Marika
It had been a great celebration, when at last the group had felled the poor son of the queen. Internally, she wept, only allowed to the war of her dear knight. She knew it would not be the last time her kin would fall before one she had grown to...
Even here, she could not form the words for the knight had made clear the boundaries of their situation. She wanted not to think further about it here.
Holding her legs closer to her chest as rhey road across the lengths of Limgrave, the sight of Stormveil once more coming into view. Their first stop on this journey and their first road block. She had considered investigating the massive crater that had formed as a result of the stars at last moving, but Melina had suggested they stay on course. It could be a mystery for after this long journey concluded.
Swiftly getting by the reformed blockade that we had first met, Torrent had us dismount just as we entered the tunnel. It seemed the castle was guarded from spirits moving freely in its walls outside of certain spaces. The queen smiled at the old creation of her first alchemist. He had come from a land far to the east and had a strange love for round skeleton heads.
They came once more after a few moments to the broken, but not fallen gate of the castle. They knew it was likely unmovable, but perhaps there were ways around.
Searching through their surroundings, they found a small room to the left of the gate tha5 had a table, some candles, and a small cracked trumpet on the ground. There was a splash of blood near it, but not enough to be a lethal wound. The queen found it strange as it seemed fresh even, but they moved beyond it. Finding a few crumbling walls and annoyingly armed birds, they managed to come around to a proper series of castle wall walkways.
A small grace formed and pulsed with security, and both knew they had found the right path. Notably, the grace did not glow with that same translucent gold that hers always had. Instead, it almost resembled a pale flame that danced in the vague image of a crystal, with a hue of gold imbedded in its heart. Thus far, all the graces they had encountered had this quality. It would explain how they existed without her grace, and at a distance, few tarnished would even consider the difference.
Marika considered bringing it up, but as her knight began to check her blade and gear, she knew that another time would be better.
"Let me begin a few aiding incantations."
"Oh, sure." The knight turned as the queen gently knelt.
"By grace of gold... by will of thy greater... let thee be without harm." A soft glow of light blue began to cling around the knight before fading slowly.
"Isn't that something..?" Admiring the defensive aura.
"Thank you. It is a bit draining."
"Here." Handing her a small blue flask.
"Your -"
"I only need the red one. You deserve this one. My sword is just as good at cutting when I run out of force to keep drawing on the moon."
"Thank you.." she gently tucked the blue vial of cerulean tears onto her belt that clung around her midsection. Adorn in comfy black robes that hugged her figure, and that showed a little more of her shoulders with self done cuts, she kept the blue scarfed hood of her knight on. Her belt was lined with various little pots and crafted perfumes she had begun to find an endearment to after learning about all this from her knight, and wore thick and sturdy black boots that had been reinforced with steel in each tip, and lined with gold as a reward alongside her new circlet, a woven vine resembling redmane swords of gold, for their aid in the festival.
Her knight now stood with her matching, if golden, scarfed hood. Her smile gleamed at her queen as she now wore lighter armor. A navy blue two folded tunic over a chestpiece of moon blessed silver ringmail and a caplet made to resemble a swishing silver crescent along her side and back. Her legs were covered by firm fitting black leathers with silver strappings and belts.
"You look quite roguish in these new fabrics."
"And you, quite regal."
"Well, maybe next time you will put on at least one piece of gold."
"Not if it'd cost me a toe." The queen laughed. The knight smiled. They were ready.
Turning and running, the knight began to rush up the wooden walkway. Her blade quickly split a watchman before he could blow on a trumpet, wearing strange and mucky reddish cloth over their simple armor that hid their faces and made them seem almost caked by bloodshed The two guards that heard the slash and rose wore a similar armor set, and their stance potrayed the rage their clothing hid.
Both charged, but one was quickly pinned by a small dart of light that struck its shoulder against a wall. The knight capitalized, dipping under a swift slice and splitting the first swordsman in half before slicing down the pinned one just as easily.
"They have lost so much of their former talents.." the queen mused sadly.
"The stories of Godrick's crimes are.. extensive." The knight left the statement there, not wanting to press on the wound it could cause.
"He used to love growing forests."
"He did?"
