The battle raged around her. The other Vir Requis were swinging their torches and swords, holding back dozens of the undead. The statues were pouring into the mine behind her, and their stone hands tore mimics apart.
Three mimics raced toward her, only three feet tall. Gloriae grimaced. Were they children or dwarves? She could not tell; their heads were too rotten. They lashed at her with daggers. Gloriae parried and swung her weapons. Soon they lay dead around her, oozing pus. She stared down at them. If they were children, well... I've killed children before.
It only took moments. Gloriae slew two more mimics, these ones with the heads of horses, and it was over. The mimics all lay torn across the mine. Their limbs, torsos, and heads still twitched and crawled. The statues moved across the crater, stomping the mimic parts and grinding them.
"Is that all?" Agnus Dei said and laughed. She kicked aside a crawling arm. "Is that all Irae's got?"
Gloriae stared around, eyes narrowed. This was too easy.
"All right!" Kyrie said. He began walking toward the shaft. "Into the mine. Let's kill whatever creatures crawl down there and be done with."
No, Gloriae thought. No, this is wrong. She knew Dies Irae. He would not leave this place so vulnerable. This had to be a trap, or—
A grumble sounded below.
The crater trembled.
Kyrie paused outside the shaft. He took a step back and raised his weapons. Gloriae clutched her sword and snarled.
"Here we go," she whispered. "Whatever terror Irae prepared for us... it's waking up."
A stench rose from the mine, worse even than the dead mimics across the crater.
"Come near me," Lacrimosa said, voice strangely calm. She raised Stella Lumen, her sword of Requiem steel and diamonds. "Let us stand together."
The crater trembled. The strewn mimic arms began to crawl toward the trees, as if fleeing what evil lurked below.
Gloriae moved to stand at her mother's left. Agnus Dei and Kyrie moved to her right. The queen of Requiem held her sword before her, and its blade glimmered.
Gloriae raised her own sword, Per Ignem, a blade of northern steel and gold. "I fight beside you, Lacrimosa, Queen of Requiem."
Agnus Dei and Kyrie had no ancient, legendary blades. Theirs were common swords found in abandoned castles, their steel unadorned, their grips simple leather. Kyrie had named his "Irae's Fate", and Agnus Dei had dubbed hers "Pup Killer" after an argument with Kyrie. Common swords, but as the two raised them, they shone with just as much light.
"For Requiem," Kyrie said.
"For Father," whispered Agnus Dei.
A howl rose from the mine.
Cracks ran along the crater. Burned trees snapped and fell. Red light beamed out of the shaft. Thousands of cockroaches fled from it and scurried across the crater. Thunder boomed and lightning rent the night.
A shadow rose from the shaft.
Gloriae gasped. Her legs shook. She panted and growled and hissed. Beside her, she heard the others curse.
"What the stars is it?" Agnus Dei asked, disgust twisting her words.
"Irae's insanity," Gloriae answered softly. "And all his malice."
The creature unfurled before them, and Gloriae screamed.
KYRIE ELEISON
"Stay near me, kitten," he whispered. "I'll look after you."
Beside him, Agnus Dei clutched her sword and torch. "Pup, focus less on protecting me, and more on killing that thing. All right?"
Grimacing, he watched the creature unfold itself, rise to its feet, and roar to the heavens.
"Deal," he said.
The creature from the mine stood twenty feet tall, maybe thirty. It was a mimic, but unlike the others. It seemed stitched together from gobbets of flesh. Its limbs were huge, ten feet long, wide as barrels. They were made of many smaller limbs braided together. Its muscles were woven of human legs and arms bundled into strands of oozing flesh. Its torso was stitched together from a dozen rolled up bodies; Kyrie saw three faces peering from its stomach like fetuses trying to emerge from a womb. A helmet the size of a barrel covered the mimic's head. Kyrie was grateful; he did not want to see its face.
For a moment, the world was silent. The mimic giant stood before them, watching them.
Then Lacrimosa's voice pierced the night.
"Burn it."
Kyrie nocked a flaming arrow and fired.
It slammed into the mimic's chest, and it roared. Bricks rolled and the earth shook. The other Vir Requis shot arrows too. They slammed into the mimic, and it screamed and pulled the arrows out.
