Hi friends. When I started writing chapter 9, I hadn’t fully worked out what to do for chapter 10 yet, so I introduced Kimi to the story again, which was always the plan. It wasn’t until after I finished that chapter and started writing this one that I realized a much better way to introduce her. So you’ll find that reading the chapters in the order I’ve posted them doesn’t work out very well. In the next draft, chapter 9 and this chapter (chapter 10) will be flipped. That way it will make much more sense when reading it – at least I think. For now I’ll leave things as is, since most people have already read chapter 9 anyway.
“Hold.” Something seemed to have disturbed Jom greatly as his voice trembled while he said this. They had just rounded a corner and now there was a faint bit of light in the distance. Not only that, after Jom told them to stop and they all listened intently, they could hear music coming from up ahead. “Roal, can you move your lights a little bit ahead of us?”
Roal nodded and slowly walked to the front of the group, moving the lights even further ahead. It was hard to look past the lights despite them not being super bright, but it looked like something was moving ahead of them.
“My eyes are better in the dark than most of your eyes, should I move on ahead and see what is going on?” Mirgia suggested.
“I don’t like it,” Quint said. “You’d be on your own if something happens until we can close the distance.”
“I’m quick and quiet, I should be alright.”
They all looked at each other as if waiting for someone to come up with a better plan but no one did so they eventually agreed.
“Here, let me do this for you,” Roal said. He reached out and plucked one of the lights from the air before affixing it to the inside of Mirgia’s sleeve. “This way it’ll move with you, but you can also keep it hidden so that whatever is in there doesn’t notice you.”
Mirgia nodded. “Thank you friend.” He then pulled the hood over his head and darted into the shadows. The source of the light was still quite a ways away and although he could see better than the humans in the group, he couldn’t exactly see well in the dark either. And besides that, the kind of darkness he was used to was one where the moon was out above the canopy and some of that light would still trickle in through the leaves. Here in an underground tunnel he was more out of his element than he would like to admit. Still, he pressed on, using the tiny bit of light from the spell that Roal cast to keep his path lit. After a short dash he reached the end of the tunnel they were in and pushed his back against the side, looking into the room ahead of him. What he saw there was nightmarish. Two large dinner tables were set up with plates and glasses on them, but no food or drink was anywhere. A strange mix of people were in the room moving, dancing and eating food that wasn’t actually there. One of the people was playing a piano in the corner which explained the music. But what made the sight so nightmarish was the fact that the people there were all at different levels of decay. It looked like a handful were still alive, dancing while having a pained smile on their face, while others looked like rotting corpses and others still were reduced to nothing but their skeleton. Still, all of them moved around and seemed to be in some state of animation. It was terrifying yet Mirgia felt tempted to join them. He hesitated, wanting to step a little bit closer to explore. What could it hurt to do so, right? He would get more information that way. He was about to take a step forward when a hand grabbed him from behind and dragged him back. Stunned, he didn’t fight the rough treatment and a few moments later he found himself tossed roughly against the ground, a terrified Sereh clinging to his arm. “What were you about to do?” She asked him, her voice shaky.
“I was going to check things from a little closer,” he trailed off at the end of the sentence. “Oh no, I was about to be lured into their trap, wasn’t I?”
Sereh nodded. “I’m glad I followed my gut and came after you, whatever magic is in there is a powerful charm that almost took hold of you.”
“Then I owe you for treating me roughly.”
She smiled. “It’s the least I could do.” Her face turned serious. “Let’s go back to the others and move back a little bit to discuss what to do next, I’m worried that the closer we stay, the more likely we fall for the magic. The only reason I followed after you was because I was feeling a strange pull all the way back there. The others have already retreated a little bit.”
Mirgia nodded and the duo quickly went back to the others, although Mirgia couldn’t help but look over his shoulder once more before they turned the corner.
“So what next?” Jom asked. He seemed to be more worried than most of them about the room that was described. He sat next to his brother and was drinking from his waterskin.
“I think we should head back and go the other route,” Mirgia said. “Not to say that the other route is safer than this one, of course, but unless we have a good way to deal with this trap, I’d rather not walk into this and lose my sanity.” He was perturbed by how quickly he fell into the trap earlier and did not like the feeling one bit.
“But you were the one who wanted to investigate it more properly earlier.” Roal brought up.
He was right, Mirgia thought. It was a fascinating bit of magic that felt ancient and alien, and knowing more about it would make him better prepared for what else came their way.
“Maybe you’re right. But we still need a plan.” He failed to recognize that he was leaning towards pressing on again without intending to. “How do we counter the music?”
