Captured Ch. 01: A Rescue

The camp was cold and quiet. The men that inhabited it were asleep, save for two. The wind was silent and still as these two sat in silence, back-to-back. Somewhere in the distance an owl hooted, and the sound pierced through the camp, sending shivers through the spines of the men.

Gale jolted from a half-sleep and shivered. "Ruddy grim place this..." He whispered, and pulled his cloak in around him tighter.

"Stay sharp, Gale. We've only another two days march to Ilford and I can't have you dozing off on watch." Raimund's voice was authoritative, but he allowed himself a smile. His men had been marching, or more like hiking in this terrain, for six straight days into most of the nights. He knew they were pushing themselves and hadn't complained once.

"Yessir. I wasn't complaining, sir, sorry." Gale sat upright.

Raimund reached into his cloak and pulled out a flask of wine, passing it behind him. "You're alright Gale, you're not wrong. This is a ruddy grim place, and I'll be glad to be shot of it as soon as we can be." He looked up, appreciating the view of the stars in the sky for a change. They had just left The Veil, a large span of forest guarding the entrance to the Valley of Kings.

The Valley had been treacherous for horses, so they'd had to leave them behind and only take what they needed. It had been six gruelling days from then, and Raimund knew the men were exhausted, even if they didn't say it.

Gale took the flask and took a swig, and the two sat in silence for a while longer.

Sure he had his doubts, but Raimund had orders. Eight days had passed since the Capitol had received word of the attack on Eastwig, the fort at the other side of the Valley, so he had often doubted whether or not the captured men would still be alive.

Raimund shivered, remembering the scene when they arrived at Eastwig. They had stopped off their on their way through the Valley, to check for clues as to where the men had been taken. The most earie thing about it all was that the gate and walls were still completely intact. There was no blood, or weaponry. The only sign of struggle were the crumpled armour and clothes, and dust piles within each. It looked like the soldiers had been burned to cinder, with their armour left intact. What kind of creature does that?

"Sir..." Gale took a deep breath. "Do you think we'll find them there?"

Raimund grunted, shaken awake from his nightmare. He considered answering honestly for a moment, but decided against it. His men had come too far to be allowed to feel doubt now. "Yes, they were obviously captured for a reason. It is our job to return these men to their families, and if we work out what these creatures are too, well then that's a bonus." He sounded much more confident than he actually felt.

Gale seemed to relax a little, and Raimund heard a sigh from a couple of his men in the camp. "You should be sleeping." Raimund commanded. "Or do I have to come over there and knock you out myself?"

Silence fell over the camp again and Raimund smiled. He leaned back against Gale and closed his eyes for a moment.

He is back home, in his bed. Raimund smiles, taking a deep breath, and rolls over in his bed. There lies his wife, as beautiful as ever. She looks even more incredible when she sleeps. He reaches up and places a hand on her head, brushing her red hair from her face.

She stirs, and opens her eyes, smiling. "Hey you" she whispers. Her voice is like silk, and he can't help but smile and kiss her on the head. "You missed!" She chuckles, and leans forward, kissing him on the lips. Raimund thinks how lucky he is to be in bed with such a gorgeous and charming woman.

Raimund returns the kiss, his tongue battling his wife's, although she would say it was dancing, not fighting. When his wife finally breaks the kiss, she moves quickly, elegantly. Her legs are either side of him before he can even move. He loves how she takes charge. Looking up at her naked form, her perfect breasts, her toned stomach, her...

She doesn't let him finish, and her hand reaches down to grab his cock. "Already hard for me I see?" She asks, cheekily. Her hand begins to move up and down, his erection growing even more.

Raimund was not the first man his wife had been with, but he knew she was impressed with his member when she first saw. Even now she looks down, her tongue flicking out to lick her soft lips as she enjoys the sight of it. Her face is mirrored in his, as he watches her body move atop him. His hands are on her rear, his fingers palming, gripping. She never complains about his coarse hands. "Wielding a sword all day will do that to a man!" She always says.

Her hands are done now, and she deftly lifts herself up, positioning her sex above his own member, before sinking down slowly. "Ohhh" she lets out a long moan, and stops as she must get used to him now. This is the way it always is, and Raimund smiles again. He cheekily bucks his hips up and watches his wife's face as her eyes widen and mouth opens.

