Ode to Madness
The dawn.
The coldest moment of the night. Hakuno rubbed her eyes. As she looked at the scarlet rays of the sun that filtered between the leaves and trees, a notion came to her mind. Her mind absorbed everything she saw and heard with astounding efficiency. The dawn is the moment when a phenomenon called thermal inversion occurs. In fact, it is at a time when the sun is not yet warming the earth and we are the furthest away from the last rays that have softened the twilight.
The aurora in this landscape of snow, ice, and frost caught an amazing blue-green color, the blue moment.
As she stared at the snow a sense of unease gradually emerged, Hakuno had trouble thinking, her mind was strangely numb as if his memory was covered by a thick liquid... Where was she? The questions provoked a painful movement. She straightened herself with difficulty, leaving the knees of her Servant, all the muscles being contracted by long immobility.
Tamamo's arms immediately surrounded her "adorable husband".
"It's too cold".
Hakuno's first words made the kitsune shape-shifted in human woman smile:
"Sheriff, bring to my husband some coffee."
At the edge of Kishinami's field of vision, a man appeared. He slides between her numbs fingers a tin cup filled with a boiling caramel liquid. Helped by Tamamo, Hakuno shaking like a dead leaf flipped half the liquid to drink the rest. Gradually the coffee reconciled her with the ends of her body.
"What day is it?"
Hakuno's question surprised Weikmann and Garreaux. It was the Native American who replied:
"Wednesday, December 30, 2099"
The young Japanese girl nodded without a word and then turned to Tamamo:
"Where is Ruler?"
Tamamo told her about the fight she had spied while her Master slept. Ruler had faced a dark shadow commanding an army of soldiers in medieval armor, and throwing equally black flames.
Ruler was in trouble facing this monster but another Servant had arrived. The magical fox-girl recognized the wall of darkness... it was the creature that attacked Hakuno during the night.
"Two Servants?"
Accustomed to Hakuno and her telegraph style way of speaking, the fox-girl blinked with a smile:
"Goshujin-sama the two dark creatures who clashed at the end of the night was indeed Servants. I think the being that creates the shadow wall can fly and is, therefore, the Rider of this Grail War. Ruler's opponent was behaving insanely... given his constant anger, it's probably Berserker."
Hakuno got up and stroked the top of Tamamo's head:
"Bravo."
Tamamo beamed with joy:
"Goshujin-sama, your humble wife was only doing her duty and does not deserve such appreciation."
Dr. Weikmann had followed the dialogue without being particularly surprised. As a member of the resistance, he knew about the Grail War. This was not the case with Hal Garreaux. He shook his head with an incredulous look:
'So far I have not asked a question. You said you came to protect my people from creatures and that was enough for me but..." He sighed. "Who are you really?"
The question surprised Hakuno. As she had not lied about anything that this self, she did not know what to answer and make a head tilt. Not yet accustomed to this too cute head movement, Sheriff Garreaux remained speechless, while Weikmann forgot to breathe.
There was a moment of silence that was broken by a whirlwind of white-blue light. The phenomenon enveloped Tamamo no Mae. In an instant, the clarity left her only a luminous silhouette. When Caster reappeared, her winter clothes had been replaced by her classical Blue Witchcraft-User's Clothes, some sorts of sexy Miko outfit with a risqué décolletage, mini-skirt, and platform sandals.
The transformation was certainly spectacular, but Garreaux looked especially at Casko's hair. Of course, they were pink and divided into two twintails by a blue ribbon... but especially two fox ears shivered on her head. As Tamamo advanced towards the sheriff, arms wide apart from the body, feet advancing on an invisible line and swinging from the rump in such an exaggerated sensual rocking that it became amusing When the tribal policeman saw her foxtail following the movement like a pendulum. It swallows:
"Who... who are you?"
Caster carried the back of her hand to her mouth and coughed gracefully:
"Ufuu... Ufuu... As you have understood that my adorable Master is more what the eyes can see, I will answer your question... I am Zessei no Bijo Miko-Gitsune -theFox Priestess of Peerless Beauty- a divine Fox-spirit sent by Heaven to be the wife of Hakuno Kishinami, the Victor of the Moon."
