A/N: Hi.
Serving the kingdom and becoming a soldier had never been like the old bedtime stories her mother often read to her. No beautiful princesses came to them during their training to say a quick hello, no wonderful love stories blooming, and there were no camping at the mountains away from the sounds of the townsfolk selling fishes and meat. It was hell, shortly put. Sword fights and training were done using wooden swords though in exchange for that, they wore only their cotton clothes, bruises and even cuts often appearing on their skin at the end of the day. Meat wasn’t much of an option for their meal, as it was said to only upset the stomach of the soldiers and so, they would put up with loaves and bland-tasting soup. They were only allowed for five hours of sleep at most, their mornings composed of the usual routine of a ten minute bath before moving on to get themselves dirtied anyway, jogging through the quiet fields before wrestling each other to the ground in a mock battle.
She had already expected such an ugly truth from the very moment she stepped foot within the campground. So instead Sayaka trained not for the slim chance of meeting a princess one day, but for the benefits becoming a soldier would give. Her family was poor and they lived off of the crops her father himself has been trying so hard to take care of, and with her three siblings working as farmers, very rarely would they earn enough to feed their mouths for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Becoming a soldier was the only option Sayaka could think of to save her family. The king had promised to support the family of those who would join his army, almost as though he was buying their life with money and food, given that danger is bound to face those who wished to join.
At the age of sixteen Sayaka bit the bait, not that she had much of a choice anyway.
Their king was known for his hunger to rule every kingdom there is and the very moment Sayaka was finally recognized as an armsman, she was sent to the battlefield along with all the other soldiers and knights. Slashing through armors and flesh, listening to the sounds of screams from their foes and comrades until a horn would be heard, indicating the opposing party’s surrender and at night, they would feast. It would be their only break, for once all of them are healed and ready they would once again be sent to another battle. The name of the Yokoyama kingdom became known everywhere, all of the neighboring kingdoms giving in to allegiance lest they wish to lose their land. Though the townsmen were meant to celebrate for their kingdom’s success, however, they cower instead -- fearing that one day, a kingdom their beloved king had destroyed return for revenge.
A battle that placed his daughter, Princess Yui, into danger was what ended his thirst. It was a small war between the drifters whom had taken refuge upon their land and a few soldiers. The princess, wishing to show her swordsmanship, joined her knights in battle and what they had expected the least happened; a drifter raised his blade against the princess while most men-at-arms and knights were too preoccupied to notice. It was Rika who sliced the man’s throat and Sayaka had protected the princess with her own body, the drifter’s blade cutting through the light chainmail provided to them, leaving a huge, ugly wound at the small of the raven’s back. Had it not been for Sayaka and Rika, a fellow soldier, the king’s precious daughter, without a doubt, would have been hurt.
The soldiers of the Yokoyama kingdom won what they never thought would be their last battle for years.
“So I see that you have finally opened your eyes.”
Although it was only the bright morning glow that she could see, the armsman’s eyes slowly adjusted with the light, finding herself blinking a few times before finally being able to look around without feeling as though she was going to turn blind. Hearing a chuckle as soon as she groaned from the pain in her head and on her back, Sayaka turned to the voice’s direction and all too instantly, her breathing halted. Stuck within her lungs as she realizes who the voice’s owner is and despite the pain that only grew from the wound inflicted to her by the damned drifter, she sat up to greet the other female.
“Please relax. You saved my life by gambling your own. If any, it should be I who should bow her head.”
“B-But princess!” Sayaka tried to argue, only to see the princess raise her hand to silence her.
“Calling me Yui will do just fine. At least, when we are alone, please. That title makes me cringe somehow.”
Bedtime stories about knights and swordsmen often mentioned about sooner or later meeting a princess, serving under her and making the king proud by showing their loyalty. However, Sayaka had never heard of a princess who wished to have herself be called by her name instead. Not even a princess who admitted that she hated the title given to her -- the title she was born with and had it not been for the pain that still numbed most of the short-haired raven’s wound, she would have believed for this odd encounter to be but a dream. Alas, it was not, and as silly as it may sound, while the princess, or Yui as she wished to be called, gave her a small smile, Sayaka was left speechless.
