Theif

The door opened with a loud creaking sound. The hallway inside was dimly lit with a couple of candles on either side of the stairs. It had been quite a hard day at the studio for Argus Finch. His eyes were dull due to lack of sleep. The wooden staircase made a loud thudding sound as he climbed them carefully avoiding the potholes in the wood. Maybe this door could do with a bit of oil along its hinges and these stairs need working.The house was quite old, ten years since Argus had rented it. The owner himself had spent half his life there, and Argus had heard that the house stood fifty years before that. And that was what the owner had known or had cared to tell him. Who knew how old it actually was, he had thought many a times. A good night sleep is what I need.

“How do you do Mr.Finch?”

“Good evening Mrs. Carboyle, nice to see you after so long.”Argus could not believe the strain in his own voice.

“Yes me too, but you look so tired. I hope everything is alright.”

“Ah yes, just some work waiting to be completed.”

“Ah poor man. Do get some sleep. I have laid your dinner on your table.”

“Thank you Mrs.Carboyle. As you say I just need a good sleep. Good night Mrs.Carboyle”

“Good night Mr.Finch”

“Oh and yes Mr.Finch, he is back. You would want to meet him.” Mrs.Carboyle called, just as Argus was about to turn.

“What! When did he come? I thought he would be away for at least a month.”

“Yes that was what he had told me. Came today in the morning, just as I was breaking my fast; mumbled something about bad sails.”

Argus nodded thoughtfully. That was something he had never seen about Captain Saladin.



“He looked weak Mr.Finch. It looked as if he hasn't been eating for a couple

of days at the least.

“Weak? Saladin?”It was hard to picture the captain weak.

“Yes Mr.Finch, it looked as if he contracted a disease or something.”

“Well, I will go and see him. But I don't think you need not worry too much Mrs.Carboyle. Saladin is a tough to crack and I don't think any disease will keep him sick for too long.”

Argus climbed up the stairs slowly watching the old lady disappear into her door. He found it hard to believe about Saladin. At the top of the staircase a faint trace of light glimmered from underneath the door to his right. A queer odor filled his nose and some queer hesitation filled his mind. Something inside him was telling him not check on Saladin. Hesitantly he knocked the door. Getting no response, he gave the door a gentle push and to his surprise found it open.

“Saladin?” Argus peeked through the door. Saladin's back was turned to him as he sat facing the table opposite the door. Most of his luggage from his voyage was sprawled across the room. A solitary candle was lit just besides the door enough to see the profile of sunken figure in the chair in front of him. As Argus peered into the darkness, he could sense the weakness in Saladin's limbs. Where the normally strong and stubborn captain would sit back in the chair with his head held high. To Argus it appeared that someone had almost forced the captain to sit. So the old woman was right.

“Saladin?”He stepped forward towards the dark sunken figure quitely.

“When did you return? I thought you would be gone for a month.” Argus gasped at the sight of his face. Could he say that this was the same man who left this house three days before?

“Saladin are you alright? When was the last time you ate anything ?” Argus

looked at him with some concern. Saladin sat in the chair staring at the dark wall blankly.

“Is there something wrong dear friend?” Saladin was an old and good friend, and it pained him to see him in this way.

His face had gone paler and thinner since he had seen him the last. His thin hands were drumming against the mass of his chair.

Restlessness or maybe fear.

Pale candlelight fell on his face throwing the sunken eyes into shadows. On the table beside him, lay an empty glass, some spilled rum and on the door was the skin. But before he had time to register all these details a strange golden skull on the table caught his eye. It looked to be a pure gold work and was shining brightly in the candle light. For it's eyes the skull had two blood red rubies and the brows were decorated with ivory. Argus kept looking at the skull. It looked frighteningly fascinating to him.

“You must not be here” Saladin spoke in a thin frail voice; barely whispering. “It is coming. You can do nothing to help me.”

What happened to his voice?

“Sal, what is the matter?”Argus shook him lightly by the shoulder feeling his bones. “What is coming?”

Saladin was shaking violently, his body was cold, and hard.

What in the name of the gods could three days do to such a fine man?

Being friends for twelve years, Argus knew Saladin well enough, but never did he remember seeing him in such a state. As a sailor, Saladin was pretty accustomed to these long stretches of sea. He had traveled far across the continent a dozen times in his life and every time he had brought some of the most strangest and weirdest tales with him.

“The sea is the most mysterious thing in the world, Arg” he had said one day as he returned from his sails. “You look down at it, the blue swirling currents, those huge waves slamming across your hull. You never know what lies beneath the waters, watching us.” The way he said those words send a chill through Argus' spine. He was never the bravest of the men, was Argus. “It can see you,

whatever lies beneath, from under the waters; and all you can do is pray, pray for its mercy.”

His room was always filled with curious objects collected during his travels. Most of them were enough to scare Argus at their mere mention. There was that Persian dagger, with its hilt studded with rubies and the blade with its shining colours, the finest that the eyes could see. Yet when Argus had touched the blade, it was wet with blood smears. To the greatest of his horrors, it was

wet at the same spot even on the next day, and day after that one, and even in the week that followed. Then there were those coins he had gifted him. Three coins of Incan origin made of pure gold. And when you saw them in the light, they would shine in every colour known to Argus.

