#knightsbane

[savanaclawserval]

I received this lovely commission of Terra and Leona from @purarupu !! 🦁🐈‍⬛

[dagojiman]

Dragon oc, Knightsbane

[xiakha]

FFXIVWrite2023 Prompt #2 - Bark

It wasn't every day that Hilda Ware, the Mongrel, would answer a summons. She was more than happy to let those who wanted to mouth off to mouth off as much as they liked. They got awful quiet when it came time for her Hounds to distribute what little they gathered up that moon. The purebloods could mouth off all they wanted; Hilda wouldn't hear it from down in the Brume, so it didn't bother her any. And if they got into her earshot... well there was good reason most nobles avoided the Brume. The Hounds would never directly retaliate, but everyone involved would know that it was retaliation. The Mongrel was all too happy to bite after all.

But now a nasty little rumor had gotten more legs than a yarzon and threatened to skitter its way on over to upturn the both the Pillars and the Brume all at once and the daft foreigners that started it all were asking around for her? This she had to see.

Of course, she knew of Fortemps's "guests," especially the Miqo'te. Oh she had plenty of names and rumors in the Brume. None of them were nice. Most Hilda would not to repeat or let befoul her tongue. The nicest were centered around her being the Fortemps's kept pet, the bastard son's whore, his latest cocksheath. Rarely did they make reference to her status as the Azure Dragoon, if only because most people of the Brume didn't care, and allegations that she had bedded her way into the position butted heads with the gossip that Aymeric and Estinien, the two men she would most need to spread her legs for, were more than occupied with one another.

There was another set of whispers that fretted about the recent slayings in the Brume of Temple Knights. Some claimed to have seen the Miqo'te, or someone very similar to her, do the deed. Some form of grim justice was thus dispensed, aye, but there was doubtless to be some kind of retribution upon those in the Brume. If that was the selfsame Fortemps's Coeurlregina, the whispers went, what could she hope to gain for such brutal killings?

Regardless, it would seem between stemming the tide of Dravanian forces and felling the Great Wyrm, this Miqo'te was keeping quite busy, and all the extra ruckus she was generating was getting her Hounds all worked up. Hilda was worked up too. First heretics in the city and then the implication that the Church had outright lied for a thousand years? All of this on the back of the unheard of second Azure Dragoon of a generation, the rumored Knightsbane, the foreign harlot that had seduced one of Ishgard's most beloved yet unloved sons?

These were interesting times for sure.

Hilda saw her from afar, her cropped violet hair sticking out in the grey fog and smog of the Brume by a long malm. She was clad in typical Ishgardian armor, but wore no shield. Instead, strapped to her back was a naked hand-and-a-half sword, formidable in the hands of a full grown Elezen man, colossal on the back of the adventurer.

Her arms were crossed and the flicking of her tail betrayed her annoyance, but she didn't act either as her schoolboy compatriot failed to speak sense into one of Hilda's Hounds and her shorter would-be-barmaid compatriot fretted in circles. As Hilda drew near, the Miqo'te instinctively reached behind her back to place a hand upon the grip but did not draw her sword, a motion neither of her companions noticed, but Hilda's Hounds sure did. Things were about to escalate...

"Enough! Leave threatenin' women and children to our 'betters'! We don't have the knack!"

"Hilda?"

Tch, her loyal Hounds let her presence distract them from the nearly drawn weapon before them. If there was ever a moment to strike them down, it would be now. The boys would need much more drilling if they got out of this unharmed. Despite the circumstances, the Miqo'te relaxed and her hand left her blade, though her eye never left Hilda.

"Lay a finger on the blue bloods' pups and you're like to lose the hand." She nodded, pointing her chin at the mismatched trio, "It ain't often I get called on by glorious heroes like yourself. So tell me: what have I done to deserve you?"

