The Pulptress Versus The Bone Queen: Blood and Bone (12 page)

"Tell me where she is," I demanded. "That's your end of the bargain, right?"

He nodded. "Of course." He took a slow deep breath, then said, "She continues down this path into a room that is locked. I finished the old tunnels already here, and built new ones to let her rag and bone warriors wander. I helped her raise these dead for her then was left to guard her. The lock that leads to her will only open with my sword as its key. Use my blade to unlock the door at the end of this tunnel. Leave the sword and continue down the stairs there. She will be at the altar at the bottom with the stones she has."

"She's waiting for us?" Aramis asked.

He shrugged. "She always waits for those gems to return to her, it's all she knows anymore. Living dead is not a sustainable life."

Aramis nodded, reaching out and taking Eten’s hand. The two men embraced, patting one another’s back before drawing apart. “Make it a clean shot,” Aramis told me.

"Thank you, Pulptress." Eten closed his eyes and bowed his head.

I aimed carefully and fired. The bullet cracked through his skull just between his eyes. His eyes flew open for just a moment before his pale, dirty skin faded away and he dissolved into dust that floated across the air before dissipating. All that was left behind was a fragment of skull just in front of my feet. I tucked my pistol away and wiped my hands off on my jeans.

Jackson picked up the skull fragment, putting it into her back pocket.

"Are you alright?" Jackson asked Aramis.

He took a deep breath. “I’ll be alright.” He forced a smile. “Eten was a good man. Twisted in his own ways, but he didn’t deserve this. None of us did.” He let out his breath. “Come on.”

I picked up Eten’s sword and headed down the only hallway available to us. Torches flared to life as we walked down the hallway. “Guess there’s no doubt she knows we’re coming.” I muttered.

Aramis nodded. “Well the glowing stones really don’t do well for sneak attacks.”

“So who was he?” Jackson asked after several moments of silence.

Aramis sighed deeply, “He was a priest of the goddess Mene, the same goddess that the Bone Queen once worshipped. Of course, she was still Renata back then. They traveled together as a part of the same group, and I was with them for a time at the end. Ultimately, they all fell to death or to Renata’s own purpose.”

My steps were steadier now as I walked past the few bits of remaining dust, kicking them up under foot and sending the pale yellow powder flying through the air again. Jackson hurried close behind, waving her hand in front of her face to try to keep the dust away.

“Do you think she knew he would do that?” Jackson asked.

“Who?” I said absently, trying to see what lay ahead down the hallway.

“Eten. Do you think she knew he would give us the key to her?”

Aramis answered, “I think she did. She needs us to get the last gem. Well, she needs me.”

“So, we’re walking right into whatever trap she’s set for us,” Jackson muttered.

“And we’ll be ready for her,” I promised.

A door led out of one hallway and into another narrow hallway that ended in a set of stairs curling downwards. At the very bottom of the steps that curled round and round, we found a locked door.

Jackson raised her bat and Aramis readied his daggers as I pushed the sword into the keyhole. Something mechanical whirred and clicked, bits of dust flew out of the slot around the sword before something grabbed the sword and jerked it forward into the door. The sword handle clicked into place flush against the door. I slowly gripped the handle and turned. The door swung open into a room draped with red crushed velvet.

In the center of the room stood an altar draped with black fabric, candles burned all the way down, nearly to the point of burning themselves out. A few feathers and bones laid scattered across the table surface along with a short ceremonial knife with a blade blunted by time and wear.

"What is this?" Jackson whispered beside me.

I shook my head. "I think this is the end of the line." I looked around the room. Hanging on several of the walls were strange pieces of art decayed from time. The floor beneath our feet was littered with bones and each step sent the pieces of skeletons scattering across the ground beneath our feet.

I could hear Jackson's slow, shaky in and out breaths as she followed right behind me, not faltering or hesitating.

“Renata!” Aramis shouted.

"Come on out, we both know it's over," I called as I brought my pistol into my hand. "I know you're in here, and the time's over for this whole cat and mouse thing. You're caught."

"Am I the one caught or am I the one who has caught you?" Her voice echoed across the room.

Jackson jumped, tightening her grip on her bat.

"We're ready for you," I said, standing up straight and keeping my voice firm as I looked around the room, finally spotting the glint of light against the far back.

The pale grey light that flickered there matched the light from the gem that the raven had stolen from me. Without waiting, I turned my pistol, aimed, and fired toward the light.

Metal burned through bone and then hit stone. In the next instant, I saw a flash of light surging toward us. I grabbed Jackson's shoulder and pushed her out of the way. Aramis dropped to the ground just barely dodging the flare of metal flying across the space where he’d just stood.

Jackson hit the ground and crawled away while I fired toward the woman made of nothing but bone and scraps of fabric and skin. She glared toward me, half her skull gone, and the remaining sheets of her dark hair billowing around the empty space. Turning toward me I watched her skull slowly rebuild itself, stitching new pieces of bone together and slowly reforming what my bullet had torn through.

"Nice shot," she said, holding her sword in hand, gem handle glimmering.

“See, last time we didn’t get a fair fight. You caught me without any of my guns,” I said as I stepped in front of Jackson. "And, as I recall, you ran before we could finish our little spat. I think it's time we picked it back up."

She frowned, walking in a slow circle around Jackson and me, but I kept myself between her and Aramis. "If you want that stone you have to go through me," I said calmly.

"I suppose we both knew it would come to this eventually," she mused, "Ever since I first saw you hunting through the catacombs of Paris, I knew it would come to this. I knew that death would come for you and I would be her weapon once again."