The man sitting across the room, dazed and bewildered in fright was a far cry of the fearless captain he had known.

“Ummm, yumm, yumm” Saladin made a low moaning sound. “You should not be here” he said again.

I cannot leave him this way, too dangerous for him. Leave him and I very well would have to see his bones the next hour.

Saladin reached for the bottle lying on the floor and put it to his barren lips.

Some last drops; he might need every bit of them sooner.

“May I get you another one ?”

“You do me a favor and get your ass out of here now” he whispered.

“Look at yourself in the mirror.” Argus raised his voice in anger. “Nothing is left but your bones. And you want me to leave you alone in such times?”

Saladin gave a sad, drunken grin, baring his yellow teeth.

“Oh you think this is funny eh?” Argus was loosing his patience, whatever little he had. “I well would have smacked you across the face if you atleast had something in those hands of yours to show you how funny it is.”

The grin got wider, soon turned into a broad smile, which itself turned into a heavy throaty laugh. Before another word could be said, Saladin was laughing hysterically. Argus stood frozen like stone.

What in the name of the good Gods can this be?

As if some unknown force had given him sudden strength. The laughter went on endlessly and Argus stood with horror like a statue wondering what he should do.

“Sal, sal, alright” trying to calm him. “Listen to me, why don't you just go to sleep. You look tired, and a good night's sleep might just do the work for you.”

No sooner had he said those words, Saladin shrank back at the furthest corner of the room, trembling with fear. “It is coming, coming” his voice looked a frail version of the man who had been laughing insanely just moments ago.

I must comfort him. He is terribly afraid.

“No” he shreiked with sudden strength as Argus approached him. “Get back....Back off, don't come near me.”

His face was chalk white, filled with sweat, his teeth chattering endlessly.

Whatever the matter, I must get it out from him.

His listless eyes were scanning the shadows in the corners . Argus approached the sunken shaking figure on the floor slowly and lifted his arm in an attempt to get him on his legs. His arms were weak and whatever strength they once boasted was lost. Saladin fought and resisted and cried with all his might.

“Sal hold still. I am not going to hurt you, get up.”

“Aah” Saladin let a cry as he broke free from Argus' grip. His searching eyes wandered the table rapidly. Argus watched with horror as Saladin picked up his hunting knife from a shelf.

“Sal, are you mad? What are you doing?” The candles on the wall were flickering making the shadows on the walls deeper. Saladin was shaking from head to toe. His haggard face, now lit up with a tinge of excitement. The knife was gleaming in his hand as he was brandishing it. The strong odor Argus felt in the room, was growing stronger. A cold sense of dread was creeping up his back.

Something is not well, I should not be here.

Argus moved towards the door his eyes fixed on the gleaming knife in Saladin's hand. But before his hands could open the door, Saladin began to speak in a very strange tongue making strange gestures with his hands. His voice was far removed from the gruff bark of the captain he had known. In it's place was a thin frightened voice that appeared like a little girl's. Each word Saladin spoke rang shrilly like thunder in his ears and made the shadows in the room grow darker. Argus

watched the scene paralyzed with fear, his eyes dilated out in horror. There was no need to tell from where the shadows came from. From the corner of the eye, trembling with dread Argus saw the

golden skull in the center of the room. The skull was shining in every possible colour Argus had ever known. The jaw was open and he could see the sharp teeth which he knew could tear him to pieces. It were the eyes that nearly made his heart stop. Two blood red rubies shone brilliantly where there should have been eyes. The light reflected from the rubies threw terrifying shadows on the walls.

“Saladin. Please.” he said meekly.

Saladin was advancing slowly towards Argus, his pale, misty eyes on the ceiling and was still mumbling in some strange tongue. The atmosphere in the room was slowly thickening, making it dificult to breathe. Argus felt as if someone else was present in the room beside them, someone terrible he knew he had no desire to find out.

Argus motioned himself for the door. But before another step could be taken, Saladin made a violent shriek and heaved the knife in his chest and collapsed in a heap. The room grew cold and the candles started flickering more violently. Argus dropped to his knees, shivering with cold and fear. He started feeling the presence more strongly.

I should not be here. I should leave, now.

But something held him paralyzed on the floor, some strange otherworldly force.

“Take it” Saladin spoke in a faint voice. Argus would have ignored the words for a dying man's delirium but something told him that Saladin was perfectly aware of what he was saying.

“You had your revenge” Saladin bellowed with a sudden resurgence of strength. “Now take it and let me die in peace.”

Argus looked at Saladin to see that his eyes were fixed on the table at that golden skull. To his horror, the skull was not on the table but floating up in mid air. The light from the rubies cut across the darkened room like a lightning in the night sky. Strange shadows formed on the walls, shadows that were taking the shape of a man. A man he looked, two hands, two legs and a head, but looked larger than any man Argus ever had seen.

Or is it because of the shadow? I better not know why.

