Don't Jinx It

I stood atop the ruins of an old castle, staring out over the damp green plains and sparsely-set yellow maples. The castle must have been an impressive monument in its day -- the walls were thick stone, with strong and solid lines of columns and arches. Floral patterns and frames were carved in window-shaped slabs. Despite the distances between them, each separate section of wall was mostly intact. The structure obviously hadn’t fallen to age or decay. Rather, it looked as though some enormous monster had stood in the center of the castle and blown chunks of the wall outward, leaving them to land across the plains and curve up thirty feet or more into the air. Now, moss filled the inlays of the carvings, and ivy draped along the craggy edges and tangled itself in my boots as I intruded on its evening to feel the warmth of the setting sun move down my torso.

Hopefully, tonight Storn and I would manage to avoid whatever monster had done in the castle. The ornate control of the Kings had faded from this stretch of land, and the plains were a dangerous place. Out in the open, away from any villages. They were dotted only by the occasional ruin, and the occasional equestrian traveler.

Or – the occasional idiot explorer. That was the category we fell into.

“Rose!”

I looked down to see Storn sitting atop his horse at the bottom of the chunk of wall, about twenty feet below.

“What?” I called down.

“Get away from the edge, will you? You’re making me nervous.”

I rolled my eyes at him, though he probably couldn’t see it. With a final look at the leagues before me, falling into grey-and-gold kissed shadows, I turned away from the drop regretfully. The sound of hooves told me Storn was riding around to meet me, and I clambered down the rises and juts of stone. Stumbling a bit as I stepped onto uneven earth, I hopped on one leg to tug away an ivy vine wrapping itself around my ankle.

From this direction, I could see the ruins of the old watchhouse we were heading towards. That building had fallen from age. The base was still there (mostly), but the sides of it had crumbled into uneven notches, and there seemed to be more windows than the architect had likely intended.

“Come on, before we lose all the light.” Storn’s voice came from my left. I didn’t bother to acknowledge his words, just took off towards the ruined watchhouse. He swore in exasperation, and I heard a hard thunk has he dismounted to hurry after me. “Can you not go charging in like a dumbass?” His arm caught mine, and I slowed, giving him a lazy grin.

“It’ll be fine,” I said. He winced. “The scouts were here last night, weren’t they? They didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.”

“The gods put you here just to tempt fate towards hard-working men like me, didn’t they?”

I laughed, grabbing his shoulder as a brace while I stepped down yet another pile of stone. Despite my words, I unhooked the staff from my belt and gripped it firmly. The large blue jewel at its top glinted in the setting sun, and a few raindrops plopped onto its surface. I pulled up the hood of my cloak.

We approached the old house at a careful pace. There was no point in crouching or sneaking, since the lack of cover meant anyone watching would have seen us coming a mile off. Still, we moved slowly and kept our eyes open for any sign of movement.

“Left!” I hissed, quickly stepping back to fall behind Storn as a small fury shape darted out of an opening. In a single leap it covered the ten feet remaining between us and the ruins, aiming for my middle with long teeth and burning eyes. The familiar jolt of fear lurched in my stomach, followed by the practiced deep inhale as Storn stepped up to meet the monster.

Storn was a beauty to watch. One large hand rose to grab the halberd across his back, silver gauntlets gleaming, the steel head of the weapon flashing as he slashed it down in a practiced swing. It cut straight through the body of the wolf with a sickening squelch and the monster fell to the ground. Storn hadn’t so much as shifted forward an inch to give his swing momentum. I whistled.

“Thanks.”

“Why don’t you let me go first, ‘ey?” He didn’t wait for an answer, just took lead with the long shaft of his weapon half-raised in front of him.

“The wolves normally travel in packs,” I said. “There’s bound to be more around.” I threw a look over my shoulder to make sure none were sneaking up on us, then muttered a quick spell to my staff. Warmth rose through my palm and up my arm as the magic answered: six shards of light flying out of the jewel to settle like a half-circle of daggers around my head. If anything unfriendly came too close, the shards would attack without my having to direct them.

Storn nodded at my words and stepped carefully up to what had once been a doorway. He peered in, and was apparently satisfied with what he saw because his step wasn’t slowed by hesitation. The inside of the watchhouse looked like it had once been three rooms: two long, slightly narrow rooms, and one wide room at the end. Only the four or so feet of stone closest to the outside of each inner wall remained. The center space held only a small pile of rock, not even tall enough to rise above the clumps of grass and glowing fireflowers that sprouted around it. We made our way to the center of the ruins cautiously, but nothing jumped out to attack.

