The Queen's Pillars, Chapter 7

Hisako was used to unpleasant dreams, really.  She never rested easy, as it were, often dreaming of the past, and her past was a rough one.  But for all the nightmares she got, and for how distressingly calmly she usually dealt with them, she never felt like she needed to look into it.  It was another part of the list of things she simply got over in her long years.  That, of course, doesn't mean she necessarily liked them.

This one was no different.  And yet, it was.  This was the first time she dreamt of before she became an Unbroken in a very long time.  She knew why, of course.  The hellhound's words reminded her of those fearful moments.  But then, she hadn't truly forgotten this memory, only pushed it down into the farthest reaches of her mind.  No, she remembered this quite clearly, much as she’d prefer not to.

She was running through a forest, naught but weeks after her body changed into what it is now.  But this wasn't the usual, playful bounding she was used to with her siblings.  This was frantic, wild, and from a major threat: the paladins.  Powerful, armored in some of the strongest – and heaviest – metal forgeable, and carrying weapons made specifically to kill her kind.  She found some humor noting that her own armor was stronger (and heavier) than even theirs’, but the dream never stopped.  She knew why she was in this situation, so unused to her new body and its wants that she found had begun touching herself to the sight of the most rugged of the four that was chasing her currently, and was quickly discovered.  That same unfamiliarity with her body caused her to trip over a log when she attempted to jump over it.

The four surrounded her, normal silver blades at the ready, obviously knowing the new ineffectiveness of demon silver weaponry.  The leader reached out, and once he grabbed her, electricity coursed through him, but it affected her as well, letting her reach a point of ecstasy she had yet not found on her own.  Once he released her, significantly more affected by it than her, one went to check on him while another kicked her in the head.  That brought her out of her moment, and a stomp to her arm brought her back to the current one.  She barely had time to react before a blade was shoved through her chest, then twisted and wrenched out.  As they absconded the scene, carrying their fallen, but somehow living brother, her own brother snuck to her side and cradled her in his arms.

“Hisako,” Minato whispered, crying, barely able to keep quiet as he watched his little sister fade in his presence.

“Hisako, stay with me,” he whispered again, louder, but this his voice sounded off, more… feminine, she supposed.

“Hisako, wake up,” he said…  wait, no, that wasn't right.  And again, his voice sounded wrong, this time far more noticeable.

“Hisako!”  This one was yelled before she had the time to fully register what he said before.  His voice was now gone, replaced by something she had only heard recently.

“Hisako!”

-

Hisako woke, to find herself once again surrounded by four people, though this time they weren't enemies.  Belial was standing over her, likely the only time that would happen, stamping her hoof on the floor.  It was obvious she had been the one to call her name.  Aquilina was beside her, tossing her whetstone between her hands, with some undefined expression.  Jehona was on the other side of the bed, simply staring at her with her hands behind her back.  Vapula, right next to Jehona, was pinching the bridge of her nose, and shaking her head.

“Oh, good,” Belial said.  “You’re awake.  You know, we’ve been waiting for you to wake up since sunrise.  Jehona was just about to-”

“Do absolutely nothing,” Jehona finished, looking admittedly calm about the situation.

Hisako looked over to Jehona, now.  Her eyes were unwavering, and she was completely straight faced.  In essence, she looked like a model soldier awaiting orders from her commander.  Belial was now staring at Jehona, as was Aquilina for that matter, still with that same expression.  She looked back to Jehona, who hadn't moved a muscle.  She sighed, then got off the bed, having never bothered to do more than sleep on top of everything, and went to don her cleaned, but still matte armor.

“Did you sleep well?” Aquilina asked, the creaks of the wrought iron stand Hisako had her armor on doing nothing to disturb her.

“Well enough.”  It was a wonder how she donned and doffed the armor alone, to say nothing of even wearing it, but she made it look easy.  “I could have dreamt more pleasantly.”  They waved her on.  “I dreamt of getting the first of my scars.  The one through my chest.  I got it from the original paladins, back when they were something worthy of their position.  Is that descriptive enough?”

“I can only guess how scarring a near death experience must have been.”  Vapula now let her head down, and brought her hands to her front, sullenly.

“Other than the physical one, no,” Hisako continued, now fitting her gauntlets on as she began to exit her room.  “Though, that was more than enough.  And Jehona, use sticky mushroom sap.  It can be just as warm or cold, and takes far longer to clean up.”

