Page 137 of Kingdom of Embers and Ruin

Dodging a low blow from adraugr’srusted axe, Maude joined Liv in her fight against the beast in front of them.

“Help Gunnar!” She called to Herrick, who had become her shadow once more. “I’ll help Liv.”

Herrick nodded, sprinting to the widest part of the path where Gunnar was facing off twodraugrat once, his pale skin beading with sweat as the effort wore him down faster than she was comfortable with. Quickly, the fight between the living and the undead began to weigh in favor of the living.

Maude turned her attention back to thedraugrin front of her and how Liv was taking a bigger bite of it than she should. She saw what Liv was going to do before she moved, and thedraugr, with his dead glare, anticipated the same thing.

Time slowed as Liv feinted a jab with her dagger and moved to swing her arm around thedraugr’sneck, axe flashing in the torchlight. At the last second, thedraugr, its moldy clothing and stark white skin bloated and peppered with barnacles snapped its arm out to snatch Liv by the throat faster than Maude could have thought possible.

Stagnant seawater dripped from its extended limb as a crustacean skittered from inside its sleeve down its side, disappearing into the tattered clothing.

Maude sprinted forward as she withdrew her weapon, sword flashing in front of her to slice through thedraugrstrangling her friend. Withone hand on its rusty rapier, thedraugrexchanged blows with Maude effortlessly as she tried to disarm the monster long enough to free Liv.

It didn’t matter how hard Maude fought against the creature; its need to defend the Caverns was clearly strengthening it.

They moved further from the group the longer Maude battled this undead prick while Liv tried to kick out her long legs to catch thedraugrunaware and make it drop her. Soon, they were far enough away that anything said would be between Maude, Liv, and the undead monster she desperately tried to slay.

With one quick slash, thedraugrslammed her blade out of her hand, forcing Maude to withdraw her bow and arrow. Without missing a beat, thedraugrhad its rusted rapier under her chin, but not before Maude had an arrow aimed right at its decomposing hand that was wrapped around Liv’s throat.

“Go ahead and kill me,” Maude said through her teeth as she glared at thedraugr. Liv kicked her legs toward Maude to get her attention, but Maude ignored her. “It’s of no consequence if I die. So kill me.”

Thedraugrstudied her, its white eyes hazy as it glanced over her. She gave it a mocking smile.

“Just know I never miss my target, and Liv will rip you apart once I’m dead,” Maude finished.

“You have no shot,” it croaked.

Maude only raised an eyebrow as she drew back her arrow further.

The creature was silent for a long moment, the commotion of their friends behind them falling away to nothing.

“There is always one that does not leave these Caverns whole,” thedraugr’seerie voice whispered, hoarse from disuse. Chills wrapped around Maude’s body at the sight of her friend suspended in the air by the creatureas panic’s limbs constricted around her heart. “Or at all. Who shall it be tonight? The nomad who holds revenge in her heart?”

Its milky eyes dragged over Liv’s form before it continued, eyeing their friends next.

“The inflamed Heir that is shrouded in darkness?” Its eyes shifted to Maude. “The grounded dreamer who becomes more enchanted with Hela’s blossom each passing day? The brother’s driven further from salvation with each day spent surrounded by rage?”

Maude bared her teeth at the creature as its empty gaze shifted from person to person. “Or should it be the fair-haired maiden who has no real place in this world?”

Liv thrashed in the grip of thedraugr, her dark skin growing purple and then ashen as the creature kept its grip tight around Liv’s windpipe. She was running out of time.

A heaviness settled on Maude at its words, the same feeling as when she had run from her fate and her home all those years ago. She couldn’t let any of them die. The resolution settled in her like a stone sinking to the bottom of a raging river.

If someone was not going to make it out of these Caverns, it was going to be Maude, not the people who had been strong and brave against the tyranny of a crooked kingdom.

The tunnels were silenced as her decision lifted a heavy weight from her shoulders, lightening her step as a plan formed in her mind. Warmth trickled down her spine as the torches flared around them, a presence wrapping itself around her as Maude stood to her full height.

The rusted rapier sliced into the delicate skin at the base of her throat as she drew back on her bow, her eyes never leaving the undead creature’s milky gaze.

“We are all leaving these caves.Alive,” Maude said as she shot forward, forcing thedraugrto pull his sword back in surprise.

The arrow Maude had been aiming at thedraugr’swrist shot forward, slicing through waterlogged dead flesh and tendons, forcing the creature’s grip on Liv to slacken. Seeing her window of opportunity, Maude extended her hand before she snapped her palm shut and yanked her closed fist back to her, the ropes of wind from hergaldertightening around Liv’s flailing form and yanking her from the dead creature's loosened grasp.

Just as Liv managed to land on her feet, chest heaving with the air her lungs had been deprived of, another shrill scream sounded around them all. Maude saw Eydis moving slower than before in her periphery, the jerking movements of her body signaling that something was wrong.

Thedraugrin front of Maude chuckled once before Liv stood and separated its head from its neck with her axe, silencing it forever.

Maude took off toward their gentle friend, Liv close behind her. Blood was flowing alarmingly fast down Eydis’s left arm, and it was hanging limply at her side while she tried to swing her staff with her other arm. Her already pale face was turning gray.

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