What Heroes Don't Think About

wrecked and rotting, Part III

They continued on through the cave, this time a bit more cautiously than before. They weren't so cautious to refrain from a whispered conversation. "If I turn into a zombie," Dominic said, "you should burn me to make sure every inch of my body is actually permanently dead and the zombie spell is completely broken. And then scatter my ashes at sea."

"Why at sea?" asked Didi, maybe a bit more sharply she'd intended. Dominic recoiled a bit at her tone. She hadn't meant to sound accusing, but the sea was their mother's idol. It was the only thing their mother couldn't control, Didi supposed. And because it was greater than her, she sought to draw power from it, as though it was her own personal well. That's why she frequently sacrificed people to it.

Didi would not want to be buried at sea.

Dominic only said, "I like water."

The cave narrowed into a linear path, though it was now tilted sharply downward. They had to move very slowly to avoid slipping on the damp ground, and frequently the pebbles they kicked began tumbling downwards. The echoed moaning, which had quieted but not stopped after Dominic froze the zombies, had started to rise in volume again. There was also another light source ahead, Didi noticed; the one behind them had faded into nothing. This one was brighter but smaller, and looked almost more like a candle on the ground right in front of them than something large in the distance ahead.

Dominic had closed most of the gap between them, and kept bumping into her. "Back off a bit," Didi said, when he still hadn't had the sense to do so himself after the fifth collision.

"Sorry!" he said. "I just can't' see you very well."

"Well, I don't think we're that far from the light now." A pause. "What do you think is down there?"

"I dunno, maybe, more zombies and an evil necromancer?" He said it in the same tone of voice one might use to say "duh."

"Do you think the other adventurers might still be alive?" Didi asked. If they were, this might be the night Didi actually accomplished something heroic. She could call herself a hero after that. Officially.

Dominic didn't answer her question. Didi began to plan her strategy for her next zombie encounter, but that soon faded into a daydream about bursting in to the evil necromancer's experimentation room just in time to find the necromancer about to carve into the boy with the braids. Didi would rescue him just in time, and take the boy and his less-handsome friend home to Red Larch and comfort him about the death of his friends and then they would fall in love.

As the light grew bigger, though, Didi and Dominic had the sense to slow down and proceed with caution. The light was coming from an opening in the ground just ahead; the hole was small but the light was so bright it was as though the sun was shining through that opening. As they neared, the low humming sound picked up, but so did other sounds: something half melodic, half a screech, like a newbie's attempt at playing the violin beyond their ability.

Didi and Dominic exchanged wordless glances and advanced while pressed against the cave wall, Didi keeping her gaze straight and Dominic watching their rear for enemies. When they reached the source of the light, a hole which came up to about Didi's knee length, she shot Dominic a glance to confirm he was keeping track of their surroundings, then ducked down to peer inside.

But her long hair saw the light before she did – and something inside took the chance to grab her by it, yanking her down. At the same time, a shadowy figure fell from above; Didi barely glanced it falling on Dominic as a skeletal hand yanked her into the cave. She had no choice but to follow the pull on her neck, but she grappled for her spear in the meantime.