Jehona, who had began to drink from a sizeable flask, almost choked on the water as she heard that.  Aquilina, for her own part, stumbled, but still managed to catch her whetstone.  Belial and Vapula just stared at Hisako as if she had a strange new growth coming from her head.  In some ways, though, the smirk on her face was just that to them.

“I have had companions before you, you know.”

-

Entering the dining hall, the same routine as had always occurred; each of the Pillars would stock their plates with varying foods, Hisako getting more than anyone in the building should be capable of eating.  As they sat, and Hisako began ripping into her food (less savagely than when she first arrived), Aquilina spoke up.

“So about yesterday's ‘talk’ I mentioned.”  She looked to make sure Hisako was listening.  Upon getting affirmation, she continued.  “I think we all deserve to know this about our newest companion: what made you like you are?  I know that, as a first generation, you’re probably more used to death than any of us, but you’ve made into an art, if how swiftly you mutilated the Black Dogs tells me anything.”

Hisako’s chewing halted for a moment, then resumed before she slowly swallowed.  “As I told you in my room, I was stabbed through the chest.  When I came back from that injury, I will admit, I didn't immediately take on my thought process.  Future events caused that.  Now, I take up the role of executioner of those undeserving of life.  It makes life for myself, and often others easier.”

“Events?  Such as?”

“I've watched humans burn down villages and cut down each other based on nothing but a rumor, and a whim.” She stabbed a knife into the table, no longer eating with it.  “I’ve seen men, whether they were bandits, or nobles, dragging around women who were blinded, branded, and broken, and ready to be thrown away at a moment's notice.  That was when I realized that not all humans deserve to live.

“But I soon learned the same of monsters.  There are monsters who lead those same groups of bandits, knowing what they may do to men and women if given the chance.  Monsters that have taken over cities because they believed that they were morally correct, because they believed that the people was miserable before them.”  She looked over to Belial, now.  “I have seen your kind kidnap and turn children to monsters against their whim for the same reason.”

A crescent shaped blade was at Hisako’s throat.  The other Pillars jumped back, magic already flaring in the hands of those that could use it.  The day shift castle guards also looked over to the sight, some looking intrigued to see a potential battle between the two supposed strongest of the Queen's Pillars.  Alexi herself looked ready to jump in if it was necessary, confident she could hold them back.  Though, Hisako’s calm face told her she might not need to.

“I am nothing like my sisters,” Belial said, “and don't you ever forget that.”

Hisako continued to stare at her.  Then, as she began to unconsciously pull the knife from the table, the doors to the dining room slammed open.  Through the doors walked a golden haired man of immense presence, covered in steel plate.  Across his face was a scar nearly identical to Alexi’s own, leaving only his purple hued right eye useful.  Though Hisako had never met this man, she recognized his face as one that frequently accompanied the queen’s in paintings.  Obviously, this was the king.

“Ah, Leander!  Welcome back, my love,” Alexi said, confirming Hisako’s thoughts.  “But you seem to have caught us a poor time.  And, I do believe that you have yet to meet my newest Pillar, what with you being gone for so long.  Hisako, if you would kindly?”

Hisako immediately went over to the king, and knelt, as if her current altercation was nonexistent.  “My king.  It is an honor to finally meet you.  You will be happy to know that I am making myself as useful as possible.”

As Hisako knelt, she didn't notice the look of recognition come upon his face; the rest of the room, however, did.  “Alexi,” he began, “can you come with me?  I have something I wish to speak to you about.  In private.”

Hisako looked back at him with a cocked eyebrow.  As she looked back to Alexi, she could see that she was already halfway across the dining room.  As they walked out, she stayed where she was for a moment, then stood and went back to her nearly cleaned plate of food, thinking of how greedy she would seem if she went for a second plate.  Noting the still tense air, she looked over to Belial.

“I am sorry.  I should not judge you on the actions of others.”  Whether she recognized the irony of those words was not known by the rest of the Pillars.

-

Meanwhile, outside the dining hall, Leander seemed quite afraid, if his constant glancing around was truthful.  “Alexi.  While I was gone, I heard more news of the Black Knight roaming the continent.  The same one who infamously killed one of the last of the old dullahans still alive.  In fact, there were now posters of the face of this person with a bounty large enough to buy a small kingdom.”

“Oh, I know where you're going with this,” Alexi practically scoffed, though there was a lack of seriousness to it.

He raised a hand up to stop her.  “Then why is the Black Knight sitting in the dining hall?  Worse yet, why is she wearing the same armor as your mother?”