When we were confident the space was clear, we split up to search the patches of grass and piles of stones for any treasures or trinkets we could find. I found a handful of arrowheads and pocketed them to trade once we returned home. In one corner of the ruins was an abandoned metal shield, hid behind a handful of waist-high ferns. It was triangle shaped, and I could feel some decent enchantments emanating off it. The strap against its bottom was intact, so I slid it over my shoulder. Somewhat disappointed, I made my way over to Storn.

“I think that’s it for my side,” I told him.

“Not much for me, either,” he agreed, casting an eye over my new shield. “Couple health flasks, and a pair of boots too gnawed at to be worth taking.”

I sighed. “Well, let’s check around back.”

I fell into step behind him again as we passed into the wider room and towards the door. We’d made it barely two steps in when the shards of magic around my head shot forward, shattering against a furry body in a hail of light.

“What the—” my words were cut off as Storn lunged forward with the point of his halberd, impaling another wolf on the thin length of metal. A growl from behind gave me enough warning to dive sideways, and I tumbled into a roll with my staff hand pressed against the ground to balance me. As I rose, I put my back against a section of wall that still stood high enough to give me cover.

“Light!” I shouted, raising my staff above my head. Golden beams emanated from the blue jewel and fell across the shadows of the ruins, showing me two more wolves that closed in from the opening we’d entered through. My arm moved in a complicated motion and another shard of light shot from my staff. This one was shaped more like an arrow, and much larger than the previous shards. It flew straight for the first wolf, imbedding in the small frame before shattering to nothingness. That wolf dropped, but its companion stepped over the body without slowing.

“Raahh!” Storn charged in from the side, both hands gripping his halberd and an angry orange flame licking up the head of the weapon. He caught the wolf in the ribcage, lifting it off the ground then pivoting to throw it over the wall. We heard a thud as the wolf landed, but no sound of the creature standing again.

For a moment we were still. I listened as hard as I could, standing in the rain and the smell of burnt flesh.

“How is it we know there’s more than one, but it always catches us off guard?” I asked, sweat mixing with the water dripping down my forehead. I heaved a few deep breaths as my heart rate slowed.

“I don’t know,” Storn answered. He dragged the leather palm of one hand across his face, wiping away a smear of blood. “But you’d better put that dagger spell back up.”

I twitched my arm, and the half-circle of daggers reappeared.

Storn didn’t move. “You take lead this time.”

I rolled my eyes again but did as he said. More carefully, we moved back towards the stretch of wall that had hidden the wolf. Checking to make sure it really was empty now, I continued on out the door.

Before us lay a large square of cobblestone that was several yards across. The edges were double lined with stone, and in the middle sat an open rectangle with steep stairs falling away into the earth. My boots clicked as I walked up and stopped in front of the first stair. I could see maybe five yards down before it evened off into a flat surface. More intricate arches stood at intervals, and several thick, determined roots wound their way through cracks and around the sides of the tunnel. I grimaced as I noted that they blocked some of the view to the bottom and created more unneeded nooks for small monsters to hide in.

“What do you think?” I asked. “We came here for treasure. This looks like the kind of place that would have some.”

Storn sighed. He pulled a dried chunk of meat out of his pocket and bit off half, handing the rest to me. Chewing, I felt the strengthening spell imbued into it start to shift hold. My muscles flexed, feeling the extra power, and the weight of the new shield on my back suddenly seemed lighter. Thinking that, I pulled it off and settled it against one arm.

“Got your healing incantations ready?” I asked him. He nodded.

“Got enough mana for your shards and poison mist?”

I nodded back. “Let’s go.”

I started down the stairs, muttering to my staff so a gentle light filtered out of the center jewel again. The moss became thicker as we moved further underground. Smaller roots snaked along the walls and over the stairs. Luckily, it seemed our worst danger was tripping over them or slipping on the wet stone. No monsters dropped from the ceiling or charged into view below us. It would have been impossible to keep our descent stealthy, so instead I just raised my shield and continued steadily down.

When we made it through the last archway, Storn moved up to stand beside me. Now that we could see the corners of the space, I made out the dark outline of a cursed skeleton rattling together. Bones clanked against the rock like drumsticks as they reassembled. A human-shaped form started towards us.

