The Little One from the Crypt

The sound of chopping through wood and dense undergrowth can be heard bouncing off the trees for several hours before the two young, brown haired, men enter the small clearing that they just found in the dense forest of Labia’s Valley. An area of the wilderness that they both know should be avoided because it is not just illegal to be in this area, it is also against the law to remove anything from this land. Not even a blade of grass.

The Temple of ISIS owns this land and they are the rule of law in this area of the country. It is said that the domains of the Goddess ISIS are, good, magic, protection, and water. That may all be true, but in this part of the world, the Temple of ISIS is a military powerhouse. However, two men have still decided that it is in their best interest to be on the temple’s property.

“Roger,” Dave Williams says to his treasure hunting partner as he unfurls the parchment that he purchased for this specific trip, “I need you to check your compass again. I do not want to get lost”.

“I think that we are headed in the right direction, at least according to your map,” Roger Stewart replies as he looks at his compass and then compares his reading to the map that Dave holds in his hands, “Are you sure that this thing is good? I mean, you just bought it off an old crazed looking man in a tavern. You know, we both have enough gold to never have to work again after we raided Lilemon’s tomb”.

“This map follows the known myths of this area, so we have to check it out. That old man said that there is an incalculable treasure that can be found here, and he also said that the treasure can change my life. I think that he knew what he was talking about. You know, that is not the first time that I have ever talked to him. Plus, I am way too young to retire and so are you,” Dave replies without looking up from his map

“I guess that you are right, but this time we are actually breaking the law. We have not done that before, “Roger looks around at his surroundings,” How about we camp right here in this clearing?”

“I would like to keep going for at least another hour. That way we have used as much productive daylight time as we can. I do not really know how much longer we are going to be cutting our way through this forest. I would like to get this over with. Tomorrow I will start with the machete first, “Dave explains to him.

Roger just nods his head at him and goes back to forcing their way through the overgrown forest with the machete,” I really wish that there were not so many thick vines everywhere,” he complains.

Thirty hard minutes later, Roger cuts through an especially dense part of the undergrowth that they have been fighting for days and finds himself in an area filled with grass. He turns back to Dave, “You better come up here”.

Dave moves past Roger and into the open field. Straight in front of the muscular men stands a large hill with several tall pine trees on top of it, and a dark recess set into the middle of its side at ground level. Together, they walk over to the tree covered mound. As they approach closer to it, Dave quickens his step and he reaches the dark recess first. In front of him is a closely packed jumble of vines, grass, roots, and spider webs. He takes Roger’s machete when he catches up to him and cuts through the mess that is blocking his view.

“What do you see?” Roger asks as his partner just stands there staring into the dark.

“It is a door,” Dave flatly responds in disbelief, as if this cannot be happening. He did believe the old man but seeing and believing are two different things.

“Let me see,” Roger replies as he moves past Dave and into the cavern. He places his hand on the stone door and wipes away many years of dust and debris. When he does, he reveals a set of hieroglyphs that were etched into the stone a long time ago,” it is just like your map said it would be”.

Dave joins Roger in the small recess and fingers the ancient symbols that his friend has just found,” These are Qualzonian. This language has been dead for thousands of years. I have only seen this writing in books. This one means, Danger,” he says as he inspects the other hieroglyphs,” I am not sure about a few of these other symbols. Wait, this one means, Life. Let me see, Danger, something, something, loss of life, and then beware”.

“Were you expecting a warning?” asks Roger.

“The ancient people who lived in this area believed in curses and Demons, and other monsters. Different gods then we have today too. As a matter of fact, this is the valley where the Demons were supposed to have come to earth to take it over. Do you remember that story?”

“Yes, I remember that story. I do not remember all the details. Do you think that you can get the door open?” asks Roger.

