His Name is Aegeus: Chapter 3 – Sent Into the Depths

Chapter 3 – Sent Into the Depths

Much to Claude’s delight and my discontent, we’re both tasked to descend into the tunnels dug by the orcs to clear them out. Since we are heading into a tight area, we are given lighter armor and weapons. The shields I am given are medium-sized with a unicorn’s head on the front of it and a bunch of spikes on it. In comparison to my typical heavy shields, this shield feels like wielding a pillow. Claude is given a simple short sword and a smaller spiky shield similar to mine, however, as we look at the other soldiers, the one weapon and position in the group we want to be in is in the back group of archers, especially the ones that have crossbow snake shields that have spikes sticking out of the front of the shield. Meanwhile, I’m at the very front and Claude is behind me.

The speech by Commander Maxime and the bishops don’t inspire confidence in me nor am I able to concentrate on it much because my mind is so focused on the possible dangers I’ll be facing. Even though I’ve previously been given training for this due to the real threat of the ratmen, I didn’t think I’d actually make use of it. Looking around, I see others complaining and being worried about it as well whereas others like Claude seem like they can’t wait to get into the tunnels. Seeing my distress, Claude approaches me and puts his hands on my shoulders.

“Are you okay, Aegeus?” he asks.

“I’m fine. I just want to get this over with,” I say.

“I am as well. Don’t worry about whatever we’ll find in those tunnels because I’ll have your back and you won’t be alone.”

“I know.”

“We have to get this done to protect the people of the city and our families.”

“I know.”

“Hey, we might even get the promotions we were looking for-”

“I know, I know! Like I said, I just want to get this over with. Look, everyone is already starting to separate into their assigned groups and move out.”

Going with our group, it isn’t too long until we reach our destination and head into the tunnels. Beside me are two guards holding a spiky shield like mine and a torch in another. Claude and two city guards are behind us and three Assault Knights are behind them with crossbow shields. Despite the backup behind me, I don’t feel safe. The tunnels are cramped and the torches do little to brighten the way forward so the darkness adds to the cramped feeling. Still, we carefully push onward and slow down only when we hear the dirt shifting, which is indicative of an imminent ambush or trap.

Sure enough, we are attacked from the sides by ratmen when the dirt shifts, but we are thankfully quick enough to repel them. More attacks from above and below come shortly after, and when we think the attacks are over for now, a seemingly never-ending swarm of ratmen charges at us from the front. I, with the shield bears at the front, kneel down and slowly push forward while Claude and the guards with him cut at the approaching ratmen that try to get over us while allowing space for the crossbow shield users to shoot at the approaching enemy. The entire experience is harrowing as I feel as if I’m pushing against the harsh tides of the sea while hoping that my allies behind me do their job well enough so that the ratmen don’t overwhelm us. Every knock on my head sends a shiver down my spine as that could be a bit of dirt of the first many ratmen to jump over me and cut us to bits.

“We can do this! Remember your training! Remember who we’re fighting for and keep pushing forward!” I hear Claude yelling from behind me.

No matter what, he always wants to keep pushing no matter the odds so I do so spurred on by my friend’s energy. As long as he’s with me, I feel confident that we have a chance at getting through this. Before I know it, the hordes have stopped and we find ourselves in an open part of the tunnels that has multiple torches lighting up the area. Now that I have a moment to look above my shield, I see the bodies of over thirty dead ratmen. There were probably more that we killed since I knew that some jumped over us, but the less I think about how close I was to dying the better I’ll feel. There are a lot of things left here haphazardly such as weapons, arrows, shovels, pickaxes, pieces of armor, pieces of metal, and soft fur sheets that seem to have been beds.

One of the city guards says, “They were moving stuff to and from here, and judging by the fact that there’s no one else here, they must’ve gone further down the tunnel.”

“Do you think they’ve retreated or are preparing for another ambush?” I ask.

“The messiness of all this suggests a retreat, but we should be ready for anything.”

We all go further into the tunnel ready for more resistance, however, we don’t find any. In fact, we manage to regroup with a couple of our squads, some of which suffered casualties and were injured. They report finding the same things we found plus the mangled and eaten remains of civilians, guards, and soldiers who were missing from the city not long before the attack on it.

