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The creatures were closing in fast. There had to be more than a dozen, but in the poor light Kestrel couldn't determine where they were coming from. She grabbed her club from her belt and snapped her wrist to extend the weapon to its full length. Her daggers would do no good against a mass of walking bones with no flesh to pierce.
A sudden flare issued from Jarial's fingertips, sending a sheet of flames shooting toward a group of skeletons. Within seconds, the blaze consumed three of them and caused two more to fall back. Distracted by the spell, Kestrel almost didn't hear the rattling bones approaching behind her. She spun around, automatically swinging her club. The baton struck the lone skeleton hard enough to knock it off balance. She seized the advantage and struck again, knocking its weapon out of its grasp. Her third strike bashed in its skull.
She glanced back at the others. Corran had dispatched several skeletons, but for every one that fell two more surged in. Both warriors were heavily engaged now, shielding the more physically vulnerable sorcerers. As she watched, Durwyn swung his axe in a powerful arc that sent the skulls of two creatures flying at once. Their headless remains clattered into a pile at his feet He kicked the bones aside and pressed forward to attack another foe.
A flash of steel caught her eye, alerting her just in time to an advancing opponent. Was it the flickering torchlight, or had this collection of bones yellowed with age or decay? Its sinister grin held no teeth, and cracks appeared along its clavicle and pelvis. The creature swung its sword in a jerky motion that Kestrel easily parried. She then struck the frail hipbone with all the strength she could muster. The brittle pelvis shattered.
The skeleton, now in two halves, collapsed. The fall alone sent several ribs skidding across the floor. Its legs fell still, but the creature propped its torso up on one bony hand and swung its sword with the other, trying to cut Kestrel's legs out from under her. She jumped to avoid the sweeping weapon and landed on the weakened collarbone. It snapped under her weight. A final blow from her club kept the creature from rising again.
She had just finished off this latest foe when she saw Corran cast aside his torch. A moment later, a flash of metal in his left hand caught her attention. His holy symbol. Did he hope to repel the skeletons as he had the zombies last night? The creatures were coming at him too fast to give him a chance.
A crazy, desperate idea entered her thoughts, and she acted before she could talk herself out of it. She dove to the ground and rolled into the skeletons. The creature nearest Corran crashed to the floor. Before it could recover its feet, she swung her club and caught another skeleton in the knees. It fell on top of the first and caused a third to trip over their sprawled bones. Kestrel scrambled out of the pile. They were down but not defeated, providing Corran with only a small window of opportunity.
It was all he needed. "By all that is holy, begone!" he cried, holding Tyr's symbol aloft.
At the paladin's shout the skeletons nearest him retreated. At the same time, light burst from the head of Ghlea
Nine skeletons-those Corran had repelled-circled the room's perimeter, keeping as much distance as possible between themselves and the paladin as they attempted to reach the exits. Two more yet advanced, while the three Kestrel had felled clumsily tried to disengage themselves from each other.
The sudden brightness startled the skeletons enough to give the explorers the initiative. Kestrel easily finished off the three fallen creatures, methodically bashing each skull. Ghlea
A low moan behind her caused Kestrel to spin around again-and add a groan of her own to the chant as an all-too-familiar smell greeted her nostrils. "Zombies!" she called out. Five of the creatures shuffled into the chamber from the door through which the explorers had entered. She tossed her twin daggers at the first walking corpse, then reached for the blade she'd retrieved from Loren's body. As she threw the unfamiliar weapon, it glinted in the magical light of Ghlea
To her amazement however, the nondescript dagger pulled itself free of the monster and flew back into her left hand. A magical dagger! She both thrilled and cringed at the discovery. A returning dagger could prove valuable, but magical weapons had been known to hold curses.
As the sounds of the skeleton battle died behind her, Corran's voice echoed off the chamber walls again. "Trouble us no longer!" The remaining zombies ceased their advance and attempted to escape. Kestrel threw Loren's blade at the creatures she'd already injured. No way were they shuffling off with her twin daggers stuck in them. Thanks to the weapon's boomerang power, she felled both foes. Corran and Durwyn took care of the last two zombies.
In the aftermath, Corran removed his helm and pushed sweat-dampened hair away from his eyes. He nodded toward the dagger that had once again found its way back to Kestrel's hand. "A magical blade. What will you call it?"
"Call it?" She wasn't even sure she would keep it-she would certainly use it conservatively until she knew she could trust its sorcery.
"Enchanted weapons deserve their own names."
Kestrel shrugged. "I've thought of it as Loren's blade up to now. I guess I'll continue to do so."
"Loren's Blade," Corran repeated. "A good name."
Kestrel studied the paladin as he cleaned and secured his own weapon. He might be an arrogant know-it-all, but the man knew how to fight That little routine he did with the holy symbol was proving useful, too.
She'd sooner eat roasted zombie flesh than tell him so.
"Do you suppose we stumbled into their lair?" Ghlea
"Either that, or they may have been guarding something," Corran answered. "An exit, perhaps? Let's take a look around."
They poked through the room from which the skeletons had emerged, finding little more than rubble, and continued to explore the rest of the complex. Ultimately, they came to what appeared to be the main chamber. Bones lay strewn about, some human, some not. Unlike the animated skeletons they encountered earlier, these seemed to lie where their owners had died, earthly possessions still surrounding them. One of the skeletons yet wore a gray woolen cloak and a pair of snakeskin boots.
At the sight, Jarial caught his breath. "Ozama."
Kestrel turned away, allowing the mage a few moments of privacy in which to grieve his former lover's loss, or curse her for entrapping him, or whatever he wanted to do upon discovering her remains. She glanced around the room, noticing that the door opposite bore an unfamiliar glyph-two swirling circles drawn with a single line. The symbol was burned into the wood. A small barred window in the door looked into the next chamber, but from her vantage point she could see only darkness within.
She approached the door. Finding it sealed, she peered through the window but still couldn't see anything inside. She beckoned Ghlea
"Certainly." The mage came forward and lifted her staff toward the opening, but the darkness beyond completely swallowed up the light Ghlea
"I'm afraid I'm a little shy," said a rasping voice from the blackness.
Despite its refined tone, the voice sent a shudder down Kestrel's spine, like the sound of fingernails on glass. "Who are you?" she asked.