Chapter 32 #2
But as I passed the girl with one arm, she lashed out and grabbed hold of my ankle.
Her hand was surprisingly strong, her clawed fingernails digging into my flesh.
I stifled a scream, horror chilling me to the bone as I swung my sword.
It connected with the girl’s neck with a sickening thud.
The blade only made it through halfway. Her head hung to one side on her partially severed neck, but her hand tightened on my ankle.
I cried out in pain. Talon whirled around to help me.
Before he could intercede, I brought the sword down again and decapitated the girl.
Her body slumped to the floor while her hand still clung to my ankle. Whimpering, I kicked it free.
“Their heads!” Talon shouted to the others as the servants began to slowly rise again. “Cut off their heads.”
The two riders with swords obeyed, cutting off one head after another until six headless corpses remained. Finally, there was no longer any movement.
“Skies, that was terrifying,” Kestrel said with a shudder.
“At least we know what works now,” Baz said, though even he looked a bit pale.
Talon bent down to examine my ankle, which was already turning color with a nasty bruise. But at least she hadn’t punctured the skin. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I said. Only terrified out of my mind, but there was no going back now.
We continued down the hall, all of us keeping an eye on every shadow. Finally, we came to a massive set of double doors with handles shaped like eagle wings.
“This is the entrance to Emperor Lamir’s private chambers,” Talon said. “There will likely be other walking corpses. Are you ready?”
We nodded, weapons at our sides.
Talon pushed the door open, and the three riders rushed inside.
The room was massive, with several antechambers that branched off from the main entryway.
Huge floor-to-ceiling windows covered one wall, but like the ones in the hallway, they were partially hidden by tapestries.
Talon ripped them down, letting in the sun.
The light revealed ornate marble floors, dusty with disuse.
No servants waiting for us. Only the sound of a crackling fire.
We followed the sound through an archway that led into another dark room.
At one end was a fireplace big enough for a horse to stand inside comfortably.
Two figures sat in front of the fire, their backs to us. The man on the right turned, and when I saw his face, a deep simmering hatred bubbled rapidly to the surface, burning through my veins.
Lord Heron.
He grinned at us, the flickering light of the fire making his smile stretch and distort. The man beside him turned his head, too, and I took a step back.
“Skies,” Zamir said in horrified disbelief, “is that…?”
I had only seen paintings of him, and now part of his face had rotted off to the point that only white bone shone through, but I still recognized him.
“Emperor Lamir,” Talon said. “How is this possible?”
Lord Heron stood, and Talon tightened his grip on his sword. “I was just telling His Majesty that perhaps his worthless son had finally done something right and convinced all of you to come here and sacrifice yourselves to Ozul.”
“How is Altair’s father here?” Talon demanded, ignoring Lord Heron’s attempts to rile him.
“It turns out mostly dead is a completely different situation than entirely dead,” Lord Heron said with an infuriating shrug. “Emperor Lamir’s soul still lingered close to his body; even in death, he refused to give up his crown. He has the honor of being the first soul harvested by Ozul.”
Talon’s expression betrayed no emotion, though my jaw hung open. “Does Altair know?”
“No, he’s haunted enough by the ghost that lives on in his mind, much less the walking corpse still wandering around the west wing,” Lord Heron said. “But I am here to serve the true emperor.”
“Lamir is still dead,” Talon said.
Lord Heron laughed. “I didn’t mean Lamir. I meant Ozul, who will soon gain all the power he needs to become the ruler the Zephyrians have always needed. Earlier now, thanks to all of you.”
“You’re mad if you think that demon will rule anything,” Talon said. “It only destroys.”
“Yes, and when it takes what it wants from this continent, it will move on to another. And I will be here to pick up the pieces.”
He wanted to rule in Altair’s place, and the emperor had been too easily manipulated to notice. “There won’t be anyone left to rule,” I said with disgust.