“The healers have been taking care of you well, I hope?”
Snapping out of her reverie, the soldier quickly nodded her head. “Y-Yes.” Bringing a hand back to her patched up would, Sayaka took the chance to look around her, finally noticing that she wasn’t in the usual quarters or camps the horsemen are usually put in. The bed she was currently on was soft and the room was warm unlike the cold nights she had spent sleeping on a wooden bed without a mattress within the campgrounds. “I apologize for asking, pri--,”
“Yui.”
“--Y, Lady Yui,” Sayaka sighed. Tomonobu, the knight she is currently serving under, would definitely scold her for addressing the princess in such a manner. “Where am I?”
Pleasantly satisfied with hearing that she had been freed from the title of princess by the armsman, a small smile grew from Yui’s lips, the king’s daughter taking her seat on the stool the servants have left by the bed Sayaka laid on. “One of the castle’s guest room.” As though noticing that surprise was slowly creeping up the female’s face, Yui shook her head, “Calm down. I haven’t finished talking yet. The king was pleased of how you and your fellow armsman, Kishino Rika, was it, saved me from death.”
“Yes, but that is what us soldiers are meant to do.”
“Will you ever let me finish talking first before opening your mouth?”
“M-My apologies, princess.”
“Yui. You’re a wonderful soldier, I will give you that, but you sure are slow to follow orders.” Chest puffing out as she took a deep breath in, Yui sighed with her arms now crossed together. “You fought in the Battle against Akihabara’s Knights, yes? The Battle of Hakata, too, and many small fights like the recent Drifter’s Revolt. His majesty has taken notice of your bravery, Yamamoto Sayaka and upon Sir Tomonobu’s request, and my father’s words, I am here to tell you this. Once you are fully healed, Yamamoto, you are to come before the king as he would like to repay you for your kindness and bravery. The reason why you are here, too, is because of his wish to thank you.”
Sayaka could very well feel her breath abandon her as she stared on to the princess, shocked and speechless with her words. “And Kishino? It was not I who ended the drifter, but her. If any, she should be the one to meet the king instead.”
“Ah, and she did.” With the same calm smile on her face, Yui stood up from her seat, ready to leave Sayaka alone to give her time to ponder about what was going to come. “While you were still unconscious, Kishino Rika, or rather, Lady Rika, has been dubbed a knight. And it is you who shall be dubbed next.”
It was the norm for knighthood to only be bestowed upon those of royal ancestry, and little to no locals would be recognized as one. The knight Sayaka currently served under, Sir Togasaki Tomonobu, however, was a prime example of a peasant turned knight. He began working under the castle as a stableman, became a gardener then turned into a squire to soon become the knight that he is now. For Sayaka to be following his footsteps, she had never imagined for it to happen and had even thought that the farthest she could go rank-wise would be a horseman. Yet she had made a leap over it instead and was now to be granted knighthood.
Unable to swallow all of this just yet, Sayaka sighed in disbelief. The sound of the door closing has her lifting her head up once more, only to see that the princess had already left the room.
Two days later the ceremony for her knighthood was held, and she was dubbed Lady Sayaka.
-
“I can’t believe eight months have passed without war.” Lady Rika said in a hoarse tone as she swung a wooden sword from above her head down, her opponent, Lady Kei, easily blocking it with her own. “Do you think the king is sick or something? Or was it because peasants such as Lady Sayaka and I were granted knighthood? While I know that us locals rarely get the chance to be dubbed, I never thought it would make such a huge deal out of the king.”
“I don’t think it’s like that.” Parrying Rika’s sword out of her grip the next time she attacked, Kei answered, taking one step back with a rather proud look on her face as she held her right hand to her chest, sword pointed up to the blue sky. Lady Kei, unlike Rika, was born into knighthood. Her father a well-respected commander that all soldiers, including Sayaka herself, looked up to. They use their own ways of the sword rather than follow what is usually thought to the squire by the castle and use not only blades but their own fists as well. “Rather, it must be because the king would rather keep his daughter, the princess, from danger. You were the one who saved her, you should know what I’m talking about.”
