Valkyrie's Lament

Chapter 13

Castle Infiltration VI

Walking through the forest, Silver headed straight towards the large looming medieval castle made out of brick. Green vines dangled on the side, while half of the wall on the east side was broken down and in pieces. Large trees covered a third of the castle, merging with the castle itself. So far, she wasn’t able to see to far.

Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw a black silhouette rush past her with quick steps. Two large Kilkenny appeared out from the bushes, growling at her viciously. Drips of spit drooled out of the corner of its mouth, making it look feral.

“Awwwooo!” The Kilkenny howled in rage and charged.

Silver jumped out of the way and ran straight towards the tree. The Kilkenny’s claws swiped downwards and broke through the trunk of the tree. She pivoted on her foot, and swung her sword sideways, catching the Kilkenny with one swipe.

The Kilkenny neck was partially split in half as it head flopped to the side. The second Kilkenny dashed forward with a vicious jaws wide open. It chomped downwards onto Silver’s sword, making it difficult for her to swing, but this didn’t stop her. She leaned forward into her body, pushing downwards with all her strength she could muster, so her sword could cut through the Kilkenny’s mouth and into its head.

Blood splattered all over her, covering her in black. She gasped with heavy breathe as she steadied herself. Fighting the Kilkenny wasn’t an easy thing, making her breathe a little too heavy from her small bout. At the rate the fight was going, her stamina was draining pretty quickly, who knew how long she could last. Taking in a deep breathe, she steadied herself. Her stamina conversion wasn’t as good as she thought she had, especially against a Kilkenny. It just took twice as much effort to fight it.

She walked forward and went to dismantle the Kilkenny for its skin, meat, and crystal. Her hands moved quickly and when she pulled out the crystal, she placed them into her rings, not eating a single one.

Silver continued on until finally she came to the front gates. She carefully watched for any movements hidden next to a tree, wondering what would come spilling out. So far the door stood open, challenging anyone to waltz in with opens arm into its eerie door.

It was a bit strange to see that no one was present, she thought at least that they were someone living inside, but they were no trace of such activity. The next thought that she had was that if there was some kind of trap hidden inside that she didn’t know of, making her weary. Carefully peeling herself off the tree, she quietly pushed forward for any unsuspecting enemies through the open gates.

If her memory served her correctly there should be something dangerous in this retrieval quest, but she couldn’t remember what.  Her memories were all foggy, making it that much frustrating for her. So far nothing appeared in front of her or stopped her, making her suspicion stronger.

Every step she took, she scanned around, looking for any possible signs of traps. The walls were filthy with cobwebs, the leaves from the tree that canopy over a part of the castle were spread out all over the floor, and even the smell of mold were strong as she went deeper into the castle. Even the interior of the castle were rundown and abandoned as if nobody have been living there for centuries.

Silver kept walking through the castle hallway that twisted and turn at every corner. Every door she saw, she attempted to force it open, but not a single door budged. It was as if someone purposely locked all the doors or they were so well shut because of age that she couldn’t open it. Hours went by before she found one door that was actually opened and undamaged. She stopped and glanced up before entering. Above the door was a large tattered painting of a women, hanging lopsided ready to fall.

Silver stood in silenced as she tilt her neck to see who the painting was. Bright purple eyes stared down at Silver, beautiful Iris flowers decorated her hair and her clothes, but a large slash cut across her face down to her hip was apparent, making its statement of hatred on the painting itself. She couldn’t help but wonder who would go through such lengths to destroy the beautiful painting.

With a sigh, she took a step inside the open door. The moment she walked inside, the dark room lit up. Flames appeared out of thin air and brighten the room. Sliver couldn’t help but be at unease. She had suspicion that there were something more going on here as she brought out her sword for any possible enemy attack.

“Welcome the Lady of Blues!” A deep man’s voice spoke out and a spotlight directed itself towards Silver that blinded her. She raised up her hands to cover up the bright light from blinding her.

