Red Fang II

Chapter 20 (L/T Arc): The Treasure Guide

We last read Chapter 19, in which Lily Ladair and Theo Ladair successfully follow Boripedes, Mavis Ladair a.k.a. Red Fang, and her husband Garson to Boripedes's Island via riding on a whale's back, continuing to stay out of sight as they trail the trio. Lily and Theo then attempt to follow Boripedes, Mavis, and Garson down to the former's underground base, but because neither of them paid attention to the code that Boripedes placed into the coding tablet on the back wall, Lily is forced to guess. After several failed attempts—after all of which her lover Theo is constantly and amusingly injured by numerous booby traps—Lily fails one too many times and gets herself and Theo dropped through the floor into a hidden underground divot which quickly begins to fill with sand.

Lily spots an exit out of the divot, but it's currently too high for them to reach, so she and Theo simply focus on surviving until the rapidly-dropping sand elevates them high enough to get to it. On the way up, the pair fight off numerous animal head effigies which menacingly rise up from the sand and blast the vampires with laser beams from their "eyes"; not only do they do a remarkable job, but Lily actually deflects one of the volleys with her flute, shattering the stone iguana effigy to pebbles. Eventually, she and a now-clean Theo reach the other end of the divot and locate the exit, now accessible thanks to the sand's elevation. After affirming to Theo that there is treasure hidden within the passages, the intrepid duo advance forward, eager to continue with their mission.

This time, Lily and Theo are joined by a rather eccentric "ally", and tackle the next obstacle separating them from untold riches.....

***********************************************************************************************

After getting past the divot full of sand, Lily Ladair and Theo Ladair bolted through the exit passageway near the top of the wall and eventually came to a short hallway with an inlaid rectangle-shaped alcove on the left side. Said alcove had nothing within it aside from two lit torches on the left and right corners and a barrel sitting exactly in the center with a human skull plopped on top of it. The entryway at the other end of the hallway was already open, and the way to the next chamber was free.....but Lily and Theo couldn't help but wonder if the human skull was there for a reason.

"Heh. Check that out," Lily said to Theo, elbowing him. "We could channel Shakespeare or something."

Then, she immediately began walking over to the skull, despite Theo desperately warning her that it could be another trap. Thankfully, it wasn't, and Lily picked up the human skull—and even played around with it for a while—without any issues.

"Well, hello there, Mr. Bones.....what are you doing here all by yourself?" Lily asked the skull jokingly as she slipped it onto her left hand. Then, switching between her normal voice and a different one, she pretended to speak for the skull. "'Oh, jeez, I don't know, Lily! But I do know one thing.....I've simply been DYING to see you'! Oh, why thank you, Mr. Bones, I—"

"Hey! What's the big idea?!" the human skull said of its own accord, giving Lily and Theo quite the spook.

After a humorous and reflexive reactionary scream which alternated between Lily and Theo and the talking skull for several seconds, the dumbfounded flute-playing vampire was the first to speak.

"Did you just talk?!" Lily exclaimed. "You did not just talk. .....Did you just talk?! 'Cause I've just been talking for you all this time!"

".....I've seen your kind before!" Theo remarked, also looking at the talking skull. "You're all over the death metal album covers! And some hard rock ones, too!"