The taller knight raised her hand up in defeat as Kei aimed the tip of her sword towards Rika’s neck just at the slightest of her movement, the latter putting it away afterwards as they head to the benches instead to rest. With the sun high up and bright in the season of summer, training had been tougher and their staminas are cut almost by half. Though they really shouldn’t be letting themselves be affected by the weather if they truly were the knights of the kingdom. “Yes,” Rika sighed as she took the cup of water Sayaka handed to her, the raven oddly quiet all throughout the sword fight. “But he must have another plan in mind. Our king has always been thirsty for more land, having a silly dream of taking all of Japan.”
“If he hears you saying that, you’ll be thrown in the dungeon, you know.” Sayaka finally spoke, picking up the wooden swords Rika and Kei left on the dirt to put them back on their stands, throwing the white towel she was holding to Kei for the girl to wipe her sweat with.
“Ah, but Rikanyan is right.”
All halting at once, the trio turned their head to the new voice’s direction, their eyes wide upon spotting the steward herself to be standing right by the knight’s training grounds. Yoshida Akari was born from a noble family herself and was thus given the position of steward after her mother upon her death. She watched over every servants without failure alongside Yagura Fuuko, who is a steward as well, and boy do they do their job well, as Akari would know almost everything and anything to a decree. The goddess of gossip she is, as everyone would lovingly refer her to.
“The king. He plans to take over the forest right outside of the kingdom’s walls soon to have more space for buildings and homes, but I am sure that you all know the rumor about the forest.”
“The one with the witch?” Once again, it was Sayaka who spoke, her eyebrows still raised up as she welcomed Akari to sit down on the benches with the other two knights. Although their ranks differed within the castle, the four of them could almost be coined as friends--or perhaps they truly are but have never just boldly referred to each other as such. Although, truth be told, Sayaka suspects that Lady Rika and Akari are more than just friends. “How do you know this, even?”
“Don’t underestimate she who supervises the whole castle, Yamamoto! Anyway, the king believes it is only a rumor and so with your beloved commanders, they are cooking up some “brilliant” ideas as to how they should reform the forest.”
Rika wrapped her arm around Akari’s shoulder, the knight already confident enough to act like this towards the castle’s chief supervisor and Sayaka’s suspicion only grew as she exchanged knowing looks with Kei. “What about the witch, though?” Rika asked, “If she truly does exist then we’re in trouble.”
“Isn’t the story a rumor because she doesn’t exist?” Kei lifted a brow up, shrugging her shoulder as though the answer should be obvious by now.
“About that, well...” Wishing to not see Kei and Rika begin a long fight of glares, Akari quickly jumped in, the tall girl standing up and freeing herself from Rika’s hold while wearing on her face a worried look. Her eyes shifted to meet Sayaka’s. “The king would like to see you, Sayanee. Along with the two other idiots if possible.”
The three knights exchanged looks with each other.
-
“Absolutely wonderful!” Jonishi Kei, a knight of three years swung her sword with anger, cutting down thin branches and vines that blocked the rocky, if not muddy, way up the forest hill, horses crying out behind her along with the footsteps of the other two knights--both of whom are a knight of only just a few months. Nonetheless, the three of them have always been treated equal despite the gap of years between their knighthood. “So while the flopping commanders are having tea on a round table, we are sent here in this haunted forest simply because they wish for us to verify whether or not the witch exists. Just the three of us against a witch!”
Laughing as she followed behind Kei, Rika made sure she had her hold on their horses’ reins, making sure that they aren’t afraid of the crazy woman in front of them swinging her sword while angrily stomping about. “If you wish to curse then just do so, Lady Kei. “Flopping” doesn’t exactly sound that aggressive of you even if you are clearly mad. Quite ridiculous to imagine commander knights flopping about on a round table with teas on in their hands, actually. Hilarious.”