A loud round of applause erupted around her. The room became brighter, making it difficult for her to see in front of her. It took a couple of seconds for her eye to settle in, when her vision cleared, she noticed that she stood on a balcony. Before her was a large open wooden floor and on the other side was another balcony. Curtains covered the doorway, making it impossible for her to see what was beyond the curtains.

On both sides, a large bleacher appeared out of thin air as over dozens of black shadows, hidden partially by the dark, with only white gloves on were all clapping. Silver glanced from side-to-side. It was an unnerving sight to see so many ghastly shapes that had no faces.

“Ladies and Gennnntttllleeeman! This is truly a monumental day, a new contestant has stepped in to challenge the defending champion!” The voice called out in excitement, riling up the crowds.

Screams of blaring boos could be heard from the bleachers. The spot light swiveled away from her and went straight to the opposite side.

“Welcome our defending 34th champion  Lucky Rabbit!”

Cheers erupted frantically as the hands were throwing up a fist in excitement. Coming out from the curtains on the other end was a elegant lady in a renaissance like clothes. The long dress that shuffled near her feet dragging behind her, raised white collars that reached up to her ear, and even a low cut v shape that showed off her spectacular cleavage. The only thing that seem slightly out of place was the lady wearing a  black rabbit mask that covered her whole face. Around her neck, Silver noticed thin line of blood that seem to drip around her whole neck like a lasso.

Lucky Rabbit raised up her hand slowly in front of her, gesturing a wave. Everyone became silent and her fingers turned into a V sign. One after the other, the black silhouettes with white gloves posed the same sign and tapped their chest in a rhythmic beat. Even the Lucky Rabbit did the same thing a couple of times before going quite.

“Truly befitting of the reigning Queen.” A sigh escaped out the voice, giving the illusion that he was smitten by the Lucky Rabbit. A small white fluffy bunny with red eyes and wings appeared floating above the scene.  “My name is Rod. The host for this show.” He bowed. “Now on to the challenge shall we?”

The ground shook and in the middle of the room, seven scarecrows like figures appeared out from the ground draped on a wooden stick in a circle. Each one look vaguely familiar, six out of seven of the scarecrows were wearing the same clothes and had the same look as the people that she was with. From right to left were Jasper, Tyler, Cole, Kathy, Rose, and even her. The seventh scarecrow had on a bunny mask representing the Lucky Rabbit.

“These seven represents each of the participants in this game. Now we must welcome the other five to this game shall we?” Rod chuckled. The ground rumbled and open up from the ground where the missing five were brought up. Each one were on a wooden pedestal, where they were boxed in by metal rails that kept them in. All of them were unconscious, quietly sleeping away on the floor.

So this was where they were, thought Silver. For some reason, she felt a tinge of relief when she saw Jasper. It didn’t take long for each one of them slowly come fully awake.

“W-w-what’s going on?” Tyler slurred his words from being partial awake. He placed his hand on his throbbing head, wondering where he was. He searched around and noticed that all the others were out cold, and when he glanced up he saw Silver standing on a balcony. “Silver?”

Silver didn’t reply and quietly watched, everything unfold. Kathy and Cole was the next one to awaken with a throbbing headache.

“Where am I?” Kathy got up, and groaned. She look around as she shouted with worry towards Cole. “Cole?!

“I’m okay.” Cole replied back with heavy heart.

Kathy look over towards Cole with a worried expression. “Are you sure?”

“Yea. Thanks.”

“What the hell is going on?” Rose got up groggily with a bad attitude. She wasn’t pleased with the throbbing headache. “Who the hell drugged me? Huh?! Whoever it is I’m going to kill them!” She yelled in fury.

“Calm down, bitch. We’re all in the same boat.” Tyler nonchalantly spoke. He waved his hands at her not caring what she would say next.

“What did you call me?”

“Bitch.”

“Bastard, when I get over this rail. I’ll make sure to throttle you with my own hands.”

