RE: Monarch

It was slow going. The air itself was heavy, vile, exceeding the mundane stench of waste and decay. The rounded walls swam, their aperture widening and tightening with seemingly no pattern. Pushing through it all felt like forcing my way through a physical barrier, sometimes requiring such effort that my vision darkened, unconsciousness little more than a single misstep away.

Nightmares lurked at every turn and ambush point. Distant voices of loved ones wailed out in agony, the cacophony overlapping, offset and dissonant, wheezing like a lung riddled with holes.

Mutilated hands reached from the muck for our legs, our boots, tattered skin sloughing off as they tried to drag whoever they could get a hold on towards the muck.

Sometimes entire people rose from the sludge, begging for clemency even as they advanced, toying with the heartstrings of anyone whose attention they could capture, buying enough time to close distance. Some threw themselves forward, attempting to bite. Others attempted to jam their fetid fingers into eyes, mouths, anything they could feasibly reach that wasn't armored.

So far, only one man had been blinded, another badly mauled. The only saving grace preventing further casualties was that the wretches never showed up in greater numbers.

Somewhere in the distance, I heard my mother crying for help, choking on blood.

I stabbed a nearby wretch and flung it away, panting from the effort, watching as it sank beneath the oily surface.

"Is this still the right way?" Mari asked.

"According to the blueprints, it's a straight shot. We haven't altered course," Maya said. She was leaning on her staff more than usual, using it for support. "Unless we somehow missed the tunnel."

"Fuck!" Sera shouted in the distance. "Let go! Release me! HELP! SOMEONE HELP!" The blood-curdling wail was so tormented and pained, it was barely recognizable.

I held perfectly still, cocking my head, fighting the immediate urge to panic and forcing myself to listen. There was a distant sloshing, but nothing more. "Anyone else just hear Sera?"

A few had. Other people reported hearing the voices of other banner lieutenants. The men in the back of our formation, apparently, kept hearing me, shouting at them in the distance for abandoning their commander, threatening charges of desertion if they didn't report to their stations.

"It's scared," I announced derisively, trying to redirect their focus and raise morale. "Doing everything it can to drag us off course. If a command is given that directly contradicts existing orders, confirm it with caution. Especially if you cannot see the speaker."

There was a collective acknowledgement, though from the look of it, fear was taking a toll.

Maya fell in beside me, staff accenting every other step.

"How are we doing?" I asked, watching her in my peripheral, rebuking the urge to look away from the dark expanse before us.

"Could be worse," Maya surmised, not sounding particularly convinced.

"But?"

"At least six are nearly lost to us. Drooping eyes, uneven gait. Others not far behind. We are doing well, for the moment, but that will not hold if this turns into an engagement of attrition."

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"And there's no way to evacuate those in danger." I frowned.

Maya shook her head. "The way is barred. There are other exits, but they will take time and effort to find. Furthermore, I'm not convinced the direction we came from is any safer. The at-risk and wounded will find themselves in just as much peril anywhere in the sewer. Probably more-so, separated from a larger group."

"From how it keeps trying to lure away the soldiers in the back, I'm inclined to agree with you." I waved to Mari and waited as she jogged over. "We need to get moving, quickly. But the air down here is foul, and obviously, I don't want to exhaust the men. Any ideas?"

An upsurge of wailing swelled, pouring over us. Soldiers cringed as weapons jostled, sharpened blades pointing toward the screaming, metal clanking with their trembling.

Mari shifted, looking over the regiment, considerable biceps rippling as she crossed her arms. She evaluated them quietly. "The voices are slowin' us down, more than anything else. Hard to throw caution to the wind with someone ahead of you screaming like a stuck pig." řàNỔΒĘS̩

"Like the sirens," Maya realized. "We need to drown them out."

I raised an eyebrow, glancing at Mari. "A parade march?"

"Fine. I'll do it. But only because the elf isn't here." Mari huffed and approached Maya. "Mind uh... lending a helping hand again?"

"What do you need?" Maya questioned.

Instead of answering, Mari gripped Maya's still held staff, raised it, and slammed it to the ground. The metallic thump echoed down the tunnel, cutting through the chorus of frightening noises. A moment later, she did it again, then again. Maya took over, keeping the rhythm as Mari thumped her breastplate simultaneously, turning to face the regiment at large, her voice raucous and out of tune as she sang.

The maidens four, at Whitefall's gate,

Promised kisses worth the wait.

So forward men, we won't be late,

To claim our bounties hold.

The scattered footsteps narrowed, as the soldiers' training kicked in, and they marched to the beat. Mari smiled widely, her expression savage.

Let Kings and Lords keep crown and throne.

We'll take the glory, blood and bone.

And drain the taverns dry as one,

‘Til morning bells are tolled

ing.Several nightmares dredged up from the ether, contorting, approaching Mari's back. I darted forward, slaying them to the drums of boots and breastplates, banging the flat of my sword to the wall all throughout, keeping the rhythm.

Keeping the pace.

For fame and fortune forth we ride,

With steel and courage at our side

Let cowards in their chambers hide,

While warriors grow bolder.

The screaming grew louder. Something swiped at Mari from the shadows, leaving a thin line of steaming ichor she hastened to wipe off.

But the soldiers kept the march. A man near the front belted out his own verse.

Fuck the lithid, kill it dead.

Run our blades through ‘til it’s bled.

Then we'll go and mount its head,

In the victor's hall!

Despite the slightly awkward improvisation, the verse stuck. The men repeated it over and over, shouting it like a mantra, expressions resolute in unity and rebellion.

Up ahead, the darkness widened, stretching out to either side. It had to be the rendezvous point.

A curtain of smoke descended, creating yet another barrier.

I called upon the mana polluted by sewage, filtering purity from filth and lined my sword with it, then flung aquatic blades at the smoke, as Zin had taught me. The first tore a crescent gape in the smoke, the second and third tearing the curtain until it was in roiling tatters, eventually falling away completely.

We were through.

There was a distant glow of lanterns from the left-hand side—Sera's group, who'd arrive shortly after us.

At first glance, the much wider, taller room was completely empty.

Until the ceiling plunged down on us.

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