The arrow had been the starting signal, and with a clatter of bones from one side and a bellowed challenge from the other, battle was joined. Most of the skeletons began to run forwards, leaving some archers behind. Talani and Reg also sprinted forward to join the melee, axe and sword swinging. Reg was there first, and with a cry delivered a perfect thrust to the chest of the nearest skeleton, exactly where the heart… would have been. “Well that’s hardly fair, is it” he bemoaned, aiming for insouciance but hitting a note of panic as it swung back with a sword, forcing him to backpedal rapidly.

“Try this instead!” came the bellowing voice of Talani from his right. Reg watched as the massive axe swung through the air, cleaving a head neatly off the neck of another skeleton. Rather than fall down obligingly though, the damn thing stayed upright. Once again one of their number was forced onto the defensive, and Talani began to find himself getting slowly encircled by skeletons. None were even up to his shoulders in height, but they were displaying remarkable tenacity. He began sweeping his axe recklessly, parting skeletons left and right, but they were just knitting themselves back together, much to all of their dismay.

Mersingmergr was up at the front as well, looking as confused as anything else. The ‘front line’, such as it was, was porous at best, and falling back as they tried to maintain cohesion. An individual skeleton could be stopped with relative ease, but six or seven each were a different matter. Mersingmergr was trying to a few in place with its antlers, but it felt like a drop in the ocean.

Flashes of light lit the room up further, as Gialli, Alf, Tove, and Teclis all joined in one way or another. A glowing arrow from Gialli whistled between Reg and Talani, smashing through the spine of a skeleton in a way that caused it to fall apart comically, and permanently. Bolts of light streaked from Alf and Tove. The first were a bright, incandescent yellow, easily mimicking the light of the sun. The second were closer to white, but which pulsed and flared, shot through with blue as well. One soared off into the darkness, but the other found its mark, turning the chest of one skeleton to dust. As they watched, the remaining energies of the magic spread through the bones, almost melting them. A sword clanged to the floor, and a lifeless skull was all that remained.

Reg gave a whoop of satisfaction as he watched one collapse. Getting the gist, he muttered a string of arcane words, and thrust a hand wreathed in flame towards the nearest skeleton. That one disintegrated obligingly as well, but before he could repeat his success, a sword slashed towards him. He parried it with his own, but another skeletal soldier kept him on the defensive. Pressed in from a number of sides, he twirled, dodged and deflected madly. He was keeping himself alive for now, but with no space to go on the offensive.

Talani was having similar problems. Up close, he could not bring his axe to bear properly, and the scraping of phantom swords across the little armour he wore was paying dividends for the skeletons. An arrow lodged itself in his bicep, and he grunted in pain. Taking a hand off his weapon, he snapped the shaft, trusting Tove to see to the rest later. With his free hand, he grabbed the skull of the nearest skeleton, and smashed it into another. Both collapsed, but began knitting back together in the form of a ghoulish, four-armed abomination. He could not stem the tide of numbers in front of him, and they were starting to get between him and Reg, and towards the others at the back.

Teclis, Tove, Gialli, and Alf were all still blazing away to varying degrees of success. By now most of their shots were being fired at point blank. Skeletons were going down, but they were only slowing them, not stopping them. They heard another grunt from up ahead as a large gash was opened up in Talani’s side. Reg was visibly sweating, and not unscathed either, whilst Mergsingmergr was also looking increasingly battered, large scratches and dents appearing in its flanks.

Tove darted forwards, planting a hand on Talani and closing her eyes. In an instant, healing magic flowed from her, and the wound flowing on his side closed up. That moment had cost them though, and the decline in firepower had let more skeletons through. There was a cry as an errant arrow caught Gialli’s left arm, forcing him to drop his bow. He drew a long seax from his waist instead and moved up next to Mersingmergr, but it was clear that this was not ideal.

A sword arm snaked around Talani, lunging for Tove. He swatted it away from her as best he could, but it still gouged her cheek, and blood began to trickle from it. Almost unconsciously, Talani began trying to shepherd her behind himself properly, bodily intercepting each arrow or slash aimed at her. He was kept upright by his own sheer force of will, and a steady, but not unlimited flow of healing magic coming from Tove.

“I can’t keep this up!” Reg cried from across the room. He was entirely surrounded now, only visible as a tongue of flame in a sea of bones. That fire flared occasionally, immolating another skeleton, but each one was replaced, stymying his attempts to regain the initiative. “Neither can I!”. Now it was Gialli’s turn. He too was in the melee, keeping one side of himself guarded by staying close to Mersingmergr. This only really meant they would soon become encircled together, rather than apart. His magical bow had been a great aid, but was now lying forlornly on the floor, needing both arms to use, and one of his was out of commission.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Teclis was still flinging magic, but his customary bolts of magical force were only occasionally effective, when they struck the skull outright, and shattered it. Such shots were difficult at the best of times, and this was not the best of times. Talani had a flash of inspiriation. “Alf” he yelled “throw me your mace!”

“Why?!” came the reply.

“Just do it!”

