Day 14: The Andethyst Incident ( Chapter III )

Snoop / Betrayal

They arrived the day after by late afternoon. Still bright enough to see the creeping mist. Its thickness failed to conceal the overgrown ruins which nature had failed to topple completely, or the silhouettes of the barren woodlands beyond.
Gone were the days when Andethyst stood as the bastion of civilization and pious enlightenment. Only a hollow shell remained, wherein the darkness from which the holy light had fled was still confined.

Catalina alone remained as the last recourse to relieve the plague of its existence. She made her way up the hill towards the entrance with her retinue of Knight Brothers. A red currant bush had been left to grow wild next to the entrance. As they approached, a single raven that was hidden within it flew away.
They kicked in the doors to the chapel. Long shadows trailed the floor, in spite of the fog obscuring the sunlight. They navigated between the rows of cushions oriented towards the altar on either side of the aisles, and left through the northern transept, into the sacristy.

Through the upended library they reached the cloister. The garden it overlooked might have been a spectacular view, even when neglected and overgrown. During the cool fall weather, however, the veil of fog covering the grounds, and mixing with the foliage, made it look like the monks had been growing mist.
They found a way through the refectory, into the kitchen. As they made their way inside, the tranquil surfaces of the various pots and pans burst into a swarm of flies, almost like a black cloud, through which they were made to traverse. Tracks from animals were speckled over soot spread out from the hearth, which served to further drain the room of colour. Some of the jars resting on the high shelf were still intact, though with the occasional cracks upon the earthwork. Even after all that time, the scent from their content filled the air with the faintest hint of bay leaf, saffron, and powder fort. A spot of coagulated sugar on the shelf above the hearth mixed with the shards from the pot of honey which it had once contained. Shifting away a toppled cupboard revealed a trapdoor leading ever deeper into the abbey.

In spite of her high rank, or rather because of it, Catalina only moved second in line. Right behind Cedric, the captain of her Guard. The remaining Knight Brothers trailed behind Catalina. With a lantern in his hand, Cedric led the way forward through the intricate cellar system. One of the Knight Brothers slipped through an adjoining archway to rummage through the wine cellar. He picked up a bottle. Kuromatsu, from Lambda Sigma era 1,736. Excellent vintage. Would be a shame to leave it for the badgers to feast upon. He admired it like a mother would her child. But when he saw his lieutenant leer at him, he quickly put it back and joined the procession once more.

They eventually ran into an underground lake reaching towards the end of the hall and into the rest of the corridors. Without staff to maintain it, the many springs for which Andethyst was proverbial must have stacked up. It couldn’t have been long before the basement had been drowned out.
There was no escaping it. They jumped into the waves, one after another, then waded through waist deep water with their polearms raised over their heads. As they traversed the flooded passageways, they found the water along the narrow tunnels didn’t splash when they took a step. Almost as if they were walking through particularly thick air. Unfortunately, the water for one part reached up to the ceiling, meaning they were unable to move any further.
Cedric did not hesitate. He handed the lantern to one of the Knight Brothers at the back, along with his halberd. He then dove under the water, crawling to find a passage underneath.

Minutes passed. The men started to think it was the last they had seen of their captain. However, no one could truly accept that after all he had endured, nothing more than a little bath was what finished him off. Sure enough, he sprang out from the water, waving the others forward. He grabbed the end of a rope, and dove back. He tugged at the rope three times. That was to signal to the men to start pushing the weapons under the water to the other side. There he would grab them under water and pull them out, stabbing them on the floor at the other side. When the last one had been transported, the men began to dive in there themselves. One by one the soldiers shifted along the rope until they reached the other side. None of them knew whether they would come back up once they descended. Half of them were not chosen champions like Catalina or Cedric. They would be hard pressed to hold their breath for more than three minutes.
When a Knight Brother reached the end, they tugged twice to signal the next one could start moving. Pulling once meant that they got stuck or out of breath. No one needed to do that though. If any of them looked lost or without recourse, Cedric was there to pull them the final way.

The Knight Brother with the lantern was the last man to go. Since it was too tall an order to bring the lightsource with him, he opted to it on a rock cropped out from the wall, then reeled himself by the rope. By then, Catalina had provided a magic light to guide the way.
When one of the weaker soldiers started to walk, he found himself stumbling into the waves, being carried towards the foaming rapids up ahead. Catalina grabbed him before he could be dragged into the debris and crushed into a pulp. That at least explained why their steps didn’t splash in the tunnels. The loud rushing from the currents should really have clued him in. Catalina could only scowl at him. At least once he was fished out, they were once again on their way.

Having climbed out of the flooded area, they continued trekking through the ever more cryptlike basement. As happy as they were to be back on land, and leave that ordeal behind them, the group had only grown more anxious. After all, there was no going back by then. Whatever awaited them at the end, they had to face head on.

As Catalina shone her light over the caverns, she found a pair of red eyes staring back. A deafening shriek blasted through the cellar. Right before them, a fanged face hovered aggressively as it squealed loudly.
That was no monster. That was a bat. Still managed to drive back the guards behind Catalina. Cedric remained steadfast. As the bat bounced around frantically through the air, the head of the guard snatched it up and held it firm by the scruff of its neck. He then tossed it away behind him. The guards crouched down as the bat flew over them away into the darkness.
Probably was more scared of them than they were of it. Bats do not naturally live alone. It must have been trapped there when the cellar got flooded.

And so they arrived. Before them was a pair of doors sealed off by a rusted bar. Cedric peered behind him back at Catalina. They both could feel the demonic energy radiating from the other side.
So the letter was true.

Cedric nodded at her, turning towards the door to open them up. Catalina grabbed him by his pauldron to stop him. She walked ahead, raising her closed fist. The signal to stand behind and wait. She stepped up to the doors. The demonic energy was faint. Not at all what to expect from a powerful demon. Then again, it was an angel who had sealed her off.
Not even Ceta could vanquish the demon. Even as she fought with all she got. All she could do was confine the fiend to this cellar beneath the holiest of sanctuaries. And that ended up costing her everything.
Yet here was Catalina. A human, hoping to accomplish what a divine guide could not. What if all she did was undo Ceta’s sacrifice? Could the knight even hope to subjugate the demon who took her angel away?
…She must do it, Catalina thought to herself.
No. She will do it.

The grand master picked up the bar and threw it off the hooks. The moment she did, the doors flung open as if they had waited to do nothing else.
There it was…

The scourge of Andethyst.