Author's Note: A quick warning for some blood, but since you're already read through this book (I'm assuming, since... you're here in Chapter 34) anyway, I doubt I'd need to say.
Also, I got permission to share art that a friend of mine, TheKewtCorgi, made of Pisces! I absolutely love it, especially the pose and how the violin and hands turned out. Also, I really like the expression too! Pisces looks amazing in her style and I'm really excited to see art of her!! (Thank you so much for drawing her, once again!)
-x-x-x-
In retrospect, Taurus didn't know why he agreed so quickly.
He wasn't one for rash decisions or, well, anything of the sort. In fact, he even considered himself one of the more rational members of the Zodiacs; so why had he agreed to Leo's request so quickly?
It's because –
Taurus skidded down the final few steps and looked around.
It's because you feel a kinship with him. The voice in his head said quietly. For all of the Zodiacs. You feel you need to help... in the way that we helped you. A sort of... homage to us, let's say.
He gave a start.
...we?
The little voice in his head didn't reply; or maybe, most likely, his subconscious was too startled by his own thoughts to reply... Ha, that's funny.
He let loose a long breath.
But what you said is right. Fighting... that's the one thing you can do. He reminded himself as he looked around. To his left was the entrance he had entered through – to his surprise, there was a man there. A guard, most likely. Where was he when we entered this place?
The guard turned his head. Taurus quickly turned around and hurried down the tunnel to his right before they could see, clutching Leo's cloak and axe to his chest.
A horn blared again.
There's no time.
There was an open door to his right. Inside; ornamental lances and spears. Must be a supply closet. There were more doors that looked like this one; he took a guess and pushed another one open. He must've gotten lucky, because it was lined with racks of armour that appeared to cover most of the body. He stepped inside, catching sight of one that appeared his size, and tossed Leo's cloak and axe to the floor to remove his own armour – meagre compared to the ornamental knight's garb to his right.
He unbuckled his shoulderplates and pulled off the sturdy metal chestplate. After a moment of consideration, he hung them on the rack – he doubted anybody would steal them, seeing it was worn down and practically in tatters compared to the pristine knight's armour right next to it – and quickly tugged off the rest of his armour.
The knight's armour was quite the challenge to pull on, but Taurus would almost be proud of how quickly he was able to get it on. There was so many extra bits and pieces (Taurus recalled having a conversation with Vulpecula about why the mercenaries didn't just wear fullbody armour to protect themselves) and, as he tugged on the helmet, he realised why nobody just wore knight's armour around everywhere.
Goddesses, how am I supposed to see out of this?
Taurus managed to push the visor out of the way and lean down to pick up Leo's cloak. He shoved the collar (at least, he was pretty sure it was the collar) down the back of the armour (with much difficulty) and reached for Leo's axe.
The gold-trimmed axe lay strangely heavy in his hands. Taurus tested the weight, frowning.
"What's this end meant to do?" He said aloud, turning the axe over in his hands.
The axe weighed heavy on one side but was much lighter on the other; probably due to the large, curved blade on one end of the axe and the smaller blade on the other end.
The horn blared again.
Taurus dropped the axe next to his own armour (which he had hung up). "Sorry, Leo... I can't fight with that." He muttered, picking up his own axe. As an afterthought, he shoved the teal strip of cloth – the strip of cloth from Vulpecula's cloak – in between the gap between the plates of the armour on his torso and his waist and rushed out of the storage closet, beating down the regret for actually thinking he could do this that was already beginning to worm up his throat.
-x-x-x-
"First things first, let's find out who this guy is, shall we?"
With much difficulty, the Zodiacs had shuffled themselves around to give everyone else some space. Relys and Dene leaned against the wall at the back, tending to Leo, while at the front of the group, Aries, Scorpio and Sagittarius had arranged themselves in front of their mysterious masked figure.
Sagittarius curled her fingers around the edge of the blank, white mask and tugged. Then she tugged some more as the mask refused to part with the figure's face, until –
There was a distorted scream. Pisces winced.
"...there's an actual person under there." Virgo mumbled, almost in amazement. The white mask clattered to the ground and shattered, like porcelain – surprising given the resistance it put up. There didn't seem to be any straps attached to the remains of the mask; it simply had been an ovoid, blank white mask.
