The Wyvern's Spur - Kate Novak [108]
"Yes, in my belt. Should I drink it now?"
"Not yet. Hold off until we're sure you need to. Here, take these," Olive ordered, handing the nobleman the reins. "If it's ugly, run over it," Once her hands were free, Olive reached into her shirt pocket and drew out the potion Cat had selected for her.
The carriage rounded the last curve in the hillside road and rumbled to the top of the hill. The clearing at the top was a meadow about twenty-five yards across. The temple took up about a third of that space.
Throngs of disgusting undead creatures shambled about the meadow. More were raining down into the clearing, dropped by giant vultures that looked no more healthy than their cargo. A few of the birds mistimed their drops; as Olive watched, one zombie smashed into the temple's domed roof, rolled off to the ground, and lay unmoving on the temple's granite steps.
The horses tried rearing in their harnesses once, then froze in place, petrified with terror. Giogi slapped the reins again, but the beasts were rooted in place.
About a dozen zombies, moaning pitifully, shambled slowly toward the carriage. They all wore dirty uniforms. They weren't as badly decayed as most zombies, but each sported some gruesome mortal injury-a severed arm, a slit throat. Their corpses had obviously been raided from a battlefield. From the dented, red-plumed helmets of most of the zombies and the tattered and torn black capes of the rest, Olive guessed they'd been Hillsfar and Zhentil Keep forces-victims of their cities' perennial war over the ruins of Yulash.
"Giogi, you need to drink that potion now," Olive said decisively, unstoppering her own vial and quaffing the gray mixture in three gulps. It slid down her throat like a lump of mercury and left a cold feeling in her stomach.
Giogi dropped the reins and pulled out his potion. As he poured it down his throat, Olive stood up on the driver's seat and surveyed the zombies imperiously. The cold in her stomach spread to her heart. She felt a surge of power in her spirit. It was a moment before she recovered sufficiently to issue a command. "Get thee hence, vile creatures," she ordered the undead, waving her hand in the directions of the trees.
The zombies ceased moaning and looked up at the halfling. Then they shuffled a little more quickly in the direction of the carriage.
"Well, that worked real well," Olive muttered, pitching the empty potion bottle at the forehead of the lead zombie. She wondered if Cat had made an honest mistake. At least it wasn't poison, the halfling thought as she scrambled into the carriage through the front window.
Recovering from the first dizzying effect of the golden potion, Giogi shouted, "What now?"
"Draw your weapon and defend yourself," Olive hollered from inside the carriage.
"What are you doing?" the nobleman shouted back, teasing out the peace knot that bound his foil to its sheath.
"Getting ammo," Olive explained. "Gee, its a mess in here."
The lead pair of horses broke down entirely, dropping to their knees as the undead approached. The zombies shambled past them, ignoring their panic-stricken neighing. Instead, the undead surrounded the carriage and began beating on the sides. A few started to climb up it.
Giogi took a deep breath. Suddenly he felt quite clear-headed and calm. All he had to do was stab the foul creatures. What could be simpler? he thought.
He plunged his foil in and out of the throat of a zombie that was trying to climb the step to the driver's seat. When the monster kept coming at him, Giogi stabbed it again. The zombie teetered toward him, but with a swift kick, the nobleman sent it falling backward to knock over two of its fellow creatures.
"How are we going to ring for Mother Lleddew?" the nobleman called to Olive.
"Don't need to. I think she knows," Olive shouted back. "She's at the temple."
Giogi looked over the heads of the zombies. On the temple steps stood a very large woman wearing only a brown shift and sandals. A ring of ghouls, like the first undead that had landed on their