"Statues of Requiem!" Lacrimosa called. "Bring it down."
The statues raced toward the undead giant. Howling, it swiped its arms, and statues flew. Kyrie cursed and leaped aside. A statue flew over his head, a missile of chipped stone. He glanced behind him and saw the statue crash into its brothers, scattering them.
"Damn thing's going to ruin my day," Kyrie muttered and nocked another arrow. He aimed at the giant mimic's head. The helmet had only a thin slot for the eyes. If I can only shoot my arrow in there....
The giant kept moving, lashing its arms at statues. Kyrie stayed still. He closed an eye. He aimed. He caught his breath... and fired.
The flaming arrow pierced the night. It slammed into the helmet, an inch above the eye slot, and fell.
"Stars damn it!" Kyrie said. He gritted his teeth and reached for another arrow, but had no time. The giant howled and leaped toward him.
Kyrie cursed and jumped back. The mimic giant swiped a hand at him. Each finger, Kyrie realized, was made of a man's arm. He ducked, and the hand flew over his head. He raised his sword and sliced into the hand. Blood showered.
"Pup!" Agnus Dei shouted somewhere in the battlefield.
The giant tossed back its head and howled. Kyrie leaped, ran, and sliced his sword across the giant's calf. It roared, and Kyrie ran behind it. Before it could turn toward him, he nocked an arrow. When it started racing toward him again, he had aimed and fired.
The arrow glanced off the giant's helmet.
"Damn it all!" Kyrie shouted.
He raced across the crater. The statues were hacking at the mimic's legs, but it kept kicking them away, like a man kicking away nipping dogs. Lacrimosa and the twins were firing arrows, but they barely fazed the giant. A dozen arrows soon covered its torso, but it seemed not to feel them.
"Aim for its eyes!" he shouted at the girls.
Agnus Dei groaned. "Pup, I don't tell you how to kill mimics."
The giant heard her and ran toward her, feet cracking the earth. It swung its hands at her. One finger slammed into her shoulder, knocking her down.
"Agnus Dei!"
Dread filled Kyrie like a bucket of ice inside him. He shouted, ran, and leaped onto a pile of fallen statues. He vaulted forward and landed on the giant mimic's back.
The stench assailed him. Kyrie thought he might pass out. The mimic bucked and reached over its back, and its hands slammed against Kyrie. He grunted. Each blow felt like a hammer. He dug his fingers into the mimic's flesh. Its back was woven of a dozen human bodies slung together, a jumble of arms and legs and gasping faces. The giant kept leaping, and the blows fell onto Kyrie, but he clung on. He drew his dagger. He drove it into the mimic's back.
Rot sprayed. The giant screamed. Kyrie grimaced and twisted the blade.
"Pup!"
"Kyrie!"
The giant thrashed and its hands slammed against Kyrie's back. The pain bloomed. Kyrie thought he might pass out. Statues kept attacking the giant's legs, but it kept kicking them aside. Arrows kept piercing its chest, but it barely noticed. It kept reaching over its back and lashing at Kyrie, knocking the breath out of him.
"No way," Kyrie managed to say, the blows raining against him. "No way, my friend. You are going down."
He pulled his dagger free. Blood and halved worms covered the blade. Kyrie shoved his fingers into the creature's back and pulled himself up, until he reached its neck. With a cry, he shov
ed the dagger down.
Blood flowed from the giant's neck.
It wobbled.
It pitched forward.
"Pup!" Agnus Dei cried.
The giant hit the ground. The world shook. Kyrie tumbled off it, rolled across the ground, and stopped at Agnus Dei's feet. She knelt over him, ran her fingers over his cheek, and her eyes were red. He could barely see her. His eyes fluttered and stars floated before him. Gloriae and Lacrimosa rushed to him too.
"Pup, are you alive?" Agnus Dei shook his shoulders. "Get up! Get up, pup, or I'll kill you!"
Kyrie pushed himself to his feet. He turned to face the fallen giant. It was struggling to rise. Its arms, each one woven of a dozen severed limbs, flexed as it pushed itself to its knees.
"This one's mine," Kyrie said hoarsely.
He reached over his back and took his last arrow. Legs trembling, he walked toward the giant mimic.
