Cursed Treasure

The Poran Forest was no stranger to peculiar visitors in its dark domain. The thick canopy of oaks, maples, and pines left few slivers of pale light through, even on the brightest of sunny days. Isolated clearings were the rare places for any travelers to rest. Most moved through the trees without stopping.

There was no risk of wolves or bears in the Poran Forest. Few prey species lived on the ground layer. Squirrels and chipmunks hid in the trees. The martens that preyed on them were too small to threaten a human. Sparrows and doves nested in the branches. The hawks that preyed on them did not bother humans.

The true threat was from predators of their own kind. While rare, human brigands stalked the shadows made by the tall trees in that forest. The previous High King of Galesia even sent regiments of Capital soldiers into the Poran Forest to eradicate the outlaws. But all efforts from the Crown came to a halt when Primeval Infernal's threat became tangible in the form of his Incarnate. All of a sudden the Capital soldiers were recalled back to defend the kingdom's borders. Even guards from Landis were called to the frontlines. The remaining guards and the volunteer militia captured many bandit leaders and destroyed multiple camps. In spite of that, some scattered groups and individuals remained.

The two strangers in the midst of Poran Forest were not bandits. One was a pale-skinned young man in his early twenties. He had straw blond hair that covered the back of his neck. Deep blue eyes focused on a black metal box he carried. The muscles on his arms bulged with tension and his athletic physique showed under the brown shirt and blue trousers. His heavy leather boots, capped with steel at the ends, cracked twigs with each step.

The other man behind him had light skin a few tones darker than the younger man. He was older in appearance, possibly in his late thirties to early forties. His hair was short and brown, uncombed but not messy. His gray eyes looked ahead. In his arms was another black metal box, though the older man struggled to walk forward with a heavy load.

As the young man in front took effortless strides and the older man behind him trudged, they started talking about their plans.

"What if other people find this gold?" Leif asked. "What if they're not bandits and they get sick?"

Raed huffed a reply in between bursts of effort. "Then I'll keep them alive. I doubt there are innocent civilians living this deep in the woods though."

"What if the wrong bandits find it?"

"Then we hide the bodies," Raed drew in a quick breath as he took another labored step. "And we repeat until we get the right ones," huff. "Will you be able to recognize any of them?"

"Only by their voices. I might remember one of their faces," Leif said.

"That means we will need to stay closer and hide."

"What about other adventurers?"

At this point Raed needed a break from carrying a lead box filled with 5000 gold coins. He put the box on the ground and doubled over, hands on his knees. "Heck Leif, wait up," he panted. "Look, if those adventurers stoop so low as to steal other people's belongings how does that make them different from common thieves?"

"That's..."

"A good point? I agree. Now enough 'what ifs'. Come on now, help me set this box over there. Thing looks small but it weighs a ton. Well, a little over a tenth of a ton."

"I'm on it," Leif said as he hurried through the last of the trees before a clearing in the woods. He set his box of gold down in the middle, making sure to place a flat rock under it to make it stand out more. Once he checked that it was stable on the rock, he went back to assist Raed.

As Raed and Leif moved the second heavy gold-laden box, Raed shouted in a loud attention-seeking voice, "Hey buddy I sure hope you counted the right number of gold coins in these chests! It took hours to count all five thousand of my gold auruns! You better have another five thousand in that box of yours or we won't win the auction!"

"Raed, what are you doing?" Leif said in a hushed whisper.

"Attracting attention!" Raed whispered back.

After setting down the boxes next to the first one, Raed shouted, "Man I sure am tired from lugging those heavy chests! Come on buddy let's go back for a drink!"

After a pause...He continued shouting. "What? No, don't worry we can leave the ten thousand auruns here! Who's going to touch it, a bunch of squirrels?"

Raed motioned for Leif to say something too.

"Uh, what?" Leif whispered, confused.

"Just shout out something that makes it sound like you're also leaving!" Raed whispered.

"Ok..." Leif cleared his throat, then bellowed, "I sure could use some food! I heard the tavern has good pork ribs and cheese fries!"

Raed motioned for him to keep going.

