing, it was a rough tangle for dominance, and Tyler wasn’t going to let the Kilkenny win. Eventually he was able to win, the Kilkenny smacked the ground a couple of times until finally he stopped moving.

“Damn monster!” Tyler huffed and spat. He let go and pulled out the dagger in his pocket and stabbed into the Kilkenny’s head a multiple times, making sure that it was dead.

“You’re alright?” Jasper was lying a few feet away from Tyler. He too was on his back, trying to catch his breathe from the rough tangle of a fight that they just went through together.

“Yea. I thought I was a goner. Never in my life have I had to struggle so hard just to stay alive. Getting shipped out to war was difficult in itself, but this is on a whole different level.” Tyler laughed. He was just glad to be alive. “You?”

“Positively doing great. I just killed my first quadruped monster.” Jasper chuckled and went into a fit of giggles.  “Though I got to say that throw from Silver did help me out quite a bit.” He tumbled over, got onto his knee and made his way over to his kill. With heavy hand, he pulled out the dagger. Silver’s habit was rubbing off on Jasper as he started to cut through the thick chest of the Kilkenny.With every cut, he made his way towards the crystal that was in its heart.

Jostling his fingers in between the cavity of its chest, Jasper pulled out the crystal with glee as a large crystal the size of a large marble appeared in his hand. Anyone who saw a child-like figure, cutting open a large monster twice its size was quite frightening to see, especially Jasper whose hand was covered blood. Even Tyler was a bit appalled at Jasper, who just threw his hands into the beast chest cavity and fished out the crystal as if it was nothing.

“Quite a nice catch.” A beautiful smile erupted on Jasper’s lips, creating an unearthly halo like glow around Jasper. He was like an boy angel that took sick pleasure in the death of his prey. The crystal sparkled underneath the moonlight, giving it a beautiful glow.

Silver was pleased that Jasper was still alive. In all honesty, she was glad that he was able to kill his first large prey without her help. She walked over towards the Kilkenny and pulled out her swords from the wall. She then headed back towards her first kill, but she suddenly stopped as her eyes turned into thin slits.

What she saw in front of her kill was Kathy, who was hunched over with her dagger, attempting to cut through the Kilkenny’s thick skin to fish out the crystal. She was failing miserably, cutting up the thick pelt in ragged pieces. Infuriated, Silver stormed forward.

How dare she take her kill?! Rampant thoughts flew in her head, wanting to choke the living daylight out of her. From drawing the Kilkenny over towards her, pushing her so she becomes easy target, and now stealing? No, she wouldn’t ever allow anyone to take what was rightfully hers.

Silver growled as she slammed the sword in between Kathy’s leg. Her sword swiveled upwards dangerously towards her body.

Kathy squealed in fear. The sword dangerously glistening, any closer she would’ve been stabbed in the most unfortunate place, she gulped as her eyes became wide.

“Rule number 1. Do not touch my kill.” Silver’s words were laced with venom. Her intent to kill this wretched girl was climbing fast.

Kathy nodded furiously. Quickly scrambling away as left her dagger behind her.

Silver reached over on the ground and picked up the dagger. Her bloodlust was finally quelled as she dropped down to begin her dismantling. She started to savagely cut through the Kilkenny’s skin, ripped through the muscles, and pulled back the bones in anger.

Why didn’t she just kill her right there and then? Such thoughts crossed her mind. Honestly, the thought of out right killing her right then and there did cross her mind numerous of times. She knew that such people didn’t deserve to live, especially the ones that brought trouble and threatened her life. Still, right now, Silver wasn’t a murder. She wanted to keep her hands clean a little bit longer, even though she knew that she would one day cross that line, when it came to her own life. Right now wasn’t that time for outright execution style of killing, especially in front of the people she was with.

She was trying to figure out who was worth helping and even keeping tabs on to start scouting for potential allies for the future. finding the right people was a priority, especially if anyone of these people actually survive this mini-game. The amount of Angel coins would give them a significant boost against all other players, allowing them to become one of the leading group of humans in the forefront of battle.

With a sigh, she took out the red crystal with ease. Popping the crystal in her mouth like a candy, she went back to work in skinning her kill. Her fluid hands meticulously cut the meat of the KIlkenny as she stored it away in her inventory. She knew that the meat would stay fresh until it was brought back out, so she wasn’t worry about refrigeration. The only thing left were the bloody guts and bones that was littered the ground.

The other materials were left behind, she wiped her hands on her skirt, leaving behind a smear of bloodstain. Silver caught Kathy’s gaze, she felt annoyed at Kathy, but at the same time she didn’t blame her. She knew what it felt like being helpless during the beginning stage of the games. It was do or die in this world and stealing was a number one thing that people would resort too. Even still, she didn’t easily forgive or forget, instead she kept what she had done in the back of her mind to watch out for. Kathy look away ashamed, her head cast down. So far, the only two person that she didn’t mind was Tyler and Jasper. The others were kept to a need to know basis, and were kept at arm’s length.

She then walked over towards Jaspar and watched his work. His cuts were still quite ragged with pieces of flesh sticking to the pelt. The meat were in large lopsided chunks, pushed away towards the side. Even still, he did a fair enough job as a beginner.

“Silver. Here.” Jasper glanced up, and brought up the Kilkenny pelt for her to take. Silver shook her head, her hand reached out to stop him for giving it to him. “It’s your kill.”

