I can’t help but stare at the women as we pass. Suddenly, a loud crash reverberates through the hall. I turn around and Willem hurries to pick up a broken jar.
“What happened?” Kane demands.
With pieces of broken glass, he looks up bewildered. “My wings knocked it ove-”
A hand shot out at the Reaper. Willem jumps back and runs right into one of the mummies. I feel boney, gnarled fingers biting into my arm. Blind, milky white eyes open with a scream that quite literally wakes the dead. I kick out and knock the mummy back, detaching the arm from its torso. The body stumbles back. I pry the fingers from my arm and use it to bash another mummy over the head. Kane roars and tears through three in his haste to save me.
I drop the arm and reach for my dagger as I duck an oncoming attack. Willem shoves one of the mummies and she falls into me, pinning me against the wall, and keeping my hand from reaching the blade. Her teeth snap beside my head as I struggle against her. Putrid breath stings my eyes and causes my nose to scrunch. I lift my leg and throw myself back.
The mummy stumbles. More hands swipe at me, but I evade them with ease. I feel the familiar weight of my blade against my palm and bury the tip into the chest of a mummy. She cries out, flashing between the beautiful woman she once was and the hideous monster she became. I feel sorry for them and hope this death brings her peace.
Kane and I are back to back as the dead surround us. At least a dozen mummies separate us from Willem.
“What do we do?” I ask.
I feel the faint brush of Kane’s fingertips against my hand, a comforting touch in the midst of it all. “We have to fight. It’s the only way.”
His shadows push the dead back, giving us space to maneuver. I grit my teeth and lash out at four all at once. They flinch away from the dagger and I use their fear to my advantage. Though the dead are not stronger than the demons we fought in the forests, they seem immune to simple attacks. Kane’s foot crushes one of the boxes and a mummy screams.
Realization dawns.
“Kane!” I shout above the sounds of the fight. “It’s the artifacts! Break them and you break the spell keeping them alive. Stab the heart and they die.”
He looks at me for a moment and then nods his head, trusting my judgement.
Willem, however, laughs even as he faces off with six of the mummified women. “You mean to tell me these doodads and whatchamacallits are spelled to keep these damn things alive? Why should we do as you say? It might make things worse.”
“Just do it!” Kane demands.
We fall into rhythm, breaking the objects and slashing through the dead. Willem circles around us, causing distractions as we work. Slowly, so slowly, the numbers begin to lessen. I wipe the sweat from my face as Kane drives his shadow blade through a mummy. We fall back, feigning a retreat to get the mummies to cluster. Willem spreads his wings from behind the...horde? Gaggle? Flock of mummies?
Kane uses his shadows to trap them from the front. I duck, dodge, and slide through the cluster, finishing off the spell and stabbing the wives and concubines in the heart. When the last body falls, I look down at a large cut in my hand. Kane runs towards me, stepping over the corpses at our feet and tears the sleeve of my tunic.
“Are you hurt?” he asks.
When he sees the blood, he picks me up and carries me to the stairs.
I shake my head, trying to pull free. “I’m fine. It’s just a cut.”
“Let me see,” Kane barks.
I smile to myself. I know he isn’t really angry, just concerned. It fills me with happiness. He flinches when he sees my palm, gently prodding around the wound to check its depth. Kane uses the torn sleeve to stop the bleeding, tying it off in a way that’s comfortable, but won’t cause any more damage. “What happened?”
“One of the broken bones. I was knocked to the ground during the fight and cut my hand open.” My explanation eases the tension in his face. There’s so much intensity, so much raw energy in his gaze that I feel myself blush. “Thank you, Kane.”
He scoffs. “For what? You’re the reason we weren’t overcome by those things.”
I point around at the bodies. “But you and Willem could have left me. You could have ran for the end of the hall and abandoned me, used me as bait while you got closer to the crown, but you didn’t.”
His eyes soften. “I told you I wouldn’t let anything happen to you. I know you’ve been hurt along this journey, but I won’t give up on you.”
I hear the crunch of Willem’s boots as he makes his way towards us. “Still alive, Mortal? I’m surprised your little plan worked. But if we run into something unleashed by those things getting broken, I’m blaming you.”
Willem blames me for everything anyway. Why should this be any different?
Instead of meeting his anger with more fear or anger, I simply reply with kindness. Sort of. “Your welcome, Reaper. Guess I saved your life again.”
He kicks at one of the bodies, lifting an eyebrow. “That remains to be seen.”
Kane stands between us and helps me up. We continue down the hall until we come upon another door. Behind us, I hear the entrance above the stairs close. Trapping us once again. Kane and I observe the markings on the door, but I can’t understand them. It’s all jumbled up like some sort of puzzle. A riddle. Nothing too intricate or anything like that. Just a question without an answer, but the question itself is unfinished.
Chapter 16
Kane
The smell of
