Heartstone

Princess Quest

The skeleton mulled the issue over. "Well, you did help me out. And you aren't going to last very long in Heartstone on your own. It's a dangerous place."

"Don't I know it!" Arwin exclaimed. "I met a blue screen of death!"

The skeleton sighed. "I suppose I could lend you a hand."

Arwin crooked an eyebrow. "Did you just do that on purpose?"

The skeleton made a roguish smile. "It's good to be able to laugh at yourself once in a while, right?"

Arwin beamed, pleased. "What's your name, sir skeleton?"

"Yaz."

"Arwin." He offered his hand. "Yaz, I hope this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

Yaz grinned wider and shook hands. "What true friendship isn't? It's my pleasure to welcome you to Heartstone, Arwin."

"Thank you!" Arwin did indeed feel welcome. He recalled how things had gone wrong with Eddie, a good friend, back on his world. There was a momentary hesitation at forming a new friendship, but this was a friendly, animated, talking skeleton! Of course, he was going to befriend it. Skeletons were awesome. Especially dancing ones. He wondered if Yaz could dance. A question for later, perhaps. He waited three seconds. "Say, can you dance?"

Yaz looked at him oddly. "Of course."

"Awesome." Arwin admired his newfound friend, studying him and trying, perhaps failing, not to stare.

The skeleton was naked, unhampered by the silly convention of clothing. While he appeared whole and as healthy as someone undead might, closer inspection hinted at the man's age and perhaps at an eventful past. Yaz had a thin crack in his skull, hairline fractures here and there around his body, a metal plate in his left forearm that was keeping the bones in place, and one rib that appeared to be freshly bandaged to keep it in one piece.

"Wow. You look like you've survived a scrape or two in the past." When Yaz gave him a questioning look, Arwin nodded towards the metal brace, then pointed at the rib fracture.

"Ah." Yaz held his arm up and looked at the injury. "Yeah. As far as I can tell, I'm immortal but not quite invulnerable. This is the price of being an adventurer. I'm luckier than most, though. If I still had flesh, many of the things that caused these would have killed me. It's not so bad. I still have a complete set. Haven't lost any yet."

"Any what?"

"Bones. And I don't mind a crack or chip here and there. Girls like scars. They think it's sexy."

Arwin laughed. "Mental note: get scars on grand adventures, but don't die. Then impress women." He felt himself bonding with Yaz already. "So, before the unfortunate troll struck, where were you off to?"

"I'm on a quest for love and honour. Actually, I've been on this quest before. I've recently taken the task up again after an extended break. One last hurrah."

"Cool! What's the objective?"

"I'm going to rescue a princess."

"Oh, ok. Of course, you are." Arwin mock-condescendingly patted Yaz a couple of times on the bony shoulder. "How very cliché."

"No, really," the skeleton insisted with a frown. "I am going to rescue a princess."

Arwin snorted. "Yeah, I'm sure. Why wouldn't you be? Blue fields that make you sad, bluebells for blue belles, funny trolls, talking skeletons. Why wouldn't there be princesses here too?"

Yaz nodded matter-of-factly. "Exactly."

Arwin shrugged. "Ok, if you insist. And how do you happen to know a real princess? Why does she need rescuing?"