“But you helped out in killing it though.” Jasper frowned. Not liking where this was going. It was difficult for him to offer something to Silver, especially because she’s powerful in her own way. She could get the same thing without much trouble, and he knew this. It frustrated him that right now he wasn’t in par with him.  “This is the best I can do for you now. I need to repay my debt and you’re not even letting me repay a single cent!”

“You’ll need everything you got right now. There will be other times when you can pay me back.” Silver replied. She knew that he wasn’t the type to take gifts so easily, so instead she forced it on him.

Jasper momentarily sighed and shook his head in disbelief. “I don’t know if you are just stubborn or what.”

Silver ignored his words and just smiled. She then look over towards Tyler who was struggling with cutting through the Kilkenny’s body. He was stubbornly trying to get the crystal out, but was failing miserably. Pieces of fur, meat, and blood splashed onto his face.

“Here. Here and here.” Silver went over, squatted down beside him, and pointed where Tyler should cut. Tyler stopped his useless struggle, he paid close attention to what she suggested, and  followed where she was pointing at. “These monsters have a set pattern when it comes to gathering their crystals. Cutting through these three points will make it a lot more easier to get to it.”

“That’s quite a useful information.” Tyler cheerily replied. His dagger were already cutting through the skin and meat without as much trouble as before. He whistled in appreciation at how easily the dagger was slipped through without much problem. With careful hands, he fished out the crystal in the heart and examined it with interest. “All this trouble for what? A small piece of rock.”

“That rock is going to save you in the long run.”

“I had a hunch that was going to happen. Well then, nothing more to it than to eat it.” He threw it into his mouth, savoring the taste for a moment and gulped. A satisfied smile plastered on his face, enjoying every second of the energy burst throughout his body. Tyler then went back to cutting up the skin as best as he could. For a first time, dismantling a creature by himself it was not bad, but it did have some holes where he had failed to cut it carefully.

Suddenly, he stopped and glanced up towards Silver. “How do you know how to skin these beast and know where the crystals are?”

Silver was silent for a moment, thinking over how she should reply.

Tyler asked, looking up towards her with curiosity. The others thought the same thing, even Jasper was wondering how she knew so much information.  “Did you hear it from somewhere?”

“Well…..yes. You can ask the angels for some information.” She quickly stated. This was true in itself as well, the angels did give out information about the game with a small fee. This knowledge wasn’t easily known, she remembered this information from one of the past players. The problems was that the fee for the information was ridiculous high and majority of the time it didn’t help, because they gave the information in a cryptic poem like riddle. Anyone who deciphered them would reap large benefits, but the people who didn’t was a large waste of money.

They were only one person who was able to reap from such benefits and that person used the advantage and sold the information twice as higher than the normal price. Just thinking about that person gave her a headache.

“The angel’s give such information for free?” Tyler asked, he was definitely interested in what she had to say.

“No, you have to pay a small fee.”

“I should’ve known. Is it too much to ask to get some helpful hints?”He sighed, feeling a bit annoyed that nothing was given for free in this game.

“Isn’t that to be expected?” said Jasper. “Everything so far was done with an exchange for a price. Something like this wouldn’t be much a surprise.”

“Yea, still…”Tyler raised his hand to push back his hair. His shoulders slouched forward defeated at what Jasper said as he nodded his head. “Your right. I shouldn’t have expected as much. If thing were free than I would be worried that there is some kind of catch.”

“Exactly, it seems almost everything is done by exchange of services just like back at home.”

The others thought over for a moment as they silently learned a vital information. Some were thinking about going to ask the Angel later on when they got back, a few were thinking about how they should sell such precious information for Angel coins later on.

Silver took one last look around her. “We should get moving. If we stay any longer we’ll attract attention.” She voiced her opinion with slight irritation when she saw Kathy huddling near Cole. Just thinking about what Kathy had attempted to steal and possibly get her killed annoyed the crap out of her. It took quite a bit of effort to put away those thoughts and move forward without showing anything was wrong. She was already on her feet and trekking through the forest leaving the others behind.

Jasper jogged over beside her as he closely followed. He didn’t wanted to stray to far away from her. “Hey Silver, did something happen? You sound a bit annoyed.”

“I’m fine.” Silver tried to brush it off as nothing was wrong.

“Are you sure? After you have gathered your spoils, your whole attitude change. Is it because of Kathy?”

Stunned on how quickly Jasper caught on, she couldn’t help but be impressed by his quick deduction. Jasper was getting good at noticing her body language without her saying anything.

She finally gave up, brought up her hands to her forehead, rubbing it a few times. “I suggest you to be careful around her.”

“Are you sure?” He looked over her shoulder a bit confused why she said that. “She seem like an innocent girl.”

“You can believe whatever you want. I warned you.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Jasper  couldn’t help but crinkle his brow, wondering what Silver meant. He was wondering what kind of threat that she possessed for Silver to be so guarded. Facing forward, he glanced up towards Silver. In return, all he got was her blank stare that was searching meticulously around their surrounding. He knew he wouldn’t get much information out of her as of this moment, so all he could do was take note in what she had said.

Silver pushed aside a large bush, where she found her way towards a small stream. The quiet trickle of water, worried Jasper when he saw where she was headed towards. What Silver noticed was that the water didn’t give off a metallic sheen to it during the obstacle, but was clear like any other normal water.

She squatted down, searching for any fresh or old footprints on the muddy bank. So far, there were no other life forms present inside and outside of the water, except for the bugs singing their usual loud songs. She relieved that she had found a clear open space to rest for awhile.