• Mature • [Endor] Buried Alive

[Vaughn]

Something was happening to him. Violet had offered Vaughn a new bandana and he took it gratefully. But when she turned away he found his fingers were numb and clumsy. He struggled to tie the cloth around his face. The more his hands shook the more he tried to force them to still and the worse the shaking became. Finally he got the bandana in place and he leaned to pick up his lantern. His grasping fingers made little sense of it, he couldn't pick it up, and with that he felt the first spike of true fear.

No, not fear. Something worse.

"Father," he said just as Zedarius spoke, forgetting that right now Malcolm was the Warden. Vaughn jumped like a frightened cat when the other knight suddenly went to a knee. Violet had said something about maggots, there were maggots in the body, and for a brief moment of unholy terror Vaughn thought, no, he was certain Zedarius had been infected by the worms.

Chills raced over his flesh and he began to sweat cold like he had a fever.

Vakhanor suggested that a few men stay behind and Vaughn turned back towards the hole. Already he was eager to get the hell out of here, a stark contrast since he had been the first through to the other side. But then the worms' screaming hit them again and he recoiled. "No!" Bad enough before, now the sound of it was worse, how could it be worse, maddening even. His hands went up to his ears trying to block it out. Vaughn backed up towards Malcolm but his feet were as clumsy as his hands. They hit something, maybe a rock, maybe his father's boots, and Vaughn slipped and went down.

Straight into the lap of the corpse.

Dead eyes over him, the stench of the man's insides, worms, worms, Seven they were touching him, and Vaughn shrieked and thrashed away from the body, bucking and kicking and fighting. Getting to his feet and throwing himself around the cavern trying to get them off, off! People reached out for him. Their reaching hands sent him floundering away with inexplicable fear. They were trying to grab him.

"Don't touch me!" Soon as he had his feet under him he turned and bolted, away from the cave-in and the people gathered there, the reaching hands, away from the worms in the body. As he ran he shucked his jacket, trying to be free of the crawling, and began to tug at his shirt but his hands were so clumsy they were useless and it was so dark he couldn't see.

He, he couldn't see.

Despite the terror of darkness he ran on. Resisting the urge to rip the bandana Violet had given him from his face. If possible the stench of human innards was getting stronger and he put an arm up to cover his mouth and nose over the bandana, once more gagging against the urge to vomit.

In the dark he came to a dead end, and panicked. Feeling trapped he doubled back, realizing as he did that there was an outcropping to the tunnel side. It wasn't until he clattered up and over another pile of fallen rocks, perhaps the result of a different collapse, that he saw faint light.

There was the glow of something, of worms collected into a mass in the middle of the room. There he could make out a still, dark pool.

There must have been thousands of worms in the water.

Deadly silent like something from a nightmare Vaughn crept forward towards the pool. Drawn towards it to see as one is drawn to check if there are monsters in the closet or under the bed. Again he tripped and fell, feet slipping out from under him, then again, before he realized the floor was even more slick in this chamber, and scattered with unseen parts. Bodies.

This newest horror was confirmed when he crawled forward and his hands met a still, warm form. Vaughn skittered away on hands and knees, only to come across another one nearby. Bodies littered the floor around the pool, some fallen half into the water, and he was too frightened to check if they were living or dead. Too late he saw this last one he'd touched was full to bursting with worms. As he disturbed them the creatures began again to scream and scream, wailing so loud it rattled the sense from his head, and Vaughn backed away only to find he didn't know where the exit was anymore. It was lost in the dark.

A mind poisoned by fear told him there was no escape, and he held as still as he could then, not knowing what to do, deafened and almost intoxicated by the worms' shrieking.

