Squib Ep.11 - Descent
(Start at the beginning here)
“Bandana!”
The voice echoed in from a distant world, beyond a veil of black.
“Bandana!”
Urgent, insisting, the tone of danger, the thought of dread.
“Bandana, you need to move, now!”
The clash of steel, the of splash water, chittering creatures flooding the chamber like demons sprung up from a hellish fissure. Something much bigger, more sinister, lumbering amongst them.
Bandana’s eyes rolled into vision as her mind lagged distantly behind. Her head hurt. The world lay on a horizontal access. Water occupied one wall. Bandana’s face felt wet and she twitched as droplets lifted from the swirling chaos and dappled against her cheek. One ear was alive, privy to the cacophony that surrounded her, while the other slewed, muffled by murk.
Something had happened, a sudden execution that hadn't left her time to process. There was a ringing in her mind, the remnant of a memory that’d formed with little more knowledge than pain. Sharp pain, up atop her skull, which had evolved into a dull throb that lay aching in consummation of her world.
Her senses told her to look past it, demanded even with the growing feeling of anxiety that bubbled up in her chest.
Out past the water, small figures clattered as they swarmed a Being of light. Two blades swirled as splashes of water pronounced artful footfalls during a dangerous dance. Bandana recognised Jules, bound to the pool of radiance provided by the nearby sconce, an oily darkness beyond giving home to an unknown number of attackers surging forth.
“Anna!”
Bandana’s eyes shifted, lifting her head to the source of her other sisters calling. Annie had a small creatures clawing up her back, another being shaken off her arm. One was sent tumbling back from an overly intentional boot to the face as more scuttled just out of range looking for purchase. Annie reached for the one behind her having felt teeth sink into her shoulder, and hurled it away with a cry of pain. She looked at Bandana, finally making eye contact, and pointed.
“You need to move!”
Bandana’s gaze shifted, her head still swimming in a blur of detached consciousness. Beyond her, towards the depths of the chamber, a large thick shape moved slowly toward her. Gliding along the surface of the water that flooded the chamber, she took the shape for a log, and on it another of the demonic creatures riding with fiendish intent. Bandana pulled herself to a seated position, and frowned as the world wobbled back onto it’s proper axis. The little figure on top the log held in one hand a set of reins, while in the other a short stick with a tooth like barb protruding the far end. As far as weapons went, it didn't inspire fear as far as Bandana was concerned, not until the log elevated from the water enough to reveal a long row of uncountable teeth.
Bandana started as the tooth log darted forward and opened its jaw to strike. Something whizzed by, catching the rider in the chest, causing him to topple backward and wrench on his reins. The monsters jaw snapped shut shy of Bandana, with a sickening clap that stirred something primal within her.
She rolled, and scrambled for distance as the beast tugged itself free of its defunct driver. Water splashed as the two descended into darkness away from the parties light. Bandana fumbled for one of her knives, thinking it a piss poor tool for the unfair job already at hand but not having much more choice in the matter than that.
“HELP!” She cried, finally finding her voice with the recollection of her senses.
“Jules!” Annie yelled. Bandana caught a glance over her shoulder in her eldest sisters direction. She was now overwhelmed with assailants crawling and clawing all over her, her crossbow an unattainable instrument amidst the chaos. It was a wonder how she’d gotten the first bolt off to begin with, but now the mace she wielded seemed the only affordable plan. It was just to bad she was all the way on the other side of the room.
“I can’t..” Was all Jules could manage as she deflected the thrust of a spear while simultaneously dispatching another of the more proficient creatures sent to contend with the swords master. The occasional creature would leap through the air, launched from legs bound with the power of springs. Under such an assault every strike Jules made was at the cost of a flurry of defensive maneuvers.
Bandana didn't have the luxury to process any of it. She simply hurtled forward with the beast cascading teeth and water behind her. She delved into darkness, water surging up past her knees, beyond her thighs, until there was no sense running and instead she dived. The cold embrace of water consumed her as she kicked until something brushed the side of her calf. She spun, curling into a ball and replacing all appendages with the wild thrust of her knife. She struck something but couldn't say what, or how if at all effective it was. The grip of the knife slid from her grasp and she was away again, kicking, and swimming.
A wall found her which she followed to the top, bursting forth and gasping for air. She was lost to her sisters, cast at the end of the room, the two occupying different states as one fought in the light, and the other could only witness their plight from the visually detached, dissolution of her own.
Annie stilled called out, looking for signs of life, pleading in her tone for hope.
Bandana drew breath to respond but the beast at her heel submerged at speed from the watery depth. It must have been as blind as she was as the full force of its weight crashed into her, free of any teeth, and took out the wall on which Bandana was resting.
The air was knocked from her lungs, and her chest crushed from the impact before the stones relented. The water surrounding her surged into the vacuum, monster, rock, and girl pulled along with it.
Now in a new chamber, cut off from the light, toppled by forces beyond her control, Bandana slid along a passage that seemed meant for a descent into hell. She fell, and fell, and fell.
(Continue to Ep.12)
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