Sword and Shield (KdM Map Game)

Description
This is a story a part of the Anthology series "Rise of the Phoenix Queen" (though it hasn't been uploaded there since it comes a lot later in the story). This story is canon to KdM Universe 839 and follows the story of Ember as she trains to become the king/queen of England, though this small story follows two knights as they explore ancient Roman ruins that have not seen the light of day.

Story is written by Bubbles of the Coast

Sword and Shield
Pairs of footsteps can be heard on the well-worn dank stone as a pair of adventurers slowly trek through stone tunnel after stone tunnel. Lining each wall are various prison cells, each marked off by rusted iron bars spanning from the ceiling to the floor. Guided only by torchlight, the two creep about the dark maze, unsure of what could be found in each corner and bend.

“These hallways just keep going on and on,” one of the adventurers mutters under their breath. “It feels as if we were down here for days.”

“Well David, that was the intent with these passageways,” the other replies. “The Ancient Romans didn’t want anything escaping here, after all.”

“Tell me about it, Cas,” David sighs. “I’m just wondering what they were trying to keep in such an eerie place like this.”

“Well, seeing that we’re stuck here, I guess we can figure that out ourselves,” Cas replies as she gives a warm smile to her companion. “Besides, I got you here, Davey.”

“C-Cassie!...” The two stop, their gazes locked in each other’s eyes as time freezes around them. Their hearts skip a beat as their faces grow redder by the minute.

As the two are lost in each other’s eyes, a loud shriek echoes through the hallways. Both emerge from cloud nine, as Cassie rushes close to David, hiding behind the man while he moves his torch away, seeing if anything approaches them. Moments pass as the two hold their ground. Cassie, recovering from her earlier shock, retrieves her kite shield from her back and her arming sword from its sheath. Equipped for combat, she moves in front of David, ready to take the brunt of whatever emerges from the darkness. The two hold their breath, but end up awaiting a threat that never came to be.

“Alright then. Stick close and cover my flanks. Let’s keep moving,” David whispers as he draws his bastard sword.

“Will do,” Cassie answers as the two continue down the various hallways, unsure of what they might come across.

Minutes pass with nothing much of note happening. Just myriads of stone passageways, each with jail cells along each side of the walls. Every once in a while, the two come to a crossroad of the sorts, when two passageways intersect each other. There, the two choose a random direction and continue on their trek. The two are truly lost, mindlessly meandering through the maze of sorts. Well, there is a slight exception to this: every once in a while, the shrieking gets ever so louder, which could mean that they’re getting closer to whoever owns the shriek, or worse: the “shrieker” is the one closing in on them.

Eventually, the two come to a large room of the sorts. The two notice a gutter running around the perimeter of the room, and upon further investigation, it seems that oil lays within the gutter. Curious, David lowers his torch into the oil, as it quickly catches, with a flame running around the room, eventually illuminating the entirety of the large artificial cavern the two find themselves in.

Though the ceiling disappeared into complete darkness, there is plenty of light to view the spacious caven they find themselves in. The iron bars that once decorated the walls have parted ways. Rather, various markings can be found along the walls instead, with a banner of people spanning above various priceless artworks, each found hanging from walls segmented by a plethora of marble pillars.

“This place seems a bit too extravagant to be a prison,” David remarks. “I mean, why would a prison have such fine art and tapestries hanging up, let alone the architecture itself.”

“That is a good question,” Cassie responds as she approaches one of the paintings. Upon further investigation, the paintings seem to be in good quality. Too good a quality. “Fascinating…”

“What you find, Cas?” David inquires.

“I don’t think the place is abandoned,” Cassie replies.

“Well, we know that already, right? I mean, we did hear the shrieking on multiple occasions.” David points out.

“I’m not referring to the shrieking; I’m referring to the paintings.” Cassie clarifies. “These paintings are far too… ‘modern’ to belong here. In fact, the art here does not match anything I’ve found that originate from the time of the Romans.”

