A Strange Party: Chapter 1

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

With another dull thud her shovel sank into the soil and she stumbled forward, leaning onto it hard. The long pole of iron with its dull blade and tightly wound pouches against its shaft sank into the moist soil almost down to the bottom. Satisfied she wiped her brow. Her bushy hair was tied back beneath her bandana but that didn’t help the dirt that encrusted her face.

Looking up out of the hole she saw that day had long since turned to night and the stars came out of their evening hiding places as pinpricks of white in the darkness. She had dug herself into a hole taller than herself at this point but if she’d gone this far she was going to find the damn thing.

Huffing and taking another breath she grabbed the shovel. With shaky arms she started digging again. Pushing it in as deep as she could with her boot she tossed another shovel full of dirt overhead. She scraped her legs moving too fast, or got even more dirt on her skirt and blouse. Dirt really did stand out on black.

Each time her shovel hit the dirt it vibrated. Not because of her own strength but because there was something magical beneath her feet. It started as slight tremors but now it was almost like a miniature earth quake. Her mismatched eyes, one silver and one brown, were wide in excitement.

Thunk.

She gasped, face frozen for a moment. She tapped her shovel again and there was that dull thunk. Not meaty like when it hit the dirt. She started digging with a renewed vigor casting the soil away in every direction.

Resting her shovel against the wall of the hole she stared down at the chest. She touched the latch and magic radiated through it like a hot oven. Her fingers shook with excitement but she looked above her and tried to figure out her way out of the hole she’d dug.

She dragged the chest over and it was heavier than she initially thought. Taking a few extra steps she finally set it against the wall and grasped the shovel. “Hey! Are you done yet!” A dull voice shouted toward her.

“Don’t rush me! It’s getting done at my pace!”

“I’d delay your ascent. We have some company of foul intent. Our companion in black, well people skills he lack.”

“Foul intent?” she repeated to herself. “The hell is that riddle talker on about?”

Grasping the shaft of the shovel she raised her hand and danced it around and chanted to herself. A language that was ancient and stirred the ground beneath her feet. She gasped, a as and a small creature formed in her hand. It was a translucent grey and blobby but its shape was becoming sharper as she poured magic into it.

It’s rodent head poked forward and it spread its thin wings and shivered. Smiling at the bat she  raised her hands. “Go little one and be my eyes,” breathing onto the creature she shuddered and her body slumped backwards into the wall of her hole. The magical bat took off and fluttered into the air.

Cresting over the lip it went toward a nearby tree. Landing amongst the branches it hung upside down and stared at the hill top. Her companion, cloaked in a dirty brown poncho, a wide brimmed hat covering their smooth head, stood opposed by four men. Each of them wearing tattered cloaks and furs but wielding crude weapons. One wielding a large two headed axe stepped forward.

“I already told you,” her tal companion said and she could hear the almost inhuman monotone in which they spoke. How they spoke without a mouth she wasn’t sure but they managed many things that didn’t make sense. “I don’t have any money for you. Nothing to give. Nothing to trade.”

“Yeah yeah you’ve been saying that. But I don’t think we believe ya,” he shrugged his shoulders and then hefted the axe over his shoulder. “I think you’re lyin to our faces. And we don’t like being lied to ain’t that right boys?”

They grumbled together aggressively and laughed stepping forward. “No we don like bein lied to,” he said and glared. “So I thin we’re just gonna kill ya and take what ya got. And if ya really ain’t got nothin den well we’ll giva ya a nice little burial.”

Three of the men surged forward with their weapons and her companioned tensed. A red light flashed under the hat as a golden barrel spun blocking a sword before it hit them. Stepping out of the way of the second they lunged when the third attacked. It struck their arm sounding like the sword hit a tree trunk. Gasping the bandit tried to create space between them but the moment of weakness was all they needed as the aggression continued.

Spinning the weapon in their long fingers the gun’s barrel turned and found the bandit’s forehead. They pulled the trigger vacating the contents of their head into the grass with a burst of fire. The leader of the group approached quickly and with a mighty swing of his axe struck them in the head.

The axe dug its way deep into their skull cleaving the hat away. The gash in their head was wide but it didn’t bleed. Instead magic sparked around the wound revealing metal gears and cogs within the splintered wood. The single glowing red eye in their head dimmed for a moment. Their knees wobbled slightly and they almost fell over.

