This was most definitely the cave. He could still see the inscription on the wall. It had to be close to fifty years since they discovered it, yet it looked practically the same. He saw their old inscription still carved in the wall.
“Princess and her Clyde were here.”
He vaguely remembered it, and he thought they had laughed for a while—until the beast appeared. If there had really been a beast and it hadn’t been just her screaming. Either way, it had terrified him at the time. Why she suddenly remembered this so clearly now, he would never know. And why she wanted him to retrieve the treasure she had dropped way back then… he didn’t understand that either.
He had asked her what the treasure was, but she had said he would know when he saw it. He glanced around and saw nothing. He was tempted to leave. If the treasure had survived fifty years, someone else would have found it by now. But she would ask him how thoroughly he searched—and he couldn’t lie to her. He never could.
Clyde dropped to his hands and knees and grunted as he descended. His joints protested. If he had stayed more active over the years, maybe he’d bend easier. Maybe he’d be faster. But it didn’t matter now.
Dust particles floated in the thin shafts of light. The air smelled faintly of damp stone.
He swept his hands back and forth over the cave floor. The chances of finding anything seemed slim, yet he couldn’t stop.
Then he felt it.