Crown of Thorns (PG-13)
Characters – Eric the Cavalier
Word Count - 1135
Prompt - Deathfic #14 Lust
Warning - Character Death!!
Summary – Eric the Cavalier is trapped by an ancient curse.
= = =
Crown of Thorns
The cavern itself was nothing special. Perhaps earlier in his stay in the Realm he would have been amazed that anything so vast could hide beneath the mountains, but that wonder at the natural order had long since dwindled to passing indifference. He had seen caverns and caves before. Many of them, possibly ALL of them, it certainly seemed like that sometimes. It was all they seemed to do.
The old Dungeonmaster had warned them not to wait, and not to go inside, but somehow that seemed unavoidable, considering Venger was throwing flaming balls of fire at them. He’d also warned them about the Earth Gnomes, strange little golden creatures that could sleep for centuries.
But the moment Eric saw inside that cavern, the riddle and the warning were instantly forgotten. Not even the legendary treasure of the Faerie Dragons could compare with this vast, shining, beautiful heap of gold. No words in his extensive vocabulary could describe the gold he saw. Treasure-trove seemed to limiting; hoard seemed too crude. It was everywhere, glittering in the wavering lights, calling out his name in flashing symbols. He had to go inside.
The others weren’t so keen to join him, and from what they said it seemed to be the throne that was putting them off. It looked as though it was made of a single carved ruby; it was a dull, translucent red and in the light of their torches, it looked like it was made of liquid blood.
Sitting on the throne was a skeleton, with its hands spread out on the arms. The skull had tipped back precariously, as if it was eternally looking up into the dark depths of the cavern. Bound round its head was a thin golden crown with a crimson stone dead centre. It seemed to glint more brightly than the gold around him.
As he watched the gleaming stone, the desire to go inside tightened in his chest. Not even the skeleton would stop him. The sight of all that gold made his heart lurch, in the same way it did when Diana smiled at him. But this had more promise of reward than his dreams of the cold-hearted Acrobat!
It wasn’t like this sort of thing hadn’t happened before: Zinn had promised him wealth and a kingdom (and herself as well). But he had walked away, and never looked back.
He couldn’t turn away from the throne and the gold.
The others had all backed away, and Diana reached out to touch his arm. In that second he took a decisive step forward through the arched doorway, into the cavern and up towards the throne.
She called after him, but now he was inside, he had to continue. The closer he got, the closer he wanted to be.
His heart thudded erratically, as if he were alone with his desire in the dark of the night, as if he were dreaming of love and lust. Something moved to his right, but he didn’t stop, he kept walking to the throne and the bright winking stone on the skeleton’s head.
As he reached forward, there were shouts from behind him. He saw flashes of gold as part of the mountain seemed to come alive. Little golden creatures started to scurry about, appearing from the golden hoard as if they had been hiding inside it all the time. For a moment he was scared they would try and stop him, but they all ignored him.
He was too close to stop now anyway.
He reached out to the thin crown, trying not to shudder and his gauntleted hand came near the dust-covered skull. As he touched it, the skeleton sudden shuddered and within a moment it crumbled away to shards of bone and powder.
The crown was in his hands, the stone winking all the more alluringly now.
He turned.
The others were waving and shouting at him, the little golden Gnomes were scurrying about and seemed to be angry at the incomers.
That didn’t seem important to Eric any more.
What was important was to wear the crown and become King in this hall full of priceless gold. He sat, unworried by the crunch of bones crushed between his armour and the throne. He lifted the crown above his head.
Someone screamed, loudly enough to attract him attention away from the gold for a moment. It was Diana, she looked terrified, and he hated seeing her like that. He hated the thought of her in danger. But before he could move, an Earth Gnome ran forward, distracting her attention away from him.
All he could see was the gold.
With no more hesitation, Eric smiled and placed the crown on his head.
= = =
He heard screams.
He forced his eyes open, though they felt like they were weighted down with lead. There were Earth Gnomes there, and a few people.
The Gnomes were dancing around waving torches and spears gleefully at the frightened humans. There seemed to be some sort of argument going on. It was heated, from what he could understand, but somehow, it didn’t seem to bother him.
He was King. He didn’t have to worry about anything.
He closed his eyes.
= = =
Everything seemed peaceful.
He opened his eyes, feeling the irrational need to see where he was.
It was a huge cave, almost dark but from the faint glow of fire from somewhere. Around him were dark shadows and the unmistakeable gleam of metal, gold. He was surrounded by gold; it was everywhere he looked.
Nearby was a great pyramid of gold piled up in a heap and, curled up in little hollows by its base, he could clearly see the Earth Gnomes. At first, Eric thought they were dead. But as he watched he saw the impossibly slow movement of deep breathing, and realised they were asleep. Didn’t they sleep for centuries?
Around the floor was gold, there seemed to be more than he remembered. There was gold all around him. Except…
Except lying against the far wall was a yellow shield with a strange emblem painted on it. Somehow he felt he should recognise it, but he didn’t. It had been there for some time, judging by the dust over the top. Just below it were some other old weapons and clothes, neatly folded and laid out in a row, and also covered in a thin layer of dust.
He frowned: There wasn’t supposed to be any dust.
But apart from the dust, all was well within his cave. His gold was safe. The Earth Gnomes were safe as well.
He closed his eyes once more, and let his head tip back against the back of the throne. It was time he slept.