The not-masked-anymore figure coughed. They sounded like an actual human for once, which was strange, because... well, judging from their previous experiences with them, it was surprising that there were actual people underneath after all.
To their surprise, the person was... a lot more mundane than a member of an evil organisation should look. They definitely looked older than everyone in the Zodiacs, with the barest hints of wrinkles forming along her forehead, and dark brown hair in a bun. They might almost have mistaken her for some random villager – there was nothing about her that would make her particularly memorable, for being one of the cruel villains that had attempted to murder them several times.
Aries blinked. "You..."
Without hesitating, Sagittarius pointed an arrow at her face. "You! What's your name?!"
The woman chuckled lowly and stared up at the sky, promptly ignoring Sagittarius. "...I did my best, Divine Mother. Please... forgive me."
"Listen to us when we talk." Scorpio snapped. "And shut up with your ramblings." The woman's gaze turned slowly to Scorpio.
"So..." She rasped. "We finally meet in person..."
Capricorn glared at the woman and burst out: "Why did you massacre my village?!"
"Why are you following us?" Virgo added quietly.
"And what do you know?" Sagittarius demanded.
"Ha... you're all rather funny." The woman shook her head. "It's almost surprising... they're afraid of people like you. Mere children..."
Cancer pushed her way to the front. With a steely gaze, she dropped to her knees in front of the woman and pushed the woman's chin up with the tip of her dagger, a vicious grin on her face. "How about this, lady," she hissed, "You can start by telling us something useful for once. Why Libra?"
"Hmm?" The woman blinked slowly. Then she started to titter under her breath, then that became full-blown chuckling. "Ah, the boy. The Divine One wants him... so we will deliver."
Cancer narrowed her eyes. "And why get Leo to go through all of this?"
"She wants him unharmed." The woman replied coolly. Mirth seemed to flash in her eyes; at least, until Cancer drew the tip of her dagger's blade across the woman's other cheek and stopped it directly beneath her eye. "A proper answer this time, if you'd please."
"Hmph." The woman's gaze flickered down to the pebble of blood forming on the tip of Cancer's dagger, then back to Cancer. "You don't scare me, little girl... but I will humour you for your sake. It was my idea... a genius one, at that, if only he didn't ruin it... by betraying us. We have resources on our side... many resources. It was easy enough to acquire his family; he hardly even spared a glance to protect them."
Leo snarled from where he was leaning against the wall. "That's because we don't expect filthy rats like you to stoop to methods so low!"
"Filthy rats...? How... endearing."
"Let's ask about something else." Scorpio glanced at Cancer, who withdrew the blade of her dagger just slightly. "You're with the Eirean Church, right? What's your purpose?"
The woman tossed her head, grinning at them. "It's almost a shame... not more people know of us... and our purpose."
"We know you stole all of the Crests from the four countries – but why?!" Aries demanded.
A second of unadulterated surprise flickered across her face.
"...heh."
"Don't just laugh!" Cancer lifted the point of her dagger again, but Scorpio waved a hand at her. Cancer reluctantly let her hand drop to her side.
"...you didn't." Scorpio said quietly.
"What?" Pisces asked, looking up at him. "What do you mean? We came here to get the Crests back from them, right?"
"The Crests. If you'd had all of them, you'd be using them to do whatever your purpose is. But nothing's happened – at least, not that we've heard of." Scorpio continued. "That has to mean... you don't have all of them. You're missing at least one."
"...I see." Capricorn breathed. "I'd thought, but –"
"Ha!" The woman cackled, practically doubled over in her laughter. "You're an interesting bunch; I see why they want to keep an eye on you..."
Cancer jabbed her dagger against the wall directly next to the woman's head. "Shut up." She said coldly. "Unless you're going to say something useful."
"So... Scorpio's right?" Virgo mumbled.
"Then that leads us to the question: where are these missing Crests?" Scorpio stared down at the woman. "Your aim is to take all the Crests. But somehow... even though they all went missing at the same time, you don't have them. At least, you don't have all of them. In that case, where could they be? The countries wouldn't start a war if they still had their Crests."
