Shadow Altravia - The Mercenary

 

 
Post by Tanda on 04/30/2004 at 13:10:14
 
My skin, tanned by long days beneath a fierce red sun, felt dry and tight. There was never a cloud in sight during the month I'd been with the army. Apparently, at this time of year, the rains deluged the north. For a short time, often only a week or two at most, the rains reached the southernmost point of the land, where we were camped. It cascaded out of a black sky as a waterfall.
 
Our boots scuffed the hard packed sandy ground, little dust clouds rising in our wake as we weaved our way around tents, past camp fires where soldiers gathered around talking, cleaning weapons, preparing dinner. Jez made a hacking coughing noise and spat to the side. I knew how he felt. I desperately wanted to scrub the grit from my eyes, and wash away the dryness in my throat, but that would wait.
 
The march had been long. Three weeks it had taken the army to get from the city of Santria to where we were camped. A spine of mountains divided the country in half, too high and treacherous for the Santrians to cross safely and invade Costanza (the next largest city in Altravia). So they sent the army south, to the tail of the range, and reconnaissance teams reported the enemy doing the same to intercept us.
 
"Hate this stuff," he coughed up some more trail dirt, "Year's doin' this and I'll never get used to it."
 
I glanced at him. He was smiling, as always. The day he stopped I knew there would be reason to worry.
 
"Who are they?" I asked, squinting in the high noon glare to get a good look at the three people standing at the edge of camp. As we drew closer to them I could see in their faces how eager they were for what was to come.
 
Jez grunted. "This is a babysittin' job, green girl. Captain Agrard must think I can handle more than one now."
 
He'd been working for the army so long I think most of the captains figured he was one of them. He made sure he got his money though, and ensured I got mine too, come to think of it. I'd been assigned to his team the first day I'd joined the army and still he treated me as a new recruit, no matter what I did. And like his ever present smile, I didn't think that would ever change.
 
We crossed the ten yards or so of clear land to where the new recruits stood. The two boys where identical, except for their eyes. The one with the common brown eyes introduced himself as Jenar. The other said his name was Arten. I stared for longer than necessary at him, usually only the girls had blue eyes. Both were shifting restlessly on their feet, keen to get going. The third was a girl. She stood quietly to the side with a face that seemed never to have smiled. She met my gaze and I shivered. Her eyes were cold, hard, determined, and she looked to be about the same age I was when my Father had first taken me to Amber. I felt my skin grow cool. There was anger in her, barely contained. When Jez spoke, she looked away.
 
"What's your name then?" He asked her.
 
The girl's voice was devoid of emotion as she replied. "Etien."
 
Jez studied her for a moment and I wondered if he would ask her anything else. But then he clapped his hands and said, "Right, we're off, fall in greens." He walked between the twins and they waited for me to pass before falling into step behind me. I was too concerned about the girl to notice their difference and glanced around them to see she followed us. I didn't have a good feeling about this mission.
 
Captain Agrard had told Jez to take a team and scout the lower ranges for any enemy forerunners and dispose of them. The captain had also said they didn't expect there to be any so soon as we'd made good time on the march.
 
It didn't matter if Agrard were right or wrong, it was the girl that bothered me, but I had no idea why.
 

 

 
Post by Tanda on 04/30/2004 at 13:10:59
 
We reached the foot of the mountains two hours later, and began our ascent. As we hiked, Etien constantly looked at her hands and I knew the scrabbling over loose scree and sharp rocky ledges tore at her soft palms. I felt the warmth in the earth coloured stones as I gripped them, pulling myself up onto a wide outcrop. I stood and looked out across the shimmering plateau below, the sun sagging onto the land, leaving us in a hazy red twilight. Soon the temperature would drop below zero and the coarse, rust coloured clothes we wore were no defence against the night - it was always necessary to wrap up in cloaks and sleeping sacks during a watch.
 
My gaze followed the horizon; the army camp was lost from sight around to the left of the mountain. The red sky turned purple, darkening as night wrapped its arms about us. There were no stars. No birds. Faint scratching and grinding noises reminded me of another place, of great pain. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. That was the past. There are no giants in Altravia. Small, grey, furry four legged animals scour the mountains - they taste of iron and their flesh too tough to be edible, unless circumstances are dire.
 
I joined Jez where he was unrolling his sleeping sack – he'd chosen a spot close to the cliff face, away from the ledge. Kneeling down I unpacked my bedding, then hesitated, chewed my lip, unsure how to approach the subject of my concerns. His eyes flicked up to meet mine.
 
