If I Had a Heart

"You stupid idiot," Aumrauth hissed, seeing Elias flop onto the sand. "You sent me out here to do the dirty work and then decided to jump in the water? Some genius you are."

With his insult dished out, he turned back around to the water.

"Is that it?" he shouted, seething. "You want more you oversized worm?"

"Diversion," Elias managed. He'd been part of plenty of diversions that had gone much worse. Why was Aumrauth, an immortal for god's sakes, complaining?

The water stirred; the creature seemed to be contemplating. Elias rolled over and dragged himself toward the chest, which appeared to be locked.

Aumrauth rolled his eyes. Diversion his a**.

"If you die, you die forever. Just remember that," Aumrauth warned.

He stood his ground as he looked into the water, waiting to see if the serpent would have the guts to come back, or if it'd try to sneak up on them.

It looked like Aumrauth killed the creature. Maybe. It was hard to tell when Mel was trying to stare at the lights and not lose concentration.

She heard Aumruath and Elias continue to bicker—again—and decided that was her cue that the fight was over. She sighed and dropped her concentration, the lights returning to her and Ainsley's wrists as a bead of sweat dropped down her face. It was nice not being in the dark now.

"How's it going?" she yelled across the lake, squinting at them. She could barely make out the glow of their lights on the island. "Did you open the chest? What's in it?"

"It's locked," Elias called back, sitting up. He pulled at the whole thing, hoping he could bring it back across the lake to someone with a proper weapon. He'd left his cane and medical bag back on the other side, so he was basically useless. The chest budged a little; it wasn't too heavy.

Nikolai nodded. "Away from the not-crocodile thing that seems pretty deadly," he agreed. "Yeah, I like the sound of anything that involves safety."

That was quite an optimistic statement, saying that anything around them was safe. Most of what he'd seen in these caves seemed to either be dangerous or very dangerous. Anything that didn't seem to be one of the two felt suspicious and uncertain, like it was a trap of some kind. Still, they were still alive by some miracle or another, and it seemed to be by avoiding whatever seemed most risky.

Nikolai wondered if their fortunate lack of monsters meant the other group was attracting them all. They did seem to be more outgoing. He hoped they were alright.

"Well," he said hesitantly, glancing back at the creature to check it hadn't moved before turning back to his team. "Where to, then?"

"Haven't looked at the chest yet!" Aumrauth added, shouting. He looked in the water again, this time with his view much dimmer, now that Mel's light was out. He looked over at Elias, who was trying to push the chest.

Aumrauth stood up straight and strolled over, then leaned on the other end of the chest with his elbow.

"We could just bust this thing open right here, right now," he said, attempting eye contact with the quivering doctor.

"That would probably be quicker," Elias agreed, stepping back. His leg was sore as anything; walking without the cane was proving more difficult after his little swim. "Would you like to do the honors?"

Aumrauth nodded.

"Never thought my lock-picking skills would come in handy like this," he said as he came around to the lock, using the tip of his (now bloody) dagger to dig in there. He stuck his ear right up by the lock and focused so he could do this as quickly as possible.

The waters were stirring again. Elias took a few deep breaths, closing his eyes tightly. In an attempt to distract himself, he took stock of the contents of his jacket. His matches and lighter were now waterlogged, and when he took out his little pocket journal and pen he found that they were soaked through. His clothes were ruined too, of course.

Aumrauth heard the water starting to stir, and he zeroed in on the lock. Click. Click. Aaaaaand... the final click!

"Aha!"

He ripped the lock off and threw open the chest. If it was something else that was going to attack him, he might finally consider opening the chests with more caution. But he hoped it was worth the trouble of being guarded by some sea serpent.

Elias heard the chest open and opened his eyes, taking a step forward to peer inside.
The first thing he saw was an ancient folded cloth with ink patterns that suggested a map. Below that was a satchel and a grappling hook coiled beside it.
Well, it was certainly better than nothing.

Aumrauth stared down into the chest, holding the lid up.

Map. Satchel. Grappling hook. This really was some kind of... dungeon quest thing. Obviously, these were here because they'd need them at some point.

He threw the grappling hook and the map-looking cloth into the satchel. Now that they opened the chest, they might as well high-tail it out of there before the serpent came running back.

Speaking of, it probably would. Better to get out now than wait for it to sneak up on them.

He threw the satchel over his shoulder and looked to Elias.

Aumrauth was used to being the only one competent in the room, but this just felt ridiculous. At least Mel was useful as a flashlight.

"Alright, get up," he said to Elias. "Let's get back."

(The satchel is full of climbing tools as well)

Elias nodded slightly, looking at the water distrustfully. He was almost certain that thing would come back the second they stepped in.

Mel wasn't really getting an update, and she was getting antsy, stealing silent glances between them and Ainsey next to her. Gosh, he was so silent. It made her nervous.

"Well?!" she yelled across again. "Didja open it yet?"