“All talk no action sweetheart. We all know that’s who you really are.”

Rose seethed in anger as she clenched her fist. She reached over towards the rail ready to get out and towards him, but before she could static like electricity erupted from the metal rail, making it impossible for her to cross over. “What in the world?!” She pulled back in complete disbelief.

Everyone heard the loud crackling sound of the electricity, and they all scooted away before they accidently get zapped.

The last one to awaken with a groan was Jasper, he got up and massaged his aching head that made him feel like he woke up with a bad hangover. He opened his heavy eyes and examined his surrounding confused. “Where are we?” He groaned. “I feel like some drunk had smacked me with a glass bottle.”

“That’s the same way I feel pipsqueak,” said Tyler. He then turned towards the other side from Silver and noticed the lady with the rabbit mask. “Who are you? Are we in some kind of party that I’m missing out?”

Jasper followed Tyler gaze and saw the Lucky Rabbit standing proudly over their heads. “Who?”

“Finally, ladies and gents! The participants have woken up and now we can start the game of Soul Seesaw!” Rod yelled with excitement. He twirled around in mid-air, fluttering his small wings that seem to barely hold him up. Cheers of applause erupted around them as everyone else flinched from the sudden burst of thunderous claps that resounded around them.

“We bring you the Weight of Justice!”

From above a large gold seesaw appeared from the ceiling and was brought down with a metal chain. With a loud clunk, the seesaw stood on top of a podium that came out from the ground. The metal chains unclasped itself and fell to the side.

“The game is simple. Guess the name of Lucky Rabbit! Each one of you have three tries to guess her name correctly. You can only ask her one question each turn. When you use up one of your guesses and fail, you must tell something about yourself for the next minute that no one knows about. Isn’t this exciting? This is a great bonding experience.” Rod giggled. “Remember you must only tell the truth or you will be harmed. How you ask? Simple. See those dolls that look like you in front of you? ” Rod smirked excited to get the game on the road.

Every-one gaze fell in front of them and noticed the scarecrow like doll.

“These dolls are you. They will balance on the seesaw and every time you tell a lie it will automatically walk to one of two sides. You see, the right side is Truth, and the left is a lie. The more truth you tell the better, but at the same time the more you lie the heavier the consequences. Though there is a very unique reward given to the one who lies the most at the end of this game. One last rule, no one is allowed to speak Lucky Rabbit’s name if it’s not your turn or I will give out a severe punishment.”

“Then what does this so called Lucky Rabbit do?” said Tyler, ”She can’t guess her own name that would be stupid.”

“You’re absolutely right. You see the Lady of Blue on the opposite side of our Lucky Rabbit?” Rod waved his fingers and pointed towards Silver.

Tyler turned towards Silver wondering what she had got to do with anything. “Our Lucky Rabbit will guess five things about her. 1. Name. 2. Age 3. Breast Size. 4. Weight. 5. Height 6. Hip size.”

“W-what? I mean what is the point of this game?” Tyler spoke dumbfoundedly at what he was just hearing.

“Why it’s for fun! I mean come on who wouldn’t want to know all this juicy information about a girl’s body?” Rod pervertedly stated. For a rabbit it was strange to hear such words coming out from his mouth. The way he spoke and his cute appearance just didn’t match. “Not only that I don’t like to know a guy’s ratio. They’re not my type.”

“Hey! You could’ve picked me!” Rose shouted offended that she wasn’t chosen.

“You? I already can guess everything about you. Plus, you just don’t seem interesting enough. There is nothing mysterious about you that I want to know.”

“Are you discriminating me?”

“Yes.” The Rod’s voice flatly spoke.

“Get down here bastard and see for yourself! I’m a high class lady.”

“Anyways onto what I was saying,” Rod ignored her completely. “If Lucky Rabbit gets the answer correctly the person that is on the seesaw will die!” With a laugh, everyone who heard this became silent.

