Fearless

VIII

When Erik returned, Arielette was smiling in the darkness. How she had simply stood there with no light and no presence to accompany her baffled Erik. There would be no amount of times in which her lack of fear did not surprise him.

"Hold this," he beckoned to her with the lantern, the short gondola upon his shoulders. "It seems water-worthy, but their was no paddle, only a stick, so I imagine the lake does not go too deep."

Arielette only smiled in return, excitement beaming upon his strength and endurance.

He slid the boat into the water after unloading it from his back and held the end with his gloved hand, motioning for his partner to get in. The brunette lifted her skirts, stepped in, and kissed Erik before he pushed them off and hopped in himself, steadying his inordinate balance.

He guided them smoothly over the lake, the pillars acting as a map through the darkness.

"It is exquisite down here."

There was no wind and there was no life, Erik presumed, because of just how deep below the surface they were. The echo of their speech and the water lapping was unsettling, however.

"I cannot believe someone built the likes of this," Arielette broke the ride's silence.

"It is exquisite, but I feel I could have done better."

"An architect are you?" She teased.

Holding his chin up high, Erik nodded.

"I fancy myself anything I can think of, I know several languages from travelling with the gypsies, I know odd cures to almost any maladies, and I mastered ventriloquism from a man who stayed in the camps for a few years when I was a teenager. In terms of architecture and math, I came by those naturally."

Arielette looked mildly impressed, though what their lantern started to reveal caught her attention, and therefor, Erik's.

There was a house, on the other edge of the lake. It wasn't just a carving into the brute stone of the underground, no, it was an actual home with a door and windows, the walls going up into the ceiling of the cellar.

"Erik," Arielette said in amazement, her voice laden with every emotion of fascination. "When we reach the shore may we go in?"

"If there isn't a light to be seen, then I don't see why not."

Fear was racing through his veins, but that didn't mean much of anything when they hit the sandy shore of this complete oddity of an abode.

"I can't believe this," Erik breathed, his words short as the brunette at his side exited the boat and pulled him along with her.

"Neither can I, it is amazing."

Her warm hand gave a tug towards the door, and luckily for Erik, astonishment was winning out as his prominent emotion.

Upon the door was an extremely worn piece of parchment, one that hadn't seen the light of day in what must have been years. As Erik took it from the wood, it nearly fell apart in his hands.

"To whomever comes upon this home in the underground...

Privacy and safety for he who found...

Take the key behind the door,

The public eye will see you no more."

"Whoever made it is giving it away," Arielette spoke happily, grabbing the handle and rushing inside, dim light from their lantern that Erik held illuminating the sparse furniture and large room.