"Say it, girl, I'm not sleepin' next to a tense body." He kept his voice low, so the others would not hear.
 
"Who is Etien?" I asked eventually. “She seems better suited as a lady in waiting, not what we do.”
 
Keeping his focus on his task, Jez made a soft snorting noise and I caught the slight shake of his head. "Etien, daughter of Admiral Salarn, youngest of three," his lips thinned as he sat up. With one knee resting on the bedroll, forearm resting on the other, he reached up with a hand to his face, his fingernails created a comforting scratching sound as they brushed across his chin. "The two boys followed after Salarn, but Etien, she never even got a look in. The Admiral couldn't see the point in having a daughter, not in his profession, and they say that’s why she turned to mercenary work - get away to the front lines, make a name for herself, or die trying." His brown eyes looked straight at me then. " It's just my opinion mind, but I reckon there’s more to it than that. You can see she's given up on life already. And that makes her a perfect candidate for this job.” He sighed and dropped his hand. “We all have our shady pasts. If we were happy with our lot in life, none of us would be crawlin' around mountains like this, looking for people to kill. Even you have history you're hiding from, girl…even you."
 
He had never asked about my past and he was right about me of course, but not for the reasons he thought. I travel through Shadows, experiencing, learning from those like Jez. He relies on his wits, not those of others, and I knew he did not trust the three newcomers - or me for that matter, not entirely. This was a good thing. He had survived years as a mercenary earning a reputation as one of the best at reconnaissance and infiltration into enemy territory.
 
It is a fleeting dream, brought on at times of extreme stress and sorrow, that I wish my path through life might have been different. We can never know what person we could have been, or what we would have done, if our lives had taken a different course. My path is set in stone behind, but pliable in the future. Things have been done to me that I may never forgive – perhaps the memories will fade over time.
 
"What I have to do," he interrupted my thoughts, voice barely above a whisper, "is figure out if those histories are going to compromise my innate desire to live." His gaze lingered on me for a long time then flicked up, over my shoulder. I shifted slightly, pretending to adjust my bedding so I could see behind me.
 
The two boys lay in their sacks close together and talking quietly. They looked tired, their earlier enthusiasm drained by the hard days hiking. The girl sat with her back to us, looking out over the hazy red plane. Her shoulders were tense. Her arms wrapped tightly about her legs, hugging them to her chest. A shiver ran through her. The temperature dropping rapidly, but she made no move to get into her sleeping sac and the relative warmth it offered.
 
I was missing something and I knew it was important.
 

 

 
Post by Tanda on 07/19/2004 at 18:43:04
 
It was a restless night. I am not sure if my tossing and turning disturbed Jez, or if, like me, he could not sleep through the rookie watch. When the red morning haze washed over us, we rose, we ate, we broke camp and moved out. Jez took in the lead, as usual, and I stayed at the back.
 
For three days we marched, Jez scouting ahead more frequently as we neared the pass to the West. A valley cut across the narrow tail of the mountain range cutting the journey to the western regions by a week. On the morning of the third day, we reached it. Jez decided we would enter, figuring the enemy would also want the quickest route to the East, and if they did not, we could turn back and only lose a day on our march South.
 
The valley floor was strewn with boulders and rubble fallen from the soaring cliffs to either side. We trod carefully, keeping to the shadowy cliffs as much as possible. As evening approached, even the twins fell silent. We knew the enemy were close; Jez had returned from scouting late that afternoon with news of a small camp ahead.
 
When the sun had dropped below the horizon, and we were almost half way along the valley, Jez took Etien towards the north wall, and I led the twins to a spill of rocks on the southern. In the rusty twilight, I was able to take us within three hundred yards of the enemy camp. I lay flat against the rock fall and peered over the top, the twins lay next to me, one on either side. Their faces were animated with excitement, eyes tinged with fear and apprehension and I could not blame them, for this was their first foray into enemy territory, and I was about to perform acts they would find shocking – in time, they would execute them without conscience.
 
Three men were languishing by a fire, a pot bubbling over it, their boots off and their sword belts unbuckled, weapons carelessly put aside with their bedding. The boys remained motionless and silent as I crept forward. I crouched low over the ground, my eyes on the men, I knew the flames destroyed their night vision and they would not see me until I was almost upon them. I dodged around boulders, and crawled flat on the ground as I approached the nearest man.
 
To my targets left, another man was swigging from a canister, and to his right, a man stirred the pot. They did not see me rise up behind their comrade and slip a wire loop over his head. I pulled it sharply. It sliced into his throat, cutting off any scream he may have been about to utter. I was already drawing my sword as his body slumped to the ground.
 
