“What the fuck was that, what the fuck was that, what the fuck was that, what the FUCK was that?” Chloe stammered asked as she watched the smoldering worm.

“Is it dead?” Rosaendra spoke through her mouth as she held her head up to stop the blood from flowing from her shattered nose.

“I sure hope so. Ah, fuck.”

The worm struck out with one of its burning tendrils and tried to wrap around Chloe’s ankle. Chloe stumbled back. The tendril around her ankle tore off the main body before it turned to cinders with the rest of the worm. As the creature turned to ash a howling scream pierced through the deck. Both Chloe and Rosaendra froze, and the blood that dribbled down her nose felt as cold as ice.

“What was that.”

“Something that probably knows we’re here,” Rosaendra answered.

“Do you think it might have the talisman?”

“Maybe. If I were given charge to protect something, I’d keep it close, wouldn’t you?”

Chloe whimpered as another rage-filled, pain-filled scream tore through the hull.

“Do we have to do this? Can’t we just escape through the door?”

Rosaendra shook her head. The blood had finally stopped flowing.

“Nope. Won’t open until we finish.”

She took a long, shuddering breath, and exhaled; still clutching her midsection where the undead birdman's talon had pierced.

"Chloe, come here for a second." Rosaendra motioned for the other woman to come closer.

Chloe stepped forward, and when she was within arm's reach Rosaendra gave another order.

"Lift up your armor and your shirt."

"W-w-what, why?"

"One of the aspects that Hecate gave my blood was the ability to heal others. I'm going to try it on you."

"Why didn't you do it on yourself when you were injured."

"It doesn't work on myself. Unfortunately."

Chloe glances away as the hoisted up her shirt and segmented coat of plates. Red blood poured out of a small puncture wound right below her diaphragm and stained the pale skin of her navel. It wasn't a very deep wound, but the blood that flowed from it was heavy and dark red. Rosaendra grabbed hold of her nose and let the bright red blood flowing from it stain her hand. After that she smeared it over the puncture wound. Chloe hissed.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Heal. Heal. Heal. Heal. Rosaendra commanded the blood. She felt for the connection between her and it, and felt as if that small, invisible thread had taken on a luminous quality. Little by little, the wound knitted itself closed. When the blood had fully integrated into her body, she smeared another fresh handful. It took ten minutes and three bloody handprints to fully close the wound.

"Is it done?" Chloe asked.

"Yes."

Chloe lowered her shirt and coat of plates, and steadied herself with a few shaking breaths.

"Ah, fuck." Chloe slammed her fists into her shaking legs and held gripped her sword until her knuckles whitened. "Let's go...let's go. Before the fear drives me crazy."

Chloe

Rosaendra followed after the shaking woman close behind. The sound of shambling movement emerged from the fifth floor down; to the very bottom of the hull of the great floating city where the screaming and the undead Birdman had emerged. The stink stung their eyes as they climbed down, and stepped over the body of the birdman at the bottom of the flight of stairs from the third floor to the fourth floor. Black, oily blood oozed out and dripped between the deadwood floorboards.

As they descended the stairs to the fifth floor, a thick red miasma rose up to meet them. It held the sickly sweet scent of meat that had been left rotting in the heat of the sun. They stopped when they reached the bottom of the stairwell. Within the mists, at the far end of the room, was a silhouette.

“Is...is that a human?” Chloe whispered as she took another breath through her mouth to avoid smelling the stink.

“I don’t know,” Rosaendra said. Her breath baited.

Indeed, it did look like a woman in a long, flowing ballgown that swept across the ground as she spun in place. Three figures squirmed on the ground next to her, and another lay perfectly still as she danced her solo waltz within the thick red fog. The miasma grew all the thicker at her movements. The woman began to speak in a language that made Chloe viscerally ill. As if they were the last words spoken of a drowning man.

Through this incense, of burning blood and the offal of my enemies, I offer to thou, oh Queen of those that Writhe in the Deep — oh Parasite Queen, find this scent pleasing, and lend me your Young, so I might give to them a host.

The creature pinched its fingers as if it were pulling on a piece of yarn. Through the thick fog, she pulled something long and squirming from the air. She spun around with it in her arms, and it coiled around her like the silk scarf of a dancer.

As her spin neared the figure that lay still on the ground, she extended her hand out, and the worm slithered out of her hands and into the mouth of the dead Birdman. Soon, the corpse was kicking and moving like the others.

“Let’s hurry up and kill it,” Chloe spoke.

The sound of her voice drifted through the thinning red miasma and alerted the fishwoman. A bone-rattling scream emitted from its gills. A scream that froze both of the women where they stood. Rosaendra tried to push herself forward, and Chloe tried to flee back up the stairs, but neither of them could move a muscle as if something held them in place there against their will.

The three birdmen that had been writhing on the ground stood up straight from the ground; without bending or straining any of their joints. They bent at the waist, and picked up their dropped weapons; one a saber, another a mace, and still another a two-handed sword, all made of the same metal that the other birdman wore as armor.

They shambled forward; driven by the fishwoman's invisible commands, and her extended, webbed hand.