“Holy fuck!” Bill exclaimed as he came up behind me.
Tallis didn’t respond as he started going down the hillside. I noticed he was walking on the sides of his feet because of the steep incline and unstable rocks and dirt. Taking a deep breath with my heart lodged in my throat and a boulder in my stomach, I followed him.
“Say, nips …” Bill began, “you sure it’s too late to like, go back to Skeletorhorn an’ ask him ta get us transferred to Shade?” Bill asked from behind me. “I mean, yeah, I get it’s like, boring as hell there, but think of the alternative! It’s gotta beat the fuck outta this shit!”
“No, Bill,” I whispered back to him. “I’m not going to take the easy way out.”
“Shhh!” Tallis scolded us both before he turned and glared at us. “Keep yer wits aboot ye!”
I rapidly nodded before following him down the remainder of the hill until we reached a stretch of flat ground below. I noticed the tombs that ran along the periphery of the flat plain were all missing their lids. Thankfully, however, there weren’t any corpses lying inside them. That made me wonder if these empty caskets were simply awaiting new tenants. Hopefully, the old ones hadn’t escaped …
“Where’s the soul, Bill?” I asked, hoping Tallis wouldn’t get angry with me for talking.
“Lemme look,” Bill replied. He made a clicking noise with his tongue as he presumably tried to locate the soul using the app on his phone. After another few seconds, he answered.
“Looks like it’s smack dab right in the middle of all them boxes.” Pointing to the center of the fiery tombs, he indicated a structure that looked like a small house, or a mausoleum, or something of that sort.
Part of me wanted to inform Bill that the “boxes” were really tombs, but I decided it wasn’t worth taking another chance by talking. Obviously, I didn’t want to further irritate Tallis either.
After hearing Bill’s answer regarding the soul’s location, Tallis nodded; then he started weaving his way around the empty tombs. Winding in and around the crypts, I felt like we were suddenly trapped inside some type of macabre maze.
“Ah!” Bill screamed at the same time that my heart rode up into my throat and I wheeled around. I didn’t even have enough time to gasp when I found myself up close and personal with … something.
Any humanity it possessed must have been a very long time ago. It looked to me like a skeleton covered in skin, but the skin was leathery, deeply wrinkled and the color of sand. The thing had no hair to speak of anywhere on its body. Its nose was missing; but in its place were two distinct holes, similar to what you would find on a skull. While its eyeballs were still intact, they were deeply sunken inside its orbital sockets. They glowed an unnatural white, and were also very bloodshot. When it pulled its lips back, I saw its pronounced sharp, yellow teeth and black gums.
Dropping its mouth open, a long purplish-black tongue slowly unraveled before its lower jaw seemed to detach from its head. Finally, my body and my brain synchronized to get with the program, and I hefted my sword up high above my head, prepared to defend myself.
“But there I was alone…”
- Dante’s Inferno
TWENTY-ONE
Thrusting my sword forward, I intended to run it clean through the creature’s stomach, but the horrid thing leapt up straight into the air before landing on a crypt maybe five feet from me. It looked like a cricket, soaring through the dark sky with its long, thin legs tucked beneath it. When it landed, it touched down on its toes with its knees still bent. It used its hands for balance and remained in that position. The only sound I heard was when it hissed at me before detaching its lower jaw and allowing its purple tongue to roll out again.
It almost seemed like the creature was emitting some sort of a signal. Once it touched down on the tomb several seconds later, a bunch of its ugly friends decided to come out and play. A few appeared from around the crypts while four or five others jumped through the air. They landed on the tombs, all of them surrounding us and blocking our approach to the center of the crypts. These creatures were just as hideous as the first one with whom we had the displeasure of crossing paths.
“We moost put our backs together!” Tallis called out as he strode toward me. Gripping me by the upper arm, he rotated me around so that my back was against his. Bill was momentarily beside us and took up the same stance until all three of us were facing our adversaries, our backs against one another.
“What the hell are those scabby things?” Bill whispered from the side of his mouth. I was so frightened, I could barely breathe, let alone speak.