To that, Sayaka agreed by laughing along, trailing behind the duo to make sure that their horses dropped none of their fruits as they thread along the small pathway up to the mountains and for a moment, it made Sayaka wonder who would even create a pathway inside a supposed forbidden forest. The witch? Couldn’t she have just used her magic broom and fly about, like what grandmothers would tell their grandchildren witches use as means of transportation? Or perhaps the forest was never forbidden and abandoned to begin with. Maybe this witch they speak of is actually a tribe of sorts, left behind by the kingdom and long forgotten.
Upon Lady Rika’s words, they headed east after a few more hours of walking straight, telling them that she could hear a river nearby despite both Sayaka and Kei being unable to pick up the sound of running water. Much to their surprise a river truly was revealed to them after walking past a number of trees and bushes, proving the tall knight’s words to be true.
“Let’s stay here. Sun is setting and we need to gather woods for fire. Lady Sayaka, can you do that for us? Lady Kei and I shall see if we can catch some fishes by the river before night sets--unless the two of you would rather eat fruits for dinner yet again after having them for breakfast and lunch?”
The sound of disgust that escapes from Kei’s mouth answered the question for them all, shuddering to emphasize her newfound hatred towards the poor innocent fruits. “One more bite of that cursed red fruit and without a doubt, I will grow insane.” And readily so, the shortest knight began to remove her armor after helping Rika with tying the horse to keep them from running, seemingly happy to finally remove the pesky and much too clanky suit. Rika and Sayaka took theirs off as well, carefully gathering them all behind a small boulder before finally parting to do their assigned tasks.
The forest was far more silent without the other two around, Sayaka later thought to herself as she began gathering dead branches for their fire, leaving a trail of small pebbles behind her to make sure she doesn’t get lost, walking further and further away from her fellow knights in search for more woods. She could almost hear everything but the voices of her friends from the silence. Leaves brushing against each other as wind blows by, the sounds of mud against her boots in each step she takes and Sayaka swears she heard one extra step as soon as she halts. Or perhaps she was simply delusional. Too afraid of the thought of getting lost and being alone as she sets down another piece of pebble before walking once more.
But there it was once more. The extra step forward as soon as she stopped walking, forcing her to turn her head to look around her in search for the perpetrator.
“Who goes there?” She called out with a loud voice, waiting for a moment for anyone--for Kei, perhaps--to pop out from behind one of the many trees that surrounded her to surprise her and laugh at the look of surprise on her face. It never came, sadly, and only the gust of wind comes as a response to her call. “Must be an animal…” The raven sighed in relief, bending down to pick the piece of branch that had fallen and landed by her feet.
…Wait, Fall from where?
Clearing her throat with a sense of fear as she finally noticed the eerie silence that enveloped her; the sounds of leaves dancing, the wind passing by and birds flying gone, Sayaka added the branch into the small pile in her arms before reluctantly turning her head up. A tree branch. Of course. She sighs in relief, smiling a little as she teased herself for being shaken from a silly thought when she’s supposed to be a strong night and after giving the number of branches she had picked up a quick look the raven finally nodded her head, convinced that she picked up enough to last them until they fall asleep before following the line of tiny pebbles she made.
“Well, you took quite a while.” Come Kei’s greet to her the moment the river was finally in her sight, poor Sayaka struggling to keep the branches in her arms from falling before carefully setting them down on the ground, not far from the boulder where they had left their armors to sit by. “Would you be so kind as to make a fire for us? Lady Rika has already captured a lot but we’d like to see how many we could catch before it gets too dark to see.” From what Sayaka could see from where she stood, both Kei and Rika had already captured more than enough fishes to fill their stomach up for the night, though she keeps the itch to say a witty remark about it to herself as she nodded her head instead. “There should be a box of matches in one of the sacks.” Lady Kei added, gesturing her free hand to one of the horses.
