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Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Aida woke up with her head resting on Keith's chest. The sound of birds chirping and trees swaying made it obvious that even with eyes closed, it was already morning. The sun had just began to rise, and this meant that they would have to wake up at some point. Aida felt very comfortable sleeping beside Keith, and in her mind, she did not want to move away.
But she was a soldier. She had to.
She was about to move when she felt Keith's hand gently pulling her back to him. Aida smiled, and snuggled closer to Keith. "Can't we find Jericho a bit later? I'm pretty sure he'll understand our situation." Keith said. Aida giggled loudly, and had a nice grin while looking at Keith.
"I am a Lieutenant of The Red Blood Regiment. Unlike your rebel group, we are very organized, and we have our schedules." She said, making Keith scoff and smile. "Ok fiiiiiine." He said, letting her go in his arms but still holding her hand. "But you better make sure I have the latest information regarding Jericho Meril."
"And can you perhaps explain as to why both of you are trying to find him?" a new voice boomed from outside their tent. The voice sounded dark, and gravelly. When they got out of the tent, they were met with 5 hooded people all dressed in black. Aida and Keith both felt their hearts beat a bit faster. The Black Valkyrie Regiment? Why?
"Say...." The man said, while his head shifted to Keith. "Don't I know you from somewhere?"
Aida moved closer to the man. "He's a peasant volunteer of The Red Blood Regiment." She said. The group of assassins did not seem to believe, and seemed like they only wanted to push further on the situation. "The mission we were talking about is none of your business." she followed.
"And what was the thing about a 'rebel group'?" He said, smiling a bit. "Hiding shifters, especially coming from the Clan of Aeryth, would be considered as treason, don't you remember?"
Aida's eyes widened. No. She should not flinch at this. She knew that if they ever find out about Keith's pin, then things would get really ugly from here. "I suppose a simple search on this man's belongings wouldn't hurt, don't you think?" The assassin said. Keith looked at Aida, while slowly walking back. He looked to his right to see that his sword was stashed near his back. If he could get to it then he could have a good fighting chance against 2 opponents. But that would leave Aida vulnerable.
"Damn it." He thought to himself.
"Halt." Aida said, causing the assassin to stop in his tracks, and move his eyes towards Aida. "Who authorized you to enter our base?"
"Didn't you hear? General Ailyn visited last night and is also taking care of this mission."
"That still does not mean you're authorized in here."
The assassin took a slow breath, then glared at her. The wind was the only thing that was heard when both of them will be looking at her. "What are you doing?" The assassin asked quietly, glaring at Aida.
"Are you accusing an innocent of treason right now? Especially of being a rebel race?" Aida said, glaring back at the assassin. "I could just report this to Kai - you entering these premises without authorization, and harassing an innocent peasant-."
The assassins suddenly brought out their swords and pointed it Aida. Keith flinched, and was ready to run to his sword, but he was too worried about Aida. He could distract the squad leader by knocking him out, and it would give Aida time to shoot all her arrows into the 3 assassins. This could mean that he would get stabbed as well, but if it meant that Aida would be in a safer spot, that was a risk he was willing to take. Suddenly...
"Go on. Kill her." A voice arrived at the scene. It was Alvin, followed by Gold and Oliver. "If you're going to kill her, might as well report it to the duke that you started a war with the peasants of Ravena, right?"
The assassins looked at the trio that arrived. 3 half-demons, and one of the was Gold. His eyes glowed red, and smoke was escaping from his helmet. Some of the assassins slowly backed away, and the squad leader was left with a choice. Seeing the situation, he did not want to be the one who would call the shots. He lowered his weapon, and looked at the red soldiers.
"We're not going to let this slide that easily." He said, before running out with his men. Aida was left there with her lover. "Keith, are you alright?" She said, while holding his cheek, before stopping - realizing who was with them.
A burst of laughter came from Oliver and Alvin. "I KNEW IT! HAHAHAHAHA!" shouted Oliver, pointing at Aida, while his other hand grabbed his aching stomach due to his laughter. "ANNO IS GONNA LOVE THIS!"
"NO! STOP!" Aida yelled, turning red again, before feeling the hand of Keith on her shoulder. He then moved to Aida's front and confronted the three. "Hello everyone... I'm.... I'm Keith." He said.
"HEY MAN!" Oliver said while smiling. Alvin was also grinning and quickly shook his hand, before smirking at Aida, who was still red in color.
