Grave Ransom Page 15

  The smallest creature was about the size of a German shepherd, but it was covered with feathers and had a snout that ended in a beak the color of fresh blood. It dragged one of its back legs behind it as it prowled the edge of the clearing. For a moment, its cloudy eyes fell on the spot where Briar and I crouched, and I tensed, lifting my dagger. But its gaze slid on past us, and the creature kept walking.

  Briar’s charms. Okay, now I was thankful she kept them on more or less all the time, and that I could hide inside them as well.

  The three creatures between the two extremes in size were more identifiable. One was a large black bear who’d lost so much fur and flesh on its face that skull was visible in several spots. The next was a gray wolf, who looked almost normal aside from clouded-over eyes. The last was built like a jungle cat with wings. Patches of fur still remained on parts of his body, but much of his flesh looked like a festering blister, glistening and raw. The wings had fared slightly better, though while most of the blue-tinged feathers were accounted for, they looked dirty and bent.

  Bones and half-decayed carcasses littered the clearing, but those at least were still. True dead. Then there were the ghosts. So many ghosts. Not human ghosts, though. They were animal ghosts. From small mice and shrews to rabbits and even a few foxes, the ghosts scurried around the clearing, avoiding the walking dead creatures. I couldn’t imagine why the ghosts weren’t scattering, why they would gather in large groups in a clearing, until I considered the ward. It had felt like passing through a cemetery gate. In the same way, it must have kept the dead trapped in the clearing—both the walking dead and the ghosts.

  Most of the walking dead ignored the ghosts, but as I watched, the largest dead creature’s head shot downward, vicious teeth closing around the ghost of a small hare. The creature tilted its head back and swallowed the small ghost in a single movement.

  Cold sweat slid down my neck. Ghosts stole energy from each other, that wasn’t uncommon, but this? This was something else entirely.

  “What are we looking at?” I whispered, my mouth dry, tongue too thick.

  “Necromancy,” Briar said, her lips curling in disgust. “This kind of walking dead I’ve dealt with before. Necromancers start off experimenting by raising animals before they move on to humans. Though they usually start smaller. I’ve never seen some of these monsters before.”

  Probably not all necromancers had access to magical creatures from the wilds. “That does explain the mice and shrew, I guess.”

  She cast a sideways glance at me. “You’re seeing things I’m not.”

  I didn’t answer or try to explain the dozens of ghosts because at that moment, the dead wolf swung his head in our direction, his ears twitching. He tilted his head back, his broad nose flaring as he sniffed the air. He howled, a warning cry, and the other animals stopped. Some turned to the wolf, but the large winged cat peered around the clearing. He took several steps in our direction and chuffed, letting the scents roll over his tongue.

  Crap. Briar’s spell hid us from sight, but it didn’t seem to be doing a good job on any of the other senses. I glanced at her, my eyes wide. We’d seen what was in the clearing. It was a damn good time to retreat back out of the ward and call in the authorities.

  Unfortunately, Briar was one of those authorities, and she didn’t seem interested in backup. Both the wolf and the cat were stalking forward now. The bear’s nose twitched, searching, and the huge beast’s tongue flicked in the air, like a snake tasting scents. Its head swiveled toward us.

  Crap. I shuffled back a step and a twig snapped under my boot. I cringed, holding my breath. It was too late. The dead things in the clearing might not know exactly where we were, but they were narrowing it down, and they didn’t look friendly.

  Briar watched the stalking winged cat and aimed her crossbow at the center of the beast’s chest. I could feel the incendiary potion loaded in the steel-tipped dart. She wasn’t playing around. That would almost certainly take down the beast. Walking dead or not, something about combusting and turning to ash tended to stop most things. The biggest problem was, as soon as she attacked, the camouflage spell hiding us would fail. So, while one beast would be a smudge on the wind, the other four would know exactly where we were hiding.

  I glanced at my dagger. These creatures’ bodies were decaying around them. Vultures were pulling the insides out of the largest beast, and it was just pissing him off. Poking holes in such a creature wouldn’t stop it from attacking. I’d have to dismantle the deranged things, and by then, if I was close enough to deliver that many blows with my small dagger, the beasts would tear me to pieces. The dagger wasn’t going to be much help. But surrounded by the dead, the dagger wasn’t my only weapon.

  I cracked my shields.

  A cold wind tore through me, rustling the leaves of the trees all around me as the grave essence that had been battering me since we got close to this accursed clearing finally found a foothold and wormed into my psyche. I let it in, embracing the chill that warred with the living heat inside my body. Around me, a patina of decay coated the world, even as colorful strands of magic became visible. I could see the orange and red magic woven into the intricate ward surrounding the clearing. Similar strands of magic coated the beasts, binding their decaying bodies, and the soft glow of souls inside them.

  The winged cat was racing forward now, straight toward us. The wolf and bear weren’t far behind. A twang sounded, and Briar’s dart flew. It landed in the center of the beast’s forehead. There was a moment where the creature’s legs straightened as it tried to stop its forward momentum, and then the fire engulfed him.

  “What are you doing?” Briar hissed as she reloaded and took aim at the wolf.