Storn stepped forward nimbly, dodging a swipe of the skeleton’s hand and bringing his halberd through the air sideways. With a thwap it connected with the skeleton and bounced off. I snorted.

“Shut up,” Storn growled. “These guys are weak. You just need to jostle the spell and they fall apart.” The musical sound of more hollow bones moving alerted us to another skeleton, and Storn pivoted on one foot in a graceful stomp to meet the foe. It fell as easily as the first, and the room was quiet again.

    By the looks of it, the opening we stood in now took up the same plot as the house above. It, too, was made of cobblestone, though the rock here had faired a lot better. Despite the roots winding along them, the intricate columns lining the room stood strong. Only a few stones had fallen from the ceiling. I was comforted by the knowledge that at least we weren’t likely to be crushed to death by a cave-in. The rest of what I saw, though, was disappointing.

    The room was empty.

Not a single chair, chest, or stool sat in it. The only adornment was a copper slab that lay in the opposite wall, obviously a door. We made our way up to it and I pressed the hand that wasn’t holding my staff against the cool metal. Feeling for a handle, a divot, anything, we examined the metal from top to bottom.

“I’m not finding anything,” Storn said from a crouched position.

Glancing around for any other options, I spotted the rusted metal of what looked like an old torch bracket. I grabbed it.

    “Damn it, Rose!”

    I jumped at Storns’ yell and turned to see him laying flat on his ass with a cloud of dust rising around him. I snickered and walked to stand over him. “Laying down on the job?”

    “Warn me next time,” he spat. Clambering to his feet, he dusted off his britches and glared at the newly appeared opening. “You first.”

      A quick look told me that the room was small and cramped, with dark corners and an uninviting smell. “You first!”

      “You’ve got the shield.”

      I held it out to him.

      “What about your daggers? You’ve a clear advantage if someone sneaks up on you!”

      “Who would be sneaking up on us at this point?” I asked. “Besides, I’ll stand close behind. If something attacks you, it’ll probably trigger the daggers.”

      Storn muttered to himself, shaking out his legs from his fall. “Useless mages. Never good for anything but slowing you down and whining.” He yanked the shield out of my hand and held it firmly in front of him, halberd crossed against the metal. “Stay close behind.”

      I nodded, and the two of us crept slowly through the doorway. To spite our precautions, the room was empty except for a pile of rotten fabric set carelessly against the back wall. We checked each corner carefully – and the ceiling – before Storn relaxed enough to lower the shield and rummage through the pile.

      “Aha!” He turned back towards me, raising a half-medallion in his gloved hand.

      “What marker is it?” I asked, excited. Many of the ancient medallions had rare spells or incantations etched into them; if you could match two halves together, you had yourself a powerful relic.

      “Let’s see,” he pulled off one glove and rubbed a thumb against the dirty metal. “Looks like… ice-tortoise?”

      “Ice-tortoise?” I was unable to stop a laugh. “I mean, it’s not outside the realm of possibility, but we’re getting into some pretty weird familiars here.”

      Angrily pushing the medallion piece into my hand, he said: “You read it then.”

      I tilted my staff to angle the light better. “Not tortoise,” I muttered, racking my brain for the meaning of the symbol before me. “Not tortoise… not tortoise…” I pressed my eyes shut. I knew this symbol. “Torrent!” I snapped my fingers as it came to me. “Ice-torrent.”

      Storn whistled. “That could come in handy. ‘Specially in this weather.”

      I nodded eagerly, pressing the metal into the inner pocket of my tunic where it would be safest. “And I think Liam has the opposite half. We’ll have to convince him we have something worth trading for it.”

      Caught up in our success, we made our way out of the small room on light feet, eagerly discussing what uses the medallion could have once we completed it.

      “The northern scavengers, especially, are weak agai—”

      “Wait.” I cut him off with a hand, stopping short. “Did you hear that?” I turned my head, looking around for the source of the noise that was raising the hair on the back of my neck.

      It was the sound of sand slipping through a smooth surface.

      We both looked up. As we watched, debris fell from a crack in the ceiling. It landed in a growing pile on the stone to our left. Wider and wider the crack grew, until the edge of one ginormous talon poked its way through the final layer of dirt.

      We both looked back down at each other. Without a word, Storn grabbed my arm and practically flew us up the stairs as the top of the room collapsed in around us. The last thing I saw while Storn was dragging me up onto his horse was the body of the dragon trying to claw its way free of the pile. Then we shot off back through the ruins, and out into the darkness.