Suddenly, the 2 stopped laughing a bit, when they heard sounds of metal thumbing on the ground. It was Gold, menacingly walking towards Keith. The Clan member felt his whole body shake. The more the man in armor got close, the paler he became. Was he going to inspect him? Maybe even worse???
Gold stopped walking, and stared at Keith. He then offered his hand, giving Keith the signal to shake it. Keith was puzzled at first, not knowing exactly what to do. Was he actually trying to shake his hand? But he thought he was-
Nevermind that thought. What matters is that Aida is safe.
Keith shook Gold's hand, and the red soldiers cheered. Alvin smiled while walking towards Aida. "Now let's get you two lovebirds down. We have a new mission from General Kai."
-----
After Jericho's capture and escape, General Ailyn finally met up with Sir William in the secret chamber of the Black Valkyrie Regiment. The place was dark, and was only lit up with torches on the sides. William sat by the fireplace, thinking about why he was called by his general.
"I will be going to The Northern Dukedom to be with Duke Adrien. I heard that he's ill." She said.
"Then who will be leading the regiment?" William retorted. Ailyn smiled and walked towards the exit. She then stopped and faced William. "That's the reason why I called you here." She said.
William immediately stood up from his chair. "No, no, no. Listen- I am not a leader." he said, suddenly walking towards Ailyn.
"You're one of my most trusted men. And you are the most effective. I'm pretty sure I can count on you for that." She replied, now with a grin, before patting his shoulder.
"But general..." William said, taking off his helmet, then taking off his hood. Ailyn turned around and saw William's eyes for the first time. Her lips suddenly turned from a smile, to a tightly closed expression.
"Don't disappoint me, general." She said, now storming out of the headquarters.
William sighed, before staring blankly into the exit. He was now a general, and this meant that a lot of responsibility had now been vested on him.... but especially because of his identity...
"Screw that! I need to focus." He whispered to himself.
When he got out, news spread really quickly about his promotion. This meant that he needed to do a lot of work now that he was a general. Potentially meaning that he needed to take the hardest choices of the secret police of this kingdom, and to make sure that no one uncovers the secrets of this place.
"General. Something's wrong about The Red Blood Regiment." the squad leader said.
"What happened, Sir Andrew?"
"They don't want us to investigate one of the suspects we were looking for. It's about Jericho, sir." Andrew said.
William took some thoughts in his head to think. It would seem that the Red Blood Regiment was up to something no good. Especially that they're gaining more members, this could create more problems. If more people start to embrace Democracy, then the royal family will lose their power more and more. The Magrins have protected Ravena and Karthus for centuries now. Only Solev knew how corruptive Democracy can be, especially given the examples of Vontur and Porthos. And if his hunches were right, they could have a good chance of allying with The Clan of Aeryth.
This was all becoming complicated. He needed to have a break.
"Just keep an eye on them." He said to Andrew, before walking towards the forest. Andrew then ordered more troops to spy on The Red Blood Regiment.
-----
In the forest, William sat huddled under a small tent strung up between four trees, the tent was on the edge of a great tall pine tree forest. He was half out of the tent entrance. He rubbed his hands together and put them out toward his campfire. "Ailyn, you beast This new job that you gave me sure was rough already on the first day." he said, wrapping himself with his black cloak.
He unraveled a few scrolls out of his bag. His eyes glanced over the information on the paper in front of him, he was well... bored. He read a few more scrolls before letting out a large audible sigh. Whatever that was written on those scrolls, was sure as hell something that is not useful anymore.
Especially now that Ailyn knew...
He threw the scrolls in the fire before packing up his gear and rolling up his cloak he was sleeping on. "I need a break from this job." he said, expressing such boredom and exhaustion on his face. Slowly standing up, he grabbed his leather wrapped hunting bow, his sword, knife, and cloak all wrapped up in a bundle. He then tied it all up with a spare belt. He turned back to the rest of his camp and left it there. He didn't need any of it, not this time. He walked into the forest and cautiously looked backwards to make sure he wasn't being followed. "Brothers, on me." He said in a low voice, yet no one answered.
All clear...
He threw the tied contents onto the ground. With one final exhale, his body changed, along with his clothes. Atoms from the fabrics and materials he was wearing turned into living cells that assimilated in his body. It didn't take him that long enough for his body to turn into a larger than normal gray wolf. Using his mouth, he picked up the bundle of items in his mouth and jogged off into the trees for a bit of hunting but somehow he knew deep down he was going to find more than he wanted too.
(End of flashback 2/2)
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