Almost.

Pulling themselves together and focusing they turned their gaze onto him. Whipping back part of the poncho they raised another gun that looked like some sort of creature banished fused to the metal with dozens of legs. They fired and it was like a bolt of force tore through the neck the bandit leaving nothing but gaping viscera. Choking back on his blood he fell over and into the grass.

Grunting glow of their eye pierced the darkness like a light house. Spinning their guns around their finger they approached the remaining three who were very much spooked by this turn of events.

“What kinda monster is he?”

“I don’t know but I’m not gonna fight em!” Grasping their weapon one of them turned tail and ran followed quickly by the second. That just left the leader who stood keeping the axe out as they approached. The bandit leader took a step back, his fear damn near palpable.

“You didn’t believe me,” they said and turning the gun around. “And now I’m going to take things from you. You have money? Food? Anything to give a starving bounty hunter?”

They fired and a single beam of compressed magic, illuminating the night. He looked at the smoldering hole in his chest for a long second before collapsing to the ground. The bounty hunter stared at their handiwork and nodded subtly.

Clapping started from the tree and they turned. “Well well congratulations to our friend Orion. This hill would make a terrible place to die in.”

A gunshot rang out as a bolt of fire shook the tree leaving a massive burn mark. A commotion of crashing branches followed a shout as a shape crashed into the ground. Groaning the owner of the voice pushed to his feet, wearing a checkered red and black shirt and red leggings. A white mask with black eyes and a thin smile hid his face but long blonde hair spilled around his head. A stringed instrument fell out moments later and hit him in the head.

“Now friend that was not very nice! I saw parts of life flash before my eyes twice.”

Orion stared at the jester reloading the gun but before that moment a chest flew out of the hole. It landed on the grass with a soft thud and with a few grunts the woman in the hole climbed out.

Thrusting her shovel into the ground she went over to the tree and the tiny bat flew to her shoulder. “I found the chest.” She let out an exhausted huff and looked at the gash in their face and in her normal sour tones she asked, “You need me to take care of that or?”

“No. I’ll repair myself.” Orion stared at her some frustration eeking out of their monotoned voice. “This chest better have been worth it, Ryza.”

Gest raised his instrument and started to play a quick upbeat melody as he stood and spoke, “Are you sure that you’re going to be okay? That hole in your head might get in the way. Every day folk might not understand you’re a special bloke.”

Orion stared at him as if contemplating shooting him. A bulge in Ryza’s clothes moved quickly up her chest and then scrambled up her throat to rest on her opposite shoulder. The tiny black eyes of a rat stared at her as did the bat but she comforted both of them. “It’s alright Shriek. We’ve got what we came for. I think.”

Orion’s eye glowed suddenly and so did the cuts on their body. Slowly they stitched themselves back together. The wood and metal that comprised of their innerworkings creaked and groaned as the magic worked on them. Finally, the gash in their head glowed as well and filled from the inside out. It continued to rebuild them and when it finished the glow in their eye resumed a healthy red.

Ryza stared at them a moment longer, her eyes tracing where they were previously harmed.  “You’re definitely a piece of work. Any way the chest. It was where I thought it would be.”

“Indeed it is,” Gest said strumming a few quick notes. “Now let’s get down to the biz.”

“The biz?” Ryza repeated confused.

“Just open the chest and let us be away from this place,” Orion asserted as they holstered both of their guns.

“If you’re so impatient you can open it yourself,” Ryza replied motioning to the chest. “You got this right?”

Orion stared at it then at her, “I cannot.”

“I thought so,” she smirked looking at her rat. “As stubborn as any man I’ve met little one.”

Crouching in front of it she traced the wood of the chest and then felt the metal and it was warm to touch. Frowning, her eyebrow quirked up as she pressed her hands together and cast a spell over it.

The magic flowed over it but feedback made her hands jerk back. Shaking her hands out she glared at the chest itself and puffed out her cheeks. The bat flapped it’s wings before landing on her shoulder making a hollow squeaking noise. The rat jumped off and landed atop it. It sniffed the lock a few times then ran back into her waiting hands.