“This does seem bad, harboring and officially conscripting a known, wanted criminal,” Alexi said.  “But you know what kind of prowess she must bear to have that kind of fame-”

“Infamy,” he corrected.

“Fame, as well as beat Ojibwe.  And I have seen her power, too.  It’s like nothing I've ever seen.”  At Leander’s raised eyebrow, she sighed.  “I thought she wouldn't be much, at first, admittedly.  Some covered in armor like that, I just assumed that she was simply a fighter, like Aquilina.  But she knows how to control lightning like none other.  On the first day she arrived, she turned a near night sky bright again in one attack, and that wasn't even the full extent of it!  With those abilities at my side, I could become the new Demon Lord!  I could stop, or at least slow the inevitable extinction of humans and monsters that my mother is trying to cause.”

“That may be,” Leander responded, “but I remember you saying that you didn't want to kill her.  You told me it went against your beliefs to take a life, no matter how necessary it seemed sometimes.  And throughout the decades we have been together, you have stuck to that belief.  How do you know the same will be capable with her - with Hisako?”

She sighed.  She recognized this, but hoped to change Hisako enough to make her more willing to spare (and perhaps, not mutilate) her victims.  “I just need time with her.  And she needs time with my Pillars.  But if that doesn't work… well, I know that I won't need to find a place to hold mother, in any case.

“And speaking of time,” Alexi’s expression suddenly turned lecherous, as she licked her lips and spoke in a voice like a purr.  She moved closer to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, and her tail around his waist.  “You’ve been away for so long, and I have missed my dear husband so much.  I do believe you owe me at least an hour of your time, in our bedchambers.”

Leander now felt incredibly warm, particularly below the waist.  His previous hunger was now ignored, and a new, carnal one welled within him.  He knew what was going on; he recognized the feel of demonic magic enveloping him.  Not that he was against it, of course.  He had just wished he could get a decent meal before this happened.

-

“You have a problem.”  Jehona’s words cut deep, despite how simple they were.

“I know.”  Hisako’s response was only simpler, yet all the same telling of her thoughts.  They were sitting under a tree in the barrack grounds, watching the soldiers train.  Hisako had wished to survey the soldiers’ regimens, and perhaps modify them if she could find a way to make them more effective.  Jehona had followed her, impossibly quiet; had she willed it, Hisako would have never known she was there.

“The others don't very much like you,” Jehona continued.  “But we're also worried about you, dear Hisako.  We can tell you're not insane; if that were the case, you wouldn't follow orders better than some of the soldiers.  But you are angry.  And not just at the humans who have wronged you, nor the monsters who give humans reason to hate us.  You're angry at yourself.”

Hisako’s tail, up to this point still, stiffened slightly.  “How do you guess that?”

“Everyone always says that age brings wisdom.”  Jehona leaned back, and crossed her hands behind her head.  “Well, at the ripe age of 23, I wouldn't call myself old.  Lucky for me, that adage isn't entirely true.  Age doesn't bring wisdom: experience does.  And between the amazon who won't even call the people who raised her ‘mother and father,’ the baphomet who spent most of her life in the Sabbath, and the demon who’s simultaneously lived the social lives of a monk and a mage, I’d say the dhampir that lived in the slums of Oikos gets ‘people’ the best, if nothing else.

“But more importantly, that dhampir can tell there's something else underneath all the hate - towards others or towards yourself - that you exude.”  Suddenly, she was very serious.  “Something happened to you, or maybe someone you knew, and that's why you're like this.  It lead you down a path that can only end when you have become ostracized by the world, and everything in it becomes your enemy.  And neither of those is something we want, as much as you may act saying differently.”

The loud clatter and thud of a sword and body hitting the ground resounded in the field.  Poor form and an even poorer defense left a soldier, obviously new, open to a slash across the face.  Luckily, they practiced with demon silver weaponry, or he would have been dead before his first assignment.  Hisako grimaced as she saw this; she had expected this as she watched him, but that didn't make it any less dissatisfying.

“You are right,” Hisako said. “More so, I understand what you mean.  I have grown into a habit of not letting anyone in, emotionally.  And for those who try to do the same, I find ways to either scare them off or make them enemies.  Circumstances, I suppose, have left me incapable of ‘getting’ people as you do.”

“Well, why not give it a fresh try?”  Jehona looked over to the young squire.  “He looks like he might need a little bit of extra help, and I can't think of anyone better to give it.  And, this could give you a chance to not be the ‘disturbing raiju who broke a kid’s body’ in the soldiers’ eyes.  Maybe you can be the ‘disturbing raiju who's on our side’, instead.”

