Chapter 4: New Alliances
The cloaked figures enclosed on the tigress and hunter with surprising speed. As the tigress pounced one of the cloaked figures, biting its neck with crushing strength. Meanwhile Shiko rolled off the bed, snatching her quiver that lay at a hands reach. Drawing an arrow, she tossed with all her strength, piercing another of the cloaked figures in the throat. (Two arrows left and with only my normal arm strength to propel the arrow, I must aim to kill,) she thought as she pulled the second arrow.
Blood was spilled as the cloaked figure the tigress had attacked chopped into her side with its kama despite having suffered a fatal wound. The figure that had been pierced by Shiko's first arrow didn't slow one bit nor attempt to remove the arrow in its neck. "Foolish girls! You cannot kill my death-dolls!"
"D-Death dolls?" girls asked, gulping. Something that couldn't be killed... She of only one type of creature that couldn't be killed; the living dead. The color drained from her face and her hands began to shake. Her breathing became shallow and her chest constricted. The only thought that would register in her mind was "run". Grabbing the mattress, she hefted it at the cloaked figures and knocked them over like bowling pins. Tossing her arrow, she forced Neco Lee to duck out of the arrow's path. Grabbing the bed sheets and draping it around her shouted "Tora-sama run!" while running out of the room and slipping past a flat-footed Neco Lee. The tigress, dislodging the kama and shoving herself off the cloaked figure she had pounced, followed the hunter.
Laughing hysterically, the necrophiliac
watched the women depart. "So they ran, eh? Well I'm up to the
game! Girls hunt them down and bring back their bodies! I don't care
how many limbs you have to cut off, just make sure that you keep the
damage to a minimum!" The woman barked to the cloaked figures who
were getting back onto their feet. Nodding, they shuffled out and chased
after the girls.
---
"What are you doing here?" Long asked as one of the twins appeared before him, kneeling on knee. He still sat in the same chair in the same position, almost practically with the same posture as if he hadn't moved an inch.
"The knight's going to attack mistress Lee!" the girl exclaimed.
"Is that it?" Long said in a dull tone.
"But master, mistress Lee is an important client of ours! We loose her, our profits will drop!" the girl said, confused by how he acted.
"And if the knight brings her promised order, we won't need her patronage," Long said.
"Not to mention it's only a matter of time before she learns that you killed the real Neco Long right before taking this town from us," said a new voice from atop the stairs. "Or have you forgotten your real identity, Lili-imouto?"
"Of course not Hou-nee!" Long said, removing his dou li. Long black hair and a feminine face greeted the new comer. "How long has it been since you sold me to that greedy pig?"
"A little over three decades. I only remember that because as soon as I did you helped Gutou Daiyu with that little rebellion and stole my city right under me!" snarled Hu Hou as she climbed down the stairs. "And thanks to that horny little freak, you've taken the lives of my people for the last time!"
"Big words! How about I collar you and teach you how it's like to be a slave!" Lili said, tossing her dou li at the new comer.
The conical hat was split in half as Hu Hou brandished a jian. "Is that why you continue to enslave girls, to teach them what it's like to suffer? I didn't know you were so sadistic!" The woman said rushing forward.
"You wouldn't understand! You never had to live in another's shadows for most of their life!" Lili returned as she leaped from the chair with a flying kick.
Hu Hou side stepped the attack and thrust her jian forward to impale her opponent.
Turning in mid-air, Lili rolled away from the blade while landing on all fours. Sweeping out with a foot, she knocked her elder sister's feet from under her.
With lighting fast reflexes, Hu Hou slapped her hands on the ground, bracing herself as she black flipped away a safe distance. "You've gotten rusty, Lili-imouto!" Hu Hou said with a sinister grin.
"It is you who gotten rusty Hou-nee because I only fight on the level of my opponent; the weaker they are, the more I hold back. I'd exert more strength fighting a newly born babe!" Lili returned with a chuckle.
"I'll enjoy cutting that smart little tongue of yours!" Hu Hou hissed, charging forward.
