An altar.

Wiglaf stopped in his tracks. In front of him, in a recess of the cave wall, was the skeleton of the monster they had slain, perfectly arranged on a massive slab. Devoid of flesh and skin, the skeleton was still huge. Taller than a man and a half, and broader than an ox was long. Each hand was large enough to crush a man's skull with ease.

A chill ran down his spine. This was not where they killed it. It was even further in. Someone, or something, had moved it and put it back together.

Slowly, inch by inch, he crept closer to the body. Upon examination, he saw that the arm that he had managed to hack off at the elbow had been delicately placed where it belonged. One of its legs was a mass of shards and fragments, from when someone had shattered it with his mace. Ribs were cracked and nicked from the arrows shot into it. All it was missing, was its head.

He knew where it was. It currently adorned the wall of the King's Great Hall. He and his friends had presented it to him themselves.

Something slithered behind him. Whipping around, he held his torch up high and brought his sword forwards. "Show yourself!" he hollered, trying to hide the shaking in his voice. But the only answer was the soft whooshing of his torch. Sniffing and cursing himself for jumping at shadows, he wiped his cold brow with his wrist, when he heard the song again, but this time it seemed to be slightly different.

It called to him. Beckoning him to come deeper into the cave. Like a long-lost lover calling for their beloved. It was mournful, full of sorrow and longing, like they would never see their beloved again. Thoughts of his wife and children filled his mind. How she said that she had prayed every night for him to return home before he retired from a warrior's life.

The song, somehow knowing that he was thinking of his wife, turned into a shrill screeching shrieking cacophony of screams. It beat against the inside of his head, driving him to his knees, as if offended that he dared to think of another woman, like a jilted lover. His howls of pain joined into the chorus of agony, bouncing off the stone walls of the cave, before it finally let up.

Breathing hard, sending spit flying with every pained breath, barely on the edge of consciousness, Wiglaf braced himself against the rock altar of his foe, when the soft lover's song called to him again. "I hear you," he muttered, blinking the tears from his eyes. Reaching down, he picked up his sword and torch, only to discover that it had fallen into water. Casting it aside with a grunt, he stood on wobbly legs, using the wall for support, and started to walk in further, dragging his sword on the ground. "I hear you," he hissed, fury hanging off every word. "And I have come to kill you."