Take My Heart...: Dark Ages - Fantasy (Dark Gods & Tainted Souls Book 3) by julius schenk

it just is, and it’s everywhere.”
    ****
    She saw it in the look on Seth’s troubled face as he stood looking at the boats. After saying his goodbyes to Silver, their unlikely ally, it was time to leave. Of the two of them, she had the most to fear in their journey onwards. She was the one who was a killer in the eyes of her gods. Her uncle had disdained the normal rules of polite society and taught her in the ways of the Guild from childhood, but she still understood murdering people for their abilities was wrong.
    Still she felt such a strong desire to go onwards. It was partly some unknown pulling, but part what her exile had turned her into. In truth, she did regret much of what she had done in her life. If asked to part with the blessings those sins had given her it would be a different question, but at least, she felt guilty about it.
    Seth stood beside her and the Wolvern and simply nodded his head towards the beach.
    “We off then?” she said with a forced smile.
    “It seems that way. You can feel it right?” he said back.
    “Yes I can feel it, but that doesn’t mean I’m not scared,” she said.
    “I’ll be with you,” he said back.

Chapter Ten.
     
    Goldie lay with his head up, looking around the dirt floor tent and listening to the muffled cries and moans of the dying and injured men around him. He’d collapsed face first in the roadway after his chat with the king and was carried under the arms like a sack of shit and dumped into the injured mess of bodies with the rest of the battle damaged Reds. He looked to his left with a groggy head and looked, he’d thought they had won but he hadn’t seen this. Men with pike wounds, missing hands, and fingers, cuts and wounds roughly bound with red stained canvas and homemade bandages.
    A young boy worked on his arm. He had cut the shaft off the arrow with as much care as his shaking hands could and looked at Goldie’s eyes.
    “I have to pull it out, sir,” he said with fear.
    “Then fucking do it, but have a cloth ready,” Goldie said with a sigh. He let his head fall back against the bag of old clothing that served him as a pillow and grit his teeth. Bloody Stellos had to use barbed arrows. He felt the head of the arrow ripping his muscle and flesh as the boy’s weak hands slowly, so slowly, wiggled it free from him. Goldie slapped his hand over his face to stifle a scream and then it was done. The boy held the arrow with a look like he’d seen his first pair of tits and smiled.
    “It’s out!” He then looked at the small river of blood flowing from his patient’s arm and quickly covered the wound with a dirty bandage.
    The room fell quiet as a huge shadow entered.
    “Did you just cry out? I thought Northmen feel no pain,” Farirkar said.
    The big man walked over to Goldie’s side and looked at the shoulder and shook his head.
    “Nasty wound. Now tell me what the fuck is going on. Looks and sounds like a battle and one we were not invited too, the king?” he asked.
    “Short version,” Goldie said though gritted teeth. “New king showed up, killed the duchess, killed Dagosh, killed the Cold Death and now wants to hire us,” he said.
    Farirkar thought for a moment. He could see the injured men in the room, all pairs of eyes on him. He had no love for the duchess, but Dagosh was a nice enough fellow. Still, he hadn’t become a paid killer because he was the sentimental type of person. He’d just won a battle and had 600 troops with their blood still up.
    “To do what and how much?” he said.
    “To run the Twin Plains name through the mud and then take their Keep.”
    “Ha-ha. Take a proper castle and a standing army of thousands and support from every duchy in the area? Why would we want to do something like that?”
    “We wouldn’t, but we should say we do,” Goldie said.
    “Oh, a plan? Are you planning something? Yeah, that sounds fine then. Ok, I’ll get the men ready.” Farirkar patted Goldie on his bad shoulder and walked