A/N: Whoever removed spellchecking needs a good slap.

It burns. Sharp stabs of pain reaching deep, the hole in my belly leaking my will along with my blood. I grit my teeth and keeled forwards onto the ground. Damn it all, I didn't fight for so long just to succumb to rot. I'm still alive! I will not rot to be forgotten! I will not die! My fist slammed into the ground and I forced myself to stand up. Breathing heavily, I looked around the swamp of blood once again, pressing a hand to my stab wound to staunch the bleeding. Even the crazed Redmanes had given up fighting the Cleanrots, an unspoken truce in effect as the Redmanes retreated. The Cleanrots stayed within the swamp for whatever reason. I looked behind me and saw Finlay carrying Malenia away over the hill, now a dark crimson as the rotten blood began their spread into Caelid, all-consuming. The sun dipped below the horizon, darkening the whole area. A roar rang out from the center, Radahn had woken up and Leonard was dead. The glint of the spear in his side causing fear to strike me. I can only hope that Radahn's will hadn't been taken by the rot, for all of our sakes.

"LEONARRRRRRD!!!" Another roar of heartbreak and rage. Yeah... he'll be fine...

I stumbled away from the swamp as fast as I could. I said I'm a proud Redmane, not a stupid one. Leaving Radahn to tear the Cleanrots a new one, I'm starting to feel bad for them at this point, I climbed the hill and saw Finlay was jogging away. Good for her, at least she can jog. I turned away to the left and shambled up the road to Redmane Castle, the bleeding from my gut unceasing. Yeah, that's going to kill me soon either from infection or bleeding out. Looking for some cloth, I notice a dead Redmane strewn about on the side of the road. Must have been sent flying all the way here from that flower blooming. I grit my teeth and scavenged his armour for cloth. At this rate, I'm no better than a demi-human. I take off my armour which was absolutely soaked in blood, dried and fresh, and throw it to the side. I take off the chainmail aswell, gasping in pain when a chain catches on my flesh. The struggle to take the sticky chainmail off took 5 minutes and all my will not to cry from the pain. I toss it away then begin wrapping the cloth around my waist, making sure its tight enough to prevent bleeding while not enough to be painful. Hope Finlay is suffering from when I almost slashed her damn tit in half. I shake my head and continue walking, the last thought I remembered being how ugly the scab is going to look.

I walked for a while until I realised it's going to be morning soon and that I had to sleep. Luckily the woodlands everywhere made it easy to just lean my back against a random tree. Exhaustion bringing sleep easily.

I woke up to the sun shining in my eyes, I groaned as it felt like I slept for only half an hour. I felt like I had fought a thousand wars in an instant, my body only responsive to the need to breath. I groaned even harder when the events of yesterday came back to me. I can't even hold a grudge against only Malenia anymore, fuck everyone! I scoffed and managed to push myself up with a herculean effort. Reduced to sleeping on roads, how many new lows am I going to reach? Almost as if in response, a chill breeze reminded me of the fact I'm shirtless.

I look down and see that the ground has turned crimson. Must be the rot. I sighed and winced as my dry throat burned in pain. I have no other choice other than to drink rotten water, and clearly a lot of it too. Luckily, the path to Redmane Castle lead along the edge of the river so all I have to do is walk down the hill and drink the blood of my comrades... I sighed and walked down to the edge of the swamp and cupped my hands inside the mulch. Convincing myself that it would be worse to die of dehydration after surviving such a battle, I raised the cupped liquid to my face when a massive swarm of maggots and flies started pouring out. I dropped the insect-filled liquid on the ground and ran, wiping the bugs off on my greaves. Guess I'm dying of dehydration then. Nothing is convincing me to drink that. In the back of my mind, I knew that if I got dehydrated enough, I would infact drink it but I pushed those errant thoughts away. I walked back on the path to Redmane Castle, my whole body screaming for rest but I had to push on. The castle must have noticed the rot by now and have rationed their supplies. I can only hope the water is isolated from the rot.

I marched past a dying dragon, pouring pink mist from every orifice and vomiting out blood. Keeping a wide berth from the creature, I maybe already infected but a rot that can infect dragons is by nature much worse than rot that infects humans. While I walked, I reflected on what I heard about Malenia, Scourge of Caelid. A grimace appeared on my face at the nickname, I bet she will be proud of another 'victory'. The undefeatable swordswoman who shown up out of nowhere tearing our forces to ribbons. The Cleanrot's admirable skill and disclipline the backbone of her otherwise meagre army. Flashbacks of every glimpse of her red hair bringing waves of death rushed through my mind. She will receive what's due in time. One day, the Haligtree will fall and I will be there to gloat! Not carried away by her soldiers like a baby! Raze that goddamn tree to the ground and slaughter every damn citizen, mistreated or whatever, I don't care! These bitter thoughts stuck with me until I reached the greatbridge. A massive group of Redmanes were formed up on the bridge. They must be extremely confused at the massive flower in the swamp.

"Hey, someone on the road!" A soldier called out and three others immediately walked out to intercept. I merely croaked out "Water..." and all strength left my body, slamming onto my hands and knees, vomiting up copius amounts of blood not dissimilar to the dragon I had passed. "Don't... touch me... Scarlet Rot!" I desperately called out as I didn't want my fellow soldiers to rot with me. They immediately moved back with realisation in their eyes. "That flower... That's Malenia's rot isn't it!" One of them called out with despair in his voice.

I grew irritated and forced myself to speak once again, my throat burning with every syllable "I am Captain Khirza! Give water! Any longer and I'll freely walk into this crowd of sad fools and spread the damn rot like a sweet confection!" They regained their sense and walked back to the main group, causing mayhem as others broke off to spread the news to the men in the castle and eventually some kind soul brought me water. She placed the bucket on the floor a good distance away from me and almost ran away.

Understandable as the instant the water was placed, I crawled towards it with a mad look in my eyes and the ferocity of a Bloodhound Knight. I dunk my head into the bucket and drank like a feral animal. All sign of former civility having disappeared from my person. Once I consumed half the bucket, I collapsed next to it. I held the bucket lovingly like it was my wife until the soldier from before showed up again. "Sir? Are you okay?" She asked with concern and a bit of humour in her voice. I groaned and replied "Ah, I'm just chipper! Nothing like rotting inside out!" Now I can only hope I died before it showed on my body. Seems my vanity still runs strong. "I must thank you though, I was one hair away from charging the lot of you..." I quickly became aware of how stupid I looked hugging a bucket and sat up acting like nothing happened. I wiped my dirty hands on my greaves again, the memory of a army of flies erupting in my face enough to put me off my water craze. "I'll introduce myself again. I am Captain Khirza, one of the very few survivors of the battle. As you can see, Malenia did... something and now the whole lake is infected with rot. The deaths from the battle also made sure that the lake became so thick with blood that it has become a swamp. I tried to prevent her escape but was... defeated by Lieutenant Finlay of the Cleanrot Knights. Radahn is still alive but someone killed his horse so now he's on a rot-infested rage. Now that I told you all this, go talk to your superiors and let me rest." I laid back down on the floor, my breathing rattling as I listened to the footsteps of the shocked silent soldier walking away. Oh dear bucket... come here...

I fell into a dreamless sleep with the bucket in my arms.