“What kind of crap are you spouting!” Rose raised up her fist in the air, shaking it in rage.

Rod continued on. “So let’s begin. All of you will roll and the highest number will start first.”

Underneath both Silver and Lucky Rabbit’s feet shook, the balcony broke apart as they were brought down towards similar levels as everyone else. A single small dice appears in front of each person.

“Just say throw and we can begin the game.”

“Throw.” Silver called out. She wanted to get this game over and done with. The dice in front of her rolled in front of her and stopped on a number three.

Above each person a number arose. Jasper got four, Cole two, Rose one, Tyler five, and Kathy and Lucky Rabbit both got six.

“Well then Lucky Rabbit will start the game. We will be going in descending order and every time she rolls a six from now on, she will be able to take anyone of your turns. ”

“That’s not fair! Your favoring her!” Rose shouted in outrage.

“No, I’m not. I’m being fair.” The Rod spoke with an uncaring tone of voice, he flipped upside down and smiled at Lucky Rabbit. “So, Lucky Rabbit what is our contestant name!?”

Lucky Rabbit was silent for a moment and spoke. “Silver.”

“Ding! Dang! Dong! You are correct!”

A flutter of confetti falls over her. Lucky Rabbit bows and then clasp her hand in front of her.

“Five left! Woooooot! Now for the pain!”

Everyone knew that they were going to be some form a punishment, but not something physical.  Even Silver was caught by complete surprise. All of a sudden, an electric currents runs through all six of the dolls, excluding Lucky Rabbits.

Cole screamed in pain as he locked up and fell forward. Tyler gritted his teeth. He grabbed onto the rail trying to keep himself  from falling forward. His scream was muffled. Both Rose and Kathy screamed at the top of there lungs. While Jasper fell forward on all floor, shouting loudly with pain.

Silver locked up and stumbled forward, her voice shouted out with a grunt. Her body slammed onto the rail, catching her before she could fall. The electric current passed through each of them for thirty seconds. She felt as if twenty minute have gone by or even longer. The shock locked up all her muscles making it difficult for her to even move.

“Ah, I forgot to tell you that these dolls are actually you. Anything that harms these dolls you will get hurt too.” Rod drummed his fingers on his lips and nonchalantly shrugged as if it was not his problem.

“Ah,  my ass!” Rose was fuming in anger. She got up shakily, trying not to fall back down. Her voice was getting louder by the second.“Seriously? Are you trying to kill us?”

“Yes.” Rod bluntly stated. “Lucky for all of you. None of you guys were up on the scale. So the pain was divided six ways. Now let us continue. Number 6 you are up next.”

Kathy look back and forth from every one to Lucky Rabbit, hoping that someone can give her a hint. Her doll lifted up into the sky and landed onto the seesaw and stood on its feet, wobbling back and forth.

“If you are going to delay any longer I’m going to start a countdown. 10. 9. 8. 7.” Rod was getting impatient from silence.

“W-w-what’s your favorite color!” Kathy yelled with a stuttered voice that she bite her tongue.

“Purple.”

“Purple?”

“Yes.”

“Ooooooh. Punishment time~” Rod gleefully did a loop-de-loop in the air. A giant nail appeared in the air above the doll. With a frightening speed, the nails impaled in the doll’s right shoulder.

“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” Kathy shriek pierced the sky that everyone who heard her voice shivered. Even Silver who were usually quite knew that they were a certain amount of pain she could tolerate. This was on a whole different level in itself, and she didn’t like the thought of it being her turn.

“What kind of question is that?” Rose was fuming at the question that Kathy asked. “That’s like asking if you like to take a dump or something. It’s irrelevant to the name!”

“Shut up Rose. We got a hint.” Cole was not happy with the way Rose was speaking towards Kathy.

“Whatever, you just wasted a precious chance.”

