Fate/Fallen Prince

15 - The Mummers Farce

Sir Herald stumbled through the halls as the castle crumbled around him.

Forward, he thought, forward.

He moved faster than before carefully jogging through the halls. He passed by several rooms, rooms that he had been in before. He missed those times.

He missed the times where he and Austrin walked down these halls and laughed.

Austrin. Yes, he missed Austrin most of all.

A soldier broke through a door as he passed it. He rammed into Herald, slamming against the wall. He grunted before using his superior strength to push the attacker off of him. He charged back at Herald with a dagger in his hand. The old knight stopped it with his left hand, and grabbed his attackers face with his right.

He kicked the back of his knee and slammed his head into the ground. The sickening crack went unheard do to the state of the castle.

Herald breathed heavily, but stood up and moved on.

-------

Ashton carefully turned over a corpse. One covered in blood. His skin burned at the touch, yet the aura around it was so cold.

He recognized the curses. Although he wasn't proficient in them, he knew that this was a powerful string of curses designed to kill the target quickly. But that wasn't important to him. What was important was who the curses had effected.

Sir Geralds eyes stared at the sky. They were glazed over and had a soulless look in them. A look that haunted Ashton. A look that wounded him like a sharp knife. He could hardly stand to look at his dead friend, nor the young knight next to him.

He wanted to grieve, but the battle going on within the walls gave him little time to.

Don't cry, he thought, There's more work to be done.

He closed Geralds eyes and got back to his feet. He'd mourn later, when time allowed for it.

-------

Herald stepped carefully around a peice of loose floor. If he fell through he'd plummet into the crypts below the castle. That would hinder him greatly and Callum might get away.

His large size made it difficult to effectively move around, especially within a crumbling castle full of undead. His body was covered in scratches and cuts from all the undead the necromancer threw at him.

The stone floors managed to hold his weight as he crossed. He sighed and then groaned at the pain that it caused him. At this rate, he'd bleed to death before reaching his goal. He couldn't let that happen.

The gray stones seemed to move underneath him as he walked on. The feeling in his legs was beginning to fade, likely because of the amount of blood he'd been losing. The wounds in his forearm and shoulder had practically made his left arm useless, which had started the series of events that led to more injuries.

Finally, after minutes of stumbling, he reached the double doors that lead to the highest tower in the castle.

He placed both hands on the doors and pushed hard. With a loud creak and some force, the doors slowly opened. However, before he can step inside, a wall of undead tackle him to the ground.

Herald started thrashing around in an attempt to throw them off, but there was to many of them. They were to heavy to move all at once. Herald began suffocating under the weight while they scratched at his skin.

He pulled a dagger off his belt and began stabbing at anything in top of him. The clawing slowed down as the dead in direct contact with him formed a sort of barrier. The undead on top of them began to tear apart the bodies. It was like rabid dogs attempting to reach their next meal.