The Mercenary's Valkyrie: Book One

Eye for an Arrow

Our horses whinnied and nickered to each other like a group of old maidens. We had slowed down our breakneck gallop away from that town hours before. The other reason was because of the dense forest that now surrounded us.

"Perhaps we should water the horses now, Tay. We're at least two hours ride ahead of any infantry looking to tail us and we will surely be out of sight in here." Kaden said gruffly.

My horse snorted from below me, as if agreeing with him.

"Very well. But only because Parsnip approves." I said wryly, giving him a loving rub between the ears.

"I'd bet coin you'd carry that damn horse the rest of the way if it were possible." John muttered from my left. Parsnip tossed his black mane in response.

I smiled down at my beautiful chestnut stallion. "Don't listen to him. He's just frustrated because his brain stopped developing after puberty." I said sweetly.

I dodged the pebble aimed at my head with half a thought. I held one hand on the reins and lead us into a thicker patch of trees and undergrowth. The scent of pine and wild jasmine was heavy in the damp air. I took us further into a grassy patch where there was an absence of poison ivy and any other kind of toxic foliage for our herbivore companions.

"Here seems well enough." I called back to them. "We have cover from the rock face here and a light downhill descend over there for visuals of any approach." I said, pointing my finger in the direction of where the forest ground sloped downward.

It was always my process and a self-assigned job for our group. I subconsciously mapped out the defence weakness of everything I laid my eyes on—including people.

Kaden jumped off his horse with a loud thud and clank of armour. I would feel sorry for his horse, but the stallion was a brute like he was and a force to be reckoned with. A few years ago Kaden was the only person that could get with a 10 meter radius of it. It seemed to deem every other rider unworthy as his mount. The owner of the war horse was about to be done with it and simply put it down for meat. Kaden stepped in, and that was the end of that--and the owner.

Well, in my opinion the horse held more value and use than the fat lump of the man in ownership so I didn't stop Kaden. The two were a perfect match.

We all emptied our water flasks into the makeshift water trough made of leathers and a box like metal frame. I had to give it to John, he had his moments when you snuck him into a forgery or blacksmiths. In fact, many of our weapons and armour had their own personal modifications made by our handy man.

I had requested a fast load system for my crossbow and two hidden sheaths for my short swords that were concealable beneath my cloak. Kaden simply wanted shoulder pauldrons that could make a sword feel like a branch. As for John... well I wasn't even sure I could count the number of tricks that man had up his sleeve.

Earlier today, when we were brawling those trolls from the inn, he had released a contraption he named "Devil's Sneeze". Moronic as it sounded, it was damn effective. Within moments a small pouch had exploded into a puff of thick smoke that had our enemies fighting for air and coughing too hard to avoid crossbow bolts and throwing knives.

He dusted off his own riding leathers and took his travel sack carefully from his shoulders. No doubt the entire thing was packed with various experiments like Devil's Sneeze and more...

"We could spend night. As you say, the ground is defensible and with the rock face at our backs we have no winds to battle come nightfall." John called from where he was laying out his supplies.

"I can have traps laid out on a perimeter within the hour." Kaden pitched in.

I glanced at them both before surveying the area. We hadn't put as much ground between the now hostile town and ourselves as I'd hoped but... logic dictated that we were in a strong position and out of daylight within the next 4 hours.