the guards

Stopping, he looked back to see the corridor opening sliced and blocked by the various decorative layers of the hallway. The armor stood, a sentry, silently shouting away intruders with his metallic looks, as a silhouette framed by tapestry fringes and silks.The air was musty, and Grail’s footsteps kicked up dust. He worked to stifle a sneeze, in case the King’s guards were out and about in the hallway, but it was to no avail. With a thunderous sound, he sneezed. The noise echoed away from his ears, and he shuffled away from the main hallway, further kicking up dust. It bit into his eyes, causing him to close them against the onslaught of disturbed time.His closed eyes watering with frustration and fear, he moved forward blind, hands out, seeking, but not wanting, a natural conclusion to the passage. Faintly, heavy footsteps could be heard from behind him, and then a voice, also faint,

“It came from over here.”

Grail paused, straining, willing himself and his passage to remain unfound.The footsteps became louder, and gained volume.

“He must be down here!”

“Quit! If he’s close, we sure can’t spook ‘em.”

“Yar Bugger! If he’s close, we’ve got him now!”

Grail inhaled sharply, making noise like a steam vent. He glanced back, and through his blurred vision he was able to make out the faint outline of the guards, as they marched past. He began to relax, and resumed his slow, quit shuffle forward.Once Again,

“Huh. I could’ve sworn I heard him sneeze here…”

“Ah..He’s here somewhere, these older passageways, with all their junk, are always confusing the sound. Lets go check over in…”

And with that the voices faded away. Grail tried to relax, he tried to keep going, but the individual monumentality of the last five minutes caught up to him, and he collapsed to the floor in a heap, and mourned his lost career.