The Tide of Rot

Hello fellow readers. This is the fifth instalment of the undead conquest story, a lot of things and events would make more sense if you read the previous chapters.

Content warning: This might not be a good read for everyone; there will be lots of nasty things, including undead, worms, slime, and similar stuff.

Like chapter one, this part introduces characters and sets up the stage so the sexual content will be closer to the end of it.

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Some might say the town of Althof was the most miserable middle-of-nowhere shithole, but to Shayla, it was the only home she ever knew. Not so long ago the young nun visited the seat of the king of their blessed kingdom of Ostya, but the capital of Ostland left an oppressive impression on her - too much bustling, non-stop yelling of traders and thousands of people rushing in all directions were too much for a rural girl. Too much dirt and greed, too little concern for God and the higher matters.

Life in Althof was slow and predictable, flowing like molasses day after day, year after year, and it suited her perfectly. She knew that some of the other nuns were captivated by the big city, going so far as changing their clothes to mingle with the crowd in the evening, instantly abandoning their wows at the sight of the forbidden temptations! During their pilgrimage to the capital, Shayla stayed in their tavern and prayed every evening to avoid the lure of sin, but not all her sisters were so devoted. What a scandal it was when one of the girls turned out to be pregnant when they returned to the blessed Temple of Saint Celeste!

Her strong faith and dedication were recognized, so this Sunday sermon Shayla was allowed to carry the blessed symbol of the God almighty, the seven-pointed star, said to be given to Celeste by God himself when he still walked among mortals. Placing the artifact on the pristine marble altar, she took the place of honor on the front pew and started the familiar prayer.

After the ceremony, Mother Superior called her to a secluded room, and the dutiful nun followed gladly, curious of what assignment she would get today.

"The nature of my request for you is... discreet. You already demonstrated your devotion, and I hope you can help the Church with a delicate question," the older woman said. Mother Helena was in her forties, her neatly cut graying hair complementing her mature features. Twenty years ago knights would be dueling for her hand as the most gorgeous dame in the entire realm, and even faded, her beauty still was striking.

"A noble house approached us, asking to take guidance in the education of their daughter. It appears that she strayed from the path of virtue and this casts a shadow on the whole family. We should retrieve the misguided maiden..." she winced, "the misguided woman from their estate and bring her here without raising any attention. Will you help to return a stray soul to God's light?"

Shayla bloomed - surely it was a sign of trust and confidence in her loyalty! Perhaps even a test from the senior cleric before elevating the pious nun to a higher station?.. In any case, she enthusiastically nodded, eager to prove her worth.

In less than an hour a coach was parked in an inconspicuous valley behind an opulent, richly decorated mansion. An elderly noble couple met her, accompanying a young beauty around twenty, not unlike the nun herself. No servants were in sight, it looked like they were trying to keep this under the rug.

"If you give me out to this bitch I will scream and have her flogged by stablemen!" The young daughter's voice was just as bratty as Shayla expected. The lady was dressed in a simple garb fitting to a commoner, but the attentive nun noticed ring marks on all her elegant fingers, and earring holes in the ears. She was stripped of all gaudy jewelry, and forced into the simplest attire possible.

"If you do this I will disinherit you and you will not get a copper from my pocket ever again!" Red-faced, the father was on the brink of yelling at the disobedient child. A softer voice of the mother diffused the situation, "Isabella, this will be better for all of us if you obey. Behave well and show genuine remorse, and we might find a respectable young man of good standing for you and restore our reputation, then you can return from the church."

Young Isabella snorted but refrained from any further remarks. Her last effort failed, so she resorted to her fate and climbed into the carriage, preferring this option to become a homeless beggar.

"Drive, pleb." She tried to pretend she was in charge, but Shayla intentionally ignored the order and spoke for several minutes with her parents, assuring them that their daughter was now in good hands. Finally, the carriage moved away, with the young woman safely hidden from public eyes behind the closed windows of the compartment. It was during this slow ride back to the Church she saw the yelling man.

