A Rattling Monster

Chapter 4: Freedom

During that time, deeper in the dungeon, the seven adventurers have found the treasure or what some could call a treasure. Someone obviously not very rich.

"5 gold, 61 silver, and 1,2, and 3 copper. That's the treasure?"

Said Jimmy the thief of the team. And while he said that all the other member began to look for their chief Khozak. Who, in return, throw a very black stare toward the greedy Richard.

"Gentleman, gentleman, please we have killed a lich if we bring his body to the Church I am sure they will reward us greatly. And for the coins that we found, it is still enough for repairs and refills all of our provisions. Is not it Richard?"

"Ehhh, yes, yes the Church has a bounty for the evil creatures."

"How much?"

That question was asked by Irion, even if the other were not that exhausted, he, as the priest, had to care about all the healing, cure and purification. He probably needs at least 2 good days of sleep. The two black areas under his eyes were the proof.

"I don't really know but for a lich, it's going to be good. Trust me." said absolutely not confidently the holy knight.

"Why do I never heard of it?"

"I wonder; I mean we have travel for some years already."

"And still, we have never heard of it."

This time it was the turn of the three warriors, Pedro, Miguel, and Mario. But they didn't direct their question toward the knight with a pale face. No, they were looking toward the berserk, their leader. Who didn't have more colors than the holy knight.

Miraculously for him, the thief found something, a chest. And it was a very impressive chest, with golden ornaments, quite heavy. At the sight of this future golden mine, everyone began to rejoice, some began even to sing. In their minds there is no way that a lich was that poor, the real treasure got to be in that chest.

"Tons of gold for you, hey!"

"Tons of gold for me, hey!"

"Tons of gold for we, hey!"

Funnily, even the knight start humming. The thief, of course, stayed composed, manipulating with dexterity the chest, searching for any trap or problem. Seeing no such things, he began to crochet the lock. Finally, after opening it, they discovered its content. A lot of worthless rock and a scroll with the text "Haha I got you fools, signed Ezeriel". Provoking a heated discussion between all the seven adventurers.

"Was the lich named Ezeriel?"

"I think he said it like you have entered the domain of Ezeriel, you will die mortals."

"So we really only have 5 gold in the end?"

"Yes."

"At least we can try to sell the chest, even some noble doesn't have one with that quality."

"Or we can try to scam someone interested in occults ways like this chest was cursed by a lich and found in the lair of one."

"Is it cursed?"

"No, but the buyer won't know."

"So in the end, we got free repairs, free meals for 1 weeks thanks to the coin, 1 odd-looking chest and the body of a lich. What about the contents of his bag?"

"Nothing, I mean you have some stuff about necromancy but did you see his skeleton, this lich was a newbie even during the fight we killed it in less than 10 sec."

"Let's be honest, the only real way we can have money from this dungeon is the supposed bounty for the lich body."

"I was sure the notice for this mission was overrated, us of five years ago could have completed it."

"Yeah."

"Agree."

Seeing the quite depressed member of his group, Khozak really hoped that the bounty he invented exists. In the worst case, he will try to sell it on the black market, some people will pay a price for it but the danger of doing this is to be labeled as a heretic by the Church. He needs to raise the morale anyway, even if it cost him some gold.

"Men, after we arrive at Ronta, I will pay you all a drink at the Thirsty Warrior."

"Really, not like the other time where we end up at the Shield and Sword?"

"Yes, the first drink will be on me."

At the sound of a free alcoholic beverage, naturally, the others began to praise their mighty and generous leader. And they all began to walk toward the place where the battle has happened. To found only bones. Bones everywhere, no entire corpse. They all split up to search the place.

"It's there that we killed it, right?"

"Yes, there is the trace of a fire there, probably the [Minor Fireball]."

"So where is the body?"

"I think this is the body of the lich."

Finally said Jimmy, while pointing a clean white skeleton. Some could praise the effort of a certain rat since there was not a single flesh still standing on it. But for the adventurers, the fact that all they could see was a skeleton, yet a little whiter than the others, was horrible. How could they convince anybody that this was a lich body while themselves found it hard to believe it?

"Is the flesh supposed to rot that quick?"

"No, I don't think so, there is the hand of the great Elder Lich Jorah still intact in the royal palace. It's 400 years old." A lot of hesitation could be heard in the voice of Irion when he said that.

"Did they cast a spell on it to preserve it?"

Nobody knows who said it, but when that sentence came out, they cursed themselves for rushing to the treasure. If they have stayed a little longer maybe they could have saved it. Now, all is over. They all began to slowly walk toward the exit, a little bit depressed. A dark day for one of the most powerful teams in the region.

(Our hero in the meantime, was trying to find the exit. Thanks to his brilliant mind, he figured out that following the trail of skeletons, bones, and broken weapons will probably lead him toward freedom. But when the path ended, he was still in the dark and totally lost)

Damn it, they didn't encounter enemies right at the start of this dungeon. So now I am stuck and I have no idea where to go. Left path, left middle path, right path. I guess I can only wait for them and hope that they don't notice me while I track them. Can't be that hard, a small rodent with a dark fur, I don't think it's black, more dark-brown. Can't really see but it's definitely not white or easy to spot. And I just have to respect the rules of tracking, keep a safe distance, stop when they stop, don't get in plain sight, use the obstacles to hide. I just need to wait for them but where?

What if they get a map with a shortcut? I will never be able to found them. No, no, I need to go where they will return. And that fateful place is where the lich body is. No matter what, they have to go by that place because otherwise, the lich wouldn't have appeared there. If it was not near his lair, there is no way he goes attacking a group like that. I just hope I am right.

As I guessed, yes, I am a genius. I heard them talking about the worth of the lich. Well, I can confirm that body is worth a lot. For me. It's a good thing that they walk slowly. Or a bad. What if there are traps and they are careful? I don't think I can survive traps. Please, no traps. Anyway thanks to their speed, I don't lose sight of them.

But after 20 minutes of running, I am getting tired. I don't think without eating the lich I could have run that fast and for as long as that. I am still really too small for long distance. I never noticed how easy it was when I was human, to walk 2 meters. But with this uneven environment, I have a hard time as a rat. I really hope that the exit is close.

10 minutes after, there is no improvement. The distance is growing. I would have never found the exit without them. I would have probably died of hunger long before. I just need to persevere; my freedom is close. Hold on, my sight is getting better. I can begin to see the detail on the walls. The light, I see it, not the light of their torch, a real light, the one from the sun.

The pure air, the refreshing wind, the peaceful and immovable sun. My nightmare has ended, I can finally roam across the world, save the princess, defeat the dragons. In front of me stand a nice looking forest, not one with the ugly trees that can crush you or with treacherous branches that hang you. No, a normal one, with oaks, poplars, normal trees. The adventurers are nowhere near in sight. They are clearly too powerful for me, they destroyed that lich in seconds. But with a forest like this, my reign can finally begin.

(And as he begins to think of all the good things he will do, he utters a mighty and powerful scream: "Sleeeeek!", which can be transformed into "Freedom!". A scream that no one past 5 meters could have heard.)