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“Stories tend to get embellished.” I turn to Sharpe. “We need someone to look at your shoulder.”
Sharpe tries to move his injured shoulder and grimaces with pain. “I think it’s dislocated.”
Mayn immediately steps forward. “Let me look at that, Captain.”
As Mayn assesses Sharpe’s injury, I turn to Marc, who stands beside me, the fire in his eyes dimmed by exhaustion. Even with Darius combining their powers, the battle took a toll on them.
I reach out to touch his arm. “Are you guys okay?”
Marc offers me a weary smile. “We’ll be fine. Just need some time to recover.”
Sharpe lets out a groan as Mayn presses and prods his injured shoulder. “You’re right, it is dislocated. I can set it back in place, but it will hurt.”
Sharpe nods, his jaw set. “Do it.”
Removing the belt, Mayn positions herself for leverage, and then, with a swift and expert movement, she pops his shoulder back into place. Sharpe lets out a cry of pain and sways for a moment before catching his balance.
Breaths coming out heavy, Sharpe nods to Mayn. “Thanks. I owe you one.”
Mayn smiles, her angular features softening. “No need to mention it, sir.”
“You shouldn’t move it too much.” Flint strips off his vest and passes it to Mayn. “You can use this to make a sling until we can get a real one.”
She takes it and uses the sharp edge of her sword to cut through the fine material, then uses the strips to bind Sharpe’s arm to his chest.
While she works, I walk over to the gaping hole the Bone Man had emerged from. A few pale bones sit nestled in the disturbed earth, but even with what we destroyed today, it’s nowhere near as many as we saw in the bone pit in the forest.
Had we stressed the monster into emerging before it was ready? Are the rest of the bones scattered between here and the forest? Or tucked away in another cavern? It will take a while to recover them, if it’s even possible.
At least destroying the Bone Man released all those poor, trapped souls.
As I step back, my phone vibrates in my pocket, startling me.
I pull it free to answer, and Xander’s excited voice comes through the speaker. “Pen, we’ve figured it out.”
“Figured what out?” I ask, still catching my breath from the battle.
“The symbol we’ve been researching,” Xander replies. “It’s part of a ritual to funnel energy into some kind of creature.”
My gaze returns to the hole in the ground. “The Bone Man.”
“So this was the monster Berdherst threatened you guys with?” Reese asks with interest.
“I doubt that’s its real name, but it certainly looked like a Bone Man to me.” I shiver as I remember the image of all those bones bound together to form a body. “Mayn called it an ancient one.”
“Whatever it’s called, it’s sentient enough to make bargains,” Xander says. “For all the energy sent to this monster, it gifts back a certain amount of charisma and power.”
Of course, it does. Why else would Berdherst and his ancestors sacrifice people to this thing?
“Well, we just destroyed the monster, so the bargain is broken now.” A small thrill goes through me at the words.
No more magic boosts for the mayor.
“Huh.” Confusion fills Xander’s voice, followed by a rustle of paper. “Well, that’s discouraging.”
My spine straightens as unease shoots through me. “Why?”
“Well, the spell is still active,” he says. “So something is still taking in the power.”