"Don't flatter yourself," I said. "You're no one's weapon. You're doing this for yourself, and I'm here to do what I always do: stop the monster and save the day." I grinned. "It's a tough job but what can I say? I'm good at what I do."

“Renata, please! It’s time to let go. No one is meant to live forever. You use to believe that. Please,” Aramis begged.

She glared, growling low in her throat before she lunged at me.

I dodged the attack, though the blade just grazed my arm, barely slicing through the remaining fabric of my shirt enough for a thin cut to begin to ooze.

"Frightened of your death?" She asked me.

I shrugged. "I'm not frightened of you."

"Then you are as big a fool as I always thought," she sneered, lifting her sword and adjusting the hilt in her hands to let her thumb trace over the gem in the handle.

I noticed the skin along her arms and hand peeled back in thin sheets, exposing pale, thin bone beneath the surface. I could see straight into her chest cavity through the opening in her ribs just above where her belly button would have been if she still had skin. The stolen necklace glimmered against her empty chest cavity.

Looking down toward her feet, I realized she was missing one shoe and only a bare skeleton foot was visible just below the billowing of her cape swirling around her.

"You look like you're falling apart," I said, taking a careful step back, gently guiding Jackson and Aramis toward the door we'd entered from.

I felt Jackson hesitate, but then she rushed back toward the door. The Bone Queen lunged after her, but Aramis blocked her. The two undead clashed together, their swords interlocking, until the Bone Queen forced Aramis to his knees.

Jackson screamed as the Bone Queen’s sword ripped across Aramis’ neck and his head rolled to the ground. His body dropped to the ground, sword clattering at his still feet.

Chapter 15

The Bone Queen lunged forward toward Jackson. I slammed into her shoulder, knocking her off balance and directing the path of her sword to easily miss me before giving her a hard shove and knocking her backwards. She stumbled before catching her balance.

I ducked to the ground as the Bone Queen's sword rounded overhead, slicing through a few strands of my hair.

My hand grabbed onto Aramis’ sword handle as I rolled across the ground, spinning back upright just in time to bring the sword up to block her next blow. Our swords slammed together in a flaring of metal burning across metal. She pushed forward, and I felt my arms starting to buckle under the pressure and unrelenting force.

Glancing behind me, I let my sword drop and pushed backwards. Her sword grazed my forearm, then hit the ground as I took the brief reprieve to get to my feet and a better stance.

She rounded on me, advancing with several quick thrusts that I parried away from and avoided her blade once again. She over swung and I took the chance to slash across her abdomen, clacking against several bones. I twisted my sword into her hollow rib cage and, using all my strength, pushed, sending her flying backwards, toppling to the ground and shattering the chain of the necklace. The gem clattered to the ground, rolling across the floor.

I advanced, sword up, and then brought it crashing down toward her neck, but she brought up her arm to block. My sword cracked through her bare bone arm and severed her forearm and hand from her body. They hit the ground and fell still until slowly dissolving into just a few old bone fragments.

She screamed and got back to her feet. In a rage, she lunged at me, swinging violently toward me, but I managed to easily dodge the ill-timed and poorly balanced attacks. We danced around the room as I began to attack back, cutting through the air until one blow hit hard enough to knock her down, sending her tumbling to the ground.

"It's over," I said. "This is where it ends."

She looked down at the ground and slowly put down her sword. As I reached toward it, I saw her move.

Her free hand scooped up the bones she'd lost and popped them into her mouth before grabbing her sword again and getting back to her feet. I watched in horror as the bones clattered through her rib cage and then bounced out the open bits of her body and hit the ground.

Grey smoke billowed from the bones and slowly human shapes began to form amidst the smoke and shadows. Two copies of the Bone Queen appeared out of the shadows. The three turned to grin at one another and then rushed me.

Blocking six hands and a sword put my body into overdrive as I stumbled backwards, struggling to block hit after hit that flew my way. Hands with bone tipped fingers clawed at my flesh, but I avoided the sword easily even as the bone hands grabbed at my arms, hair, and clothes.

Two arms wrapped around me and dragged me to the ground. Despite my struggling I felt myself fall onto the ground, prone and watching the shadow of the sword rise above my neck.

I tried to roll away but another of the cloned Bone Queens grabbed at my wrists and held me steady. I struggled as the blade over my neck raised and then started rushing toward me.

Instead of the brief flare of pain then nothing that I expected, instead I heard something slam into the bone queen holding the sword. There was an
oof
and then the distinct sound of two bodies hitting the floor and the blade hitting the ground. Jackson thudded to the floor beside me, rolling across the ground, struggling with one of the Bone Queen copies.

Taking the moment of distraction, I slammed my elbow into the face of the creature holding me down. It reeled backwards and another quick blow slamming the nose into the brain sent it stumbling into dust.

Jackson and another Bone Queen struggled on the floor, Jackson fighting wildly as clawed hands closed around her throat. She looked at me, then behind me. I turned just in time to avoid another copy swinging the sword toward where my head had just been.

Dropping low to the ground, I launched myself at the attacker. My shoulder slammed into the empty space beneath her rib cage and pushed forward into the empty cavern of her chest until it bumped into her spine. I pushed my shoulder and arm upward to rip through her rib cage, feeling the brittle bones give way under my touch. She screamed, then dropped into dust with the sword landing at my feet.

Grabbing her sword, I turned back to Jackson and her struggle. Her eyes were wide, red rimmed and her skin turning ashen and grey around her throat as the Bone Queen’s fingers ripped into her. Jackson grabbed at the necklace on the ground by her, and, with a last burst of strength, pushed it across the floor toward me. Then she fell silent and still.

The Bone Queen and I both lunged for the flickering gem on the ground, but I just barely grazed it first, pulling it from her touch and rolling back to my feet.