“I’m beginning to doubt we would be able to eat all of the fishes before they spoil.” Rocks gathered into a circle before gathering some of the branches inside, Sayaka easily lights them with a few dead leaves to help, pushing herself up from the ground with a clap of her hand before approaching the horses once more, this time, to feed them with the apples they were all now sick of eating. The forest was full of animals anyway. Rabbits, birds and even deers. If they get hungry, they could always just capture one to feast on. And truth be told, Sayaka seconds Kei’s words. If she were to taste apple for the last time, then without a doubt she would grow crazy. “Are you both still on your silly contest as to who gets more fishes?”
“It’s all because of Lady Rika’s long limbs that she’s winning!” Oh Lady Kei, as terrible in accepting defeat as always, but Sayaka supposes that’s exactly the reason why both she and Rika preferred to be with her above all other knights. “But I suppose you’re right. It would be useless to catch all of the fishes in the stream if we can’t eat them all. Fine, I give up and admit defeat. For now.”
Lady Rika, in response, laughed once more before finally leaving the water, both her and Kei’s hands now cold from the duration they had left them submerged in an attempt to catch some fish. “I’ll put the ones that are still alive back into the water. Lady Kei, would you mind helping Lady Sayaka cook the rest?”
“I would rather die than find myself minding before I help Lady Sayaka.”
Quirking her brow up, Sayaka smirked at Kei, “that almost sounded romantic.”
The tallest knight of the trio played along by grinning all too toothily as well, finally done tossing fishes back into the stream and washing her hands and now, she sat between Sayaka and Kei, placing her wet hands on the duo’s shoulders “Now, now. Tone down your romance, the two of you, we have no room for you to hide into as you make love. But if you insist, you can hide within the darkness while doing it, so long as I don’t get to see.”
“Disgusting!” Lady Kei grimaced, prompting both Sayaka and Rika to laugh.
-
Morning came after an uneventful evening, all three of them awake before the sun could fully rise up into the sky so they could wash themselves up and put their armors on once more. They were heavy and hot as usual, but it was a choice between having a small shield around their body should they ever meet the witch, or risk having their skins cut open all too easily before they could even put up a fight.
Their way was more stable now compared to the rocky and uneven steps they had to deal with on their way up the mountains, and this time, they were allowed to ride their horses without worrying about accidentally falling down. Venturing inside a mountain they have no clue off was still reckless, however, and both Kei and Rika suspects they were merely walking around in circles as they still find no hints of any witches or another soul within the thick forest aside from the three of them. And while it was already hard enough to journey about without so much of a map in hand, the sky soon turned dark as well. Not because night was coming for it was still early in the afternoon, but because rain threatened to fall, coupled with a few rolls of thunder.
“What can I say, Lady Rika? The day just seems to be getting better and better.” Lady Kei sighed, shoulders slumping as, as usual, she led their way by walking first, Lady Rika following behind her while Sayaka, as usual, lagged behind them, breaking thin branches here and there in an attempt to leave marks to keep them from getting any more lost than they already were. “This is all the king’s fault for giving us this ridiculous task. There’s no witch! We’re searching for a ghost!”
And as though the witch could hear her, the sky growled.
“Look what you did, Lady Kei, you made the witch angry.” Wanting to ease up the mood however, Rika joked instead with a lazy smile plastered on her face. Without a doubt, they won’t be able to find a place suitable enough for shelter before rain would fall from the skies, so instead, she opts the group to continue on walking. Thinking that the sooner they circle around the mountain and find out there’s no witch, the sooner they would be able to end this terrible task.
Waving her sheathed sword around once more, like usual, Kei groaned, the horse she rode bellowing as she pulled its reins to order it to stop. “Oh bah! If the witch truly did exist then she would have attacked us by now!” And yet again, as though Kei’s words were heard, the grey clouds lighted briefly before being followed by a low growl. And all at once, water finally began pouring down from the sky in huge droplets, clanking against their armors each time it fell onto them. Rika and Sayaka groaned in unison in response, the two glaring at Kei.
“This is your fault.” They blamed her, the rain only growing stronger and heavier.
