Rojuun

Chapter11

Just when Tathan thought things couldn’t possibly get odder, something new would throw him for a loop.  A millennium and six centuries would be enough to make Tathan break an oath.  He knew that for a fact.  The knights of today were a joke.  Most were controlled by kings or priests and were used for political purposes, not purposes of honor.

There was a cool draft coming from the vault, which struck Tathan as unusual because vaults were shut off from any source of air.  Liselle and her knight and Tathan discovered the source of the draft.

A rough tunnel tall enough for a man to walk through reached from the forest to the back of the vault.  Not an ounce of treasure was left, unless one considered the nuts and harvests of forest rodents to be treasure.

“Powerful wards and runes protect those doors,” Sir Danth said, his voice filled with raw irony.  “And only fifty paces of simple rock protected the back wall of the vault.”  He began to laugh.  It was a hollow, haunted laugh.  “They even took the pedestal the crown was on!”  Sir Danth walked over to the nearest wall to bang his helmet against it.  The laughter became uncontrollable.

“Oh, Tathan!  Should we do something?” Liselle asked, looking at the poor knight.

“No.  Sometimes a man just needs to bang his head against a wall for a while.” Tathan put a comforting hand on her shoulder.  “Let him be.  The helmet isn’t taking any damage.  I can’t say the same thing for the wall.”

“This will be a perfect entrance if I dig it out some more!” Vevin told them excitedly.  “There was another set of doors on the north side of the last cave that might hold a vault.”

Liselle was looking at Sir Danth with pity.  “That sounds nice, Vevin,” she said.

“Do you think Sir Danth will let me have this as my home now?”  He was doing a hopeful dance.  Tathan was beginning to notice that Vevin had different dances for each mood.

“I’m pretty sure he doesn’t care anymore, Vevin.  You may have to patch up the hole he’s making in the wall by banging his head against it though.”  Tathan pointed at Sir Danth.

“Tathan, we should do something to help him,” Liselle pleaded.

He studied Sir Danth for a moment.  “Sixteen hundred years of guarding an empty vault alone?  If he’s still banging his helmet tomorrow, we’ll talk to him.”  He linked his arm in Liselle’s.  “Let’s see where the tunnel leads to, shall we?”  Without waiting for a response, he dragged her to the tunnel.

“Let me know what you find!” Vevin shouted after them.  “I’m going to go look at those other doors to see if they lead to a vault.”

“Scream if something tries to kill you,” Tathan shouted over his shoulder.

“I will!”  Vevin danced away.

“Neither one of them is human you know,” Tathan said to Liselle as they walked down the tunnel.

“I know Vevin isn’t, but Sir Danth seems to be . . . Isn’t he?” she asked.

“Humans don’t live for sixteen hundred years, Cousin.  He may have been human at one time, but not anymore.”

Realization dawned in her eyes.  “Oh . . . I hadn’t thought of that.”

They reached the end of the tunnel and looked around.  The entrance was on the side of a verdant hill leading down to a small valley, which had a stream running through it.  Above them was the edge of the ruined city.  To the north, the stream fell over a cliff.

Liselle pointed to an animal trail going through the trees at the level of the tunnel.  It appeared as though forest animals had used the tunnel as shelter over the years.  “I think we can get to the cliff without going all the way down to the stream.”