Chapter 11: Undying

I awoke to find myself lying on cold, damp stone. The side of my head where I had been hit throbbed painfully. I slowly climbed to my feet and looked around, holding my aching head. I was in a small stone cell. There were no windows, but there was a cell door. The iron bars looked very old. A torch burned in the hallway that ran outside the cell, casting flickering light into the cell. The room was entirely bare. My sword was nowhere to be seen. I gave a tug on the bars, and they were locked.

"Yer awake," a rough voice came from close by.

"Benthor? Where are you at?"

"In a cell, just like you. I saw ya nappin' in yers when those things dragged me down here."

"There's more than one? What are they?"

"Undead of some kind. Don't know what."

"How did they get you?" I asked him.

"The bastards grabbed me while I was sleepin'. Didn't even give me a chance ta fight back. They grabbed our equipment too."

I was about to ask him if he had seen the women, when I heard something coming down the hallway towards us. Two of the gaunt figures came into view, the torchlight growing dimmer as they stood before my cell. They stared at me with those eerie lights where their eyes should have been.

One of them reached down and unlocked the cell door, swinging it open. They both stepped into the cell and grabbed me by the arms, one on either side of me. I could feel the chill of their touch through my shirt. They lead me out of the cell, going down the hallway. As we passed Benthor's cell, the dwarf started violently shaking the cell door, shouting obscenities and insults at our captors. They didn't even so much as look at him.

At the end of the hallway, stairs led up. Torches lined the way every so often, casting their lights on the solid stone walls. They led me up the stairs and into a wide hallway. Two more of those things stood guard in the hallway. They briefly glanced at us as we came out, then went back into staring at nothing. The ones who were leading me took me down the hall, to a set of closed doors. The doors may have once been extravagant, but they were now decrepit. They swung open with a creak, and I was led into a large room.

The ceiling was high here, stretching into darkness over my head. Pillars lined the room's sides, most of them chipped and cracked. At the wall opposite the doors, a throne sat on a dais. The throne looked like it may have been carved from a single piece of stone. Another one of the gaunt figures sat on it, his burning eyes watching me. Beside the throne were the woman, reclining on old pillows. They were clad in revealing clothing that was once fine, but now looked like old rags. They looked at the figure in the throne lovingly.

"Welcome," the figure in the throne said, his voice hollow and monotone. My guards pushed me to my knees a few feet in front of the throne, so I had no choice but to kneel before him. "I am King Zarlendoros. And you are?"

"Kind of pissed off at the moment," I retorted. One of my guards raised his hand, as if to strike me, but the king shook his head.

"I am trying to extend my courtesy to you," Zarl warned me. "I would not risk angering me if I were you."

"You have an odd idea of courtesy," I commented. "My name is Lucas."

The king leaned forward in his throne. The women followed his every movement with their eyes. "Tell me, Lucas, why are you and your friends trespassing in my woods?"

"We didn't know it was yours," I told him. "We just needed a place to camp for the night, then we would have been gone the next morning."

The king sat back in his throne, his eyes regarding me. "Why is it that I don't believe you? I think that perhaps you and your friends heard about the treasure in the woods and decided to try and come and get it for yourselves."

"I don't know anything about that."

The king gave a chuckle that sounded very unpleasant. "That's what they all say. You living ones hear about the lost treasure of Zarlendoros and think you can try and claim it for yourselves. Little do you all know that Zarlendoros and his guards survived the attack and still walk the halls of his keep."

"Look," I said, my patience running out, "I don't know anything about you, your treasure, or whatever attack happened. We're on our way to see Altholos, a wizard who may be able to help me."

The king reached down beside his throne and pulled out my flashlight. It was no longer turned on, as it was when I fell unconscious.

"And this? My guards tell me you were carrying this with you. They told me it sheds light, yet there is no fire."

"It's called a flashlight. It's a device from my home."

"And where do you call home, Lucas?"

"You've never heard of it."

"Maybe I have."

I sighed in exasperation and said, "Earth."

The king nodded. "You're right, I've never heard of it."

He looked back to the women, who seemed to let out a collective sigh as his attentions turned to them.

"What did you do to them?" I asked.

"A simple spell of enchantment," he replied without looking back at me. "I ensnare all the females who come too close to my forest. It makes my undying life less lonely."