“Zombies,” Tallis responded in his usual cool, calm and collected manner. “They protect the graveyard an’ the furies.”
“Okay … so howz the hellz do we kill ’em?” Bill inquired, his voice suddenly verging on panic.
“We dinnae,” Tallis calmly responded. Brandishing his sword from side-to-side, he began swinging it in such a way that nothing could come near him without risk of being hacked to pieces. “They are relatively peaceful oonless we provoke ’em.”
“Da-fuq dude?!” Bill railed back hysterically, shaking his head all the while. “An’ what the hellz d’ya mean by that?”
“Jist whit Ah said,” Tallis replied with a tightened jaw.
“You better have one damned good reason for why we aren’t gonna try to kill ’em!” Bill said as he continued to shake his head. “’Cause how I’m lookin’ at it, it’s either us or them!”
“Nae,” Tallis persisted, spearing Bill with a stern but quick glare. “There are tae many o’ ’em,” he added coolly. “We wouldnae be able tae win.”
“No? Then what, exactly, is the plan, Frodo?” Bill spat back, visibly dismayed. As for me, my heart kept thumping in my chest so hard, it made me light-headed and dizzy. It took everything I had just to keep my sword above my head. Strangely enough, the zombies showed no sign of any intent to attack us. Instead, they stayed exactly where they were, albeit watching us curiously.
“Our plan is tae keep movin’,” Tallis said as though that much should have already been obvious. All the while that Tallis had been brandishing his sword and arguing with Bill, he’d been inching the three of us ever closer toward the center of the crypts. Granted, we hadn’t gotten very far. But now I realized his plan was to keep the creatures at bay by drawing their attention to his swordplay while the three of us continued shuffling nearer our destination.
The zombies, somewhat entranced by Tallis’s admirable skill, didn’t budge from their positions. They remained draped on top of the tombs, and the others just stood beside them. Despite fastening their eyes and attention on us, none of them seemed particularly threatening. Some of them held their mouths open, exposing long tongues, while others just stared at us from behind bloodshot, sunken eyes which I imagined would haunt me for the rest of my life. Well, that is, providing I survived this level in the City of Dis.
As soon as we edged past twelve or so inert zombies, I gasped when four of them shot off the crypts. They flew into the air, landing noiselessly on the tombs beside us. The one closest to me was sitting on its feet, the hollow palms of its hands resting on top of the grave. It leaned over suddenly, dislodging its jaw and releasing its revolting tongue, which dropped from its mouth. Then, all at once, it lifted its tongue into the air, merely inches away from my right ear. I immediately jerked away from it while reflexively lifting my sword, but Tallis’s voice instantly stopped me.
“Besom, ye cannae strike it,” he said softly, but I sensed the warning in his tone. “They outnoomber oos, we will be sorely defeated.”
“Then what should I do?” I asked, gulping my growing fear as the thing edged even closer. Its tongue was barely centimeters from my right earlobe. Sweating bullets, my only wish was to pull away from it as quickly as possible, but I had a hunch that if I made any sudden motions, the ghastly thing would be right on me.
“Jist stand still,” Tallis replied. “Zombies can sense yer fear. If ye react, o
r indulge yer fright, they will be oan oos an’ we willnae be able tae defend ourselves.”
“If they can sense our fear, Conan, then they must already know I’m about to shit myself!” Bill nearly cried in a whisper.
“Calm down, stookie angel! If ye make any sooden movements, they will be oan oos!” Tallis ordered, rather harshly. His fierce expression tacitly warned us not to argue with him.
“Doncha think at some point, they’re gonna figure out our game, dude?!” Bill whispered back. “Just look at that one! It’s tryin’ to suck out nerdlet’s brain through her ear,” he indicated with a quick nod at the zombie beside me. The disgusting tongue was now so close, I shivered at the iciness coming off its breath. But, hats off to me, because I didn’t move; I didn’t even flinch.
“They dinnae consider oos tae be ah threat jist yet,” Tallis informed us from the corner of his mouth. “Oontil we give ’em good reason, we should be safe.”
