Home for Horny Monsters Ch. 103

"Of course something is wrong," Ingrid began, but Mike opened his eyes and shook his head.

"It's not marchers. There's something else out here," he said, gesturing ahead. "Not a spirit, something physical, like a person. People, actually."

"But who?" Ingrid asked.

He shook his head. "No idea. But we've got a problem." Looking down the hill, he could sense the spirits closing in. "We're stuck between a rock and a hard place. Ideas?"

"Retrieve Leilani and run like hell. Is there any other option?" Ingrid fired her wand at a trio of warriors who had scrambled over some nearby rocks toward their position. One fell, vanishing into the darkness and filling the air with whispers. Brief flashes of light in the jungle revealed that some of the Order were still alive.

Mike grimaced. There were probably a dozen better options available, but he only had seconds to contemplate them. With adrenaline and magic surging through his body, he couldn't come up with anything better. The longer he waited, the more likely it was that Leilani would fall to her pursuers. "Once more, unto the breach, I guess."

The forest ahead bent away, expediting their passage. Ratu stayed at the rear of the procession, her flames now a pair of serpents that circled her body and breathed fire at spirits who came close. Quetzalli was panting with exertion behind Mike, and he could feel the humidity thicken as clouds formed overhead, blotting out the night sky. Ingrid's wands glowed with sinister energy, occasionally blasting a shadow that leapt out in front of them.

Foliage gave way to thick, jagged rocks. Up near the top, Leilani was frantically stabbing her trident down at her assailants. Mike sent lightning spiders ahead to help illuminate the area, and was stunned when the attackers spun around to reveal skeletons in ragged clothes. Several were armed with scimitars while the rest carried daggers, oars, and even a broken surfboard.

"What the actual hell?" muttered Ingrid. "Are those...zombies? Skeletons? Undead pirates?"

Mike didn't know the answer, but it didn't matter. The undead turned their attention away from Leilani, who now gazed down at Mike in relief. Dark blue blood flowed down her arms and torso, and she looked to be on the verge of collapse.

Ingrid's wands lit up and she started blasting. Arcane energy tore into the skeletal figures like shotgun rounds, blowing off limbs as Mike advanced. Serpents of fire ripped the skeletons away from the rocky crag, tossing them over the side of the mountain. Quetzalli held out a single hand and called forth a small bolt of lightning that blew up a pair of skeletons near the edge.

With the tide turning, the skeletons closest to Leilani spun around and tried to take her out. She stabbed down at them, then dropped her trident when her arm was slashed open.

"Damn!" Mike crouched down and Ingrid hopped off, her magic shattering a nearby foe. Dodging rusted blades, he climbed up the rocks and grabbed the skeletons from behind, yanking them off balance so they tumbled away. Leilani scrambled to her feet when he reached her side, her eyes filled with tears. Below, the forest erupted as night marchers appeared from the woods and engaged both the living and the dead in combat.

"Caretaker," Leilani whimpered, clutching his arm for support. He looked down at the spectral melee below and felt his magic climb its way through his stomach and into his throat.

"Plug your ears," he yelled, then took a deep breath and released the banshee's scream once more. The air rippled away from him with magical fury, causing the skeletal warriors to clutch their skulls and sprint away, several of them falling off the mountain. The night marchers melted away into the darkness, their chants of war going with them. The women below all clutched at their ears, staggering around as his magic overwhelmed them. There were earplugs back in the tent, but the attack had been so sudden that nobody had grabbed them.

The magic cascaded down the mountain like thunder. In the distance, he could hear his scream echo back to him. If nothing else, he had bought them a reprieve, but his throat was now raw from the effort. Rubbing at his neck, he moved to help Leilani down the rocks when he felt her freeze in place. Looking up, he saw Francois stumble through the trees, his face and arms bloodied. He was clutching his sword in one hand and a flintlock pistol in the other.

"It's about fucking time," Mike declared, then realized his mistake when he felt Leilani slide behind him in an effort to hide. "Aw, fuck nuts."

"Two for one," declared Captain Francois as he leveled the flintlock pistol at Mike. "Some luck at last."

Magic flooded Mike's body as he twisted to one side, guided by precognition as Francois fired his gun. Mike's magic ripped free of his body, forming into a sphere of electrical energy that attempted to push the bullet to one side. Neither his precognition nor his magic was enough, and the impact of the musket ball to his shoulder twisted him sideways and caused him to trip over the mermaid trying desperately to hide in his shadow. The air erupted with fire and lightning, but Mike saw neither as he lost his balance and plummeted over the edge of the cliff, tangled up with Leilani.

Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal, he thought to himself as pain flooded his body. His consciousness flickered as he used his good arm to unstopper Opal's bottle, and then the whole world went dark.

I read that some of you were getting tired of cliffhangers, so I made sure nobody was hanging on one for the end of this chapter! (I also may have misunderstood the assignment)

Much love to all my readers! Give yourself a nice, big hug, because you've earned it!

~Annabelle Hawthorne