“Well, it seems the ‘homeowners’ have a decent taste in art,” David comments. “Though I’m not sure if I can vouch that they’ll appreciate our visit.”

“Maybe that all depends on how good of a guest we can be, Davey?” Cassie asks as she looks about the room. “Though that’s going to be the least of our worries. Look over there.”

Cassie directs David’s attention towards a large door on the other side of the cavern. Easily spanning two stories upwards, the double door towers over the pair. Lines of Latin can be found on the door, enough to encapsulate someone for days just reading it. A door handle in the form of a ring held within a lion’s mouth can be seen on each door, around halfway up the door.

“Why so high up...” David comments as he gazes up at the ring while he sheathed his sword. In its place he grabs a length of rope and attaches a weight to it. Swinging around in a vertical circle, he lets the end loose, hoping to wrap it around the ring.

“Well, they do want to keep stuff in,” Cassie comments as she watches David’s first throw bang against the door to the left of the ring. “But this is a bit excessive. Maybe they didn’t have any creativity with the location of the door handle and just upsized a normal door?”

“Stupid design or not,” David replies as he tries again, managing to loop the rope around one of the rings. “I take it that, all things considered, you’re enjoying this.”

“You don’t want to know how much excitement I’m trying to keep bottled up,” Cassie says as she scribbles frantically in her moleskin. “This prison for forbidden beings has been lost for centuries! Only a handful of books and reports mention this prison, and only in a passing mention!”

“Only in passing mention,” David repeats as he tries to pull on the rope, to no avail. “So I suppose they probably have no mention about how they open this door, then.”

“Unfortunately you hit the nail on the head with that,” Cassie answers as she closes her moleskin, tucking it away in her satchel on her back. “We’re going to be the first to pioneer a solution to opening the door, or die trying!... heh…”

“Yea, it’s probably best we don’t think about our imminent demise,” David suggests as he lets go of the rope. “I don’t think I can get the door open, so I’d rather not fathom how long we might be stuck down, at least right now.”

The two walk around the room, seeing if there is anything else of notice in the room, but to no avail. While there are two other hallways, they are identical to the ones David and Cassie passed through prior; chances are, this is their only way out. They spend a few more minutes checking behind the paintings (with no success) before giving up. So close yet so far away, the two lean on the large doors, exhausted from wandering the dark hallways for what felt like days.

“You…you ready to discuss our worst-case-scenario?” David groggily asks. “We could be spending the rest of our days here.”

“I’d rather not dwell too much on that,” Cassie declines. “It’s too soon to give up, y’know.”

“I know I know, but the thought keeps popping up,” David sighs as he leans his head back against the large door. “Like for instance, what about our water and food? We only probably have enough supplies to last into tomorrow.”

“I suppose you have a point,” Cassie relents. “I’m sure we could ration our rations, but that would only get us so far.”

A brief silence fills the room as the two lean against the door before someone speaks again, as David makes a suggestion. “I could give you one of my kidneys to eat.”

“D-David!” Cassie’s head perked up at the response. “W-why your… I-I’m not eating your kidney!”

“I only need one to live, y’know,” David points out, chuckling a bit as he humors the thought of partial cannibalism.

“No!” Cassie rejects. “I’m not eating you!”

“Alright alright, we won’t eat my kidney,” David relents. “Though that doesn’t really help us with food.”

“Right…” Cassie sighs. “Well, what n-“

Before Cassie could finish her thought, a soft rumble can be felt in the ground. Thump. Thump. Thump. With every thump, the rumbles become more noticeable.

“This doesn’t bode well,” David comments as he gets to his feet. “Seems we got company.”

“Don’t know if that is a good thing or not, though,” Cassie replies, standing up as well. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

Thump. Thump. Thump. David and Cassie scan the three entrances to the room, drawing out their respective weapons in the meantime. Thump. Thump. Silence. A deafening silence fills the room. The two could hear their heartbeats, two different pulses becoming one. David readies his bastard sword, lowering his stance while Cassie readies her shield, keeping her arming sword in her offhand. The two enter into a world of their own, one separated from even the stone floor they stand atop.

