Chapter 29 : Dance of the Undead

—A few hours later—

Maya

She finally found the place where she had last seen Karen, after circling around several times. The poison she had spread to escape the Alpha of the Westwood Pack had left the ground dead. It was obvious from the panting breaths and muffled words of Rylan and the others that they knew the aura of the black magic rogue had been here, and the speculation was running wild. If only they knew, she muttered.

There were demands to know how and why Nathan was here. They were also increasingly worried about their missing friend, wondering if Nathan had somehow gotten to her. For the most part, she ignored or deflected their words and comments. Silence would help her avoid stumbling and getting caught in a lie or two.

Karen's scent seemed to dissipate as if she had vanished, but she knew that Alpha Xavier had probably just whisked her away through the forest at top speed. By leaping to the highest branches of the trees and bouncing from one perch to another, she was able to find traces of her blood floating in the wind. The trail was inaccurate, however, as the wind had scattered the scent and nearly obliterated it. Her spilled blood was the only thing she could leave behind, tiny dots that fell from the sky and landed on the ground.

This method took hours, longer than expected. She hadn't expected an Alpha like Xavier to take Karen so quickly, but if the worst happened, she knew where his territory was and could go there, hoping he wouldn't decide to take Karen elsewhere.

On the other hand, Rylan began to grumble and mock her own ability to track Karen, which made her uneasy. His mere presence disturbed her. In her heart, she truly hoped that her ally would get rid of this useless man immediately. She was just about to tell her traveling companion about their planned trip to the Westwood Pack territory when the sound of footsteps and rustling trees rang in her ears.

She had long since descended to the forest floor. She slowed down, then used her mind link to call out to the others to stop. "Stop. I hear something."

"What do you mean stop? We have to find Karen," Samuel urged through his mind link.

She glanced down at her equipment, but quickly looked around at the surrounding forest, trying to find the sound of footsteps and rustling trees with the music. "Haven't you heard it yet, Rylan?" she asked through her mind link.

"Yes, I hear it. Some kind of music, but I'm not sure where it's coming from," he said as he picked up the sad tune.

Everyone else had descended to the forest floor, staring at their surroundings as they too began to pick up on the melancholy melody.

"I hear it now, too," Selene said in a low voice. Mike nodded in agreement.

******

Rylan

"Let me down... ahh," Carolina started to say to Rylan when a sudden pain pierced her chest. Even though her heart was no longer beating and her breath was no longer needed for her long dead lungs, her chest felt tight and her head was spinning uncomfortably. She gripped his shoulders for fear of falling off his broad back.

"Carolina! Are you okay?! What happened?" asked Rylan desperately as he gently got to his feet, holding her shoulders as she fell to her knees, her right hand wrapped around her chest and her face scrunched up in pain, her eyes closed.

His friends got off Felix and took up defensive positions, as did Rylan, who was busy checking on Carolina. He knelt beside Carolina, never letting go of her shoulders, demanding answers.

"Someone drained my... energy... Rylan..." she managed to say.

His teeth clenched, exposing them as a ferocious growl escaped his lips. He was furious that someone would dare to attack Carolina!

"Don't worry, Carol. I'm going to protect you," he assured her as he stood up and pulled out his weapon, calling out to the surrounding trees, "Whoever you are, come out and fight with me!" He was ready to fight and kill anyone who tried to threaten his Carolina.

The noise grew louder and louder, slightly disturbing his sensitive hearing, his ears twitching uncomfortably. Then he heard movement, sluggish and slow. Low moans filled the air. An unpleasant shiver ran down his spine. What was that sound?

His eyes narrowed as he saw what was coming towards them. It was the badly injured she-wolves. His eyes moved from one approaching form to the next. They all had dried blood and tattered clothes hanging from their pale bodies. One woman's throat had been slashed into ribbons. He could not understand how she was still alive, let alone standing.

Another body had intestines hanging down almost to her knees! Horrible and grotesque corpses continued to tumble toward them, groaning or making horrible gurgling sounds as their throats were ripped out or their heads were completely severed from their necks. Many were missing limbs, while others were crawling on their stomachs, either missing a leg or the entire lower half of their bodies.

"Eeeew!" Samuel was startled, choked by the horrible smell and disgusting sight. The stench of decay and bodily fluids was overwhelming.

"How are they still moving? Is that Sarah?" asked Selene, ready to throw her weapon to stop the bodies from moving, knowing she couldn't kill them. They were already dead.

"We saw signs of Nathan," Mike agreed, covering his nose with his sleeve, trying to get some respite from the smell. It was a futile effort.

"I don't know. I can't smell him with all this stench!" Rylan fumed, casting his eyes around, trying to find his real enemy. "Come out, Sarah, we know it's you."

