Ancient Hunter
Chapter 26

I stood on the doorstep of the building gazing out over the ruins. My mind was in turmoil. Now that Security had gone I had begun to wonder what I was doing here? A mental inner debate was going on in my mind as I tried to figure out why Jennifer had brought me here. Exactly what was I meant to be investigating? Self-doubt crept in arguing with the more logical part of my mind. The cold reality was that I had only been a Security Traffic Officer on Earth I wasn’t a detective. What they needed here was a proper forensic detective I wasn’t one of those. I straightened up there was a mystery to be solved and I wasn’t going to achieve anything by bemoaning my fate. The first one was why the Valkyrie had not taken the bodies back to Alfheimir. That was against the very nature of the Valkyrie. It meant that the souls of the dead hadn’t been returned home. I felt the little wooden doll in my pocket, the soul of a Valkyrie who had asked me to return it to her Clan. The second one was what was the significance of the purple crystals. I hadn’t anything to analyse if the crystals contained some toxin or not? The third was how was it linked to the Keepers? Demeros was a long way from Saros and even further from the Janari home world. I just had to find what linked all this. I stepped onto the grass of the plaza I couldn’t find another word to describe the grass strewn open area in front of me. I adjusted my pack and felt the weight of the folding shovel in my hands. I’d found an extra crate amongst the ones I’d done a careful inventory of. Jennifer must have brought it when she turned up earlier. She must have dumped the crate before her cryptic conversation and had vanished. It had the shovel and a number of other useful tools. I tapped my comms bringing up a map app another new item it hadn’t had before. It brought me back to why I was here. Jennifer could find all this out with a wave of her hand why bring me to do this? That question would have to wait I had a job to do.

With my app open I began to map the plaza. Two horrible hours later I’d finished. I’d mapped the positions of at least two hundred remains all dotted around the area. I felt sickened Miranda had said there were at least five thousand Valkyrie that had followed Jenna to this world. So many dreams destroyed in an instant. From what I could see this town was extensive it would have to be to accommodate that many Valkyrie. Of that number only three dozen had escaped. I couldn’t see how the Elders hadn’t retrieved the bodies or at least buried them here? Was the reason that the bodies were toxic like the T’Arni had implicated the crystals were. Whatever happened here was a travesty the Elders had covered up. I was beginning to think the Orsini hadn’t done this. Because of their history with the Valkyrie it had been easy to shift the blame on to them. As to the crystals I wasn’t certain the T’Arni was telling me the truth. The one I’d picked up hadn’t done anything. It might have been a dud but I wasn’t taking chances until I had it analysed. I didn’t have that equipment perhaps Jennifer could get it for me with her next visit whenever that was.

Picking my way to the nearest ruin I cast my eye over it. It was a typical Valkyrie construct with a stone walled lower half topped by wood with a tiled roof. It was twice the size of my chalet on Alfheimir. The tiled roof had collapsed unto the floor I wasn’t an expert but I guessed the roof had done that when the wood had rotted away. I pulled out a flashlight from my pack another gift from Jennifer’s latest crates and shone it into the dark space created by the roof. Something had burrowed under the roof and from the looks of it the burrower was of a humanoid nature. I strongly suspected that was the T’Arni. That was why he wanted me gone. With my looks and Imperial accent I didn’t look it a Valkyrie. He possibly thought I was a grave robber like he was. I felt a surge of anger, which I quickly suppressed. He was stealing from the dead stealing from my Clan. I hated to admit it I was a Landottir however much I denied it. There were a lot of personal items in the Typical Valkyrie home. The outsides might look uniform it was the interior that held the personality of the Valkyrie. Gudbjorga had a liking for scenic pictures.