Closing my eyes as soon as the zombie’s tongue made contact with the top of my right cheek, I held as still as a statue. The dreaded organ felt cold, wet and was so completely horrifying that all the hairs on my body stood fully erect. Licking me like a lollypop, it traveled straight up my cheek and then back down again. When my fingers automatically clenched into fists and I tightened my hold around my sword, I briefly wondered if I would have to use it.
“Breathe, besom,” Tallis whispered softly. I didn’t respond with so much as a nod, now much too afraid of making any movement whatsoever.
Keeping my eyes shut tightly, I prayed to whomever might be listening that this appalling creature wasn’t going to take a bite out of me next. The zombie’s cold tongue continued to explore me, tasting my skin as if it had an invitation to do so. Sealing my eyes shut, I doubted how much more of this I could tolerate. My heart began pounding in my chest so hard, I worried the creature could detect it through my skin.
A split second after that thought flashed through my mind, I realized I couldn’t feel the creature’s tongue on my skin any longer. Slowly opening my eyes, the next images I saw made me wonder if I were seeing things. It seemed like I was in slow motion as I glanced to my right and watched the zombie that was licking me fall backwards, an arrow standing right in the center of its forehead. I couldn’t detect just what direction the arrow had come from.
I turned my head to the other side so I could see what Tallis’s reaction was, but I was, instead, greeted by the hideous countenance of another zombie as it flew through the air before landing right in front of me. While detaching its jaw, its eyes glowed red as its brow bones fused together in the center of its forehead, imbuing it with a look of rage. It snarled at me all at once, revealing its yellowed, uneven teeth. Only seconds later, another arrow impaled the zombie’s forehead, throwing it back with great force. I heard Bill screaming as I observed even more zombies soaring through the air.
“Come with me if you want to live,” Saxon announced with a broad smile as he suddenly appeared like he’d just been dropped from the sky. His grin widened with confidence and reassurance as he offered his outstretched hand. Meanwhile I couldn’t help wondering why his temperament was so cavalier and assured, considering what he, and we, were surrounded by.
Shaking my head in disbelief, I decided I could have been in the midst of dreaming the whole thing since none of it made any sense. How was it possible that Saxon was suddenly right there, quoting Terminator movies? I gathered he was the one who had offed the two zombies. Well, that is, if the bow he had strapped to his chest were any indication …
“This isn’t the time to make up your mind, Lily,” Saxon ordered before he loaded up another arrow and released it. I wasn’t sure if it hit its mark or not. “This situation is about to go from bad to extremely worse.”
Checking behind myself, I noticed the two zombies he just shot were already back on their feet. They both dived at Tallis and Bill, the arrows still protruding from their hideous foreheads.
“They’re surrounded!” I exclaimed when I saw Tallis and Bill attempting to fight the creatures off. There were four zombies standing between Tallis and me, but Saxon did a good job of keeping them away from us. He calmly continued to shoot them down with his arrows.
“Lily!” Saxon repeated as he pulled my attention back to him. He offered his hand again and I glanced down at it, but made no motion to accept it.
“I can’t leave them behind,” I whimpered before taking a few steps toward Tallis.
“You have to,” Saxon replied, grabbing my hand more firmly, and pulling me closer to him. “They’re immortal, Lily. Neither one will die. Which, unfortunately, does not apply to you.”
I nodded, knowing he was right. But that didn’t change my mind. How could I, in good conscience, leave my friends to fend for themselves? Looking back at Tallis, I found him already facing me despite still being in the thick of it with the zombies. As soon as our eyes met, one of the zombies pounced on his back, but Tallis sent the thing sailing off with a hefty shake.
“Go, Besom!” he yelled at me before looking at Saxon. Even though he didn’t say another word, his expression spoke volumes. I could see the angst in his eyes when he narrowed them at Saxon.
“I will keep her safe,” Saxon replied to the silent threat from Tallis’s eyes. No sooner did he finish speaking, when he drove another arrow through one of the zombies that stood in front of us. Turning around and reaching for my hand, he started to lead me away from Tallis through the maze of crypts.