As the others jumped to their feet, I slashed open the stomach of the man who still had the ladle in his hand. I ducked before his body spilled to the floor, and the drinking man's blade whistling through the air where my neck had been. Even in the deepening darkness of his silhouetted face, I saw his eyes go wide as my sword pierced his gut. I dragged it upwards and pulled it free. He too dropped lifeless to the land.
 
I cleaned my blade on his shirt, but kept it in my hand, looking around. It had been too easy. My eyes scanned the cliffs, the valley stretching away to the west, but I saw nothing out of place, though the deepening gloom hampered my vision. Something did not feel right. I strained to hear over the sounds of the night, the clicking and hissing of creatures wakening and starting to move about.
 
Then I heard it – the sound of a heavy object dragging across an uneven surface. It came from the twins hiding place, so faint I was not sure I had heard it, but started running regardless. I rounded the rock fall, still holding my sword, and cursed silently as I crouched, ready for an attack that never came. The twin's lifeless bodies lay at the base of the rock fall, seeping blood into the rocks, staining the stone a darker red. I turned full circle trying to locate their assailants, but there was no one else near, and no movement in the cliffs. Unless they could run faster than I could, the attacker would not have reached the safety of another rock fall several hundred yards back the way we had come. I froze when a scream rent the air, my body shivering involuntarily with the pain it expressed.
 
Etien.
 
My heart raced, but I did not hear a second cry. The sudden scuffling and grunts from the cliffs to the far side of the valley only partially allayed my fears for Jez's safety. I ran towards the sounds, keeping low and skirting around the firelight to hide from sight as much as possible, night had stolen the land, but I was still all too visible.

 

 
Post by Tanda on 10/10/2004 at 16:52:33
 
Another rock fall emerged from the hazy gloom. I skidded around it and the scene opening before me drew me up short, little clouds of dust blooming around my legs.
 
Etien stood with her back to me, beyond her the cliff soared into the night, and at her feet was Jez's prone form. In her hand, she held a dagger and blood darkened its blade. The dark patch spreading over Jez's side told me all I needed and I advanced slowly towards her. She turned as I approached, a cruel smile lifting the edges of her mouth.
 
“You will die like these other dogs,” she snarled, "And it is justly deserved. Come meet your maker!"
 
I controlled my anger with practiced ease, but my mind worked frantically over the situation. How could anyone catch Jez off guard? He was wary and had taught me to be as cautious - he did not trust anyone. How had this bitch managed to get her dagger anywhere near him? Slowly and deliberately, I moved closer. Her face betrayed a flutter of uncertainty and unease. Had she expected a reckless charge on my part? She knew me not at all.
 
Then she laughed. I heard a swish of air and dropped to the ground, an arrow passed over my head and disappeared into the treacherous night. My boot dagger was already in my hand and I threw it straight back at my assailant. There was a grunt, then a cry of pain and a body fell from the rockfall into the clearing. The face was contorted with pain but very familiar. The face was Etien's. I did not know what to make of it – twin girls were unheard of in this Shadow – but hesitation led only to defeat and I left the questions unanswered as I jumped to my feet and rushed towards Etien. I had no idea how many others there were stalking us. I was vulnerable in the open; up against the cliffs would safer. But mainly I wanted Etien dead – I wanted vengeance.
 
I was almost upon her when she held out her free hand and screamed, “Shalack, Metra!”
 
I recognised the power she wielded and easily resisted her attempts to paralyse me. Her face drained of colour and her eyes widened in terror, staggering back in surprise, she stared at her hand and shook her head in disbelief. I closed quickly. She looked up as I raised my sword to deliver the killing blow, but instead of trying to avoid it, she laughed again and flicked her hands out towards me. She began to chant in a strange language – I guessed it to be some form of magic – and from behind, I heard her twin start to chant with her, their voices rising and falling to a silent beat. I had no idea what spell they were performing but I intended to prevent them from finishing the incantation, moving swiftly to fulfil that promise.
 
The words fell from Etien's numb lips even as my sword bit deep into her neck, and her body sagged to the ground, life abandoning her to a ceaseless darkness in whatever ether served this world. I swung around but her sister had stopped chanting the moment Etien died. From across the clearing sobs reached me and I walked over, watching for any sudden movements from her twisting body. She held her right arm and I saw my knife sticking from her shoulder joint, just below the collarbone – off target, I noticed with some annoyance. I frowned as I stood looking at her miserable form before hunkering down beside her.
 
"Who are you," I demanded.
 
