The Queen's Pillars, Chapter 9

The sound of metals shuffling against themselves resounded throughout the clearing behind Queen Alexi's castle, as 50 soldiers - ones Hisako had picked out with seemingly high potentials - ran around the outskirts in their full kits.  Hisako had found that the perimeter was close enough to a mile and a half, so running this three times was good enough for her training regimen for them, until she inevitably makes it tougher.  Of course, she ran with them, and in her own armor; that wasn’t close to an issue for her, who could run as many laps as there were men she was training.  It was also good for morale, seeing their drill master go through all that they were.

And, admittedly, she had been eating far more as a Pillar than she ever had, and wasn't going to let the abs she had worked so hard for turn to fat.

The four onlookers of this, the rest of the Pillars, had very mixed feelings about this.  It had been three days ago that they all learned of Hisako's old title, what little it had meant to them, and so they had a very different idea about her.  Still not an exceedingly pleasant idea, but a different one, nonetheless.  But they were happy to see that she had something to do other than patrol and train, generally alone, for hours on end.

“Do you think she hates us?”  Vapula asked.

Jehona shook her head.  “If she hated us, we'd know.  At least, I'd know.  Why?”

“Goes out of her way to ignore us,” Aquilina said, then frowned.  “Didn't do well bringing her into the family, either.  Not that she seemed to want to be a part of it in the first place.”

Jehona thought of this, and shrugged.  “I've known a lot of people like that.  All stone walls and heavily armed guards on the outside, but soft...ish, on the inside.  Someone like her…” her gaze caught Hisako, now finished with their run, yelling at a soldier not going low enough for a pushup.  She even went as far as to point him out, physically and verbally, while still banging out sets with the hand that wasn't pointing for further insult.

“She probably has walls some meters thick.  She's been doing this for 600 years, yeah?  She’s told us that she had companions once before us, even.”  She thought back to her old crew of thieves, to how tightly knit they were.  Just her luck one of the newbies had loose lips.  “Maybe she needs some time to get used to us, lower the defenses some.  Don't forget, it hasn't even been a month yet, long as it may feel.”

“Still don't like it.”

“Then take a page from her book, and learn to ignore.  She’ll come to us, eventually.”

“She's a soldier type,” Belial said.  “Eventually could be next year, for all we know.  But, people like that usually have watering holes they prefer.”  At the looks of confusion from Vapula and Aquilina, she sighed.  “Drinking spots, places to drown your sorrows and find life's answers at the bottom of whatever swill you can afford.  Even I had one, just with less alcohol.”

“She doesn't look like a drinker.”

“None of the good ones do.”

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As it happened, some stereotypes are not meant to be broken.  Jehona had trailed Hisako, unarmed and mostly unarmored, the next night to a decent looking tavern called the Crow's Nest, and though she knew she should have told the others, she figured they could wait a bit longer.  Once Hisako had been inside for 7 minutes, Jehona entered as well, quickly spotted her target at a table, and skulked her way up to Hisako, sliding into the bench.

“Do you make it a habit of stalking people you want to be friends with?”  If she was surprised by Jehona’s presence, she hid it well.

Jehona faked being insulted, however was not going to falter from such basic verbal attacks.  Not when she had so much ammo herself.  “Just the ones that keep themselves closed off from the world.  And besides, I wanted to test myself, and see if I could hide from you without the metal covering my noises.”

Hisako nodded, then poured a shot, an amber colored liquid filling the glass.  “Then a success on your part.  So what do you want?”

Jehona grabbed the shot before Hisako could do so.  “A little goat mentioned how much soldiers like their drink to a monk, a princess, and a thief.  Personally, I say to let things like this happen naturally, but I figured it would be worth it to check.”  She downed the shot, expecting a burn, but obviously not as much of a burn.  She coughed for a few seconds before she could even think of settling.  “You might not exactly be a soldier, but it seems she was right.”

Hisako actually laughed at that, a whole two notes of sound.  “So it seems.  Then I should be expecting further company.”  Another of her usual almost questions.  She reached back for the glass, and poured another shot.

“I’d say no, but Vapula’s probably scrying me right now,” Jehona said, this time not daring to take the drink.  “And soon, she’ll be able to do the same to you.  Soon, you’ll never be able to run from us again.”

