The chapter title is a reference to the Sabaton song of the same name, it's about the Swedish Royal Guard.
The soldiers finished setting up their stands in the foyer. Jerry was positioned by the front door, facing towards the stairs. This way the side doors leading to the east and west sides of the house would both be in view, as would both entryways to the hall under the stairs. If something entered the room, he'd see it, and give a signal on his drum. The foyer was wide, but largely empty, making spotting hostiles easy. Reggie would stand guard under the stairs proper, as he was the most equipped for short-ranged combat. The basement seemed safe due to the doll barrier, but the cafeteria and kitchen had yet to be investigated. Jonny would be positioned near the top of the stairs, overlooking the foyer. If Jerry spotted something, Jonny could take it out.
As they were setting up the stands, Jonny noticed the headless body of a woman splayed out on the ground. Next to it was a bloodied wooden chair whose leg was jammed inside the crushed head of the beast. "S'at your 'andiwork, miss?"
Aya beamed with pride and nodded her head in affirmation.
Jonny playfully ruffled her hair. "You're a tenacious one, you know that? I don't know if most other kids your age could manage that."
Aya blushed. "Oh, it was nothing, really."
"Ha! Love to see your definition of sumthin then!"
Aya giggled.
As Aya helped Jonny set up the last of the stands, she noticed two sets of double doors. The right one lead to a condemned room that was to be renovated, and was blocked by a white sofa and a potted ficus. The left one's doors were wide open, giving way to an inky black void. Father's doll room. A shiver went down Aya's spine. She used to love playing with the dolls from the collection. They were by far the most well-made dolls she'd ever seen. They seemed so realistic, so lifelike. Now that she knew the secret behind their qualities, she doubted she'd ever see them the same way.
"'At's the Doll Room, aint it?" Johnny spoke up, startling Aya, who nodded in affirmation. Jonny sighed "Suppose we should check it out, just to be safe."
As awful as that sounded, it probably was for the best they see what was in there now, especially if the dolls were alive now. They didn't seem to be on the same side as the spirits, but they didn't seem friendly either. One did trip Aya when she was being chased after all. Aya nodded reluctantly.
"'Ay, don't worry, I'll take point. Anything in there's gonna get a taste o' old Betsey 'ere." He nodded to his rifle. Aya smiled, and giggled a bit; Jonny was glad he was able to make her feel better at least.
Jonny peered into the room, squinting his eyes all the while. He scanned the area with his rifle, eyeing the rows of dolls set on long thin display tables for any sign of movement. Most of them were largely identical, save for their dress colors. The dresses were rather typical upper-class dresses with several frills and a white trim, each with a matching bonnet. Blonde hair curled into ringlets framing ornately detailed porcelain faces. In the back, there were two life-sized dolls. To the left was a woman in a green and white royal ball gown and a tiara. Her brown hair was done into a rather large bun. The one on the right was an oracle with wispy grey hair and blue oracle robes. A crystal ball was held in her hands.
A red carpet ran across the center of the room towards a throne in the center that had a strange glow emitting from it. "I 'at one o' those odd gems?" Jonny turned to Aya.
Aya glanced toward the throne, it did indeed seem like there was a glowing gem on the seat. She looked to Jonny and nodded.
"Right then, we need to be careful 'bout this, 'case one o' those bastards- er sorry, one of those dolls moves." Aya giggled at the slipup.
The pair slowly made their way across the room, eyeing every row for suspicious activity. None of the dolls moved an inch though. Aya collected the gem, and deposited it next to snowball, who was now largely indifferent to the ever-growing hoard of gems accumulating in his home.
Out of curiosity, Jonny decided to check the right window. De drew the curtains to reveal two dolls resting on the windowsill, one on its side. Jonny closed the curtains.
With that, they decided to leave the doll room for now. As they exited and shut the door behind them, they couldn't help but feel that there wasn't enough keeping them from the dolls. The exchanged a glance.
Reggie was alerted by a loud clatter from upstairs. He drew his revolver, and bolted toward the staircase. He was met with the sight of Jonny and Aya stacking furniture in front of the Doll Room doors. They grunted with effort as they lifted Aya's writing desk atop the already large pile of furniture, which contained the red sofa from down the hall, the chair Aya had killed the Brunette Ghoul with and it's erstwhile sibling from her room, and the white couch from the other set of doors.
"What in the name of Saint Joseph's swollen bollocks are you two doing!?" Reggie shouted at the top of his lungs.
The two stared in awe of the corporal's outburst, before bursting out in laughter. Aya placed her hand on the wall to keep herself upright for the duration of the fit. Jonny crossed his arms over his stomach and nearly doubled over with laughter.
Reggie blushed intensely in embarrassment over his sudden outburst. Most especially in front of the young mistress. "Er, please excuse the outburst mum, terribly sorry."
Aya took a deep breath, regaining her composure. "It's fine, it's fine." She could barely keep herself from bursting into laughter again. "Uh we're just *snicker* we're just blocking off this door to the Doll room."
"And why… would that be?" The Corporal said, exasperated.
"Well, we figured that, since the dolls are comin' alive, see, we'd uh, we'd rather 'ave some extra security, ya know?"
The Corporal was about to deliver a rebuttal, but pondered Jonny's reasoning. He recalled speaking to some of the other dolls briefly, back when they were first made. "Right, lets get that bust from down the hall over there, and those bricks." He gestured towards the left hall, where a bust of some Greek or Roman figure in a toga sat on a pedestal, near several stone bricks laid about the floor.
"Ah- "Jonny was cut off mid remark.
"Don't" The Corporal was not in the mood for more of his remarks, not after that disgraceful display.
As they were lifting the barricade materials, Jonny noticed several velvet rope barrier poles sealing off the hallway. "Wat's down there, you reckon?" He asked Reggie.
"Oh, we shouldn't go down there." Aya answered. "It's not safe."
"Spirits?" Reggie asked.
"No, construction. It's not stable back there."
"Ah" Reggie did seem to recall something about that, though he wasn't told the specifics.
Jerry watched curiously from his spot by the front door. What are those three up to? He'd heard the Corporal's outburst, but not the explanation he desired. He'd have to ask later. He thought about joining them, but somebody needed to stay on watch, and he was tired anyway. He honestly didn't know how the others stayed off their stands for so long. At least they didn't need to sleep like humans did. This way he could stay on watch while resting. Ready at a moment's notice.
Jerry's role may not have seemed nearly as helpful as the others. He had no weapon, and their squad was nowhere near large enough to justify the need for drum signals to relay marching orders. However, these soldiers were special. He could relay with his drum the locations and numbers of any hostiles he spotted, as well as recommend formations and tactics for engagement. To do this, of course, he had to be able to play a large number of notes in rapid succession. No normal human could hope to keep track of it all, but his squad were no normal humans, if they could be considered human at all. The meaning of the signals was encoded into their instincts and they followed them with such precision that his guidance could allow them to perform actions better than were he absent. Even the accuracy of their shots could be improved with his instructions, the muscle memory was so ingrained.
Human or no, they had their role to play. They would protect this family at all costs. When duty called, they'd be there to answer, and any who dared threaten their charges would soon regret it.
I figure that the guards work like Warforged in D&D. They need to rest, but are semi-conscious while doing so.