It stared at him. Kyrie could see red, blazing eyes inside its visor, each the size of a human head.
He lit and nocked his arrow.
The giant roared.
The arrow flew.
This time Kyrie shot true. The flaming arrow flew through the slot in the visor—it was only three inches wide—and drove into the giant's eye.
Its scream was so loud that the crater cracked, and Kyrie fell. He grunted, struggled to his feet, and walked forward. The mimic giant floundered at his feet, its head burning. Kyrie drove his sword into its visor, and clenched his jaw as the blood poured.
The giant gave a last cry, and its limbs hit the dust.
It lay still.
Covered in its blood, Kyrie stared down at it, sword in hand.
"Bastard," he said.
And then Agnus Dei was hugging and kissing him, and Lacrimosa was tending to his wounds, and even Gloriae gave him a curt nod that said, Well done.
When they burned the giant's body, it raised black smoke that seemed to never end. Kyrie watched it burn, and thought about the men, women, and children who had died to form it.
"We have to kill Irae," he said, jaw clenched. "We have to kill him once and for all."
Agnus Dei stood by him, her arms around him. "We will."
AGNUS DEI
She raised her sword. Pup Killer, she had named the blade after a fight with Kyrie. A silly name, she knew. A silly fight. Tonight she wished she had a legendary sword like Gloriae's Per Ignem or like Mother's Stella Lumen, swords with history, glory, and might. Tonight she would need all the might she could get.
"We enter the mine," she said. "If we find Animating Stones, we'll take them. If we find Dies Irae, we'll kill him. I'll climb down first. If Irae is down there, I want him to meet my sword first."
Gloriae stepped up beside her. "I'll enter behind you. We are twins. We will wield twin blades."
With a small smile, Gloriae raised Per Ignem and touched its steel to Pup Killer.
Agnus Dei nodded. "Time of the twins."
Lacrimosa joined her blade to the salute. "The statues will enter behind you. I'll bring up the rear. Kyrie, you go with me. If anything enters the mine behind us, we'll kill it."
Kyrie touched his blade to the other three. Thunder rolled. It began to rain.
Agnus Dei approached the shaft leading into the mine. When she listened, she heard nothing from below. No hammering. No cries. Silence.
"There are more mimics down there," she said. "They're waiting. I'm ready for them. Come, Gloriae. Behind me."
With a deep breath, Agnus Dei climbed into the shaft.
A ladder led into darkness. Agnus Dei held the rungs with one hand, her sword with the other. She began to climb down. Cold air blew from below. When she looked down, she saw nothing but darkness.
Gloriae climbed above her. "Do you see anything?" she said.
"Yeah, I see your smelly feet above me. Nothing but darkness below."
It seemed that she descended forever. The air became so cold, Agnus Dei's teeth chattered. Wind moaned around her, ruffling her hair. The stench of rot grew as she descended. Above her, she heard creaking and thumping, and dirt rained onto her.
"Gloriae, what's going on up there?" she asked.
Gloriae's voice answered in the darkness. "The statues are digging their hands into the sides of the shaft. That's the only way they can climb down."
"Just make sure the bloody things don't make the mine collapse, all right? At least, not before we grab some Animating Stones."
They kept descending into the darkness. Agnus Dei remembered the last time she had plunged underground. She had crawled through caves in Fidelium Mountain. Father had been with her. Dies Irae and his nightshades had waited for them.
I wish you were with me here too, Father, she thought. The darkness seems colder without you. Your spirit now dines in our halls beyond the stars. If you can see me down here, please watch over me.
Finally the shaft ended. Agnus Dei let go of the ladder and stood on shaky feet. The darkness was complete. When she held her hands before her face, she couldn't see them.
"The shaft ends here," she said. "Be careful, Gloriae. Come stand beside me."
She felt in the darkness. Her hands touched craggy walls and slats of wood. She inched forward and found herself walking into a tunnel.
"Let's light some fire," Gloriae said.
Agnus Dei nodded and rummaged in her pack for her tinderbox. Soon she and Gloriae held crackling torches. The light revealed a tunnel that sloped into darkness. Wind blew from it, cold and rank with the smell of mimics.