"Please," she gasped and her eyes pooled tears down her dusty cheeks, "help me…"
 
"Who are you?"
 
She tried to take a deep breath, regretted it, coughed for several seconds and cried for several more. I waited for my answer. Finally, "I am Tiana," she managed.
 
"Why did you attack us?"
 
"My master sent me to make sure Etien finished her assignment. He had grown concerned at her reluctance to do what was necessary…."
 
"What is the assignment?"
 
"To kill you." She looked at me with such intensity in her blue eyes that I knew she meant me specifically. "And your companions," she added after a pause.
 
This troubled me greatly. I had been careful to conceal my abilities and blend into my role as a mercenary so none even looked at me twice as I passed. I was a shadow among the Shadows. Who was this master and why did he target me? Was he associated with the Costanzians? Glancing up and around I looked for movement and sounds other than those of creatures scuttling across rocks. I knew I should leave, but I was putting off checking on Jez while I got as much information out of the girl as possible.
 
"Who is your master and why did he want me dead?"
 
"I don't know, he never said-"
 
"Who is he?" I cut through her words, my unease making me edgy and I made an effort to keep myself calm.
 
"I, I don't know…" She looked pained, frightened, her emotions plain to see. It was a stark contrast to Etien's icy façade. "Please, help me," she whispered.
 
I was torn. She would slow me down if I carried her back to the camp, but then I would have more time to question her. Looking over to Jez I felt my anger surge again and for a moment all I wanted was for her to suffer. They took him from me!
 
Whether she saw the futility in trying to persuade me to save her, or planned to distract me to gain time to compose her mind, I am uncertain, but she started chanting and my attention snapped back to her. Her eyes rolled back in her head and her body grew rigid. I grabbed the handle of my dagger and wrenched it from her shoulder, drawing a scream of pain but the chanting did not falter, the words continued to pour out of her. In such close proximity, I felt the power building and I reacted instinctively, slicing the blade across her throat, silencing her before she could complete the spell. I had no idea what she had planned to do, but my sense of unease increased instead of fading.
 
Something was coming and it would be here soon.
 
Scrambling to my feet, I ran to Jez and started to pick him up. My heart crashed against my ribs as I heard a faint groan. He was still alive! But there was no time to check his injury; I had to hope he survived me moving him to a safer place.

I hoisted him as gently and carefully as I could. “Don’t die you foolish man…” my voice trembled slightly and I held him tight, jogging out of the clearing and beginning to shift away. Anxiety and dread twisted together in my stomach and I went as quickly as I dared. The changing scenery held my attention and I pushed all questions to the back of my mind until we were safe.
 
The ground lost its red hue to a bland, grey uniformity and the sky lightened, clouds scudding across it, driven by a cold wind. Trees appeared, short and dreary as the land. Yet still, the unease remained with me. I looked down on Jez and my concern grew to strong to ignore. His face was deathly pale. I had to find a medical facility. I started shifting to more technologically orientated worlds, just enough to treat him.
 
As the worlds swam around me, farmland became towns, dirt tracks merged into cobbled streets and then I found what I wanted. I carried Jez into a makeshift army hospital, our clothes altered to match those of the soldiers lying in the many beds filling the infirmary. The surgeons in green suits never questioned me; they took Jez from my arms and whisked him away. The minutes, then hours, passed in torturous uncertainty. My mind struggled to deal with what had happened in Altravia. I wanted to analyse Etien's mission to kill me, but I could not think straight. I knew my mind should focus on how anyone could know me in that Shadow. Try to figure out why they would want to kill me, but Jez's unknown fate affected me far more than it ought to. I was angry and confused.
 
Much later and feeling calmer, I sat on a wooden stool by his bedside, waiting for him to wake. They had given him high doses of the local painkiller and I knew he would not notice his foreign surroundings, yet it was still a risk rousing him in this place. I did not want to explain my actions for they would lead to complicated questions, but I had to be sure he was well before I took him back to Altravia. There were so many questions I needed to ask him and I hopped he had some answers. And perhaps I should have left him there, recuperating. Gone to another place, started a new life and forgotten about the master and why he wanted to kill me, but I was enthralled by that world and its people. I was not ready for the experience to end just then.
 

 
Post by Tanda on 10/14/2004 at 17:41:01
 
I smiled.
 
"Well, girl," his voice sounded rough and strained, "that's something I've never seen, and I've seen most of everything. Gettin' stabbed is a steep price, but worth it, mind."
 
