Յյ 𝔇𝔞𝔶𝔰 𝔬𝔣 ℌ𝔞𝔩𝔩𝔬𝔴𝔢𝔢𝔫 [𝔄 𝔗𝔚𝔖𝔗 𝔉𝔞𝔫𝔣𝔦𝔠]

𝟐𝟏 | 𝐒𝐢𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐫

ᵗʰᵉ ᵈʳᵃᵍᵒⁿ'ˢ ˡᵃⁱʳ

𝔖𝔬𝔫𝔤: 𝔈𝔫𝔬𝔠𝔥'𝔰 𝔇𝔬𝔩𝔩𝔰 - 𝔐𝔦𝔨𝔢 ℌ𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔞𝔪, 𝔐𝔞𝔱𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔴 𝔐𝔞𝔯𝔤𝔢𝔰𝔬𝔫

Warnings: none that I can think of

♥♠♣♦ ——　☠　—— ♥♠♣♦

The catacombs were thick with the stench of death and decay. Rats skittered across the floor, bits of bone and rotten meat clenched between their yellowing teeth, their little claws like marbles rolling across a marble floor. Spiders hung from the ceiling as if they were decorations, swinging to and fro in the draft that swept through the caverns like snakes searching for their next meal. Tiny streams of water ran through the broken stone tiles on the floor, glistening like poison in the dim green light that flowed from the end of the cavern. Bats fluttered about, screeching and screaming for a quick meal of insects, longing for the delectable taste of their oozing guts between their teeth, mixed with the taste of the blood of the rats. A delicious delicacy to the bats' picky palette.

Silver grimaced as a rat scuttled across in front of him, a human finger hanging from its teeth. The human finger didn't look as though it had been living for a long while. The flesh was pale and rigid, clinging to the bone like a lifeline as mould started to creep into it. No doubt the rat would die of food poisoning within the next few days, if not the next few hours, but not before it could reproduce and birth more of its vile kind.

Malleus, Sebek, and Lilia also flinched as they realised the state of the catacomb dungeon. While the dungeons in the castle that they had been to had been kept relatively clean, though the rats still ran through the small cracks in the walls, often ending up as food for starving prisoners before they could make it to the end.

Malleus lifted his hand and covered his nose, trying not to gag at the foul stenches of decaying bodies, cavern algae, and the toxic river that trickled through the stones. He was suddenly glad for the enchanted armour that both he and his companions wore. No doubt they would need it in a place like this.

"Are you sure this is where she was taken," Lilia asked, holding a torch aloft. The light caught a small pile of broken glass resting against the wall opposite them, beneath a torch that had long gone dead. There weren't even the embers of a recently snuffed-out fire, the last bits of life clinging to the oil that remained, and the coals that offered a bed for the flames. It seemed as though the place was completely abandoned, and appeared to have been for centuries.

"I'm sure," Silver said. He grabbed a torch from the wall, making sure to shake off the spider that was hanging from the end and held it out for his father to light. Sebek and Malleus did the same. Though they were all powerful mages who could easily take care of a rouge cavern beast or a spider that had been cursed to act as the guard for the dungeons, no one wanted to face a monster in the dark.

The sound of chains moving down the corridor drew their attention. Large thick iron manacles brushed against the ground as if being dragged by something. Or someone.

Silver turned to the men who had accompanied him and lifted his torch higher, pulling out his sword and taking a step into the gloom of the cave system. He had been surprised to find that the kidnapper had taken his beloved into a cavern deep when the wings of the assailant seemed much too big to fit through the stone archways, and the paws seemed much too large to carefully step around the piles of rubble that lay scattered throughout the dungeon. Were dragon scales even immune to the effects of a toxin?

The boy stopped by a trickle of glowing and knelt down, pulling out a glove and a vial from his pocket. He handed his torch to Sebek, who held it above his head, allowing the silver-haired knight to see what he was doing. He snapped on the glove, ensuring that it was tight around his fingers, before taking the vial in hand and dipping it into the water, the mouth facing upstream as to catch the flow of whatever was in the water. Once the crystal vial was about half full, Silver pulled it up and pressed a cork into the mouth, shutting off any attempts that the liquid might make to escape into his bag. The last thing he wanted was for all of his personal belongings, and the belongings of his companions, to be contaminated by whatever poison swam through the water. Once he had tucked it safely into the bag, which Lilia had been kind enough to carry, he took his torch from Sebek again and continued to lead the men deeper into the darkness.