The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Curiosity Kills
by Kim Richards 

There were eight of them. Squat orange clay pots with lids and sealed tightly centuries ago. Lihn brought each out of the cavern, cradling  them in her arms. Obviously made of thick clay, the pots were surprisingly light. She laid them out in a line on the ground. What could they contain? What was precious enough to seal up and bury this way? Something in the clay composition prevented her hand-held sonogram from revealing anything. The only way was to break them open, which potentially could destroy the contents.

The seals proved exceptionally frustrating. They looked like wax but quickly revealed to be something entirely different and unknown. Resistant to a chisel or knife tip. Prying was futile. Scraping did nothing, not even scratching the pot surface.

There was also the odd smell. Sandy soil certainly but with a musky underlying scent which lingered in the nose. She wondered if they contained organs similar to the ancient Egyptian canopic jars. Those typically are a set of four. Hmm…perhaps there are two people here. Spouses or siblings.

She tried turning one of them over in her hands. She held it up to her ear, tuning her hearing for any sound of something sloshing or tumbling inside. Nothing. Surely, the ancient peoples didn’t seal up empty  jars. There simply must be something inside.

She decided to apply heat, building a small fire low to the ground as if warming soup for dinner. She hoped it would soften the seals enough to open them. Tired, she sat cross-legged on the ground to wait and watch.

Pop!

Lihn’s eyes grew wide and she turned her head.

Pop! Pop!

She held her breath and moved to a low squatting position.

Then she saw the lids move on three of the pots. Toad green smoke wafted out of them. By the time the remaining five pots popped, the smoked thickened blinding Lihn and choking off her breath.

She tried to stand but stumbled as dizziness spun her vision around. The musky smell intensified, overpowering her senses. She fell hard, jolting her tailbone on the stones. Strange, it didn’t hurt.

Numbness moved across her limbs, her torso, her head. She lay back and succumbed to the darkness gathering around her body’s periphery. Then there was nothing.

Fiction © Copyright Kim Richards
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com