Hisako thought for a short time, before deciding that was a good, or at least decent, idea.  She stood and rolled her shoulders, and walked over to the trainee, who had only just gotten back up.  She kicked the sword up, and caught it from the air; she didn’t notice Jehona rolling her eyes at the obvious showing-off.  She gave the two handed sword a few swings to test the weight, before handing it over to him, who took it, eyes wide and mouth gaped; admittedly, so were the rest of the knights.  She walked over to another knight, and held her hand out.

“May I?”  She asked.  His sword was handed over, slightly bigger than the other.  She could still work with it.  She went back to the squire.  “What is your name?”

He stayed quiet for awhile, before he registered what was asked of him.  “Oscar, ma’am.  Of House Redveil.”

Hisako nodded.  “Then, Oscar, what I need of you is to hit me.”  He was shocked by the request, but took on a serious face, and ran towards her, going for a stab.  He was easily dodged, and was stopped with the flat of her blade at his neck.

“The first mistake you made was rushing me.  Engage your opponent slowly, unless you are fast enough to enter their range before they can react.  Second, you told your attack before you made it.  Go for quick, unpredictable strikes, so your opponent has less time dodge or counter.”  She removed the sword from his throat, and walked away from him.  “Try again.”

Oscar, shaking off his fear once again, got into a stance, and began slowly approaching her.  Once in range, he goaded her, trying to force her to attack so he could counter; however, Hisako was far faster than he thought.  She struck past his guard, catching him in his hand, and forcing him to drop his weapon.  When he winced at the pain, the blade was back at his throat.

“Better,” Hisako said.  “But what I said does not mean that you should ignore offense.  Overwhelming your opponent with attacks can be a strategy on its own.  And never look away from the fight.  Death comes quick that way.  Now try again.”

-

“Now what?”

It was several hours later at this point, about midday.  As it turned out, Oscar wasn't the only one who wanted training, and it was decided that, unless the queen required her, she would be back regularly, and potentially personally tutor future recruits.  But now that was over, and she was left with nothing on her hands.

“Now, I believe that you should talk your newest enemy,” Jehona said, thinking back to the morning.  Hisako, for her part, groaned at that.  She had in some sense insulted Belial, but what she said was true, as far as she knew.  But, perhaps she should listen to her; Jehona was blatantly better at this than her.  When Hisako nodded, she smiled.  “Then follow me.  I know just where she goes to vent.”

So, Hisako trailed behind Jehona, going around the side of the castle to the back, than into the forest surrounding the broken, but still stories high tower.  She walked them through several turns, before ending at a clearing where the sounds of grunting, and a blade striking trees came from.  In it was, as Jehona had said would be, Belial, angrily swinging her weapon in its scythe form.  Hisako was given a light push forwards, telling her that this was something she should do alone.

“Belial,” she began.  She had barely gotten the name out before the sword was thrown at her.  She caught it when it was in range, such was her speed, but a niggling feeling in the back of her head told her that she deserved the attack.  She chose to ignore that feeling.  “I see you are still angry.  Perhaps I should leave you to yourself.”  A pebble struck her in the back of the head.  “But you deserve a proper apology, so I will stay.”

“Why are you here?”  Belial spat out with a sneer.  “Are you looking to insult me again?”

“No,” Hisako said, getting down to her knees in her semblance of a meditative position.  She laid the caught weapon in front of her as she would her own.  “What I wish to know is why you were angered.”

Belial stared at her for a short, awkward moment.  Then, she walked over to her sword, grabbed it, and sent it back to whatever plane it resided when out of use with a purple wisp.  Then, she sat down in front of Hisako with a sigh.  “When I was still part of the Sabbath, we would find places, like the really shitty orphanages or rings where kids would get abused, and we’d rescue them.  The children would be raised to be ‘upstanding members of society’; then the boys would usually find their way back into the lap of a Sabbath member, and the girls would be given a choice to turn into monsters, like their ‘mothers’.”

“That seems like a double standard, giving the girls a choice and making the boys become someone’s husband.”  Another pebble struck her head.  “Although, I will assume that you had your reasons for this.  Not that you need to explain them.”

Belial glared slightly at her, before continuing.  “It was good work, I liked to think.  We were giving kids another chance at life, and usually expanding the Sabbath.  Then… we stopped making it a choice.  I had my hang ups about that, but I didn’t question them.  I wasn’t supposed to, since orders like that must have come from Baphomet Regis, and as one of her lieutenants, my job was just following them.