"That makes sense..." Virgo pondered. "Why haven't they acted already if they had all these Crests? Their aim –" Her brow furrowed as she studied the woman, "They aim to... they want to... please their 'Divine One'? Which... would be... Eireas, right?"
"You sully Her name!" The woman snapped, moving to rise to her feet. She grunted as the ropes kept her from standing up – and as Cancer jabbed her dagger at her face again. The woman settled back down, scoffing. "She has deemed the pure worthy of hearing Her voice. We are mere servants to Her will –"
"Shut up!" Cancer snapped, but Pisces rested a hand on the other girl's arm. "Wait... she might be saying something useful."
"– and She will step upon our impure world and cleanse it of all the impurities. The boy... the boy – he's been sullied by Nyriu's touch by now, but She –" The woman groaned and held her head, eyes turning towards Libra. "She still wants him..."
"...are you talking about me?" Libra said in a small voice.
"Guess so." Gemini mumbled. "She's kind of creepy, actually..."
"You won't be getting your filthy hands anywhere near Libra." Aquarius snarled. The woman only smiled eerily at her. "While your disrespect for Her... must be punished... It's too late..."
"Are you going to answer any of our questions – why did you burn my village?! Or should we –" Capricorn cut himself off, fuming. "– you're going to have to answer them, otherwise..."
"Oh, little boy. I recognise you... you're..." She squinted at him, then shook her head. "No... you're not it..."
"What is that supposed to mean?!"
The woman turned her head, completely ignoring him altogether. Her gaze fell upon Virgo next. "Oh... but you... now this is where you've gone. And I'd thought you died, alongside... the rest of them... was it their idea, to take you... and escape...? Ha... almost ironic... that they died to meagre bandits –"
She lifted a hand, reaching for Virgo.
Cancer stabbed her hand.
The woman withdrew her arm with a shriek.
"A little overkill... but it works." Sagittarius remarked quietly.
Scorpio raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment on it. Instead, he moved forwards to stand menacingly over the woman as she cradled her injured hand. "Enough with the blathering." His voice was icy and chipped; the woman actually paused for a brief moment, as if stunned into silence. Then she burst out into uncontrollable laughter again, until Scorpio took another step forwards and calmly withdrew his lance to point directly in between her eyes.
"Very well, very well," the woman sneered, staring up the shaft of the lance, "You've been entertaining enough for me to, mm, perhaps, give you something useful." She grinned toothily at Cancer as she spoke. "Especially since you're already too late to stop it."
"In a proper sentence, woman."
"Within moments... the assassination will proceed." The woman said. There was a sudden, icy calm to her voice – it was as if she was a completely different person. "The King of Pyrax will die. The Crest he holds... it will belong to us. It will be returned to the Divine One and will free her from the shackles that bind her... the shackles that humankind have tainted with their filthy hands."
"Assassination?!" Sagittarius gasped, reeling back. "No – not Father, too –"
Aries gritted his teeth. He spared a glance out of the tower, down at the arena below – the people were no more but dark shapes. "We –"
"Aries, we have to go!" Sagittarius flashed the woman a frantic glance – the woman only continued laughing, grinning as if the revealing of this news brought her pleasure – which frankly, it seemed like it had.
The two Pyraxian ex-royalty disappeared down the stairs.
"...Cancer!" Pisces suddenly shrieked. Cancer spun around from where her gaze had followed Sagittarius and Aries and –
"Where did she go?!"
Cancer plunged her dagger against the stone floor, as if she would be able to stab the woman back into existence. But without even a whisper, the woman was gone, as if she had never existed at all.
The only thing that was left of the woman was the shattered mask on the floor, and the fresh flecks of red splattered across the floor from where Cancer had stabbed her hand.
"How did – what?" Virgo stammered, looking around. Her brow furrowed and she leaned forwards. "It... smells like smoke..."
"Smoke?"
"I don't know." Virgo frowned. "It's familiar... ah, wait – I think..."
"Well, she's gone. There's nothing we can do about it." Capricorn huffed. "We should go help Aries and Sagittarius... since he's our leader, after all." He glanced at Scorpio. "...right?"
