A man screamed as he knelt on the stone floor, a growing pool of blood beneath him and his hands grabbing at his intestines as he tried to pull them back into the gaping wound in his stomach. My ears rang as Nimble fired her flintlock mere inches from my head, the sound repeated as the Captain fired both of his.

The creature’s road echoed from the chamber, a sound full of pain and rage, an ancient fury that filled it. Blood burst from its shoulder as a lead ball struck true and its powerful muscles bunched as it leapt a solid twelve feet from its standing position to crash into the man who had fired the shot.

Claws the size of my hand tore through the steel breastplate as though it were cloth and he screamed as fangs as long as a man’s finger sank deep into his neck. The creature lifted its head, holding the man in its jaws as if he weighed nothing and it shook him aggressively.

His neck snapped and the creature dropped him, spinning towards the soldiers rushing it with swords drawn. I put a hand on Nimble’s arm as Gentle rushed forward, his heavy double-headed hammer raised high above him.

She cocked a brow at me and I jerked my head towards the open doors. A sly grin crossed her face, so quick that if I had blinked I’d have missed it and she set off with me towards the open tomb.

Snarling and growling followed us in, and we paused at the entrance as I peered into the darkness. My left arm was useless but my right was well enough that I could perform the subtly intricate gestures I needed.

A ball of light the size of a pommel stone appeared above my shoulder. It bobbed in the air, fizzing and popping as the bright white light illuminate the area around me.

I almost wished it didn’t.

Bones filled the space, stacked almost neatly together. Large and small, they bore the marks of teeth that had been used to tear flesh from them. From floor to ceiling, they covered nearly every part of the floor and they cracked and crunched beneath my feet as I walked slowly ahead.

“Be quick, Grim,” Nimble muttered glancing over her shoulder as she quickly reloaded her pistol. “Either the Captain wins or that beast does. Not sure which would be worse for us.”

No argument there. I covered my mouth and nose with a handkerchief and tried to ignore the sour stench of dust and decay. Deeper into the tomb we went, the bare stone walls, where visible, bore deep gouges as though something had tried to dig its way through the solid stone.

A short distance from the entrance, the tunnel turned and opened up into a wider chamber. All across the floor were the skulls that had belonged to the bones that filled the entranceway. A carpet of bone, those empty eye sockets all staring straight at me.

I swallowed hard and gestured with a flick of my fingers. The light left my shoulder and crossed to the centre of the chamber, the luminescence growing until the light touched the walls. I stared around, speechless.

“Altor’s balls,” Nimble whispered. “This is what we came for?”

It was hard not to feel as though her scorn was directed at me and I grimaced as I turned from her and began to walk a circuit of the chamber. Clearly, it had been the place that the creature had lived, sleeping on the skulls as it dreamed of an escape we had provided it.

The wall bore many alcoves around its circumference and it was to these that I was drawn. Inside each was a single item and I made sure to keep my hands well to myself as I paused beside each, studying them.

A rough carved statuette of one of the great elephants of the savannah was likely a depiction of one of the vary many thousands of gods that the natives of the southern continent worshipped. The tusks, one on either side of the trunk, were ivory and bore the stink of magic.

Next was a gemstone, cut imperfectly but no less beautiful for that. The deep green colour was laced with bile-like yellow and my stomach churned just to look at it. The thought of touching it was utterly repulsive and I hurried on to the next.

Behind us came the distant sound of gunfire, a thunderous retort as many rifles were fired in unison. More screams followed and I smiled nastily. The colonial regulars had joined the fight and were dying just as easily as our own company had.

“Anything?” Nimble called. She stood square in the entranceway, her flintlock raised and sword in hand as she awaited what might come down the tunnel towards us.

“Not yet.”

“Then hurry!”

In the next alcove was a child’s doll, made of twisted reeds. A sense of calm and peace surrounded it, and I paused, hand half raised towards it before I stopped myself. It was not what I sought.

So it went, as I moved from alcove to alcove, searching for our prize to little avail. Soon enough I had navigated the entire chamber and had been found wanting. It was not there.

“Nothing?” Nimble asked as I joined her. I shook my head and she cursed. “Those fucks will have our heads for this.”

“If we survive the creature and our companions, they are welcome to try.”

She didn’t share my grin and I sighed heavily, and turned back towards the light that bobbed in the centre of the chamber. A few well-spoken words and the correct, one-handed, gestures and the light faded from my sight as an ominous red cast covered everything.

Light in many hues spilt from those alcoves, some greater than others, some bright and welcoming, others subdued and ominous. All reflecting the magics of the items that the light emanated from and there, in the centre of the room, the eyes of a skull glowed with an ethereal crimson.