No arguing with that logic, thought Alf. In a relatively quick motion, he grabbed and unsheathed his mace, and then half tossed and half hurled his mace to Talani. Talani dropped his axe and snatched the mace from the air. A mace sized for a dwarf in the hands of a half-giant looked frankly comical, but it’s not the size that matters, it’s how you use it.

With the free hand he now had, Talani grabbed the collarbone of a nearby skeleton, but instead of tossing it aside, brough Alf’s mace down on the skull. The crushing implement swung with that amount of force made short work of it. The skull shattered, and whatever held the rest of the skeleton upright failed, and it fell back to unmoving bones.

Talani was not given to displays of emotion, but even he could not repress a chuckle at this, macabre as it was. It had always been a case of aiming for the heads, but now with an implement designed for crushing, the results could finally stick. For reasons none of them could discern, whatever was causing these bones to rise and have form was attached to the skull. A fact that Talani was now making use of. It was a repetitive process; using one hand to hold the skeletons in place, and the other to crush them.

The effectiveness of it made it no less dangerous. The skeletons were determined not to grabbed, and using this process made him more vulnerable than ever. The number of arrow and sword wounds on his body began to pile up at an alarming rate, and the amount of blood he’d already lost was slowing him down. Each skeleton became that bit more slippery, that bit harder to hold on to, and that bit more prepared for his tactics. Still, it was working in some ways. The number of skeletons that had been pushing in on the others began slowly reducing as they turned to face the new threat.

Freed up slightly, Reg was making full use of his own magic, and some of his swagger had returned. It was clear he had been on the verge of collapse, and a mixture of dust, sweat, and blood coated him, but his eyes were now as bright as ever, reflecting the fire he held. Bolts shot out, and impossibly hot flames set bone alight, charring and popping them like logs on the hearth.

Gialli’s mind was working feverishly. He was not strong enough to crush bone, but that hardly meant he was out of options. Instead, he operated in brutal tandem with Mersingmergr. Using the antlers to hold a skeleton in place, the head could be severed easily enough, and the skull placed beneath the hooves of the solid metal construction. It was slow, dangerous, difficult, and inefficient, but it was working.

By the time they had worked their way down to the final few skeletons, Talani was moving at all the speed of honey. His body was a patchwork of cuts, punctured throughout with arrows. The magic of Tove had run dry, and he was operating only on whatever reserves he somehow possessed. To most of them it honestly seemed that the only thing keeping him from passing out due to blood loss was stubbornness.

Those reserves though were not inexhaustible either. With a resounding thud, Talani fell to his knees, bringing a skeleton down with him, and crushing it too with a swing of the mace. The light from his discarded axe showed a body coated in blood, both dried and flowing. He was breathing heavily, each breath ragged and raw.

It had been enough though. The skeleton that raised its sword arm to try and deliver a final blow never brought that arm back down, as a searing bolt of light from Alf blew it to dust. He shook out his hand as if dispelling heat, and gave a disappointed look. It was clear he had no more magic of his own to give for now.

Luckily he was spared from needing more. A combination of brute force from those still standing and what little magic they also had left was enough to shatter the few remaining skulls, and the skeletons attached the them fell back to lifeless bone. The chamber was silent now, save for the six of them breathing hard, and the occasional dripping noise of another drop of blood falling on to the stone.

“Well done big man”. Reg broke the silence. “Thought we were in trouble there for a moment”.

“Someone pass me my axe” came the response. There was a sound of scraping metal as the heavily damaged Mersingmergr stumbled across the room, and then shunted the axe along the floor towards him. Alf also wandered over and retrieved his mace.

“I’ll have to get to work on that” said Gialli, making a visual inspection of the damage sustained.

“It’s still bloody weird” said Alf.

Gialli bristled. “I think you’ll find, Father, that it just saved our lives”

“I’d say Talani saved our lives” Alf replied.

“And I’d say Tove saved them” panted Talani.

“Well hooray for teamwork” came the voice of Reg. He had lain down entirely, staring up at the ceiling and not caring at all for the bone dust now sticking to him. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to lie down for the next year or so”.

“We still have to figure out what’s behind these doors you know” interjected Teclis. “That’s not going to be the only challenge”.

“Just let me have this”.

Tove came in as the voice of reason. “We’ll get to the doors, but for now we all need to rest”. Even as she said this, there was a sound of straining, and Talani levered himself back to his feet, pushing off his axe. She turned to him. “You too”. Her voice was matronly, and there was an unspoken challenge between the two as they locked eyes. Talani relented, wordlessly sinking back down, and she went and sat next to him. “I want everyone back on their feet in an hour” she instructed. “Yes mum” replied Reg. “Whatever you say”.

“Talani. Go hit him”. Talani began to lumber upright again, and Reg’s eyes snapped open, going wide.

“OkayWaitI’mSorry” he babbled. Tove just put a hand on Talani, smirking at Reg as the huge form settled back to rest.

Her voice was remarkably chipper now. “Have a good rest everyone, we’ve got a lot of work to do soon!”