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.
