Chapter 5: Victoria

I woke to the sound of gunfire ripping through the air and I jumped in surprise. I was disoriented and didn't know where I was, it felt like I had been dreaming for a year, but I remembered it all; the whisper, the runes, the wind, the endless walking and Miere. It didn't feel unreal at all and the memory didn't fade, but it was hard to remember specific details, even words that I had been talking like it was my own native tongue. I felt as if I had lost something, but I didn't have time to worry about that now I realized and shook myself out of it. I was standing on a town plaza and opposite of me was a woman in battle gear decapitating a man the size of an ox with a huge cleaver. That was scary. Around me on the plaza, were dead bodies, some scorched and mauled others just decapitated. They were all misshapen in different ways; a few were bestial with claws and fur and faces that looked like dogs, some had more than one pair of arms or legs, a lot were just very big as if they had been turned halfways into golems and two even looked like they were made of stone. It didn't scare me or even unsettle me at this point, but it did startle me. Apparently neither did the woman, she came straight at me her pistol leveled at my head, but she didn't fire. She stopped right outside the circle and I could see her face clearer as she came into the light of my lantern that laid on the ground. Oh, I still had that, it definitely had not been a dream then. She had cuts and bruises that covered most of her face, but nothing serious it seemed. She wasn't ugly, but not a beauty either, her hair looked like it was done with a pair of broken scissors, she was well trained and tall which made her look kinda tomboyish with the uniform and all. She had piercing green eyes and a strict face.

"Who is the current ruler of Sintrel?" she yelped at me, to which I stuttered incoherently in surprise.

"I-I-I don't eeh... emperor eeeh." I started and she started slowly pulling back the cock of the gun, one click at a time.

"I don't remember, please don't shoot me!" I almost screamed, holding my hands out in front of me in a warding panicky gesture. She looked a bit surprised.

"Okay, on to question number 2 then: what's the name of the recently disappeared arcanus professor of the royal court?"

"Professor D.?" I asked halfway in disbelief, why the hell were she asking those kind of questions? I straightened my back like I had to at court and added in my best formal tone "Professor Daniel Scapidius Mender, or to his students... Professor Dung." I couldn't help myself. I might also have smirked a bit. She smiled and laughed a bit under her breath, but didn't put her gun away just yet.

"Heh, good gracious... kids these days." She continued in a softer tone, more at ease it seemed "Are you Alexandria Skywell Abbot?"

"Yeah." I said and she lowered the gun. "What's with the weird questions?"

"I had to know you weren't another of those witches." She said and then looked at the monsters laying around me on the plaza. "Concerning that... How the hell did you manage to kill that many? It doesn't look like something a 17 year old could do and Sir Abbot didn't mention you being trained in any actual magic. Did he forget that?" She looked at me with her piercing gaze, reading me.

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"Umm that wasn't me." I said honestly. "I wouldn't be able to do that I think."

"You think," she said lifting an eyebrow, and continuing with a smirk "really?"

"Yep, I just got here, ummm woke up actually." I said, poker-faced. I was a pretty good liar, usually, when normal things happened, but this was not really normal so I didn't want to try my luck at the moment. She sighed, rolled her eyes in a 'gods dammit all' fashion and reached behind her back with her free hand and took out a rune stone, I couldn't see which. She muttered some curses to herself, and activated it with some drops of blood. It started to glow a faint blue. She looked at me again and saw the same faint blue glow in her eyes and I couldn't let go.

"Let's repeat. Are you Alexandria Skywell Abbot?." She asked and her voice sounded like silk.

"Yes." I answered happily.

"Did you do this?" She continued while looking me in the eye.

"No," I said.

"Do you know how this happened?" I didn't want to lie to her.

"No, I just got here, but it looks like magic." I said slowly.

"Where did you come from then?"

"The dark lands." I said. She blinked in surprise and the blue glow disappeared, her voice went back to normal.

"What are the dark lands?" she sounded confused, but wasn't questioning what I had told her.

"Did you just hex me?" I asked back, on guard now.

"Yeah, it's a charm so you couldn't lie to me." She said flatly, with no remorse. " I believed you before the whole 'I just got here' thing, but it seemed unreal so I had to check. I guess I'll have to accept that for now."

"And you're accusing me of being a witch." I mumbled. "So, who are you again?"

"Victoria ____, one of the guards your farther hired for the journey to Linchen." she said smiling and continued "and after that the guard he hired to find you after you went missing and the town changed. He fled the town shortly after that, leaving me with one of the other guards, Noel, who's dead now." She looked tired all of a sudden.

"Oh." I said a bit surprised that my dad had left me here with only two guards. "Pleasure to meet you I guess."

"Likewise Alexandria, do you know how to defend yourself?" She asked looking at me, judging. "I can see you've got a mace, but do you know how to use it?" She pointed at my lantern. I looked at my lantern. it had grown a long iron grip since I had woken up, it was probably a gift from Miere.

"Swing it at the bad guys till they die?" I asked hopefully and picked it up. She rolled her eyes again.

"No." she said and looked annoyed at me, "It's not that simple, but it'll have to do for now. Try to aim before you swing at least. I'll teach you if we get back." She turned around on the spot and started marching out of the plaza, fast. I followed her, half running.