The skulls shifted beneath my booted feet, clicking against one another in a most unpleasant manner and I was pleased when I reached the centre and crouched. Another spell and once more, my vision changed as the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end and my shoulders hunched.

Casting the wrong magic by such powerful enchanted items as those that surrounded me was risky indeed. Death was the most pleasant seeming result of one of those items being activated by my spell.

Fortunately, nothing happened other than the light in the chamber returning to normal. I studied the skull in the centre of the chamber for many seconds longer than I had to spare before I reached down and lifted it clumsily with my one good hand.

No trap was activated, no spells were cast. I breathed a sigh of relief and set the skull down carefully before reaching into the gap it had left. My fingers closed on the slick crystal I had been seeking and I almost laughed aloud as I lifted it up.

A single translucent crystal in the shape of a teardrop the size of the palm of my hand. A coiled serpent of cast gold coiled sinuously around it, with eyes of ruby red. I opened the leather satchel at my waist and carefully placed the object inside before closing it snugly.

The skull was back in its place and I headed across the chamber to where Nimble waited. She cocked one brow and I nodded, eliciting a grin from her. She led the way back through the tunnels and soon enough we stepped out into a silent chamber.

Dead bodies littered the ground, many in the dark blues and greens that our company wore, and more in the crimson coat of the colonial regulars. Blood covered the walls and ceiling as though someone had cast it about the chamber in glee and the stench of death was everywhere.

“Stone,” Nimble said, crouching beside the stout warrior. How she recognised him I could not guess, but it was surely not from his face, half of which was missing.

“Anyone else?” I searched the chamber as best I could but didn’t see any of our own squad.

“Captain’s not here,” she replied and I winced. Would have been better if he had been.

I stopped by the temple entrance and peered out into the night. The sounds of battle were retreating, moving away from where we were as the creature headed towards the city’s edge. I glanced at Nimble who nodded and raised her weapons.

The humid air stank of spent powder, but even that couldn’t cover the rank smell of opened bowels and blood that was everywhere. While there were many of the regulars lying in death, there were a great many more of the native inhabitants.

Men, women and children, the battle had spared none. We stepped over their bodies without a thought, there was no point. The blocky buildings with their flat roofs and shuttered windows lined the streets.

Doors had been forced open and bodies filled the doorways. In an open square, weeping women and children were crowded together, waiting beneath the watchful eyes of the colonial regulars as men moved amongst them, fixing iron collars and chains.

In another, the men would be facing much the same treatment. It was long practice to keep the men separate from their families, the threat implicit, if they resisted then their families would suffer. It kept them in line.

Nimble paused beside an alley that led away between houses, her face darkening as she turned towards the sound of squealing and laughter. A group of men wearing the red wool coats of the regulars were drinking looted alcohol and encouraging some of the women of their company.

The native girl shrieked as the broken shaft of a spear was forced inside of her, the woman doing the pushing gleefully thrusting her hips in time with the movement of her hands as the broken and splintered wood was used to violate.

I reached across, fingertips brushing the arm of my friend and companion. She turned to me, eyes full of tormented rage as I shook my head slowly. It would make no difference and only get us killed. The colonial regulars would have their fun with the natives or with us if we crossed them as she well knew.

She forced her hand to move, slowly, almost painfully, uncocking the pistol which she then thrust violently into the sheath on her belt. Stiff-backed, she walked on ahead of me and I took one last look at the baying crowd before I followed after her.

Cautious found us soon after, the slim, almost timid-looking man, had streaks of blood across his face and matting his hair. He whistled as we passed the side street where he waited and he waved us over.

“Mercy’s looking for you,” he said without preamble.

“He’s alive then.”

“Aye, came back with Gentle, Dancer and that healer.”

Red had survived too, a bit of good news at least.

“Feather and the Captain arrived soon after. They’re looking for you too.”

Fuck.

“Where is it?”

He didn’t need to ask what I meant and he blanched, before reaching up to wipe sweat from his brow with the sleeve of his coat. All he did was smear the blood there across his forehead.

“Colonials chased it out into the city and lost it somewhere. Their Colonel is spitting fire over it.”

“Well at least they aren’t looking for us too,” I said. “Small mercies, I suppose.”

Cautious grinned, his smile stretching from ear to ear and I let out a soft groan.

“Don’t know what you did but you’ve three piss-poor choices, matey.”

Colonials, Captain or Mercy, of the three it was Mercy who was least likely to kill us. Nimble nodded as she met my gaze, agreement in her eyes and I sighed again.

“Fine, take us to, Mercy.”