Song of Dragons The Complete Trilogy - By Daniel Arenson Page 0,253

of the undead. The statues were pouring into the mine behind her, and their stone hands tore mimics apart.

Three mimics raced toward her, only three feet tall. Gloriae grimaced. Were they children or dwarves? She could not tell; their heads were too rotten. They lashed at her with daggers. Gloriae parried and swung her weapons. Soon they lay dead around her, oozing pus. She stared down at them. If they were children, well... I've killed children before.

It only took moments. Gloriae slew two more mimics, these ones with the heads of horses, and it was over. The mimics all lay torn across the mine. Their limbs, torsos, and heads still twitched and crawled. The statues moved across the crater, stomping the mimic parts and grinding them.

"Is that all?" Agnus Dei said and laughed. She kicked aside a crawling arm. "Is that all Irae's got?"

Gloriae stared around, eyes narrowed. This was too easy.

"All right!" Kyrie said. He began walking toward the shaft. "Into the mine. Let's kill whatever creatures crawl down there and be done with."

No, Gloriae thought. No, this is wrong. She knew Dies Irae. He would not leave this place so vulnerable. This had to be a trap, or—

A grumble sounded below.

The crater trembled.

Kyrie paused outside the shaft. He took a step back and raised his weapons. Gloriae clutched her sword and snarled.

"Here we go," she whispered. "Whatever terror Irae prepared for us... it's waking up."

A stench rose from the mine, worse even than the dead mimics across the crater.

"Come near me," Lacrimosa said, voice strangely calm. She raised Stella Lumen, her sword of Requiem steel and diamonds. "Let us stand together."

The crater trembled. The strewn mimic arms began to crawl toward the trees, as if fleeing what evil lurked below.

Gloriae moved to stand at her mother's left. Agnus Dei and Kyrie moved to her right. The queen of Requiem held her sword before her, and its blade glimmered.

Gloriae raised her own sword, Per Ignem, a blade of northern steel and gold. "I fight beside you, Lacrimosa, Queen of Requiem."

Agnus Dei and Kyrie had no ancient, legendary blades. Theirs were common swords found in abandoned castles, their steel unadorned, their grips simple leather. Kyrie had named his "Irae's Fate", and Agnus Dei had dubbed hers "Pup Killer" after an argument with Kyrie. Common swords, but as the two raised them, they shone with just as much light.

"For Requiem," Kyrie said.

"For Father," whispered Agnus Dei.

A howl rose from the mine.

Cracks ran along the crater. Burned trees snapped and fell. Red light beamed out of the shaft. Thousands of cockroaches fled from it and scurried across the crater. Thunder boomed and lightning rent the night.

A shadow rose from the shaft.

Gloriae gasped. Her legs shook. She panted and growled and hissed. Beside her, she heard the others curse.

"What the stars is it?" Agnus Dei asked, disgust twisting her words.

"Irae's insanity," Gloriae answered softly. "And all his malice."

The creature unfurled before them, and Gloriae screamed.

KYRIE ELEISON

"Stay near me, kitten," he whispered. "I'll look after you."

Beside him, Agnus Dei clutched her sword and torch. "Pup, focus less on protecting me, and more on killing that thing. All right?"

Grimacing, he watched the creature unfold itself, rise to its feet, and roar to the heavens.

"Deal," he said.

The creature from the mine stood twenty feet tall, maybe thirty. It was a mimic, but unlike the others. It seemed stitched together from gobbets of flesh. Its limbs were huge, ten feet long, wide as barrels. They were made of many smaller limbs braided together. Its muscles were woven of human legs and arms bundled into strands of oozing flesh. Its torso was stitched together from a dozen rolled up bodies; Kyrie saw three faces peering from its stomach like fetuses trying to emerge from a womb. A helmet the size of a barrel covered the mimic's head. Kyrie was grateful; he did not want to see its face.

For a moment, the world was silent. The mimic giant stood before them, watching them.

Then Lacrimosa's voice pierced the night.

"Burn it."

Kyrie nocked a flaming arrow and fired.

It slammed into the mimic's chest, and it roared. Bricks rolled and the earth shook. The other Vir Requis shot arrows too. They slammed into the mimic, and it screamed and pulled the arrows out.

"Statues of Requiem!" Lacrimosa called. "Bring it down."

The statues raced toward the undead giant. Howling, it swiped its arms, and statues flew. Kyrie cursed and leaped aside. A statue flew over his head, a missile of chipped stone. He glanced behind