"Uh...It's too bad we can't use these ten thousand auruns here to pay for all that food!"

Leif gave Raed an embarrassed look. "How was that?" He asked.

"Pork ribs and cheese fries? Is that what you like to eat?" Raed asked right back.

"I didn't think I'd need acting skills," Leif countered.

"Ha, fair enough," Raed said.

There was one final step he had to do. Raed placed a hand over each box and checked the decay rates. The gold was still active inside, and there would be about one hour remaining before the coins sublimated into mercury vapor.

After confirming that they were on schedule, Raed walked away from the clearing back to the trees, beckoning Leif to follow. When they walked several steps into the dense foliage, Raed uncovered a mass of old leaves to reveal a wide hollowed tree root much like the one Leif hid in on a previous occasion. He slid inside, feet first. "Come on in, Leif," he said.

Leif followed Raed into the spacious hiding spot, landing with a soft thump against the soft decomposing wood and dirt.

The space inside the tree root was larger than the one Leif previously used, which allowed both men to stand shoulder to shoulder as they peeked through the entrance. Raed moved some leaves and branches over their heads to conceal their presence. From their distance of roughly 30 meters away, they had a good view of the clearing

Seconds passed, then minutes. Leif grew restless.

"What if no one comes?" He whispered.

"Just wait," Raed whispered back. He too was growing anxious. There was less than an hour left for the metal to have full effect, after which the toxicity would degrade dramatically based on the parameters Raed set.

If the trap didn't work then they would have just wasted a day. The chances of rescuing the other demon would be drastically reduced as well.

Birds chirped in the calm spring day. A squirrel crawled over the closed lead boxes, sniffed around, and after finding no nuts, jumped off the box and ran off. There was no movement from the trees. Raed prepared to call off their hunt and destroy the toxic gold, when a rustling and echoes of human voices sounded from the other end of the clearing.

"I'm telling you I hears them right over theres!" A cranky voice said.

"You hears them voices every night what makes you think this voices is real?" A braying donkey-like voice asked.

"Shuddup Fordy, you couldn't find yer way outta yer mom they had ta cut you out!" The cranky voice yelled.

"Bleck! Fordy! Both of you, quiet!" Came a third, harsh and grating voice that Leif recognized as belonging to Marcus.

"You believe this, Bleck? Since whens we be taking orders from demons?" Shouted the donkey voice of Fordy.

"Since I proved to have more brains than the two of you combined," Marcus hissed. "Now quiet! Unless you want to scare them off!"

"But ya heard em, Marcus," a fourth voice, a scratchy voice like rubbing rocks together, called out. "They went away, left their treasure behind!"

"And you believe that, Toman? Don't be an idiot like Carlmer!" Marcus snapped back.

"Hey!" A voice that Leif recognized as belonging to Carlmer cried out.

"Steady now, it could be a trap," Marcus said as the footsteps got louder.

Raed and Leif could see the outlines of the bandits from their hiding spot under a tree. They grew clearer as they approached until the first one, a greasy, narrow-shouldered, olive-skinned, middle-aged, lanky man with a shaved head and bushy brown beard emerged first out of the treeline. He wore scraps of leather and fur armor that was patched together with hasty unskilled stitches.

"Sees, I tells you I hears them!" He yelled when he spotted the boxes lying unattended on the rock. That must be Bleck.

A second man followed after, a grimy, broad-shouldered, olive-skinned, middle-aged, overweight man with a bushy brown mess of hair and a thing brown mustache. He too wore scraps of leather and fur salvaged from his victims' armor. "You dirty little pig squealer!" He shouted. He sent a hefty pat on Bleck's back that caused the skinnier man to stumble. That must be Fordy.

Raed observed the two men. "Do you recognize them?" He whispered to Leif, who stood to his left. The young man's jaw was clenched tight.

"Not these two," Leif whispered. "But I remember two of the other voices. It's them."

As if on cue, Carlmer burst out of the trees, rushing madly toward the boxes. He was a short and round demon, who had long matted black hair with purple streaks running through them. His eyes glowed yellow and his tongue hang out of his mouth. He wore a soiled burlap robe that was typically seen on Benian monks.

