Ancient Hunter
Chapter 23

A warm wind blew across my face as my vision slowly returned. I wished that Jennifer if that was her real name had given me more time to prepare. Slowly I surveyed my surroundings. I was standing in knee high grass amongst ruins. There was something familiar about these ruins. It wasn’t the same as Copper’s village these ruins were older. Jennifer was still holding my arm I was gripping my pack with my other hand. We weren’t on Saros that much was obvious. Although it was day and there were no clouds I could see this planet’s moon in the sky. A pink coloured moon and not in the patterns of Saros’ one.

“Where are we?” I demanded still angry with her for dragging me off like that.

“Demeros,” she replied.

A shiver ran down my spine. This was where the Landottir settled and were decimated. No wonder the ruins looked familiar, they were Valkyrie buildings. The half-wood, half-stone they favoured. Anger surged within me and the sudden urge to smash something burned through me. I fought against myself to gain control the logical part of my mind telling me it was useless to get angry. Deep down I knew it was right. I calmed down there had to be a reason beyond her tormenting me for her to bring me here.

“Why have you brought me here?” I said in a calmer voice.

“To do what I can’t, investigate.”

“The Valkyrie have already been here,” I said to her. Nothing was making sense. “Investigate what?”

“Look around you use your skills,” she said and promptly vanished.

I could still feel her hand on my arm. “Damn it stop avoiding my questions.” It was pointless saying them she wasn’t there to hear them.

I’d have to do this on my own. At least I knew where I was now but as to the why I was clueless. I went to step forward somehow some sense had me halting my foot hovering in mid air. Slowly I lowered my foot avoiding what I was about to step on. I bent down and carefully pried the tuffs of grass aside. It revealed a skeleton that the grass had grown through. Larger than any Human skeleton I guessed that this was a Valkyrie. I’d felt cold before but this went beyond that. The Valkyrie never left their dead behind even if there wasn’t much left of the body. A closer examination had me determining it was a female, her pelvis confirmed that but I couldn’t speculate about her age. The skeleton was lying face down and I couldn’t see any trace of fabric on the body. There should have been the practical part of my mind told me. I took a closer examination of the remains. What I couldn’t tell was if she was running towards her enemy or away from. Then when I thought on if further I drew the conclusion she would have been running towards her target it was the Valkyrie way. I stood stretching my aching back I’d been in a cramped position for too long. I caught a glimpse of something purple between the bleached ribs. Bending down again I prised what appeared to be a purple quartz crystal about the length of my little finger. It was pointed at one end and blunt at the other. For some reason it reminded me of a bullet but I dismissed it as speculation. I know of no known race that used crystals as ammo like this. Although I was unsure about the Rhosani again I dismissed it as more unwarranted speculation. The Rhosani only emerged five or six years ago and the Landottir were decimated long before that. I eased the crystal from where it was embedded and placed it in my pack. Standing again I surveyed my surroundings trying to estimate direction of travel. Carefully I stepped around the bones and walked slowly towards the nearest ruin in range. Purple glinted from what remained of a wall. I pulled a knife out of my pack and reached towards the crystal.

“No! Stop!” A voice cried out behind me.

Swiftly I turned the knife in my hand ready to throw. Standing behind me was a male T’Arni with streaks of grey in his blonde hair. He was wearing a pastel coloured shirt and beige pants tucked into long scuffed boots. “Please don’t do that they are dangerous,” the T’Arni implored.

“In what way?” I asked my mind on the one I had in my pack.

“My son touched one and it paralysed him. He can’t eat on his own and he soils himself easily. He is confined to a chair. I didn’t want anyone doing the same.”

I felt as if he was leaving something out, something he wasn’t telling me?

“When did he touch a crystal?” I asked.

The T’Arni’s eyes narrowed. “You’re asking a lot of questions?” he answered icily.

“It’s what I do ask questions. I held my arm up so he could see my bracelet. “This is my authority.”

“That’s an Enari token where did you get it?”

“The Elders. So I’ll ask you again when did he touch the crystal?”

The T’Arni stared at me debating some inner turmoil. “About two years ago on a dare from his friends and they’re regretting it now.”

