The Devil in Green (77 page)

Nobody answered. After a while, Gardener said, 'We take the right-
hand path.'

'It's as good as any, I suppose,' Mallory said.

Hipgrave's earlier confidence had faded with his inability to choose the
correct path. His eyes continually darted around and he had taken to
rubbing his palms together anxiously. The others turned to Mallory.

'Let's go,' he said.

The right-hand stairway spiralled downwards steeply. They had to go
slowly, for Hipgrave's lamp kept disappearing around a turn, plunging the
rest of them into darkness. Water dripped incessantly from the stone
above them, and the air was dank and cold.

When they reached the bottom, Mallory drew his sword. The others
followed suit as they moved along a short passage to a doorway. Beyond it,
the room glowed white in the lamplight.

'What's that?' Miller's voice was filled with dread.

Gardener peered past him. 'Old bones.'

It was the ossuary. Mallory felt they would have ended up there
whichever path they had taken. Hipgrave hovered on the threshold,
seemingly afraid of entering.

'There used to be a graveyard around the cathedral,' Gardener said.
'They flattened it when they landscaped the grounds.'

'I don't want to go in there,' Miller said.

'Well, you can always go back. On your own.' Mallory pushed past
Hipgrave and entered. As the lamp rocked it sent shadows of skulls and
protruding bones dancing across the walls.

The remains were heaped against opposite walls, leaving a path between
them. Hipgrave had grown sullen-faced and quiet, so Mallory took the
lamp from him and led the way. A clatter came from the rear: Gardener
had kicked away a thigh bone. 'I keep bloody catching myself on them,' he
said.

Mallory progressed slowly; occasionally an icy breeze would bring
grunts or moans from the tunnel ahead. Off to his right, he glimpsed
something glittering green amongst the bones before losing sight of it
again. Behind him, Gardener cursed; another clatter.

'Go slow,' Daniels cautioned unnecessarily.

The lamp swung; the green glittered again. 'What
is
that?' Mallory said.

'What?' Miller said anxiously. 'What? I can't see anything!'

'Calm down,' Daniels snapped; nerves were fraying.

Gardener had dropped back further, swearing profusely under his
breath. The green was so incongruous amid the yellowing bones that
Mallory was intrigued. He drew to a halt and began to search amongst the
pile to see what it was.

'Don't waste time with that,' Daniels said.

Hipgrave had started to make a strange noise in his throat that sounded
like the mewling of a kitten. 'For God's sake shut him up,' Mallory
whispered with irritation.

The green light glowed again as the illumination from the lamp struck it.
Mallory leaned forwards over the bones to get a better look, careful not to
touch the precarious pile for fear of bringing it crashing down.

A pair of green eyes stared back.

Recoiling in shock, Mallory brought his sword up sharply, but the bones
were already erupting in front of him as the concealed figure thrust its
way out. He smelled loam, saw the black of a clerical outfit and then the
grasping hands clawing towards his face blocked most of his vision. The
lamp went flying, crashing on to its side, still alight.

Across the piles on both sides, more figures emerged, grotesque spectres
throwing larger shadows that swooped and struck like crows. Bones
showered all around. Mallory recognised the ghostly things they had
glimpsed in the wine cellar, now given unpleasant substance.

Gardener's muttered curses turned to an exclamation of horror as bony
fingers grasped his ankles tightly. Some of the other bones - the ones that
still had some skeletal shape
-
were moving with a life of their own. They
dragged themselves out on splintered metatarsals, sending shanks and
ribs cascading, jaws sagging, skulls lolling.

Mallory tried to throw the thing off him, but its strength far exceeded its
frame as it tried to force stinking rough-paper fingers into his mouth.
Somewhere Miller was squealing like a baby. Sparks showered through the
dark as Gardener's sword crashed against the flagstones in an attempt to
chop up the bony limbs gripping his feet. Whether by luck or skill, only
Hipgrave had escaped. Lithely, he vaulted one of the attacking figures,
then dropped low and scurried out of the far door. As he passed, Mallory
glimpsed a face transformed by the flickering light into something almost
bestial, eyes glinting with a primal determination.

Only Mallory's sword had any effect on the revenants. They shied from
the blade's sapphire glow until they could find another path of attack, but
they didn't relent. Mallory was forced to move back and forth, defending
both himself and Daniels. Beyond, Miller was already down with three of
the things forcing their fingers into his mouth; it looked as if they were trying
to tear off his jaw. Rigid with fear, his eyes were wide and tear-streaked.

Mallory attempted to get to him, but before he could make contact with
any of the attackers something crashed into his waist, knocking him to the
ground. The breath was smashed from his lungs, purple flashes bursting
behind his eyes as the weight of one or more of the things crushed him
down.

When his vision cleared, Miller's mouth was ripped open as wide as it
would go; Mallory heard the cracking of his jaw.
A
cowled, skull-like head
hung barely an inch from Miller's lips as if it were ready to kiss him. And
then it did press forwards, not kissing, but forcing itself into his mouth.

Mallory at first tried to convince himself it was some bizarre optical
illusion - the head was so big, Miller's mouth so small - but somehow the
thing's face was disappearing between Miller's teeth. Mallory felt a
sickening sense of failure when his friend's terrified eyes flickered towards
him, pleading desperately, as if Mallory were the only person who could
ever
save him.

While Daniels and Gardener fought their own batdes, he could only
watch as the revenant rolled on to its back while somehow keeping its head
pointing in the same direction. It was eerie and sickening at the same time.
And then it gradually melted into Miller's body until it was he, and he it,
the features a bizarre hybrid of the two.

At that moment, the other things stopped fighting and quietly retreated
to the edges of the ossuary; the dead bones clattered to the floor, their newfound life lost.

Mallory pushed himself to his feet and advanced on Miller with Daniels
and Gardener close behind, but the thing and Miller had merged
seamlessly.

'It's possessed him.' Gardener's voice was an awed whisper filled with
religious dread.

'Why have the others backed off?' Daniels looked around nervously.

'Hear me
!' A voice boomed out across the ossuary, so unfeasibly loud
and distorted that it took Mallory a while to realise it was coming from
Miller's mouth.