Valhala
Chapter 1
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Kevin looked around at their surroundings. They were in a rolling field of grass that stretched for miles in all directions. The sun was at its highest above them, giving warmth and a golden glow to everything it touched. "Where are we?" he asked aloud, looking to see where the others were.
AJ turned around in a full circle and shrugged his shoulders "Beats me, it looks like Kentucky."
Brian who like Kevin, was taking in their surroundings shook his head "Not Kentucky, nothing this beautiful exists anywhere, it must be a dream" he said taking notice of the beautiful blue sky that stretched out as far as the eye could see.
"Are we in Heaven?" Nick asked walking up beside Brian rubbing his eyes like he'd been asleep.
"If it is, I don't ever want to leave" Howie said coming up behind AJ.
"Who are you all? State your names and business in Valhala" a strong female voice demanded from behind them.
They all turned to see a young women riding up to them on a gleaming white horse. She had long black hair that fell half past her back and was streaked with brown-red throughout, except for two strands near her face that were as white as her horse. Her eyes where storm grey with tints of amber, strong and fearless but were no comparison to the eyes of the horse she rode upon. The horse's eyes were a startling sapphire blue, and seemed to glow with a light of there own.
"I'll ask only one more, who are you and state your business here in Valhala" she commanded.
'You'd better do as she says, you do not want to upset Jakara' a voice spoke in their minds.
"Did you hear that?" Nick exclaimed. "Who said that?" he asked looking around.
'I did' and the horse turned her head so she could be eye to eye with him.
"Heed my companion, she does not lie" the woman, Jakara said pointedly.
Kevin walked up before her and said "I am Kevin; we do not know how we came here or why we are here in..." he paused to test the name so foreign to him "Valhala. He is Howie, there is AJ, Brian and Nick" he said pointing to each of them in turn.
"Hello"
"Sup?"
"Hi"
"The horse talked!"
Jakara smiled a bit and relaxed, feeling that these men were no threat to Valhala or the royal family. "Of course my companion talks...Aketa usually doesn't know when to shut up" she said laughing a bit. "Where in the Outerlands are you from?" she asked.
"Outerlands?" Kevin questioned.
"All lands or kingdoms outside of Valhala are considered Outerlands."
"Umm...we are from North America" he said unsure of himself.
'You are not of this world' Aketa said firmly.'I felt a dimensional tear last night'
Jakara looked at her companion questioningly 'You are sure?' she mindspoke to her. Aketa nodded affirmatively. "You have come to Valhala at a distressing time strangers, we are at war with Ikichka and it is not safe here. You must come with me to Valkara where you will be protected" she told them.
Nick looked thoughful "I could hear you when you spoke to her" he told her.
Jakara blinked and rocked back in the saddle in surprise 'Aketa, he can hear mindspeech, is he gifted?' she asked quickly.
Aketa stared long and hard at Nick 'He has a very powerful gift of mindspeech. He also has the mage-gift' she told her trying to shield this from Nick.
"I still heard you and what is a mage gift?" he asked.
It was Aketa this time who reared back in surprise for no one had ever penetrated her shields before. 'He must be trained Jakara, the others too. They all have gifts, I just will not take the time to probe them here' she said hurriedly.
"Come on, I'll lead you to Valkara, it is about a days walk from here, but there is a rest haven about 3 candlemarks from here" Jakara said as she turned Aketa around and slowly walked towards the woods some distance away.
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