“One question one chance to say her name.” Rod whimsically spoke. “Now time to test your soul. Tell us something about yourself. You got one minute. Start~”

Kathy shakily got up, her face were pale and drained. “My name is Kathy Goldenberg. I lived in Shanghii, China. My parents move there because of work, but I am not an actual resident. I have three brothers and one younger sister.” Kathy hiccuped as she started to tear up from the pain. She didn’t wanted to continue speaking.

“What’s the hold up. Seriously, what the heck is this wishy washy story telling. We want the meaty gritty dark secrets you harbor in your heart.” Rod evilly smiled. “How about this, i’ll ask the questions and you answer. So…tell us why you have lead the Kilkenny towards Silver? What was your thoughts when you sent it to her?”

“Why do I have to tell you? I told you what you have asked for.”

“Ah, ah, ah~” Rod waved his fingers. “You got three seconds to spill and if you don’t~” A giant metal spike appeared above the doll, and even the doll shivered in reaction to Kathy’s fear.

Kathy eyes turned wide with fear. “I wanted to live!”

“And?” Rod spoke with a mischievous face.

“I just thought I had the best chance of survival if Silver helped me.”

The doll started to walk towards the left side seesaw.

“What’s this? Somewhere in your statement you lied.”

“I didn’t.”

Once again the doll walked forward with small steps until it was a half-way towards the edge.

“You did! Hahahah this is great! Double punishment time!” Rod clapped happily as he was buzzing around Kathy’s head.

Another stake appeared and both of them pinned themselves into Kathy’s doll: one on her right hand and the other on her left foot.

“Kyahhhhhhhh!” Kathy was screaming in pain. Her eyes teared up as she huddled forward clenching onto the rail. Even her mouth contorted into a grim frown. She tried her best to get back up, but failed, and flopped onto her back.

“Time is ticking. Tell us. Why did you do it? You still have thirty seconds left you know.” Rod was gleefully fluttering around Kathy, glancing down with pleasure at her pain and suffering. A holographic video replay of her running towards Silver was play above her for everyone to see. It even caught her smirk as she pulled the Kilkenny towards Silver. Everyone face darkened when they saw the video, a couple of them scowled.

Kathy mumbled, but no one could hear what she said.

“Say it louder,” said Rod.

“I thought by dumping it on Silver would increase my chances. She can already fight well as it is, and she survived perfectly fine. My life is more important than hers.”

“You would do something like that to save your own skin?!“ Jasper was angrily retorting back. “What is wrong with you!?”

“Yes I did and I will gladly do it again!” Kathy angrily retorted. “You don’t understand a thing. I didn’t have a single crystal nor am I strong like you or Silver. I am a girl for crying out loud.”

“What kind of lame excuse is that? Silver started at the same starting line as you. I don’t even have an adult’s body yet. Do you think it’s easy for me?!”

Kathy was silent.

“Woah~ The room is heating up. Let’s turn up the notch.” Rod was enjoying every minute of it. “The next question is, was your cry for real when your friend died?”

“No.”

Cole stuttered and glance towards Kathy in disbelief. “I thought you guys were friends. Aren’t you?”

“No. Why would I be best friends with fatty?”

“Why? You two were inseparable.”

“Because, she was aiming for you.”

“W-what? Me?” Cole look at her confused.

“Yes, you were her love interest and she was my rival. Once she died, the competition was over and I could take my time.” Kathy arrogantly said. “I’m glad she died. ”

The doll kept moving towards the right with steady step, reassuring everyone that what she said was true.

Cole was stunned when he heard  Kathy’s answer. Silver wasn’t. She knew that these kind of answers throughout the game was quite frequent. Truth had a nasty way of rearing its ugly head during the game. This was one of those times.

“Times up!” Rod excitedly stated. “Is it me or is the drama between the two really heating up or what?”

Tyler grinded his teeth and glared at Rod. He knew he was the next one, but at the same time he was not looking forward to his turn at all. “Get on with it.”

“Well then, Lucky Rabbit will now roll her dice.”

