Despite himself, Cairn couldn’t help the corner of his mouth twitching into a smile. Odessa was just so obliviously carefree.

The smile turned quickly to fear as a new smell hit his nostrils. He opened his mouth to warn the others, but it seemed they’d smelled the same thing. The stench was awful, worse than anything Cairn had ever come across in the dungeons. Worse, even, than the sickly sweet odor of the rotting carcasses of a pair of hellhounds in the heat of the Earthen Furnace. It was all-pervading, and was getting stronger at an alarming rate.

Thinking quickly, Cairn’s head whipped around to his satchel and he pulled a large cloth from it, doing his best to hold his breath as the fumes intensified and a ghastly green mist began to fill the room from every angle. Working as fast as he could, he pinned the material beneath a hoof and tore four long strips; maybe, just maybe, if they could put the cloth over their faces…

His vision lurched suddenly, and he realised he’d begun to collapse to his knees.

“Cairn-” Merlin choked as the scent flooded his mouth- each breath felt like inhaling noxious sludge. His eyes stung with tears and he clenched them tightly shut against the stench. The gray Courser could hear the others choking behind him, but he couldn’t risk turning. “Get… up,” 

He shoved Cairn to his hooves, forcing the smaller Courser forward. Risking a peek, Merlin registered the slim entrance into the conjoining cavern, just thirty paces ahead of them. They just had to make it. 

Darkness filled his world again as the pair staggered towards the exit. Behind him, the coughs continued. They would not die down here. 

Odessa gagged on her own breaths, shaking her head as if to rid herself of the scent. Turning toward the exit, she flung the massive sword as hard as she could, sending it skittering across the stone. She would not lose her hard-earned prize.

The smell seemed to flood every sense, burning at her lungs, her eyes. Seeing Cairn and Merlin already making their way toward the exit, she staggered toward Arthur, pushing him forward with her shoulder. “Go,” she coughed out. A dark vignette had begun to cloud the edges of her vision, burning away at her consciousness. She kept pushing, keeping her blurred gaze fixed on the light that leaked from the gap in the cavern wall. Just a little farther.

Arthur stumbled forward, almost tripping as Odessa pushed him onwards. His usually sturdy legs felt somehow both stiff as rock and as wobbly as a newborn foals. As hard as he tried, he couldn’t stop his gagging and coughing, and his head felt as if it would explode thanks to the noxious gas in the air. 

The world around him began to shrink as his vision funneled, but he refused to let it stop him. “Keep moving! We have to get to the end of the tunnel!” He cried out, turning to ensure Odessa was keeping up with him. Despite the fact that they barely knew one another, Arthur refused to leave a companion behind. “We can’t stop! Just a little bit further!” His voice was cracked and broken as a result of the mist burning his throat. 

Arthur would do everything in his power to ensure they all survived, even if it was the last thing he did.