"Yes. He loved plants, the ways they could change and overcome even the strangest environments with just a little help. He would spend hours in his green houses. He even was said to be how the guard kept the supplies of Whore's Kiss endless!" Laughing softly.
"Whore's kiss?" The knight quirked a brow.
"It is an herb you smoke to feel an elated sensation."
"Oh! We have a different name for it back home. Mary Jane."
"That is quite a bit nicer a name. It makes one think of a beautiful redhead with a teasing smirk."
The knight smiled softly as the queen talked, tossing two knives with a dismissive finesse that struck and easily subdued two small armed guards just inside. The place seemed like the liquor cellar, lined with kegs on shelves and across walkways. It smelled like there hadn't been much liquor here for a while. Only sadness.
They paused, taking in the coming stairway.
"Seems they've set traps for unwanted trespassers."
"Two runes says those barrels are full of oil."
"A fool's bet."
"Which means they are likely hiding something."
Both saw one door in the distance as they snuck a few steps up the stairwell. That door looked locked, but the keyhole seemed to be rustless enough to have been used recently.
"So there's one of them guarding a key." The knight mumbled. Both nodded and started up. A few guards noticed and turned, only for one of a walkway to the left to get hit by three thin arrows from the bow Marika had begun to carry. Simple and basic recurved, she had shocked her knight with how easily she drew it. Shrunken down to mortality had not changed the fact that the goddess was a powerfully built lady. Even if she did favor the spellcraft of divine incantation.
The other palmed a firepot, pnly for the knight to launch a thin slash of moonlight that caused the pot to explode in its hand and shatter the barrels around him, but thankfully not them.
"Told you, fool's bet." The queen chuckled as they walked through the thin tunnel to the left before getting blown back with a rough hit to the wall as a third guard hit the barrels with a firepot. They killed the guard but left them both gasping for breath.
"Ow..." the knight grumbled out, slowly getting to her feet before offering her hand to the queen.
"Thank you.." taking it, holding her scarf a little closer as she rose. The motion was to show her holding her chest for air a bit but was intended to hide the blush that briefly formed.
"How did you ever get anything done when you blush like a new student at their teacher?"
"S-shush, I am merely aching from the blast."
"Well, thankfully, that blessing of yours guarded us both from the worst of it."
"It should be able to take a strike or two more before it buckles."
"Very good to know."
Passing through, searching for a bit before coming to a chamber on the right upper walkway. It was dark inside with a key in a small lit part just inside and directly in view.
"Trap."
"Trap." In unison.
"Pretty sure that is the key, though." The knight commented.
"Unfortunately."
"Welp, to the brave and the bold as they say."
"Who says that?"
"... don't worry about it." And stepped into the dark room, followed by the golden goddess.
Strangely, they did find a foe stood in the corner, but the door did not slam shut like both had expected. Still, across the dimly lit treasure room of broken trinkets and old gilded paintings was a now charging knight. Full platemail with a sword and shield and a helmet crested with some kind of great raptor bird. His blade became coated in winds.
He surged forward, slamming his shield toward the knight who braced against it with her forearm and slid back a few paces. The foe then swept at her with his sword only to be deflected by a small curved dagger, a parrying dagger that she had begun to carry. It threw off his balance and gave the knight a chance to step and slash up with her sword proper. The blade was not likely to rend right through the plate just yet. Not until she could finally find a proper anvil and use these materials she had found. It could, however, definitely do so with its moon beam as it split up the foe's armor with a sudden gush of blood.
This was not enough, though, as it stamped down and raised its shield, which caused a sudden vortex of wind, tossing back the knight with a thud against a few paintings. Trying to capitalize, the foe raised his sword only to feel the sting of arrows hitting the chinks in his back plate. It definitely pissed him off, turning and swinging at the ducking queen as his blade tore winds through a few broken pieces of furniture.
Diving to the side to avoid the wood splintering follow-up slash that cracked the flooring where she once stood, she tossed a small pot into its helmet that splashed with a burning hiss. He wailed, stumbling back as the poisonous splash must have run havoc on his eyes, just as a second arc of moonlight split up across his back, and stilled him at last. He grunted once, splitting up a bit of blood mixed with poison, before dissolving into nothing but golden dust.
"Perhaps they have not all been broken by time." The knight commented as she wiped off her blade and sheathed it.
