Horse recoiled as if Athena had tried to bite him, instead of only advancing on him.

  “Yeah, dude, but, like-“ His words came out choppy.

  “What did Arctus tell you?” Athena demanded.

  Horse made a placating gesture, but it looked more like he was warming his hands with Athena as the fire. “I’m trying to tell you, so just chill dude.”

  She huffed but was otherwise quiet.

  Horse let down the hood of his cowl and ran a hand through his hair. Somewhat nervously, Pan noted. The centaur started again. “It was right before I passed out that night. I’d just talked that guy into putting his gross zombie horse at the other end of the stable and his creepy gargoyle self showed up.”

  The way he blends in with the rocks here, I believe it, Pan thought.

  “So I ask him what he’s doing here, and he says since we split up he couldn’t tell us what he came to tell me all at once.”

  Athena rolled her eyes, but Pan couldn’t tell if it was at Horse or Arctus. Apollo said, “I’m beginning to suspect he doesn’t have our best interests at heart.”

  “He said that this dungeon isn’t a typical dungeon, and that he’d figured out what our goal is. We’ve got to find a card. But not just any old card, we’re looking for one in this town that will wake Degrenan.”

  Athena spoke up, but her impatience reigned in. “Did he say what it was or where we can find it?”

  Horse shook his head. “One of the skeleton dudes has it, but he didn’t know which.”

  “It sounds like maybe it’ll be a utility card,” Apollo said, pinching his chin in thought. “Or maybe a unique kind of card we haven’t seen yet. Either way, I bet it won’t be a card we have to put in one of our decks.”

  Horse shrugged. “By that point I was exhausted and I think I fell asleep.”

  “You should have woken us up,” Athena said sternly. “I already have so many questions, and if you’d brought him to us we might not be in the dark about this.”

  “Well,” Pan said for the first time on the subject, “maybe. I think Apollo is right. He could have appeared to you, or to Apollo and me, but it sounds like he was waiting for a moment to get with Horse instead. He’s being shady and it feels like he’s sandbagging.”

  “Sandbagging?” Horse asked.

  “Holding back when he could be doing more,” Pan clarified.

  Athena thought in quiet then seemed as if she was about to say something. But she was interrupted by a new voice.

  “Hey! New meat!”

  The group looked around as one, seeing a cinderling skeleton approaching. It spoke brightly and Pan placed the voice.

  “Maurice,” he said as the skeleton reached them.

  “How was your first night at Gravestone? I’m sorry I had to leave you so suddenly yesterday.”

  Apollo fist bumped the skeleton, then wiped the ashes on his toga. “No problem at all. We all got a good night’s sleep. I had no idea this place was so…lively.”

  Maurice chuckled. “You know how it is, people are dying to get in here.”

  Apollo laughed too, but Pan thought it was more about finding a kindred soul than the joke itself. “Breakfast was something else. We had a blast.”

  Pan watched Maurice think about that. Apollo, you idiot. He doesn’t need to know we blasted a hole in the inn. Out loud he changed the topic, “So where are you going so early? Have you got scouting duty again?” The skeleton had a rough courier sack slung across his body, with rolls of paper stuffed inside.

  “Hmm? Oh that. No, I’m off shift for the patrol. I’m out canvasing.”

  “You’re what?”

  Apollo spoke up, “Gravestone has elections?”

  The skeleton nodded enthusiastically. “Democracy, baby!”

  Apollo looked astonished, apparently not believing a town of undead could – or would – have elected positions in government. “What’s up for election?”

  Maurice pulled one of the rolls out of his sack and unrolled it. A large blocky election logo in brown and green with white letters said “Vote Maurice for Mayor!”

  “Wait, you’re the one running for mayor?”

  The skeleton grinned and nodded enthusiastically. He rolled the poster back up and pressed it into Apollo’s hands. “Sure am, and you can keep this one. Everyone in this town might be dead, but I’m the one with the finger on the pulse.” He looked around conspiratorially before adding, loudly, “And Maurice stands up for the lower class!” He pumped a fist in the air as he said it.

  Athena crossed her arms. “And who is the lower class? If you’re all dead, what do you undead even need? Why do you even need politicians?”

  At this Maurice clucked. “What is undeath if not another kind of life? We still hunger and thirst, and we need shelter and comfort like anyone else. And the mayor of Gravestone is ultimately responsible for policy governing business, housing, immigration, the penal system, taxes-“

  “Taxes?” Apollo scoffed.

