Dolls that Kill

Entry Two: Leads of Ice

Nkiru surveyed the quiet town from atop of Grace. The people were wearing brightly colored costumes, masks and a variety of other things, it was obviously the day of a festival or fair, why else would people dress like this?

The people fell silent when she trotted by. She was not sure she enjoyed it in this town. There were already whispers flying from person to person. All Nkiru wanted was a bit of peace and quiet, and not to deal with the silly things that went one among the people speculating what she was. She closed her eyes, biting her false lips. The man in this town that she had been searching for should have been around here.

A small tavern, with a ornate silver sign, with the image of a dragon with outstretched wings. She mused over the sign as she dismounted and tied the horse to the nearest post. She nonchalantly entered the tavern. She looked around, there were a few people scattered throughout, nothing impressive. None of them bothered to look up from their drinks, as the woman's shoes tapped across the floor. She waved at the bartender, who came running to her side.

"I need to see Andy."

"He's in the back," the man smiled and headed to a door leading to the back room, he completely ignored the fact that she was in a giant frilly dress. She passed the man by to enter the room--which was brimming with smoke and generally nasty things. However, the man in question was sitting at the table smoking some form of a cigarette. He smiled as the door shut with a loud metallic click.

She took a seat on one of the unstable chairs, her dress seemed to deflate as she did so. She smiled, "So, what's this business about you having information on my maker?"

The man smirked and rubbed the cigarette into the table, "What are you willing to give me?"

"Your life."

"What a wonderful thing to say. I love it when you talk like that. Say something else threatening." He smiled with a cat grin.

She closed her eyes and set her ax besides the table leg. Leaning forward a bit, she smiled, and said with the menace of a hundred angry villagers, "Tell me what I need to know now."

He sighed, "Girls are no fun these days." He brushed his hands together, "So, you want to know about your body and the man who did... that to you? I can give you all the information you want if you kill the warring families in the Wizard War."

"Already done. Read the news."

He blinked, "One step ahead of me. All right. The name of the man you're seeking may be Klaus, but the rumors say all the people of his village were destroyed--including the woman he was supposed to marry."

She sat calmly, "What does his village being destroyed have anything to do with the information."

"The village was destroyed forty years ago, the man would have to been in his fifties, at least. However, he has the appearance of a twenty year old. Simply impossible."

She raised an eyebrow slowly, she was surprised she could still do that. "The location of my body? Do you have that?"

He shrugged, "The only information that we could find was linked to your place of birth, you can try there."

Nkiru slammed her hands on the table in anger. She stormed out without another word. This was not the scenario that she had pictured.

The man stared at the sky, watching the stars pass by slowly. He sighed and rolled onto his side. He could not feel anymore physical pain, only mental anguish and he was tired of that. The man's hand was soft to touch at first, but one would soon come to realize that he was far from human. The man was a doll, just like the dear Queen of Hearts.

His flowing red hair, though it was fake to him, began to blow in the wind. Annoyed he pulled it back and tied a string around it. "Damn... I can't catch a break today."

"Neither can I," Nkiru said.

The man blinked a few extra times as he turned around, "What on... earth are you doing here?"

"Jin-ho, you visit the same town yearly," she said, smiling, all her weight against the tree she was leaning on. Her eyes had an unnatural tint to them in the moon light--one that would send chills down her own maker.

The man caught the glint from the words "Vanquish Evil" carved on the woman's ax. He twirled around so he could sit properly. "I'm so very sorry I'm predictable. However... I can't predict why you would be anywhere near my home town on a night like this."

"Hollow's Eve? Why night, nothing can hurt us."

"I wouldn't be too sure of that, M'lady."

"All old men are this formal?" She snorted, "Whatever. I just wish...."

"You could go to sleep," Jin-ho finished with a note of sorrow. He raised an eyebrow, "Do you hear that?"

She remained silent for a while. Her head slowly moved to the side, the corner of her eye twitched as something slide through the bushes. She cursed silently and closed her eyes. The knight bit her false lip, and nearly broke down. Why did everyone what them dead?

The first one came from the right, like lightning. With a flash she sliced the man in half, his lifeless body falling to the ground in a heap. The blood trickled down, and had no time to set as the ax sliced a neck like butter. The doll had no more hesitation.

Her partner's foot collided with an attacker's skull making a sickening crack. The doll hopped gracefully, using various martial art styles. He pinned a man to the ground--the last man alive, since Nkiru had no way to disable attackers.

"Who are you working for?" Jin-ho asked, his legs creating a vice around the man's head.

The man snorted, "Death doesn't frighten me."

"Oh," the Queen of Hearts said smiling. She slowly walked up to him, covered in blood that stained her dress a deeper red. Her eyes continued to glow with the moonlight as her ax fell before the tip of the man's head. "Neither do we."

"I..." he squirmed hopelessly. "I work for the Guild."

The Queen twitched. "Liar. You work for the the army. You work for King Lakyle."

"How did you know that!"

"You take me for a fool," she said quietly. "Jin-ho. You can kill him if you like, he's scum."

Jin-ho blinked in surprise and looked up at the Queen. He had never seen her with such a passionate look of hatred. "What sins has he committed to make you say that?"

"The blood that stains his very body is deeper than mine. The smell of women, children, the innocent and unarmed, the lies, the rape, the murder are all so overpowering he makes me nauseous by sitting next to him. He did this all in the name of a false king, a man who had no real power. The man you're holding you can no longer call a man--but a monster. He only kills in the name of someone else, like a dog." She stared down at him, mercilessly.

"PROVE IT! You're also stained in the blood of others!"

"Indeed. However, I wasn't the one who raped a young woman and left her for dead in the streets, was I Hugh?" She smacked the handle of her ax in emphasis, driving in further into the ground.

The man's eyes widened, he struggled viciously against Jin-ho's legs.

She didn't hesitate to rip her ax out of the ground and allow it to fall n it's proper place. With an amazing crash the man's head was perfectly separated from its body.

The night wore on, as the Queen sat besides a tree and the Ace of Spades, Jin-ho, watched her silently from branches. The Queen had been a general in an army once, and she only had become a top general because of her dramatic childhood...was that man the same one who hurt her? Was that even possible?

Nkiru looked up to the stars again. The only thing in the past that she wanted was her life. She would get that back. No matter what.