"And I'll enjoy watching moan and cry in pleasure as you are forced into the suffering as you subject the slaves you buy from me to!" Lili said, shifting into a defensive posture.
"Eh master... have you forgotten about the knight and mistress Lee?" the girl who had been kneeling on knee for the entire time said, sighing.
"Go and make sure that the knight stays alive damn it! If she dies, I submit you and your sister to unimaginable torture!" Lili snarled as she ducked under the swing of Hu Hou's jian.
"R-Right!" the girl
said, getting up and running up the stairs and into the street.
---
Bones couldn't shake the feeling of discomfort she had been feeling since she left the Black Dragon Inn. She could have easily turned back now, but she knew she couldn't allow the hellfire skeleton to harm more. She had to continue onward. She'll let no one stop her!
The nine identical women that the twins had summoned rushed forward, surrounding the knight and stopping.
Bones skittered to a stop, looking at the women angrily. "Did he send you here to stop me? Doesn't he understand that innocents are being killed? Please! I must stop that monstrosity!" the knight exclaimed, looking at each of them in turn.
The women didn't budge.
"Have it that way!" the knight said somberly. Bringing her hands together, she knight began to chant, "(Warriors in white, skeletal soldiers, aid in this fight)!" A pentagram formed under her feet, glowing with a black energy. The energy flashed bright and faded soon after. Burned into the ground was the pentagram and standing at each of its point stood a skeletal warrior clad in armor made of magically reinforced bone. "Attack the enemies before me!"
The skeletal warriors slowly moved forward, weapons readied to strike.
With a flick of the wrist, the warriors wrapped the skeletal warriors in nearly invisible nylon wires. With the slightest tug, the wires cut through the warriors with ease.
The empty eye sockets of the skeletal warrior's began to flash brightly and their began jaws chattering. Without warning their skulls exploded, expelling a thick cloud of smoke as they sent fragments of bone everywhere. As the smoke cleared, the identical women were revealed to have been unharmed by the explosion and that they no longer surround Bones.
The women charged into the nearest
alley, weaving through the back streets in attempt to cut off the knight
who successful escaped them for the moment.
---
The younger of the identical twins found herself in the red light district- or what remained of it, where she faced a charred skeleton walking about, laughing maniacally. "I could swear I felt one of their chi coming from around here, but I don't see mistress Lee anywhere!" The younger sister said, looking around. "Skeleton-san! Have you seen a group of suspicious looking cloaked figures?"
"You mean the fools that have been running about screaming 'protect Ho Hou-sama'?" the skeleton said looking towards her.
"Eh, no... those are just a bunch of good for nothing informants of the Tiger clan. I'm looking for some people, I think most were female, but one was male.... or was he? Well the important one, mistress Lee came to master's shop wanting to receive her present and-" the girl began, but the skeleton cut her off.
"Oh it's you. You may not recognize me, but I'm that guy with them. So what do you want?" the skeleton said, sighing.
"Well there's a knight that saw the fire and she ran this way, wanting to stop mistress Lee and-" the girl began to explain, but the skeleton cut her off again.
"A knight! Tell, was she one of these dreary elves with long black hair and a little dog?" the skeleton asked.
"Yeah, I think..." the girl said, thinking.
"I knew she'd come! Where is she?" the skeleton asked.
"Well she came from the inn, so she'd be coming from this direction," the girl said, pointing in the direction of the Black Dragon Inn.
The skeleton madly and ran off in the same direction.
"Wait! I'm suppose to keep you away from her!" the girl cried, but it was too late; he was long gone.
"(Imoto, have you found mistress Lee?)" spoke a voice in the girl's head.
"(No, onee-chan! I met with one of her companions and I accidentally pointed him in the direction of the knight! I'm so sorry!)" she replied telepathically.
"(It's okay, though we've been new orders. Master has forsaken mistress Lee, but we have now to protect the knight! If we don't, our punishment will be unimaginable!!)"
"(No!!!)" the girl moaned telepathically.