[Malcolm]

The Wolf of Krome

Violet was right, these weren't ordinary maggots. Malcolm had forgotten the name, but he was sure there was one, a song or a rhyme children used to sing, something about silk and water, death in the air, and crawling in riches. He was momentarily distracted by Vakhanor, who felt it right to speak out of turn again. Malcolm knew the man had a point, but he had earned a certain level of respect, to speak after assessing the situation, and not before.
Benjamin shoved past the smith, and spun about to bark at Ronald. “Tell Kathryn to get fresh water, and tell the others to stay back! Go find a healer!”
The captain was carrying an extra torch, and set it down against the wall beside the dead man to fix his sash about his mouth and neck. Benjamin didn't scare easy, but Malcolm could see the smell was getting to him.
Zedarius spoke, but it was the sound of Vaughn’s voice that saw the warden turn to face his son. They hadn't made a show of their bond, and some in their company would be surprised to learn of their connection. “Vaughn!” Malcolm moved to join his son, but the man was already making a beeline towards him. There followed a commotion, a struggle, something was seriously wrong with Vaughn, and Malcolm cried out after the man as he disappeared into the darkness.
“Vaughn!”
Benjamin turned about to try and grab for the man, and in his haste, knocked over the burning torch he had left standing against the wall of the cave. It struck the dead man, and the worms in his lap. There was a loud hissing sound, followed by an explosion of green flames that burned so bright, every man and woman in the narrow entrance of the cave-in was forced to squeeze their eyes shut.
Malcolm opened his eyes, pain burning in his back. Benjamin had pushed him away from the flames, and he had fallen against the rocky wall. The warden sucked in a painful breath of air, and turned about to find that he had been cut by a rock just over the same side of his ribs he had broken earlier in the season. It wasn't deep, but it was bleeding. He looked across at Benjamin, who stood with his hand held out to the flames, consumed by the green fire.
“Ben!”
Benjamin pulled his hand back, startled by the sharpness of his own name on the warden’s tongue. The captain looked like a child scolded for trying to sneak an extra helping of biscuits. “The fire doesn't burn,” he said, confused. Benjamin reached out and helped Malcolm to his feet.
Where the worms had been, hundreds of little gems of red, blue, and green lay across the dead man’s lap. Malcolm remember the tale all of the sudden, the worms were often found in areas of the mine that were rich with ore or gemstones. They ate the ore and the gems, the minerals hardening in their fat stomachs to form perfect stones or pieces of metal.
“Fire kills them,” Malcolm said, more so to himself than anyone else. He bent down and picked up a handful of the gems, thumbing through them with disbelief. “Quick!” he said, “we have to go after Vaughn!”
The gems went into his pocket and he took up his torch, venturing deeper into the mine. “Make sure someone stays back to see that the others are okay,” he gave the order to Benjamin, and the captain turned around to do as he was told, before following the warden into the dark.

[Violet]

It all happened so quickly around her. The stench of rotting flesh and molding water was so overwhelming even with the bandana tied firmly across her nose and mouth. She felt sick from the smell and the fact that she was certain she could taste whatever was causing the rancid smell in the air. Her nose crinkled beneath the bandana and she had to focus to avoid retching up the quick meal they had gotten in before heading down in the mines. Even Benjamin, a hardened knight she had almost never seen phased, looked just like Violet felt.

Malcolm was barking orders to the other knight for fresh water, for someone to get a healer, and some of the men to fall back. They barely registered as she carefully watched the wriggling green creatures that rolled about beneath the skin of the corpse and out of his gaping wound where the flesh had already been feasted on. Violet didn’t need to focus on that. It would only make her stomach turn even more than it already was.

Thunk.

Her attention was drawn at the sound of armor and stone. Violet’s blue eyes glinting in the firelight moved from the dead body to the dark skinned knight Zedarius who had crumpled down to his knees. Her brows knotted in concern. She knew nothing about healing, though part of her longed to help the man. Setting her torch aside, she moved quickly in her leathers to the man’s side, avoiding the sick he had heaved up on the mine floor. She slipped a strong arm under one of his, offering him her strength to keep him from tumbling over onto the floor.

There was a sudden burst of bright green flame that caused Violet to clench her eyes shut tightly. When the light faded and she opened her eyes, it seemed darker than it had been a moment before. The worms had burned and left behind gems in their wake. Curious creatures. Still holding onto Zedarius, she leaned over and scooped some up to slip into her pocket. A noise came from Vaughn’s direction. He seemed to be getting out of sorts just like Zedarius. Noise was hurting his ears and he had stumbled and fallen. Then he took off. She had reached for him, but he slipped through his fingers.

