Page 32 of Ransomed to the World
That’s when she noticed the entire cavern was a massive graveyard.
Chapter Nine
Bones of every shape and size were scattered everywhere, some of them even full skeletons. It looked like they just lay down and never got up again.
Until she looked closer.
Bones were shattered, skulls cracked open like eggs.
They died in battle.
Fuck.
They were the ones who opted to locate the gem instead of fight…and died before they could claim their prize.
Meantime, the beetles continued to crawl over each other like a black tide spilling toward her. Annora grabbed a rib bone that lay close by, the damned thing nearly the size of her forearm, and tossed it to the opposite side of the room.
The beetles swerved and immediately followed it like a dog sent to retrieve. She carefully got to her feet and followed the trail of bugs, struggling not to gag when a few of the monster beetles crunched under her boot.
The taint of death clung to the air, becoming stronger with her every step. In the corner, she spotted a large troll resting half upright, his head turned away. His torso was bare, his skin a mottled combination of gray and black as mold twisted up his chest. A gleam of bones stuck out from what was left of his legs, the flesh putrefying into a spongy liquid.
The beetles must have sensed a meal and turned in his direction.
Before they even reached him, his gut expanded alarmingly, something moving up from his stomach to his chest. His throat stretched and bulged disturbingly. She couldn’t tear her eyes away as his mouth parted and hundreds of spiders crawled out of his mouth and nose. Only the spiders were pale, nearly white, and fucking fast. Their legs were extra-long, bending at weird angles, like they had additional joints in them as they crawled over each other.
Until they began to fucking jump forward damned near a foot.
She nearly tripped over the stupid bones at her feet before she realized she was backing away in horror. It took all her willpower to stand her ground.
She would not lose Mason over some fucking nasty bugs.
Some of the spiders attacked the beetles that approached. The hard shells protected some of them, but the spiders must have been poisonous, because a few of the beetles gave a shriek of pain and curled up. The spiders didn’t waste a second and hungrily fed from them before they even quit twitching.
Unfortunately, the majority of the creepy crawlies scaled the fucking walls like damned monkeys and hunkered down along the ceiling.
She shivered, disliking that they were up there and out of her sight.
She was so distracted, she barely noticed the beetles crawl up the troll’s corpse and burrow into his flesh.
That’s when she realized it wasn’t all mold.
Hundreds of coffin flies scattered, their agitation a drone in the air. Her skin crawled as she imagined them swarming over her body. Another look around the cavern showed there were at least three more bodies in varying degrees of decay.
It was a killing pit.
She backed away when a movement at the corner of her eye had her whirling. The blow that would’ve crushed her skull fractured her injured shoulder instead, and the bones splintered on impact.
Annora staggered, only years of taking a beating kept her on her feet.
She turned to face the threat, expecting to see Mason…only to find—
“Flora…I should’ve guessed. Did your queen order my death?” But something about what she said didn’t ring true. As she glanced around at the dead bodies piled up around them, understanding clicked. “No, you’ve been sneaking in here and killing the ones who opted not to fight, keeping the stones for yourself, haven’t you? Why?”
Knowing she needed all her wits to get out of this alive, Annora grabbed her shoulder and held it in place while drawing on the particles in the afterworld. A misty, dark fog crept across the cavern, inching its way toward her until the horror across the ground was completely covered. The clicking of the beetles stopped, and even the spiders stilled and hunkered down as if to watch the darkness.
Flora gave a snide laugh. “You’re just as dumb as her.”
Annora inched backwards, bones and bugs crunching under her feet, and realized the bitch must be crazy. “What do you mean?”
