Chapter 4

A Chapter by Isemay

The jarring impact stirred him from his slumber. Vezar’s eyes opened in the blackness and he realized he was face down. His thoughts were sluggish but after some time he realized that, sealed in the stone sarcophagus, it should not have been possible. The mask was still bolted to the bottom of the coffin.

He was still trying to understand how he was face down when he felt someone climb onto the steel coffin. It felt as though they were lying down on it. Sleeping on top of him. Vezar seethed. Who would dare? He would make this disrespectful wretch shake with fear before he took his miserable life. There would be such pain.

Waiting, he tried to organize himself through the haze. The coffin would be opened and he would be able to kill and consume this man. A single scratch would give him what he needed and after the traps they would have built into his prison he was assuredly injured. The sound of a light chain falling against the steel at his feet and no other sounds at all from the man made him consider how injured the man might be.

Vezar’s thoughts slowly turned to the horror of being trapped here, awake and alone, unable to escape. A half remembered thought fluttered at the back of his mind refusing to grow clear. His anticipation of killing this man turned to a growing dread of having come so close to freedom only to be left in a worse situation. How long would he have to wait for another to come this close? How long had it been?

The sounds of stirring above him were a relief. He listened as the locks were opened, with what felt like impressive speed. The hammering to free his mask from the coffin made him wonder how it had been affixed.

At last the coffin was opened and a pleasant female voice spoke quietly, “There we are.”

Her voice was like the feeling of silk on his skin. She cut off the amulet and the memories that had refused to come clear flooded him. That was the amulet’s purpose, to muddy his mind to make him lash out to destroy the hope of… she was gingerly moving him. “Careful not to break you.”

Unafraid. Unafraid to touch him. Vezar smiled under his mask. She was trying to be respectful, putting him back into his coffin as if he were meant to be at rest. He noticed she didn’t try to lock the locks, for which he was grateful. It would have been difficult, if not impossible in his condition to get out if she had.

The half-elf was lovely and her presence felt like a blessing, a gift. Lifting his head slowly until the mask touched the glass, he watched her stealing his crown. He wondered how it was she could see in the dark. The jewel on the chain circlet was the likely explanation. Vezar waited until she disappeared into the hole in the wall to open the coffin and climb out.

He followed at a slight distance, almost afraid that she would turn and see him. She was intent on getting out of the prison and she walked confidently as if she knew this place. Her acrobatics over and around the traps instead of disabling them impressed him as much as they annoyed him. Had she disabled them his own escape would have been easier, but seeing her ease was educational. He would put traps on the walls if he ever planned such a prison.

By the time he reached the portcullis he was afraid she had already left. Vezar didn’t give himself time to wonder what she had used to burn her way in, scoring the floor. He needed to see if there was any sign of where she had gone. He needed her. The last trap at the entrance almost caught him by surprise, had he not noticed the dried blood before stepping onto the plate it would have been painful.

And then he was out. He blinked, looking around in the painful brightness, his eyes adjusting more quickly than a human’s would, and there she stood. The half-elf was speaking to a jumbled, dismembered corpse at her feet. He strained to hear.

“You didn’t deserve this. I will get you home, and I’ll do it before I hunt that lich down and give him the amulet he wanted so badly.” She looked so concerned.

“A cart would be helpful.” Vezar offered. Helping her to get her friend home would make her grateful and more likely to give him what he needed.

Her head whipped around and she blinked at him. “It would. So would living long enough to actually keep my promise.”

Vezar smiled under his mask approaching slowly. She didn’t run. “Why would I kill you? You freed me.”

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