  “Helping.”

  They were all charging us now. A mix of teeth, claws, pointed beaks, and nightmare-inducing decaying flesh. The wolf was closest, but the strange feathered thing had overtaken the bear and was covering the distance toward us fast. Briar’s crossbow twanged again, releasing another deadly shot filled with blue-white flame. The wolf fell, incinerated. I reached out with magic, my own living heat laced with ice from the grave, and wrapped it around the dog-sized feathered creature. The dead flesh offered no resistance, my magic quickly flooding the body and pushing out the soul without opposition. I’d never seen an animal soul before today, but a pale, glowing soul popped free of the creature, one that didn’t match the body that fell prone and inert to the dirt.

  I didn’t have time to study or consider that fact. I pulled the magic back, thrusting it into the huge, reptilian horselike creature. Again, the dead flesh gave easily under my magic, but this creature was bigger, so much bigger, and I poured magic into it, trying to fill it, to saturate it with so much grave chill there would be nowhere for the soul to cling.

  Except there was no soul in this one.

  No light. No fluttering warmth retreating from the grave. This creature was filled with the dark emptiness of the land of the dead, and it drank down my magic, eager for more.

  I pulled back, drawing back as much magic as I could before it vanished forever into the darkness inside the dead beast. It kept charging, its taloned feet kicking up clouds of dust as it crossed the clearing, closing in on us. Briar’s crossbow gave another twang as the cord released, sending a dart into the bear that was less than two yards in front of us. The heat of its body incinerating nearly knocked me backward, but Briar’s bow swung to the giant reptile. It was the last beast standing.

  “Capture that one. It’s different from the others,” I yelled, just as the crossbow twanged again.

  Briar jerked the weapon up at the last moment, causing the shot to go wide. It passed within inches of the beast’s head. The creature kept charging, picking up speed. It would be on top of us in moments.

  Briar nocked a different bolt into her crossbow, cursing the entire time. She fired, taking the creature in the chest. I felt the k
nockout spell buzz in the air as the dart hit the creature in the chest and the vial of potion broke, but the beast didn’t slow down.

  “Move,” Briar yelled as she rolled to the side.

  I threw myself to the other side as the creature crashed through the space we’d just occupied. I landed badly on one elbow but managed not to stab myself with my dagger or get trampled by the creature’s talons.

  Briar pulled something from the bandolier across her chest and hurled it at the creature. A net of magic formed over the beast, pinning it to the ground. The beast reared back, its large mouth splitting open as it released an ear-piercing screech.

  I pressed my palms over my ears, trying to block out the sound. Something deep and instinctual urged me to run. Terror cut through my mind with the sound of the beast’s scream. The sound promised that the beast would kill me. That I was small and soft and it would suck the marrow from my bones. I squeezed my eyes shut, clamping down on the terror spiking in my veins. The creature was caught. I was fine. But something inside me still reacted to the sound, and it was all I could do to keep from turning and fleeing.

  The beast tore at the magic binding it, and it was gaining ground, moving toward Briar. She cursed and threw another potion at it. The ground reached up to lock around the beast’s front legs. It bucked, screeching again. One leg broke free.

  “Craft, I don’t think we’re taking this thing alive,” Briar yelled to me between the creature’s screeches.

  “Obviously. It’s already dead,” I said, moving around toward its back. It ignored me. Apparently, I wasn’t near the threat Briar was. “And we don’t need it moving. Just not incinerated would be good. It’s covered with magic. We might learn something.”

  The beast freed its other front leg from the trap of earth Briar had caught it in, and it charged. The magical net held, but the beast gained several feet, forcing Briar to pull back. Her hand moved over her bandolier of potions, as if taking stock and not finding what she wanted. The creature lunged again, pushing on the net and gaining another foot of ground.

  “No use, Craft. We’re going to have to burn it.”

  “Wait,” I yelled as she lifted her crossbow. “We could leave the clearing, wait for backup so it can be contained.”

  “I’m the person they send to take care of this shit.” She sent a dart through its chest, aimed for where the heart should have been. I expected it to burst into flames, but she’d changed spells again. This one blasted a hole in its side. That didn’t slow it down. It reared and then slammed its body forward again, forcing Briar to retreat as the magical net slipped more. “You want to study the magic. Do it quick, I’m burning it.”

  I’d been trying to decipher the spells on the creature, but my pulse was pounding in my ears, my heart thudding in my throat, and my brain was too frantic to make any sense of the magic I felt. We needed to neutralize its threat so there would be time to study the magic properly.

  I darted toward the creature’s back flank. Reaching through what was left of the magical net, I grabbed its knee and dropped the bubblelike shield that prevented me from touching the planes of reality I could see. The beast was already dead, already rotting, and it was nothing for me to push it further into the land of the dead. The real trick was to push only its knee and nothing more.

  The flesh under my fingers withered, flaking away from my touch. The muscle was next. And then my fingers touched bone, which crumbled under the push of my magic. The whole thing took only a heartbeat. I was scrambling away before the beast could even whip its head around.