“I think the music is a red herring,” Sereh commented. She had been quietly staring off into the hallway since they went back. He had her to thank for not already being stuck there. “It felt like there was something else that was drawing me in, maybe the food and drinks are the real reason the people get stuck there. Perhaps if we can get through the room and deal with the skeletons that are playing the music, then we can move on safely if we just don’t touch anything else.”
It wasn’t a bad suggestion, but it felt off. What if the music wasn’t a red herring to begin with, and the music would take hold when they stepped into the room.
“I suggest we go in one at a time,” Doroly said. “That way if one of us gets caught in a trap, we can return.”
“But that would condemn one of us,” Roal countered. “I am not about to let myself fall into a trap and I would assume the same holds true for the rest of you.”
They all stayed silent, knowing he was right.
“What if we take out the undead that are playing the music from a distance? Wouldn’t that stop the magic completely?” Quint suggested. “I know arrows aren’t the most effective against a skeleton playing music, but perhaps I could destroy the instruments from a distance and that way we can move through the room safely.”
“I like that plan,” Mirgia said. He looked at the bowman. “Can you do it?”
He nodded. “If someone accompanies me and makes sure I don’t get distracted by the magic while making the shot, I can confidently hit a target at that distance. And even if I miss, we can just try again.” He added, “unless it angers the moving corpses.”
Mirgia considered that. “I think we’ll be fine, approaching them didn’t change anything, so unless we actively harm them, I doubt the magic will let them change what they are doing. And I hope that if we get rid of the actual magic, the corpses will return to their natural unmoving state.”
Jom wasn’t convinced. “There’s a lot of possibility for this to go wrong. I still think I prefer Mirgia’s suggestion to check out the other tunnel first.”
Mirgia knew that Jom was right, and it had been his suggestion in the first place, but something inside of him prevented him from agreeing with the reasonable fighter. Instead he leaned more towards Quint’s idea.
“Let’s try shooting the instruments first. If that fails, we can backtrack to the other hallway, how does that sound?”
Jom nodded his agreement, but didn’t look too happy about it.
Quint, Sereh, Doroly and Mirgia all moved up. Sereh had already proven keen at keeping the magic at bay when she stopped Mirgia from walking into the trap earlier and Doroly was a veteran and would be more cautious than most of the others. Quint was true to his word and his aim was perfect. After Mirgia’s keen eyes pointed out where he had to point the arrow, he let it fly and moments later it crashed into the wood of the violin that was being played. Quint rapidly readied another arrow and shot the corpse sitting behind the piano. The music faded and eerie quiet filled the space.
“I think that did the trick, did it not?” Doroly asked.
Mirgia nodded. “Looks like it. Let’s get the others but let’s not be too hasty. We’ll carefully approach and see what the corpses are doing.” He squinted. “From where we’re standing I can’t see any movement.”
They retrieved the rest of the party except for Jom, who wanted to stay behind. In case everything went wrong, he could return to the camp and warn the next party to go in here.
Mirgia led the group. The strange pull that he felt before had gone, and he was now confident that the music was the source of the magic. Stepping into the beautiful room was a strange experience, now with the corpses and unmoving adventurers – who probably still had a chance of being alive – all standing completely still, like mannequins. Mirgia walked up to one of the people, a young man looking to be no older than twenty. He had an empty scabbard at his side and a wicked grin on his face. Mirgia moved his hand in front of the boy’s face but the eyes stayed fixed on some point in the distance. Meanwhile Quint picked up the destroyed Violin. “I think we did it.”
Mirgia nodded, looking for a way out of the room. This place gave him the creeps and although he wanted to save the people stuck here, his gut told him not to linger. They could probably deal with it later. He spotted a closed door in the back.
“I’ll go get Jom,” Doroly said, as Mirgia went to investigate the door.
Mirgia looked at the door which had an intricate set of symbols on it that he didn’t recognize. A puzzle of sorts? He motioned Roal to come over, as he was the most experienced with this sort of stuff, and Sereh joined them too. Suddenly a panicked feeling rose from his gut to his head and his body shuddered. “The trap,” he yelled, but he was too late. Suddenly, without any instruments still able to be played, the music continued. Mirgia turned around and saw Jom and Doroly approaching. “Quick, go back, get help.” He started to run in the direction of the exit but could feel control of his body loosening. “Find someone who can dance and sing and be merry with us. Oh won’t you please come join us here and partake in this feast.” His body started dancing. He silently cursed himself for not being more careful, but there was nothing to do now as he started dancing along the tables, grabbing Sereh by the hand and jumping on top of one of the tables to dance among the plates. He saw Jom grab Doroly by the shoulder and retreat. Good.
Opal Kaharis 