"(Stop that companion! I'll protect the knight!)"
"(Understood!)"
the girl thought, nodding her head.
---
The older twin ran as quickly as possible through the back streets of Dusklan' to catch up with the knight. The fastest route to the red light district, where the knight was heading, went past the Black Dragon Inn where the knight's squire and particularly familiar tigress was escaping from. Chasing them not very far behind was Neco Lee's cloaked companions. (Though master said to protect the knight, if I let anything happen to her companions, the knight might not bring the order that master desires more than anything and we'd be held responsible... I'll help them and then find the knight!) The girl thought. "(Imouto, I'm going to help out the knight's companions. I'll leave the knight in your hands.)" She said telepathically.
"(Ok, Neechan!)" The younger sister's voice said in her head.
Exiting through an alley, the girl shot towards the hunter and the tigress, taking them by surprise. "Follow me!" she called out them as she disappeared down another alley. The hunter and tigress, though confused, followed her. Together the three of them began to weave through the maze like backstreets of the city.
"Excuse me, but where are you taking us?" Shiko asked.
"To the knight! I've been given orders to protect her," the girl said, turning at a corner.
"I'm grateful for you helping us, but I cannot fight like this!" the hunter said, holding the sheet around her the best she could.
"Don't worry! There's a clothier and armory not far from here, but we'll need to loose these guys first," the girl said, abruptly turning at a passage that was hard to see in the darkness of the night.
The hunter and tigress followed after her, effectively disappearing from sight in time for the cloaked figures to run past the hidden passage.
"That won't hold them off for long," the girl said, "But until they realize what's happened, we have time to prepare ourselves. She pulled open a door in one of the alley's walls and stepped inside. The hunter and tigress followed her.
Closing the door behind them, the girl flipped a switch and a slowly a light filled the room. Racks of clothes surrounded the trio. "Let's begin by getting dressed. That includes you." She said, pointing to the tigress.
"So I'm to be freed?" the tigress asked, transforming into her humanoid form.
"That's to be decided by my master. For now, we'll need all the fighting strength we can get," the girl said, pulling out a number of clothing articles from the racks.
Both Shiko and the tiger-woman dressed in black qipao and trousers, and shoes, though Shiko the sleeves of her qipao in place with vanbraces to allow her to fire arrows without her hand-eye coordination being restricted. Once they were dressed, the girl brought them to the armory that was the adjoining building. Shiko grabbed the best bow she could find and a quiver of silver tipped arrows. The tiger-woman sorted through the spears and polearms, finally settling with a simple spear she found.
"Now, let's save the knight!" the girl said. She led the girls to the door, but stopped before exiting. Gesturing for them to remain silent, they opened the door a crack and peeked outside. As she had expected one of the cloaked figures had discovered the hidden passage and were now searching the alleyway intently. The girl backed away and gestured the hunter towards her. "(Can you soulpierce?)" she asked, whispering into the girl's ear.
"Not really. I've only done it once and I was really upset at the time," the hunter said in return.
"Then I'll teach you a little. First knock your bow," the girl instructed.
"Right," the hunter said, drawing an arrow and knocking it on her bow.
"Now close your eyes and empty your mind of the entire world," the girl continued.
Shiko closed her eyes and tried her best to clear her mind.
"You need to make your mind a blank slate necessarily, but rather invert your thoughts. Think not about anybody or anything else; just you."
(Think only about myself...) the hunter thought. Her body began to slowly glow with silver light.
"That's it, now think about the arrow in your hand."
The hunter visualized the arrow in her mind and the light drifted from her body to the arrow.
"Now visualize the enemy." the girl said.
The image of the cloaked figures came into her mind, though they appeared only as masses of purple energy. "These lights..."
"What you see are the soulthreads that give them life. In your mind focus on piercing this thread and fire!" the girl said.
"Right!" the hunter moved her bow and aimed for one of the lights. Releasing her arrow, it shot forward, striking the cloaked figure she was aiming at dead on. The arrow flashed brightly on the hit and caused the cloaked figure's body to burst in purple light. The cloaked figure fell to the ground lifelessly. The rest gathered about the body and looked in the direction the arrow came from.
