The Mercenary's Valkyrie: Book One

Set The World Aflame

Fiddles, flutes and singers were alive with vigour in the tavern tonight.

It was our last night in Ravensbrooke.

The soldiers of the king still lingered in the streets and hovered in corners but I would not hide in the house on my last night here. Kaden and John more than agreed. The plump redhead from seven sun spans ago was on Kaden's lap and playing with his short brown hair. John was midway through swindling three men out of their coin for the hell of it. As for me, I was sat before an immortal trying to teach her the ways of chess.

As it turns out, she very much approved of it.

The goal was to wipe the enemy off the face of the board using only your wit and cold logic. Of course she liked it.

"Check." I smirked as I moved a piece.

Her silver eyes glowed every time she was remotely threatened it the game, it was damn right hilarious. It was as she had told me; Valkyrie's simply cannot tolerate being threatened in any form. 

She drew her brows together in concentration. Scanning every piece and option before—

"Not in the check." She said with a smug expression.

I spat out some of my ale in laughter.

"My congratulations, Valkyrie." I snickered, looking back down at the board. "But you made the amateur's error." I told her.

Her eyes blazed when she heard the word amateur. 

"I have successfully evaded the threat. How is that amateur?" She growled.

I picked up my queen. "Because you solved the problem with only defence in mind. You have to use offence as your defence to win this game." I smirked as I pushed the queen diagonally across the board, taking out her knight and putting it before her king.

"Checkmate."

She stared at the move as if it was an impossibility. She looked at the rest of her pieces as if they were all incompetent children in a battle. Her eyes then flicked up to mine with a lethal glare.

"I demand another battle." She stated.

I laughed again and shook my head at her. "Most call it a game."

"There are no games. Only victors and losers." She muttered, crossing her arms and glaring down at the king that was now face down on the board.

"Gods. I never thought I would see an immortal have a tantrum ."

"I am doing no such thing you infuriating woman." She snapped.

"You do not lose very often—"

"I never lose at anything." She finished.

I flicked my eyes down the the board and then back to her with a grin.

"This was not losing. It was attaining the experience to destroy you when the time comes."

"Sounds like the Valkyrie lost." John snorted as he came to take a seat at our table in the corner.

She drew a hidden dagger from her cloak in a flash and stabbed the spot between his legs on the chair. John flew out of it in the next second with a yelp and a laugh. I had my head on the table in my own uncontrolled laughter.

"I will laugh when I get to witness the day you die, John Keavesmith." She stated.

He rolled his eyes and leant against a wooden post. "Then I will be sure to make my death as obscene and insulting as humanly possible."