Steal My Heart

The skeleton stopped in the doorway, swaying on yellowed bones, a single mushroom sprouting through an empty eye socket. It stared at them, jaw hanging limp and lopsided from the rest of its skull. In one boney hand, it clutched a bottle similar to the ones they had been drinking from.

Wulfram tensed, but kept his sword low. “It... doesn’t seem hostile.” He said warily. Perhaps if they didn’t threaten it, it would continue on its way. But why had it started to move anyways? Wulfram glanced around the room, the only sign of disturbance had come from them. Footprints in the dust, the open wine bottles. Could that have disturbed the dead? It seemed such a small thing. But he had read that even the presence of the living near some dead could disrupt their slumber. It was why the Quietus built their crypts well beneath or outside the city.

The skeleton stared at them through empty eye sockets, bone scraping against bone as it swayed. Wulfram took a step back, closer to Dani as it shambled a few steps forward.

Then it let out an inhuman screech, reaching out for Dani and the bottle of wine she still held.

Wulfram grabbed Dani, dragging her around the slow-moving skeleton and out into the hall. “Drop the wine!”

“Are you crazy?! This is the best wine I’ve ever tasted! And if I’m going to die down here I’m going to do it drunk as a sailor!” Dani protested, holding onto the bottle possessively. In the room behind them the skeleton turned, its jaw clattering to the ground at the sudden movement. It let out another screech, the sound echoing down the hallway.

“The skeleton obviously doesn’t want you to have it!” Wulfram looked both ways down the hall, letting out a muttered curse as more skeletons shambled out of the rooms they had passed on their way through. How many had they seen? Three in that first room, and at least two other rooms had skeletons in them as well. Wulfram turned, half dragging Dani down the hall, the glowstone barely providing enough illumination to keep them from tripping.

“The skeleton can’t do anything with it, it doesn’t even have a mouth anymore!”

Wulfram felt a spark of exasperated irritation. He could hear the fear in Dani’s voice, but damnit, the little mouse was being stubborn! “So what? Get rid of it! I’ll get you some wine when we get out of here!”

Another screech echoed up the corridor after them. He glanced back, gripping his sword tighter when he saw how close the skeletons were. They were moving faster, a third and a fourth joining their ranks. He would be hard pressed to fight the growing hoard, especially in these close confines.

“When we get out of here you’re probably going to throw me in the dungeon! I’m enjoying this wine damnit!”

The woman was insane! Of the two of them, he was by far the more trustworthy one, but she was fixated on the idea of him throwing her in the dungeon. And to be fair, he really should. Especially if she was going to do something so obviously stupid and selfish.

He paused at a corner, feeling the faintest breeze coming from the left, catching the scent of sea air. He turned to face her, letting out a growl. “You’re unbelievable!”

He reached over and yanked the bottle of wine from her hand, throwing it down the hall towards the skeletons. “I refuse to die down here because you wanted to take leave of your senses!”

“My wine! Damnit, you asshole!” She stared down the hall at the approaching skeletons. They paused a moment as the wine bottle crashed to the floor, but then continued on after them. “It didn’t even work!”

Wulfram stared at the skeletons a moment himself, before giving himself a firm mental shake. He shoved his sword into its sheath, and picked up Dani, throwing her over his shoulder. They didn’t have time for her to freeze up right now, and he had noticed how her limping had grown since they started to move again.

“Put me down!” She yelped.

Wulfram ignored her, although he was tempted to smack her ass. But he resisted, he was a gentleman after all, and would behave as such. Even if she wasn’t exactly a lady, she was a damsel in distress. He started to run, ignoring the screaming pain in his side as he carried her down the hall. “You’re limping little mouse! Can’t you just accept help when you get it?”

“You’re going to hurt yourself more and if you die they’ll kill me too! You could have at least let me finish the wine before condemning us to death down here!”

And that was the crux of it, wasn’t it? The woman was terrified, convinced that she was going to die whether they got out of here or not. He could feel the echo of her fear through the bracelet.

He stumbled as the floor beneath his feet suddenly changed from stone to wood, stretching across a large break in the hall. The sound of rushing water came from somewhere below. He froze as the old, rotting wood flexed beneath them, sinking a little under their combined weight.

The sound of bone against stone still came from behind them, growing ever closer in the darkness. Carefully, very carefully, he set Dani down on the wood, praying she’d have some common sense and listen to him for a change. “Be very, very careful.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Dani looked down at their feet, at the wood that was a breath away from crumbling beneath them. But there was nowhere else to go but forward, or down. He could practically feel her heart beating through the bracelet, like a butterflies wings against his wrist. He wondered for a moment if she could feel his own heart pounding.

“Just move carefully towards the other side.” Wulfram gestured for her to turn around, the two old wood planks shifting beneath them even with that simple movement.

An inhuman screech came from far too close at hand, and she flinched. “Right.” The word was whispered, as if that would make any difference to the undead or the wood beneath them. Carefully, she turned, the glowstone clutched in one hand as she took a step forward.

But that was all it took.

The wood cracked beneath them, dumping them into the chasm below.

Wulfram grabbed ahold of Dani, pulling her tight against his chest as she screamed. She dropped the glowstone so that she could cling onto him, hiding her face against his chest.

She felt so warm and soft.

“Hold on!” He shouted over the sound of rushing water. He prayed to whatever god would listen that it would be deep enough to save them, that it would lead to the open air and not some dank, inescapable hole.

They hit the cold, salty water hard, and Dani started to struggle, panicking in the dark water. Wulfram grunted and held on tighter, his grip bruising as he pushed up towards the surface. This day was rapidly going downhill, if they survived this, he was going to see about getting the Tangle fixed up. He took in a gasp of air as they resurfaced. “Stop struggling! It’s alright!”

The current swept them away from the chasm the boards had once bridged, and he could just barely see one of the skeletons tumble over the edge after them. The green light of the mushrooms that grew on it illuminating the tumbling bones that broke apart before it even hit the water.

If she didn’t stop struggling, she was going to drown them both. He pinned her arms against his chest, gritting his teeth against the sting of salt water in his wounds. The breeze was stronger down here, carrying with it the smell of the harbor.

Suddenly, his feet touched the sandy bottom of the water, and he nearly lost hold of her. He regained his grip, dragging her towards a sandy embankment just barely illuminated by the light coming through a narrow tunnel entrance.

“Dani.” He spoke her name gently as they touched the shore, and tilted her face up to him. She was wild-eyed with panic, and he could still feel how fast her heart raced. He hadn’t expected that of his little thief. “Dani, little mouse, focus! We’re okay.”

Gods she was shaking like a leaf. But she nodded, tawny brown hair falling across her face in wet tangles. He couldn’t help but smile and tenderly brush the hair back from her face. After all her bitching and posturing, it was good to see something real from her.

He just wished it wasn’t fear.