The term "Fox-spirit" made the tribal policeman thrills. The Fox-spirit is the deceiver and the thief among the Native American spirits. This spirit is not a warrior or a hunter. Many equate his actions to cowardice or under-handed methods. The Fox-Spirit is a thinker and cunning, thus he often represents wisdom. More, he was the spirit who steals fire to the gods for giving it to mortals. This gift made him one of the most beloved spirits of the Amerindians. He was considered a protector of mortals.
After a long explanation of the Grail War, its stakes, and the functioning of this conflict between Masters confronting each other through Servants, the survivors of the night fight prepared to start. Weikmann was particularly eager to track down his brother.
Hakuno shook her head. With her experience of the Servants, the Master considered it particularly silly to want to continue to search for the place where the plane had landed. Only Tamamo had a chance in case of confrontation with Rider or Berserker. At best, Weikmann would be a useless weight and at worst an embarrassment, but how to explain this to him?
Hakuno did not understand this behavior. She had never had a brother or even a family. But instead of trying to discourage him, Kishinami remained silent. A small voice had prevented her from exposing the difference in power between a Servant and a human. This little voice would whisper to her that despite appearances Weikmann was luckier than her.
Looking at Tamamo, she saw the Kitsune send her a big smile as if her Servant had grasped her thoughts.
Her only family was Caster.
Stopping near the site where Hakuno and Tamamo had ambushed the Indians, the doctor picked up an arrow and questioned Garreaux with a vaguely contemptuous air:
"You told me there are only four of them left, right? Do you still think we should fear their toys?"
The sheriff gave him a mocking look:
"That's what Custer said to Little Big Horn. An arrow propelled by a pulley arc develops up to two hundred and fifty pounds (1) of pressure at the tip of the point! I know it well; I'm hunting elk with a bow. An arrow in the right place and you will go back in a pine box."
Continuing on their way they passed the corpse of the Indian shot down by Weikmann and walked for another two hours before reaching an isolated farm.
A knee down, Hal Garreaux shoulders the Winchester, securing the buildings with his riflescope Ednar bezel with variable magnification. Even with the naked eye the result was depressing. There were several barracks - huts in fact- a wooden windmill missing several pale and a barn with a basement of irregular stones. Shacked by the wind, its roof had collapsed under the weight of snow. This place looked like a haunted farm. But from one of the huts rises a thin stream of smoke.
Garreaux turned to Weikmann:
"Are you a pilot?" asked the sheriff.
Cautious, the physicist merely replied that he had some experience. Always focused on his weapon, the sheriff insisted, asking for an explanation of the landing of a small plane:
"How long would it take to land?"
"It depends... snow can cause the aircraft to skid and then it is quite impossible. You've driven on an icy road before, well a plane is even less stable, judge for yourself."
"No, you." replied the Native American.
While speaking, he handed his "Big Bore" Winchester.
Observing the terrain, Hakuno immediately understood why Garreau had asked these questions. The field closest to the farm was cleared, on the under-layer of snow left by the inhabitants, one clearly discerns a triple drag that ends in violent skidding. A tree at the edge of the improvised runway appears to have been struck. If the trails are those of a tricycle landing gear, the tree was probably struck by the tail of a small aircraft.
Pier Weikmann agrees:
"I think I understand why the plane was found in the lake. I still don't know how they forced my brother to land here, but they probably planned to make the plane disappear... or sell it quietly, except the plane was damaged by the landing. The kidnappers took off with a damaged aircraft and must have lost control and... splash in the lake!"
Noticing a sudden commotion around the barn, Hakuno pointed her binoculars in this direction. Two men came to leave the huts and headed for the barn. Weikmann murmured something about a scream he heard... Hakuno also stiffened herself. He was correct, it was a girl's voice and the cry expressed fear!
"A little girl here? What's..."
A detonation cut off her speech, ripping flying splinters of wood from a nearby tree. Without consultation, Hakuno, Tamamo, Weikmann, and Garreaux ran to safety, while other shots ricocheted over whenever they please.
While Weikmann returned his Winchester to the sheriff, Hakuno heard him utter Sioux swearing. Far from being so gloomy, the researcher laughed:
"I was right," he gleaned, "it was they who kidnapped my brother and niece."
