The Wyvern's Spur - Kate Novak [110]
On the ground below, Giogi was wondering if the potion had already worn off. The fists of the zombies rained down on him in a torrent. He could never recall hurting so badly in his life, and the paralyzation was like a nightmare. The worst part, though, was his inability to breathe.
One of the zombies had enough sense left in its undead brain to throttle him. It knelt beside him and gripped his neck in the bony vise of its fingers. The other zombies pulled back and watched their compatriot choke the noble. Dark spots danced in front of Giogi's eyes. Somewhere in the distance, Olive shouted.
Something warm touched Giogi on the face. The warmth spread downward to his torso and then to his arms and legs. In a moment, he felt his muscles relax, and in another, he could move again. He brought a fist up sharply in the face of the zombie who was choking him. The creature fell backward from the sudden assault. The noble kicked and pounded and stabbed at the zombies who tried to close on top him. Strong hands, warm and living, latched about his arm and helped him to his feet.
Mother Lleddew stood beside him. "Get back up on the carriage and take the reins," she ordered, "I'll clear a path for you to turn around."
Looking up, Giogi saw Olive squaring off with a noseless zombie on the driver's seat. Giogi plucked his foil up from the seat. Leaping up the carriage step, he thrust his weapon into the zombie's back. The creature crumpled. Giogi withdrew the foil and pushed the zombie from the carriage. The noble took his place on the driver's seat.
"Better hold on, Mistress Ruskettle," he warned Olive. "We'll be moving soon."
Mother Lleddew moved forward toward the horses, whispering and patting them comfortingly. The ghouls drew back from her. The zombies remained all around both her and the horses, though they did not attack. Slowly the woman spoke into the lead mare's ear, and the horse rose from its knees, pulling its companion to its feet as well. The priestess placed herself in front of the lead right horse and began muttering loudly. The zombies suddenly noticed her presence and began crushing in on her, trying to drive her under the mass of bodies. Mother Lleddew held up a platinum engraving of Selune's sign and cried out, "Return thou to dust!"
The engraving glowed, and the zombies in the carriage's path ignited with a mystic blue fire. In another moment, they'd crumbled to gray ash.
Mother Lleddew stepped aside and smacked the lead horse's rump. It charged forward. More zombies rushed to fill the gap left by those the priestess had disintegrated, but the horses trampled over them. The priestess grabbed hold of the carriage door as it shot past. The carriage shifted precariously from her weight until she managed to scramble up to the roof.
For a bulky old priestess, she's pretty spry, Olive thought, clutching the back of the driver's seat.
The carriage shot across the meadow toward the temple, the horses trampling undead and the carriage wheels crushing them. Giogi yelled and steered the horses so the carriage made a wide turn back in the direction of the road.
Overhead, the great carrion birds wheeled beneath the shadowy, solitary cloud. "You, halfling," Lleddew called, pulling from her shift pocket a fragile glass vial of clear liquid and tossing it to Olive, "try this."
"Holy water?" Olive guessed.
"Yes. Don't bother with anything on the ground. Get one of the vultures in the air."
"The vultures?"
"Yes. They're undead as well."
A vulture swooped overhead with a ghoul in its claws. Olive shot at it as it banked toward them. The vial of water smashed into the vulture's wing. The bird dropped its cargo as its wing burst into smoke. It crashed to the ground, smashing several zombies beneath it.
"Nice! Got any more?" Olive asked with delight.
Mother Lleddew handed her another vial and Olive loaded it into her sling. The carriage pulled out of the hilltop clearing and into the light cover