“Well, we should head in deeper so we can save anyone else who may be down here,” I say so that we can get a move on and possibly save any prisoners in here.

Unfortunately, we don’t find anyone deeper in the tunnels, but on the other hand, we do manage to find our way out. Thankfully, there are no ambushes out here either and we see that a few more of our allied squads have made it out as well.

After looking over the markings on the ground, one of the city guards concludes, “It was definitely a retreat. Here, you can see the prints of the wheels of carts and the hoof prints of horses and larger beastmen and possibly larger ratmen.”

“I see many prints of wheels here too along with pieces of metal and broken weapons,” another city guard says. “It looks like they stole weapons and material from the city and we just caught them as they were retreating.”

“That’s what I concluded as well. This entire operation of theirs was nothing more than to raid the city and leave though I have yet to deduce the particular for it.”

“What other reason do you think they have than to make use of what they stole so they can use it against us?”

“The particulars of it matter. The ratmen are craftier than they look and may not just immediately turn our own weapons against us. They could be studying how to make them so they can better equip their hordes.”

“I see. That could be the reason why the orcs and beastmen were working with them as well, so they could have a share of the spoils of their research as well. The orcs would handle the weapon and armor making, the beastmen would handle the transportation, and the ratmen would do the research. It all makes sense now.”

“This faction has to be larger and more complex than mere bandits and will require further and more active investigation.”

As the city guards continue talking to each other, I can only scratch my head and wish this was an attack for a simpler reason rather than a piece in a larger conspiracy. If I can hardly handle the pressure of what the city guards are suggesting, then maybe I’m not cut out to be one of them. A few moments then pass before we hear the sound of a muffled explosion. Looking back, we see that parts of the ground have collapsed in on itself. Knowing that we still have men in the tunnels, we begin an operation to dig them out. While digging, I overhear the city guards talking about how this was a spiteful trap that had to have been laid by the ratmen and that valuable evidence could’ve been lost as a result. Meanwhile, I’m only worried about the people who are trapped down there, but thankful at the same time that I’m not.

It's nighttime by the time Claude and I change shifts with other guards whose turn it is to start digging. At this time, we’ve found few survivors, most of whom were severely injured while everyone else who was dug up was dead crushed by the weight of the ground, or were evidently killed by orcs or ratmen.

“I’m done with today,” I say while we head back home.

“I feel you,” Claude says.

“Claude, Aegeus!” Commander Maxime says as he runs up to catch up with us.

“Yes, sir,” we say as we stop in place.

“Thank you for all you’ve done today.”

“Sir, we didn’t accomplish much,” Claude says.

“You didn’t need to. You only needed to do as you were asked, and because of that, you will be getting those promotions earlier than you think.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. The army will need new knights and the city guard will need more protectors, especially after losing many today.”

“Thank you, sir!” Claude says with a bright smile and laughter in his voice.

“Thank you…sir,” I tepidly say.

Claude heads back reenergized while talking about being in the army nonstop until we go our separate ways. As soon as I get home, I immediately take off my armor and sit down with everything I’ve gone through being repeated in my mind over and over again. Being a city guard. How am I going to deal with that? My family doesn’t give me much of an answer other than the expected “leave it in God’s hands” response, which is valid and always true. Still, I wish I had something more specific.

I’m not able to stay up for long after dinner and pass out on the couch while reading and listening to my family’s conversations. While dreaming, I find myself back in the tunnels I was in, but there are more ratmen than before and they appear more monstrous with way more teeth in their mouth and around their faces and split mutated limbs that each hold a weapon. Their overwhelming strength and numbers push us back into another horde of ratmen coming from behind us. With no way out, we uselessly fight on with each of us dying one after the other and being torn apart limb from limb. The dream makes me wake up in a cold sweat and it takes me a second to remember that it was all just a dream.

I cross myself and silently thank God before seeing that there’s a blanket over me and Felicite is sleeping on the couch on me with her head on my shoulder and her hands on mine. Again, I thank God, this time for her, kiss her on the forehead, go back to sleep, and thankfully don’t have another nightmare.