Introductions were brief, the Miqo'te spoke with an exotic lilt and had an equally as exotic name, "Shi-ow" or something that left the lips hanging open and the tongue frozen before the one syllable ended. Hilda knew it of course, but only after it had been passed multiple times through ears and lips, so to hear it fresh from the source was different. She watched as Xiao did her best to internalize her own name. After moons of three or four syllable long mouthfuls (in more ways than one, if the rumors spoke true) with enough written-but-unspoken hidden letters to stage an ambush, it must have been equally relieving and disconcerting to pass the lips over "Hilda."

She was nearly Hilda's height, but built likely a third again as heavy. Hilda didn't consider herself much of a sickly waif, but with the way Xiao's muscles packed the armor she had on, the Mongrel was as emaciated as her nickname would imply in comparison. Broad of shoulder and bereft of much of a bust, she could likely have passed for a man if she wished, were it not for the smooth femininity of her face and the silky if firm way she held herself. Considering the predilections of the Greystone she was (oft anyway) joined to by the hip, the way his sword swung, so to speak, much started to make sense.

Her ears were twitchy and alert, constantly flitting to sounds around them. Her eye was a deep purple, the other covered by a scar and eyepatch. Hilda had never been stared down by a great wyrm, but she imagined Xiao's eye was similar enough. Upon Xiao's cheeks and across her nose was a starfield of pale flecks on her tan skin that matched the whisker-like streaks that ran from her jawline. Her lips were held thin and curved mostly downwards, her eyebrows alike. All together, her face was weary. The eyepatch and hard squint did little to disguise her eyebags. If she were prim enough to line her eyes, blush her cheeks, or paint her lips, all of that had faded away long ago. If she had anything high class to her, it had been beaten out of her through years of low living.

So it was that Hilda immediately took a liking to the brute despite herself.

The schoolboy who could have passed for a noble save the lack of high blood stench, or at least one that Hilda recognized, was Alphinaud and their diminutive and deceptively devious companion was Tataru. Of the three, Hilda was most wary of the Lalafell, she knew too much and was the most likely to be in a position to use the information she had. The most damage that Alphinaud could do was talk your ear off, and Xiao may slice one in twain with the sword but clearly left the intrigue and plotting to her betters.

Introductions made, Hilda directed them into the Forgotten Knight to get out of the cold and miasma, and so at least they could keep an eye on the prying ears around them. She watched as Xiao gave the slightest of nods to the armored Au ra by the stairs, who returned the gesture, then strolled up to the bar to order a round for the entire table. Curiously, she leaned backwards on the bar and mostly gestured her order, keeping her un-eyepatched eye on the few remaining patrons, her ears flicking to every muttered conversation. Hilda recognized the style.

Curiouser and curiouser.

"How's a pirate fall in with snooty highborns?" Hilda asked as Xiao returned with lagers for the table, a hot chocolate for the boy, and mulled wine for the Lalafell.

Xiao scowled slightly at the recognition but shrugged, "Didn't think other Lominsans came this far ashore."

"Relax, I've just a single acquaintance that orders spirits as you do, though it would seem skypirates have taken after their seaborne brethren." There was a brief toast, "Well?"

"To shorten a long tale, took on a mercenary assignment that went overlong. Wouldn't recommend."

The look of dismay on Alphinaud's face at this set the Hounds laughing.

"And here I was thinkin' you'd be a prissy lady adventurer with the company you keep. Full of surprises this one, eh?"

"'Ve been warned to roll wi' dogs was to get fleas, but what's that matter to us already fleabitten?"

Hilda tapped her tankard on the table, "Hear, hear. Well then, I suppose this'll be some candid canine conversation I can expect?"

Xiao nodded again at the Au ra, who unsheathed his own long naked blade and thrust it into the wooden planks at his feet, catching the attention of the few dawdling patrons who hadn't cleared out when Hilda arrived and stared at them. The Mongrel went up to Gibrillont herself and offered him a bag of coin for the inconvenience that clearing out a slow night was, and the greatsword wielding knight returned to his room with his young charge, leaving the party alone in the Forgotten Knight.

