Hanging on Bones

Chapter 8: Old Bones

I must have seen wrong, right? This grave is total mess! It was so crumbling and time eaten that at first glance, I thought it must be abandoned for more than century already, damn it!! The youngest I could ever give it, is fifty year old ruin, rather than the fresh one! How the hell could it be 2213? No matter whether that was birth date or death date, there is just no way!

I cannot be more than two hundred years old right? Right? RIGHT!?

Easy easy… calm down me…

Bright sides… look for the bright sides…

Hmm… on second thought… all my old enemies are dead, right? That is good news…

What else… the technology? It should have skyrocketed by now and solved food problems and what not… but looking at the humans running around on this cemetery that does not seem to be the case… and then there’s magic…. What? Did the technology run out of control or something? Naah, no way…

So what could have happened…? Stop. Stop. Stop. I have to look for the bright sides instead of dark ones.

Hmm… yeah my enemies are dead… ugh… I start to repeat myself…

Bright side…

Ah! I will not get wrinkles! I will not get older physically! I can only get stronger or die horrible death! I will not get bald anymore.

I don’t get tired. Endless stamina! Ha! If only I had my more delicate organs…

That is NICE thought… yeah… let’s go to sleep with that…

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Aaah… that was nice dream…

But there is too much to do and think about this night. Let’s see… I should have three main objectives today. First, I have to make sure of the dates. Second, get my arm back. I have to make sure it will be safe from the sun. I don’t want my mind to be melted with pain. And the third aim is getting my hands on that second scimitar. I’m pretty sure where she dropped it and it might still be there.

Shifting slab of my temporary resting place proves quite easy. Must be some kind of invisible adrenaline, right? Quick check of surroundings, and I’m looking at the name plate. Damn. It was time of birth. Getting the moss off reveals the date of death. Damn long lived m****r f****r. He died when he was 95. Who the hell lives that long!? Add to this the age of grave and it means I’m way over 300 now. But I guess one hundred here or there doesn’t make a difference, huh?

Distractions… I have to find distractions…

In either case let’s leave my age aside.

…

There’s quite a wind today, huh. That might be helpful or harmful depending on the situation. If I’m going against the wind, I will hear better everything in front of me. While going with the wind, I will have harder time hearing things ahead. It’s not as simple as that but that’s the theory.

Yeah… that worked… I calmed down.

Now… next order of business is retrieving my arm. But there’s no way I will leave the money here, right? Do I take the pouches with me? Naah, I better drop them off at my grave.

Moving between the graves proves to be going smoothly. I’m getting much better at movement coordination and navigating through the graves. That speeds things up.

Keeping vigilant all the time, I drop my stuff of. Looking closer at the tree, which I assumed was the one I remember from childhood, reveals its different type. Birch-tree and oak. Damn, who the hell would confuse the two? I guess I was too hyped up to notice. Still the shape is so unique I didn’t even consider it can be different tree.

Either way, after putting everything into place, I retrace the route I took on the first day. Leaving money here is not something I would normally do, and I feel bad about it. Still, they would clatter and make a lot of noises. I don’t have time to figure out a way of attaching them to my belt in a way that prevents that.

Walking cautiously I look at the slope and wonder about the cemetery. It withstood the passage of time, but barely. Most of them are crumbling. Dates and names are usually obstructed by moss and weather beaten to the point of not being readable. But as I go along, more and more become recognizable. The range and variety is high, starting from late 19XX up to 23XX. Actually I’m surprised at how good the old ones are preserved. Normally they would have long ago crumbled to nothingness or have been replaced.

What I vaguely remember is that family rents the grave slot and pays up the sum for specific limited amount of years. If the lease is not renewed, that place is being confiscated and rented to someone else. Resulting in brand new grave in that place. Also the families who own the rent for a long time, bury next generation in the same place as old one, with new headstone slab and pedestal. That results in graves never being older than 100 years. But here, even the crumbling ones, considering their age, are almost perfectly preserved. That is not natural. Even if left alone at this point they should have crumbled down to nothing. Something is seriously wrong here. Still those are the contemplations I should leave for later.

The detour will take a little bit more time, but I’m curious about that place. Whether there is something left of her or not. It’s like in all those detective novels. The perpetrator always comes back to the place of crime. This curiosity of mine got me in many tight spots when I was still alive, but I cannot help myself.

