Chapter 14: Dead And Alive

There it lay, a rotting giant of its former glory. Even on the outskirts, Lily could make out the distinct shape of the keep. Its strong shape had weathered over time, the sharp edges and lines turned to curves or broken off.

It had taken them the better half of the past 12 hours to reach it, they’d spent most of it traversing the bog that had grown around the keep. Lily kept looking at Thorne, trying to read his actions but he gave her no clues as to what he was thinking.

What would he think, seeing his keep destroyed?

Lily watched as Thorne threw his sword forward, out into the creeping fog. A second later, a loud thud echoed, scaring a family of crows. They crept closer; Thorne had pinned an undead warrior to a tree. It groaned, still struggling. Lily pitied the poor thing; she weaved a quiet sigil over the creature. Its shoulders tensed then fell slack as the final corrupt bits of life left it.

‘It’s too dangerous for you to stay out here,’ he said, wrestling his sword out of the corpse, ‘You’re going to have to come with me.’

‘Mhm.’ Lily nodded. She gripped at her knife, taking it out of her belt. It wasn’t much, but it was reliable. She hoped her mother was watching over her, just for today.

Lily’s legs sunk into the moist grass; she scrunched up her face to avoid thinking about the mud that was entering her shoes. Thorne showed no hesitation; he trudged on ahead of her. She tried to jump a little, just to avoid touching the ground as much as possible.

Thorne held out his blade with one hand, the other gently displacing reeds and tree branches that blocked their path. Lily followed timidly behind him, jumping at every crack of the wind or rustle of leaves.

A skeleton ran past, Lily screamed and dropped her knife to the ground. Thorne was quick, slamming the blunt side of his sword down onto it. She heard a sickening crack and then that was that.

‘Relax.’ He said, looking around, ‘We’ll draw too much attention.’

‘How am I supposed relax!?’ Lily made a screechy whisper, coughing a little, ‘There’s all these things!’

‘Just stay quiet,’ Thorne sighed, motioning her to follow after him. She shivered, picking back up her knife.

The keep was close now. It was a disgusting thing to behold, all kinds of nasty insects crawling along the edges; the plant-life that did grow was discoloured and malformed. Lily looked up at it, it made her feel tiny by comparison. Menacing stone sculptures stared back at her.

‘The entrance is nearby,’ Thorne muttered as they walked around the keep. This area was dryer then the rest, Lily was happy just to walk on solid ground for once. The air was heavy with the buzzing of insects, she could feel some of them biting against her face.

When they found the entrance, it was pitch black. Lily whispered an old piece of magic her mother had taught her, a light sparked from her fingers.

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‘Thanks.’ Thorne said.

‘No problem.’ She answered, her voice excessively high-pitched

The keep was in worse shape than Lily remembered, her last visit hadn’t been this bad. There’d been people, nomads mostly, who’d taken to occupying the place.

Now, there was nothing.

The place had been stripped of all of its valuables; a cool wind blowed through an open hole where a window had once been. Lily coughed; the dust had settled hard on the place.

Thorne walked quickly through the keep; Lily ran after him. He was hushed, urgent. Lily sensed it, he was holding back from a truth that was plain to anyone else. They passed by more restless undead; Thorne was quick. Scarily efficient as he cut them down. He was upset.

Lily was glad she hadn’t told him what she’d known about the keep.

They headed up a set of stairs, taking a few turns and bends before he found what he was looking for. Thorne grabbed at the dusted bed frame, throwing it to the side. The rotted wood burst, spiders flowing from it. Lily shivered uncomfortably.

She held the light for him as he searched and searched, tearing up the room. The dust unsettled, flying up into the air as more furniture broke. Lily choked; she covered her mouth with her shirt.

He ripped out the floorboards, the wood gave in easily. Thorne sighed; he’d incidentally found what he was looking for. Lily peered over his shoulder, curious. A thick metal hook lay flat against the concrete ground.

Thorne pulled at it; it opened with considerable effort. The stone slab lifted and a staircase followed. He walked down it, disappearing into the darkness. Lily looked behind her, they were entirely alone in the dimly lit room. She rushed after him; he’d be stumbling about in the dark without her.

She found Thorne kneeling down at an empty throne.

When she got closer, she saw the two skeletons resting against the throne. A thick layer of dust coated their bones, they had been there for a very long time. This was where King Hadrian had chosen to die.

‘I was too late,’ he crumbled to the floor, ‘I was too late.’

Lily breathed, she’d known this was what they’d come to find. It’d be pointless to hide her lack of surprise.

‘I’m sorry.’

She wrapped her arms around him, closing her eyes and pressing her face against the cold back of his helmet.

‘I knew I was too late… but I tried to pretend, tried to keep myself from it.’ He mumbled; his helmet fixed onto the corpse of his king.

Here he was, a knight without any kingdom left to defend. Lily wondered where he would go after this, if he’d choose to come back with her. She couldn’t say for certain; nothing was certain.

Thorne continued to mutter to himself, sometimes angrily but mostly just sadly. He had lost his reason to keep on moving, his title was meaningless now. Lily let go of him, she didn’t know if it was right to keep on holding on. If Thorne noticed, he didn’t show it. He just kneeled there.

A flicker of light caught Lily’s eye. Behind the throne, a mirror stood. It was a full-body mirror, large enough to cover the entire wall. Lily walked hesitantly toward it, trying to keep Thorne just in view.

The mirror reflected her, that was to be expected. But how it went about it was strange. She looked at herself, instinctively raising her hands to her chest.

She was naked in the mirror.

Lily got closer, running a finger against the mirror. It was like dipping her fingers into a pool of water, the mirror reacted gently to her touch, rippling.

She looked back to Thorne; he was still at Hadrian’s corpse.

He’d drawn his blade, Lily’s eyes widened.

He slammed it down into the floor, dropping the sheathe down beside it.

Thorne stood up, looking melancholic as he walked past the throne. He gripped at the throne, the wood cracked against his fingertips. And then he pushed past it.

He paused as he saw the mirror, Lily turned a bright red as she turned back to it. But she hadn’t been the reason he’d stopped dead in his tracks.

For the first time, she saw Thorne without his armour.