"Good job, now get back!" the girl said, yanking the hunter back and shutting the door.
Opening her eyes, the hunter looked confused. "But Bones-sensei said it was difficult to do without Soulpiercing silver."
"If you haven't guessed by the uniforms you are wearing, this place is our storehouses, so those arrows are a part of arms collection and it only make since that they would be purified into soulpiercing silver!" the girl said in a matter of fact way. "However we can't dawdle over small facts like that, we must now move. We have to get moving. They'll catch on to our location quickly enough!" She led them to another door. Opening the door, she motioned for them to follow her.
"Wait! What was the point of teaching me to Soulpierce?" the hunter asked. "If you wanted to distract them, couldn't I have just shot a normal arrow?"
"You mean that was all to distract them?" the tiger-woman said, confused.
"Call it an act of generosity!" the girl said with a smile. "No let's get going!"
The trio left the room and the girl closed it behind her.
Running down the back streets, they soon saw night sky brighten by unholy blue flames.
"Those flames!" the hunter said, surprised.
"They must be close by!" the commented.
"We better hurry!" the tiger-woman said.
Turning a corner, they were greeted by a group of women.
"Those are the slaves from the White Tiger's Wardrobe!" Shiko said in surprise.
"Wait!" the tiger-woman said, stopping the girl and the hunter with her outstretched spear. "They smell odd."
"Odd?" the girl asked, sniffing the air. "Though it's masked by perfume, they're drenched in embalming fluids. They're no longer among the living!"
Shiko's widened in shock and horror as the color drained from her face. Her body began to shook as tears built on their eyes. "D-did she do this to them?"
"I wouldn't put it past mistress Lee," the girl said darkly.
"Leave them to me," the tiger woman said. "Go to your knight!" Without allowing the hunter to argue, she ran forward, spear readied set to impale.
"Let's go!" the girl said, grabbing the hunter by the wrist and dragging her back. Pulling the girl into another hidden passage, she lead them to the street, stopping at the end of the alley. They could see the hellborn skeleton, Bones and the younger twin all together. "Your welcome."
"For what?" the hunter asked as she wiped the tears from her face.
"For teaching you how to Soulpierce," the girl said, smiling.
The girl looked at the trio who were quite a way's from them and then the girl. Her lips curled into a warm smile as she bowed respectfully to the girl. ""Arigato!"
"Now stop wasting time and shoot!" the girl barked.
"R-right!" Shiko said,
grabbing an arrow and knocking it. She closed her eyes and cleared her
mind of anything except herself. Once she began to glow with the silver
light, she focused on the arrow, sending the light to the arrow and
finally on hellborn skeleton which appeared to her as a strong blue
mass of energy. Once she had aligned her arrow, she fired it.
---
The nine identical women had cutoff Bones again, having once more out maneuver here with the help of the city's back alley's. "I'll have to-" the knight began, placing her hands together, but nearly invisible, razor sharp wires wrapped about her body. "I guess the same trick won't work twice..."
Suddenly the women combusted in bright blue, unholy flames. The fell to the ground, writhing in pain as the flames consumed their bodies and reduced them to charred skeletons. The wires binding Bones' body loosened and fell to the ground.
"I've been waiting for you!" the charred skeleton said.
"How many Hellborn skeletons does he control?" Bones asked looking at the skeleton in disgust.
"It's hard to say, I've personally lost count after the 90th," the skeleton said, shrugging.
(T-that many? A single one is powerful enough to kill a skilled warrior barehanded, but over ninety? At this rate, he could possibly take over the continent- no the world as we know it! But why hasn't he?) The knight thought, sweat drops beading on her hot skin as a cold shiver ran down her spine.
"Stop right there! You are no longer an ally of my master! Lay a hand on that knight and I'll be forced to destroy you!" the older twin said, running up.