“What’s the diagnosis little one?” Closing one of her eyes, leaving the silver one open she stared at the chest and made a noise, “Indeed. It’s enchanted.”

“Well observed. Can you break it?” Orion stood over her folding their arms.

Gest strolled over playing a jolly tune despite the dower looks on both their faces. “Well a locked chest contains many secrets. But I’m sure we can get it open without any regrets.” Coming closer he kept playing, strumming the strings faster his smile seemed to grow. “But everyone and everything loves music, even inanimate locks won’t stay elusive.”

He continued to play but there was an extra layer to the music. An additional wave of power along the air that both Ryza and Orion felt. A sixth sense that those who had magic coursing through their veins could sense.

Somehow the chest was resonating with it. The lock rattled against it, the chest jumping back and forth along the grass as Gest continued to play. His fingers moved faster and he crouched in front of the chest humming along with it eyes focused onto the lock itself.

“Now come along my little friend. Your watch has come to an end.”

A few more strums of his lute and then he reached for the lock and pulled. It popped open easily and he dropped it to the ground finishing his tune. Turning he bowed to the pair and hopped aside retuning the instrument.

Ryza stared at the now very open chest and the lock on the ground. Glancing at her bat then her rat, “Fascinating. It looked like you spoke to the lock and convinced it to pop off. But magic like that doesn’t exist. As far as I know at least. You’re curious creature Gest.”

She was shoved aside as Orion crouched in front of the chest and forced it open. Ryza stumbled aside and caught herself, the rat hissing at him. “Watch this,” she mumbled to it. And then Orion was launched backwards by a blast of pure darkness.

Landing on their back they were silent save for the inner ticking of their body. Ryza laughed and even her pair of rodents squeaked rapidly, “I would’ve told them that there was a trap if they let me. Too bad it was nonlethal. Well maybe that’s because they aren’t strictly alive.”

She approached the chest and waved her fingers over it, puling at the invisible strings of the magic and then snapped her fingers. A black symbol appeared in the air above the chest before cracking and breaking in half. She touched the lid gently and slid it open.

The only thing within the chest was a notebook and an amulet. She picked up the amulet gingerly. It was silver with a black rock within its center. It felt magical but old like whatever charge was in it was on its last legs.

But the notebook was odd. It was green and leather bound without a title. She gently flipped opened a page was greeted by the image of a snake eating its skeletal tail. The rest was entirely scratched out. She stared at it and fought to keep her face from becoming something ugly, “It can’t be” she whispered and looked at her rat. “Do you think it’s that?”

“This might mean trouble,” Orion said kneeling beside her. “Can I see it?”

“You’re being polite now. I guess I’ll bite.” She said slowly and then handed the book over to them. They managed to go through the pages without incident. “It’s not a spell book. It’s almost, like a diary. But also a ledger. And a map?”

“A treasure map?” Gest suggested. “Sounds like a bit of old hat.”

Glancing at the jester, Orion watched as he plucked a string badly but continued to tune. They waved the notebook at him. “There’s notes for other locations of chests like this one.”

“Is that all?”

“That’s it.”

Taking his time to interject Gest raised a finger, “You put out the want ad for us. Our job is complete so let us discuss.”

“Discuss?” Ryza repeated. “What’s there to discuss? I hired you to be body guards while searching for a magical item that could cure any ailment and find immortality. I can barely pay you for this journey let alone finding more of these buried chests.” She stomped the ground. “Back to square one.”

“When I found this ad it was to just make money,” Orion said but they handed the notebook back to her. “But if this notebook is any indication there is bad news in store for me in the future.”

Ryza stared at the notebook with a little less contempt and reached for it. Orion gave it to her and she moved through the contents, reading it with a new fervor. “So that means you’re sticking around then.”

“Yes. If I can read the map correctly, there will be another one of these chests north of here. We should start walking while the moon is high.”

“Wait how far would this chest be?” Raising the notebook to her face she read a quick chunk of notes on where the chest might be but then did math in her head and she scowled. “There’s no way I’m walking to it.”

“It’s what I’m going to do,” Orion said readjusting their hat.

“Orion you are very willing but walking such distances isn’t for the living.”

Glancing at the jester and then at Ryza, Orion scoffed and continued walking. “Fine. We’ll procure horses and then we’ll properly get on our way.”