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The skeletons stop a couple of yards ahead, the leader at the front cocking his head at the sight of us.
“We have been commanded to patrol Inmost,” the skeleton says, the teeth snapping together.Clack, clack, clack.
“Commanded by whom?” he asks.
“By you,” the skeleton says. “We were told that if we were to encounter you down here, along with your queen, we needed to kill you.”
“What if I were to tell you that I’m the real king and the other is the impostor, a Shadow Self controlled by Louhi?”
The skeleton seems to consider that for a moment. “It doesn’t matter who you really are. You’re not the one promising us our freedom.”
“No,” Death says gruffly. “But I am the one who can send you to Oblivion.”
“With what weapon? Fire?” The skeleton snickers. “If you truly were the king, you should know that fire doesn’t hurt us who burn in flames every day. And if you truly are the king, youshould know that we’ve all dreamed of the day when we could escape from this world you’ve imprisoned us in for eternity.”
“An eternity you deserve,” counters Death. “I am a just ruler.”
“Just a matter of opinion,” the skeleton says. “And why should you rule over us in the name of what is fair and just when the Upper World, the world we came from, has never been fair?”
The Hell-bound skeleton does have a point.
“Because only in death can there be true justice,” my husband says.
“Well, we think justice is overrated,” the skeleton says, looking over his shoulder at the crowd of his kind behind him. “Isn’t that right, boys? Let’s welcome in theKaaos!”
All the skeletons raise their swords in a rallying cry that makes parts of the wall crumble away.
This isn’t going to be good.
They start sprinting toward us, and I get into a fighting stance behind my husband, unsure how the hell I’m going to fight a bunch of sword-wielding skeletons. Meanwhile, from behind me, Raila starts chanting something low, guttural, and raspy, causing all the bugs on the walls and at our feet to start running away.
Well, fuck. If the insects are retreating, perhaps we should too.
Death lets out a roar as the first skeletons clash with us. I can’t see over his frame, but I can tell he’s swinging the torch, and he’s making contact with the skeletons, the sound of bones crunching and swords rattling to the ground. One of the swords lands to the side of Death, and I quickly crouch down and snatch it up. It’s heavy in my hands, but the hilt feels good against my palms, and I take a two-handed grip, all the training with Vipunen coming back to me like muscle memory. Perhaps Deathwas right, and the subconscious Goddess side of me learned more from the giant than I thought.
Screams fill the air, and I still have no idea what’s happening until suddenly, one of the skeletons goes flying over Death’s head and nearly lands on me. I stumble backward into Raila, who holds me up just in time for me to swing the sword across the skeleton’s head, severing it. It bounces, and I kick it backward like a soccer ball, Raila jumping out of the way. It screams down the tunnel as it goes.
“Good girl,” Death growls happily, and I feel a surge of pride and power flow through me.
“Send me another one!” I cry out. “I’ll take all these boney fuckers!”
I peer around Death to see the battle just as he slices a skeleton’s arm off with his sword while simultaneously grabbing another skeleton by the wrist.
That skeleton screams and then crumbles into a dusty pile of bones that seems to disappear before my eyes, and I realize what he’s doing. Just as I saw him do to Surma when he tried to attack me, Death’s hands have been bare, his gauntlets tucked into the back of his pants, and he’s sending the skeletons to Oblivion one by one, their swords and shields clattering to the ground when they disappear into dust.
But even though Death is making quick work of slicing off heads and limbs with his sword and grabbing bone with his bare hand, they never seem to stop coming, leaping over each other, climbing up the walls.
One falls on me again, and my sword strikes its sword, the collision sending a rattling shockwave through my body. He tries to again to stab me, and I block his move, feeling quick on my feet until I notice more of them crawling on the ceiling now. It’s so unfair they can defy gravity like that.
“Keep fighting them, Hanna!” Death yells at me, but now, I’m trying to fight two skeletons at once. Death quickly reaches behind with his hand, grabbing one of them by the back of the throat, and that skeleton cries as it turns to dust. I catch the hilt of its fallen sword, now having a sword in each hand, and take the opportunity to cut the other skeleton’s head off.
But still, they keep coming, an endless train of armed skeletons, and both Death and I do what we can to keep them under control, but I’m not sure how much longer I can keep this up.
Meanwhile, Raila is still chanting from behind me.
“Do you want a sword?” I yell back at her over my shoulder. Her chin is down, her hands together in what looks like prayer. “A little help would be nice!”
I am helping, Raila says, and then her head snaps up.They are here.