"My master will be disappointed to hear that. He was planning to scout him, but it looks like we'll have to lay waste to this entire city!" the skeleton said, laughing maniacally.
"I won't you hurt anyone else!" the knight hissed, reaching for her Nodachi only to grab empty air. Her face paled as she remembered that she left the blade with Long in order to have it repaired. (L-Like it would make much of a difference... Nothing can stand those hellish flames- except something that already has been bathed in the flames!) Removing her gauntlet, she grabbed the wire with her exposed hand, cutting herself. The blood flowed quickly and the knight closed her hand, sprinkling the blood onto the skulls of the women that had been sent to stop her. "(Blood from the knife, bondage of soul, bring the dead to life!)"
The blood began bubbling and turned black. The black, bubbling blood then seeped into the skulls' every pore. The skulls began to glow with black energy, twin pricks of red light appearing in their empty eye sockets. The black energy soon stretched to the rest of their bodies. The black energy faded and the skeletons stood up.
"I thought it was forbidden to create Hellborn Skeleton!" the skeleton said, cackling.
"It is forbidden to create a Hellborn Skeleton through the effect of Hellfire spell, but animating skeletons that have been bathed in hellfire is not in any way against the law!" the knight said.
"Technically a Hellborn Skeleton is an acquired template that can be applied to any creature with a skeletal system killed by the Hellfire Reincarnation spell!" the girl said, pulling out a tall, hard cover book and opening it. "A skeleton charred by a hellfire spell and animated by a Corpse Animation spell is simply a skeleton with the Hellfire subtype including the immunity to Hellfire and the vulnerability to-"
"DON'T GIVE AWAY OUR SECRETS!" the skeleton cried, snatching the book from the girl. "Fiery lush, charcoaled flesh, burn everything I touch!" The skeleton was coated in bright blue flames the reduced the book it held to ashes.
"That was a first edition Graveyards & Ghouls Boogie Bestiary! You know how hard it was to obtain that?" the cried.
"Stand back! Only those born of hellfire can withstand the flames of the Hellfire Armor spell!" the knight said, putting her gauntlet back on. "My skeletal soldiers attack!"
The nine skeletal warriors slowly made their way to the hellborn skeleton.
"You think those proxies can stop me!" the charred skeleton said, laughing harshly. As the skeletons approached, swiping an arm that caused them to shatter on contact. "These skeletons are too frail to compare to I, an elite!"
"Of course not!" Bones yelled rushing forward with an open hand.
Cackling the skeleton grabbed the knight by her arm. "I won't fall for the same tricks that felled the my predecessor!" Blue flames engulfed the arm. Reaching out with his other hand, the skeleton reached for Bones' face.
Suddenly an arrow struck the skeleton's arm, exploding in blinding light. As the light faded, the skeleton's arm was nowhere to be seen. "What the-?"
"So you won't fall for the same old tricks?" the knight said with a smirk, grabbing the skeleton's skull with her free hand and shooting a wave of black energy into it. Though her other arm caught fire as well, the skull exploded and the skeleton's body fell to the ground.
The blue flames that engulfed the skeleton's body slowly died out. The flames on the knight's arms however, were still alit.
Grabbing each arm in her hands, she quickly slipped her hands and arms out of what remained of her gauntlets and the sleeves of her chain mail shirt. Like the last battle she had been, her arms were relatively unharmed except for some light burns. "I hope I don't have to do this every time I fight one them... I don't think the council will continue footing the bill for replacement chain mail and gauntlets." (He knew that the skeletons were just a feint. Did he must have studied the last battle and calculated I'd use the same tactic. With over ninety of these hellborn skeletons, I cannot make the same mistake when battling the third one!)
"(Imouto-chan are you okay?)" The older twin asked telepathically.
"(I'm fine, though I lost your first edition Graveyards & Ghouls Boogie Bestiary! I'm so sorry!)" The younger twin replied.
"(It's okay! Now let's regroup,)" the older twin replied, stepping out of the alley with Shiko.