So I laughed, savouring the strange sensation as it brought back memories of a time of pure joy and release from past pain, where music came alive through my thoughts and lights danced to the harmony in my mind. I was amazed that my guard should drop at this time. Holding the smile for a while longer, it eventually faded as my concern for Jez returned.
 
I looked at his pale face and was glad that I had taken a risk and gotten him the best care I could. The way he looked around at the dusty, red tent walls I knew he did not remember waking in that other world. When I was assured he would live, I made him sleep again and then took him back to Altravia, to his people. On my arrival, I reported to Agrard and told him of our ambush, but I left out the details of the twin girls. I wanted to investigate this on my own and needed some information. Jez was the only person I trusted enough to ask them.
 
"How are you feeling?" I asked.
 
"Fit as a fiddle," he said offhand, watching me curiously. "One day", he pointed a finger at me, "I might ask you for your story and maybe you'll decide to tell me who you really are." He said it with a smile and his hand reached out to me, fingers lightly touching my cheek. I did not flinch or pull away. I leaned into his hand and felt the roughness of his skin, then reluctantly lifted my head to look into his tired brown eyes. He dropped his hand and let his gaze wander around the tent at the other beds and soldiers lying on them. "We're back at camp?"
 
I nodded. "I carried you here after bandaging your wound as well as I could and the surgeons worked on you all night."
 
Behind me, the tent walls flapped regularly with a steady breeze from the south. A flash of firelight at the far end of the makeshift infirmary was snuffed out as the surgeon entered to make his rounds. The voices of men and a few women, drifted to me, the soldiers preparing for the evening meal and an anxious night of long watches and cold darkness. It was a good time for me to leave the camp undetected, but first, I needed answers. Etien knew my real name. She had also shown some magical ability and used it to attack me. I wanted to know why and who her master was.

I breathed in slowly, the smell of blood and antiseptic strong. Then I looked down at Jez.
 
"You are lucky to be alive, sir," I said softly. "The surgeons have done an excellent job of stitching your wound and I should let you rest, but I would ask some questions first, if you have the strength to answer them."
 
"Don't test me girl, you know it tries my patience, so out with it. What do you want to know?" By his pained expression, I knew he remembered most of Etien's attack and this made me pause for a moment, not wanting to cause him more discomfort. He frowned. "Out with it now, girl! You know me better than that." His voice softened and he said quietly, "Tell me what's on your mind."
 
"Okay," I said. "I believe the attack was more of an ambush. They were waiting for us to arrive and while I was disposing the men around their campfire, others killed Jenar and Arten." I frowned as I recalled the scene. "It is strange, there was no evidence of any struggle, other than the boy's bodies, and the nearest cover was too far away for anyone to reach before I spotted them. Unfortunately, I did not have time to investigate further before I heard Etien's scream."
 
"I followed the sounds of scuffling and came upon Etien just after she stabbed you. She had a dagger in hand and fury twisted her features. When I saw you lying dead, or so I thought at the time," I looked down and away from his intense gaze, unsure of my emotions and unwilling to discuss them with him. "I moved in to take her down. Suddenly an arrow was let loose from my right," I paused as I considered this. It was surprising I did not sense the attack and I wondered if it was another demonstration of the twin's power, but Jez was waiting patiently for me to continue, so I hurried on.
 
"Ducking out of its path, I threw my dagger and the body fell to the ground into the moonlight, revealing a face identical to that of Etien." At this Jez raised his eyebrows. I leaned forward and met his gaze, my voice dropping to a whisper. "You told me once before female twins are unheard of, but I saw them with my own eyes. What concerns me most, though, is Etien's reaction when I attacked her. She used a spell that would have paralysed my muscles had I not guessed some of her intentions and avoided it. I have not heard of anyone using magic. What do you know of it?" I fell silent, deciding not to mention how Etien had known me. I was not ready to reveal such personal information, although my reluctance to do so seemed less important while I sat next to the man whose life I had just saved.
 
Jez did not look as alarmed by my recount of events as I had expected, instead he scratched his chin – the layer of dark stubble more like a beard now – and my curiosity and hopes were raised when he nodded slowly, his head moving only a fraction before he spoke in a low voice. "There have never been twin girls in my life time, nor the many generations that came before mine and I can't tell you why they've appeared now, but… there may be something in the myths of old that might explain their magical abilities." He snorted then winced and chuckled, waving away my concern. "Normally I dismiss children's fables," he said, "but if you saw the girls, and I never doubt your word or judgement, then there must be some truth in these things. I will tell you what I've heard."
 
I felt a warm glow of pride as he spoke candidly of his faith in me and I listened intently to what he had to say.

Unique Shadow Walkers