Entry One: Hanging On

The blade slid through the man's neck like hot knife through butter. The blood splattered sprayed through the air as the body hit the ground with a sickening thud. The men were trying to run from her, which would not do them any use, she would just run into them later.

She sighed mentally as she watched the man's violent swinging sword. She stepped back, avoiding the swing, and then she lunged forward, taking advantage of his opening. He gurgled when the axe hit him in the waist. He gave her a shocked looked before she wrenched the axe out of him. She watched him slowly fall to his knees, sputtering, trying to find the words.

Nkiru, the black haired knight. She had vanquished all sorts of evil, but she was now stuck in the body of a doll. Her "skin" was a pale color, that contrasted with her midnight hair and the blood red heart carved into her cheek. Her eyes were a bright blue, that hardly blinked, she could still express things--she was not a normal doll. Her red lace frilled dress was covered in blood, which hardly bothered her, even the crown that was on top of her hair had blood on it.

She looked at her hands, when had she stopped thinking about killing the bastards who tried to destroy the kingdom she served even now? When had she stopped crying when she killed a man? It was long before she was turned into a doll, but she had more time to think about it in this state. Nothing known to man could kill her in this state.

What was she holding on to?

The man had died at her feet, his glazed eyes were staring at her boots. She bent over and gently closed the, even evil doers deserved to visit the afterlife with a bit of grace.

She looked down the hallway. It was larger than most of the places she was forced to visit in her quest. It was also dirtier than most of the places she had traveled. This mansion was home to a rich and corrupt man, who was funding the war between the mage guilds. She hardly needed to deal with that, no one did, the blood of the innocent was spilled when the mages were turned against each other. Her people and her kingdom was stabbed in the back.

With a flurry of red she ran down the hallway. Her boots clicking loudly as she barely cleared the turns. Where was the bastard who had orchestrated this whole thing, had he escaped by now? From the information she had received he would stick around to gloat at his victory.

Her boots clacked to a halt. She was standing before door, one single door, nothing all that impressive. She reached out and slowly clicked the door open. 

Someone was clapping on the other side of the door. A man was sitting on a small chair, similar to a thrown.  He was in the frilliest clothing--frillier than even her clothing--she had ever seen. The man had a smirk painted across his face, one that would make the Cheshire Cat jealous. "I'm so happy you made it, Queen of Hearts."

"You must be the Count?"

He nodded, "To what do I owe the pleasure to this lovely house call? You've even murdered my best guards in cold blood. It must be important."

"It's very important. You need to stop funding the wars."

"Ha! How cute, you think I'd give up that much money? GUARDS!" he yelled at the top of his lungs.

Two burly men, one in typical mage robes, the other dressed like some sort of assassin. The assassin like man charged for the attack, which Nkiru took on full force. The knives bounced off of her like peas, and mercilessly she took her axe and bashed the man's skull to smithereens.

The magic attack it her then, it was some sort of paralysis spell. That only worked on flesh and blood, she was left untouched. A smile slowly crossed her face as the man screamed in horror. His blood painting the Cheshire Count.

She wiped the blade off on the mage robes. He had plenty to spare, "It's lovely weather we're having," she looked to the count.

"You're some sort of monster!"

"No, sir, I'm afraid that was you. Repent for your sins or suffer the price."

"MONSTER!" her cried at the top of his lungs.

"My only goal," she said lifting her axe, letting the wait drag her arms down to meet their target, "is to vanquish evil." 

Nkiru was sitting against an ash tree. She closed her eyes, clutching her knees, She was covered in blood, and she had no change of clothes, no money, no humanity left. There was not even a lake near by that she could clean herself off in. Her black hair draped itself like curtains around her face, as if she was banishing all outsiders.

The knight couldn't sleep like she did when she still had her broken body. She could not be human anymore, even if she wished for it so desperately. She did not notice the cracking of twigs as someone approached her, neither did she notice to soft voice that asked her if she was all right.

She wanted to die. It would be less painful than this.

A hand gently brushed up against her hair, it startled her, but she remained motionless. The voice, a light and feathery one, asked once again, "Are you all right miss? Did you get into some sort of fight?"

Her eyes moved to get a better view of the person. It was a man--which surprised her--and he was clad in working clothes. Was it possible that he lived around here. Nkiru replied in barely a whisper, "I'm fine."

"Do you want some clothing at least? Or some place to wash off?" He leaned forward, "You look hurt!"

"This isn't my blood."