Scorpio set his jaw, but nodded anyway. He let out a long breath. "This was... unexpected, but I should've expected that seeing all of the surprises coming at us today. Either way, we can't leave those two... no matter my distaste for the man for labelling his own children traitors so easily."
The others shared a quick look and nod of acknowledgment. Leo pulled himself to his feet and steadied himself against the wall, sweat beading across his forehead. "I'm coming too." He said, eyes narrowing. "As a knight of Pyrax... I have a duty to protect my king. Even though –" He paused. "Technically... I should be enemies to Prince Aries and Sagittarius... and all of you, in fact; I think this has shown me that the war – and the countries' conflict – isn't everything."
Before they could leave, Dene spoke up.
"Be careful... I – I don't know who you all are, but... you are friends of Leo and you came to our aid, so..." She smiled forlornly and pulled Relys close to her side. "Whatever you're doing sounds incredibly dangerous... so please take care."
"Mother –" Leo cut himself off and nodded resolutely. "Yes, we will. Thank you... I promise we'll be safe."
Then he turned on his heel and hurried for the stairs alongside the others.
-x-x-x-
Almost as soon as Taurus had adjusted the helmet over his head, someone came running at him. Taurus had to keep himself from swinging his axe at them in his surprise – it really was hard to see out of the helmet's visor.
"Sir Leo! Your battle's starting!" They cried. "Why aren't you on the battlefield yet?"
Taurus opened his mouth to respond, but then remembered he was supposed to be pretending to be Leo. He adjusted the dark blue cloak that felt like it was slipping off his shoulder and only gave them a short nod, not trusting his voice to not fail him now.
Luckily, they were probably too caught up in their desperation to catch on. "Quickly, Sir Leo – the crowds are waiting!"
Taurus clanked after the person in his armour, pushing back his visor slightly to try get a better glimpse at what was going on. The person in front of him ushered him out through a large doorway into an even larger room that was slightly less dim than the hallway before.
The person ushered Taurus towards the large stairway across the room. "Good luck, sir!"
Taurus tugged his cloak up again, gave them a nod of appreciation that made his head feel like it was about to fall off from the helmet weighing it down, and rushed up the stairs as well as a person in a suit of armour could. The rumble of the crowd and the gleam of sunlight increased tenfold as he did his best to march (how did knights usually walk, anyway?) up the final set of stairs and not trip over the steps.
The rumble of the crowds exploded into a roar as he stumbled up the final step. He quickly set his axe in the ground to steady himself and squinted out in front of him, his eyes rapidly adjusting to the bright sunlight.
From where he was situated, he could see a wide expanse of sandy terrain in front of him. Higher above were most likely masses of people, but they seemed to be a shifting wave of shadow from how the sunlight blocked his vision. And before him was a figure, also clad in armour.
A loud voice startled him from his initial inspection of the arena (he refused to call it awe – he did not have time to be admiring the architecture). "Aaand finally, here he is – Head Knight Sir Leo Solveig! A rising star from squirehood to the –"
Taurus realised this was probably his cue to move towards his opponent instead of standing at the entrance, gazing stupefied at everything like a wide-eyed tourist. Mustering up everything he had and praying for his dignity to be left intact by the end of it, he strode forwards.
There were people cheering his – er, Leo's – name, Taurus realised, from what he could hear underneath the helmet. The roar of the crowd was like thunder, rolling across the sandy battlefield and setting fire to his blood. Everything thrummed with such energy that he'd never experienced before, not in battle – he didn't know what this feeling was, but he couldn't help but stride the last few steps with a little more confidence, even lifting his head towards the stands and lifting a hand in a sort-of salute (it's all part of the act – it's just something Leo would do, he told himself).
The heavily armoured figure across him did not move as Taurus approached what must've been the center of the arena. In fact, from the way they were standing, their posture – it was as if they were looking down on him with a cool disregard. He's underestimating me, Taurus automatically thought, eyes darting to the neck – covered in armour – then his right hand, which was clearly the dominant one – before realising that brutal and efficient murder wasn't supposed to be his goal.
Before he could really contemplate the situation he was in, his opponent spoke.
