"Druanna" by Auriette Lindsey

Beware the curse, Druanna.

How many times would the old woman's words taunt her?

Druanna pulled a bit of chalk from her pocket and marked an X on the cavern wall.

"That's the only curse," she muttered to herself as she peered into the darkness beyond her lantern's pale light. "Getting lost in this labyrinth."

Druanna squeezed through the narrow opening ahead and prayed she didn't get stuck. As she exhaled to make herself thinner, she wondered fleetingly if giving up her quest was better than being wedged forever underground.

Do not seek the treasure, Druanna.

The rough stone walls scraped her skin, pulled her clothes. She should go back. She pressed forward.

..And took a deep breath as she stumbled into a larger area. She swung her lantern ahead of her.

A wooden chest, its brass fittings gleaming in the dim light, greeted her silently. Its victims lay scattered in pieces around her. Creatures scurried from the light.

The pirate's chest carries more than gold. It bears a terrible curse.

"And what is your curse, Sir Chest?" Druanna curtsied, giddy in her joy. "No one knew the details."

No man has ever returned from this quest of gold. How shall you, a mere girl, succeed where they have failed?

For days, the gypsy's words had angered her, but now Druanna laughed aloud, for she had succeeded where all men had failed.

Now, to discover her wealth. The stories told of a fortune, but in gold? Jewels?

Druanna picked up the nearest sword, and pried at the locks. They held fast. She hacked at the sides. They stood firm.

She tried to lift the chest; it was far too heavy, as she'd known it would be. Gold and jewels were not light.

Lifting her lantern, she noted the flame was low, though there was ample oil, and looked for another way out. The chest was far too wide to have come through the way she came.

A fall of rocks blocked what must have been the cave's main entrance. The men whose skeletons littered the floor must have been trapped here when the walls collapsed.

Druanna sat down. She felt dizzy. Perhaps she had overexerted herself trying to open the chest. Her journey had been an arduous one. And she'd not eaten in several hours.

She'd catch her breath, then start back. Now that she knew the way, she could return with tools. Her mother would be so happy to see her, to know that their troubles were over.

She smiled at the thought. They'd have a new cottage and a cow. Mother wouldn't have to work so hard to grow a garden in the rocky soil nor mend their tattered garments yet another time.

If she could only catch her breath...

The lantern flickered and went out.

Blackness deeper than the darkest night engulfed Druanna, and she fumbled in her pocket for her flint. Her fingers wouldn't seem to function.

The treasure is just as likely a legend as not. And the caverns hold dangers you cannot imagine. Go home and help your mother.

"Help mother." She barely had the breath to whisper the words.

Then the darkness was complete.