Kathy was holding her breathe the whole time, waiting for her the die to roll. The digital dice rolled, it fumbled and tethered between a six and a five. Eventually, the dice rolled over on a six.

“No. No. No. No. No!” Kathy shrieked. “You rigged it! I know you did!” She was screaming hysterically.

“Tut. Tut. Tut. I don’t rig things. The dice just didn’t roll in your favor that’s all.” Rod shrugged as if nothing matter.

“Now bring us to her death! Please start with the drum roll!”

A drum appeared out of nowhere and magically started to play by itself. Her doll started to float up in the air as if it was being pulled up by a string. Rod magically conjured up a giant cleaver that’s rusted and bloodied. He grabbed it in midair and hopped over towards Kathy’s doll.

“Noooooooo!” Kathy screamed in horror. “Please no!”

“Bye. Bye.” Rod waved his cute fluffy hand and with one giant swing, the giant cleaver lopped off the doll’s head.

Kathy eyes became wide, red line appeared around her neck, and she fell over dead.

“It’s a pity. We couldn’t see her actual head fly away. I honestly can’t harm you physically.” Rod sighed. The doll fell onto the ground lifeless. Everyone was stunned at what had happened before them. Not a single sound escaped their lips as they knew that the chance of there neck being cut off was a possibility. This time, Tyler’s doll got plucked up into the air and placed on the seesaw.

“You just killed her. How?” Tyler asked in complete disbelief, breaking the silence.

Rod tilted his head. “It’s just that curses have its due.”

Tyler reached up to his neck unconsciously and feared that his neck would fall off as well. Rod snapped his fingers and the large cleaver disappeared.

“Does your first letter of your name in the first half of the alphabet but does not pass the letter L?”

“Yes.”

“Jasmine.”

“No.”

A metal nail appeared above Tyler’s doll and shot towards the left leg. With a groaning shriek, he fell forward grabbing onto the railing as his leg folded underneath him.

“Kuhuhuhuhhu. The failure of the loser gets there just reward. Now then, let’s begin the interrogation!” Rod flew over and landed on the rail. “Who gave you the scar?”

“My brother.” Tyler spoke in-between his groan of pain.

“Why did he give you that scar?”

“My brother had a lover, he was cheating on her for a year before that. She knew that he was hurting her, so she and I staged it all up to get back at him.”

The Tyler doll walked slowly to the right.

“You probably couldn’t take your hands off her huh?” Rod laughed mischievously in-between his furry paw.

“I didn’t.”

The doll kept moving to the right.’

“What? You gotta be kidding me. You’re lying.”

“If I was lying, you stupid bunny, than the doll would’ve gone to the left.” Tyler sharply replied with an angery glare.

“True.” The bunny sighed and shook his head. “What a disappointment. So what happens next.”

“The answer is simple, my brother entered the room and saw us together. He was in rage, and he came at her with a knife. Luckily for me, I was able to stop him, but the scuffle did leave behind some scars. My face was one of them that got unlucky, while she got a large scar running down her chest.”

“I feel like you’re still hiding something.” Rod fluttered around Tyler’s head. “You must’ve loved her.”

Tyler face slightly twitched and he frowned. “Yes, I did.”

“She left you, didn’t she, when you confessed.”

“Is that a question or a comment, if so I have no obligation of telling you.”

Rod fumed and threw a fit. “Fine! You are lucky that your time has run out. They will be no second mistake! Next! Roll the dice my lady!” He said with excitement towards Lucky Rabbit..

The dice rolled and stopped on a three.

“Awwwww~” Rod was sad that a number six didn’t come out. “Oh well, let’s get onto the next person. Tyler’s doll was picked up and brought back down to its original spot, next Jasper’s doll was the one that was brought up on the seesaw.

“Now, this is going to get interesting.” Rod mischievously smile and fluttered towards Jasper, dancing in front of his face. One could tell that he had something he wanted to ask Jasper.