Malcolm was frantic to see about him, yelling at Ben that they must follow. Just then a healer came through the opening of the cave in and started to tend to Zedarius. Violet quickly grabbed her torch and jogged off down the direction Vaughn had gone. She stopped just a few feet behind her, gaze widening at the sight of the wriggling worms in a massive pile at the center and the bodies and body parts littered around the cave. “Vaughn,” she urged, trying to keep her voice calm. “Step back this way. Those things are dangerous. Come to me. It’s going to be ok. The healer is here, let her see you.”

Violet fingered the torch thoughtfully. “Close your eyes.” She carefully chunked the torch just past him towards the pile of worms. Some of them were out of the water enough to catch fire and burn. They screeched as they disintegrated and left gems and metals behind.

[Zedarius]

You'll never be good enough. The ground swelled and shrunk, coming in waves like the undulating ocean during a storm. His piercing gaze did nothing on the cold stone of the cave, and he tried to pull himself together, but couldn't. You don't deserve a woman like Odessa. You don't deserve to call her child your child. You'll push him away like your father did to you. The weight on his chest tripled, and he struggled to breathe.

Everything around him seemed to be muffled, as if he were hearing everything through a thick blanket. He tried to call out, to ask for help, but his gasps came only as gurgled cries of terror. His chest heaved back against the crippling weight, but it did nothing to expand his lungs. Instead, fire burned in them, a constant reminder that he was struggling to get oxygen to his body.

Just die down here. Your legacy is to be honour, not fatherhood. Let them speak of how brave you were in the mines, how noble your sacrifice... Let Odessa be the recipient of lip service platitudes and your child be forever looked at with sympathy. They would gain so much more from your death than your life. Just die down here.

Behind the fear telling him to stay down, Zedarius knew that he needed to fight the effects of the toxin. He couldn't shake the fears, though. Since finding out that he would be a father, the knot in his stomach had only tightened. How could he bring a child into this world when the nobility of Rynmere were willing to allow mine workers to starve to death in a cave-in? How could he bring a child into a world where revolution was a commonplace thing among his peers, where nobility had to fear the common citizenry rising against them? He couldn't justify that, and he couldn't justify terminating the pregnancy. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Rock. And suddenly, he was aware of the sharp, uncomfortable presence under his cheek. He lifted his heavy head and grabbed the stone with large hands. It was big, surprising that it didn't crack his skull in the fall. With it in hand, Zedarius smashed one of the grubs that was blindly crawling by. As he did, the squishy insides splattered on the floor of the cave next to his face, and he could smell the stench of rot. Nearly retching, he rolled away and held his stomach.

He was vaguely aware of the medic approaching and fawning over him. Instead, images of a young man, looking like Zedarius, flashed before his eyes. As the world swirled around him, the image was perfectly clear. And around the young man were olive branches and gold nels. Beautiful women, presumably Yaralonian due to their extreme beauty, languished over him, and the young hero looked happy. He had a small scar over his left eye, but was otherwise extremely handsome. With that image in mind, Zedarius gritted his teeth and sat up.

"Please, no... Conserve your strength." The healer tried to push him back into a prone position, but the knight couldn't do it. Instead, he placed a strong hand underneath himself and pushed himself shakily to his feet. Blinking a few times at the lightheadedness, he steadied himself against the wall. The world was still pulsating, but he was starting to get used to the effect. Gripping his sword hilt to ground himself, he pushed past the healer.

"Ser Malcolm? Where do you need me, ser?" The knight's voice was deep again, stronger than it was before he went down. He could still feel his heart slamming into his ribcage, but he swallowed the gripping terror and used it as fuel to ensure that the vision of his son, strong and surrounded by laurels, would come to pass. Right now, he needed to survive this damn mission. Then he'd do what he needed for Odessa and his son.

