Page 75 of By the Flames of Her Fury

The cave trembled. Rocks fell from the ceiling, clattering to the ground in plumes of dust. From the bigger cave behind us, Starke and the others started yelling. Everett grabbed my hand to pull me back, but before I could move away, something else clutched my ankle.

Something slender and rigid, rough against my skin.

I looked down and choked on a scream as one of the skeleton hands wrapped around my leg. Everett gripped me tighter, and we both tugged away from the creature, but its hold was strong. Bony fingers dug into me and yanked, toppling me to the ground.

Tessa rushed forward with her twin daggers and hacked at the hand. It convulsed and then released me, but as it slunk back to the rest of the bones, the entire pile began to shake. One by one, fragments of bones gathered together, stirring up more dust. They stacked on top of each other with sickening cracks. I watched in morbid fascination as a skull tumbled across the ground, only to be picked up by a pair of bony hands and fastened atop a crooked spine.

Before us stood five fully-formed skeletons, gray and chipped but hard as stone, with a gold light gleaming from their skulls where eyes should’ve been. When they held out their hands, spears flew into them.

“Do you think they’re friendly?” Tessa whispered, crowding closer to Everett as he helped me to my feet.

One of the skeletons let out a deep roar, twisting his spear toward us.

“I’m going to go with no,” Everett shot back.

“Run!” I yelled. The three of us turned and darted down the tunnel, with Everett supporting me and my weak ankle. We barreled into the larger cavern, causing Starke, Odessa, and Kieran to jump back in alarm.

Starke furrowed his brow. “What the⁠—”

“Get back up the hole!” I shouted, reaching for the rope. “Lenny, are you up there?”

His lanky form came into view. “I’m here, but we’ve got a slight problem. There’s another ship almost to the island!”

I shared a knowing glance with Everett. “Mortep. He’s here.”

Above us, Lenny scrambled to tie the rope down. I helped Odessa start to climb, when the roar of the skeleton creatures told me they’d caught up.

At the mouth of the hole, Lenny’s face paled. “Wh-what are those?”

“Butterflies,” I answered. “Keep your hand on the rope, Lenny!” He peered down at me, and when the skeletons advanced, his eyes grew wider. He staggered backward and tripped over the rope, falling out of sight beyond the hole.

“Lenny! Lenny, get back here!” I called. The rope came slithering down, and with it, Odessa fell back to the ground. “Oh, I’m going to kill him,” I muttered through gritted teeth. “Odessa, stand back.” I grabbed the sword I dropped earlier, brandishing it toward the oncoming skeleton creatures.

Tessa and Starke were each dueling one, while Everett and Kieran took turns swiping at two more. The skeleton’s movements were jerky, as if pulled by strings, but they were strong. The fifth locked its beady, golden eye sockets on me and charged.

I pushed Odessa to the side and ducked. Its spear slammed into the stone wall behind me. My ankle screamed, but I shifted my weight to the other leg and raised my sword. Steel and spear clashed in the air, sending a vibration down my arm. I twisted to force his weapon down, then quickly jabbed my sword at his chest.

It went straight through the gap between his ribs, hitting thin air.

“Where are you supposed to stab these things?” I cried in outrage.

Across the cave, Everett used his good arm to swing his sword at his opponent’s head, knocking its skull off its spine. The skull hit the wall, then bounced to the ground.

“That seemed to do the trick,” Everett said, lowering his weapon.

“Uh, Ev?” Tessa called out, eyebrows raised. The beheaded skeleton reached down, picked up the skull, and affixed it back to its neck. It bared its long, gray teeth at Everett.

“We need a new plan,” I said. “Odessa? Ever read about these things in your legends?”

“Th-they’re some sort of guardian,” she stammered. “I don’t think they can be killed. They’re already dead.”

“Wonderful,” I said, swinging my sword and cutting off the skeleton’s arm. It left the limb lying on the ground and roared after me. I backed away, but not before I saw another one charge at Odessa.

“Odessa!” I shouted. I threw myself toward her, but my opponent blocked me.

Out of nowhere, Kieran leaped into the air, knocking the skeleton’s spear to the ground. The creature roared and gripped Kieran by the throat. It thrust him to the side like he was nothing but a rag doll. Kieran flew backward, hit the wall, and went silent.

Odessa scrambled for the fallen spear and held it high in the skeleton’s face. “Get back!” she yelled, jabbing at the creature. “Get back, or I—I’ll⁠—”