  The creature tottered, the sudden loss of its leg in combination with its violent turn causing it to lose balance. It toppled, falling to the ground with a crash. Its surprise didn’t last long though, and a moment later, it began scrambling up, using its three good legs. I needed to use its distraction. It was thrashing, trying to gain purchase with its one remaining back leg. I couldn’t get close enough to touch its knee, but I could get its foot. I darted forward, pushing with my magic the moment I touched cold flesh. I had to pull back almost immediately or risk getting caught by one of its saberlike talons. But it was enough. I hadn’t turned its bone to dust this time, but I’d pushed the decay far enough for the bones to turn brittle. The creature’s ankle crumbled under him as he put pressure on it.

  The beast collapsed again, the stubs that were left of its back legs moving but not able to help it stand. No blood poured from the lost limbs, but it screamed, clawing the ground with its front legs.

  The creature screamed again. The sound still woke terror in me, but now the emotion warred with the revulsion I felt for what I’d just done. And pity. Yes, the beast had been trying to kill us, but this was not a clean death, and I pitied it even as its long talons dug into the earth, still trying to claw its way toward us.

  Briar lowered her crossbow. The massive creature on the ground was no longer charging her but thrashing spasmodically without gaining purchase. She pulled a sword out of who-knew-where and stepped closer. Holding the weapon in two hands, she brought it down hard on the creature’s long neck. The blade sizzled as it bit into flesh, but it sliced cleanly through bone, muscle, and tendons.

  The creature’s screeching cut off abruptly, its severed head rolling from its body, and the beast fell still, true dead at last.

  I stumbled to the edge of the clearing as my stomach heaved. What was left of my breakfast returned, leaving my throat burning and my mouth tasting sour. I wiped the back of a shaking hand across my mouth. My adrenaline was dropping now, and I wasn’t sure if I was more disgusted by what I’d seen or by what I’d done, but I had to stand back up. To turn around and face it again.

  Taking a deep breath didn’t help—the air was filled with the scent of rot, ash, and vomit. It was almost enough to force me over again, but I swallowed the sick feeling, refusing to continue to dry heave. Steeling my will, I turned around.

  Briar looked up from where she was studying the corpse of the large reptilian beast when I walked over, but she made no comment on my weak stomach. I was glad for that. She hadn’t released the magical net pinning the now-true-dead creature yet, and I was glad for that as well. She moved around the creature slowly, but as she reached what was left of its back legs, she stopped, staring.

  “What exactly did you do?” she asked, staring between where the lower part of the left leg lay detached from the rotted stump above the knee.

  I grimaced, looking away, but didn’t answer. Instead I focused on reconstructing the bubblelike shield I used to keep my planeweaving abilities in check. I couldn’t close all my shields—I’d expended too much magic, I’d be blind, but I didn’t want to accidentally push or pull anything across the planes.

  When it became clear I wasn’t going to answer, Briar walked across the field toward the only other creature that had left a corpse. The buzzards had already gathered around it, and they spread their wings as she approached, trying to make themselves look bigger as they guarded their meal.

  “How come you were able to drop this one from several yards away but couldn’t stop that one?” she asked as she drove off the vultures.

  “That one had a soul. The big one didn’t,” I said without thinking, and then immediately regretted the statement when she whirled around.

  She crossed the area between us quickly. “Like the robbers in the bank had souls? So you can just reach in and jerk out souls whenever you want?”

  Crap. “I—”

  “Turn off the light and wind show, Craft,” she said, pointing to my eyes.

  “I can’t.”

  “Why not?”

  I glared at her. “Because my power damages my eyes, and if you’ll remember, we tripped an alarm ward when we walked in here, and I don’t want to be blind if whoever—or whatever—made these monstrosities shows up.”

  “Couldn’t you just rip out his soul?”

  “Only
if he’s already dead,” I ground out between clenched teeth.

  We stared at each other for a long time, and I could almost feel the scales in her head, weighing whether she should arrest me. I’d more or less admitted I had, in fact, been the reason the robbers had all collapsed. But you can’t murder someone who is already dead.

  “I have to call in a magical hazmat team. Don’t go anywhere,” she finally said, turning away from me.

  I didn’t plan to go anywhere. For one thing, I couldn’t drive while peering across the planes. I had no idea how I was going to get my car out of these woods. Also, I wanted to check out the spells on the two beast bodies. None of the human corpses I’d encountered had been tied in spells. Of course, none had been visibly rotting either. That meant either we were dealing with two unrelated groups of walking dead—which didn’t seem likely—or as Briar had said, these creatures were early experiments or progressions of the necromancer’s process.

  I knelt beside the enormous reptilian beast. I could barely stand to look at the stubs where his back legs had been. My gut twisted, threatening to rebel again, but I needed to examine the magic. It used the same orange and red energy I’d seen in the illusionary oak and the ward, but the intricate tangle of magic wasn’t like anything I’d ever seen or felt before. It was powerful, and detailed, but I couldn’t make sense of it. If I hadn’t known that what I was examining was a dead thing that had been walking around, I wouldn’t have guessed that was what the spell could do. Hell, I wouldn’t have had any clue what I was feeling at all.