Chapter 14 - Y
"Man eating mansion?! No-one told me that we'd be coming to a haunted house!" What the hell? I would not have come if I had known this bit of information. Why didn't Zael tell me?
"You're not scared are you?" Dagran had a smirk that told me he was going to make this a living nightmare for me.
"Of course I'm not! Is it insane to just not want to go into a place called 'the man eating mansion'?" I started to walk forward, convincing myself that this wasn't as bad as it seemed.
"Oh my god. Did you guys see that?" Zael pointed towards one of the downstairs windows.
"Don't even think about trying to scare me. It's not cool." I would have expected Lowell to do that, but not Zael of all people. Jeeze.
"No. I'm not joking. There was a boy there. Then when I looked closer he disappeared." He gazed back at the window.
Dagran sighed. "If you want to scare people, that's not the way to do it. You really need to work on that."
I looked back at Zael. He looked serious. Maybe he did see something. Maybe he's as scared as I am. "But there was-," he smiled awkwardly, "Okay, you got me." The rest of the group laughed it off and teased him a little, but as soon as they looked away from him, his face went back to a confused and serious look. I wondered, maybe he really did see something. I could understand that. The more you defend a point that no-one wants to hear, the more they'll shut you down for it. That was something I learned at a very early age about my father and any other thing that I had an opinion on.
"Are you ready?" Horace was about to open the door when Dagran stepped in front of him to do the exact same thing. He's so pushy. It's no surprise that I don't like him. The door didn't open.
"What the hell?" he pulled a few more times then walked away from it. "It's not opening."
"Well I guess that means we can go back to the tavern now," I turned around and started back towards the gate.
"Wait!" Lowell's voice rang through my head. I stopped and, mustering all of the bravery I could at the moment, decided to turn around. "We might be able to find another way in." I knew he was going to say something like that. Shit. I don't want to go in. I looked over at Zael to see if he would help me out, granted we were here to save someone. He wouldn't give up his values for me being a pansy. I respect that.
He was still staring into the window. There was someone there. I couldn't see him, but if he said there was a little boy there, I believed him. I mean, it is a haunted mansion.
Dagran and Lowell started to look around to find some way to get in. As I started walking towards the stairs where Zael was standing, the doors suddenly swung open. If he hadn't looked at me right as it happened, I would have actually screamed… Loudly.
"See! I knew Yurick was the key to this." Dagran ran towards the door.
"It smells fear," a voice whispered from right behind me causing me to freeze up as the chill went straight through me. Lowell walked passed me laughing. Holy shit! How did he even get back there? He was in front of me just a second ago!
Everyone seemed to be okay with just walking right into a scary ass mansion. Everyone except me, that is. No way was I going to walk in there.
"Come on." Zael's hand extended to me. God, I wished right then that I didn't love him so much. I took his hand and we walked inside. I took a huge breath in, but it came out way to fast as the door behind us closed with a very loud slam. I swung around quickly, gripping his hand tighter. My head felt like it was going to spin off of my shoulders.
"Oi, don't just close the door!" Dagran ordered.
"Well, it wasn't me," Lowell shrugged.
"It's like it closed on its own," I bit the inside of my cheek.
Lowell walked over to the door and attempted to open it. "No dice. Looks like we're trapped in here."
"What?" I could feel blood on my tongue.
I heard Zael snicker behind me. "Hey," he spun me around and lightly placed his hands on my shoulders. "We are going to be alright." My heart wanted to agree, but was taken over by the overwhelming blockade of fear in my mind, but I nodded reluctantly. I looked around the room and saw an empty grand hall with four pillars topped with gargoyles. There were also suits of armour in little alcoves all over the room, including one on top of the other from the ceiling to the floor. There was a creepy chandelier in the centre that looked like it would fall at any moment. It looked so scary. I don't know who in their right mind would come in here. I looked at Zael. Right mind….. well, I suppose I'm the only one with a straight head in here. Then I looked at the carpet. "What's that?" It was something small and shiny.
I heard something shake, then I blacked out as something hit me.
I woke to everyone crowded around me. Apparently I was only out for a few minutes.
"Yurick! Are you okay?" Zael put a hand on my shoulder and helped me sit up.
"W-What the hell?" I could hear my voice crack as I looked around me to see a broken chandelier. There was glass everywhere.
Dagran walked around the room casually, "Their reception leaves me a little cold. Be careful."
Yeah, whatever, asshole. We shouldn't even have come in here. I rubbed my head. "I'm fine, thanks," I glared at him.
He ignored my comment. "Quite a ghastly place, judging by the welcome."
"That's aristocrats for you; nutjobs, the lot of 'em," Lowell grinned.
I sat back on my feet and put my head on my knees. Owwwww.
Dagran wondered over to the door across from the entrance. "Let's try through here."
I looked up to see where everyone was headed when WHITE SKELETEN HANDS came THROUGH THE WALL and grabbed him, pulling him INTO THE WALL!
"Dagran!" Zael yelled, running towards the wall. "Dagran, answer me!" he hit the wall, like that would do anything.
"Cool it, Zael!" Lowell pulled him back. "It's just a trap."
"Cool it? Are you mad?" I was pretty sure that was a rhetorical question.
"He ain't gonna get done in that easy." Lowell inspected the door. "Let's keep going."
I looked over at Horace, who was shaking just as bad as I thought I was, but my head hurt too much to even shiver anymore. I stood up and walked over to Zael. "He says 'Be careful' and he's the first to get done in, the stupid bastard."
