Chapter 21

Instead of the portal returning us inside the Mausoleum like I had originally thought, I was overjoyed to find myself outside. The air was crisp and cool, the stars and trees were just as I had remembered them and the moon would be completely full the very next night. Even though this was my first time outside in a hundred years according to Dan, the land felt unchanged; not counting the scent of death or walking dead factor of course. And that's another thing: if I had been trapped for a hundred years, how was I still alive and strong instead of looking like Dan? Either way, I would not complain as long as I wasn't going to turn into one of Zarok's disgusting demons, but I was going to thank him for the crystal keeping me young all these years anyway.

Looking at Dan, I saw he was digging around in his satchel with a concentrated look on his face. "What's wrong?" I asked as I looked at him with concern as he furrowed his eye sockets together in worry. "I cannot find the key the stain-glass monster dropped. Oh wait! There it is." he said with a relieved sigh as he pulled out a large key made from multicolored glass. After he put it back, I playfully swatted his hand as he started affectionately playing with the horns on my helmet and started walking down the worn dirt path towards a deep fast-flowing stream with a broken bridge in the middle.

As I made to jump across, Dan suddenly snatched me away from the edge and pulled me to him. "Saphira wait, it's too dangerous. You could fall in, or get eaten by a giant fish!" he panicked as I gave him a deadpanned look from inside my helmet. 'A giant fish? Really Dan?' I thought amused as I wiggled out of his grip and faced him. "How long have you known me, a hundred years? You should know by now that danger fears me." I said as I ran toward the end of the bridge, jumped off my hands in a handspring, front-flipped over the gap and landed on my feet in a crouch on the other side.

Standing up, I turned to face Dan who looked like a love-struck teenager as he stood frozen in his spot. 'I just can't help but mess with him a bit.' I thought with a mischievous giggle as I called to him. "Are you going to jump across, or do I have to come get you?" I teased as he suddenly shook his skull before running and jumping over the bridge altogether. "Showoff." I smirked when I saw the cocky look in his eye. "What can I say, I'm the Hero of Gallowmere. I'll show you!" he said as he drew his sword and stabbed and slashed at the air as if he were fighting multiple enemies at once. That display would have impressed me, if he hadn't tripped over his floppy feet and fell face-first into the dirt, causing a large cloud of dust to float into the air. Laughing, I bent down and helped him up and dusted him off as he pulled a stone out of his left eye socket.

"Well, at least you were graceful." I said as he gave me a sheepish look before walking slightly in front of me, leading me further down the path. As we walked toward a bend in the path, I noticed the Pine trees were growing far closer together, making them a perfect place for an ambush. Quietly unsheathing my claws, I eyed the tree line for any signs of movement. Just as I had predicted, as soon as we rounded the corner, several zombies and skeletons holding shields and swords lunged at us. At Dan's startled yelp, I dashed forward and stabbed my claws through the back of a zombie's head that had tried to bite through Dan's armor.

Noticing me, the zombies preferred to go for me since I actually had meat on my bones they could eat. As they lumbered towards me, Dan started dismembering and stabbing the ones surrounding him while casting me worried looks every now and then. "Just worry about yourself, leave these guys to me." I said to him as I snatched a skeleton's skull in my palm before flexing my wrist, crushing its brittle skull to dust. As a zombie grabbed me from behind, I sank my claws into its rotting arms and pulled it forward as I arched my back, causing the zombie to become skewered on the spines along my back.

Glancing at Dan, I saw he was a bit overwhelmed at the number of zombies surrounding him, but when I tried to assist he halted me with a grin. "Saphira, look what I can do!" he said as he pulled his sword arm back and spun his torso completely around his body, killing every zombie that was near him. Ripping a zombie's head from its shoulders, I gave it a good kick as it flew and landed in the stream with a splash. "Very impressive Dan." I praised as I grabbed a skeleton by its arms and kicked it in the chest, scattering its bones in every direction. Once the worm-ridden corpses were dealt with, we continued on our way out of the rather intimidating graveyard.

After a few moments, a rather fat zombie lumbered out from behind a wall, making Dan stand protectively in front of me. As it lumbered closer, I suddenly had an idea as I tapped Dan on his shoulder. "Why don't you give the hammer Stanyer gave us a try?" I suggested as he nodded before putting away his sword and hefted the heavy war hammer off his back, while I took Tim's crossbow to help him lighten the load. As he lifted the hammer, I looked down the sights of the crossbow and fired a bolt between a zombie's eyes that had approached from the side. As it fell, I was shocked to find I had killed not one, but TWO zombies with that one shot.

When I was done praising myself and keeping stray zombies away, I looked at Dan just as he brought the hammer down on the fat zombie's head, trying not to be sick at the sound of crunching bones and squishy fluids; or at the sight of the gore-splashed hammer as Dan picked it back up. Seeing that the hammer made the zombie look like something the Butcher would grind up to feed his dog, we both quickly agreed to use the hammer more often, despite the nasty mess it causes.

After an hour of following Dan through the graveyard: kindly renamed Fortesque by the villagers and killing things that go bump in the night, we finally stopped at a large red door with the face of a snarling monster on it. As Dan searched for the key, I climbed over a low-point in the wall and found a yellow chest. Opening it, I let out a small cry of victory as I pulled out the medium-sized silver shield and a strange blue stone with a carving of a moon in the middle. As I returned to where Dan was, I decided to give the shield to him because he was more exposed than I was, while placing the strange stone in a small satchel I had found in a bush.

"Hey Dan, catch!" I yelled as I threw the shield like a disk in his direction, trying not to laugh as he fought to grab it. Once he could get a good look at what I had found, his eye lit up as he turned to me with a smile. "This is great! Where did you find it?" he asked as he slipped it on his arm. "I saw a section of the fence was gone so I went to take a look. That was in a chest I found in there." I said as he tested the weight of the shield before pulling out the stain-glass key. "Saphira, you're the best." he said as he hugged me before opening the door and leading me through.