(This is an unplanned part 2 of the adventures of Ryck and Baemus. Click for part 1.)

Baemus followed Ryck through the ruins instead of the other way around. With the newly-found helmet, Ryck could see much better than Baemus could with just a torch. Ryck explained it made everything look like he was outside. Baemus couldn’t understand, because the helmet was too small for him to put on, but it certainly seemed to work, because Ryck discovered some new paths they had missed earlier, which led them further underground.

This deeper part of the ruins was massive, made for people more his size, and the large rooms – more like grand halls – swallowed up the torchlight. Baemus had to trust his little partner to lead them on, which was not an easy thing for the barbarian to do.

“Jackpot!” Ryck said suddenly, and stopped.

“What is it?” Baemus asked.

“My friend, I believe we’ve found something really valuable,” Ryck said, and started walking forward again.

With Baemus following, the two entered a smaller room, and immediately the torchlight was able to reflect off of some walls and brighten things up a bit. In the room there was a desk and a chair, some kind of bureau, and—

Ryck stepped to the side and turned with a smile, and Baemus saw it. Draped on a smooth wooden mannequin was a fine mail coat, with thousands of tiny rings of silvery metal glittering in the torchlight. It was beautiful.

It was also heavy. Baemus generally didn’t wear shirts at all, let alone armor, but he had worn mail before, and he did not remember it being this heavy. Lifting it off the mannequin with one hand was a struggle even for a man of his strength, so he handed the torch to the Smalling in the strange helmet, and used two hands to retrieve the strange mail.

“What is this thing made of?” Baemus asked with a grunt.

“Is it really that heavy, or are you pulling my leg?”

Baemus shook his head. “I swear, it’s very heavy.”

Ryck shrugged. “I can’t think if any metal that’s that heavy and can be easily made into tiny rings for armor.” Then the Smalling smiled mischievously. “Try it on.”

Normally Baemus wouldn’t have, but seeing as though that helmet was giving his small

friend some unnatural abilities, maybe… just maybe…

With a heave he lifted it over his head tried to slowly lower it onto his body, but it spilled over him awkwardly in a heap and he fell to the floor on his behind. Both men laughed, and eventually they maneuvered it over Baemus’s head.

At that moment, the weight of the mail suddenly disappeared. Baemus opened his mouth to say something, but shut it again.

“What?” Ryck asked.

Baemus didn’t answer; he simply stood up with no effort. It felt as if he was wearing a linen tunic.

“How can this be?” he asked, looking down at it, stroking the metal with both hands.

“It’s… it’s like it’s not even there.”

He looked up and saw Ryck charging at him with a sword, aiming for his belly. He didn’t have time to move.

The sword struck the mail and snapped as if it struck a stone wall. Baemus had felt nothing.

The two exchanged a look of fear. Then they burst out laughing.

(The word prompt today was “Mail.”)

[– 31 Fantasy Characters in 31 Days –]

CONFESSION: This took me way longer than 5 min. Again.