Author: redsixwing
Theme: Dog
Title: Swords' Point
Fandom: Violinist of Hameln
Rating: T
Content Notes: None
Artist Notes: Canon-typical violence. Guitar is a monster. So is everyone else in this story. (I've been rereading VoH, so you get random fanfic! Yay!)
Summary: Guitar stops a squabble between Drum and Sizer.
Length: 541 words

Guitar the Warrior King had assigned himself to keeping Drum from doing anything foolish - or more foolish than necessary, at any rate. The two-headed Dragon King was rambling on about the strength of his army with a completely unneeded degree of rudeness. Guitar agreed with him cheerily, if only to keep his double-sized ego in check.

At least, until Sizer took exception. The slim, scarlet-armored Hawk King stood apart from them, and her sharp face contorted into a sneer as she taunted Drum. Despite Guitar's best efforts, the Dragon King roared into a rage, unslinging his mighty mace to challenge the tiny winged woman who had slighted him.

The flagstones reverberated underfoot as Drum stomped forward. Sizer leapt skyward, her scythe abruptly in her hand, but the racket of her wings was drowned out by Drum's thunderous footsteps.

Stone-paved courtyards were well and good for all those in boots. Guitar sighed internally. A waist-high black hound did not do so well on those flagstones. No matter how carefully he tended his pads, he tended to slip on the tractionless surface. The canine monster skittered backward on four long legs, narrowly avoiding Drum's mace as it slammed down.

From the hound's shoulders, as if fused there by cruel magic, rose a humanlike torso. Narrow and short of stature, yes - but as well muscled as that of any human fighter. Atop that was a dog's face, in which mingled equal parts human cunning and canine charm. In sharp contrast to the head properly situated on the hound's neck, this one held an expression that said as clearly as words, what can you do. He directed this pleading gaze at the fourth War King, Bass, who stood aside, watching the proceedings with an expression of disdain. The hound's own head watched the combatants, its face eerily expressionless.

Sizer ripped the air, flying circles around the mighty Dragon King. Though his weapon shattered stone wherever it hit, the Hawk King avoided every strike, and Drum was beginning to bleed from a dozen shallow cuts. None of them were deep enough to be serious, but Sizer's wings thrummed louder, and Drum roared in outrage.

Guitar's hands curled over the hilts of his twin swords, belted along his canine sides. He kept his unwavering gaze on the Hell King. Bass nodded once, curtly.

Claws scratching on the stone, Guitar leapt forward, six limbs in flawless coordination. One sword stopped the Dragon King, a fraction of an inch from his scaled nose. The second slipped through Sizer's guard, barely pricking the skin between her chin and her gorget. For a moment, they froze, a tableau of barely suppressed enmity, and then Guitar laughed and sheathed his swords.

"What an exhibition! I'm so glad neither of you were serious!"

He grinned at Drum, tongue lolling. His hound's head pinned Sizer with a dead stare. The combatants spat their disgust - Drum literally - and he laughed again, bringing a much-needed touch of levity.

Just another day for the Warrior King. Drum underestimated him, preferring brute strength to finesse. And Sizer - well, Sizer underrated everybody, by Guitar's estimation. Even Bass, though he relied on them all, gave Guitar less than his due.

That was just fine.

Some day, he'd show them all.