[Vakhanor]

Delirium was a bitter, twisted adversary to any man and Zedarius was too far gone for Vakhanor's presence to be useful to him. Leaving the knight in the care of the healers, Vakh returned a few feet away from Malcolm. More ear piercing shrieks rang through out the caves as the sounds of dying worms squealed in their agony against the flames that scorched their rancid carapace. Men stationed themselves between the exit and the tunnels, ready to attack any oncoming force that might try to recklessly escape with the nasty little creatures attached to them. Panic was ensuing across the party, even Vakhanor felt sick to his stomach as the wafting smell of decaying flesh clung to the pungent, moist air.

"Don't touch me!"

A resounding echo of Vaughn's protest against the creatures filled the caverns, and immediately the eyes of the figures that had lingered, drifted back into the darkness. They were moving. "Shit," he said beneath his breath, following Violet at the rear. One by one Violet lit the piles of the wriggling nightmares while Vakh worked to fend off whatever creatures tried to follow them in the dark. "We need to gather the ore and get out of here before we are surrounded," Vakh said covering her back to back, his heart pounding in his chest. Being this close to so many worms, near so much water was dangerous. And breathing was already hard enough down here, he dare not undo cloth from around his mouth in the risk he get infected like Zedarius. How long they would survive like that with so much smoke enclosing in on their oxygen, given his knowledge of smoke and its dangers in the forge; he estimated they didn't have very long before they would either be enclosed by the threat of rampaging, infected miners or suffocating from the lack of air.

"I'll fend them off if you can gather," he offered, reeling forward to threaten one of the crazed, hungry looking humanoids smiling menacingly in the flickering darkness "Hurry," he urged.

[Vaughn]

Shrieking, shrieking, he could hear nothing, see nothing, and Vaughn had never before experienced such hell. The smell of the corpses, surrounded by bodies, and it was only after a light had come and someone had spoken to him through the roaring in his ears, was it Violet?, that he noticed that not all of the bodies were holding still.

Some of them were moving. Beginning to stir.

Terrified into submission, Vaughn curled tighter into a ball, hiding his face when Violet had said, and the room lit up dazzling bright. For a moment he felt the urge to throw himself into that green fire as if the flames might cleanse the fear from his body, and he wobbled unsteadily to his feet as if to do just that... but someone had grabbed onto his leg and he turned and found one of the miners, pale ashen face, horrible black eyes, and wide mouth as if to scream, trying to use his leg to drag himself up from the ground.

"Help me, oh gods help me!" the man whimpered, and Vaughn grabbed at his hands, trying to get the man off him, but his own fingers were so clumsy as to be useless. "No, stop," Vaughn said, but the other just clung to him and all at once began to writhe and scream as if under the knife of torture. "Oh gods no, oh help me I'm drowning, I, I'm drowning, I can't, I can't breathe," the man began to gasp and choke and splutter. "Please," he was choking and shaking, barely able to get the words out, his eyes rolling in his head as spittle gathered at his mouth, "Please!" He gargled and collapsed against Vaughn, breath rattling and body hitching, but no matter what Vaughn could not break the man's impossible grip. Helpless, he skittered backwards, dragging the other with him for a trill before finally, finally, the other let go.

The drowning miner reached out one last time, his mouth open again in a round O of horror, begging, begging, and then all at once his face went lax and he relaxed limply to the ground. "By the Seven," Vaughn whispered, and only then noticed the others that had risen, miners all of them, quivering and shrieking about horrors which in his state Vaughn could not tell were imagined or real. One had thrown himself first into the fire and then, screaming and burning though there was no smell of cooked flesh, had jumped straight into the pool of water and into the waiting worms. As soon as he crashed into the water the pool lit up even brighter with an unearthly glow, and the water vibrated with his thrashing and the writhing of the submerged creatures around him.

Another turned towards those who had now collected near the entranceway, Violet and Vakhanor, and smiling and weeping wobbled towards them, hands reaching. "K-K-Kill me," he said, and threw himself at the smith as if to attack.

All of this was too overwhelming for Vaughn. The numbness seemed to have spread from his hands to his whole body; he could not feel his face. Unthinking, he stumbled towards Violet and the others, expression shell shocked, and simply did whatever they told him to do, unable to concieve of doing anything of his own volition. "Please," he whispered, but there was very little sound to his voice, "Please I just want to get out."