Thud Thud Thud. A beast emerges from the darkness to the left of the duo, lowering its head as it charges forth. Though missing a horn, the half-bull half-human amalgamation towers over David and Cassie by a few feet. Suffice to say, no one wishes to be pinned between its head and any hard surface.

As the beast runs forth, David and Cassie wait until the last moment before splitting, allowing the beast to pass between them. As David dodges out of the way, he tries to retaliate against the beast. However, whether his reaction time was off or the beast was too fast, David misses his attack, his blade cutting through the air as the beast crashes into the door, causing the entire room to shake a little. Some pieces of rock fall from the roof, clattering on the stone floor below as the beast turns about. Steam jets from its nostrils as it drags a foot against the ground; the beast is preparing to charge again.

“A minotaur?!” Cassie exclaims. “I thought those were only tales from the times of long ago!”

While this is happening, David notices the dent in the door., around where the Minotaur crashed near the middle of the door. He manages to notice that the doors are ever so slightly caved in, with a small crack being opened between the two large doors.

“Mythical or not, it might be just what we need, Cas,” David shouts as the monster charges again, “This freak could be our way out.”

“Alright then, what do you need me to do?” Cassie asks as the beast runs at them. The two sidestep the beast again as it careens into one of the stone pillars. A loud rumble can be heard as large cracks begin to form on the pillar itself. Seeing the power displayed by the monster, the lightbulbs flickered as Cassie makes eye contact with David and simply nods before the two spring into action.

The Minotaur opens its mouth as a deep, hoarse roar radiates through the room as it goes to charge again. David and Cassie, who have positioned themselves by the door, prepare to let the beast pass by them again. However, the Minotaur slows slightly as it gets close as it raises its arms, hoping to crush the two into the ground. The two fall back, avoiding the heavy slam.

The room shakes once more, each time longer than the last. Larger chunks of stone fall from the ceiling, impacting the ground and shattering into smaller chunks while compounding on the issue at hand. The room is now constantly shaking; it is only a matter of time before it collapses altogether.

Moving back, David spots an opening as the Minotaur slams his fists down. He dashes forth, hoping to wound the beast in order to slow its movements. He could only achieve the goal of drawing its attention towards him, however. Before David could react, the Minotaur already has its head, poised to skewer him on its single horn as it uses its planted arms to propel itself forward. The two bodies collide, as David is sent flying. Fortunately for him, he was only hit by the Minotaur’s forehead, though that doesn’t change much, as David tumbles on the ground for a little before colliding with the dented metal door.

Cassie watches in horror as David’s supposed lifeless body clatters against the metal door with a dull thud before collapsing onto the ground. Even though everything is slowly crumbling around her, time seemingly stops for Cassie.

“No…” Cassie is speechless as the Minotaur turns, it’s gaze focuses solely on the remaining combatant. “D-David!...”

The Minotaur thumps towards the downed body. He peers down at the motionless body, checking to see if it required more strikes to down, but alas, David was deadSteam jets from the nose of the bull’s head as it charges one more time, prepared to run down the last target in sight. Frozen in place, Cassie doesn’t register the danger she is in. Her mind is too filled with grief to worry about the immediate danger in the slightest.

“David…” Cassie mutters, her gaze losing focus on what’s around her. Her trip loosens, as the tip of her arming sword clatters on the ground. Ever since David and Cassie had met, they were inseparable. For years the two had ventured on countless adventures and escapades. Yet despite all the hardships and memories, it was all snuffed out in mere seconds. “This can’t be… right?”

The Minotaur has begun scampering on all four of its limbs, ready to flatten Cassie where she stands. The beast approaches, running at uncontrollable speeds, when suddenly, Cassie’s sword perks up a bit. Waiting until the last moment possible, she dodges to the side, letting the Minotaur uncontrollably veer into a large pillar it crashes into before. The rumbling picks up slightly as the Minotaur turns around, blood dripping from its forehead. An indent in the pillar can be seen with blood droppings of its own.