She slaps him lightly. "Naughty boy. Maybe I'll just get off now..." She says, but he knows she can't resist either, as she lowers herself on him further. "Mmm" She sighs again, and pauses.

"Woman, you're driving me crazy," Raimund says, and his hands move around to her front. His fingers trace up her body, and his thumb and finger on each hand squeezes her nipples. That does it, his wife lets go, sinking all the way onto his member. Both of them take a breath and she closes her eyes, her face contorted in a mixture of pain and pleasure.

After what feels like an eternity for Raimund, his wife begins moving on top of him, riding him. His hands return to her rear as he assists her. His strong forearms flexing as he grips her thighs, her ass. She bounces faster on top of him and then leans backwards. Raimund moves a finger to the front, his thumb just above her sex. His thumb flicking across her clitoris, as she bucks her hips on his cock. Her breathing picks up, and Raimund admires how perfect her breasts are. He can feel his orgasm nearing, fast.

He is about to speak up, to tell his wife to go slower, but just as he opens his mouth, she lets out a high-pitched moan and her hips buck faster and erratically. Her sex clamps down on his member as she begins her orgasm and he can't hold on any longer. Raimund lets go, his seed filling his wife's womb. "Oh fuck!" He grips her hips as she rides him through her own orgasm, and they cum together.

Raimund jolted awake, his hand reaching to his crotch as he looked around. Nobody else was awake, thank goodness. Raimund looked up, and shook his head, trying to clear the memory so as to focus on the day, as the first sign of light shone through the trees. He stood up and stretched. His legs and back felt older than they should. His 48^th birthday was two days ago, but he was fit for his age. He stooped to pick up his pack before turning to his men. He thought he'd have to wake them, but as with every morning so far, he realised the nine men under his command were seemingly waiting for him to stand before awakening themselves. He smiled at the clear respect his men had for him.

As soon as everyone was packed up, Raimund turned to his men. "Right, it's about two days march to the Vein of Shadows, so we'll march through the night and sleep tomorrow, so we're ready to enter the Vein at nightfall on the second day." And with that, he turned and started walking, his men following behind in formation.

The rescue party arrived at the cliff overlooking the Vein at midday on the second day. After a small exchange of words, they set up a brief camp and tried to get as much sleep as they could. None of the men slept, they were all too anxious about what was to come.

Nobody had set foot in the Vein for over 200 years. Eastwig fort was built as a first defence against the forces that had appeared from the Vein. The first shadow demon had appeared in a village in the Valley of Kings, and one single demon decimated the village. The stories of shadow demons are told to children to ensure they don't run off, but most people treat it as a story now. The children that were snatched, the men killed and women raped -- all now a distant memory.

There had been no movement in the Valley in centuries, and thus the fort at Eastwig had been understaffed and under resourced in recent years. Why waste man power protecting an empty space when there was danger from other kingdoms to the North, South and West?

Even with the stories just that, stories, the men could feel darkness as they approached the Vein. Every man had a pit in the bottom of his stomach, and a voice in their head that told them to turn around and just run. But every man followed Raimund without question.

The Vein of Shadows was an underground labyrinth. It was said a mad king had built it long ago after discovering some ancient evil. He had believed that building a labyrinth that only he could navigate would make it impossible for his enemies to find him. He was not wrong, the stories tell that he went so deep into the labyrinth that he never came out. The running theory was that he got lost and starved to death.

Thankfully, there were some archives in the Grand Library back in the Capitol that held some information on this Labyrinth of tunnels. Raimund had entrusted his most trusted man, Gale, with this knowledge and tasked him with creating a system for navigating the tunnels. Raimund had also borrowed one of the Capitol's technicians, a small man by the name of Griff, who had worked closely with Gale.

The entrance to the Vein loomed above them. A large arch, about 20 feet tall, was carved out of the tall cliff edge that stretched up above them almost straight up. It looked so straight that Raimund marvelled that it must have been man made. But how humans could make something like that from rock, he had no clue. Remains of a huge door lay splintered around the entrance. What could break through a door that size? Raimund wondered, before motioning for his men to stop.

