The Cursekeeper

Six Statues

Arthur opened his eyes with a sharp breath and found himself on his back inside a very dark, empty space. He quickly sat up and looked around before standing up, his movements echoing. "Hello?" his voice rang out.

"Arthur..." someone whispered behind him.

He jerked around and saw Lilly's back to him. She was on her knees and she was whispering to a marble figure on a pedestal. Arthur rushed closer and saw that the figure was himself.

"Did you make me a shrine?" he asked himself with a chuckle. "Oh, you clever woman." Lilly's body shook as she raised her head back suddenly, slumping over on the side and sobbing silently. Arthur immediately bent down to grab her but his hands went through her. "Can you hear me, honey?"

Lilly continued to cry on the floor quietly, her eyes squeezed shut as she bashed her fist on the ground. Arthur felt his eyes water as he watched his wife cry in agony. There was nothing he could do and he hoped to the gods that this was just a memory and not something that was currently happening. After a while, though, Lilly seemed to calm down and she held up a palm slowly as she started making gestures with her fingers. Arthur carefully examined each motion, immediately realizing that it was sign language, something had he had to learn so Lugh could teach him, Sean and others to speak a made up version of sign language.

"F...R...E...E...D...O...M..." he said out loud before bursting into tears.

Arthur had tried so hard to remain optimistic, thinking that maybe his wives were okay. Obviously, they were far from it if the scene before him was true. He situated himself behind her, putting his arms in her body in an attempt to pretend he was holding her.

"I wish I was really holdin' you right now, honey," he whined sadly. "I miss you so much. If you can hear me, we killed Dubh and the door is open. Darrach's workin' on a way to get you and the others out, but I'm comin' for you. Ain't nothin' gonna stop me, even if I have to die to get to you." Lilly placed a palm on the foot of Arthur's shrine, still remaining as quiet as a mouse while crying. "I didn't even know you knew how a shrine worked. I was gonna show ya all about that after our...after the vow renewal and royal inauguration ceremonies." Arthur rested his forehead on the floor as he wept. "I never showed you the mine and I never took you flyin' in Big Boah. I thought we had time for all that, but...fate seems to wanna keep messin' with our lives."

Lilly raised her hand and started signing again. This time, she spelled out "karma". Arthur couldn't help but chuckle sadly.

"Yeah, I reckon we brought this on ourselves, what with all the reckless killin' and robbin' we done. But...I like to think that you, at least, have done enough good in the world to make up for all the bad. You have your flaws, but underneath all the scars and the temper and all the...heh heh, remarkable but crazy powers you got, do you know what I and a lot of others see?"

Arthur knew she couldn't hear him, but he felt like maybe, just maybe, she could feel his emotions come through.

"We see a hero. I ain't gonna lay here to tell you that you have some sort of big destiny that needs to be fulfilled because, well, that's a lot of weight to put on anyone's shoulders and you already got too much to carry. But we need you to be a hero right now, okay? Some of the gang got locked up in your head somewhere and we need to get them out, too."

The shrine sunk into the ground and Lilly felt around for it, lifting herself and shaking uncontrollably. Arthur sat up as he watched her. "What are you doin'?" he asked.

Lilly turned around and Arthur's jaw dropped when he saw her face. She had no eyes, her ears were bleeding and her throat had instrument strings hanging out of it, and they were dripping with her blood. "My god, what did he do to you?"