The Minotaur pants heavily as it eyes down Cassie. Though a few tears has formed on her face, that doesn’t take away from the look of sheer determination on her face.

“There is no way David could have been killed by that,” Cassie ran through her head. “He’s never left me like this before and he certainly isn’t the one to start now!”

The Minotaur slowly approaches Cassie, panting heavily as it prepares its next move. Cassie, in response, lowers her stance slightly, preparing to move in whichever direction she needs to. Thud. Thud. Thud. Rhythmic thunders slowly approach Cassie as everything slowly crumbles around them.

As chunks of stone of various sizes fall from the sky, the Minotaur picks up its speed, as it charges at the sole combatant. Cassie braces herself, preparing herself mentally as the Minotaur raises its arms. Stepping away, she barely avoids the heavy slam of the Minotaur.

As the beast’s fists crater into the ground, Cassie prepares to charge in at the opening when something dawns on her. Reacting quickly, she changes her footing, moving at an angle as the Minotaur uses its arms to propel itself forward like a bull.

Due to the angle she was moving at, Cassie manages to dash out of the way of the bull. As the two pass each other, Cassie makes a horizontal slash at the Minotaur, managing to land a deep gash on the Minotaur’s right arm. The Minotaur cries out in pain as it slides against the ground, leaving a smear of blood on the ground.

The beast struggles to stand, having to only use one arm to get itself to its feet. However, once it does manage to stand, it faces Cassie with a look of complete rage. The beast lets off a deep roar as it thunders towards her. Preparing herself again, Cassie takes a deep breath, unsure of what to expect.

While this is all happening, an eyebrow furrows. With a soft groan, David finally returns to the world of the living. Trying to get up, David feels a sharp pain in his core.

“That’s definitely a few ribs.. broken…” David’s thoughts Peter out as his gaze fixates on the action in the room.

David watches as the Minotaur breaks into a full frenzy a few meters away from him. Rather than the bull of before, the Minotaur is essentially flailing, throwing slams and punches at Cassie, who is barely getting by without being hit. Though she has a look of confidence, it is merely a facade. Her eyebrows are all he needs to see to deduce her mental state; Cassie is at her wit’s end.

Cassie is taken aback by the amount of energy the Minotaur can muster. Despite its size and its wounded state, it still manages to keep up a constant pace as it continues to attack her. Though nowhere near as graceful as a knife wielder, the Minotaur manages to throw strike after strike, desperate to land a hit on the frail woman as she ducks, weaves, and side steps when possible when suddenly, she steps on uneven ground.

Though she manages to dodge another downwards slam from the Minotaur’s sole good arm, she falls to the ground on her rear. She stares up at the beast, who towers over her by comparison. She can see the frow in its face as it opens its mouth towards the sky for a mighty, deafening roar.

“Move legs, move,” Cassie frantically spits out to no avail; her legs are stuck as is. She is frozen in fear as her eyes close shut, bracing for the impact as the beast propel its muscular arm into her chest.

At least that’s what she expected. She continues to wait in silence; she can barely register the rumbles, which have subsided a little while ago. All she is left with is a deafening silence, awaiting a sharp pain to explode in her chest.

“Am I dead?” Cassie thinks to herself. “Everything has gone silent. I don’t feel anything, but he could’ve killed me instantly… Did I... Have I…”

Just as tears begin to streak down her cheeks, Cassie flinches as two firm hands grasp onto her shoulders. Opening her eyes in shock, she finds herself face-to-face with a silver-haired warrior kneeling before her, with a warm smile on his face.

“Hey Cas,” David says softly as he moves some loose hairs away from the front of her face.

“D-David!...” Cassie struggles to speak as she’s overwhelmed with emotions. “What about the Minotaur?”