“It’s only a crystal,” I said hoping to draw out more information from him.

“A crystal laced with poisons,” he spat back. “Over a hundred years and they’re still lethal!”

I felt cold race through my body I’d picked up one without knowing. “Next question what are you doing on Landottir land?” I picked that up from my talks with Marcella she had a wealth of knowledge on the history of the Landottir but before they were wiped out. My ancestors had bought the land from the Demeros government.

“It’s not their land,” the T’Arni replied clearly on the back foot. “They’re all dead!”

“They aren’t all dead there’s at least one that isn’t.” I was referring to myself as much as I didn’t want to. I was the last Landottir according to all those I’d asked. Mum was one as well but she hadn’t gone through the rebirth ritual. That had made me what I was.

The T’Arni stepped back. “Not possible!” he stared hard at me. “You are lying Human!”

That was the first in a long time someone actually called me Human. “Ever heard the word vaihdokas? It’s Valkyrie it means I have enough of their blood to live on Alfheimir. Enough for the Elders to acknowledge my Clan is alive.”

“You can’t be!” the T’Arni said alarmed.

I thought that he was going to say something more and I was ready for it. He turned and ran off heading towards the tree line in the distance. I felt perplexed wondering what had just happened. I had to move I’d be wasting what remained of the day if I judged the position of the sun correctly. I still had to make camp. At least the Valkyrie had taught me to do that. It was what the five days in the forest were for. To teach me to survive with only a rope and a knife as company. Yet even there I hadn’t be on my own. Thirika had watched me from far making sure I was ok. She’d only intervened when those two teenagers had decided to kill me. And then only after I’d subdued them myself. Since I didn’t know how long I’d be here I’d need to establish a camp. Watching my step I carried on aiming for where I thought the centre of the town would be. I counted at least a dozen more skeletons on passing all with one thing in common. Each skeleton contained at least one purple crystal. Finally I reached what I defined as the central square or a plaza it was hard to guess which with all the grass growing through the cracked concrete. The town was larger than I first thought. I could have combined both Copper’s village and the abandoned town from Paranova within it confines. Most of the building seemed to be little more than collapsed piles of masonry and tiles. Opposite my direction of travel was a large administration building of a single storey but in better condition than everything else was. I could see as I closed in on it that it had been the scene of heavy fighting. The wall I faced was pockmarked with holes. For some reason the windows were intact which raised my suspicions. I drew my Seven Double ‘M’ from my pack and entered. Cautiously I slipped through the opening where the door had been. As soon as I entered a globe on a tripod in the centre of the room lit up casting out the shadows. Behind the globe was a stack of crates and what looked like a camp bed. I noted that the gear looked new. Despite the grubby windows it looked like someone had cleared the place. The floor of raw concrete was clean. I approached the bed with caution fearing a trap. On the bed was a folded note. I made out the words ‘Gwen’ on the side that faced me.

Carefully I picked up the note and opened it. Jennifer was the only one that knew I was here and knew my name. I couldn’t find fault with the writing but the words were less so.

“I’ve left you this for you. I hope not to take too long. In case you run into trouble I will permit you to call the Janari. They may not be able to help you physically but the should be able to advise you and act on your queries.”

I wasn’t about to experiment now so I put the note into my pack. I turned my attention to the crates Jennifer had brought. Things like this would be trivial to those who could create worlds. I wasn’t sure how powerful the First Ones were the thought made me shiver. They could easily crush me without effort. Yet here she was helping me I had to wonder what was her ulterior motive? She’d cleaned the interior for me unfortunately destroying any evidence of what happened here. There were several doors leading off from what seemed to be the atrium or main room. A quick check revealed nothing of note except a bathroom that was still in working order. It surprised me that Jennifer had even thought of this detail. I dragged the bed into the one of the rooms out of sight of the door. I checked the crates they were roughly square half a metre by half a meter and mostly contained standard ration packs and containers of water. I took what I needed and piled the crates in front of the door. It was a temporary barrier. Although it wouldn’t deter anything making a concentrated enough to get in. with my defences prepared and I’d eaten I headed to bed. There wasn’t much I could do in the dying light on the sun it would be nightfall soon.

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