The Queen's Pillars, Chapter 5

Though there was truly only seconds of time between them, the Pillars were closed upon separately.  The first to be encountered was Jehona, who once again had to dodge a strike from the hellhound.  Not the type to get into conflicts like this, however, she leapt onto the shoulders of the one who had yet to attack, and kicked off of her.  Still in the air, she turned around, pulled her bow out and nocked two arrows.  She released the arrows, and while one flew true, implanting itself in the hellhound’s chest, the other was nimbly dodged.  Though they were made from demon silver, it still hurt enough to drop the woman.  When Jehona landed, another arrow was ready to be fired.  But, the hellhound was on top of her just as fast, and in response, Jehona reached an arm out, black energy swirling within her palm.  Pulling back towards herself, she disappeared in a puff of smoke, then reappeared 5 meters behind the hound.  She re-nocked, then released the arrow, striking the monster in the nape of the neck.

Second was Aquilina, who met her aggressors with the point of her spear.  The nearest hellhound was unable to dodge the attack, getting a burning wound in her chest.  When Aquilina wrenched the spear from her body, the second came in with a claw seeking flesh.  She simply swung her spear to sweep the legs of the beast, just in time for the first, still up as it was, to come in with another attack.  She back stepped, and continuing her momentum, she swung her weapon further, cracking the hellhound right along the temple with the haft.  When the woman fell, she stabbed her once more in the spine and, hearing the sound of steps behind her, jabbed her spear behind her.  The sudden halt of her weapon, and the resounding grunt of pain told her she connected just fine.

Third was Belial, who snapped her fingers as she saw them coming.  At first, there was nothing, as she simply stood her ground, watching her enemies approach.  Then, as the closest hellhound reared back for an attack, a scythe flew from the left of her, spinning in the air, and connecting with the hound’s back, bringing a scream of pain from her.  Belial stepped to the side, twisting her body as the hellhound fell to the ground, impaled by the scythe.  This caused the other one to stop in her tracks, as she stared at the scene in front of her.  Belial slowly walked towards her, running her hand across the haft of the scythe, before gripping the middle and wrenching it from the hound’s body, who let out another cry of agony as she did.  When the hellhound shook off her surprise, she ran up to Belial, only to be struck once at the knee, then down her spine, quickly taking her out of the fray.

Next, Vapula was encountered, though she was the first to act between her and the hounds.  She slammed a hand to the ground, and two columns of hardened earthy matter rose from the ground, the first stopping one the hounds in her tracks with a strike to the gut, the next slamming into her chin.  The second was soon too close for this, so a more direct approach was necessary.  Vapula blocked the strike of the hellhound and returned with a punch to the ribs, empowered with electric energy.  She followed up by grabbing the blocked arm, twisting it out behind the hellhound, kicking the back of her knee to bring her down, then elbowing her in the temple, knocking her out cold.  The other hound came up from behind, but was met with a back kick to the gut, then an axe-kick to the head.  Both hellhounds were laid out, twitching on the ground.

Hisako, far at the back, would have been the fifth.  She, however, saw a potentially greater threat, and a way to deal with this without the inevitable blood on her hands, and so chose a different option.  With a lack of flourish, she stabbed her halberd into the ground, she winked out of sight, and reappeared in front of the human, a path of scorched earth behind her.  She struck him with an elbow, and when he doubled back, she knocked him down face first, and grabbed his arms to make sure no magic came from him, before placing a boot on his head.

“Hellhound.”  One of the two still left standing looked back to the voice, and at her growl, the other looked back, before growling at Hisako as well.  “Stand down, or he dies.”

“You’re bluffing,” the closer hellhound - the prime, the spectators assumed – said, however she notably did not move after Hisako threatened him.  “Monsters don’t kill men for nothing.”

“So many have said that to me over the last few days.”  Hisako pressed harder on the man’s head.  He was slightly twitching now.  “I can show you that you are very wrong, if I must.”

The hellhound did nothing at this, knowing that even if she were to try and reach Hisako, she could act long before she did.  Not that she would need to, so she assumed, as the bright light that the man had caused woke up the Black Dogs that were only asleep.  The men poured out of the building and surrounded the monsters, swords, axes, and bows at the ready.  Many of them, notably, had expressions far more lecherous than angry, so how willing they would be to kill was likely not high.

Looking around, Hisako took in their faces, seeing that many of them were young (at least to her), looking maybe 20 to 30 at most.  Most looked not particularly great, the toughest of them still being less than the weakest of some of those she had ever killed.  She stopped surveying, however, when her eyes landed on someone that she recognized.

“You,” she said, staring hard enough to bore into his skin, if it were at all possible.  “I remember you.  Do you remember me?”

He squinted at her when she first addressed him, but his expression slowly changed as he, soon, recognized her frame.  “Oh shit!  That’s her!  That’s the bitch who killed the others!”  At this, the Black Dogs, who had all been told the same story from him, looked at her, now suddenly far more wary of her.

