King of the Vale: Commander of Legions

Mountains vs The Vale

“He’s a witch, one of the ones that attacked our kingdom.” Venom dripped from Elsie’s lips as she spat at him.

“Very good of you to remember my face, I have to say young lady. You bear a striking resemblance to an older man I cut down in the castle. He put up an honorable resistance and fought like a lion with his dusty golden mace, but I was obviously quicker.” Kaz smirked.

Elsie’s eyes widened, he was talking about her grandpa. Elsie let fly a string of curses and would have charged to her death if not for Zeke.

“Settle down little mouse, I am not here to talk to you.” He turned his attention back to Gideon who had donned his wooden mask. “Gideon, the predator of the Vale. How I have longed to speak with you.”

“Speak quickly,” Gideon said emotionless.

“Don’t be like that, I had hoped we could be friends, we are not so different you and I.”

“We have different ideas for being similar I’m sure.”

Kaz sighed, “you are so tense, how disappointing.” Kaz crossed one arm over his chest and placed the other hand to his chin as if thinking. “How about if I let your little wards get a head start while we play?”

Gideon thought about it, he would be able to fight without holding back. He couldn’t afford to face this guy at half strength or less, he might not survive.

“I would never leave my friend defenseless!” Zeke pulled his sword ready for a fight.

“No,” Gideon said calmly. “Take the girls and let Stonegrab lead you, I will take care of him.”

“Gideon you can’t!” Daphne worried for his safety.

‘Go, you know that I will fight better if I don’t have to worry about you.’ Gideon barked at Zeke

Zeke cursed, he knew Gideon was right. ‘May the Moon’s embrace keep you,’ Zeke blessed Gideon.

‘And may the Stars fight your battles.’ Gideon finished the old Vale blessing. 

Zeke nodded and rushed the girls to move on. “We must move now.”

“We can fight, let us help you,” Elsie drew her blade. 

“Not this time.” Gideon waited until he could no longer hear their foot falls.

“You had a proposition?” Gideon asked.

Kaz smiled wickedly, “I want to find out who is the better hunter, nay the better predator. I was sent to kill you if you got in my way, and now you are in my way.” Kaz summoned two hatchets. “But I think it would be more interesting if you were to join us, you see we are not so different, you and I.

“I think that you assume too much.” Gideon never let his sword falter. He summoned his powers and his new allies, he tugged at his scarecrows to circle even more. He called his Revenants, with their presence the air grew cold and foggy. The night grew sinister as the woods responded to his preparations for war.

“Oh really,” Kaz started circling and Gideon along with him. “We are kin are we not?”

“In title only,”

Kaz’s eyes flickered as he charged, Gideon charged as well. Kaz leapt through the air ready to bring his weapons down on Gideon. Gideon curled his blade back as he slid along the ground. He threw all the force he could into the attack. Their weapons met at the culmination of their arcing deathblows. The air snapped as Gideon braced himself against the ground and Kaz was sent flying through the air laughing. “Ha, don’t you see? We are hunters, not soldiers, we attack as if one blow will finish off our prey.”

Gideon used his own powers to fling himself into the tree’s and out of the open.

“Tell me Gideon, how did you feel when the Empire slaughtered your family? Did you weep, did you want revenge?” Kaz launched an arrow through the tree that Gideon was hiding behind. It wouldn’t be a lethal blow but he saw the body sag. Confident he had won and a little disappointed at the lack luster finish, Kaz launched himself to where he could see the limp Gideon. When he finally was able to make out the outline of the limp figure and found a scarecrow in his place. “What the-?”

The whistle of something travelling through the air caught his attention. He turned to see two scarecrows wielding spears flying at him like arrows. Kaz narrowly escaped their first assault by jumping up a branch. He was unprepared when they caught nearby branches and used their momentum to redirect their path to follow him. Kaz had seen nothing like it, he had heard of Necromancy that was making dead bodies move but this was something else entirely. These creatures were actually skilled. He swiftly evaded their calculated strikes and fell to the ground hoping to best them in a duel on the soil, but they vanished into the trees as if plucked by an invisible hand.

Kaz ducked in time to avoid and ethereal black sword that almost took off his head. He whispered the spell that gave him a sword and a shield. He deflected another Revenants slash with his shield and lunged at the spirit with his sword, it moaned in pain but Kaz knew better than to think that he had truly wounded it. He rolled out of the way of another strike, and took off into a sprint. His shield vanished and he summoned a rope with a hook at the end and shot it into one of the trees. Using the arc of his rope-swing, he evaded another slash from a spirit that appeared in front of him as he swung back into the trees.

Kaz was elated; he had come so close to death, so much closer than he had been in a long time. He finally had a challenge and he relished it. Gideon was clever, he had the revenants guarding the ground and the scarecrows guarding the trees. Out of the corner of his eye he saw where his arrow had struck to find the scarecrow it had impaled missing. He was going to enjoy this.

Gideon steadied his breath, he was sure that would have worked. Kaz was much more resourceful than he had anticipated, and his swordsmanship was much better than Gideon’s was. If he ever got too close, he would have to end it with one strike or he would be a goner. He was grateful that Daphne was not here to see this; he didn’t think that she would understand his powers.

One thing Gideon couldn’t shake was Kaz’s words.

“You are not alone,” Kaz’s voice echoed through the trees. Gideon couldn’t place it, but he knew as long as he could hear him, that he was not chasing his friends. 

“When the Empire Systematically began slaughtering Witches, do you know who was first? My People! I am the last of the Proud Slader Mountain Coven. There used to be hundreds of us, living in harmony with the wilds of the mountains. I used to be a common hunter, there were so many of us. We received no warning, I came home to my entire village destroyed, my family, friends, and everyone I had ever known slaughtered. The mountains stained with the blood of my kinsmen. I tried to find help, I went from village to village to find everyone ransacked or filled with refugees. I watched the elders try to reason with the attackers, beg to find out what they had done wrong, ready to bargain away anything for peace. They were struck down in cold blood.” Kaz’s words brought back memories Gideon had tried so hard to bury away. Memories of his father trying to make peace with king Aiden, but he failed.

Gideon felt his hairs prick on the back of his neck, he flung himself from the branch that he was perched on. Before Gideon reached the other branch, he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. He moved a couple branches away until the hair on the back of his neck disappeared. On the last branch Gideon checked his shoulder, there was an incandescent arrow piercing the outside of his shoulder. He grimaced as he grabbed the front of the shaft and pulled it all the way through his arm as fast as possible. He threw the arrow away before moving to another tree. He had stayed in one place too long and let himself be found. He had to keep moving if he wanted to survive, but what he found even more concerning was that his arrow hadn’t stopped his weapons in the slightest.

Gideon stuck an emergency mix he always had with him underneath his armor to treat the wound. Luckily, it wasn’t serious, this time. Hunters like Gideon and Kaz don’t miss, the next one was sure to kill him. Gideon would just have to get him first, this was going to be a long night.