Chapter 29: Hand holder

My knife was stuck neatly in the hags chest, lodged between the fingers of a hand fastened to her body. She was covered in them. They stuck to her like an armour of flesh. Her unnaturally long arms dragged across the floor as she staggered backward. Her luminously blonde hair slumped to the side, a pink hue peeking forward from underneath. 

She threw an icy glare at me and bared her teeth, slowly pulling the dagger out of her chest. The wound spewed blood onto the floor. Silent scream clattered against the floor. 

“You… Ungrateful pup…!” she wheezed and pointed at me. Her unkempt nails curled and twisted at their ends. 

I scanned the room, Yusuf busily huffed on his pipe. The others were gathered in a corner. Nea lay atop a surgical table, her arms and legs tied to it by thick strips of leather. In the corner right beside her, Samara and John slept without a care in the world. 

A bout of light-headedness struck me, I clutched the bleeding wound on my abdomen and faltered. I cursed under my breath and grabbed the rifle from my back. Now that I could see; I could shoot the hag. 

Before I had the chance to, she burst forth with a speed completely unbefitting of her age and appearance. Her hand lashed at me in a mere moment, but before it could strike me a pillar of grey smoke shot into her side. She was sent flying headfirst into the same wall she’d tossed me and Yusuf into before. 

It cracked from the impact, sending debris in every direction. She snickered. “Oh… Ohoho. I’ll take my sweet time with you… you fecking imps.” 

She stood up and straightened her back with a loud crack. The wig fell off her head, revealing a patchwork of gray hair on her scalp.  

Skitter

Around us, the floor tiles shuddered and tilted open, revealing dark pits. Bones crawled out and skittered across the floor like they had a life of their own. They moved toward the hag, one bounce at a time. 

She spread her arms and smiled. “Come, my children!”  

The bones circled her and flowed into her hands. In one hand, they formed an ivory hammer, in the other, they formed ivory nails, one for each of the gaps between her fingers. 

She flashed a wicked smile.  

I reached to the satchel to load the wand, hand clawing nothing but empty air. My eyes went wide as I scanned the room.

The fucking satchel blew off of me. How could I forget?

There, over by the operating table, it lay nestled close to one of the table legs. The shells had spilled onto the floor. 

I spared the hag a glance and gritted my teeth, using burst to dash with wild abandon. She was already bearing down on Yusuf with a series of wind shattering swings of the hammer. Each one sounded like a small explosion tearing through the air. 

I slid on my knee, and scooped up the first piece of vial ammo I got my hands on. There wasn’t much left of it now. That much was agonizingly clear now that the contents of the satchel lay strewn over the floor. 

It was a wonder that Yusuf managed to hold out, he narrowly dodged each swing by diverting the hammer with his smoke. I could see how every block took a toll on him, his face was already whitening. The hag took pleasure in his despair. Laughing like she was having the time of her life.  

The wand loaded with a satisfying click, I whistled. Yusuf’s eyes widened as he stared down the barrel of my wand. He yelped, “Shit!” and threw himself to the ground.

The hag turned just in time to see the flash of my bulled swallow her. She screamed as the cloud of flames gnawed away at her skin. 

Yusuf hurriedly clawed himself back to his feet and scurried toward me. 

Before he could get far, the hag burst through the smoke like a mad apparition. Skin running down her face like melting wax. The few tufts of grey hair had evaporated leaving only the putrid smell of burning hair. 

“He will watch over me!” she howled. 

Neither of us could do a thing to block the hammer exploding forth from the fiery cloud. 

“Gwah!” Nea grunted, a loud rip followed, and a crash. I barely turned in time to dodge the flying table as it hurled toward the hag. It diverted the hammer just as it was about to turn Yusuf’s skull into a bloody mist. 

She staggered back, splinters pattering against her skin like sharp hail. The splinters painted her face with small cuts, covering it completely when the scene settled. 

If there were two things I could take away from this it was that; one, Nea sure as shit did not have a blessing that let her control reflections, and two, I’d never call her something stupid again, lest I end up on the receiving end of her wrath. 

She burst past me with speed unlike any I could accomplish even with the use of burst. Flames of rage danced in her eyes, wild and untamed as a runaway horse. The hag didn’t have time to compose herself before they were hurtling toward the wall in a tangled ball of limbs and rage. 

I didn’t stick around to watch them slam against the wall, but by the sound of the crunch I guessed it was painful for both of them. 

I pulled the satchel from the ground rummaging through it for ammo. Completely empty. 