“So long as she gives me some privacy, I will be fine,” Hisako joked.  “And I do not run from anything, or anyone.”

Jehona smiled.  She loved riling people up, making them do things without actually using much pressure, and Hisako was so easy to push.  She just had to make it seem like a challenge.  “From how you dodge us sometimes, I feel like you’re a liar.”

Hisako grunted, and drank her shot, but Jehona knew the seeds were sown.  She would inevitably try to prove her wrong, and actively engage with the other Pillars in ways that weren’t combative.  And like so, her walls would crumble from the inside, and she would open herself up, revealing to all her soft spots to be prodded at.

… She would work on that metaphor.  But before she could tackle that, a group of armed humans walked into the bar.  Knights, she knew, from the way that they held themselves, and the toughness they tried to exude.  Hisako didn’t seem to care about them, though considering everything, that wasn’t without reason.

“We’re looking for the Black Knight,” the leader, a man with graying hair, said.  Jehona had heard the name before, and could easily assume who that was among these people from the description on the wanted posters.  Yet, when she looked back to who that had to be, she still didn’t seem to care about them, and instead just poured another shot.

“Who’s asking?” The bartender said.  Obviously, he was not looking forward to any fights in his establishment, or the mess that he usually had to clean up afterwards.  But then, he likely wouldn’t say anything anyway.  Those wanted posters were made by the Order, and no one here liked or respected them, the ‘Black Knight’ likely even less so.

“Someone more important than you,” one of the younger ones said, before he could he stopped by the leader.  He glared, cowing the youth easily, then spoke himself.

“If you see her, tell her that the Jailer has new prisoners to be dealt with.  And give her this.”  When the ‘Jailer’ was mentioned, Hisako suddenly looked up at them, soon enough to see the handoff, but they just as quickly left.  “Ladies,” he said, nodding as he walked past them, a courtesy not all of the knights gave.

When they cleared out, Jehona looked back at Hisako, her curiosity of the raiju all the more intense.  “You have a lot of secrets that just reveal themselves, I’ve noticed.”

As Hisako sighed, and went to pick up whatever they had left, she could only nod.  “Indeed.”

The handoff was a piece of paper.  To most, it was blank.  Hisako knew better than that, though, and let her energy run through it, to reveal a simple message.

‘They're back’

Hisako stared as the words faded away as the electrical current halted.  Jehona obviously read the words as well, but the significance of such a basic warning was lost on her.  Hisako however, sighed once again, grabbed the half full bottle, and brought it to her lips, finishing its contents.

“I assume you’re well acquainted with whoever this is?”  Jehona asked, sarcasm oozing thick like syrup from a tree tap.

When the bottle was finally empty, Hisako rather calmly brought it from her mouth, and placed it down on the table.  For several long seconds, not a sound came from either of them, not even a hiccup or a sigh from the recent imbiber.

“If I see him again, I am going to rip his chest open and show him his heart.”

Jehona was only slightly taken aback at this point.

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Apollyon was happy to be free once more.  It knew Hisako disliked letting it out, but that was fine.  It cared not for what its host thought, much as it seemed to worry.  No, it only needed Hisako is the same sense that a ship needed an anchor.  Without her, Apollyon would be forced to wander aimlessly, never able to settle in one place for too long.  This was an annoying prospect to it, never being able to sit and rest as it, admittedly, had been doing for a decade or so.

But it still enjoyed to move, as it was doing now, outside of Hisako’s knowledge.  And, it had a purpose for doing so, as it trailed through the castle.  None would notice it, of course; the castle was dark at this time of night, and any patrolman were likely lacking a darkvision capable to see even somewhat well.  And even then, it could literally move through the shadows.  It wouldn’t be seen unless it wanted to be.

It travelled, until it reached the Queen’s quarters, an ornately decorated place of thick carpets, furred blankets, silk sheets and other such fancy trappings.  But most important, was the Queen herself, getting ready for bed.  She stripped off her robes, leaving her in only a pair of panties, something of great enjoyment to her husband, whose own underwear tented in approval.  This was of no problem to Apollyon, who knew it would just have to wait for however long this took.