Saladin looked at the shadow shivering at every limb.

“Forgive me” he whispered in a barely audible voice. “I never knew anything. ”

The man in the shadow seemed to nod at him and slowly, right before Argus' eyes the golden skull disappeared in thin air. Argus sat frozen on the floor, stunned by what he had just seen. Saladin lay on the floor, his blood forming a pool around him. The room was lit by a pale moon light coming from the window slit. Saladin coughed in a dry, husky voice which Argus recognized to be quite normal.

“Sal? Can you get up?”

“It wanted revenge, Arg” Saladin spoke in a faint husky voice.

“But-but what was that?” The fear was still clearly visible on Argus' face.

“A token of my sins.” Saladin coughed heavily. “That skull was stolen-”the sentnece was left unfinished by his series of hard coughing.

It is getting too much on his strength, Argus thought.

“Sal, save your strength. Here get some rum while I call-”

“Temple. An Incan temple. Stolen from the captain. The captain-” A series of coughs again.

He won't make it Argus thought. He started to get up slowly.

“Wait. Don't leave me alone. Captain Aringarossa. Died four days later. Heaved his sword through his guts. He stole the statue from-from someone. I don't know who. Came home from the sea, and-and it was on the walls. Written on the walls.”

Argus sat listening with rapt attention, traces of horror still on his face. “What was it? What was written?” he asked.

“Never knew what that meant. some Incan mumbo jumbo. Was a warning of some sorts. But one thing was certain-” His coughing got worse. Argus picked up a bottle of rum and poured the drink down his throat. The drink brought some hint of colour on his pale, worn out face.

“Incan witchcraft of some sorts. Because of that skull I stole” Saladin continued in his dry whisper. “But after that there was always someone in the room with me. Yes Always someone.” He looked at Argus with conviction and fear in his eyes. “Drove me mad. Every minute of my life. Drove me mad, yes, mad”

“Was it about every Incan articles?”Argus asked with a sense of panic as he remembered the Incan gold coins in the shelf.

“They come back for what is theirs. They took the skull.”

“What about my coins? Are they-”

“They come back. They take back what is theirs.”

“Are those coins stolen?”

“They punish. Fear them. Fear the shadows.”

“Shadows?”

“They lurk in the shadows. They hunt in the dark.”

“but are those coins stolen? The coins you gifted me.”

“Aye the coins. Very beautiful coins”

“Yes they are beautiful.”Argus was beginning to get annoyed at this. “Are

they stolen? Answer me you dammed captain.”

“Stolen-face-shadow-fear the shadow-”

“Are those coins stolen?”

“Hunt in the dark-no one can escape-die-punishment-”Saladin's face was twisted in the most horrible grin Argus had ever seen. His eyes spoke of the terrible fear he had seen. He was coughing more violently than before. His pale face looked like a ghost in the moonlight. “Cannot escape-”And he choked on his own words.

The wind was hard and cold and cut down the insides of Argus making him shiver.

I must go and get some help for his funeral.

He opened the door that opened on the hallway separating their rooms. The candles were blown out and Argus did his best to keep himself from stumbling in the dark. “Fear the shadows” Saladin's face, his words kept coming back to him. He felt weirdly odd in the dark as if some unseen shapes were lurking down there. Part of him told him that this was just an illusion due to his friend's death, and some scary words he muttered while death.

A dying delirium.

But deep down inside of him, he could still quite plainly see the golden skull melting in thin air.

Stumbling in the pitch black darkness, he got to his door and entered. In the moonlight he managed to light a match. A strange odor pricked his nose. He moved towards the wall and lit a candle. In the dim light of the flickering candle, what he saw made his heart jump up-to his throat. He looked at the wall, the candle held high above his head, with eyes dilated out in horror. There on the walls were drawn in some strange script some symbols he could not make out.

“It was on the walls-written on the walls.” Saladin's pale fear stricken face came before him. The coins, he thought in despair.

“Some Incan mumbo-jumbo I could not make out”

Argus ran through his rooms in madness to find similar symbols scrawled on every wall with a charcoal. He gave a cry in fear at the sight of every wall covered with unknown warnings. It was the fear of unknown that struck him the hardest.

“Fear the shadow-”

“Hunt in the dark-no one can escape-die-punishment-”

“I am not the thief. The coins were a gift.” He shouted loudly, despair ringing through his voice. “The thief earned his punishment.”

Still silence spread around after his shout. Argus sat on the floor, despair and fear mixed in his mind. In the midst of the despair, a spirit that had helped him survive all the difficulties of life rose in him.

I must get out. I must get out of here now.

He got up, rumbled through his cupboard and safe, packed his belongings, laid the coins on the floor and left the house. He stumbled along the stairs in the dark and somehow reached for the door to the building. A dense white fog covered the streets. All was pitch black except for the furthest corner where a lamp burned low. Argus could feel the shadows staring at him.

Ignore the shadows, I left them back in my cursed house. I must be away, as far as I can.

He walked with short quick steps, head down and thoughts full of skulls with rubies and golden coins and melted into the dense, white fog.