Hakuno could only answer him with a blink of the eyelids. The Master was especially interested in the sheriff who responded to the shots coming from the farm. However, but Weikmann remark irritated Tamamo:
"Since you are so clairvoyant find us a way in."
"Easy! There's no window on all sides of this pile of plank..."
"But it's out in the open..."
"The sheriff will hold our friends back! Right? And besides, I'm not disarmed."
Weikmann rolled aside and released two grenades. After a few moments of reflection, Garreaux nodded his head with a serious look:
"Maybe it'll work, but don't go alone. Go with him, Caster."
"And leave my lovely husband alone here? Never!"
Hakuno sighed, mentally apologizing to the Hal Garreaux... obviously, for Tamamo, the sheriff counted for nothing.
"Caster, let's all three go."
Staying on the edge of the forest, they made their way through thickets and roots. The exchange of fire continues as they advance. Hakuno's innate talent for capturing small differences enabled her to identify at least three different calibers. As they stopped in the shelter of a grove, Pier Weikmann turned to Kishinami and smiled:
"Stay here, this spot is perfect to cover me."
"But the sheriff said...
Putting a finger on his lips, the American beckoned her to remain silent:
"The sheriff said to cover me, no need to go any closer."
Again, Hakuno wanted to protest but Tamamo spoke:
"I feel no supernatural energy. No need to put yourself in danger in front of armed alcoholics, Goshujin-sama!"
By the time the Victor of the Moon took shelter behind a lying stump, Weikmann had already come half the way. Almost bent in half, he moved in silence and reached the corner of the barn. An instant later, he disappeared at the sight of Hakuno.
Resurfacing almost immediately, Weikmann threw himself to the ground, and then covered his ears. One or two seconds later an explosion seized the board construction. Wood flew in all directions. In a great cracking, part of the roof collapsed, driving a wall that bent backward before falling to pieces. As if reluctantly, the opposite wall starts to creak complainingly and twists before falling apart in its wake.
Only a cloud of dust and the fall of some rubble punctuated the sudden silence.
Without moving, Hakuno watched the American dusting himself. The follow-up unfolded so quickly that a human eye would have seen only a large blurred movement.
Hakuno saw a Native American armed with a bowie knife coming out of one of the huts and leaping towards Weikmann.
[Caster! Attack! ]
Much faster than any mortal, the Servant began to run and hit the aggressor with a karate chop:
"To!"
Like a beat-up bull, the attacker collapsed and did not move.
Shivering, seized in the hand of ice of the winter wind, Hakuno moved away from the ruins, far from the dead. One would think that she was now used to violence... if it were so simple! Kishinami lived a paradoxical existence. All she had ever wanted was to escape the Moon Cell. She had not participated in the Moon Cell Grail for a wish, but in revolt against her status of N.P.C. If she hadn't fought back, she'd have been deleted a long time ago. However, each of her victories led her to other conflicts... which always killed more people.
As coral grew on the skeletons of its fellows, Hakuno grew up on the remains of the other participants in the Grail War.
The sheriff had just finished treating the man knocked out by Tamamo and joined the Victor of the moon. The silence was heavy with unease.
When the Amerindian decides to speak, his voice was only a breath:
"Caster and you probably saved Weikmann."
Hakuno shook her head without answering, her hands set on her chest. One life... so many people had died because of her selfish desire to live.
Weikmann turned to her:
"Hal was right, you saved me. Thank you." He then turned to Tamamo: "Thank you Caster."
The kitsune replied with a sniff that spoke volumes about her opinion of the physicist:
"I didn't do this for you."
As her gaze had not left her Master, the real reason for her intervention was nothing mysterious. Then she shrugged:
'Finally, it's all over, we can go back to civilization. It is criminal to leave my lovely husband in the cold of this wilderness."
She probably would have continued to complain but one voice interrupted her:
"Oh no, it's not over!" roared Garreaux. "Look at this man's face."
Weikmann, intrigued, approached the corpse that the sheriff designated. His eyes widened in surprise. All the survivors of the expedition recognized this man. They had seen him in the house of Red Cloud, the Medicine Man:
"The interpreter!" said Tamamo.