"So what's this about a rumor I hear?"

Hilda blew a low whistle after Alphinaud finished regaling the full tale, "Look, you've a good heart. I can see that. Willin' to risk your neck for someone else, even when his troubles ain't yours. But what's this got to do with me and mine?"

Alphinaud nodded, "If Ser Aymeric is imprisoned in the Vault, we will need all the help we can muster to breach their defenses and rescue him."

"Lookin' for as big a pack as you can muster--" The doors above them slammed shut, "What in the hells?"

"And here I was seeking to put down but a single monstrous heretic with the blood of Temple Knights on her hands, only to find a rats' nest ...or perhaps a kennel?" Ser Charibert de Leusignac, pyromancer, former inquisitor, and current member of the Heavens' Ward descended the steps with his retinue, "The honored guests of House Fortemps consorting with the queen of rats? Oh? Plotting insurrection, I shouldn't wonder! Tsk-tsk. That won't do."

"That. Won't. Do. At. All."

Xiao had already risen, her hand resting easy on her sword's grip, "If ye want me to come quietly, 'd happily fight another of yer 'trials by combat.'"

Charibert clicked his tongue, "Sickness is wont to fester and spread. It must be burned out ere the infection takes hold. Why wait for a trial when we have reason enough to excise the tumor here and now?"

"I reckon ser's got the irons already waiting to be fired." Hilda drew her musket." Well, so happens I've got irons of my own awaiting firing."

"Ahahaha! Such simple creatures, rats and rabid dogs alike. Certain to attack when cornered." The Knight of the Heavens' Ward waggled a finger, "Let us step outside, miladies. In here, your toys could hurt someone."

Outside the Forgotten Knight, Hilda was greeted to overwhelming odds. Charibert likely summoned as many Temple Knights that could be spared. Hilda looked back at her forces, the only other combatant was Xiao. Her Hounds never traveled with weapons if they could help it, no reason to risk imprisonment if they get frisked by a passing knight. Alphinaud could provide some conjury, but combat magicks he had little experience with, and his carbuncle didn't have the teeth to tear flesh. Dozens against two, three if you were being generous.

Xiao drew her sword finally and casually leaned against it while sizing up the enemy herself. She turned her head to Hilda and gestured quizzically at the gathered knights.

Hilda smiled, "Seems like an even fight to me."

Without a rejoinder, Xiao plunged into the fray.

The adventurer was mighty, working her way through as many knights as she could. Her blade bristled with crackling black-red energy. Hilda did her best to watch Xiao's back, shooting to disable any Temple Knights that attempted to attack from Xiao's left though the Miqo'te seemed preternaturally able to dodge even those opportunistic swipes from her eyepatched side. What hits the knights were able to get in were quickly healed over by Alphinaud, and Xiao was able to draw enough enmity that neither Hilda nor Alphinaud had much aimed at them.

But attrition was, and seemed always to be, the strategy. Xiao did not get a chance to finish off any of the knights, so plentiful were her foes, so a knight dropped to the cobblestones could recover and return to the melee little worse for wear. Alphinaud, the poor boy, caught a stray arrow to the shoulder, and Hilda ran out of munitions, the bark of her gun finally out of bite. The Mongrel grimaced and prepared to use her musket as a club when a voice ran out above the din of combat.

"Stop this, all of you! It is madness! Why are you fighting!?"

Haurchefant Greystone leapt off his chocobo and slammed shield first into a knight poised to pierce Xiao's side. Hilda watched Xiao's expression, determined but grim up to this point, split into a wide and starry-eyed smile.

Ye gods, the Miqo'te was so incredibly in love. It was sickening, thought Hilda.

Xiao fought with increased fervor, her swings now more reckless that she had someone to her back. Haurchefant fought with textbook expertise, parrying blows and deflecting shots with efficient and precise movements. His steady defensive work gave Xiao the room to breathe and inflict more readily grievous harm. Knights no longer rolled away to gather their sense and return to the fray.