Like many other cities, Althof was founded as a military citadel. With time the population grew, spilling over the walls to form several boroughs outside. The Church, of course, was inside the walls - the pious founding fathers built it into the main castle, one of the first things they finished after establishing the necessary defenses. Shayla picked up the spoiled noble in one of the outer districts and was rolling past the gates to the old city center when she was cut by a strange rider.

His horse looked dead beat tired, foam and sweat dripping down the trembling legs, and the man was just as exhausted. However, he was not seeking rest as he yelled, "People of Althof! A great disaster befell on our land! An army of walking dead moves from the east, I barely escaped when they attacked my village! Guide me to the lord, he needs to hear this!"

"Woah, woah, easy!" a guard tried to calm him down. "Do not disturb the people, lad. Let's come with us, the captain will hear your story, and your steed surely needs to rest."

"There is no time to rest, they are relentless! They march day and night, and you, people, should man the walls and evacuate everyone!" He cast a mad gaze around, making everyone step back.

"All right friend, there is no need to raise panic!" the soldier's voice became stern. His comrades surrounded the horse, jumping to apprehend the madman before he upset the people even more.

"You damned idiots, let me go, I must warn others..." he stumbled when one of the guards slammed a fist into his abdomen, cutting down the insane wails. A city watch squad escorted the lunatic away, quickly restoring the order at the gate.

"What is he talking about? Living dead?" Isabella asked from behind as her companion ordered the horses forward.

"An insane fool was raving about nonsense; he is not worth our attention." They were approaching the monastery, and Shayla parked the carriage in the church's backyard - the fewer people saw them the better.

"Guide me to the prison, oh so-righteous sister!" Isabella was openly mocking the nun, this woman would be a tough one to return back to the ways of virtue. Nevertheless, Shayla was determined to see this through. The first step would be to give the sinner time to think about her transgressions and reflect. "A lot of time, if necessary," she thought while guiding the unruly daughter to a solitary room of prayer.

A small stone cubicle around ten feet wide with basic commodities like a wooden bed, this room was designed to isolate the believer from the world and leave them one-to-one with God. Shayla herself occasionally visited these rooms, praying fervently, and now Isabella was about to have some solitude too.

"So this is my cell? I guess it is better than a regular prison, at least I have the Holy Book for entertainment." She enjoyed taunting the nun, who frowned at such blatant usage of the symbol of the faith.

"Perhaps if you treated it not as entertainment but for life guidance, you would not end up here. If you defile or vandalize the Book in any way, there will be punishment!" Shayla ended on an intimidating note, leaving the stubborn sinner and locking the door. There was a small window in the cell so Isabella would have light to read. The nun intended to have a stern conversation on the value of virtue later, but for now, Isabella has to let all her venom out and come to terms with the new reality.

"What an insolent brat, no wonder her parents resorted to us to put sense into her head!" She had to report to the superior but, to her surprise, Mother Helena was nowhere to be found. The nun shrugged and joined other sisters in housekeeping work.

Unknown to the convent, the senior cleric was called to a secret, urgent meeting by the ruler of Althof, the high-born lord Robert. He was sitting in his workroom with Helena and other most trusted advisors, all eyes and ears focused on the arrested man telling his story again:

"My village was called Riversmark, the easternmost out there; there is nothing but forest and the Scar to the East of us. One of the hunters saw a massive cloud of gray fog moving toward us, and the same evening they struck," he stuttered, voice shaking audibly.

"A horde of monsters - some humanlike, some more akin to animals, and some are straight out of a nightmare. They encircled the village and attacked at once." Closing his eyes, the man recalled the horrible day. He told about easily crushed attempts of constructing a defensive barricade, about a river of blood flowing on the streets. They knew no mercy, but he saw a couple of young women taken alive while all the male population of the village was slaughtered.

"I was around the stables when the screams started. I jumped on the horse and rushed from the village, there were many more of these things on the way out... A two-headed one gave a chase but the mount saved me, bless the mare."