“I will definitely try,” Dave tells him as he sets down his backpack on the ground beside him. Pulling out a roll of cloth from his backpack, he unfurls it to expose various tools from hammers to small needle-like objects. After a few minutes he has the door wiped clean using a brush from his toolkit, and he makes sure that the two stone columns that run on both sides of the door are dusted off as well. When he has the top of each column clean, he notices that there is an overhanging piece of stone that connects to the frame of the door.

As Dave wipes his new find off, he tells Roger, “There is a picture on this piece. Hang on, it is a picture of two naked females with bat wings. One of them is taller than the other with large breasts and the other one is smaller, less than half the size of the taller one”.

Roger steps beside Dave and examines the picture,” Hey, only one of them has a tail, and the smaller one has no breasts, only nipples. Do you think it means anything?”

“I do not know, but I do hope that there are a few gold and silver statues of them inside,” Dave replies as he puts away his brush and grabs a couple of new tools. He starts carefully inspecting the stone door and each crack that he can find on it.

While Dave checks the door, Roger rubs his hand over the picture of the two nude females that are etched on the overhead piece of stone. Without warning, he moves the tail on the large breasted female figure. The door pops open.

“I found that by accident,” Roger says to Dave as he shrugs his shoulders at him.

Dave reaches out and pushes open the door that swivels easily on its divot point. As he peers into the opening, he sees a large room with stone walls that are reinforced with iron bars. The top of a spiral staircase can just be seen in the middle of the room. As Dave puts his tools away, Roger pulls a ready-made torch from his backpack and lights it with a match. Roger slowly moves into the middle of the room and stares down into the blackness where the spiral staircase leads.

“After you,” Dave tells Roger as he sweeps his hand towards the darkness. Roger starts his decent and as Dave follows him, he is surprised that the staircase is so steady considering its possible age, which he believes that it is quite old. As Roger’s trip down the staircase ends, Dave notices that Roger’s torch light is illuminating a huge, stone crypt that sits in the middle of the room.

“Well look at that,” Dave exclaims as he pulls out a large brush from his toolkit and begins to dust off the thick layer of dust from the top of the crypt.

“Do you see any lettering, like a name?” Roger asks.

“Just a second,” Dave replies as he finishes dusting off the top of their find as Roger lowers the torch towards the top of the crypt so that Dave can get a better look, “it says, danger, something, something, wine”.

“Wine? That does not sound right. Can you not read those better than that?” Roger complains.

“Hey, I am not an archeologist. However, I do think that this last one is, Ambrosia, not wine. It does not matter because we have to open it anyway,” replies Dave.

Both young men place their hands at the head of the crypt and begin to groan as they push as hard as they can on the lid of the crypt. At first it seems as though the top is not a lid because it refuses to move, but slowly the sound of stone scrapping stone can be heard echoing off the walls of the chamber as the lid moves inch by painful inch.

Roger stops pushing and peers into the opening that they have created. He quickly pulls his head back,” There is someone in there!” he whispers.

“Of course, there is someone in there. This is a burial chamber,” Dave replies as he walks over to the far wall to get at the hieroglyphs that he just noticed were on the wall,” Do you see any gold or silver?”

Roger does not like this situation at all, but he slowly moves his head over the opening of the crypt and gazes into it. He lowers his torch so that he can get a better view,” All I see is a white haired naked little girl. She could be a Halfling, or maybe an Elf. Wow, they really did a good job at preserving her because her skin is a flawless white. Wait, there is something at the bottom of the crypt, down by her feet. I just need to open the lid a little further,” it moves with a grinding sounds as he pushes on it, “that is better,” he says as he gets a good look inside of the crypt,” She is way better preserved than I thought. The lips on her face and her nipples are still quite pink”.

Dave turns and watches Roger lean into the crypt and pull out a gold chalice. Just as he was about to walk back towards his partner a high-pitched squeal rushes from the open tomb, “Master?’

