Mousoleum Chapter 17

Read Table of Content | +Kyla Scurchio
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Zugzwang and I settled ourselves behind two rather large headstones, on the other side sat our traps waiting for the hunt.
"Do you ever think you'll go back?" I whispered to Zugzwang after an hour of sitting.
"I don’t know, I kind of like Gnawnia, I'm not looked at like a dangerous magician." he said thoughtfully.
With a grunt I pulled out the horn from my bag. Zugzwang told me to hold onto it for a while. Swiftly I placed it to my lips and blew the horn. A single noted danced from it and played in the air around our hiding spot. We both stiffened as a mouse approached our traps.
The Radioactive Blue Cheese glowed ominously from either trap, lighting up the body of the creature about to approach it. It was as if the mouse was wrapped in cloth. Stumbling forward, it tried to snatch up the cheese.
As we watched from our hiding place we became completely aware that the mouse wasn't alone, nor was it one of a kind. In fact there were hundreds just like it, mummies walking, stumbling towards the
traps hunger ripping at their stomachs.
"Gah." Zugzwang breathed.
We sat still as rods, trying not to attract attention. Two of the mummies walked to the traps quicker than the others and snatched up the cheese without even setting it off. I stared, mouth open. Trying to get a better look at the mob of mice I shifted my weight, but as I did a twig snapped under my knees. I winced.
When I looked back up the mouse that had just fed was staring directly at us. Ditching our hiding places Z and I ran for it. In the rush to get away from the hungry mice I left my pack by accident. Behind a new headstone I watched as the mouse dug into my cheese stock filling itself full of radioactive cheese. When he was full, he glowed lightly then scampered away.
"I'm going to have to be more careful with my supplies" I moaned reaching for my pack after the mice moved on. Only five or so pieces had been stolen but I knew it was precious and couldn’t be wasted. Plucking up another piece of bait I walked to my trap and baited it once more, Zugzwang did the same. The mummies had wandered off, though some were still slightly visible through the haze.
"Dear King, I fear you won't even receive this set of notes, either way, the mice in the Mousoleum are tough. I have the scar to prove it. On the next page are the started drawings of those mice I have discovered. All of them seem to be angry, hungry, and more yet, vengeful.  Much caution will be needed here. If you can, send no one. - P"
The next several days were full of disappointment, pain, and anger. The first wave of disappointment started when our radioactive blue cheese started going stale. We checked our traps only to find this melted, slime like sludge sitting on our traps where the cheese had once been. We scraped it up and placed it in tiny jars for safe keeping.
The next wave of disappointment hit when we found we were missing more than we were catching. Constantly, we needed to place our traps back upright after the mice tore them apart looking for more bait.
One of the things that should have scared us, but didn’t, was the first Ghost Mouse encounter. Upon a midnight horn call, the dead mouse floated towards the trap. I was more fascinated by it than frightened. How it was ever able to rise again was a mystery to me. The creature had floated towards Z's trap at the time, passing over the bait causing it to vanish. The trap sensed the essence of the mouse and had activated, but it did practically nothing to it as it floated away. Failure to catch mice, loss of cheese; disappointment was unavoidable.
The pain came on the fourth night. I had taken watch while Zugzwang rested. The moon was full over head and there was only a light mist covering the ground. Half asleep I heard a scraping and growling, much more like a beast than a mouse. It reminded me of my encounter with the monster mouse and hoped they hadn't found a way to come alive while we were still in the Mousoleum.  Little did I know a monster would have been a favorable encounter compared to what I was about to face.
As Z rested I peaked over the headstones to see a rather large creature. Standing upright was a beast of a mouse. Muscles rippled under its fur and claws scraped at the stones around it. When its head turned towards us I flinched seeing its fangs; sharp and large, probably capable of more damage than the fists of the monster mouse. And its eyes, something about its eyes, they looked sparked with rage and hunger. My breath caught in my throat.
I nudged Zugzwang awake, when I looked back up the sky dimmed even more. I didn’t even think that was possible, the darkness was already at a dark more absolute than anything I had experienced before, but it seemed that even the little lamps around the place dimmed suddenly. Quietly Zugzwang lifted himself up knowing something was wrong.
"I don’t like the looks of this." Zugzwang whispered looking around finally spotting the mouse. His eyes grew large and instantly stiffened. "Don't. Move." he mouthed.
The mouse sniffed the air then walked to the traps. He kicked the first one over, sending the cheese flying before moving to the next, stealing its cheese as well. But as it had moved off to collect its loot a noise sounded behind us.
"Aragh!" Zugzwang shouted. I spun around to see a red mouse floating quickly at us. His eyes on our throats, it hissed and spit at us once we spotted it. Darkness followed him as he floated towards us. When he finally showed his face I saw two very long, very sharp teeth. When it was close enough it jumped out and gripped my ankle. Kicking to get it off I rolled out of the protection of the grave stone. As teeth sunk into my leg I felt fear trickle down my spine as I saw the other beast catch my eyes.
"Plankrun run!" Zugzwang screamed "Don't let the Lycan bite you!"
I didn’t have a clue what he was talking about, but he didn’t need to tell me twice. The Lycan, as Z had appropriately called it, was bearing down on me as I yanked my leg, now stinging painfully, away from the little vampire's mouth. It smacked its lips tasting my blood and craving more. Its eyes glowed blood, red before approaching me again.
"Oh you have got to be kidding me." I muttered, as both mice descended upon me. I quickly shrugged out of my pack and rolled away from it, leaving the vampire to scrounge for something to eat. Zugzwang sat hunched behind a nearby headstone terror in his eyes. The Lycan had completely ignored my abandoned pack and was rushing after me. I scrambled to my feet and started running, occasionally looking over my shoulder, finding the Lycan gaining ground.
As I looked behind me again, I tripped over a gravestone, cracking my head on the gravestone that was next to it. I felt the pain instantly as blood trickled down my forehead. This was followed by claws scraping a gash down my back. I heard my shirt rip as the Lycan shredded it. His growls were deafening in my ear. A sudden moment of hopelessness washed over me.
"Yargh!" Zugzwang howled from behind me. I heard a thwack, and the Lycan was sent flying through the air, bouncing off a tree before bolting away from us. I glanced up at Z as he pocketed a rather large looking book. My mind fogged over as the white hot pain from my leg, head, and back reached me. I passed out before Zugzwang had even knelt down to help.