Song of Dragons The Complete Trilogy - By Daniel Arenson Page 0,235

marble warrior. Before her courage could desert her, she placed the second Animating Stone into the king. Kyrie planted his stone into the woman, and they stepped back.

The statues were still.

"It didn't work," Agnus Dei whispered.

"Just a moment," Kyrie whispered back. "It—"

A shrill scream, like crackling ice, rose behind them.

Agnus Dei spun around, waving her torch.

Mimics.

"Oh, stars," she said.

Kyrie was already nocking an arrow. "More like starfish. Ugly bastards."

The mimics were emerging from the ruins like spiders from under an upturned rock. They had no heads or torsos; they had only human arms, sewn together into rotting creatures like nightmarish starfish. They squealed and raced across the ruins toward her and Kyrie. There were a dozen at least.

Agnus Dei lit and fired an arrow. Kyrie fired too. The two arrows shot like comets, but the creatures moved too fast. Both arrows missed. Agnus Dei loaded another arrow, shot again. Her arrow grazed one mimic starfish, but it kept running. Kyrie's second arrow missed.

They had no time for thirds. The mimics leaped and flew toward them.

Agnus Dei swung her torch. She hit one starfish as it flew. It squealed, pulled its arms together, and fell into the snow. A second starfish jumped and wrapped around her.

Agnus Dei screamed and struggled, but the starfish pinned her arms to her sides. One arm was hairy and broad. Another was the thin arm of a young woman. She could not see the others. They squeezed her, crushing her. She dropped her torch and couldn't breathe.

"Kyrie!" she whispered. She could speak no louder. "Kyrie, help!"

She managed to turn her head. Stars floated before her eyes. She saw Kyrie lying in the snow. Four mimic starfish wrapped around him. She could see only his left foot and some of his hair. They were biting, squealing, eating him.

"Kyrie, no!" she cried, eyes burning. "Please...."

She fell to her knees. Three more mimics jumped and wrapped around her. One's mouth—they had mouths in their centers—opened before her. Its tongue licked her cheek, and its teeth came in to bite.

It screamed and pulled back.

Agnus Dei took a ragged breath, kicked, and shouted. The mimic was ripped from her body. Its fingernails scratched her, clinging to her, then were torn free.

The stone warrior stood before her, its Animating Stone pulsing in its chest. It held the mimic in marble hands, regarded it blankly, then tossed it aside.

"Get the others!" Agnus Dei shouted. Two other mimics were wrapped around her, one around her stomach, the other around her legs.

The stone warrior regarded her. Its Animating Stone glowed so brightly, it nearly blinded her. With stone fingers, it cut into the mimic around Agnus Dei's stomach. Pus, worms, and black blood spilled from it. The statue pulled it back. The mimic's fingers clung to Agnus Dei, ripping her cloak and tunic, but the statue managed to pull it free. It ripped two arms off, and blood showered. It tossed the rest aside.

Agnus Dei kicked and clawed at the starfish around her legs, and managed to free herself. Her legs were scratched and her pants shredded. She found her torch extinguished in the snow. Mimics scuttled toward her. She drew her sword and swung it. Rotting arms flew.

"Kyrie!" she cried.

The stone girl was pulling the mimics off him. He was alive, coughing in the snow, bloodied. The third statue, the stone king, was fighting mimics beside him. They wrapped around it, but it kept tearing their limbs off.

Agnus Dei kept swinging her blade. The severed arms did not die, but kept crawling through the snow toward her. Finally she managed to beat them back long enough to reignite her torch. Snarling, she began to burn them. The arms twitched, hissed, and curled up.

Finally all the mimics were torn apart, burned, and dead.

Kyrie rushed to her, blood trickling from a gash on his forearm. "You're hurt."

She nodded. Her clothes were tattered, her skin bleeding. "What are a few more scratches?"

They shared a quick embrace, splashed their wounds with spirits, and bound them. Pain filled Agnus Dei, but she ignored it. She was a warrior. She could take pain and keep fighting. Kyrie was pale, and sweat soaked his brow, but he too stood straight, ignoring his wounds. We've become like statues too, she thought. We barely feel pain anymore.

She turned to look at the statues. The three stood together, splashed with black mimic blood. They stared back, faces blank.

"We'll need more," Kyrie said, voice hoarse. Mimic blood soaked his clothes.

Agnus Dei looked at the smashed