And wait it did, as it lay in the shadows for at least half an hour, watching.  It would have been unnerving for the two to find someone watching them, however more unnerving was Apollyon’s complete lack of a reaction to their act.  But they never saw, just as Apollyon never flinched.  When they finished, for the final time at that, they went to sleep, and it waited for an hour longer, so as to make sure Alexi was truly asleep.  Then, it slinked out of the shadows, moving towards her.  It felt a pressure as it approached, unfamiliar to it, obviously heavily suppressed yet still so present.  It reached its essence out, and felt the aura that came from her.

And was swiftly overwhelmed by it.

It snapped back, soundless, yet surprised.  That shouldn’t have happened.  That wasn’t possible.  Nothing could be that corruptive, save for a few things that it knew of.  But it would have felt them prior to this.  And most couldn’t do that to it, not without knowing what it was.  There was an obvious possibility, but the queen had no traces of abyssal energy within her, no more than anyone who wasn’t an Unbroken, daughter of one she may have been.

Future developments, it decided.  Still, its hypothesis was proven accurate.  There was something more to this lilim.  And eventually, it would tell Hisako about this, when she finally found a place in her newest family.  Until then, this was Apollyon’s secret to keep.  So, back to the shadows it went, and from the castle it weaved, to return to its host without her ever knowing it was gone.

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Vapula hated herself, sometimes, and as she looked at Michael's weakened, bedridden form, she knew why.  While she loved him no less now than she did then, when they had first met, she still recognized that he was not the man he used to be.  He was a stone wall of a man, strong, unwavering, and protective.  But around her, he was gentle, doing what he could to not bring her pain; though, he didn't know how tough she truly was.  And yet, even after learning what she could do, he had not changed, still trying to be her shield, still making her seem better than she actually was.  Some might call it insulting; she found it so adorably charming, she could only love him more for it.

But now?  He could hardly stand for too long, and even then, she had to help him with that.  It was why she had learned to use magic in the first place.  To cure him of this illness, so he could go back to being her wall.  But every time she thought she had found something to help him, it never did.  She had even made a catalyst to turn her demonic energy to spirit energy, to give her more options, yet still nothing.  She could do nothing, healers across the world could do nothing, she had even resorted to a cleric, of all people, and it never worked.  All she can do is hope she can find an answer, all while she watched as he slowly died.

"Vapula."  Michael's voice took her from her thoughts.  "You have that look on your face.  The one that says you're having your usual bad thoughts.  So, are you going to talk about them, or am I going to have to pry it out of you?”

She hung her head at that, then tried her best to laugh it off.  “It’s nothing.  I’m just annoyed I haven’t come to see you as often as I used to.”  This was only technically true, but neither needed to say that to know that was the case.

“I can see why, after meeting Hisako,” he joked, then coughed.  “She’s an odd one, if nothing else.  I’ve never seen anyone like her; certainly not anyone as terrifying.  And she’s died, apparently.”

“Indeed.”  She then lifted the sheets, and got into the bed beside him, cradling him.

He looked back at her.  “You know the doctor’s don’t like when you do this, right?”  Of course, he didn’t struggle out of her hold to enforce this.

“To hell with the doctors,” she said, hugging him tighter to make her point.  “I’m your wife, firstly, and I took care of you for years before I came here.  If this were actually harming you, I’d stop.”

A moment of silence passed them, content to simply lay there in their other’s warmth.  These were the little things that helped Vapula through this, and stall her feelings of guilt and uselessness.  For as long as she knew his body was still warm, she could feel that what she was doing wasn’t pointless.  And when (not if, as her mind often tried to wander) he healed, they would be able to raise the family they had sought before he fell ill.

“...Do you think you could take her in a fight?”

“I’ve seen her move faster than the eye could see,” she said without missing a beat.

“So it would be a hard-fought battle, then,” he said, smiling.  Vapula sighed, but smiled, nonetheless.  Inwardly, however, she wanted no business trying to fight someone who had no problems killing her, even ignoring what else she’d seen Hisako do.  She knew that they were on the same side, but didn’t help assuage her fears.

But Michael?  He was terrified.  Truly, genuinely terrified, even more so than when he learned his wife’s enemy was the Demon Lord herself.  Because while she was a force of corruption...

A Gravewalker was a force that only brought death, to friend and foe alike.