I made a circuit of several other dwellings and like the first they had all collapsed under the weight of the roof. And like the first one these also had signs they’d been tampered with. I know I shouldn’t get upset the Valkyrie that lived here were long dead but I still felt the pain of their passing. I owed it to them to get to the mystery of what had really happened here. I wasn’t buying in the story that the Orsini had done this. I might be the last Landottir but I had a obligation to return these souls to Alfheimir. I picked my way through the ruins cataloguing as I went too many remains unburied. It was depressing I’d stopped counting and just recorded my finds. I felt I’d fallen into a deep pit with no way out.

The sunlight was low on the horizon when I came across an anomaly. The ruins parted to find me standing in front of an almost perfect circle of bushes. An oddity that seemed out of place in a Valkyrie town. I’d have to come back tomorrow and investigate properly. I returned to my base not relishing having to wash with cold water from a bottle. Jennifer might have left me with some facilities but she could have added water to it. Suddenly my thoughts were interrupted someone was sitting on the steps. Instinctively I reached for my Seven Double ‘M’ ready for trouble. That someone was a T’Arni woman with silver streaks in her hair, a simple synthacotton orange dress and knee high boots. She stood as I approached. I saw her apprehensively eye my gun. I holstered it as I got closer to her I wasn’t going to starting shooting that wasn’t me.

“I want to apologise,” the T’Arni stated.

“Apologise?” I had an inkling as to who had sent her. Although I did wince at repeating her words I’d hoped to have thrown off that habit.

“I’m sorry for what Petros tried to do to you. It has stopped and I’m sorry you had to go through that.” She paused than continued. “He paying for it now.”

“How so?” I had to admit that surprised me.

“He was arrested by the very Security he sent after you.”

“Arrested?” I should really stop doing that.

“For trespassing.” She looked at me pleadingly. “I don’t want him sent to an Enari prison.”

“He was stealing from the dead,” I replied. He’d broken the law what type of former Security Officer would I be if I turned a blind eye to the law?

The T’Arni winced at that. “I know that, he did it for our son. This is a cursed place no good would come from what he did. He only did because we couldn’t afford the medical bills.”

I wondered what type of bills those were, the Confederacy had all these Cell Stitchers and there seemed to be no fee for using them. “Every item he stole was a Valkyrie soul unable to go home.” I hated to be blunt but that was far as the Valkyrie would see it as. “Souls that should have been taken back to Alfheimir.”

The T’Arni stared at me her face fearful. “Ancients! You are one of them aren’t you?”

She rubbed her arms as she visibly shivered.

I showed her my bracelet. “I’m with the Silver Guard.”

She fell to the floor her head sagging. “Please have mercy,” she said in a frightened voice.

“A pity Petros never showed me that.” I waved a hand. “I’ll see that he goes to a Demeros prison. He still has to pay for what he did.” I wasn’t a total monster.

The T’Arni rose to her feet her head still bowed. “Thank you,” her voice shook.

“Just leave, get out of here!” I said sounding resigned.

The T’Arni took off almost at a run. I watched her go relieved that was over and headed in.

Morning found me back at the circle of bushes I stared at it trying to decide what to do. It might be something or it might be nothing. I considered what the bushes might be hiding knowing what my luck had been lately. It could be a cistern or even more likely a cesspit the latter wouldn’t have surprised me. Judging from the verdant green of the bushes surrounding it my money was on a cesspit. Carefully I eased myself through the bushes and halted shocked at what I was seeing. I’d been wrong on both counts. This was neither of them and the last thing I ever expected to see outside Saros. It was a dais in the same black as the desert ruins. This was an entrance to a cave system I imagined one the same as Saros. I went cold with that realisation. I realised this might have been why the Clan had died. The Landottir had built the town an ancient ruin. Although strangely I hadn’t discovered any trace of it. From my investigations I knew that the Orsini had never attacked this place. Someone else had done this and the Elders had covered this up. I wanted answers but that would have to wait. I stepped onto the centre of dais and raised my hand. A holographic console appeared under my hand before I could withdraw it light flashed around me and I felt myself fall.

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