Garreaux agrees that:
"His name was Yellow Shirt, the husband of the granddaughter of Red Cloud, the father of his great-grandson!"
Weikmann's eyes seemed to come out of his head." Wait, to summon a Servant, you need a Magus or a Wizard..."
Twisting her ears, Tamamo waved a negative finger:
"We can't really say that your deductions have helped us so far."
The scholar rages with anger:
"What do you mean by that?"
"That you better talk about what you know. My lovely husband has already shown that the Servants of the Grail War have all been invoked by powerful megacorporations leaders. You forget that each Servant has been invoked as much by a Master as by a supercomputer made of photonic crystals. These computers cost a fortune."
Weikmann shrugged his shoulders:
"I never said the supercomputer was his. But I doubt that the owners of the corpos involved in the construction of these computers are all Magi. Some of them were forced to recruit Masters. Red Cloud is a Wica a Wakan, more he is the most famous "medicine-man" of the Lakota Sioux tribe. He'd make a plausible Master."
Hakuno simply nodded:
" Maybe Weikmann is right".
Hearing her "beloved husband" give reason to the scientist, the kitsune seemed to decrease in size, leaving the arms hanging, the ears setting and sobbing theatrically:
"I'm Tamamortified, Goshujin-sama! You agree to a stranger, and not your humble loving wife."
As Tamamo pretended to cry, Hakuno rubbed her head between her ears. This instantly healed Caster of her breakdown.
Her ears quivering, she pointed to the three huts. "I'm sure the evidence we're looking for is there... and I'm right and my cute Master will admit it."
She turned to Hakuno:
"Stay close to me, Goshujin-sama. Your devoted wife will protect you from the other Servants if they return."
But Weikmann looked at the kitsune with a mocking smile:
"I doubt Rider is to be feared by day. He seems to rely too much on his capacity to generate a wall of darkness... "
Tamamo gave him the kind of look one would give to a cockroach entering the bathroom:
"And?"
The scientist's smile became more pronounced:
"Rider creates a shadow zone by absorbing clarity through a sort of Daser effect. However, until now this phenomenon has only been observed in the cosmic void. In the absence of an atmosphere to diffuse it, the light remains much contrasted. In the cosmic void, there are only places that are fully sunny or completely at night, like the cone of a planet's shadow. The wall of darkness absorbs small amounts of light, but it cannot bear this!" His outstretched finger points to the sun above the trees." Which gives me an idea to destroy this wall of darkness. A laser! A coherent beam of light!"
It was Tamamo's turn to triumph:
"Which you can't build here."
'Yes, I would need a Fabry-Perot interferometer with two mirrors of different radii of curvature treated in order to present a maximum coefficient of reflection. And of course, create an amplifying medium... But it would be easier to use the laser of my night vision glasses."
"False" rejoiced wickedly Tamamo. "Only the Magecraft, a Noble Phantasm, or a weapon held by a Servant can injure another Servant. Your laser will have no effect. So only this kistune can defend her lovely husband against this monster of darkness."
Hakuno looked up to heaven, unable to understand Tamamo's constant jealousy, and interrupted the argument:
"You didn't think we have a more urgent task at hand?"
The sheriff, who had listened to the altercation with a desperate look, thanked the young Japanese girl with a nod of the head. They set off towards the barracks. The Indian approached the two old abandoned cars nearby. Turning around the tin cans, he stood up and smiled:
"There was a third vehicle, he left in the night. The morning frost kept his tracks." He put his hand in the rut. A 4x4, all-terrain tires... new, the others have bald and retreaded tires. Tunkasila tells me that the white man with the walking shoes has left and that he is already far away."
The inside of the huts was as good as the outside: walls of badly squared boards almost entirely covered by cuttings from obscene magazines. The kitchen area was a pile of dirty dishes and spoiled food. The ground and berths were strewn with stiff clothes, dirt, empty or broken bottles.
In spite of the sickening stir that lifts the stomach, Hal Garreaux searched the room commenting on his discoveries:
"Night Train Express, a 93-cent cider, and this is $1.19, Wild Rose. Worse than vinegar!" Breathing in a vial without a label, he grimaced: "Montana Gin! This twist is a mixture of gasoline and alcohol."
