Narlissa Quickhands, half-elf and master thief, studied her copy of the treasure map carefully. She had skirted Hallowblossom earlier that morning, avoiding the inhabitants. Watching them from afar, she had realised that they were harmless enough, but she did not want to risk them finding out about the ruins and being trapped by the demon magic.
According the map, the entrance to the ruins was found in the shadow of a large monument. She lifted her head and looked around. There!
A statue stood in a square surrounded by broken stone walls. Long grass had taken over what she was sure had originally been a well looked after garden but she moved towards it with trepidation. It certainly seemed like the right place. She dismounted Faeht but left her free. The horse would not wander off, but if the worst happened to Narlissa and she did not return then she wanted Faeht to be able to leave and find food and water.
Stepping over the crumbling stonework, she approached the statue. She walked around it once, twice, and then she saw what she was looking for. The left hand of the statue was loose. Reaching out and tugging it, a grinding sound filled her pointed ears. She stepped back as a grate slid upwards at the base of the statue, revealing a set of stairs deep into blackness.
She took a deep breath and headed downwards. The darkness was thick here but her elven eyes meant she could still see clearly enough. Anyone else would have needed a source of light however.
Narlissa reached the bottom of the stairs and took stock. A long corridor led off in front of her and she carefully picked her way across the stones, making her steps as light as possible. She did not want to think about all the traps that could be waiting for her.
After a few minutes of moving along the corridor she saw it was nearing an end, and opened out into a large room. Then she paused. She could hear shouting.
Moving more quickly Narlissa heard the sound quickly growing louder. It was coming from the large room and before long she had reached it. She cast her eyes round trying to find the source and it was then that she recognised the voices.
Eavu and Taicoss!
She stepped hurriedly inwards and then she saw them. Both were pinned to the walls on opposite sides of the chamber. Black tendrils writhed around them, holding them in place, and both were shouting angrily at the other. Clearly they blamed each other for what had happened.
She saw their packs discarded in the middle of the floor and padded silently towards them. A black door was closed on the far side of the room and she felt an ominous emanation from it. That was the demon magic.
Narlissa picked up a torch from the floor and quickly lit it, holding it above her head. Immediately the two men stopped shouting and yelped with fright. She could see them blinking back against the sudden light.
"Nar... Narlissa?" Taicoss said after his eyes had adjusted.
She turned to him and nodded. "Yes."
"Narlissa you can't be here. The magic - it'll get you too! Run whilst you can!"
Narlissa studied him. He was deadly serious. So the man wasn't all bad, despite betraying her. He truly wanted her to escape. "What happened?" she said at last.
"We came here with the captain after following your map," Eavu said from behind her. "We found the ruins easily enough and the three of us came down here. Then we approached that door." He nodded towards the black door. "Taicoss and I opened it and magic grabbed us. It pinned us here. We've been here for hours and hours. Maybe even days. I don't know."
"You've been here overnight," she laughed. "Calm down. I'll get you out. What of the captain. Did he get the treasure?"
Eavu shook his head. "No. When he saw what happened to us he turned tail and ran. I have no doubt he has gone."
"A coward then. That is not surprising."
Eavu smiled sadly. "It seems to have worked out for you after all, Narlissa. The captain did not get the treasure, you are here to take it for yourself, and your traitorous mercenaries meet a slow and painful end for their betrayal."
"Don't be stupid, Eavu. I'll find a way to get you down. Stay where you are."
Eavu laughed. "We don't have much of a choice about that."
With a grin, Narlissa turned towards the black door. She placed the torch on the floor to give light to Taicoss and Eavu in her absence and then slowly approached the ominous stone. Silence filled the room as the two men stared at her.
She reached out, pressing her hand against the door. A strange tingling filled her, and it grew stronger with every passing second. Movement on the door caught her attention and she suddenly realised that tendrils were sprouting from it, bursting towards her. Before she could back away they had wrapped around her back.
"Narlissa, no!" she heard Eavu shout desperately.
Panic filled her as the tendrils lifted her from the floor, totally covering her body. Darkness and demonic taint seemed to reek from them, but they did not carry her towards the wall as they had done the two men.
Instead, they pressed her towards the door, and she gasped as she felt the hard stone yield like putty. It melded around her body, the tendrils a blanket over her back, and then she was through the other side.
She spluttered as she fell to her knees, gulping down air. Behind her the door was still intact and there was no sign of the tendrils. She stood and looked around.
This room was smaller than the last, though more lavishly decorated. Not that it was luxurious. A raised stone plinth sat in the middle and she gulped as she realised it was likely used for demonic rituals. Then again, as the Tree Mother had told her in the elven settlement, warlocks were not always evil. Demons were a tool for those that could control them.
Another door stood on the far side of the room, and she moved quietly towards it. It was wooden and she reached out to open it.
"Halt," said a quiet voice, and she froze in fear. She turned slowly and gasped. A man stood before her. She had not seen him as she entered the room.
At least, she described him as a man but he clearly was not. He possessed a toned and athletic human body, it was true, with messy brown hair and brown eyes, but the wings folded across his back and the two horns sprouting from his forehead made it obvious he was not human. A demon!
She pressed herself against the wall but the demon merely smiled. It was actually quite a soothing smile. His eyes... they looked tired.
"I must ask your business here," he said. "You are not supposed to be in this chamber."
"I found a map," she said quietly in return. "It led me here."
The demon sighed, and moved to stand in front of her. His chest was bare, as were his human-like feet, and the only thing he wore were the cloth pants on his legs.
"You have come to claim the treasure?" he said.
She nodded, then shrugged. "I hoped to. But if you will not let me, then I will not fight you for it." She had no intention of engaging a demon in a fight, however unarmed it looked.
The demon smiled. "Good. I do not wish to harm you. My kind is not summoned for this purpose. Guard duty." He practically spat the last two words.
Narlissa relaxed. He was not going to hurt her. "Your kind?"
The demon looked at her again. He seemed to be considering whether he should answer her, but after a few moments he did. She stayed pressed against the wall, but less fearfully than she had been.
"A warlock constructed these ruins and placed her treasure here. I was her personal demon; she utilised my talents daily, often more frequently than that. I was bound to her command but I did not detest my work. I rather enjoyed it."
Narlissa bit her lip in confusion. "But she died long ago. Surely you would have been released then?"
"I had hoped so," the demon sighed. "I enjoyed my time with her, but her death should have freed me. Yet she had other plans in mind."
"Other plans?"
The demon gestured round. "She imprisoned me here to guard over her treasure. She did not want anyone else to have it. I believe she felt the same way about me. Were I to be freed, I could then be summoned by another."
"That's terrible. How long have you been trapped here?"
"I do not know. I suspect at least one hundred years - the passage of the seasons is hard to judge. You are the first person I have spoken to in all that time, although my magics trapped other fortune-seekers only last night."
"I have seen them. Can you be convinced to release them?"