"I used to come to this crater every moon," Agnus Dei said. "Mother and I would travel here to meet Father. I never understood why no trees or grass grew from it. Now I know. It's because Animating Stones pulsed beneath it. This place is evil."
Gloriae shook her head. "No. Animating Stones are only tools. Tools are rarely evil; the men who wield them often are."
"So let's find our man. Let's shove our swords into him."
She began walking down the tunnel, her torchlight dancing against craggy walls held with wooden slats. As she walked, she couldn't help the thoughts that whispered. Our man. Dies Irae. Was he... could he be... her father?
Agnus Dei growled. No. Impossible. True, Dies Irae had raped her mother nine moons before she and Gloriae were born. True, Dies Irae believed that he was the true father, not Benedictus. But Agnus Dei refused to believe.
"I am nothing like him," she whispered, jaw clenched. She had brown, fiery eyes like Benedictus. She had black hair like him, a temper like him, skin that tanned gold like his. And Gloriae... true, Gloriae had blue eyes and golden hair like Dies Irae, but so what? Lacrimosa was fair; Gloriae must have inherited her eyes and hair from her, not Dies Irae.
I will never believe that he's my father, she thought. And even if he is... I don't care. I still hate him, and I'll still kill him. She couldn't wait to thrust her sword into his flesh and watch him die.
Her footfalls echoed down the tunnel. When she looked over her shoulder, she saw statues walking behind Gloriae. She could only see several feet into the darkness; if Mother and Kyrie walked behind, the shadows hid them.
A growl sounded ahead.
Agnus Dei whipped her head forward and snarled. She raised her torch but saw nothing. She stopped walking and stared.
The growl sounded again.
The tunnel shook.
Dust fell from the ceiling and wooden beams creaked. More growls filled the tunnel, and something cackled.
"Time to kill," Agnus Dei said. With a wordless battle cry, she ran into the darkness, swinging her torch and sword.
A beam snapped to her right. A boulder crashed above. Dust rained.
"Come face me!" she cried. Shadows scurried ahead, laughing. She ran toward them, but they fled. All around her, wooden beams snapped, dust showered, and rocks fell.
"Agnus Dei, back!" Gloriae cried behind her. "Turn back."
"I can see them ahead!" Agnus Dei answered. "They're running away. After me, Gloriae!"
/>
She raced into the darkness, leaping over falling stones. The tunnel shook violently. Agnus Dei fell, scraping her knees. She pushed herself up and kept running. She saw a mimic ahead. Its eyes blazed, it leered, and then it turned and fled.
"Come face me!"
Gloriae shouted behind her. "Agnus Dei, the mine is collapsing! Boulders are falling."
Agnus Dei looked over her shoulder and gasped. The ceiling was crumbling, burying the animated statues. Boulders crushed them.
"Mother!" Agnus Dei screamed. "Kyrie!"
Boulders crashed and began rolling toward her.
"Run, Agnus Dei!" Gloriae cried.
Agnus Dei ran deeper into the darkness. Rocks buffeted her back and helmet. A boulder crashed ahead of her. She leaped over it and kept running. More boulders rolled behind. The mimics were gone. She couldn't even hear them laughing anymore.
"Gloriae!"
She grabbed her sister's hand. The two ran together, heading deeper into the tunnel. A beam crashed before them, and dust blinded Agnus Dei. She leaped over the wood and rocks and plunged into darkness. She fell. Rocks rained. Dust filled her nostrils. Statues cried behind her.
"Mother," she whispered.
A rock hit her shoulder, and she fell onto her chest. Gloriae fell beside her.
Her hand opened.
Gloriae's hand slipped from her grip.
Rocks covered her, and Agnus Dei reached out, trying to grasp something, anything.
"Pup. Pup...."
Mimics laughed in the darkness.
Stars shone.
A blow struck her helmet, and her face hit the ground. All sound and light faded from her world.
LACRIMOSA
She had reached the bottom of the shaft, and begun to walk down the tunnel, when the mine collapsed.
My daughters.
Stones fell, beams snapped, and dust rained.
My daughters!
No other thought filled her mind. She raced forward. Debris crashed around her. A rock hit her shoulder, and she shouted. She had to get through. She had to save them.
Song of Dragons: The Complete Trilogy Page 62
