The Wyvern's Spur - Kate Novak [107]
"I've never seen anything like them before, "Giogi admitted, squinting at the creatures far overhead. "They all seem to be carrying something."
"Maybe Mother Lleddew trains giant crows or bats or something," Olive muttered.
Trees overhanging the road obscured their line of sight until they reached the high stone bridge crossing the Immer Stream. The woods were thinner along the stream bed, and now Olive could make out the pillars and roof of the House of the Lady, above the cascading waters. The hill was entirely shaded by the lone cloud, so that, despite the afternoon sunshine, it was as dark as twilight.
Olive could just make out several shadowy figures surrounding the temple, milling about in the meadow around it.
"Could those be people arriving extra early for the memorial service?" the halfling asked Giogi.
"Maybe," the nobleman replied uncertainly.
Once across the bridge, the road became firmer and the trees thicker, and human and halfling lost sight of the hilltop again. On the hillside above them, something large rustled and snapped through the undergrowth. Olive kept her eyes wide, expecting a deer or bear to come bounding across the road.
Suddenly something heavy dropped onto the carriage roof with a thump.
"What was that?" Giogi cried out.
Olive turned around and stood up on the driver's seat. Something vaguely humanlike was crawling across the carriage roof in their direction. Its sharp fingernails dug into the painted wood, and its long tongue flicked at the air through sharp teeth, like a serpent. The right half of its face had been staved in, and it glared at the halfling through empty eye sockets, which dripped a milky fluid.
With a gasp, Olive dropped down to the seat beside Giogi and grabbed the reins from his hands. She slapped the leather straps hard against the horses' backs, shouting "Eeeee-Yah!"
The horses took off, and the carriage jolted behind them. Giogi let out a surprised yelp. Behind her Olive heard the scrabble of nails trying to gain purchase on the carriage roof and the thunk of their unwanted passenger striking the ground.
Her grin of satisfaction was quickly stanched by the sight of three more figures ahead, stumbling out of the forest and onto the road. Two appeared normal, but the third leaned heavily to one side, as if favoring a leg injury.
The halfling smashed the reins down on the horses again, hollering at the top of her lungs, "Giddy, giddy, go!"
The horses plowed through the creatures trying to intercept them. The creatures made no motion to get out of the way. The carriage tilted to one side for a moment as the wheels ran over their bodies, and the boxes within slammed from one side of the carriage to the other.
"Mistress Ruskettle!" Giogi shouted as he turned to stare in horror at the corpses in the road. "You just ran those poor people over!"
"Those weren't poor people, Master Giogioni. Those were dead people. Ghouls, by the looks of them." Olive's initial triumphant glee had turned to fearful concern.
"Ghouls! Last night it was lacedons! Should we try to turn around and go back, do you think?" Giogi asked nervously, studying the road ahead for a wide spot.
"Is the road clear behind us?" Olive asked.
Giogi looked behind them. At least a dozen figures poured onto the road from the way they'd come.
"Um, no," he said, turning around again quickly-horrified by the creatures' twitchy, marionettelike movements.
"Then we keep going up," Olive shouted over the noise of the horses' hooves.
"How can all these evil things dare to tread a hill sacred to Selune?"
"They're probably more afraid of something else than they are of Selune."
"But what?" Giogi asked.
"Flattery would be my first guess. He's a pretty scary guy, and he's partial to the undead. How much farther to the top?"
The young noble's face was pale. "Two more bends, I think. What are we going to do once we reach the top?"
"Ring the bell and hope Mother Lleddew doesn't mistake us for children playing a practical joke. You have