Few more minutes of cautious strides and I’m at that spot. Hmm… as expected, her body was already removed from here. Two days and one night has already passed after all. But more strangely there is absolutely no sign of anything ever happening here. Not only sword, body and blood is gone, but the grave looks untouched! Even the tree is fixed! It’s as if nothing ever happened here! Over in that spot her sword tore out big chunk of the marble slab! And that part of the grave was shattered! The tree had the f****ing greatsword stuck in it!! But all of them look as if they stood here quietly for the last fifty years and were untouched by anyone! How can anyone fake the stupid mold, moss and corrosion!? Something is strange here… Definitely strange. I’m over hundred percent sure I’m in the right place.

Damn, I don’t have time for this. I have to get my arm back tonight.

I have to quickly get to the fated steep staircase. Gosh, maybe I should name that place already? Stairway to heaven? Ha!

Making my way at decent pace and trying to stay quiet at the same time gets me better results. Seems like I’m staidly getting used to this body. My joints having increased range of movements and other quirks that lack of muscles forces me into, slowly but steadily get nulled by additional speed and flexibility. Well it’s not like I will become athlete but every advantage helps.

Getting closer I increase my vigilance. There’s nothing worse than running into open mouth sleeping of lion. Cautious peak through the bushes, and I’m sure nothing’s there. That does not mean I’m safe through. Crawling out I approach the edge and look down. Still nothing.

That MIGHT mean I’m safe. But I have to search through this plaza of pleasant memories still I’m on. Who knows? Maybe I will find the second scimitar.

Alex was her name, right? The grave she demolished is as undisturbed as if it didn’t experience touch of men for over hundred years. Big greatsword buried up to the hilt? What! When? Phi! No problem!

Damn this is strange. What can one lone bony skeleton do? Not much. But surviving is the key for reaching answers.

Throughout search reveals that I’m lucky! Under the brush there is scimitar half buried in the dirt. Must have been kicked there during the struggle. Well it’s not like I can use the two of them but having backup will be reassuring. The part of the harness on my belt, from the beginning was intended for two similar blades. That woman had placed it on her back too low, but I have fitted it at my side and higher than she did. Should not be a problem for me, except for additional weight. With my bones weighting so little I’m again quite unbalanced and will have to rearrange their placement at the later time.

First things first though. My arm. I get the feeling it’s very important to retrieve it sooner rather than later.

After checking the surroundings once more, I quickly descend the heavenly stairway. Practice, practice.

Few glances and I’m back quietly trekking through rows of graves. I more or less feel the arm and have vague idea where it is. To save time, instead of moving step by step the same way as before, I make a beeline straight for it. My feeling of balance is yet again out of whack, so I slowed down.

The graves here are new in comparison with my part of the hill. But the dates are not much different. The newest I found up till now was with date of death in the 2376. It even has candle still flickering on top. That means someone was here visiting during day time.

*…gh…*

Ah! The noises…. I hunch down and listen. Yeah, there are several of them in the distance. Live humans. No wonder I have met no undead today. They must have taken care of them before I got anywhere close. But this is quite a small group. Just four people staying together. They are far away and don’t seem to be getting any closer.

…

I don’t have enough time to wait for them to move on. Slowly and carefully I start sneaking towards my destination. It’s not very far from this spot and I can reach it quite easily. One row and few graves ahead of me there is the tree. My lovely pole tree is back. Standing straight and proud even through it was cut in half. If not for the missing arm and the weapons with me, I would begin to doubt whether any of it actually happened.

Reaching the tree and seeing the vase I cannot help myself and immediately reach out for it. Mistakes, mistakes. Will I ever learn that life is never so easy? As the vase moves and my arm falls out, I hear cliché *tick* sound of trap being released. Bloody hell, what now?

Not waiting for results of the trap I grab the arm and slam it into the place. I do this while jumping back from the booby-trapped vase.

I sure am stupid in many ways. Jumping back made my shins catch on the grave. As I am falling flat on my back I see something amazing. There, all around me appeared small versions of blue portal I saw on my first night.

Just as they say.

There is no rest for the wicked.

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Short one this time, but i wanted to have plenty of space to maneuver in the next one ... Thanks for all the comments.

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