Kriss van Valnor is one of the world's best archerers. They say she can hit the beak of a flying bird with her arrows. She has a lot of enemies but is by many regarded as the best of her kind. The assassin kind, that is. It is almost impossible to keep her in captivity, she escapes all perils without much trouble and, because she has the good looks and the keen approach toward men, she is likely to have strong companions. But she's also mean, ruthless and vain, she cheats, lies and is not easily willing to share things. 
When Kriss van Valnor was twenty years old she, with the help of her partner at that time, Sigwald de verbrande (the burned), broke in into the holy tower of Kerridwen and stole the sacred Bloodstone. But they were caught a little later. Sigwald was killed and Kriss was taken prisoner, raped and probably kept alive to be played with again later. Before that could happen however she was rescued by Thorgal Aegirsson and his men. With Sigwald dead he, Thorgal, became her teammate at an Archers tournament and their team proved to be the strongest, bravest and most skilful. It was the second time Kriss met Thorgal but she would never forget him. They didn't part as friends though.
Later she forced this same Thorgal to join her in a hazardous adventure which could make her very rich and put an end to tyranny in a far away country. Aaricia, the wife of Thorgal, came along. The two women hated each other but in the end the team succeeded in their plan. Kriss double-crossed them however and tried to get away with their reward. And she got away indeed, and was very rich, for a while. But she had to escape through the desert and had to leave most of her gold behind under the burning sun. She then took the lead over a bunch of rebels who had escaped from slavery by a local tyrant.  There Thorgal crossed her path again. Kriss had battled this young strong man more than once but she nevertheless felt attracted to him. They were one of a kind. But there was a thin line of morality, or a border called justice, or a difference in their opinion of what's right and what's wrong that always stood between them. Kriss liked him but that border always was there and couldn't be crossed. Then one day during a strange adventure Thorgal lost his memory. Kriss didn't hesitate and called herself his wife. She told Thorgal that his name was Shaigan. She and Shaigan proved to be a strong team and within years they made a small fortune in the business of slave trade. For a long time she was Queen of the coast, was rich and feared  and hated by enemy and ally. And to make her victory complete Kriss lured Aaricia, the former wife of Thorgal, in to an ambush and took her as a personal slave. Aaricia managed to escape however with the help of her son Jolan. With that the fall of Kriss van Valnor began. One day a prisoner was brought to her castle and that prisoner recognized Shaigan from years before when Shaigan was still Thorgal. After having spoken with him Thorgal left Kriss in search of his lost life. 
Kriss tried to command her band of pirates on her own for a while, but her strength and skills were not enough to make the pirates to take orders from a woman and she had to run. She took to the sea in a small boat but lost her bearings. She was picked up by a Roman galleon, was molested by the captain of the vessel but wounded him so badly that she immediately was sentenced to do twelve years in the terrifying silver mines. One grows old within weeks working in the mines and Kriss soon manages to work, bribe and cheat herself up to become a guard. During these times or maybe earlier she gave birth to a boy, Aniël, son of Thorgal. They took the boy away, cut in two  his vocal cords and brought him outside the prison were he would learn the trade of melting and welding silver.
Two years later she finds out her old enemy Aaricia, wife of Thorgal, works in the mines, together with her son Jolan. This boy has strong mental powers and with that they should be able to escape the mines. They manage to escape from the mines indeed and a long journey over land and sea is what follows. They even find Thorgal who is wounded and exhausted and in a very bad shape. 
But their escape had not gone unnoticed and when they made their way upstream in a narrow canyon, they were almost overtaken by a detachment of Roman soldiers. Here Kriss finally met her equals and she was crippled by two arrows, the deadly projectiles fired from the weapon she so much favors herself. In the canyon she took position to hold up the enemy as long as she could and so allow Aaricia and her family, to escape.

And that is the story so far. It seems the end of an era. The historians who are as always still digging in the past of long forgotten  heroes and heroines dig deeper and deeper, but have not been able yet to dig up the dead body of Kriss van Valnor.

She and Aaricia never became friends