Right next to the chained villager stood the general of the castle garrison. The elderly soldier showed everyone a saddle, holding it to the light to demonstrate the symbol of the king's own stables.

"We confiscated his steed and it is a purebred, way better than any animal you can find in a remote village like Riversmark. The saddle bags were full of supplies, there is food there that can't be found in our lands." He nudged the prisoner, "Tell them about the elves."

Helena's eyes went wide at the mention of the travelers from other worlds, but she still noticed lord Robert's grim frown after these words.

"Yes, sir. Around a month ago a group of ten elven women went through our village. They left their horses with us and headed east, to the Scar. The whole village was buzzing, not every day you see their folk in a small hamlet! We asked if we could aid them, but they declined any help. Our alderman tasked me with tending their horses, that's why I was in the stable when..." he went silent.

"There is more than a week of way between Riversmark and Althof. Have you been to other villages, speaking to other travelers?" the lord inquired in a heavy voice.

"Yes, Your Highness. I rode through a couple of villages, and tried warning people." He sighed with regret. "They wanted to steal my horse in the first one and threw tomatoes at me in another and called me a madman. I hope God Almighty helps these poor souls."

"Take him away and return to us at once," the lord commanded, not minding the pleading survivor, "Please, Your Highness, you have to believe me! They are coming!"

Meanwhile, Robert cleared his throat, calling everyone's attention, "What I am about to say should not leave the walls of this room. Six weeks ago a group of ten disguised elves entered our city. They asked to keep the whole affair secret, and then showed the king's writ of passage and order to assist the elven warriors in any way they require. All ten were women, and they asked for food and a brief rest. They departed the next morning, heading east.

"It seems like they passed Riversmark and went even further east. To my knowledge, there is nothing there but wilderness and the damned Scar!" His massive fist landed on the table with a bang. "My gut tells me this guy is no madman, too many coincidences."

"So an army of walking dead is advancing on us? We should flee right now, how can we fight what is already dead?" there were panic notes in the voice of the merchants' guild representative.

"With fire, faith, and steel! But we should warn the townspeople, take as many as possible inside the castle walls. General! How many armed men do you have right now?"

The reply was cut short by a knock at the door. The old officer answered the messenger in hushed tones and returned to the council, explaining the sudden interruption.

"I ordered the men to disturb us only in one case - if another survivor shows up." He sighed and nodded to the unspoken question. "Yes, the guards just arrested another man yammering about a horde of walking corpses. He came from the east too."

The room devolved into chaos as everyone started barking questions and suggestions at once. In the end, lord Robert restored order, commanding the general to mobilize everyone who could hold a spear, while the merchant was ordered to bring as many food supplies into the castle storage as possible.

It was obvious that the sprawling districts of the outer city were impossible to defend; the only option was to retreat into the town's historical center and use the protection of the walls and towers. This meant that three-quarters of Althof was to be abandoned.

The rest of the day went in frantic activity. The lord sent a messenger to the capital, wrote a speech to the town criers, and sent extra soldiers to keep order as the whole town was in the clutches of fear and panic within hours. A long row of carriages clogged every gate but the eastern one, the lavish transport of the merchant's guild leader one of the first to roll out.

Regular people were not far behind, hastily gathering their possessions and escaping on whatever cartwheel or carriage they could get on. Some were walking away on feet, driven by the dread of the unknown yet terrible enemy that gripped the people overnight.

Among other nuns, Shayla was called to the mother Helena and was tasked with freeing space in the monastery and its yard. The lord told them to shelter refugees and prepare to take care of the wounded if the need arose, so the flock of women in habits quickly threw out unnecessary garbage.

It was late evening already when they reached the solitary cells, Shayla and one other nun entered this distant part of the building. These rooms did not see much usage, so through the years some of them became cluttered with rubbish. Now Shayla and her companion Mara filled the narrow corridor with clatter, moving broken furniture and boxes.

"Hey! A little food would not hurt! I thought the point was to make me repent, not to starve me!" Isabella reminded of her existence, and the nun almost slapped her forehead in regret she totally forgot about the noble!

