Valkyria Read Online Free

had set off with a few short minutes. Dragging the meat cart
along the old road had proven difficult, but they had managed to
cover half of it before the full face of the sun had
risen.
    After five hours of dirt, broken
branches and the odd strange riding by on a horse the trees began
to separate, the forest finally ending. It gave way to the
Whitewash Plains as if a gate had opened for the young travellers.
The plains themselves were as flat as a squirrel after a coach had
run it down.
    They spread far and wide, further than
Einar’s eyes could see. Whiteseed plants spread over the land like
a canvas as farmers harvested the petals for medicine whilst the
rest would be used in the brewery in Saylae itself.
    Ahead was the great stone wall of the
Suhran capital, always guarded and always gleaming like garnet due
to the dark marble that was added into the building
stones.
    “ The Lord of Saylae,” said
Einar trying to break the silence that has come over them, “is
called Ser Handrid. A truly great man if ever there was one. He had
been part of the Inquisition for Alexandria when they came here,
but had fallen in love with our lands and lead the revolt of the
Inquisition itself. He and his family, the Highwinds, lead the
assault on Saylae when it was under Alexandrian control. That’s why
they named him Lord of Saylae and then Lord of Suhran Island
itself.”
    He looked over at his sister, half
expecting her to not listen, yet she was looking at him directly in
the face with eyes open wide.
    “ The Highwinds did a very
good job, in many ways. Yes we have a much harder life now than
before but at the same time the city itself prospered and brought
more merchants to us.
    Originally it was just a small village
like Caim, but the Highwinds grew it, and built a new port,
increased the market area and built the Whitewash
fields.”
    “ It really is beautiful,”
said Alexia. “You never told me about it before.”
    “ I didn’t think you would
be interested,” he replied. Einar had always assumed she was far
too interested in things like the “higher powers” and other
fairy-tales she was told by old Ma’am Erey. He had been to Saylae
six times in the past year and each time the buildings astounded
him. However, the people were entirely different.
    “ Alexia, be careful in
there,” he said. “Some of the people will be able to tell you are
from a village and may try to take advantage of what they think is
your ignorance. So we’ll just go to the market and then leave for
today.”
    They reached the gateway of the great
market city, which was always open during the sunlight of the day
to allow the hundreds of merchants to freely come and go. On each
side of the enormous arched gateway stood a stone gryphon clutching
a great sword in its mouth; the emblem of the Highwind
family.
    “ That sword was called
Ruzgard,” said Einar when he noticed Alexia’s eyes were fixated
upon the statues. “It means Wind Guardian in the old tongue. You
see, the Highwind family admired our culture and language so much
that they tried to honour its loss after Alexandria
left.”
    Einar had always admired the Highwind
family, and the Inquisition themselves. They had brought back at
least a small pinch of the freedom that the Ringlands had lost at
the hands of the Alexandria Empire.
    After passing through the gateway they
walked into what could have been a completely different world. The
streets were lined with cobblestone rather than the tracks of Caim
Village. They were bustling and busy, with countless faces flowing
in and out of every corner. Horses strode through the gaps between
the sea of people as an endless song of a thousand voices filled
the skies, with words like ‘apples’ and ‘meat’ echoing from the
market stalls.
    Houses stretched up three to four
stories and were coloured white with brown oak borders. Thatched
roofs extended all around the city whilst the market stalls form a
wall on both sides of every road.
    The