Into the Castle

“That was interesting.”

“I think you meant ‘frightening’, Viviane.” Medrauta remarked.

Before they set off to the secret entrance that Isadora had pointed out to them, the two had first made their way to Marilyn’s position where Medrauta sought to inform the senior knight of their departure. Of course, the attempt at communication with the battle-crazed Marilyn had been fairly fruitless. Despite Medrauta’s best efforts, the only response she received from the senior knight was a guttural grunt followed by a ferocious roar as Marilyn leapt into the fray once more, somehow shrugging herself free of Medrauta’s iron grip.

“Oh, I don’t know. It was kind of endearing, don’t you think?” Viviane laughed.

“As endearing as trying to talk to a bear, maybe.” Medrauta smiled, shaking her head.

The two of them were only managing to make such light conversation thanks to the wide berth they were giving to the clashing armies. Once they managed to disengage from the sea of soldiers, the two of them circled around the battlefield’s perimeter where the enemy’s flank was still recovering and weakest. There, they would attract the least attention possible from their enemies, allowing them to ride toward the castle’s side unmolested.

With none of the baron’s forces anywhere close to the castle and the artillery still waiting for the signal to advance, Bastiche had neglected to place any sentries on or around the walls. After all, he’d hardly expected the fief’s knights to betray him or even for the baron’s forces to penetrate into the center mass of his army. In fact, Medrauta was willing to bet that Bastiche probably intended for the enormous show of force to dissuade Baron Dietrich and cause him to retreat.

Unfortunately for Bastiche, the baron never had any intentions of retreating. In fact, if Isadora hadn’t appeared and offered a solution, Medrauta doubted that Baron Dietrich would accept Viviane’s push to retreat without incident. The silver-haired knight allowed herself a faint smile of relief as she celebrated the fact that they’d avoided an impromptu match with the baron. Of course, it wasn’t as if Medrauta knew the baron would try to deny a retreat in such a manner, but knowing how determined the man was, he probably would have challenged Viviane to a match in a bid to overrule her authority.

“There! It’s the sluice!” Viviane pointed, keeping one arm wrapped around her knight’s torso as their mount thundered forward. The two of them had decided to ride on the same horse for expediency seeing as Medrauta’s own steed perished in the fighting.

“You think it’ll be guarded?” Medrauta asked. The chance was low seeing as there were no sentries or patrols in sight, but it was always possible that Bastiche had chosen to place guards only at the secret entrances in case a mobile unit like themselves were sent to infiltrate the castle.

“Probably not,” Viviane replied as the horse drew near the sluice. It was a long channel dug into the earth around the castle and framed with steel panels. While it wasn’t exactly wide, the sluice gate was big enough to fit two people abreast, meaning the pair could’ve brought the horse inside if they really wanted to.

Of course, Medrauta opted to leave the horse outside as she dismounted. There was no need to affix its bridle to any sort of structure thanks to its training, and though its presence might give away the fact that the sluice gate had been infiltrated, it didn’t matter too much. After all, this was far more of a search-and-destroy mission as opposed to one that prioritized stealth. While subtlety was certainly welcome, it was by no means mandatory.

As Isadora mentioned before they departed, the sluice gate was firmly shut and locked by a mechanism that could only be activated from inside the walls. It was unsurprising seeing as the sluice was designed to allow for waste water to flow out from the castle, and though the gate was made of heavy-duty material, it didn’t take Medrauta much effort to tear it off its hinges.

The interior was a long, dark tunnel that reeked of repulsive odors, but one particular scent caught Medrauta’s attention. As a knight who was fresh from the fight, the overpowering scent of blood was unmistakable to her, and though the sluice itself contained no flowing liquid at the moment, Medrauta’s keen eyes could pick out remnants of dried blood caked all throughout the tunnel. Behind the knight, Viviane put a hand to her mouth and gagged, bile rising in her throat as her nostrils were assaulted by the pungent stench bursting forth from the open sluice gate.

“You alright, Viviane?” Medrauta asked, concerned. The smell had been so nauseating for Viviane that she’d stumbled backward slightly, forcing Medrauta to react quickly and catch her before she tripped and fell to the ground.

“Y-Yeah...” Viviane managed, taking slow breaths as she gradually acclimated to the horrid smell. “Don’t worry about me, Medrauta... We’ve gotta hurry!”

Though a frown touched the knight’s face, she nodded in agreement nevertheless. While Medrauta still worried about pressing on despite her lady’s condition, she couldn’t exactly deny Viviane’s urge for haste. Though they were now far and away from the battlefield, it wasn’t as if the carnage had stopped even for a second. If they strained their ears and listened closely, the pair could still hear the sounds of non-stop fighting as knights and soldiers clashed against homunculi.