“Then we started kidnapping people outright, first adults that we would indoctrinate to follow our beliefs, then children soon after.”  She scoffed, though this time at herself more than anything else.  “That was more than I could take as a believer of the cause.”

Hisako only nodded at her words.  “It took you some time to follow your moral compass.”  A third pebble hit her left temple.    If Belial wastaking notice to thsi, she wasn't showing it.  “But thank you for sharing this with me.  This was enlightening, in some way.”

“Yeah,” Belial said.  “I hope you got a kick out of hearing my shit life story.  Maybe learn some new things to not do in life.”

Hisako then let loose a rare chuckle, then stood.  “You know, self-loathing is not a good look on you.  But at least you are self aware enough to recognize your mistakes, and to try at fixing it.  Some people don't make it that far."  She looked around the clearing, and when she couldn't find Jehona, she nodded to herself.  "Now, we should head back, lest someone think that we killed each other.”

-

As Hisako and Belial returned to the castle grounds, they quickly noticed that every guard that was supposed to be inside were, well, not.  Even the rest of the Pillars, plus Jehona and a heavily clothed, sickly looking man Hisako had yet to see next to Vapula, were standing with them.  Hisako was reasonably confused by this, and Belial significantly less so.

“He has been gone for awhile, now,” Belial could only say.  Hisako rose an eyebrow at that, then widened her eyes soon after.  That remark let her understand the situation well enough.  That much demonic energy being generated would incubize most of the men, and an incubus without a wife was ready to abandon post at a moment's notice.  It was likely also very loud, and no one wanted to go deaf like that, but that was less important.

When the two convened with the rest of the Pillars, Jehona smiled slightly at seeing them not at each other's throat.  “Where have you been?” Aquilina asked, to neither of them in particular.

“Training the guards,” Hisako answered.

“Venting,” Belial answered in turn.

Aquilina looked at both of them.  She shook her head, then continued.  “We were planning to use this time to give you a tour of the city, Hisako, since Vapula had to bring her husband out of the castle.”

At his mention, the pale, scrawny blonde man (who was noted to lack the purple eyes that all incubi had) walked up to her.  He coughed a few times into his hand, pulling it away tinted red.  “Hello, Miss Tanaka.  I am Michael.  I have heard of you, from Vapula, and from people in the town, though only as the Black Knight.  You are certainly more imposing than those descriptions implied.”  He stuck out the hand that he hadn't coughed into, which she took in a firm grip.  When he winced in pain, she immediately released his hand.  When he clutched at his head instead, she was somewhat relieved that she hadn't accidentally crushed his hand.

Vapula caught him before he could fall, then clenched her teeth.  “Dammit, I came here to cure you of this illness, and somehow it just keeps getting worse!  Hisako, do you know what this kind of illness could be?  You must have seen something like this before!”

Hisako only shook her head.  “This is nothing like I have encountered in my life.  I am deeply sorry.”

“Well, we should go, either way,” Michael said, still holding his head.  “It’s not like staying here is helping matters.  We need to show her her new home!”  He then heard a growling stomach, muffled under metal.  “And a meal.”

So, to the city they went, and specifically to an inn, as Hisako was, to the bewilderment of her companions, hungry once more.

Or that was the plan, until she bumped into, of all people, another raiju, in a black, white, and blue silk kimono that left little to the imagination.  The other raiju fell as Hisako walked into her as she was walking out of the cheap inn the Pillars were planning to go to (as Jehona said, “It can't afford to be expensive, so they have to make their food taste good, of all things.”).

“Making a good impression on the people knocking them down like that, Hisako,” Jehona said.  Admittedly, Hisako was helping the woman up to her feet, but the point still stuck.  Perhaps walking around in her armor wasn't the best thing to do all the time.

The other raiju, however, sputtered suddenly.  “Wait, your name is Hisako?  Did… did you have a brother, named Minato?”

Hisako was now far more hostile, as were the rest of the Pillars.  “How do you know that about me?”

The raiju’s eyes widened as she waved her hands in front of her, trying to calm her.  “He’s my father!  He told me about you, a few years ago!”  And just as quickly as she began waving, she stopped, and became far more questioning.  “But, that shouldn't be possible…”

Now was Hisako’s turn to widen her eyes, as a sudden realization hit her.  “Oh no.”

“He told me you had died 600 years ago, after the Convergence.”