The avoided looking at the skeleton's arms as she walked out of the alley. She looked at her master, who looked upon her with a proud smile, causing her to look blush and look away to hide her face. She happened to looked down, but not far enough that would see the skeleton. Instead she looked down far enough to see the knight's burned arms. All color drained from her face as she ran to the knights side.
The knight wanted to raise her arms to embrace her squire, but the slightest movement caused them to send pain through her entire body. "I'm in your de-" the knight began, but the palm of Shiko's hand silenced as it connected with her cheek in a loud slap.
"Y-you idiot! What were you thinking! If I hadn't been there to save you, you would have..." the hunter yelled, tears welling in her eyes. "I can't live without you!" the girl said, burrowing her head into the knight's bosoms as she embraced her master lovingly, sobbing hysterically.
"You must have a low Wisdom score knight-san," the younger twin said looking at the knight.
"Indeed, doing something so reckless, but for that girl to forgive you so easily, she must truly be in love with you," the elder twin added. "Don't worry about Neco Lee. We'll find and deal with her. You two fought enough tonight."
"Arigato," the knight
said.
---
Hu Hou pulled herself along the wall of the stair case, rushing out of the Dragon's Den as quickly as her exhausted body would allow her to. (Damn it! I won't let that little bitch get away with this!) She thought. A look over her shoulder confirmed that Lili stood there smugly, waiting for the woman to fall. "I-I won't let you have any satisfaction, you greedy bitch!" She hissed. "How long do you think you can go on fooling Neco Lee? When she finds out-"
"Worry not my fair beauty, I already have," said a voice from beside her.
Her face paled as she looked at the woman that leaned the walls of the Dragon's Den with her arms crossed.
"And I've heard that you have something that belongs to me!" the woman said, smiling.
"Please, I'll give you anything, j-just don't kill me!" Hu Hou said, shaking in fear.
"Well, I'd really want the tiger, but I have a feeling that the cute little knight is not going to let me have it. I also wanted to recruit Neco Long, but he's dead and I heard this crazy rumor about the person masquerading as him wanting to sell out to the knights. What will I do?" the woman said, sighing.
"Take me instead!" Hu Hou said in a rather demanding way.
"Even though it was at my ally's hands that your precious minions were slain?" the necrophiliac asked.
"I have safely hidden those that were important to me and I can replace that which I lost. I may not look like it, but I have many years on the battlefield experience and can lead any number of soldiers. I-" the woman began, standing as tall as her exhausted and bruised body would allow her too.
"That's good enough. I just don't want to return empty handed especially since I fear I've lost a few of my own girls. I don't suppose that is too much of a lost to you, is it Lili?" she woman said glancing down the stairs.
"It'll give a me a reason to aid the knights further," Lili said, smirking.
"Then let's be off. I can't afford to loose any time!" Neco Lee said, walking off. Hu Hou followed as quickly as possible.
By the time that the twins would
reach the Dragon's Den, the pair would be long gone.
---
In a few days, the burns on Bones' arms had healed and Lili, having taken up the guise as Neco Long again, had replaced her Nodachi's blade. "Now be careful, I don't think I'll be able to replace the blade again," Lili said, handing the sword to the knight.
"Arigato," Bones said, taking the sword.
"About the tiger..." Shiko began, but her voice trailed off.
"Take her. Consider it as a consolation gift for all the trouble my sister caused you," Lili said, removing the collar around the tigress that sat at her feet.
Free of the collar, the tigress strolled over to Shiko, rubbing against her lovingly, much to the dismay of Marrow who cowered behind Bones.
"It seems that Hu Hou, the leader of the Tiger Clan has sworn alliance to Neco Lee. She's not to underestimate. If not for the benefit of surprise, we'd would surely have lost in the battle to take this city three decades ago," Lili said. "She'll try to retake this city; there's no doubt."
"Then we have common enemy," Bones said, nodding.
"Long live the Skullguard," Lili said, offering her hand.
"Long live the Dragon Clan,"
Bones said, taking Lili's hand and shaking it.
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