The man took a few steps back. "Oh?" He seem nervous now, which was hardly shocking.

"Go away," she muttered resting her head on her knees and looking away.

The man did not leave. He seemed to be waiting for something.

She looked over at him, "What?"

Nkiru stared down at the set of clothes he had given her. They reminded her of what she wore when she was still training to become a knight. The faded clothing at least covered her joints correctly, maybe the man would miss the fact that she was a doll?

Peaking out of the small window, she watched the man try to clean her dress. Why was he going through such an effort to clean a strangers clothing? She ponder a bit longer before surveying the house. It was small, one and a half rooms. The typical "log cabin" that the locals of this forest enjoyed. With one last glance out of the window she left through the only door.

The man scrubbed angrily at the red dress. The blood stains were not all that obvious, but the sent was strong. That was what the man had noticed when he had discovered the woman. "So," he listened to her boots crunch the grass beneath her feet, "You're the infamous Queen of Hearts?"

Her heavy foot falls stopped.

He looked over his shoulder, "Is it true that you're not hu...." He trailed off as he watched the expression on the woman's face change to horrified. "I'm sorry!" he hastily interjected before the woman spoke.

"Give me my dress back."

"But it's soaked."

The corner of her eye twitched in an usual manner. She bit her lip and suddenly started taking off her shirt.

The man blinked, and looked around frantically as the woman stripped in front of him.

"Give me my dress," she held out a hand, naked from head to toe, exposing all of the joints, holes and scratches that were covering the doll's body. Nothing that impressive--she was just like a China doll. "NOW."

He whimpered and handed her the dress, his face several shades of tomato red. "I'm so sorry!"

"Thank you," she said, slipping the dress on. "Where..." she looked around, confused, "did you put my corset?"

Nothing coherent came out of that boy's mouth. This was turning out to be a long day.

The Angel of Murphy needed to be shot, hung, stabbed and set on fire. She had just cleaned off the blood from her sopping wet clothing, and she had finally made her distance between the young man when she accidentally ran into a group of angry bandits. They had been robbing some sort of caravan, and they did not what any visitors.

"I hate my life," Nkiru said as she slipped her blade into the man's neck. It was still covered in blood form her last fight, which made cleaning cutting with a dull blade all the more difficult. She hated kill the thugs, but she needed to write all the wrongs the people could not. She needed to hold on to that little bit of humanity she had left, and the saying that even her father told her when she was a child, "Vanquish Evil."

The men called for the retreat, rushing away like ants. She watched two young people stand their in confusion, as well as the leader of the caravan. He came running towards her and cried out, "Thank you! You're so wonderful!"

She blinked, "It was no problem at all, sir." Really, it was just one big accident.

"No no!" the man shook his head vigorously, "Please come with us out of this forest. I must pay you for your services!"

"It's all right, sir," Nkiru said as she was dragged by her arm  to one of the tied horses.

The man, he wore jaunty yellow clothing that clashed badly with his long braided brown hair. He hardly looked like a salesmen, then again, he hardly seemed like someone willing to give away something for free and without a catch. His piercing black eyes danced in the dim forest light.  His assistants (Nkiru could only assume) prepared the remaining horses for travel, calming them down and re-harnessing the able bodied ones, and disposing of the injured and nearly dead ones.

"If you ride with us to town," the man smiled, "I'll give you the horse of your choice." He waved a hand at the horses attached to the back of his cart.

The doll smiled back, "Is there anything else I should know? These horses aren't violently ill or anything?"

"You saved our lives. Not many people would do that for gypsies."

That did explain why the people were so surprised by her appearance in the fight. "That doesn't mean I trust you, sir."

"I doubt you do," he said, tipping his hat, "I'll let you ride one of these horses, and you can keep him or her. If you don't like him or her I'll let you try the horses in town. Perhaps," he pointed to a pure white horse with a curly mane, "you would like this young stallion?"

Nkiru shook her head. "That is too much of a Mary Sue, and he would not blend. How about the black one with the white spot on his back?"

"Grace?" he had a sour look on his face. "He's a bit of a wild one."

"Lovely," Nkiru said with a smile, "I'll ride him to town!" She smiled and prepared to mount the horse, side saddle, bareback. The horse did not fuss, it just watched her mount. "Could you put his bit in?"

The man blinked. "Oh..."

The Queen smiled. Today she got beaten up, covered in blood, embarrassed a young man, sopping wet,  and managed to gain a horse. The everyday life of a woman who was searching for her real body, and destroying evil  every chance she got.

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