Chapter 7 - Part 8

In front of them, they could see a way forward – a gate in one of the walls, bars of latticed iron like a portcullis. Past the gate, they could see a second tunnel, wider than the first one they had been in and clearly manmade. The question was only: how might that gate be opened?

And it was not a question they could devote all their attention to answering, for as they had predicted, the bright light had an effect on the dead and a few ancient skeletons began to twitch to life.

"We're going to need to fight this together," Mane said resolutely, "put that nonsense behind us, chevalar, and let us cover each other's backs."

"My name's Ermos, not chevalar," Pash's master said, "but I'll cover your back if you like… wait, I forgot to pick up a sword."

Mane looked at him sharply, his face darkening. He had already drawn his massive blade and he held it tight with both hands on the grip, ready for combat. "Never mind what I said then," he spat, "I'll deal with this problem myself."

It made Pash's heart sink to realize that he wasn't considered a valid fighting member. He was apparently just a boy with a sword. As skeletons jumped from ridiculous heights up from the top of the wall, it was Pash's lack of strength that bothered him most.

"…Here master," Pash said despondently, holding out his sword, "you can make better use of it than me."

"What are you doing?" Ermos looked at him blankly. "If you don't fight, if you don't push yourself to your limits, you're not going to get stronger. Even if you struggle against one skeleton, fight against it until it becomes a little easier. I'll be there to make sure you don't die."

Those words warmed Pash's heart. Just when he felt useless, he had a purpose once more. Even if Ermos didn't have a sword, he was far from weak. Pash could trust that he would hold his promise to keep him alive.

"Mhm! I'll kill a skeleton, then you can take its sword, master!" Pash said with enthusiasm.

"Tsch," Mane looked at them in disgust. More skeletons poured down from the walls; their armour assorted. Some had chest plates, some only helmets, some only a rotten pair of boots, whilst others were coated from head to toe in a metal that still shone, even after centuries of disuse.

When they gathered all together, they must have numbered more than a hundred. They came at them from all angles, pushing them towards the centre of the room, strangely intelligent.

Seeing so many like that, even with his master's promise, Pash had the sense to be terrified. Fingers was growling deeply, warning them away, but none of them were likely to listen.

And then the first wave struck.

"Grgh!" Mane swung his sword like the slab of brutish steel that it was, a savage horizontal cut, demolishing five skeletons at once. It was accurate too, for it crushed all of their skulls, ensuring that they were completely dead, as they had done to the ones at the surface.

"Woah, nice," Ermos praised, seeing it. Pash and his master hung back behind the bulk that was Sir Mane, doing as they had promised and dealing with the dregs that attempted to attack his back.

There were relatively few that did that. All of them seemed to be focused entirely on bringing Mane down, nearly a hundred on him at once.

A sneaky skeleton broke away from the rest and came rushing by Mane's side, clacking his jaws together in some demonic battle cry. It had an axe in each one of its hands and when Pash stepped between the skeleton and Mane, those axes came for him.

He managed to catch one of them with the edge of his blade, but the second was free to move where it wished to. It quickly became clear that he could not deal with this skeleton in the same way as he had with the one on the surface. To match its dual-wielding style, he needed a strong attack of his own.

When the other axe came his way, he ducked it and kicked at the skeleton's legs, somehow managing to sweep it off his feet. Pash felt a rush of air and then a rush of adrenaline and a certain dizziness in his head, hardly believing that such a move had worked. But that did not stop him from seizing the chance to deal the finishing blow and he cracked the struggling skeleton's skull clean open. It went limp a moment later.

"Good work, Pash," his master praised. It was just as Ermos had said – focus on making each battle easier than the last. This was his perfect opportunity to try that, for the skeletons must have all been roughly of the same ability. He went to look for his next opponent.

"Grab an axe, master," Pash said, feeling confident now that his master was about to join the fray.

"Mm… but they're so rusty. I would much prefer a sword," Ermos said, picky about his weapons choice. But he picked one of them up anyway and held it awkwardly in his hand, as though it were a pair of wet shoes rather than an axe.

Mane was like a whirlwind by the front, bellowing his rage and smashing skeletons to pieces with that sword of his. It was like a hammer that had been given a sword's edge. It was a brutal weapon.

But the battle was still far from over. There were five skeletons too that seemed different from the rest. They all had shining blue armour covering them from head to toe and they hung back from the rest, as though they were more intelligent. Pash did not need to engage them head-on to know that they were dangerous.