"Hilda!" One of the Hounds caught her attention and tossed her a satchel of ammo. She caught it out of the air and reloaded her musket in one fluid motion. Alphinaud mustered the will to pull the arrow out of his shoulder, his face beaded in sweat from the exertion. He now stood up, his conjury patching up his shoulder, and was ready to aid in battle again.

Thus it was that the tides of battle turned.

Soon, it was only Charibert left, pressed into a corner by the warrior lovers. His retinue was to a man bleeding on the ground, groaning or unconscious.

"Hmph. How fitting that it would be you three. The noble bastard, his foreign whore, and the mongrel bitch."

"This mongrel bitch is going to put a bullet between your eyes!" Hilda snarled, sighting down her crosshairs. But before she could pull the trigger or Xiao could lunge forward, yet another voice rang out.

"Enough! Cease this fighting!"

All eyes turned to Lucia, backed herself by her own retinue of a dozen knights. If the battle wasn't just about finished, it was definitely over now. Charibert clicked his tongue and took the distraction as an opportunity to back flip away.

Lucia's men moved in to treat the wounded but also capture the Temple Knights aligned to Charibert. Haurchefant swept Xiao up in a quick embrace and a peck on the lips before they stood to attention both to debrief with Lucia.

Hilda strolled up to their side as well, standing to attention as genuinely as she could manage. Any doubts she may have harbored about the rumors du jour or the Camp Dragonhead Lord and would-be Lady were as trounced as the knights at her feet.

If this was the way they were looking to summon her and convince her to throw in with them, well, it worked. If they had a mind to change things around here, then she had a mind to join them.

[mothermara]

Knightsbane & Hallowrend

Maces’ namesakes! They were scavenged off the bodies of vigilants and imbued with profane magic. What kind? That’s for him to know, and you to find out.

[random-bookquotes]

"Vainqueur Knightsbane, First of his Name, Great Calamity of this Age and King of the Albain Mountains. But you may call me Your Majesty." "Your majesty—" "With a capital M," Vainqueur corrected his insolent food. "I can tell the difference." "Your Majesty, I swear this is a mistake!"

Maxime J. Durand, Vainqueur the Dragon

[tyviac]

x. flight

Once more.

Just once more, surely this time…

At this point Misca was more bruise than person, straddling their broom with both feet firmly on the ground. It had been fine when the year had only just begun and the promise of time to improve had dulled the blow of their poor grades, but now Vargas was breathing down their neck about an inevitable failing grade. Well, ‘breathing’ was a luxuriously mild way to put it. It's not like they were skilled at Phys-Ed in general, but their willingness to push themselves to the limit, to continue on despite how many times they'd emptied their stomach on the side of the field, or collapsed in a momentary dead faint, had impressed Vargas to the point he'd considered Misca a star student. Though that only made their abysmal attempts at flying even more infuriating to the teacher.

It's not like it was on purpose. Misca enjoyed Phys-Ed. Why else would they run themselves so ragged? The movement, the freedom, the feel of the wind in their hair… Misca loved every second of it. Even the satisfaction of a body so weary from exhaustion it refused to function was a reminder that they were alive, they were living. Flying a broom wasn't the same. Not at all. This wasn't about being physically adept. It was about finesse, dexterity, control, and - most importantly of all - not possessing a soul crushing fear of heights.

Misca knew how to fly, at least. This was less a matter of skill than it was a matter of will. As soon as their feet left soil, as soon as that familiar dangling sensation spread like a poison through their body, it was as if they'd been hurled back into the foggy terrors of their memories, seizing them so completely they'd fall all the way back down to the safety of the ground with a painful crash. They couldn't fail. Not now. Not after everything. They'd finally arrived at Night Raven College, finally caught up to Idia. They couldn’t waste time repeating a grade. Even more importantly - Misca was sick to death of living with fear.