“Ah, him. I’m getting my money’s worth out of the rope I bought,” David says as he gestures to the Minotaur.

The beast struggles for air as it is restrained by its neck. Before it could strike Cassie down, David leaped onto the back of the beast with the end of his rope, the other end still secured to the large dented doors. He managed to secure his makeshift noose around its neck, though from the looks of it, even the most robust of rope cannot keep him at bay. As David helps Cassie to her feet and move away from the Minotaur, signs of the rope beginning to fail begin to form as the Minotaur continues to pull against the rope, all while reaching out to the two combatants as he fills with rage.

“Seems we aren’t out of the woods ye—“ David says before wincing at the pain in his torso.

“David!” Cassie reaches out toward him before leaving her arm to dangle.

“Now isn’t the time to give medical attention,” Cassie runs through her mind. They need a way out; only then can they stop and lick their wounds.

She quickly scans the ruined space before her gaze connects with the damaged pillar. Gears begin to turn in her head as an idea pops into her mind.

“David,” Cassie speaks as calmly as she can as she puts away her weapons.

“Cassie…” David and Cassie make eye contact, as the rope restraining the beast is close to its breaking point.

“Do you trust me?” Cassie asks while the rope restraining the Minotaur, now down to strands in some places, finally snaps.

“Of course,” David responds as the Minotaur pants heavily in the background. “I trust you with my life.”

Cassie gently grabs David’s hand as the two position themselves in front of the pillar. As they do so, the Minotaur struggles to grasp at the noose around his neck. The rope, though snapped, still is tightly snug around its neck. Though unable to stop him, it is restraining the Minotaur’s ability to catch its breath, giving the two time to prepare.

Eventually, the Minotaur lets off another mighty roar, a roar that manages to break the rope restraining his breathing as his neck expands. It then begins to walk towards David and Cassie, a walk that slowly turns into a trot before accelerating into a final charge. Muster what strength it has left, it is betting everything on this final bull charge.

Cassie grips David’s hand tightly as she stares down death incarnate. Noticing this, David reciprocates the squeeze. Heartbeats fall into sync as the two move as one. Waiting until the last moment, the two move to the right of the Minotaur without skipping a beat. Unable to correct itself, the Minotaur is unable to stop itself as it careens into the damaged pillar one last time.

The impact marked the resumption of the rumbles, now evolving into a soft earthquake. The Minotaur managed to break the pillar at the base, as it began to fall like a tree in the forest. Collapsed on the base of the pillar, the Minotaur is unable to move as it gets crushed by the pillar. Out of the path of destruction, David and Cassie watch as the pillar falls towards the dented doors. With a deafening sound, the pillar managed to wedge itself between the two doors; an exit has been created as more pieces of stone and marble begin to fall; a cave-in is attempting to bury all in its wake beneath its weight.

Refusing to loosen their grip, David and Cassie book it for the opening. Rocks of various sizes fall all around them. If any were to fall on top of them, it would be certain death. Despite all this, with one final leap, the two manage to escape through the hole and not a moment too late. The two turn around as their exit becomes blocked by rocks of various sizes. They managed to escape by the skin of their teeth.

“We did it… we’re sa—“ David gets interrupted as a body clings onto him. “Cassie…”

She kept it bottled up for long enough. Squeezing David tight, Cassie lets her emotions fly, as she plants her face into David’s chest, letting tears flow down her face. Ignoring the pain, David gently holds onto her as he gently rubs the back of her head.

“I thought you left me, I thought you were dead!” Cassie sniffles a little as she tries to stifle her downwards spiral. “Pl-please don’t worry mu-me like that again.”

“I won’t, Cassie; I promise.” David begins to cry a little himself; partially because of the pain, but mostly due to his own emotions slowly getting the best of him. Closing his eyes, he embraces Cassie, holding her as close to him as he can. Speaking softly into her ear, he whispers some words before giving her a gentle squeeze.

“I love you to the ends of the Earth.”