Wolfheart

~Blade of Eternal Rest~ (9)

"It was you whom controlled me, was it not?" I posed the offensive as a question, leaving it open to debate, however I hadn't the slightest disbelief that this pile of bones was the one.

The ugly creature took two steps closer to my person, head low to the floor of the cavern, boney skull almost brushing the rocks. I could not discern whether or not it really had eyes as all its sockets did were glow sickeningly. The light within them pulsated every time its loud heartbeat thundered out through its ribs unchecked. "You were quite wonderful," it complimented, smiling a dragon's smile, exposing more of its rotting fangs.

I swung the weapon at its muzzle half-heartedly, "you made me kill her!" My voice shook with a mixture of consternation and ire. "Why?" I shook my head back and forth in a somewhat desperate manner, causing my silvery-gray, shoulder-length hair to whip my nose in the process. "I cannot leave this chamber," the undead monstrosity let loose its secrets with no seeming caution, what sort of predator was this thing? "Therefore, I was in need of an underling I could put beneath my power, someone who could perform my desired deeds in my stead."

"And I am easily controlled..." I finished the thought aloud, staring down at my reflection in the silvery blade. My blue-purple eyes were wide as ever they'd been, and my tattered clothing just added to my wild appearance. However, what stood out to me most, was the tight-fit green collar... with this restraint I was no better off than a lowly beast scavenging and hunting for its Master.

"In all respects," the animate bones slowly lowered themselves to the cave floor, curling the long, whip-like tail around its dangerous paws. "You arrived at an excellent time," the dragon's voice continued to torture my head, "I could not have wished for a better lackey." It drummed its talons on the stone, producing a slightly irritating clinking noise.

I did not respond, something had caught my attention from the reflection in Lanakila's sword - it appeared there was another weapon similar to the one I held in my right hand. It was the object giving off the majority of the green luminescence. Perhaps that was the real reason this boney beast could not leave its enclosure?

Sheathing the blade abruptly, I turned and began to scurry up the rock-face, disregarding the Undead One entirely. Placing both feet on a firm foothold, I shifted into my fur so as to make the lengthy leap up to the new sword. It was much lengthier than Lanakila's, its hilt was blood-red and the blade itself was a deep jade.

No sooner had my paws touched down some distance away from the weapon when quite suddenly, I was spiralling through the air. The Undead One had swung heftily with its tail, knocking my feet right out from underneath my person, I keeled off the ledge and slammed heavily into the stones below. The wind was forced from my lungs and the impact of the fall caused two of my right ribs to snap with a sickening crunch upon contact with the ground.

"The Blade of Eternal Rest is not for your pathetic being to wield," the dragon wheezed, menace positively pouring from every word.

'It is what may do you in, is it not?' I thought, unsteadily pulling myself to all four paws, glaring eye-to-eye-socket with the pile of bones. 'That is why you will not allow me near it.' I grinned nervously, wolfishly.

"It is none of your concern, Tyryn!" The Undead One squealed, a high-pitched, deafening squeal that made the cavern again tremble. I whimpered and shook my head, the sound pained my sensitive hearing. "Begone from here," the green fire in its eyes began to grow wilder, somehow, more terrifying. "Begone!" It wailed, throwing its head as far back as it would go, so far that the top of its skull was nearly in contact with its spine.

I quivered as violently as the cave walls, from both pain and anxiety. 'Time to leave,' I finally gave in to my "flee now" instincts, turned tail and galloped out of the underground enclosure.