Abandoning the bottles, he made a disillusioned face. The cupboard offered them another surprise in the form of a box filled with multicolored drinkers. The sheriff quivered and whispered a few words in the Sioux language before tearing up a drinker and tasting it carefully:
"I think... well I'm sure... it's ly... lyser... shit... LSD! "
Weikmann widened his eyes in surprise:
"Lysergic acid... I now understand why they were so aggressive."
The Lakota shakes his head, refusing to face the evidence:
"It's impossible, they couldn't have fallen that low! Alcohol, okay. If necessary, the vapors of gasoline, varnish, glue, antifreeze, sprays pierced... but LSD! I never thought that members of my tribe could be addicted to hard drugs"
Leaving the sheriff still paralyzed by his discovery, Hakuno and Tamamo headed for the second hut. While the teenager was almost at the door, a noise sounded. It sounded like a sob. Exchanging a glance with Tamamo, the Master entered, ready for anything.
There was deep darkness in the room. Cautiously, the teenager approached the source of the groans. In one corner, there was a pile of rags thrown against a wall. What a surprise to see it move. A little girl! In the middle of the tangled blond hair, Hakuno saw a mask of filth ravaged by the deep furrows of tears.
"Sheriff, get Doctor Weikmann. Quick!" Called Caster.
Not letting go of the child's gaze, Hakuno began to speak to her softly without worrying about her words, only attentive to their music. But impossible to get out the child of her prostration, this was not the slightest glimmer of understanding in her gaze.
"Christina!"
The silhouette of Doctor Weikmann will fit in the entrance:
"Christina, baby, it's your Uncle Pier."
Kishinami retreated while Weikmann reached out to her to get her up. Taken by a sudden terror, the little girl struggles and forces her to let him go. With hesitation, the scientist turned to the other survivors of the expedition, speaking cautiously:
"Come out and leave me alone with her."
Hakuno simply nodded, understanding Weikmann pain. What could this little girl have lived to shock her so much? To have recovered her gives some sense to their expedition, but Hakuno remains exhausted and uncomfortable. In the end, all their efforts looked like a stab in the dark. They had not found Kurt Weikmann, the only person who could have explained the reasons for his abduction. And Hakuno learned so little about the enemy Servants and still doesn't know why they fought here. In the end, they were going to leave with more questions than they had when they arrived.
Slowly, stirring the air from its blades, the helicopter tore itself off the ground to take Christina away.
The aircraft will land at Bismarck Hospital.
Their return to New Town coincided with serious events. A former Indian cemetery was devastated during the night. Witnesses described the two Servants Rider and Berserker. Apparently, Berserker revived the corpses to launch them against his enemy. An atmosphere of hysteria reigned over the native Indian reservation and the National Guard had deployed to contain the riots.
There was certain surrealism to see these over-equipped soldiers patrolling the streets of the slum with their flak-proof vests, laser-aimed assault rifles, and drones. Or watching them carry out identity checks under the protection of the Power-armors of the assault squad, equipped with rail-guns and plasma cannons.
A soldier approached Hakuno:
"Miss Kishinami, thanks to Caster's information, Ruler was found by one of our helicopters. She is injured and unconscious but does not appear to be in danger of death.
As she turned to learn the good news to Weikmann, Hakuno saw that he was talking to an officer and that he was pale and has trembling hands.
"Let us leave him," Tamamo murmured again under her human disguise.
"What's going on?" asked her Master.
"His father is dead"
As Hakuno turned to the scientist, she heard his whisper:
"Death is here and death is there... Death is busy everywhere..."(2)
(1) The power of an arc is expressed in English pounds (1 lb = 453.6 g). This corresponds to the force developed by the archer's arm to stretch the rope.
(2) "Death is here and death is there,
Death is busy everywhere,
All around, within, beneath,
Above is death - and we are death.
Death has set his mark and seal
On all we are and all we feel,
On all we know and all we fear,
First our pleasures die - and then
Our hopes, and then our fears - and when
These are dead, the debt is due,
Dust claims dust - and we die too.
All things that we love and cherish,
Like ourselves must fade and perish;
Such is our rude mortal lot -
Love itself would, did they not."
Sir Percy Bysshe Shelley "Ode to Madness"