Raimund turned to them. "Okay you know the plan. We are here to investigate. We will only explore until the night is over, and then we return to the camp back up the hill. We can split into only two teams maximum, each one being led by either Gale or Griff. Calculate your timings with your candles." Raimund pulled out a candle from his pack to show them, before passing it to one of his men. "When five candles have expired, that will be day and you are to return."

He turned to the two youngest members, of the party. "Torsten and Davit, I want you two here at the entrance. If we do not return by midday, I want one of you to run back to the Capitol to inform them. The other I want camped out up on that hill to ensure nothing else comes out of this cursed place." Raimund didn't know why he added 'cursed' but he was getting more on edge the longer he spent here.

Torsten was the youngest, and had just turned 18. His brother Davit was a year older, but had served with Raimund for long enough to know not to disagree with orders. So when Torsten began to protest against being left behind, Davit silenced him with a swift elbow to the ribs. Raimund smiled at that.

"Okay, let's get these men home safely." Raimund tried to sound confident, but as he looked at the archway leading to blackness, he couldn't help but shudder.

Eight men began their journey into the Vein.

As they entered, the light from the moon disappeared, and was replaced by the dim orange glow of the torches held by a few party members. Two of his men had started the first of the candles, and they began the descent down the first flight of stairs which led to a long corridor. At the end of the corridor was a fork. Raimund sighed. He had hoped the party would have been able to stick together for longer than this before splitting.

They said their farewells and split into two teams. Gale led the second team now, and they made their first decision in the labyrinth. Both Gale and Griff etched the first marking into the tunnel wall, and copied it into their book. They had created a system of symbols which would connote the route taken. When returning, they simply had to turn the book upside down and the symbols would reflect the correct way back. To confirm this, the symbol would also be marked into the wall or floor.

Gale's team continued like this for two candles, down tunnels dug into the rock, before they finally passed the first door. It was a solid Iron door, with a small barred window at head height. Gale pressed against the door and it began to open. He etched the symbol into the book to reflect the door, and would add a cross once this door had been checked, or leave the symbol if they decided to pursue this route instead.

Gale motioned for two of the men to open the door and enter. They both drew their swords and quickly moved inside, followed immediately by the third man carrying the torch. Looking around, they realised they were in an old dungeon. On the right and left there were barred cells, and the room stretched down further than they could see. There were small torches on the walls that were dimly flickering, and which gave off very little light.

"Check them" Gale ordered in a whisper. "Carefully!" He added.

Two of his men moved to the left and one of the men with his sword drawn lit a second torch and moved with Gale to the right, checking each cell as they went. As Gale walked, he peered into each cell. Unsurprisingly, there were a few skeletons chained to the wall. They must have starved here when the population left this place. Gale shivered. What an awful way to go.

They passed a few empty ones before one of his men called him from the other side of the room. Gale and his comrade ran across the hall toward his other men. A look of panic on their faces as they pointed inside the cell. Gale's stomach turned, and he looked inside.

Slumped in a corner was a man wearing the armour of their kingdom. Gale's eyes widened and he called out softly, but the man didn't respond. "Get this cell open!" He ordered, and one of his men looked around for something to pry open the door.

It was then that Gale looked down and noticed the cell door was slightly ajar. "This cell isn't locked" he murmured, and that sent chills down his spine again for a different reason.

As Gale opened the barred door, the iron on iron sent a creaking sound through the whole room. "Fuck" one of his men exclaimed, looking around for a threat.

Gale went inside and slowly approached the man slumped on the floor. As he touched him, Gale noticed he felt warm, and he rolled him onto his back. All three men behind him gasped as they witnessed the thin, frail man in front of them.

It looked as though this man hadn't been fed properly for months. His skin was stretched thinly over his bones, his eyes were open staring into nothing, and seemed to be set into his sockets. But the most horrifying thing was that the man was smiling! He didn't seem upset about being on the floor of this dirty cell.

After a moment, Gale spoke. "Aldo, Powel, grab this man carefully. We need to get him out and check the other cells."

The two men lifted the man carefully under each arm and walked toward the edge of the cell. As they approached the door, the man suddenly began thrashing. "No! No! Let me go! I need to stay!" He cried out. Gale panicked, this would alert anyone to their presence, and needed to stop, now! He quickly ripped a piece of his tunic off and stuffed it in the man's mouth, muffling his cries.