Tearing a piece of cloth from the hem of her uniform, Medrauta offered it to Viviane as a makeshift rag that would allow her to stymie the stench at least slightly. The noblewoman took it gratefully, murmuring her thanks as the two of them descended into the sluice’s innards. Whatever Medrauta was smelling from the outside was now magnified tenfold as she stepped past the gate’s threshold. Medrauta staggered from the sheer might of the stench as if she’d been struck by a warhammer, her hand flying to her nose as she desperately attempted to mitigate the damage she was receiving. With great difficulty, Medrauta continued to press on, gripping Viviane’s hand tightly and drawing strength from her lady’s presence.

“...You don’t think Dame Isadora knew a different entrance, do you?” Medrauta asked, gritting her teeth as she focused the majority of her willpower to remain conscious despite the horrid smell.

“She... probably did...” Viviane choked, her eyes watering from the acrid stench. She held the makeshift rag tightly against her nose, but even that did little against the terrors of the sluice’s interior channel.

“I’m... gonna kick her ass... once we get back...” Medrauta coughed. Thankfully, their suffering was nearly at its end. Before departing, Isadora had informed them that the secret entrance would be located at the fourth drain gate inside the sluice’s interior. With great effort, Viviane and Medrauta’s odor-plagued journey had at last reached its end as they stopped in front of their destination.

At a quick glance, the drain gate looked identical to all the others they’d passed by earlier. It was sealed with the same circular steel grill that jutted out from the channel’s walls, but as Medrauta peered closer at the gate, she could see that the large pipe behind it was completely clean and free from any liquid or detritus. With a grunt, Medrauta managed to tear the grill aside and open a path forward. Though the darkness that suffused the pipe’s interior masked its ultimate destination, Medrauta advanced boldly with Viviane by her side.

The pipe laid an indeterminately lengthy path, and the longer Viviane and Medrauta spent walking through its dark depths, the more they questioned whether this truly was an entrance to the castle. Of course, the pipe itself was still strangely clean despite its apparent purpose, and the further they went, the weaker the sluice’s foul odor became.

“How much further do you think we’ll have to go?” Viviane asked, taking a deep breath gratefully. Now that she was finally free from the sluice’s smothering stench, the noblewoman truly learned to appreciate the privilege of breathing clean, uncontaminated air.

“I’m not sure,” Medrauta admitted. The sluice gate had been positioned outside the castle walls, and though they were definitely inside the castle grounds now, the structure was a rather large affair and at least thrice as big as Baron Dietrich’s castle. The lack of a moat probably meant that the Revelo Castle had an extensive underground portion, lending to an equally large sewer system.

Medrauta’s answer had worried Viviane slightly, though the noblewoman tried not to let it show on her face. Although the pipe was free from the dubious goop adhering to the rest of the sluice’s innards, the last thing Viviane wanted was to get swept up in a surge of water, clean or not. Thankfully, nothing of the sort happened even as the two of them continued to progress in relative silence.

“Medrauta! Look there!” Viviane exclaimed excitedly. Her voice came out louder than she’d intended, echoing multiple times through the otherwise empty pipe. Her hands flew over her mouth rapidly as she silently berated herself for her carelessness. Viviane wasn’t sure how deep the pipe was embedded into the earth, but she hoped that it wasn’t close enough to the surface to create some sort of noticeable disturbance.

Medrauta nodded, stepping in front of her lady. “Yeah, I see it.”

As they gazed into the pipe’s depths in an attempt to estimate its full length, they two noticed a small nook in its side just several meters shy of their position. Warm, flickering light emanated from the opening, causing Medrauta to advance slowly and cautiously until she could clearly see down the passageway carved into the pipe’s side. A flight of narrow stone steps greeted her along with several torches that lined its ascent, lighting the way for anyone headed up or down.

Though the stairs went on for quite a while, Medrauta’s sharp eyesight allowed her to see all the way to their end, noting how the stairs terminated at what appeared to be a stone wall. Thanks to Isadora’s information and description of the secret entrance, the knight was fairly certain that the wall could slide aside and grant them access to the castle’s interior, confirming that Isadora’s information had been accurate at the very least. After staying still and listening closely for a while, Medrauta determined that there weren’t any guards lying in wait to ambush them at the top of the stairs.

“Alright. Let’s go, Vivi.”

Viviane nodded, following her knight closely. With their hands joined tightly, they ascended the towering stairway. No matter what awaited them at the top, they would face it and triumph together.