  Maurice nodded apologetically. “Not even death is an escape, I’m afraid. But yes, taxes too.”

  Pan held a hand up, something he found he had to do to compensate for his height now. He said, “So, I’ve noticed something in this town. Stop me if this is taboo, but I’ve noticed a…division in the people of Gravestone.”

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  Maurice looked down at him expectantly.

  “There seems to be two kinds of skeletons here?”

  The blackened skeleton remained impassive.

  “Um. The burned ones, like you, and the, uh. Normal ones?”

  Horse spoke flatly, his voice slightly impatient. “He’s asking if the black skeletons are that ‘lower class’ you mentioned.”

  “Tim!” Pan complained.

  But Maurice waved a hand. “Oh, that. No.” Then he thought for a second. “Well, kind of.”

  “Kind of? So they’re being racist against the black skeletons like you?” Pan asked.

  “It’s complicated. I mean, yeah, I died to a volcano eruption. A lot of us did at once, actually. And I’m not rich, no.”

  Pan shared a confused look with Horse.

  Maurice continued. “Of course, though, none of you have died. You wouldn’t know that your burial determines how well off you’ll be in the afterlife.”

  Apollo’s eyebrows shot up. Pan asked, “So, because you died in that volcano eruption you didn’t get a decent burial?”

  “So the Egyptians were right,” Apollo muttered, smacking a fist into his palm.

  Maurice ignored him and spoke to Pan, “Right on the money. And a lot of us died in that volcano eruption.” The way he said it, the sentence hung in the air.

  “So let me get this straight,” Athena said, “The rich people here are the ones who got a burial?”

  Maurice nodded, rattling his jaw, sending ash to the ground. “The old money of Gravestone. The fancier the burial, the richer you are when you show up here.”

  “Well that’s,” she said, “That’s messed up.”

  The skeleton plucked out another poster and unrolled it. “And I’ve got a plan to fix it. Maurice – that’s me! - has a plan to guarantee a bearable afterlife for all of Gravestone, no matter the circumstances of their death.”

  “I think that’s a noble cause, Maurice,” Pan said. “I wish you the best of luck.”

  Maurice nodded deeply, almost like a bow. He rolled the poster back up, but instead of putting it back in his bag he waved it at the group vaguely like a pointer. “You all wouldn’t want to help me put these up, would you?”

  Pan opened his mouth, but Athena spoke first. “As much as we’d like to, we’re busy today.”

  “That’s understandable,” but he sounded disappointed.

  “But maybe you could help us. We’re looking to fight some monsters.”

  Pan asked, “Fight some monsters?”

  “Leveling,” Apollo whispered to him. Pan had almost forgotten they were playing a game, despite the harpies that had almost killed him just an hour ago. I could afford to gain some levels. I’m glad Athena’s thinking about that.

  “Hmm,” the skeleton said. It made Pan wonder briefly how he could make that noise, considering he didn’t have lips. “Well, we could use more bodies in the corps.”

  “If it lets us kill monsters then we’re all for it,” Athena said. “What’s the corps?”

  “The patrol that keeps the riff-raff down, controlling the monster population around the tunnels. You can tell my cousin you want to join up.”

  He gave them directions to where his cousin could be found. “And his name is Seymour. Anything else I can help you with, meat? I’ve got a lot of posters to put up, and crystal light is burning.” Pan thought the skeleton said that last bit just to say it. He hadn’t seen the light from the crystals wane since they’d arrived in this dungeon.

  “Yes, actually,” Apollo said. “Were looking for a unique card.”

  ****

  The group approached an official-looking building close to the edge of town. It was as dilapidated as any of the others in Gravestone, but the big-boxxiness of it screamed “government” to Pan.

  “I wish Maurice had known about that card we’re looking for,” Athena said as they approached the building. “Arctus didn’t say anything else about it? Like maybe what it did, or what it was called?”

  The centaur’s cowl moved as he shook his head.

  “We’ll find it,” Apollo said as he pushed through the door.

  Inside, the group was instantly sapped of all hope and virility. The far wall was comprised of teller counters, with a labyrinth of rope cordons to wrangle any rowdy lines of patrons. A potted stick – Pan assumed they were once ficusses – sat in each corner to their immediate right and left. It had the air of a bank lobby, without the excitement. It was more like a public bureau for regulating instruction manuals. The draining atmosphere wasn’t magical. Merely bureaucratic.