"Go, now. Get outside and bind his hands then one of you come back and help us search the rest of these cells." The two men obeyed and Gale moved on to continue searching the left cells. "Hugh, quickly" He called back to his colleague, who quickly caught up with him.

The next few cells were empty, but when they approached the fourth, they noticed the armour on the floor again. Gale was about to open the door, when he realised this man was the same as those from the fort. His armour lay crumpled and inside was covered in ash.

Gale jumped when Aldo arrived behind them. "Should we grab him?" He whispered.

"No, he's gone. We need to keep looking" Gale motioned forward, and the men silently moved to the next cells.

The rest of that row were empty, and Gale was almost glad. It turned out the room contained 20 cells total, ten on each side. At the end was another iron door, which Gale took note of but didn't open. He moved on to the right side, and began working his way back through the room.

Just when he was about to give up, in the last cell they checked lay another soldier. Gale motioned for the two men to open and grab him carefully, and he readied another strip of his tunic in case. Gale was taking no chances this time.

But Aldo and Hugh grabbed the man, Gale noticed that he was in much better shape than the previous prisoner. "I'll get the door, you guys bring him through." Gale ran on to the iron door they had come through and held it open. He turned and watched as they approached. This time the prisoner didn't seem to be thrashing, and Gale breathed a sigh of relief as they approached.

Just as the three men neared the door, everything turned upside down at once. Gale heard a cry from Powel back in the corridor, and moved through to see what was going on. Just as he exited the room, the prisoner between Aldo and Hugh started thrashing. It appeared he wasn't as weak as they thought and broke free. He punched Hugh who fell back onto the stone floor, hitting his head and falling unconscious. Aldo tried to get the man under control but one of the prisoner's feet struck the iron door, slamming it shut.

Gale turned and pushed against the door, trying to force it open but with no luck. It seems it hadn't been closed when they discovered it, but once it's shut, the door had locked. "Fuck!" Gale exclaimed, and watched as Aldo managed to restrain him. Aldo bound his hands behind him, and shoved part of his own tunic in the prisoner's mouth, before running to Hugh.

"He's breathing, just knocked out." Aldo sighed, and then approached the door. Gale was panicked but tried his best not to show it. If only I was as strong as Raimund! He thought.

"This door is locked. I can't seem to open it Aldo. Is there a lock on your side?" Aldo looked down and then back up to Gale, shaking his head. "Fuck!" Gale hit the door out of frustration. "Okay, we are going to get this man up to the surface and we'll come back."

Gale looked over at Powel who was bandaging his side. It seemed he had been pushed over by the first prisoner and nicked his side on the uneven wall. "I need to get Powel up top too. But here..." Gale passed the notebook through the small window. "If you can't wait there, we saw a door at the end of the room. That's got to lead back around I'm sure. Just make sure you leave a message to let us know you've gone. Prioritise Hugh, but if you can get that man out too, brilliant. We will be back down as soon as I've dropped him off." Gale motioned to the man on the floor, who was still writhing which gave him chills.

Aldo looked concerned but nodded in understanding. "Got it. No problem Gale, I'll get these guys to safety and we'll laugh about it over a pint when we're back." He gave a nervous chuckle, and went over to Hugh.

Gale watched him for a moment before turning back to Powel and the prisoner. They both picked him up and began walking back the way they had come. Luckily we hadn't made many turnings in this maze, so I know my way back by heart. He thought, as they slowly walked back through the tunnels.

Aldo sat for a moment next to Hugh, and cursed himself. He cursed this place, he cursed the mission, and he cursed the fact that he didn't expect the prisoner to struggle. Aldo let himself have a moment to regain his thoughts, and planned the next move. While he could sit here and wait, there was no guarantee anyone could even get this door open when they came back anyway. It was inevitable that he'd have to get through that door down the end, but he couldn't do it in the current situation. He couldn't drag an unconscious person and prisoner at the same time, so he decided to put the prisoner back. "If you want to stay, then you can stay for now. We'll come back for you." He said, to the prisoner, who seemed to hear him and looked up.