“Alright, change of plans. Let’s hurry off and search for a huge tree to hide under. Just run straight! Nobody make a turn, understand? We’ll…”
Soon enough, all of Rika’s words were eaten by the loud sound of rain hitting the ground, and before Sayaka could even ask her friend to repeat her words, both her and Kei began running off on their horses, leaving the raven dumbfounded for a few seconds before she hurriedly tails after them in fear of losing sight on the duo. The rain only continued to grow heavy, thunders rolling even louder though no lightnings come to hit them, thankfully enough. However, her range of sight was beginning to shorten as Sayaka’s surroundings seem to be engulfed by a pesky, gray fog instead, making her unable to see Rika or Kei anymore, or even hear the sounds of their horses. The raven’s hair was now matted against her skin, her fringe soon becoming a nuisance as it sticks against her forehead and threatens to prickle her eyes.
Left with no choice, Sayaka went against Lady Rika’s advice, making a sharp turn the moment she noticed a tree good enough to keep her from the strong rain, moving further and further away from the trail she and the others were following.
Before she could even come near it, however, a loud clap of thunder forces her horse to halt in fear, bellowing as loudly as it could as it pulled itself up onto its two feet, and the last thing Sayaka remembers was the fog finally thinning out just before she fell off of her horse, forcing her to panic as soon as she realizes that she stood beside a cliff.
-
Yamamoto Sayaka grew up with not a hint of luxury in her life, and even from a very young age, she learned how to work, forced to be mature, throwing away her childhood just to help her family.
She used to envy the kids who were allowed to play outside of their homes, laughing at each other as they play a round of hide and seek, but at least, unlike them, she was helping her family.
And by becoming a knight, she was helping them all the more, right?
It didn’t matter if she did not get to experience how fun it must be to be just a young child.
She doesn’t care about it anymore.
She’s not jealous anymore.
“Liar.” A voice came from behind her, and turning around, Sayaka was faced by a mirror of herself. Glaring at her angrily with hands curled into tight fists. “Liar. You’re not useful. You’re just a burden to your family. You make them worry about you. And you’re jealous. Very jealous of the kids you would find playing around, and very jealous of the king and princess herself! You loathe them for pushing you into poverty, for working your ass off just to have food on the table! Food you don’t even get to taste yourself because you’re stuck inside the barracks! You want to kill them! Look,” the reflection pointed, “look at your hand.”
Blinking, Sayaka curiously does as told, turning her head down to look at her hands. “What--?!” She moved away, letting go of the bloodied sword she was holding.
“You just killed your king.”
The raven gasped, deep breath in as she struggles to fill her lungs with air before heaving out a heavy sigh. It takes her a moment to realize that her eyes were closed, too exhausted to move her limbs and the rest of her body until she was about to fall asleep once more, and with a groan, Sayaka finally forces her eyes to open, staring up at a wooden ceiling as she continues to pant about for the much needed air.
“You’re awake. I’d advise you not to move, but I don’t really care if you’d prefer to hurt yourself.”
Yet again, Sayaka took the deepest breath in. It wasn’t the voice of any of her companions but instead, a stranger’s, and for some reason, just realizing that sends shivers down her spine; head reluctant to turn and see who it was. Or at least she was reluctant until she felt the bed she lied on shift, and so, carefully, Sayaka turned her head to finally take a look at the woman beside her, eyes still wide as ever as she is met with a smile that looked much too sweet and innocent to be mistaken as evil.
“Welcome to my humble abode, oh not-so-brave knight of the king! I’m surprised you’re alive. Although I suppose it only makes sense, it was I who healed you after all!” The female puffed her chest out ever so proudly. “But still, you are not fully well. You’ve fractured your shoulder, and it will take a while to heal. Be thankful you didn’t crack your head open after falling down the cliff.”
Sayaka shakily parted her lips, her eyebrows furrowed. “Who are you?”
It felt as though the girl had been waiting for her to ask the question all this time. A huge smile curling from her lips all the more as she finally stood up from the bed, hands on her hips while standing tall and firm.
“The witch you were searching for.”
Topic: Witch-hunt - chapter 1 (NMB/SayaMilky) 23/10/2015 (Read 1983 times)