Valkyria Read Online Free Page B

followed by
the snow white marble walls of the wedding hall where his beloved
Ari awaited his return. She was waiting with that horrid
man.
    Rin barged through the door, the
splinters tearing at his skin as the old wooden frame buckled. The
lights were still out, the candles smoking just enough for white
streams to float away from them. The hall was a large open room of
emptiness except for the dining table and twenty chairs that
surrounded it from head to toe. It had been far too many chairs,
fifteen too many, but they were already there when Rin and Ari had
arrived.
    Everyone must have been in the waiting
room where he had left them. The door to the room was covered by a
lilac and sky blue cloth, Ari’s favourite colours, in preparation
for the celebration. Rin opened it hastily, the handle cracking
under the speed.
    “ There you are, dear boy,”
said the raspy, empty voice that Rin had hoped was just a dream.
Yet there stood the vile atrocity of a man. His night black cloak
concealed his body entirely, but the weathered and eroded face was
enough to freeze one’s very soul.
    He called himself Aeon, Rim remembered.
He had said he was doing this for the good of the Ringlands,
‘preparing for the coming storm’, although Rin had no idea what he
meant. He had said that taking Ari and her family hostage he was
protecting the freedom of the Ringlands. It was all a bull’s tripe
as far as Rin was concerned.
    “ Have you any news of my
quarry, dear boy,” continued the gargoyle of a human.
    “ Yes I do, so release my
family and I shall tell you.”
    Aeon’s neck cracked like an earthquake
as he twisted his head to one side like a bird of prey examining
its next meal. Approaching Rin, his cloak hid his feet and gave the
impression that he was floating. Rin took a step back but leaped
forward again when the rotten door to the hall behind him closed
itself.
    “ You think me a fool, do
you not?” Aeon continued his snail paced advance as he spoke, his
eyes not moving a single inch away from Rin’s. “You think I am to
give you what you desire and then you will flee from me?” A breeze
filled the room, blowing the curtains of the open window like
wings, yet Aeon’s cloak lay still like a statue. “There is no where
you can run. So tell me of my quarry.”
    “ She is with her brother,”
said Rin. “They are returning to Caim as we speak, and I believe
that it will take them at best three hours to reach the tree you
mentioned.”
    “ Very good, dear boy. You
have done well. I take it they suspect nothing?”
    Rin could feel his legs weakening
quickly. Aeon had said that Alexia must not know she was being
followed, yet Einar had seen him. He didn’t want to say anything,
but from the closed eyes on Aeon’s face, he was sure the horrid man
already knew.
    “ Einar saw me,” he said.
“But I said nothing and fled before he could reach me. I do not
think he suspects anything.”
    Aeon moved not one inch, his bright
green eyes piercing Rin’s heart like a thousand spears. His left
hand appeared from his cloak, open, and rose toward Rin’s
face.
    “ Fear not, dear boy,” said
Aeon, “you have done well. You have helped the Ringlands far more
than you could possibly understand. You have given me the knowledge
I need to protect this wonderful land.”
    He paused. His hand was still raised.
The breeze grew in strength and the delightful wedding glasses and
statue of a dove fell from their stands, splintering as the crashed
to the floorboard below.
    “ Although it is such a
shame you were seen,” continued Aeon. “What I can do now I do not
know, but she’ll tell me. Of that I am sure.”
    Rin tried to reach for the decorative
sword that hung on the wall above his head, but found his arms and
legs would not move. Ari was still seated behind Aeon, her golden
hair flung by the wind and her wedding dress tearing in the breeze
revealing far too much of her before her bedding night.
    “ He must understand