"Master Dagran-," Horace muttered softly.
Lowell stopped for a second and gripped his sword tightly, "This place really sends a shiver down my spine."
If it had been up to me, which it obviously wasn't, we would have left as soon as the door opened, but I knew better and I knew that Zael would never leave a friend, let alone his brother.
Zael opened the door and I found myself screaming to the first thing to happen, which was one word; bats. Of course it had to be bats.
We ran through the doorway once it was cleared of the rats with wings. Disgusting little creatures, really. I fixed my hair and followed them. "This mansion is not normal."
"Nobody here… Dagran, if you're here, answer me!" Zael looked around the room, which appeared to be a bedroom with a few bookshelves.
"I can't believe it's really happening," Horace said with a weak voice as his knees trembled.
I looked at him with a worried look on my face, scared that Zael, or worse, myself, would be the next victim. "Horace, are you sure you don't know anything about this place?"
He didn't answer. His eyes followed Lowell, who bent to the floor. "Hmm, what are these scratches?" I glanced over to what he was looking at to see that they led to a mirror…. A mirror that reflected the room, but not the people in it. It was like a portal to another dimension or some crazy thing. I started shaking, which grew worse as I saw the mirror ripple.
"Umm, Lowell," I started.
"Don't be such a baby, Yurick." He looked back towards me with a smile, but all I could do was point at the armed skeleton that grabbed him. "AH!" he screamed as it dragged him by his feet back into the mirror. "W-Wait! Don't eat me! I taste terrible! There's a girl I know. She's got some real prime beef!"
I didn't know whether to scream or smack him in the face. He was talking about Syrenne, the prick. I'd be sure to tell her that when we got back to the tavern so she could rip his head off…. If we got back to the tavern…
"Damn it! Lowell!" Zael ran after him, but couldn't go through the mirror.
"One more down…" Horace mumbled. "Where could they have possibly disappeared to?"
"I told you lot that we shouldn't have come here! Didn't I say that?! How come no-one ever listens to me? It's always 'stop being a baby' or 'you're just a pansy', well now look. At least I'm still alive." I ranted.
"Master Zael, what's that mirror?" Horace was quaking in his boots.
"I don't know, but we have to get them back," was all he said before searching around the room again. He circled the room then walked slowly back towards the mirror. "Are the others trapped in here?" He looked deep into the vortex like abyss.
"Zael look out! Behind you!" I didn't care that I sounded like a little girl when I screamed. No-one was going to hurt him but me when we got out of this retched place. I grabbed my dagger and charged towards the skeletal figure. I cut it once before Zael got the same idea and drew his sward as well.
"I-It's a skeleton!" Horace shrieked, then hid behind the bed.
"I know what it is! Now shut up!" I screamed at him as I began to concentrate on where to send my flames, but with Zael slashing at it, he kept getting in the way. I finally had an opening and was able to knock it down as Zael hit it with a final blow that was almost in slow motion. Damn he's sexy. I bit my lip as I ran over to him and stared at the pile of bones on the floor. "That's odd. He doesn't look like the last one." Then all of my fear rushed back to me, as it I had thrown it aside to help the man I hoped would be mine forever. "What the hell are we doing in this place?"
Zael stared down at his shoes, "Dagran, Lowell, Horace's wife… where did they go?" Then he had a change of thought track as he looked to the other side of the room. "Oh look, silver arrows. Do you know how rare these are to come by?" He bent down and picked them up, putting them in his quiver with the rest of his ammo.
I looked down at the table next to me, "Oh, a book. I wonder what's written in it." Then I thought, wow, how off track are we now, but books make everything in my world much better so I picked it up and opened it to a random page.
A dirty servant named Henrietta 27th of August.
It has been one month since I started working at this house. My master is very kind to me. His wife and child are also very nice when they call me. I am so glad I started working here. The rumours in the city are not true at all.
"Come on, let's go," Zael moved towards the next door. I closed the book, with my finger still holding my place and followed after him.
As we came into a hallway with, seemingly, no exits, I shivered. "Seriously, what's with this place?"
Horace slowed his walking pace, "The people in this city say this place is… cursed." He stopped and pointed to the grave yard outside of a window that I failed to see. "Many have entered, but none have ever returned."
"And you just now find it well enough to tell us? Maybe you should have mentioned that small detail!" Jeeze, it's like he's trying to get us killed.
"I'm sorry! I thought it only a silly rumour!" he paused, "I mean, who ever heard of a 'man eating mansion'?" -
I shivered as I suddenly remembered that it was called that. I nearly felt sick the first time they mentioned it.
"Yurick," Zael grabbed my hand, his eyes looked worried and sad, "let's just find Dagran and Lowell."
It took me a minute then I squeezed his hand and said, "Alright, but the sooner we find them, the sooner we leave. I don't like this place."
We began again walking down the hallway. I was still holding Zael's hand tightly. As we passed another window, that I actually noticed this time, it shattered, sending sharp pieces of glass and… more bats… towards me. I screamed again and pulled away from Zael in order to shield my face.
"Enough with the bats!" He yelled. I'm glad I'm not the only one with bat problems.
I put a hand to my chest, feeling how fast my pulse was. "My heart… It stopped for a second there."
Letting go of his hand was the worst thing I could have done. I tried taking a few steps forward to reach him again, but I couldn't move. "Zael," I started before I began to sink into the floor. I looked down at my disappearing legs. "AH! What is this?!" I screamed as my head was pulled under the wood.