"So, Sir Leo... Here we are again, facing off each other as we did, back as squires. Remember me, Leo? It's Hercules, your old friend. Remember when you looked at us with such scorn, because you were so much better than the rest of us?"
Taurus was silent. I don't know who you are, nor do I care – the only reason I'm here is to fight this one match for Leo and then I can get out of this and leave.
"Scared speechless?" Hercules scoffed, the contempt evident in their voice. "I'm not surprised. You never thought we were good enough for you anyway, even though you only ever were just a peasant boy from a peasant family. You only ever became a Head Knight due to your pretty face – I wonder how many noblewomen you've had to –"
Taurus surprised himself by snapping back. "This is the battlefield, Hercules." He hissed, his voice low and (hopefully) obscured enough by the metal of the helmet. "L – I'm only here due to what I've worked for. Noble titles and looks have nothing to do with it... and –"
Leo didn't deserve to grow up being scorned by his own teammates... to grow up being around people like you.
If Hercules was surprised, he didn't show it. Whatever he was about to say was drowned out by the blaring of the horn and the echoing voice (it must've been magically-enhanced, Taurus thought – there was no way someone could be so loud): "The battle between Head Knight Sir Leo and Head Knight Sir Hercules begins now!"
Hercules moved forwards in a flash. For wearing so much armour, he moved as swiftly as a snake, the sword in his hands a silver blur. Taurus only just managed to bring his axe up to counter the blade with a resounding clang.
The screaming of the spectators seemed to grow louder, if that was even possible. Hercules let out a snarl that was audible even through the helmet and shoved harder against Taurus's axe.
To Taurus's surprise, he found himself being pushed back. His boots skidded uselessly against the sand as the other male forced him back.
"You're weak, Leo," Hercules spat, a vicious grin in his voice as he spoke, "I'll beat you... like how I've always been destined to."
Taurus set his feet into the sand and pushed back. With a mighty swing of his axe, he swatted the sword to the side, though Hercules' hands regretfully did not leave the hilt. Hercules let out a grunt and reeled back.
His own axe was a comforting and familiar weight in his hands in this unfamiliar situation. Taurus hesitated for a moment, unsure of what to do; the screaming in the background had become just another thrum of the battlefield in his ears and even the booming voice of the commentator – "and Leo fights back! This battle is sure to be..." – had become nothing but a buzz.
Focus, Taurus. You simply need to knock him down, like Leo said. But... not further. You can't go further. Control yourself. With a yell of his own, he launched himself forwards.
The screech of metal against metal rang out again. Hercules ducked and lunged. Taurus sidestepped and moved to punch him with his gauntlet –
That's against the rules–! The little voice in his head only just managed to pull him out of the battle-driven haze and with a twist of his hand, his blow connected with empty air. Taurus tried to feign it as trying to regain his balance, but the piercing look that Hercules sent him told him that wasn't working.
"Can't fight me properly, huh? You gotta fight dirty, huh, Leo? Stooping so low... no surprise from a peasant like you." Hercules spat. Taurus gritted his teeth and said nothing.
There's no such thing as fighting dirty when your life is on the line... I doubt you'd understand that. But... I'm doing this for Leo, so I should avoid trying to get him disqualified from this.
With a roar, Hercules charged again. The blade whistled through the air in a high, glittering arc and Taurus lifted his axe up to deflect it. Hercules pulled the blow and the blade skimmed down the shaft; a sudden surge of – it's going to kill me I can't die here not here not now – and Taurus smashed the shaft of Vulpecus against the sword.
His breaths came sharp, shallow. His heart thudded and everything seemed to cloud, clear, cloud over again. Hercules kept hold of his sword again, but the shocking force of the blow sent him staggering.
It's just a mock battle... I'm not going to die, Taurus reminded himself though the buzzing of adrenaline in his veins and hands said otherwise – too used to life-and-death situations, he'd say, but Taurus knew there was something else, too, that he knew he wouldn't be able to quench like he did before –
He forced his mind to clear, to deflect the blows, to not strike out. (Especially not strike out. Not yet; not when his head was crying out for him to just get himself out of danger, eliminate his opponent, as fast as possible, brutal and bloody – Goddesses, Taurus, focus!)
