The castle hall's door slammed shut the moment she stepped inside. Yet unbothered she walked towards the queen, not a speck of hesitance or courtesy reflected in her stride. Instead, glaring down the lecherous leader who'd temporarily taken the crown from her dying husband, Helga wished to spit in Maria's face had it not been for the unnecessary casualties guarding her from the shadows.
"Speak!" She demanded, her hand fanning at Maria as though she were a dog.
Her mood fouled by the barbarian, the queen clicked her tongue out loud. Leaning forward on the borrowed throne, she glared down at the Valkyrie with the vilest grimace. However, when that didn't work to make her even flinch, Maria forced herself all the way back.
"You call upon me like a mutt!" Throwing her hand in the air, she forced her shadow soldiers out of hiding. Surrounding Helga from all directions, their weapons pinned her within a small circle.
Looking around at the soldiers–amongst whom she once served, Helga's mood was fouled further. Raising her head to Maria again, she noticed a crescent smile riding on those poison lips. Having reigned the monster she'd only ever heard praised, she felt triumphantly elated.
"You think men will hold me back?" Shattering the queen's illusion of control, Helga cracked a smile before bursting into a flood of laughs. Hearing the Valkyrie's joy, the men knew better than to stay about, and so distancing themselves from Helga, they quickly disappeared back into the shadows.
"You know nothing about being a ruler," interjecting his queen, Markus–the dark general shared a glance with her for a moment. "And you know even less about negotiation, especially someone you can't charm with your body."
Joining his men in the shadows, Markus left the queen to her own defenses. Frantically looking around with her bloodshot eyes nearly bulging out of her head, the queen; for once in her life, was left breathless and afraid.
"Why did you summon me?" Breaking the silence after the soldiers disappeared, Helga cast her furrowed gaze at the terrified queen again.
Astounded by the situation of her own making, Maira let herself sink further into the throne to distance herself from Helga as far as she could. Hiding the end of her seat, however, she was forced to gulp her apparent horror and open her mouth to respond.
"T-there's a monster, I-I don't know, it's somewhere between us and the next kingd–"
"And you want my help to kill it?" Cutting off the queen, Helga sped up their conversation. "How big? What class? Pack or lone? Nocturnal or day happy? Tell me everything about it that you know, and since you wasted so much of my time that I could've spent taking my daughters to a park, you're paying upfront from the damned blood-treasury."
Laying down all her demands at once, Helga wanted this visit to end as quickly as possible. But from the terrified look in Maria's eyes, she knew it would take too long to clear things up with her directly. Instead, turning her gaze to the shadows, she spied out Markus and gestured to him to follow her outside.
"You tell me everything I need to know, friend," nodding in response, Markus walked into the light and led Helga right out the hall's doors.
Leaving with the dark knight without ever acknowledging Maria's authority, Helga knew she'd made the queen her enemy, but that threatened her not in the least. A queen whose own guard would not stand their ground to protect her spoke volumes about her presence and authority.
"What's with the empty seats inside the hall?" Helga asked Markus as they made their way down to the barracks.
Glancing back from over his shoulder, his eyes glowed a crimson from the gap in his helmet. Staring at Helga for a while, he scoffed out loud and barked a reply.
"Snakes, the lot of them!" Turning his head back to the front, his steps grew louder with each stomp. "Weasels, really! Waiting for the king to die as they flood the streets with poison! I bet their joint armies are just waiting for a chance to behead both the queen and her children!"
His loyalty to the throne was eating away at his soul. It was no secret that Markus was the last of the loyal servants who served the kingdom more than the king himself. For he knew what happens when people fight like hounds over the same piece of meat. It ends up getting shredded with only bits and pieces left on the ground.
"Why not kill them? I'll help," as though offering a tour around the street bazaar, Helga suggested in the most casual of tones.
"HA!" Scoffing at her suggestion, before lightly cackling to himself, Markus stopped in his tracks and turned to look at her. "I like the way you think, but you can't punish a criminal before he commits a crime or else you end up being the criminal yourself, at least in the eyes of the law."
"What about their convenient absence from the council? Won't that be enough proof of their intent?" Helga pried further, but Markus's response quickly killed the conversation.
"Had it been the king or his son, I could've convinced them, but the queen, she's stubborn, and somehow more naive than her son," turning back around, he resumed his walk towards the barracks. "All she'd ever known is to manipulate her spouse, anything more than that, she'd utterly incapable. Not through inexperience I might add, but through her sheer bloated hubris."
'Overzealous to take the reins through her son, or perhaps herself. Makes her no different than the weasels.' Brushing the matter aside as they reached the barracks, Helga glanced through the training ground–the place where she was born.
The soil nurtured with blood splatters, sweat, and body oils, reminded her of her youth as well as the time her mother would carry her in one arm while battling her opponents with the other.
"The soil…" Glancing down to her feet, her eyes mellowed with a flicker of melancholy. "The fuck they did to it, it smells weak."
"Strong men good times, weak men tough times, something like that," hearing Markus's assessment, Helga's heart shattered in two.
"You go prepare the report about this monster," raising her gaze, she patted Markus on his shoulder with a crooked smirk.
"What are you planning to do?" He asked.
"Warm up, maybe even show these imbeciles why those who remember the lord of demons, call us monsters." and with those words, Helga temporarily parted with Markus. The result of which was felt throughout the castle as ear-piercing screams as well as many soldier's bodies raining through the skies.