"I can not tell if I should be happy or annoyed by that revelation," the queen responded softly, "But it is good to know either way."
Plucking the key from the corpse it had been left with, they headed towards the locked door and ascended up the ladder that stood behind it to an upper level made of uneven wood floors and old broken ledges. The queen had begun to notice the higher they went, the more her knight seemed to fidget.
"Are you... uncomfortable with heights?"
"NO." She answered rather quickly. ".. maybe."
"... " Marika held a hand to her mputh and stifled a soft and warm chuckle. It didn't help, soon turning into a sweet and warm laugh.
It felt so silly of a thing to laugh over, but the feelings spilled out of her like bubbling streams of sweet candy. It was so warm, so goofy of a thing for someone she has seen face-down demigods to be afraid of that it simply made her laugh. Made her remember what it really meant to laugh again over the simple little flaws of people.
"I-it is not that funny.." She could practically hear the pout in her words as she walked along the wood planks.
"I- Haha, I am s-sorry. It is just, it is such a silly thing to be frightened of." She commented with a soft smile as the laughter finally calmed.
"Y-yeah, well," as a small hollow guard tried to surprise them, only for the knight to kick them off the rafters and down to a rather painful, splatting dispersal, "Tell that to him."
She giggled, admitting that perhaps the fear had some founding. Even if she still found the trait rather cute. Almost endearing even.
Ascending further, they struck down another guard before exiting into a stone walkway that wrapped around the side. Likely the way to the upper portions of the fortress, both began to climb further.
"So... Plants?"
"Yes, we shared that in common. He and I bonded even over that, even if his brother Godwyn was always the better botanist."
"It sounds like he developed a feeling of inferiority."
"..." she got quiet at that, holding her arms. "I am not above admitting... my parentage was one fraught with failure."
"Failure implies the results weren't what you wanted."
"Can we not discuss this?"
"... sorry..." The knight looked away, and she almost caught a shy blush. She guessed Luna simply got a little snippy when her nerves were frayed and chose to let it go this time.
They came through onto a large wooden deck with an elevator system likely built for moving supplies and a stairwell to the right ascending to the upper deck. Said stairwell had another knight, this one holding a large halberd with both hands. It spotted them, instantly stamping down and forming a small vortex. It lept at them with shocking speed, carrying the whole of that brief tornado down in an arcing swing at the knight.
The sudden closing of distance threw off her reaction, and she got slashed badly. A cleaving arc that tore into her shoulder with the bite of the halberd but did not go all the way through. The knight gripped the pole at it dug in, yanking it a bit deeper as Marika quickly prepared a light healing incantation and saw a brief flash of pure fury. An anger she only saw ever flash during pain or battle. It was a joyful anger that belonged at war.
As the foe stumbled forward from the yank and shock that the blow did not throw off the knight's balance, the faded blue glow finally fell from her knight just as her blade split across the foe in the center. The edge bounced free, but the blue arc certainly took its due.
They stumbled back, trying to rip free their halberd only for the knight's grip to stop them, briefly. Just enough time for the diatraction to last enough for Marika to jam an arrow into the thoroughly distracted foe's neck, and quickly reduce it to sparkling gold.
"That's the last I've got in me before we get to a fresh grace." She said, a little drained in tone as Marika closed her shoulder wound and repaired her tunic.
"You should take the last sip then, from my flask." She said, undoing her belt. A sip remained.
"No, it shouldn't be long. Besides, I was serious. I can not rely on just the art of this to defeat our enemies. Once I find a good place, I will bolster it." A small crept along her lips at the mention of the craft.
"Fond then of blacksmithing?"
"The art of war takes many shapes. Mine is best shown in its armaments."
"In other words, you like to make weapons."
"... just take all the wind out of my sails, why don't you?" Earning another chuckle from the goddess, who got a soft smile in kind as they ascended the winding stairwell. It was wide, and the wood was sturdy. This must be someplace they pass through often. It made her wonder what kind of cargo could possibly be carried through her so frequently.
Another normal guard of the red armor felled by a couple arrows from across the space where the elevator would normally rise to fill, and quick parry and slice to another blocking a doorway, they saw the glistening gold of grace.
Another step on their journey was at last underway.