"Coward!" Hercules howled, even as Taurus fended off blow after blow.
His blood sung. Everything throbbed with such energy, such tension, that he needed to move –
"And Sir Leo stands his ground! Hercules lands another blow – and it's deflected, again!" For absolutely no reason, the commentator's voice – which he'd drowned out ages ago – suddenly filled his head. Taurus faltered; and Hercules struck.
"Gnh–!" Taurus felt the force of the blow knock the breath out of him and he stumbled.
"Sir Hercules finds an opening!"
Hercules was grinning (Taurus could tell, even behind the helmet) as he pressed forwards. Taurus took a step back. Then another one. And another one – the blade of the sword just kept on raining down and Taurus couldn't, he couldn't fight back –
"No – I can... I can control it." Taurus hadn't realised he'd voiced the thought aloud. Through the slits in the visor of the helmet, he could see fire licking at pine trees and wooden ruins and dark silhouettes against blazing red – but he breathed out and they were still there but then everything just seemed so clear.
Taurus let some of that fire (memories of russet hair and green eyes silhouetted against fire and darkness that reminded him so much of a burning village and a man in a mask) seep into him and lunged.
His axe whistled through the air. He brought the flat of the axe whipping around ("Stay behind me, kid," Vulpecula barked, even though he was littered with wounds himself) and caught the blade of Hercules' sword between the gap where the blade of his axe met the hilt.
He wrenched the weapon out of Hercules' grip, sending it skittering across the sandy floor. The next swing of his axe hit Hercules' chestplate. The other male staggered back and struggled to regain his balance, sand flying up as his boots struggled to gain traction in the sandy ground.
(Red hair in the corner of his vision. Aries, offering him a hand. Sagittarius, smiling encouragingly. Scorpio, arms crossed and scowling but then dropping a bundle of clean clothes and rations by his feet the next morning.)
Taurus pointed the blade of his axe at Hercules' fallen form.
(With a shiver, he realised that... he didn't feel anything else. His limbs were still thrumming with leftover adrenaline and the roar of the crowd had suddenly filled the Coliseum, but... there wasn't anything else. Not the usual haze of red that would took all-too-long to clear after each battle or the merciless hissing in his head that chanted 'kill them before they kill you' – just... Hercules lying on the ground, helmet askew and glaring at him.)
"Sir Leo wins the round!" The commentator shrieked. Taurus moved to push his visor back, feeling sand grains rubbing between his armour and his skin, but then realised that – no, wait, I'm supposed to be Leo.
So he settled for waving at the crowds and listening to the thunderous applause and cheering, and feeling his heart rise and sing at the sound of such approval – directed towards Leo and not really him but still.
"That axe..." Hercules growled. Taurus looked back down at him and then back at Vulpecus.
Oh, right... I left Leo's actual axe back in the supply closet. Taurus set the axe down (burying the battleworn blade into the sand to avoid further stares) to offer Hercules a hand.
Hercules stared at Taurus's hand for a long moment.
With a scoff of disdain, the other male ignored Taurus's outstretched hand and pushed himself to his feet. "You got lucky this time, Leo. It won't happen again."
Hercules stormed away. Taurus watched him, feeling his heart pang with something he couldn't quite describe.
"A thrilling start to the battles of the Head Knights! Now, a few minutes as we wait for the knights to switch out... but in the mean time..."
I should leave and meet up with Leo, then. That went surprisingly fast. I... can't say I didn't enjoy it, but...
There was a strange prickle at the back of his neck. He turned around, his visor still obscuring his vision. There, standing atop a balcony – a man with blazing red hair, streaked with white, and wrinkles set deep in his face, visible from where even Taurus was standing. He was gazing upon Taurus with a solemn expression, contrary to the joyful cheering of the crowds.
Taurus felt the man's eyes bore into his visor.
He must be the king of Pyrax, Taurus realised with a start, noticing the golden crown sitting pristine upon the man's head. The man who initiated the war, after the Crests were stolen... and Aries' and Sagittarius's father.
His heart throbbed with something unrecognisable at the thought.
The man who... labelled Aries and Sagittarius traitors. The man who imprisoned Scorpio and his family.
Taurus turned away.