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The sound of dripping water rang around the cavern as well as the light burble of a tiny stream over rocks. There was also an ambient ringing sound that Marcus couldn't identify. Wait... why am I hearing anything? I fell, didn't I? Why am I even alive? The wolf blinked blearily, trying to focus his vision, but was unable to see anything. Nothing but shades of black. His eyes were too heavy right now. Instead he focused on his other senses.

His back and the side of his head seemed to be lying on something hard that was artificially flat, although he felt deliberate, regular grooves run along his back, rectangular in shape. _So I'm lying on bricks now?_His ears pricked up, trying to identify that ambient ringing, like a light, low bell tone that was constantly sustained. The babble of the stream sounded exceptionally close, and he may have been imagining it, but the wolf thought he felt stray drops falling on his fur. His whole body was damp, except his tongue, which was heavy and dry. His nose sniffed to take in a wet, musty scent. His whole body was the type of sore that was so intense that it went beyond physical pain, replaced only by a flat dullness. There was another sound, deep, low, steady, and slow. Was it breathing?

Marcus forced his eyes open, afraid that he was not alone. He blinked, trying to force his green eyes to focus. His mouth fell open. He was surrounded by gold! Mountains of coins, jewels, treasures, items that were sure to contain enchantments. Was this the spoils of the countless people who failed to return from this deathly tomb? He turned his head so the back of his skull now rested on the stone. More gold filled a vast cavern, lit by stalactites that were strangely luminescent, but mostly occupied by a large, white-

"Dragon?!" cough-shouted the wolf, eyes wide as he took in the massive monster before him, a few paces out of his reach. It was watching him with a large pair of intense purple eyes. It was beyond massive, it's pointed head now towering over the wolf's body. "No! NO! Get back ahh-"

Marcus had attempted to scoot himself backward on his elbows only to collapse, his eyes watering as pain wracked his body. It so intense he was lost for words. Marcus curled up on his left side, clutching his arm and gasping. To his horror, the dragon spoke, a deep thundering voice that sent vibrations through the wolf's body. "I was going to instruct you to not put weight on that arm. It appears to be broken in at least three places."

"Wha... what are you talking about? Do you like to play with your food before killing it?"

"You're more of a fool than I thought," grumbled the dragon. "If I wanted to kill you I would have done it hours ago. As per your request for personal space, I would do as you asked, but unfortunately I am unable to move at the moment."

Marcus panted, pangs of pain still running through his arm, and through that, the rest of his body. "I... What's going on? Where am I?"

"You are in The Coffin, young wolf, which you so foolishly attempted to enter," rumbled the dragon. "And you are an incredibly lucky wolf at that. I could guess that you fell into the cataract on the top floor, and either you or your unconscious body picked the right fork as you fell. If you had taken the left fork you would've fallen hundreds of feet only to be shredded into bits by sharp rocks. But you instead fell in here, on to my wing, in fact." There was a clank of something heavy as the dragon flexed its left wing, brandishing a bruised membrane.

It was only then did Marcus notice that the dragon was bound by countless crystal chains. They were so numerous and tight that the dragon could barely shift its position. The wolf tried to stand, which took multiple attempts. He took several steps back, so that he was out of reach of the beast's jaws. "Out of curiosity, why did you not decide to eat me? Why am I alive right now?"

"Are you not grateful? Would you rather be dead?"

Marcus frowned. "Well, here I am, lost in The Coffin, grievously injured, and at the mercy of you or whatever horrors decide to visit. Perhaps the left fork would have been faster and easier."

The dragon nodded, as if to acknowledge Marcus' arguments in a debate. "If it makes you feel better, no one will be visiting here, and I have no desire to kill you."

"So you say."

"Indeed, so I say," spoke the dragon, giving a great, earth shaking chuckle. "You do indeed have only my word, and the fact that I'm rather tied up right now, preventing me from doing much to you AND the fact that you were unconscious within reach of my jaws for hours," The dragon broke eye contact with Marcus, rolling his eyes up and to the right as if in thought. "Or maybe it was a day or two... but nonetheless, you were at my mercy and I left you unharmed. Is that enough to convince you?"

Marcus nodded, still taking another step backward. His paw met only air and he tumbled backward, managing to land on his left arm. His coat grew wet as he fell into the shallow stream that he heard earlier. His face furrowed into a scowl as he heard another thunderous chuckle escape the dragon.

"If you're such a bumbling fool when you're conscious I'm surprised you thought you could make any progress in The Coffin. I'm impressed that you made it past the first trapped hallway."

