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“These qualify as treasures?” Palan asked as his gaze swept through the treasury. Rusted armor and weapons were heaped on top of each other, forming miniature mountains. A few red metal sheets were stacked neatly in a corner. Chests containing thousands of yellow crystals lay on the floor with their lids opened.
Bones of every color, belonging to creatures that Palan couldn’t identify, were scattered throughout the room. Justitia walked over and picked one up, a crease forming on her forehead as her fingers traced the edges. “Why are these classified as treasures?” she asked. The yellow bone was smooth to touch. A few notches were cut out of the sides. “Writing?”
“Nope,” Cory said as her head popped over Justitia’s shoulder. “Just chicken scratch.”
Justitia screamed and dropped the bone before falling forward. “What are you doing here?” she asked as she regained her composure. Palan and Raea turned around to stare at the red harpy.
“Watching?” Cory asked.
“Didn’t I say no one should come in here while I’m here?” Raea asked and furrowed her brow.
“Oh,” Cory said. “I assumed you only meant that for that one time. Should I leave? Who else is going to introduce all our awesome treasures to you?”
“I think everything here is self-explanatory,” Raea said as she pursed her lips. She stared at the bone by Cory’s feet. “But fine. Tell us what the treasures are.”
Cory nodded and picked up the bone with her talons. “These yellow ones are the fortunetelling bones,” she said as she hopped around the room, picking up the scattered yellow bones. “The seers made their predictions with these. I think.” She furrowed her brow as she placed the bones into a neat pile before scooping up red bones. “These red ones are decision sticks. When the matriarchs are going to make a big decision, they toss these bones. This little skull mark means don’t do it, and this little happy face means go for it.” She dropped them next to the pile of yellow bones. “And lastly,” she said as she gathered blue bones, “these are the gambling sticks. They’re used by the matriarch when she’s bored and wants to play a game, but no one knows the rules anymore.” The blue bones scattered the red and yellow ones as Cory flung them over, not caring about neatness anymore. Her brow furrowed. “Or maybe the yellow ones were the gambling sticks…. Oh wells, that doesn’t matter.”
Cory’s wings fluttered as she half-flew, half-walked over to Palan’s side. “You’ve got good eyes,” she said and nodded at the chests by his feet. It was a shame Cleo wasn’t here. “These are the yellow crystals that we’ve plundered from, well, everyone. Don’t ask where they came from, and you won’t have to worry about it. We use these as power sources to light up the nest and currency to buy food. They’re super inconvenient to pick up though.” Her talons clasped a bunch of crystals, but the majority ended up falling out of her grasp.
“What are these metal sheets?” Raea asked, gesturing towards the red metal in the corner.
Cory shrugged. “We don’t use them for anything,” she said. “But the sadistic benefactor likes them, so obviously they must be a treasure. I was the one who brought them here.” She stuck her chest out and placed the tips of her wings on her hips. “That’s what secured me my place as matriarch.” Her voice lowered as her head drooped. “Don’t tell him I stole them though.”
Palan and Raea walked around the mounds of armor, heading towards the back of the treasury. “Wait,” Cory said. “You don’t want to know about the armor and weapons?”
“Are they magical?” Justitia asked as she stopped by Cory’s side. Raea and Palan ignored the two as they rummaged through a layer of miscellaneous items spread on the floor.
“Well,” Cory said. “Well, well, well. I’ll have you know, if you pick up this spear and stab it through someone’s heart, then they’ll die.”
“Isn’t that the point of all weapons?” Justitia asked and furrowed her brow. She wondered what happened to her lance that was confiscated after she was captured. It was the only weapon she could afford that could channel her powers of temperance. “Aren’t there any special ones?”
“Um. If you slash someone with this sword, then they’ll bleed,” Cory said as she awkwardly lifted a sword with her talons. Justitia’s face blanched as she took a few steps back while Cory hopped around and tried some stabbing motions. The harpy’s brow furrowed. “Very tricky to use though.”
“Forget it,” Justitia said and sighed as Cory dropped the sword.
“Hey,” Raea said as she picked up a necklace that was buried at the very bottom of a pile of jewelry. Her attention was drawn to it because out of the rest of the jewelry, it was the only one in decent condition. It had a golden chain, which was as thick as her fingers, with red stripes circling its length. The clasp was made out of a blue metal that hadn’t corroded which was a surprise to her because the necklace was half-submerged in a pool of sticky mud when she fished it out. Attached to the chain, there was the upper half of a skull made of red metal. “What is this?”
“Creepy as hell,” Cory said as she hopped over and crinkled her nose. “That’s what it is.” Her eyes narrowed at the red skull: there were no teeth, the two triangles where a nose should’ve been were filled in with gold, and the eye sockets were covered with two black gemstones. “It looks like you can open its eyes. I’ve never seen any matriarch wear that before—probably because it’s freaky.”
Palan glanced at it and rubbed his chin. “Andrea would like that,” he said as he held out his hand. Raea placed it into his palm.
She made a face as the skull stared at her. “Watch,” she said as Palan turned it around and touched its forehead. “You’re going to open its eyelids and real eyeballs are going to be inside. I have a feeling.”
“That would be interesting,” Palan said. He placed his fingers at the bottoms of the two black gemstones and flicked them upwards. “Huh. You were right.”
“What,” Raea said as she went to his side. She peered at the skull. Two hawk-like eyes stared back at her.
Oh no… you pranked us with 3 chapters… the horror.
Thanks a lot for the chapters! You’re my hero <3