I scooped up a bullet from the ground and it into the wand, whipping the barrel toward the two. Nea sat atop the old woman and rained down punch after punch on her. She held the hag’s gangly arms locked beneath her knees, pressing them to the ground hard enough that it was hard to see where Nea’s legs ended and the hag’s arms began. She had it under control. Me firing wouldn’t help, not in the slightest. 

“Yusuf, you alright?” I walked sideways to him while keeping track of the ground and pound session. The old lady’s face deformed into something unrecognisable. The ground under her skull cracked and sent clouds of dust flying with every punch. The hag’s legs trembled as the rain of strikes continued, her face turning into mush. I cringed at the sight. 

Yusuf coughed and flashed a thumbs up at me while leaning against the wall. “Dolls and old ladies…” he muttered. 

The hag’s legs stilled. Her grating gasps silenced. She didn’t move, not in the slightest. 

Nea pulled the hag’s broken face to her own and screamed. “FUCK! YOU!” 

Just as she was about to let go, the hag’s eyes shot open, her broken mouth curled into a devious smile. “Tricked you,” she giggled. 

A spear of clear ivory bone screamed through the air, Nea’s eyes grew wide. She twisted to the side and narrowly avoided getting impaled, but the spear still left a nasty gash spurting blood all over the old lady. Her face contorted and twisted, skin crawling back to where it was originally, returning her face to its previous state. 

Nea toppled to the ground like a felled tree, clutching at the wound with wide eyes. She gasped for breath, but didn’t manage to form any words, only quiet whimpers of pain.

Before the hag had any time to get to her feet and finish the job, Yusuf a pillar of smoke toward her. She looked at it approaching, unperturbed. 

“Children with old tricks,” she spat and stepped to the side. The pillar slammed into the wall, making the entire room shake. 

The hands on her vest squirmed, and grasped at her, digging deep into her body. She threw her head back and moaned, “Milord, love me! Forgive me!”  

Unceremoniously, I fired. The cloud of flames enveloped her like before. This time she didn’t scream. She growled. “You dare interrupt?!” 

I loaded another bullet without wasting a beat, but before I could fire, another one of the ivory spears shot forth. Not from the pits below the floor, but from the very floor itself. It burst through the stony tiles like a flower in bloom. 

“SHI-” I shrieked as it tore through my boot.  My new boots proved once again how important the right footwear was at a battlefield. While it hurt like shit, the spear didn’t penetrate far before it came to a stop. It barely went through my sole. 

To my side I watched in a sort of gleeful horror as Yusuf suffered for his slight of not wearing sturdy shoes. His sneakers were easily penetrated by a spike, it tore through his flesh like cotton candy, and emerged on the other side in a spray of crimson. The ivory surface was completely covered. He screamed and fell to his back. 

I shook my head, Get your act together Cal. This is fucking serious. 

The ground beneath him trembled, if he didn’t move he was going to die here. 

I gritted my teeth and burst over to him, kicking the poor sod out of the way. He shot me an accusatory glance as the spikes pierced the ground where he’d just been laying, his went wide with understanding. Without missing a beat, he scrambled to his feet, and zig-zagged with a limp across the room in hopes of escaping any unwelcome surprises. 

If we let her stay on the attack we’d be done for in no time. 

The hag dashed through the wall of fire toward a dazed Nea, she wound the hammer back while using the other to throw a vicious nail. It tore through the air like a bullet.  

I aimed and fired. “Look out!” I shouted, knowing damn well that neither of them would have time to dodge in time. 

The hag may be quick enough to dodge a pillar of smoke. But a bullet? I’d like to see her try. 

And try she did try. Her body twisted like a spring, but to no use. 

She flailed her arms and screamed, skin smoking. Her face deepened into a scowl. “I tire of your games, louse! Forgive me lord, I’ll strangle him with his own fecking guts…” 

She hurtled at me like a comet, leaning forward like a sprinter. Her arm flailed with each step, sending the ivory spikes tearing through the air toward me. I realised in a split second that there was no way to dodge them all, so I gritted my teeth and twisted my body in a way that only left my shoulder and thigh exposed. 

Their impact sent me sliding to the cellar wall. It hurt, but not enough to take my mind off the plan.

Just a bit more, I mused. 

Then, just as she crossed the midway section of the room, I made the threads from my blind run turn corporeal. She noticed their blue shine a fraction of a second too late. There was no way for her to stop, dodge or cut the string in time. 

I smiled. “Gotcha.” 

Her lips parted as if to say something, but the words never graced me or my companions. In that moment, I didn’t see the monstrous old hag. I saw an old lady, more than ready to meet her maker.

Behind her, the midsection of the blue thread shone with a crimson gloss. She slowed to a halt, smiling listlessly at the wall, as her head soundlessly slid off her neck.