Ch.3 In Which Things go Bump in the Night

I was sleeping comfortably in the chair next to the fireplace keeping myself nice and cozy when there came a thump that stirred Modesto from his smoldering slumber. He raised his head over the grate sleepily to see what was going on when the thump came again but louder overhead. He rose from the grate out of curiosity at the sound staring up at the ceiling where the top of the mountain would be out in the air. "What in hell…?"

The third thump sounded like a great crash and shook the whole mountain to bits waking me up. I rolled from the chair and crashed to the floor in a daze. "What…? Who…? What's going on?"

The Blaze recoiled into his pit and looked to me with little concern. "Something's going on upstairs! Go check it out!"

I yawned getting to my feet sleepily. "Why me? Don't you have something to go check that out?"

"If I did I would've already used it," hissed the Blaze who curled up with his log. "Go on, Margo. Check it out. I'm confined here."

I sighed stomping up the stairs but remembered that some of the stairs were rotten and began to tread more lightly. Arriving at the top of the stairs in the quaint study I found the door knocked to bits by the fly which had been used by a few zombies that had spawned out in the yard. I screamed turning around and high tailing it downstairs as they growled and moaned, stumbling after me.

"Modesto!" I screamed almost stumbling down the stairs. "Zombies! Modesto!"

"Margo!" hissed Modesto from below. "Grab the sword!"

As I entered the living area below I saw the sword on a table and grabbed it up with shaky fingers. I looked at it wondering what I was to do with it. I turned to Modesto with confusion. "I don't know how to fight!"

Modesto flared up in alarm at the zombies as they came stumbling down the stairs after me groaning and growling. "Swing at them! Swing!"

I grasped the handle with both hands and swung the great silver sword with all I had and sliced a zombie in half. Before its body could hit the floor it poofed into thin air. I swung back to the left and sliced the next zombie, making it poof along with the first. I kept swinging getting more pumped up as each zombie fell to the sword until there was none left and flesh was lying about on the floor in front of me with a great rotting stench. I panted resting the blade of the sword on the stone floor that was cracked or growing mold.

"You did well, Margo!" exclaimed Modesto from the fire pit. "Very well! I think you know how to fight now."

There was a change in light next to the fireplace as the door opened from a dark place, letting in a man with alabaster eyes, white hair, and dressed in dark clothes. He stopped at the sight of me as the door shut behind him and the scene in the door's window went back to the royal palace streets. I stood there staring at him with the sword still in my hands as it rested on the floor. He removed his black helmet and set it on the kitchen table while going to the fire place.

"Who do we have here today, Modesto? A witch?"

Modesto crackled in the fire pit as he settled on the log. "No. She's not the witch nor works for her as she states. Her name is Margo. She's come to help you."

"Oh, has she now?" Cruz said turning to look at her over his shoulder. "I could use some help right about now. What are you good at, Margo?"

I blinked and realized he was speaking to me. "Oh! Um, armor! Apparently fighting zombies also."

He walked from the fire place to take the sword from my grasp and set it back on the wall mountings. "Zombies bust down the door upstairs again?"

"Yes," I said shyly looking to the floor. "I haven't had time to go see the extent of damage but the sound startled Modesto from his sleep."

Cruz took the stairs two at a time as I scrambled after him and stood at the top slightly panting while he picked up pieces of the shattered door. He stopped when he noticed the fly laying on the ground outside. "Did you use this to get here?"

I nodded. "Yes. I didn't know how else to get here so I stole it from the officers. They gave me quite the chase but I lost them when I went through some woods and out the other side. By then I was already into the clouds and lost them further. Before I knew it I popped out on the other side and found myself here."

Cruz inspected the fly before turning to me. "Are you sure you're not a witch?"

I clenched my fists at the question. "If I ever was one I certainly wouldn't put stupid spells on people like she does!"

Cruz looked rather surprised at my outburst and gave a slight chuckle. "Excuse me then." He turned back to the fly with some hidden agenda that I noticed. "Where did you say you found this?"

I walked over to the fly looking at it. "It was sitting along with the other fly's. Is this one different?" I touched it on the front of its pedestal with my fingers and it rippled making me leap back.

Cruz stepped in front of me to block me from the danger. I peered around him to watch the fly turn into an iron golem that stood three heads taller than us. I stood there speechless at it and slowly looked him up and down. Cruz moved the door shards to his side as he put his left hand on his hip looking up at the golem.

"Such strange things are happening ever since the disturbance in the other town. I guess you were one of the witch's tests?"

