The Kingdoms of the Mountain Valley

Chapter 6: Silent Killer

Chapter 6

            The Moon, or as the Fairykind call it, The Eye of the Goddess shines down upon the Mountain Valley casting it in its bluish glow. Silently, four Fairykind soldiers dressed in armor cut through the air just above the splashing waters of The River Celeste, scanning the back shores and the jutting rocks for any signs of Alexis.

            They approach the edge of the river. They hover over the Forever Falls looking out. The Eye of the Goddess shines its light on the mountains that seem to stretch without end. Above the mountains, among the stars the four Fairykind can see moving blinking lights.

            “The silver dragons are out,” Vage, the oldest soldier of the group, said pointing to the lights.

“Vicious domain, the Forbidden Lands,” Lark, the leader of the group, said. He looks down into the inky blackness that the falls disappears into. A glint of metal catches his eye. He swoops down to a stuck branch sticking out of the water and the thing that caught his attention. He sees what it is and with a heavy heart he collects the object. He whistles and points to the shore. The four soldiers land and Lark holds it out Alexia’s bracelet.

“It’s the Princess’s,” Lark said. He looks outs at the river, “I fear she must have gotten swept over the falls.”

“This is bad,” Vage rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

            Ski, the youngest of the group, shook his head, “No,” he said quietly. He looks at the three other soldiers, panic in his eyes, “then this is the end of everything.”

            “We must go back,” Reg, a burly soldier, said determination thick in his voice, “General Alistair must be informed.”

            Lark squeezes the bracelet, “Agreed. We cannot…”

            Lark is quickly cut off by the arrow that penetrates through the front of his neck. Lark falls dead.

 “GODLINKIN!” Vage yells. The soldiers quickly pull out their swords and shields as the start to take off.

            A cloaked figure jumps from a tree landing on Reg.

            Vage;s and Ski’s eyes open with terror at the figure. The black as night hooded cloak with blacker light armor was the standard uniform for the Goblinkin Assassins, but the difference with this assassin, what distinguished this assassin from all other assassins and strikes fear into any sane Fairykind was the smooth two tone mask. The mask was black on one side white on the other, the mask of Yen.

“By the Goddess! IT’S YEN!” yells Ski.

Vage pulls his sword and turns to the young soldier, “Flee,” he said, “you must deliver the message.”

Ski nods and flies away as Vage turns to Yen and Reg.

Yen pulls a sword from within the cloak and shoves it through the gap in Reg’s armor made for his wings. Reg gasps in pain then falls dead. Yen rides the soldier down to the ground using Reg’s body as cushioning for the impact. Yen rolls off the body to a crouching position with bow drawn and fires.

The arrow stopped the charging Vage dead, literally, as he falls at Yen’s feet. Yen stands up and whistles loudly. A very large black bat erupts from the trees and slams into Ski. It swoops back to Yen tossing Ski on top of the body of Vage. Yen watches as Ski tries to scamper away but the bat drops on him and starts eating.

Yen walks from the gory feast and screams to Lark’s body. She bends over and takes the bracelet from the still clutching hand. Yen reaches up, pulls the hood off, long black hair with streaks of blonde flow out. She takes the mask off to reveal a strikingly beautiful face, flawless except for a scar that runs from her left cheek, over her left eye and to the middle of her forehead, her skin wasn’t scaly or dark green like other Goblinkin but was smooth and emerald green and her eyes, bright blue.

            She walks over to the eating bat and smiles as she watches it gorge itself on the soldier. She clicks her tongue twice, the bat stops and looks up. She clicks her tongue again and the bat walks over the bodies and nuzzles her gently. Yen strokes its chin tenderly and holds out the bracelet. It sniffs the bracelet then the air. It lets out a screech and turns to Yen. Yen smiles and pats its head.

“Good girl,” Yen whispers, she puts the mask back on and flips the cloaks hood up. She climbs onto a saddle that’s harnessed to the bat’s back. Yen grabs the reigns, closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. She lets her breathe out slowly, opens her eyes and whips the reigns. The bat takes off, circles once then it, and Yen, disappears over the Forever Falls.