"That's Carlmer," Leif whispered with hate in his voice. "He killed Chaibi."

Another demon ran out at a frantic pace as well. He was also short and round, almost like Carlmer's twin. But he had spiky short hair and he wore a ripped set of priest vestments. The black cloth barely held in his stoutness, and many tears in the garment threatened to come undone at any moment.

The last member of the group to come out was a tall, well-built demon with neatly combed hair that was parted to the right. He took slow careful steps in his fine leather boots. His leather armor was intact, and he wore a thick pair of bullhide gloves.

"That is Marcus," Leif told Raed. "I think he's their leader."

Raed nodded. Five of them. If this was the right group, that should be all.

"Now what?" Leif asked.

"Now we wait for them to get greedy," Raed replied.

Outside in the clearing, four people: two demons and two humans, played like toddlers with new toys.

"Stop playing with the loot, it could be a trap!" Marcus yelled at his comrades.

That warning went unheeded by the other four, as demon and human alike celebrated their fortuitous find.

Bleck held a gold coin between his teeth. He bit down on it. Very soft. A small bit of pressure while maintaining his bite, and the coin bent.

"Woohoo!" Bleck hollered in glee. "Soft as a steamed baby hog!"

Carlmer had stripped out of his monk's robe and was wearing only a loincloth. He grabbed a box for himself and with little difficulty raised it over his head and dumped the contents over his face and shirtless torso.

"You greedy demon rat!" Screamed Fordy. He grabbed some of the falling gold coins and wiped them across his face. They were misshapen and looked half-melted, but the metal was all that mattered to him. Sweet, pure, bliss! He had never seen so much gold in his life!

As Toman watched his twin bathe himself in gold coins, he felt his misgivings fade. Human gold held value in his homeland as well, but human gold in the human world was worth so much more. He would not hold back on indulging. Toman went for the other chest, the one that Bleck took a coin from and bit. He looked at the insides of the box, filled with layers upon layers of shining yellow discs. He picked up a coin and admired the perfect roundness, the details on the face of the long-dead human king, and the silly building on the back. Toman then grabbed two handfuls of gold and buried his face in them.

"You idiots! This could all be a trap! Stay on guard!" Marcus tried to shout above the wild hooting and hollering of the other four.

"Oi lighten up cap!" Bleck yelled.

Toman picked up the box with well-crafted coins and shoved it against Marcus's chest. A few coins spilled out and fell on the ground.

"Come on Marcus, don't look a gift or that saying." Toman said.

Marcus peered into the open box pressed against his torso. It was filled with an unbelievable quantity of detailed Galesian auruns. The craftsmanship was excellent and the coins looked authentic. Perhaps he was being too uptight after all? Marcus pushed away the box, and shook his head. He was just about to tell his comrades to let loose for an hour when a sudden surge of pain flashed through his chest and abdomen.

Toman dropped the box he was holding and moved his fingers to his face. He scratched at it, trying to get rid of whatever was crawling over his skin, but nothing was there. When he removed his fingers, he saw large strips of his own skin under his fingernails.

The scattered coins began to boil and started giving off a silvery mist that climbed into the air just above their faces.

Carlmer was on the ground, rolling. Whereas only a few minutes ago he was on the ground and laughing, that laughter was replaced now with shrieks.

Fordy, like Toman, was busy scratching away his face, trying to catch whatever invisible creature was crawling over his skin.

Bleck began coughing and spitting out blood and teeth.

Marcus covered his nose and mouth, and closed his eyes. He tried to run, but his legs felt like jelly. He was so tired, he couldn't stand. So he sat, eyes closed, with a hand covering his nose and mouth while he tried in vain to block out his comrades' pained howls.

Back underground, inside the tree hollow, Leif saw what happened to the bandits. He grabbed onto a root to pull himself out.

"Not yet," Raed held Leif by the shoulder. "Wait for them to breathe in the poison so we don't have to." He pointed at the thin silvery mist that hovered over the five men.

Following Raed's advice, Leif retreated back into the hollow, relaxing while he waited. With an unflinching face, he listened to the outlaws outside scream in agony.