"Shut it, lizard," growled the wolf.

"Now now, let's be civil here," said the dragon. "I have forgotten my manners, for I have never introduced myself. You may address me as Astari. What is your name, young wolf?"

"Marcus," spat the wolf, irritated at being toyed with.

"Well, Marcus, I'd like to cut a deal with you. Are you interested?"

"What do you mean by a deal?"

The dragon shook himself, in a manner similar to wet dog attempting to dry itself, although he was too entangled to make full use of his body. There was a chorus of clanking as the crystal chains rattled against white scales. "As you can see, I am, well, tied up. I need help freeing myself, and right now you are, in all probability, the only help I'll ever get."

"So you want me to break your chains?" grunted Marcus, now wet as well as wracked with new waves of agony.

"Well, yes, but even you must have at least a small inclination that it won't be a simple task."

"Well, I'd assume that if it were a simple task a great brute such as you would have already shattered them."

"A brute I am not," grumbled the dragon, "But I am indeed strong, however, to my eternal chagrin, helpless in my current situation. So, I ask you: will you break my chains, and I, in return, can offer you anything and everything in this room, along with a complementary trip out of The Coffin"

"Perhaps," shrugged Marcus. He regretted that shrug as his arm twinged intensely.

Out of habit the wolf's eyes flicked around the cavern. It was massive, in both height and width. The ceiling glowed with a soft white-blue, the stalactites giving off that odd bell tone as they emitted light. They seemed to be made of some crystal. There was a great hole in the ceiling directly over the dragon, occasionally trickling water. That must have been where he fell. In the back of the cave was occupied by what must have been an offshoot of the cataract he fell into. It trickled gently now, meandering through the cave, cutting valleys through the mountains of gold. Most of the room that wasn't occupied by riches was filled by the stone plinth on which the dragon was chained. One of the crystal chains stretched from the middle of his white back and stretched to the top of the ceiling, forcing Astari to remain in a standing position.

Marcus carefully sat down on a pile of coins, careful to avoid using his right arm. It was an uncomfortable sensation, with the hard edges poking into his body, but despite the fact he was lying on the ground for a long time, he was grateful to be off his paws right now. "Well, I don't really want gold, or jewels or whatnot, but I do have an errand to run here. My destination is most likely the deepest level of the coffin. But since I'm already here and you are clearly not hostile, I might as well help you."

The look of shock was clearly visible, even though Marcus had difficulty making out most expressions on that white, scaly face. "Really? You'd set me free and ask nothing in return? Would you desire help with your errand once you free me from these wretched chains?"

"Perhaps," said the wolf. Marcus looked at his arm for the first time since waking up. There were indeed two bizarre protrusions visible through his fur, one on his forearm, one on his upper arm. Healing that would take time. To his relief, Priscilla was safe in her sheath. "Astari, when I fell, did any packs, pouches or whatnot fall with me? What about a quiver?"

"Indeed, quite a few things fell with you. They fell into a coin pile, so I cannot tell you exactly where, but your things may be unharmed."

Grimacing, Marcus rushed to the part of the cave that Astari had pointed to with his nose. He plunged his arm into the mountain of riches, ignoring the meaningless gold as he searched for what was truly valuable to him. He found his satchel, feeling the inside for its contents. It seemed his potions had shattered. The magical solutions must have evaporated over the time he was unconscious. There was food, though.

After another few minutes of probing Marcus found his quiver and... his heart stopped. His arrows were shattered, the quiver torn... and Lily... his precious bow was broken into two clean pieces, the tight bowstring bravely clinging to the black fragments. Head hung low, Marcus returned to the podium. He placed his belongings on the worked stone before sullenly sitting on a coin pile, staring morosely at the broken bow. "It's to be expected," growled Marcus, mostly to himself.

Astari spoke delicately. "Was that bow important?"

"Very," mumbled Marcus, biting his lips and trying to hold back tears. "She belonged to someone else before me."

The dragon nodded, his expression seeming to soften behind his pointed scaled face. "If you were to break one or two of these chains, I might be able to see, uh, her, returned to her former glory."

"How? Will you wave your claws and magically seal the fragments back together?"

To Marcus' irritation, the dragon laughed again. "Well, yes. My claws and teeth aren't the only weapons at my disposal. I do know a fair deal of magic."

"So why don't you use magic to break the chains?"

"The chains are why I'm not free and flying through the air right now. Look at them closely, wolf."