Dave is visibly startled as he watches a small figure rise out of the tomb and reach over to Roger and lick his face with a pink tongue. An inhumane sound escapes him as the small figure turns its attention to him. He can see the strikingly blue eyes of the creature as it leaps the fifteen feet of space separating him from his partner and lands directly on his chest, almost knocking him over.

The creature wraps its thin white legs around him, sniffs him, and then licks his face, “Master,” she whispers as she locks her little pink lips with his.

Dave pulls the creature slowly from his body and places it on the ground. As he gets a better look at it, he realizes that it is a naked little girl. As her feet touch the ground, she grabs his canteen, and as Dave opens it for her, he watches the naked little girl gulp water from it. When she finishes, she gives it back to him and then latches onto his arm.

“Master!” she screams as her blue eyes dart around the room.

Dave looks back at the terrified Roger and then pulls a leather shirt from his backpack. As he kneels in front of the little girl he stops for a moment to take in her athletic physique, the two tattoos on her chest just above her pretty, tiny, pink nipples, her lovely flat stomach, and the tattoo above the gorgeous little hairless bump between her lean legs. After catching his breath from the shock of examining such a beautiful body, he dresses her in the shirt as he asks her, “What is your name?”

Her innocent little face, with her pointy ears and strikingly blue eyes lock with Dave’s brown eyes as she screams again at the one who tastes, and looks correctly from her long dreams, “Master!”

“This is really freaking me out!” complains a clearly upset Roger, “She should be dead. She came out of that crypt. I am used to dealing with skeletons and mummies, not this! Why does she keep calling you, Master?”

“I do not know. But there is a reasonable explanation to this situation. She must have gotten down here a different way than we did. Then got herself stuck in the crypt,” Dave says as he admires the little girl’s blue eyes, small impish nose, her high cheek bones, and her wonderful little pink lips. She just stares back at him.

“That does not…there is no way she could…” Roger stutters as he takes a closer look at the gold cup in his hands,” This must be worth two thousand gold pieces”.

“That alone will make this trip worth it,” Dave tells Roger before turning his attention back to the little girl. He points at his companion and says,” Roger,” then he points at himself and says, “Dave,” then he points at her.

The little girl points at Dave,” Master!”

“This is creeping me out! We should put her back in there and get out of here!” Roger exclaims in a nervous tone.

“She is two and a half feet tall and barely weighs twenty pounds. She is not going to hurt us. Besides, putting her back in there will kill her. I am sure that we can figure out how she managed to get down here. Again, there must be a reasonable explanation to her being in the crypt,” Dave explains as he picks up the little girl and places her at his hip.

Realizing that Dave was not going to listen to his complaints, Roger asks, “What does the wall say?”

“This one is easier, danger awaits those that free, something about a relative, life draining something, wine or Ambrosia,” replies Dave.

“Ambrosia!” the small white-haired girl shouts while gripping Dave with her slender arms and legs.

“Can you read those?” Dave asks the little girl as he points at the hieroglyphs.

“Master…Roger…Ambrosia!” she screams in reply as she holds Dave tightly in excitement.

“How did you get down here?” Dave asks her.

“Master…Roger…Ambrosia,” she replies softly while staring at Dave’s face.

“Her name is, Ambrosia, Dave. We should not take her with us. Her name is on the crypt and the wall with the word danger. This is not a normal burial chamber. You must be able to see that. Plus, did you see those weird tattoos?” Roger explains. But he can see the look in Dave’s eyes. His partner is blind to the danger that is directly in front of him.

“You do not need to worry; I will take care of her. I am sure that someone is looking for her,” Dave smiles at the little girl who has not taken her eyes off his face.

“Master…Roger…Ambrosia,” she says slowly.

“Fine, I want to set up camp anyway. We can explore the rest of this tomb tomorrow,” Roger replies in frustration.

Dave asks Ambrosia, “Would you like something to eat?”

She nods her head “Yes”.

“Then food we will get!” Dave replies to her as he follows Roger up the steps and out into the fading light of the day with his new treasure.

The Little One from the Crypt