Lord Aymon’s feet padded through a thin layer of crusted green ooze. He had no idea what is was that covered the floor, but his boots were soaked through the toe with it. The room he had entered had low lighting and the walls drawings all around it made of presumably blood and the green ooze that crusted along the ground. Skeletons sat up against the walls with tattered robes and cloaks upon them. Rats crawled through the remains of the skeletons, chirping amongst each other in the tongue that rats do.

Lord Aymon flinched when his foot stepped on something hard. He stepped away fast. He squinted in the darkness at the hard object. It appeared to be some bone, but he could not tell what part of the body it belonged to. He turned slowly, but now he recoiled even quicker than before. A long black snake slithered by him, paying him no mind. He glanced around the desolate room. Dozens of snakes sat in little coils, intertwining with each other or slithering around on their lonesome. A few took note of him and rattled their tongue in a quiet hiss.

Lord Aymon took a deep breath. The room was not huge, but it was larger than a few prison cells combined. The ceilings were low though. He would surely hit his head if he stood on his tippy toes. The air was hard to breath, he found, and the smell was rank—putrid even. The decaying of human flesh and various molds and bacteria meshed together to form an intoxicating smell. He raised his light tunic over his nose.

Lord Aymon had an odd feeling about the skeletons that sat watching him. Although they were only bone, they had an odd way of smiling at him. Waiting and watching. Lord Aymon glanced back at the door. He knew The Rat would be waiting for a while, desperate to see him enter back through so he could pull the trigger of his crossbow. Lord Aymon cursed loudly. He wished he hadn’t.

The rats that had been exploring the skeleton remains began to scurry about the room, desperate to find their holes. Within seconds all of the rats had disappeared. The sound had caused a stirring to the right of the pile of snakes that were writhing around with each other. He took a half a step back and studied the wall at the far end of the room. As his eyes adjusted, he could see the thick snake emerging from a small hole in the wall. The snake was so big that its body was squeezed greatly as it let its thick scales become scraped by the hole’s sharp border. Lord Aymon’s stomach dropped. The snake was likely starving—its only food since the last prisoner to arrive had likely been the rats.

The snake’s body took a while to fully emerge from the hole, but when it did Lord Aymon was white as a sheet. Its eyes were never distracted for a second as it began to slither ever so slowly towards him. Its tongue vibrated outside its mouth. He backed up to the far end of the room, tripping over the legs of a corpse that sat against the wall with legs crossed.

“Hey, easy there. I’m trying to sleep,” spoke the corpse.

Lord Aymon gave a startled yell.

The corpse spoke again, although its face was hidden in shadow. “Well he definitely knows where you are. He’s blind you fool. You must be new.”

Lord Aymon’s eyes darted from corpse to snake and back to the corpse. “Are you…dead? What is this—”

“—been dead for four hundred years if that is what you mean to ask. The snake’s been here for thirty of those. You should have seen the one before him. This one is a baby. Think he wasn’t fed enough. Men used to be thrown in here like candy just to keep the old one fat.”

“Well help me out here, will you?” Lord Aymon backed into a corner. He began knocking on the walls, trying to punch a hole.

“That is foolish. What did I tell you about making noise?” The skeleton spoke to him like a child now.

“I don’t mean to be eaten. Why don’t you tell me how to get out of here?” asked Aymon.

“I can. And I will. Many men have escaped before.”

“What do you mean? I thought no man had ever been seen again?” Lord Aymon’s voice had grown distressed. The snake was still edging ever closer. Its belly gathered green slime as it crawled upon the crusted floor.

“Do you like riddles?” asked the skeleton. He laughed heartily, “I didn’t think so. I don’t have any, it is always quite fun to see a man’s reaction. Men forget how to think when they are scared.”

“I am not scared; I just prefer not to be eaten alive.” Lord Aymon looked around for something to throw. “I need something, anything…is there anything hard I can throw?”

The skeleton held out a thin bone.

“What is that?” asked Aymon.

“My rib. Take it. I don’t hand out ribs often. In fact, I had to steal a few bones from my friends who visit me to replace the ones I gave away. This is actually not my skull if you believe that.”

Lord Aymon was not listening any longer. He launched the rib against a far wall at the other end of the room. It clattered noisily against the wall but made no sound except for the plop as it landed in the green ooze. The snake turned, confused.

“It can’t see me?” watched quizzically at the disoriented creature.

“Blind, that one is. It can smell you though, and you smell like sweet flowers and spices, my friend.” The skeleton laughed loudly.

“Shut up! Keep your mouth, it’s going to hear you.” Lord Aymon was anxious now.

“You’re telling me? How long have you been down here? Fifteen minutes? I always get lads like you. I’ll give you twenty minutes, which is longer than most I’d say. Besides, she can’t hear me. The dead can’t talk.” The skeleton still hadn’t moved from the shadows, his legs still crossed snuggly.

“Stop talking nonsense, I mean to get out of here. I did not kill the king like they say. Help me get out, please.”

“It’s going to cost you more than some free advice to get out of here, kid.”

“What do you mean? Speak normal, I don’t have time for riddles.” Lord Aymon was calm again. The snake sat still, listening.

“It is no riddle I speak of. I have seen men escape from here, but there is a reason they are never seen again.”

The coil of small snakes at the far end of the room began to dissipate and spread out through the room.

“What? What is it? Tell me.”

“Oh, this is bad, the mother has just ordered her snakes to find you. Her babies are not blind like she.” The skeleton sounded indifferent as he said, much to Lord Aymon’s frustration.

“Okay, your still not telling me. I don’t mean to be a dead sack of bones such as yourself. Help me.”

“Well there is the catch. The way out will cost you your life, but you will still live as I do. It is not so bad. But first you must do as I say. Here take this.” The skeleton tossed him a dagger with a blade that was black as night.

“What am I to do with this? Kill the snake?” Lord Aymon adjusted his grip on the hilt as little black snakes began to slither his way.

“No, fool. That blade won’t do a thing against those scales. That is a special blade. If you break skin with that black iron, your skin will rot away. But I promise you, it is the way out.”

“So, what? I become a pile of bones and then what?”

“The snake won’t eat a pile of bones. It is your flesh that it wants.” A black snake slithered over Lord Aymon’s boot and he flinched. The snake splashed lightly on the ooze as it landed a few feet away.

“That’s it? That’s your suggestion? That doesn’t get me out of here. I am going bac through that door.”

The skeleton’s voice was harsh for the first time, “Oh no you won’t. I’ve seen it hundreds of times before. That door doesn’t open from the inside. You go ahead and try. The sound of that door is the best way to alert the beast where you are. I swear by it.”

The mother snake reared its head, rising from the surface of flowing green ooze.

“I am dreaming. I will awaken from this beside my new bride.” Lord Aymon pinched himself, punched himself, and jammed his head against the wall. He wasn’t dreaming.

The mother of the snakes had turned its head at the sound of his antics. It began to slither towards him. A swarm of tiny snakes followed beside her.

“I’ll give you a clue. Dead men love to lie.”

Lord Aymon skirted around the border of the long room as fast as he could. The snakes were hissing and starving for his flesh. The little snakes slithered as quickly as they could towards him and their mother amongst them. The mother snake stretched herself as far as she could and snapped at his feet, narrowly missing Aymon. He skipped by, letting out short, ragged short breaths. He found the black dagger still in his hand. He had to test the door.

He could hear it before he saw it. The snake lunged. He twisted, jamming the black dagger into the beast’s head. The snake coiled away, roaring in anger. He knew it was not enough to harm it, but it bought him time. He tested the knob of the door. It twisted. The door opened. He stepped through.