"Ryl... an... it's not... Sar..." Carolina tried to explain, but she fainted.

He saw that and took a breath. "Carol!" He knelt beside Carolina and turned her onto her back. Carolina wasn't breathing! He knew Carolina didn't have to do this, but he always did it because he still hoped she was alive. He didn't know what was wrong with her. She lay there as if she were dead. Not that she was alive before... he was so confused! He didn't know how to help her.

"Rylan! We need help over here," Selene shouted as she faced the corpse and tried to keep it quiet. While he was busy tending to Carolina, the undead had surrounded them all. Reluctantly, he left Carolina and stood up, preparing to use his weapon.

Selene threw her weapon, a metal shield with sharp edges, at their legs. Of course, they still tried to chase her, crawling on their stomachs, mouths wide open, moaning as if in pain. She had seen such tricks before with the Wind Witch, Sarah, and knew the futility of their attacks. But what choice did she have? They were too close for her to throw her weapon, and she thought it best to conserve energy, so she put the weapon back on her back, drew her sword, and attacked the corpses she had destroyed, cutting off arms and heads. If she couldn't kill them, she would make sure that they were no longer a threat.

Mike had the same thought as he used his staff to hit the head and stab the stomach, trying to stop their movement. He could feel that they still had an evil aura around them, so he reached into his clothes and pulled out pieces of blade and threw them at some of the approaching corpses, watching as they screamed in pain and burned before passing out.

Rylan had the same problem as his group of friends. Every time he hit an undead, it immediately got up to attack again. They were so slow. It was as if they had forgotten how to fight as they once knew it in life. Of course, they didn't have functioning brains anymore. When he saw an empty space where his friends and Maya were not fighting, he drew his sword and tried to turn them all into dust. He sneered when it seemed to work, but then he saw more coming. The room was too small to use his weapon again!

Maya had no weapons, so she relied on her claws to finish off her enemies. The claws were very slow for a werewolf. Even in her weakened state from Carolina's arrow, she was not scratched as she spun and slashed, dismembering her enemies with ease. However, many of them continued to rise.

Meanwhile, the sound of strange music continued unabated, its source unknown. It did not last long, for without warning, the haunting melody faded, its final notes echoing in the silence. The undead stopped in place, silent, as if waiting, listening for something.

A woman's laughter rang in their ears, tinged with madness. The sound was not pleasant.

"I found the treasure, oh yes, I found it!" an unfamiliar female voice echoed around them, followed by a laugh.

"Show yourself!" shouted Mike, excited by the voice. Whoever it was, he doubted it could be called a friend.

An old woman dressed in a black priestess robe came out of the forest, followed by a hideous creature about four feet tall, like a child, with long hair that was disheveled in places, and horrible scars on its face and exposed skin. It seemed as if different body parts had formed this small creature, which was carrying a brown sack. Its left arm was much longer than its right, dangling from the ground behind it, and an evil aura surrounded it. It wasn't until the creature raised a flute to its lips, making a slightly different but equally terrifying sound, that they realized it was holding a musical instrument. Once again, the corpses whimpered, roared, but made no attempt to attack.

The priestess was probably wearing a traditional priestess outfit, but it was dark, and her lips were painted blood red. A dark priestess had come into their midst.

The old priestess had long hair, gray as metal, a stooped back, and a face so wrinkled and lined that it made her look ancient. Her shoulders twitched with a silent laugh, a toothless smile that added more wrinkles to her ugly face.

Then, after a while, she glared at Mike. "You're not what I'm looking for. You're nothing! Nothing, don't talk," the old woman said in a broken, whispered voice.

He was surprised to be called 'nothing' as if that was his name. Who was this old woman?

The old woman looked around, sometimes standing on the tips of her toes, while muttering, "Where? "Where? I have to find...Aha! At last. Bring me my treasure, pet!" she demanded of her monstrous companion, pointing somewhere in the crowd of corpses.

The music changed and the bodies began to move and fall again. Rylan and his friends were so distracted by their resurrection that none of them noticed a corpse with half its face and skull missing lifting an unconscious Carolina.

"Who are you?" demanded Rylan, not taking his eyes off the approaching undead.

He heard her sniffing around him before she said, "You're nothing either, but I'm Uma and I want to live. I need to have some life energy!" Again she giggled like a child. She was clearly angry. Her hands were outstretched, waving, seemingly moving to the beat of the music.

"Carolina!" Rylan shouted as he belatedly realized that one of the corpses was leading them to Uma.

"Yes, my treasure! The secret of eternal life is finally mine," Uma laughed, caressing Carolina's face.

"No, get away from her!" shouted Rylan, slashing at the undead trying to get to Carolina.

"Pet! Give me the soul core!" Uma squealed excitedly, ignoring Rylan and the others.