"Um. Misca, right?"

Misca jumped in surprise at the sudden voice, forgetting their tight grip on the broom between their legs - which subsequently threw them up off the ground and into the air. In a flash of white noise and gut wrenching vertigo, Misca crashed once more back to earth, barely covering their head as their broom came down on top of them in what must have been the audible smack of sweet revenge.

"Owowowowow…" Misca hissed, curled up in the grass. There was a series of flustered, worried noises as a figure came rushing over to their side.

"Are you ok?! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to startle you like that, being quiet's just… my thing, and, well…"

Misca blinked and looked up, surprised to find the noon sun completely eclipsed by a pair of almost comically large ears... Oh!

"Rooksie's prey!"

A look of annoyance.

"Terra. Terra Knightsbane."

"Ha ha, Terra, yes, hello! Don't worry about it. You just got me at a bad time." Misca laughed, and flopped out of the fetal position with a sigh to embrace their new life as a defeated starfish in the grass.

"Yeah, I… I was wondering if I could help you…? You saved me the other day. I'd like to repay that."

Only now did Misca look away from the fidgeting dinner bowls of fur atop his head to the rest of Terra. He was in his Gym uniform, a broom clutched awkwardly in hand.

"You wanna help me fly?"

"Uh. Um, yeah. You're always down here, right? And I owe you one, so…"

Misca stared a moment. Terra had… noticed? Ah. Looks like this part of the field wasn't as secluded as they'd thought… or Terra really was good at being quiet, like he'd said. It kinda felt… good. To know their struggle hadn't gone unseen. To know someone recognised their commitment. The thought touched them enough to bring the faintest of mists to their eyes, but they quickly cleared their throat.

"Can I ask for a condition?"

"A condition…?" Terra narrowed his eyes.

"I don't want you to help me because you feel indebted. I want you to help me as a friend."

"Fr…" A light glow of embarrassment coloured Terra's face, and his ears twitched again distractingly, "Fine. As friends."

"Yay~ Thank you!" Misca cheered, extending a hand up to the other first year.

Terra wrestled a grin into an awkward smile before it had a chance to take over his face, and helped Misca back onto their feet.

"Please treat me well." Misca offered with a beaming smile and a bow.

"Ah… Yeah, same to you. Let's get along."

-------------------------------------------

terra belongs to @savanaclawserval​ ✨

[maris-solstice]

Syraniir Knightsbane, young green dragon.

@foxcoloredcat runs a damn good D&D campaign, y’all. This is the dragon we related to for half a session and fed stew :D 

So I had to draw them. 

[forgingmeanings]

Agni Iron-Arm and her black greatsword Knightsbane. 

"honor, valor, compassion, generosity, wisdom... in the end all of that are just words. and knights are just men in better armor. they'll squeal like pigs in the end..... they always do."

lawful evil half-orc barbarian/fighter/rogue

[alexryankingme-blog]

Here is a sketch of the title character in one of my stories. Clint Void of Knightsbane.

[savanaclawserval]

A super cute tamashina Leona and Terra~ 🦁🐈‍⬛

Artist @k4sumis0u

[chi-----chi]

hello knightsbane welcome to 

hope u enjoy your stay

[savanaclawserval]

I commissioned @fisheem4mmal for this amazing art of overblot Leona and Terra!! 🖤🦁🐈‍⬛🖤

[savanaclawserval]

Happy Birthday Leona!! 🦁✨ Now is a good time to share my comm I got of Fairy Gala Terra and Leona I got a while back~

Artist @myssdark

[savanaclawserval]

I commissioned @yunkiyoe for art of Leona and Terra at a Royal Gala ✨🦁🐈‍⬛✨

[savanaclawserval]

happily ever after…(?) 🦁🐈‍⬛

(art by _je_ej on ccoli)

[savanaclawserval]

Terra and Leona go on a date ✨🦁🐈‍⬛✨

(art by @/wawatiku )