Tragedy Of Rain
/ Tragedy of Rain 14 Chapter 14: Slaughter
The storm above had been the perfect cover, the knights of the order had long sought out the refuge for the infected. When it was discovered, the largest warband since the Great War had assembled. A hundred nights and nearly five hundred men at arms had taken the march, armed and armored for imminent bloodshed. They were told to take no prisoners.
Despite its wards and ancient power, the sanctuary was not secure from mortals. One had only find where a passage was exposed to the surface to get in. There was fighting the moment they stepped through. But numbers were on their side.
Rain rushed to the commons room above, the floor had been littered with bodies. At least a dozen now fed the rock floor with blood. The entire room smelled of burning copper.
"You cannot save them..." a distant voice echoed in the back of her mind. It wasn't Olsen's voice, but it did belong to someone she had heard before. It frightened her, but the voice faded quickly.
Olsen had evaded her, but he couldn't hide from her forever. She decided to focus on the sound of combat. Olsen would try to fallback to allies and regroup. She would find him there.
She rushed toward the nearest sound of fighting. As she went deeper into the sanctuary, the sounds grew. Hard footsteps echoed followed by the occasional scream or distorted cutting sound. When she found the first knight he was long dead, his body scorched from head to toe turning the silver armor black. She found a sword separated from him, it had been cast to the other side of the corridor and was still in good condition. The metal handle felt awkward in her hand, but she held it firmly.
More footsteps echoed nearby, mixed with the sound of moving chainmail. Rain felt sweat on her brow, beads rolling between her shoulder blades. She positioned herself near the edge of the hallway, ready to meet the new threat. When the sound got close enough to where she would be in arms reach she moved. Her shadow caught the assailants attention by surprise.
The man she encountered wasn't a knight at all, but a boy barely old enough to wear any uniform. Rain froze, not sure what to do. The surprise quickly faded from the young mans face, and he quickly lunged at her. The axe had a handle too large for his hand, and the swing was awkward. Rain dodged but refused to engage. It seemed strange to her that this boy would-
He jabbed again, faster and more reliable this time. Rain's hesitation had cost her as she jumped back to evade the swing, her footing was off and the axe sliced into her side. She felt warm blood pooling onto the floor as the axe cut into her thigh.
A burning sensation erupted followed by numbness and her leg gave out. She was on the floor clutching her wound, all the knowledge of medical practice coursing through her mind.
"Die you damned knife ear!" The boy cried and readied the finishing blow. There was no hesitation. He moved with purpose, and Rain knew it was simply her life or his.
Her sword had been dropped from her fall, so she bit down and siphoning the marks dark magic she extended her left hand and casted the fire. This time the fire didn't erupt in the same bright red and orange blaze as before. This time the fire was dark as sin and cold as the boys heart. It enveloped him, halting his attack and consuming his screams.
As the magic faded, she found renewed strength in her legs. The cut that had moments before been bleeding was now sealed. There wasn't even an identifiable scar left behind.
She felt her muscle fibers renit themselves, and stood up. The boy was nearly a skeleton now, the axe corroded into a fine dust.
"What have I done," the words escaped her lips. The world became eerily silent, the air weighed heavy against her lungs. The boys dried corpse, ruined beyond all recognition, glared back at her accusingly. Empty sockets judging her. If Wraiths were real, Rain felt like she wouldn't lift a finger to protest its vengeance.
"You cannot save them all..." the voice seemed to come from the walls. Rain turned around slowly, expecting a shadow to be haunting her like they did above. But there was nothing, only an empty hallway.
She bit her lip and slowly trudged on, her shoulders felt heavy under the weight of what she had done. She let the sword in her hand drag on the ground as she limped away. Like death she felt cold as ice, her mind numb to the world.
She didn't know when exactly she ran into Fiala. How much time had gone? It was clear that Fiala had been fighting, her clothes were ripped to shreds.
Fiala looked at her with exhausted eyes. There was blood on her face, a deep gouge above her right temple. "You? Where have you been?" The question came with a haggard breath.
"Trying to find the Knight..." Rain pieced the words together.
Fiala dived down as an arrow, it's black tip nearly impossible to see, pierced into the wall where her head had been. Rain turned her eyes to see several more ragged clothed soldiers rushing towards them.
They all looked young, except for one who seemed to be there leader. His thick grey beard distinguished himself in the group. They were men at arms, peasants who were promised riches or spoils for their service. They were running toward them, abandoning the bow they had attempted to use.
"You can't save them all...unless" the voice sounded closer this time, more clear and wise. But she still couldn't tell who it was.
She started lifting her arm and felt elemental magic pumping through her. The mark began to glow again. Rain felt time still as she looked into the eyes of the soldiers, they were halfway down the hall and advancing. Screaming for her demise.
She saw the young boys, most were just as fanatical as the one before. But a few looked frightened. Her hand stopped, each second felt like a horrified lifetime.
What frightened her the most wasn't the soldiers, it was that deep down she wanted to unleash all her new powers at them.
A flash erupted into a cacophony of light. The men at arms fumbled into the earth or ran over each other in confusion. The hallway was packed with fallen gear as another blast, louder than the first, shook the earth.
"Hurry!" Zane cried emerging from an adjacent hallway, a secret passage that had been the perfect ambush. He yanked another flask from the belt to his chest and hurled it down the hall, this one exploded and caused a shockwave that collapsed the entire section. The soldiers cries were impossible to hear, their shock hidden by the fire and light.
Rain and Fiala joined him in the hidden passage. "One more for good measure," He jibed as he threw another tube of alchemical explosives and shut the doorway. They felt the vibration as it detonated as well.
"You're going to run out at this rate," Fiala leaned against the wall, her hand at her side.
"Oh really?" Zane said sarcastically as he opened his robe to reveal an entire collection of tubes and flasks ready for use.
"Are you insane! You're going to get us all killed!" Fiala was horrified.
"Where's Maxine?" Rain asked him, she was still collecting herself.
"The sparrow is gathering everyone she can to the escape tunnel. I doubled back to find survivors."
"There has to be others," Fiala had always impressed Rain into seeing her as a fighter. Maybe even a rebel, but now she looked more desperate than Rain could've pictured.
"I'll keep looking, but so far no luck. The Knights are tearing their way through every chamber, these peasants are given free reign to do whatever they want."
"What about the others with the mark?" Rain found it hard to believe that the other 17 of them could've been killed already.
"Just get to the exits, we'll sort this out after." Zane placed a hand on her shoulder, he looked concerned, "don't go burning anything else, you're not looking to good"
Rain gave him a nod and allowed Fiala to lead them down the hidden passage, Zane stayed behind and prepared another flask.
"You cannot save them all, unless you let me in." The voice whispered into Rains mind. Her heart raced as she remembered where she heard it before.
Chapter end
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