“Ozul has assured me there will be. Just enough survivors that they will be eternally grateful that I have saved them from the darkness.” His thin lips curled into a malicious grin. “Pity none of you will live long enough to see my ascension to the throne.”
As if they had been waiting for some kind of signal from him, twenty-five dead servants walked menacingly toward us.
Without hesitating, Baz, Zamir, and Kestrel moved into a loose V in front of us and began cutting down the walking corpses.
But there were so many that even with their slow, awkward gait, they began swarming over the riders.
Fear sat in a cold pit in my belly at the thought that they would overpower them.
The plan was to wait until Ozul made an appearance before calling the wind.
I had no way of knowing how much power it would require or how long I could even sustain it.
Talon and I fought back-to-back. Used to a bow and arrow, I struggled to remember my sword training. The blade Talon had chosen for me was light and well-balanced, but I still swung much slower than he did. I felt awkward fighting from the ground instead of Shazeera’s back.
There were so many that we couldn’t focus on beheading them.
We had to cut through them like a machete through underbrush.
Talon cut through faster and more powerfully than the rest of us.
But even with his superior sword skills, he was in danger of being overtaken.
The walking corpses fell, but soon they staggered upright again, until it was like fighting many times the number of enemies.
An old man with claw marks on his chest threw himself at me, and I hastily blocked with my sword.
But he leaned into it until the blade cut into his chest, drawing old blood the color of rust. He snapped at me like a wild animal, reaching out with gnarled hands to scratch at me. I cried out, muscles straining.
“Hold on, Zara!” Talon yelled, trying to throw off the three servants who had latched onto his armor.
At the same time, Kestrel fell. Once he was on the floor, the dead servants swarmed him. I cried out in horror as they ripped him apart, limbs flying everywhere as he screamed.
It happened so fast, no one had been able to even move toward him, much less come to his aid. With a furious yell, Talon threw off the servants restraining him and cut into them almost wildly—as if they had been the ones responsible for Kestrel’s gruesome death.
But I couldn’t even mourn his loss. The old manservant pushed harder on my blade, his brown teeth snapping closer to my throat.
Talon grabbed hold of him from behind and hurled him against the window.
It cracked the glass but didn’t shatter it.
A terrified scream filled the room as Zamir was pulled to the floor.
“No! Zamir!” I shouted as Talon and I ran to her aid, but we were quickly intercepted by more walking corpses.
Baz was closer to her. He wielded his heavy sword powerfully, trying to cut down as many as he could to help Zamir get back to her feet, but soon many gray hands reached for him, too.
Talon moved back so that he was shielding me with his body, slashing powerfully against any of the servants who moved toward us.
The wind—I had to call it now. I couldn’t stand aside and watch everyone be killed.
I reached deep inside myself, and the power surged up like a tidal wave.
An explosive shatter filled the small space, and suddenly, the wind streamed into the room.
A cyclone swirled around us so powerfully it threw me back into Talon, who caught me, before we were blasted backward.
The wind spun outward toward Baz and Zamir, slamming into the walking corpses.
The wind violently pushed the former servants until they collided with the back wall, where they collapsed on each other in a heap.
Because Baz and Zamir were already on the floor, they weren’t thrown as far.
Baz got unsteadily to his feet, pouring blood from multiple wounds, but Zamir didn’t move. Talon and I ran to assist them.
It was at that moment that two corpses wrapped arms like bands of iron around each of our waists, while four more grabbed hold of our arms. They even overpowered Talon, and it seemed like they had all just been biding their time until this moment.
I struggled against the gray hands holding me, their flesh dry and cool as stone, but there was no yield. When I glanced at Talon, I could see that the tendons in his neck were protruding, as though he was fighting to free himself, too.
The servants held us without saying a word, as if they were statues. Their silence was eerie enough to fill me with dread. It was almost as if they were restraining us for someone.
I jerked as my body became aware of a new sensation.
A whisper went through my mind. It felt like Mistral. Something is coming.
Fear poured over me like being plunged into an icy river. Suddenly, I couldn’t draw a deep breath.