The golem made a grating sound as if he were talking and turned to me. I hid behind Cruz slightly scared. I had never seen such a beast before and wasn't sure if it was nice or not. Cruz stepped away from me leaving me to face the golem. I looked up at it to see it turn around, take a flower from the ground and offer it to me. I looked to the flower, to the golem, and then to Cruz who shrugged.

"Golems are pretty docile and are rarely ever nasty. It's a sign of friendship."

I hesitantly took the flower from him and nodded. "Thank you."

The golem did his grating sound again before turning away and wandering around the yard as if on patrol. Cruz looked to me with a perplexed face. "How did you know where my house was?"

I twirled the flower in my fingers as I looked up at him. "You told me as you took me home. You were a mock admiral. The admiral bitched out the other officers for believing in the fake by the way. They actually tried to harm me while I was trying to get away from them."

It then hit Cruz who I was when I saw his face change. "Margo! You're the one from the armor shop that everyone is looking for?! I thought you were the other sister?!"

I glared at him when he brought up my sister. "You were going to sacrifice my sister?!"

"Sacrifice? You know about that?" he asked leaning forward slightly. "How?"

"It doesn't matter how I know about that, how dare you sacrifice innocent women!" I bark angrily at him making the iron golem turn and stare at us. "Do you know the broken families and people that are affected by the missing women?!"

Cruz snorted walking back towards the house. He was upset that the fools in the town had made a blunder. He stopped as he stepped through the doorway and turned back to me. "How did you turn to that? You didn't have black hair and you weren't plump."

"The witch did this to me! I thought I made that clear a moment ago?!" I snapped putting my hands on my hips.

He stared at me and rubbed his temple with his fingers. "I'm quite tired. I apologize. You aren't the one that I wanted and now I come to find out that it's your sister. Shit. Forget I ever said anything."

"Hell no!" I said lashing out angrily and stomping after him as we descended into the lower part of the house. "I want to know what in hell you were going to sacrifice my sister for!"

"It's not important. I'll find someone else," he replied tiredly. "As for the spell you'll have to break it on your own because I don't have a clue how."

I stopped on the last step as he dumped the splintered pieces of door in the fireplace where Modesto began to burn them with eagerness. "You don't know how to break me of my spell? Am I seriously hearing you correctly?"

Cruz collapsed into the chair that I had been sitting in. "Yeah. You heard me correctly. The witch has done a spell that I don't know. I'll help you get rid of it once I research a bit."

I stepped off the last step and walked over to him slowly. "How long will that take? I mean, I was sold to you as payment. Now I'm not what you wanted and you fucking knew that it was ink the entire damn time!"

"She's got brilliant points," crackled Modesto which Cruz kicked a log at and knocked back down into the grate.

"Shut up!" Cruz snapped and looked to me with a glare. "I got fucked over and you were dragged in it too and what's worse is that the witch was following me and cornered you! Do you honestly think that I'm enjoying any of this?!"

I hadn't thought about it that way nor thought how he'd see it. I was just focused on myself and all that I wanted. "So, you aren't going to sacrifice me or my sister?"

"No," he said flatly leaning forward towards the fire where Modesto burned the log while peeping out at him from the grate. "Stop asking me about that. It's none of your business anyways. I'm pissed that Modesto told you about it!"

Modesto ducked back into the grate and smoked in the fire place. "I'm sorry. I thought she knew…"

Cruz sighed through his nose before getting to his feet. "I'm going to get some sleep. Before that though I'll repair the door. As for you, Margo, I'll show you to your room once I'm done."

I stepped to the side as he walked briskly up the rotting stiars where I could here him fixing the door with magic. He returned in a moment and walked off to the livingroom where a hallway had been hidden behind a curtain that was dusty and moth eaten. Walking down the hall was a flight of stairs that led up into a wood and stone stairway before it leveled off into six rooms. He opened the last door to the right at the top of the stairs.

"This will be your room. The end room on the left is mine. There are two bathrooms. One next to mine and one next to yours." With that he turned and shut himself away in his room leaving me to stand in the doorway of my own.

I looked in on the dusty room grimacing at it. "I'm not about to sleep here until it's been cleaned." I shut the door and head back downstairs where I sit back in the chair and stare at Modesto smoldering in the grate.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have told you some things."

"Don't worry about it. Everything will be ok now maybe. In the morning I'll start cleaning this place a bit." Before I could finish off another sentence I was asleep in the chair once again.