It was much bigger than any of the graves they had seen before, and Lilith audibly gasped at the sight.
A moongate, cut out of black marble that seemed to glitter and shimmer even under all the moss and vines that had started growing upon it. A dark, yet beautiful display of power, as it led into a small building with a staircase going down. It was adorned with stained glasses that were telling a story, one they couldn't quite make the details out of due to the cracks in it.
"Think this was your grandma's final resting place or something?" Uma muttered under her breath, nudging Lilith with her elbow, who was frozen in pure awe.
Harry meanwhile had taken the first step onto the stone path that led to the moongate, yet paused as spikes seemed to grow from the gate itself, effectively blocking off the way. "Well, whatever is in there must have been guarded pretty well," He pointed out, an unamused huff escaping him.
"Maybe... I don't recall mother talking about grandmother at all. It could be her tomb, but either way, we're clearly not welcome in here," Lilith spoke, yet her voice was quiet, as if she was talking to herself more than to her partners.
She didn't want to alarm them, but there was this strange, melodious voice that almost seemed to beckon her closer, as if daring her to step trough the gate.
Gil, always having been one to state the obvious, wasn't afraid to point this out- "Do you wanna go in? Cause it looks like we can't. And I'm not sure if it's a good idea for you to go in there alone."
"It's not," Uma added, tugging on Lilith's wrist, making the Gothel girl glance to her.
"Right, um..." Lilith couldn't help but let her eyes linger for a moment, yet as they shifted a bit to the side, she couldn't help but let out an delighted chuckle.
See AlsoMyrtle “Mert” A. MellandFinally. The cobblestone mansion on top of the hill was further in sight, previously having been hidden in the fog and behind gnarly, twisting branches of trees that looked more like tortured and twisted limbs than tree branches.
Leaving the crypt, Manea's resting place, the four pirates made their way to the mansion, constantly looking over their shoulders for the sign of another threat. But there didn't appear to be any.
The forest was oddly quiet, the only thing guiding them the promise of the mansion on the hill up ahead and the silk ribbons that were the only pop of colour in the gray world that lay in the thicket.
While the pirates seemed on edge, Lilith felt that strange sense of peace returning, her mind wandering. But in a peaceful sense, not in the overthinking way. She took her time looking around, catching herself counting the headstones and crypts. The closer they got to the mansion, the cleaner they became.
Wether it was magic or some type of creature, maybe a puppet servant who got ordered to clean them for all of eternity?
That thought made her feel sad, in a way. But she didn't see it as her right to intervene, especially since she didn't even know if her guess was correct.
Once they finally reached the top of the hill, the path seemed to split into two. One side leading straight to the front door, which was a heavy looking double door with harpies, skulls, bats and other monstrous looking creatures carved into it.
The other path seemed to lead towards the back, but when Lilith moved to follow it out of curiousity, she paused at the sight of an entire side of the mansion collapsed on top of itself. Shattered glass was spread around the entire ruin and the remains of what appeared to have been a lush garden once was filled with nothing but weeds that seeped trough the cracks in what once were walls.
"I'm suprised anything can grow here to begin with," Uma noted, since she hadn't even sensed a single water source nearby. Either it had dried up, or Lilith's ancestors must have spend hours at the water pomp to get it out of the ground.
"Must have been because of magic," Lilith noted, looking around curiously.
The place was dark and gloomy, as if surrounded by fog even from the inside.
But they had no choice but to tread inside, Lilith getting a little nudge from Uma, who smiled sligthly at her. As if trying to encourage her. It only seemed right tht the one to open the door would be the one who would have lived here if-Well... If her mother had never kidnapped Rapunzel.
Lilith slowly reached out to grab the heavy knocker resting on the dark wooden doors. They were cold to the touch and covered in cobwebs that made Lilith hesitate to touch them for a moment before steeling her nerves.This was her home, her birthright. She couldn't simply turn back or hesiate now. Especially not with her partners depending on her. Hell, the entire Isle depended on them if they ever wanted freedom. Auradon would without a doubt send their guards after them as well, so they had to find a way to retaliate against that as well.
"Is it too heavy?" Gil's voice made Lilith snap out of her thoughts, simply shaking her head before pulling on one side of the double doors. The metal hinges creaked loudly and ominously as the wood scarped over the cobblestone.
So this was it, huh? Home.
None of the pirates knew just what to expect-But the last thing they had expected was a loud rumbling coming from behind them. Clearly opening the door had triggered some kind of mechanism.
Lilith's mind wandered back to the hidden pieces of Ursula's necklace on the Isle of the Doomed. All that felt like a lifetime ago right now.But one thing she was sure of-while the skeletons back then might have just been puppetry and tricks from that Yen Sid. This tho.. This was different.
Lilith noticed them before the others did, maybe cause of her affinity or cause they are supposed to be in servitude to her family. But she didn't need to turn to know the scraping noises of the ground were the dead clawing their way back to the surface. Wether they'd be helpful or malicious-She didn't want to be too close to find out."Get inside-Now," Uma ordered, taking charge as a Captain should, one hand pushing Lilith inside as the boys followed quickly.
Lilith turned to help, noticing the wooden beam that could be used to barricade and lock the door-One she had seen before in the Evil Queen's castle. An old school lock. Or well, what used to go for a lock for those without magical abilities back then.
Gil took it out of her hands wordlessly as Harry pushed the double doors shut, effectively locking the decaying dead out, yet also locking the four of them in, in the process.
"That should hold them off for a while..." Harry muttered, being the first to glance around while Uma fiddled with her necklace as she came to a conclusion-
"My magic is much weaker if I'm far away from the ocean."
Her words made the other three turn to her, Lilith especially looking panicked. She felt at home in the dreary castle for some reason, sure but- "We need magic to defeat those things. Otherwise they'll just try to starve us in here."
"Or make us eat each other." Harry piped up, a cheeky grin on his face, clearly intending for it to be a joke but well-There was some truth to his words. Starving people in groups could do despicable things to each other.
"Not funny!" Uma hissed at her first mate, shaking her head rapidly
"Just trying to lighten the mood," Harry shrugged simply, his lips curling up into a grin as he tried to keep things calm.
Uma gave Harry a slight punch to his shoulder before taking charge again, clearing her throat. "We'll all split up. Gil, Harry, you two check the ground floor for any possible entrances that need blocking as well. Lilith, you go look for your grandmother's room, see if there's a way to... Turn them off or something."
"What about you?" Gil asked as Harry and Lilith were already moving to do as told.
"Me?" Uma blinked before smirking slightly. "I'm heading for that well. If Lilith can't find a way to stop them, I should have enough water to keep them back atleast."