Marcus did as he was told, examining one of the chains that was implanted into left side of the plinth. Multicolored runes traced each link of the chain, although what they said Marcus had no idea. A curious bronze disk was placed in the middle of the chain, three small indents in the middle. He pointed at it. "What's that bronze part of the chain?"

"Ah... that's how we break them, young one. Each disk has a key to its seal. Where they are, I do not know, save for one. Each seal inhibits my magic and keeps me trapped here in this golden hole."

"So you want me to dive into The Coffin for each seal?"

"That is indeed what I ask. There are ten of them, although, effectively, there are nine."

"What makes you say that? I thought there were ten seals?"

"Because, to my eternal torment, the foul creature who locked me here placed the weakest of the seals about thirty feat from my nose." Astari pointed with his head to a pile of coins. The dragon was correct. At the apex of the gold pile was a large bronze disk, about the size of small round shield. "That one unlocks the chain attached to the ceiling. Would you kindly bring that to me?"

Marcus climbed the pile of coins, taking the disk and placing it under his arm. "Will this key let you fix my bow?"

"I don't know," said the dragon, his scaly face forming a frown. "I'm not sure how much magic that seal inhibits. Although I doubt that the bastard who locked me here would leave the key to all of my spells in the same room with me." Astari lowered his head as low as he could. "Can you climb up from here? The seal is on my back."

With difficulty, Marcus hoisted himself on top of Astari's head with his left arm. His neck and back had many spines connected by a blue fin, similar to his wing membranes in texture. They ran all the way down to his tail. Walking unsteadily on the smooth white scales, Marcus reached the middle of Astari's back. There in the middle of his back were numerous bronze discs that were anchored to countless chains. One disk had seven holes inside it, one nine, and one with no holes at all. The disc in Marcus's hands was smooth on both sides, so he tried the disc with no holes first. The seal glowed red with a light hum. Then, with an ear splitting shriek, the crystal chains became blemished with countless cracks. The chains shattered, dissolving into dust as they fell from the ceiling.

Astari groaned. "Oooh. After hundreds of years, I can sit again. It's about damn time. Thank you, Marcus. Please get off me so I can lay down." The wolf obliged. The moment his paws hit the stone podium the dragon flopped to the ground with a leg shaking thud. "By the gods that feels divine, sitting. Thank you, good sir."

Marcus gently touched one of the claws. It was suddenly quite frigid now. "You're welcome, but your body just became colder than death."

Astari sighed in relief as he stretched his neck. "I know. It feels, aaaah... wonderful. I might be able to breathe ice in a few hours. Did you expect a chalk white dragon to breathe fire, wolf?"

"To be honest I don't know what to expect from you," said Marcus, quite truthfully. "Out of curiosity, did you happen to come across a great sword? It's big, curved, single edged. Like a falchion, but massive."

"Oh, that," said Astari, quite jovially, giving the wolf a toothy smile. "You might want to check my back right claw, but please, don't touch it."

Confused, Marcus walked around Astari's backside, stepping over his massive tail until he reached his back right side. Nimbus, his dear sword, was lodged deeply in Astari's foot. "I'm sorry. Do you want me to remove it? It looks like a terrible wound."

"No," said Astari. "It's not too painful, to be honest, but I don't want it to bleed out. I'm afraid that healing even bruises and cuts might be beyond me now, even with the first seal gone. How do you wield that thing? It's making my claws feel inadequate."

"It took years of practice before I could wield Nimbus with any semblance of skill," said Marcus, wanting to touch his beloved sword but respecting Astari's request to not disturb it. "Do you think you could fix Lily now?"

"Hrmmm... I have no idea," muttered Astari. "The fire of the magic is sluggish in its return to me. All I can say is wait and see, although I am sure that is not much of a comfort to you. Would you tell me why that bow is so important to you?"

"I'd... rather not," said Marcus. "What I'd like to do is sleep. I'm barely able to keep my eyes open as it is."

"You should drink first," said the dragon, giving the wolf an appraising look. "And eat if you have any food."

Marcus followed Astari's advice, fishing a bruised apple out of his bag. Might as well eat the perishable stuff first. "Errr... you don't anything, do you?" Did dragons eat apples?

"I'll be fine, said Astari. "For me, eating a single apple would be like you eating a single crumb for dinner."

Finishing the blemished fruit quickly, he dipped his waterskin into the stream, letting it fill before taking a swig. With that, he collapsed onto a coin pile, ignoring the uncomfortable ridges of the gold and letting exhaustion overtake him.