If I can only grab the blade.... She reached, caught Umbra's wrist, and twisted. Umbra screamed and punched. The blow slammed into Agnus Dei's cheek. White light flooded her. She kicked blindly. Gloriae screamed.
"Stop this!"
Dies Irae's voice filled the hut. Agnus Dei blinked and saw him standing above the fray, glaring.
"Mimics," he said, "grab the twins."
Agnus Dei tried to fight them. She kicked and punched and even bit a mimic's maggoty flesh, but only fire could hurt them. Soon she kicked and squirmed in one's grasp. A second mimic held onto Gloriae, its hand covering her mouth.
"Face me like a man, Irae!" Agnus Dei screamed. "You and me. Or are you a coward?"
He laughed, though there was no joy to it; it was a cold laughter, a cruel laughter that made Agnus Dei shiver.
"Dear Agnus Dei," he said. "Feisty as ever. Beastly as ever. You will go first. Mimics, bring her to the block."
Gloriae screamed into the hand that gagged her. Agnus Dei growled and kicked, but could not free herself. The mimic holding her began carrying her to the doorway. She screamed, struggled, and kicked the air. The mimic's grip was iron.
"Gloriae!" she cried, eyes burning. "Gloriae!"
Her chin bloody, Umbra laughed. "Your sister can't save you now. She'll go next." She spat onto Agnus Dei. "Scream louder. I want to hear it."
Dies Irae left the hut, and the mimic carried Agnus Dei after him. Umbra followed, laughing, spinning her dagger in her hand.
Stay strong, Agnus Dei told herself. Stay strong. Stars, whatever happens, stay strong. For Kyrie. For Mother. For Gloriae.
She saw the block ahead.
She felt the blood leave her face. Ice seemed to wash her belly, and she trembled.
"Stars, no...."
It was made of wood. Oak, she thought. Blood stained it. The block rose from the snow between the huts, iron rings embedded into it.
"Chain her down."
Agnus Dei kicked. For an instant, she thought she could break free. But two more mimics grabbed her. They forced her to her knees before the block.
"Irae!" she screamed. "I'll kill you! Fight me! Fight me, I dare you."
Umbra laughed again, grabbed Agnus Dei's hair, and pulled her head down. The block was cold and smooth against her cheek.
"Oh yes, you are a loud one," Umbra whispered, her cold lips brushing against Agnus Dei's ear. "I'm going to enjoy watching this. I bet you'll squeal like a pig."
The mimics surrounded her. Manacles were placed around her wrists. More chains bound her legs.
"Gloriae!" Agnus Dei screamed, eyes burning, throat aching, belly roiling. Tears sprang into her eyes.
Umbra grabbed her wrist. She pulled Agnus Dei's arm across the block and chained it down. Stars, no, please, Agnus Dei prayed. Please. Stars, no....
She heard the hiss of a sword being drawn.
"Mother," Agnus Dei whispered. "Mother, please...."
Through burning eyes, she saw Dies Irae walk toward her, holding a drawn sword. His face was blank. His eye looked dead. His face was pale, a white mask. There is no humanity left.
He raised his sword.
"Mother!" Agnus Dei cried, tears in her eyes.
The blade swung down.
Pain.
Blood.
She screamed.
Stars. It's gone. It's gone. My hand is gone. How could it be gone? Mother, please....
Umbra laughed.
Agnus Dei wept.
Dies Irae turned and walked away. Blood stained the snow, and distant trees creaked under a mournful wind.
KYRIE ELEISON
He crawled up the snowy hill, teeth chattering, clothes icy. Snow filled his mouth and clung to his stubble. At the hilltop, he lay on his belly behind a fallen tree. He parted the tree's branches and gazed into the valley below. He felt the blood leave his face. He turned his head.
"Lacrimosa!" he whispered down the hillside. "Come quick."
She nodded and crawled up beside him. She stared into the valley too, and her lips trembled.
"Stars," she whispered.
The camp sprawled across the valley below. A ditch and a wall of sharpened logs defended it. Beyond the palisade, blood stained crude huts. Every few moments, mimics would drag a prisoner from a hut, chain him against a butcher's block, and swing a sword. The severed body parts were sorted into bloody hills. Kyrie saw one pile of legs, another of arms and hands, a third of heads. The hills rose twenty feet tall. Some body parts—those deemed too frail, it seemed—were burned in ditches.
Kyrie had seen enough.
"We have to save them," he said, voice strained. "We can't wait a moment longer."
What if Dies Irae dismembered Agnus Dei and Gloriae while he hid here, watching helplessly? Kyrie stood up and made to run downhill.
"Wait, Kyrie!" Lacrimosa said. She grabbed his