"I will get something edible from the kitchen, continue while I am away," Shayla asked her sister and went to the kitchen. However, when the nun returned with a plate of soup, Mara was conversing with Isabella, and the topic was far from saving one's soul. The nun brought her up with the latest news, and Isabella proved just once more that she absolutely deserved some alone time with God.

"If this is true, I hope these monsters eat my parents alive, these self-pompous fuckers. You are a disgrace, Isabella, think about our family legacy! Fuck you, dad, I hope some cadaver eats your bald ass while I sit safely behind the walls.

"Come to think of it, I do not feel all that safe, even in this castle. Hey, girl, you know I have friends and funds, how about you let me out and we find the fastest ride out of this shithole before it is overrun?" Shayla stood outside the doorway, just far enough to be unseen, and listened closely to the conversation. To Shayla's dismay, Mara did not reject this atrocious offer outright but became silent, seemingly contemplating it. She was a weak one, after all, one of the lustful wenches who ran away to indulge in forbidden pleasures during their travel to the capital. No surprise her faith is not strong enough, unlike Shayla's.

The pious sister stepped forward, putting an end to this blasphemous exchange, "Mara, I told you to continue the work, not to gossip with our guest."

"Ah, it is the stuck-up doll. Is she your mother's superior's favorite lapdog or what? Why is she bossing you around?" Isabella asked from behind the closed door, making Shayla wince. Strictly speaking, she did not have any rank advantage over Mara since all of them were equals here, but her faith clearly was purer! The second nun chose against raising a ruckus and returned to the task of clearing out the long abandoned rooms.

They did not speak about this episode and worked until darkness before going to bed. The morning of the next day started with the influx of refugees, people who could not leave the town asked for shelter. Mother Helena made a rousing sermon and showed the grace of the Lord by taking them in, but soon many more followed.

The city changed overnight as if its backbone was ripped away. Half of the houses were shut, closed windows looking blindly at the deserted streets. Passersby were few, barring soldier patrols to prevent marauding. Lord Robert considered declaring a total mobilization but soon discovered that there was not enough gear for everyone, so only the strongest ones and people with military experience were drafted and admitted into the castle, everyone else was left on their own.

Almost all shops were closed, and the remaining ones sold the remaining meager food supplies for exorbitant prices, most of the owners were already either hiding inside the walls or trying their luck on the road. The danger might still be miles away, but the town already looked like it was depopulated by some brutal conqueror. The air was thick with uneasiness - did they even stand a chance against an enemy that could not be killed? Can they repel the shambling horde and wait for reinforcements from the capital or will they be crushed by relentless undead?

This day went in hectic activity for the nuns as they struggled to house the ever-increasing number of refugees. In the end, people were sitting in the corridors and lying on the pews, praying passionately for deliverance from evil. In a situation like this, Isabella's solitary room seemed almost like a luxury, but it was too small to fit another person in. A number of sisters moved into other cleared cells, including Mara. Shayla frowned when she discovered this, remembering how her 'sister' seemed to be swayed by the offer to run away, so she made a mental note to speak with older nuns about it. Unfortunately, the day proved to be much busier than anyone could have imagined, and by the end of it, the thought about housing arrangements was completely lost.

The news was not inspiring much hope - the reconnaissance groups sent to the east met several more survivors, further confirming the terrible threat looming over them. The last party returned the next day; they spotted the massive front of dark fog moving, stretching from the ground to the very sky, blotting out the sun. This cloud was dozens of miles wide, consuming the land to the right and left as far as an eye could see.

The constant stream of refugees started to dwindle when the soldiers returned from their mission - by now almost every citizen of Althof either fled or already was inside the castle. Shayla found a free minute to come out in the backyard and take a breath of fresh air, but the woman's rest was disrupted in the most unsettling manner - the light of the sun suddenly dimmed, making the shadows lengthen. For a brief second, the maiden thought that the enemy was already here, but no dark mist was in sight. It was birds.