  “Now this is dead,” Apollo said in a hushed voice.

  There was one teller that was occupied and no line waiting to have their paperwork denied. If I didn’t know better, I’d think we could be in and out quickly.

  The cinderling skeleton at the teller desk looked bored, hunched over a yellowed tome, one hand supporting its head and the other fingering the page.

  “Well there’s no line,” Horse said. He entered the cordoned labyrinth leading to the tellers.

  Pan put a hand out to stop Athena. “Are we sure we have all our documents?” he asked, sounding desperate.

  “Documents?” she scoffed. “Pan, we’re just joining the patrol. I hardly think that needs paperwork.”

  “I’m not so sure,” he said. “These places always expect more than what you’ve brought with you.”

  “You’re being ridiculous.” She walked past him, following Horse. The centaur was almost too big for the rope lane, and he had to carefully navigate the switchbacks.

  “C’mon Pan, Maurice sent us here. How bad could it be?” Apollo said. He too entered the lane, leaving Pan standing alone in the doorway.

  He felt uneasy. They’re just kids, he thought. Athena and Apollo are in college and Tim isn’t even out of highschool. They don’t know how to navigate these kinds of places.

  He considered the siblings. Had they gone to the DMV for drivers licenses her? And Tim probably didn’t even have a permit yet. He doubted they had never had to deal with hospital bills or insurance yet.

  Horse had reached the front of the line for the teller, but if the skeleton behind the counter had noticed, it didn’t show it.

  He waved at the skeleton which remained engrossed in its book. “Hey dude, we’re here-“

  “Please stay in line, sir. I’ll be with you in a moment.” There was a loud crackling noise as the skeleton turned the page. Otherwise it hadn’t moved.

  “What- What do you mean? There’s no one else here.”

  “In a moment, sir,” the skeleton repeated.

  Horse sighed.

  Pan took a moment to review his cards, if only from the sheer anxiety from being in this place.

  Rack, Miasma, Wheel, Hex, and Dress Down. He had taken the time along the way to read their long descriptions.

  Out of Miasma, Hex, and Dress Down, Hex was the most generally useful. Miasma would create a confusing fog, and Dress Down claimed it would undress everyone in the area. Hex at least would hurt an enemy. When it played the card, he and a targeted enemy received the same strong Damage Over Time effect.

  Rack was the card dealing damage to him in increasing amounts for every card he played, and he was sick of it being in his hand. He could bite the bullet by playing Wheel to discard his hand and draw new cards.

  I do have another health potion, he reasoned, trying to decide if he wanted to play Wheel, or if he should endure Rack to make the most of what was in his hand right now. As long as he had Wheel, he got to draw a new card for every card he played.

  “There’s no one else here!” came Athena’s voice from across the room.

  “Ma’am, I assure you we’re working as fast as we can to get to you,” the skeleton teller said. It sounded bored.

  She huffed and crossed her arms.

  “Hey man,” Apollo said as he pushed past Athena and Horse, “we just want to join the patrol. Can you at least tell us if we’re in the right place?”

  “Sir-“ the skeleton said, looking up for the first time. It saw Apollo approaching the counter and looked shocked. “Sir! Return to the line now! We take patrons on a first-come first-served basis-“

  Apollo breasted up to the counter before the skeleton, which pulled back looking indignant. Apollo chuckled nervously. “Hey, I know, I know, but can you just tell me-“

  “Security!” the skeleton cried.

  “No! Hey, no no no. We – my friends and I – we just want to fight monsters,” Apollo explained hurriedly, “so if we could just sign up for the corps-“

  His request seemed to register with the teller for the first time since their arrival. “You want to join the corps?”

  Athena groaned. “Yes, that’s why we’re here.”

  Pan summoned a health potion and cast Wheel. His hand flew to the discard as a chunk of his health bar fell away.

  “Why didn’t you say so?” A green card flashed in front of the teller, making Apollo pull back from the counter.

  It showed for a moment, depicting a top down view of a group of ravening wolves baring yellow teeth. It was called Thorn Pack.

  Three creatures appeared, flanking Apollo on his 9, 6, and 3. They were the wolves from the picture of the card, fur grey and stiff as spikes. They also had what appeared to be thorns growing out of their fur as well. As their name implied.

  The skeleton continued in a low voice over the growls of the wolves, “I hope you brought your paperwork.”