“I can’t leave them!” I protested while shaking my head and glancing back at Tallis, only to find him still in the throes of his dilemma.
“You heard what he said, Lily!” Saxon calmly replied with a reassuring smile. “He wants you to remain safe; and he knows I’m the only one who can keep you that way.”
I took a deep breath, but resisted the urge to argue with him. I wasn’t so sure about that statement. Tallis had done a damned good job of keeping me safe up until now. And I felt more than sure he could and would continue doing just that.
“You were in extreme danger back there,” Saxon explained as he weaved in and around the crypts. Upon approaching the center of the tombs, I noticed little fires that burned inside each sepulcher. And inside the fire were people! Burning people!
The heretics, I gulped as soon as the thought occurred to me, and then I forced my attention away from them. I focused my eyes back on the dirt path that wound between the tombs.
“What’s going to happen to them?” I asked with dread. Casting my eyes toward Bill and Tallis for the third time, I added, “I mean, I get it; they can’t die, but what does that mean exactly?”
Saxon shrugged before he answered, “It means they will all tire themselves out. After the zombies discover that your friends aren’t on the menu, you’ll be reunited with them again.”
“Where?” I persisted, eyeing him narrowly. I wasn’t sure why, but there was definitely something about his easygoing, confident manner that bothered me. There was something about him that I didn’t trust.
“Probably the same destination you all were headed to before I rescued you.”
“Oh, really? And where, pray tell, was that?” I inquired, irritated that he believed he’d “rescued” me. I didn’t exactly see it that way, but I also didn’t want to have an argument about it when there were so many more important topics to broach.
Saxon laughed and shrugged at the same time. “How should I know the answer to that, Lily?”
“Bill said the soul we were supposed to retrieve was in the middle of the tombs, in some sort of structure,” I supplied.
“Ah, the gravekeeper’s quarters,” Saxon answered with a quick nod. “That’s easy enough.” Then he glanced down at me. “Do you know where the soul is exactly? I mean, once we’re within the quarters?”
I shook my head at first before I remembered my phone, which was in the satchel attached to the scabbard across my chest. “I can pull it up on my phone,” I announced. Just then, one of
the heretics in a tomb right beside me suddenly sat straight up, scaring the holy hell out of me. It was a man who was entirely engulfed by hot flames. I managed to make out his face and observed the ancient cut of his clothing. His tunic suggested the roots of someone from Rome, or maybe the Middle East. He opened his mouth in what appeared to be a scream, but no sound came forth. Then he vanished right back down inside the crypt again.
“Well, then! That solves the mystery of where to find this soul, doesn’t it?” Saxon asked. The boyish smile on his face did nothing except unsettle me more.
“How did you happen to be here, Saxon, in the graveyard, anyway?” I asked as soon as the question occurred to me.
Shrugging, Saxon’s smile left his face. I tried to ignore the flailing arms and legs of all the unfortunate sinners, hopelessly imprisoned inside their merciless tombs, burning eternally in an incendiary of shame. However, that wasn’t an easy task to achieve.
“Alaire asked, or rather, he ordered me to keep an eye on you,” Saxon admitted after another lengthy pause.
“Alaire ordered you?” I responded while scrutinizing him. I wasn’t really sure what to look for in his insistent gaze.
“Yes,” he answered quickly, bobbing his head up and down.
“Why would Alaire order you to watch me?”
Saxon shrugged for the umpteenth time before facing me with another practiced smile. “Does it really matter? I mean, without my interference, you wouldn’t have gotten away quite so … nicely intact.”
“Without you and your interference, I would have been just fine!” I fired back at him. I crossed my hands over my chest while trying not to sound as ticked off as I felt. No matter which way I looked at it, whether Alaire ordered him to do so or not, Saxon had come to my aid. “The zombies don’t pose any threat unless you provoke them, which you could say you did by shooting them in their heads with arrows.”
“The zombies don’t pose any threat?” Saxon mocked, shaking his head all the while. “Who told you that? Zombies are a notorious threat! Ever hear of them ripping out the intestines of a living body before snacking on them? If that isn’t a threat, then I don’t know what is!”