“Good.  You do remember.”  Hisako gripped his arms tighter, now with her foot on his back, and pulled until she heard a resounding pop, then a yell of pain.  For good measure, she pushed a small current of electricity, just enough to somewhat paralyze for a day, and cause greater pain.  His screams were not important to her right now, though she could see that many of the Black Dogs around them winced at the display.  Hisako then began to walk towards her weapon, not bothered by the four men in proximity of it.  The eyes of each person there followed her as she walked. When she was within grabbing distance of it, the Black Dogs around the halberd made a grab for her.

This was a mistake.

The closest one had a dagger stolen, and before he or the others could react, he was stabbed in the shoulder, then struck in the temple with the handle.  The next was stabbed in the armpit, then given a knee to the groin.  When he keeled over in pain, he was pushed head first into the third’s gut, who got a punch to the throat for good measure.  The fourth reacted with a stab at her direction, which was caught, to the surprise of the Dogs.  He took a punch to the elbow, breaking it, and when the blade was released, it was thrust into his thigh.

Ten more of the Dogs rushed Hisako in anger at this.  Ten more Dogs were dealt with as ruthlessly - and to Hisako’s credit, nonlethally – as the others.  Though, with the broken bones and dislocated spines that many had, they likely would have wished differently.  Aquilina could only twitch a little as she realized that mutilation was to be added to the list of do-nots.

The Dogs that were left immediately dropped their weapons, the one who had already seen Hisako first among them.  She simply began walking back, halberd in hand, to the hellhound and her shadow, who were now tending to their husband, with Vapula kneeling beside them.  She kicked what she assumed was the fake one for good measure, then regarded the hellhound and human.  “Your men stole from a farm 15 miles west of Aurox.  Tell us where the crops are, and you live.”

The hellhound glared at Hisako, as if to cow her.  She was immediately met with the raiju’s dead stare.  The glare held, surprisingly, but its malice found itself misplaced upon Hisako’s blood covered form.  She looked to her many clones, the most of which were on the ground, writhing in pain, then to her men, who were either in the same way, or looking fearfully at Hisako.

She grunted.  “Fine.  Follow me.”

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Inside the mansion, a trap door was magically hidden, then had an anti-magic covering placed over it.  Vapula was reasonably shocked, as this was something that she should have been able to notice, being essentially a blank spot in her vision.  For the mage to have done this, and so effectively, meant that he was very adept at his craft.

Still, they entered the door, tailing the hellhound, who constantly glanced back to see the Pillars behind her, and her men close behind them.  After the women’s display, however, she doubted their usefulness in this situation.  Still, she was both impressed with and grateful for their loyalty, even in their obvious fear of the Pillars, but most especially the one in the back.

Several turns later, though, and after going down another set of stairs, they had found the supplies that were stolen.  Several crates filled with produce, each emblazoned with the seal of the Auroxian Royalty.  Some were notably depleted of stock, though once again, in a showing of the mage’s ability, the produce lacked any signs of age or rot, despite all the time that must have passed.

“There’s your shit,” the hellhound, obviously angered, said.  “Now take it and leave, so-”

Hisako’s hand found its way around her throat before she could finish her sentence, lifting her up, and cutting off whatever she was going to say.  The fact that she had made it to the front of the pack with no one noticing was just one more thing about her that unnerved the group.  “You are in no position to be making demands from us.  Or do I need to remind you what I did to your men.”

This, despite the wording, was not a question.  Really, the Pillars were beginning to notice that she didn’t ask many questions in situations like this.

Aquilina was the first to react.  “Hisako!  Release her, now!”  And as one might a sack of potatoes, the hellhound was dropped unceremoniously onto the ground.  “What the hell is your problem?”

Hisako turned her head slowly.  “We are letting these bandits live, when they will just go right back to their old ways once we leave.  If they are dead, they can no longer hurt anyone, making our task of protecting the people that much simpler.”

Aquilina glared at her.  “We’ll talk about this on the ride back.  Vapula, the crates.”

Vapula was already on her task, forming gestures with her hands, then bringing them in front of her, one high and the other low.  Then, above and below the crates, purple and white circles filled with arcane runes appeared, growing in size until both completely surrounded the boxes.  The top circle slowly descended, as Vapula’s hand just as slowly lowered.  When her hands met, so too did the circles, and the crates were gone.

“Now, Hisako,” Aquilna continued, “go to Valus, and tell them we have some bandits to detain.”

She nodded, then made her way back to the surface.  Soon after, a sound like thunder cracking could be heard, despite an obvious lack of rain.  Within another few minutes, Hisako came back to their section of the cellar, and sat on the steps leading there, leaning her halberd on her shoulder.  “They will be here in an hour.”

Nodding despite the confusion that the Black Dogs had, Aquilina let out a heavy sigh, sat against a wall, and set to sharpening her spear.  She was not prepared for this kind of situation.