Chapter 6: Heart Of The Ancient

Lillian nearly jumped away from where she was, almost revealing her presence to the people she was hiding from.

She heard nothing a few moments after and chose to convince herself that it was nothing but her imagination, for the sake of her own sanity.

Just as she began believing this, she felt something cold begin to curl around her wrist. Surprised, she jolted, causing her head to bump against the surface above her, resulting a noisy bang.

She fought back a scream, her free hand going to cover her mouth quickly.

"What was that noise?," she heard the Queen ask from beyond the room she hid in.

"Wait here, I will check," soon after Lily heard he King inform the Queen, she cringed from the sound of the bottom of the stone door scraping against the stone floor.

Lily shut her eyes tight, offering a silent prayer in her heart so she would not get caught.

Silence enveloped the room for a few moments and all that could be heard was the rhythmic stomping of the King's boots against the stone floor.

It was quiet, yet so loud.

Lillian pried her eye lids apart, taking a peek through her lashes. The King held a dimly lit lantern in his hand and through the sheet she hid under, the light was even duller.

However, it was bright enough for Lillian to finally see what was around her. She was hidden properly under a dark sheet, under which was a wooden, rectangular frame.

Tilting her head up slightly, Lily made out a silver, shiny object. She was not sure but it seemed as though it was a padlock.

Her attention returned to the man by the door when he took another step towards where she hid. From beneath the sheet, she could make out the shadow of his hand reaching out towards the sheets.

Lily held her breath, trying to swiftly come up with an excuse for why she was here. But no matter how hard she thought, every thing she could come up with sounded very absurd, like something that would have her mother summon the physician.

She held her breath, seeing the man's hand curl around the edge of sheet. But just as he began pulling at it, the Queen stopped him.

"George, leave it covered," her words cut through the tension filled air like a pair of scissors on duvets.

The King's hand on the sheet froze, as though he was pondering whether to let the sheet go or not. But fortunately, after a moment, his grip on the sheet loosened.

The King let out a sound, somewhat s mixture of a grunt and sigh. He did not sound very happy.

"It is unfortunate that if there is an intruder, they could be hiding under there and we could not do a thing because we are scared of some undead bastard," he complained.

"There you go again with your paranoia, my love," the Queen sounded as though she had rolled her eyes. "There is no one here. It must have been a rat or something. And you know what would happen if you do even as little as revealing-"

"Yes, yes darling," the King replied, nodding nonchalantly. "I am aware."

Lillian heaved a relieved sigh when she saw the King begin to retreat through the door, leaving her alone once more in the room.

He shut the stone door, enveloping the princess in the pitch blackness of the dark room.

Now alone, she became horrifying aware of the object around her wrist and she struggled to take it off. Just as she did, she realised it was nothing but the chains around the wooden rectangular box.

Lily crawled off from under the frame, as quietly and as stealthily as she could in order to avoid being found out as she was not hidden this time.

Now standing before the object, clad completely in dark sheets which she had previously hidden under, Lily let her eyes adjust to the darkness.

And eventually, they did.

It was a long, rectangular shaped, wooden box, chillingly resembling a coffin. Lily pulled the sheets away slightly, revealing a carved symbol into the side of the frame.

She was not sure what it was but it resembled a raven or a bird of some kind. She wanted to open it more to see what or rather who, was in the strange box. But she thought wiser of it, recalling the Queen's words just from a few moments ago.

Lily turned to head towards the door, but just as she did, a sound caught her attention and she spun back around.

It was not a loud sound, more similar to a soft thud but in the deafening silence, Lillian had heard it. Squinting down at the object, she took a few steps forward, squatting down to take a better look.

It was a small beautiful flower. A rose, to be exact. She reached out to grab it but instantly set it back down with a quiet hiss of pain as she held her now bleeding finger to her chest.

The thorns had not been removed. Picking it up once more, this time more carefully, Lillian held it to herself, gently bringing it to her nose to inhale.

The scent was beautiful, just as Lily had imagined. A small smile snuck unto her lips but was quick to fall as she began wondering where the rose had come from.

She glanced up at the wooden framed rectangle, pursing her lips in thought. Perhaps, truly there was a coffin under the sheets.

But if there was a body, wouldn't she atleast be able to smell the rot? Or perhaps it was a recent corpse?

Overcome with curiosity, Lillian reached for the sheets again but promptly paused, fisting her hands and fighting the curiosity burning wild within her.

The sound of the stone against stone brought Lily out of her thoughts, reminding her that she wasn't alone.

However, she was sure she was now as the sounds of the footsteps began to recede and fade away until she could hear nothing any more.