Page 121 of Burning Crowns

Rose hurried after him.

Once he reached the edge of the clearing, Shen climbed ten feet up a nearby trunk and leaped soundlessly from above. All across the forest, the witches of the Sunkissed Kingdom struck just the same, descending on the beasts in a blur of black and silver.

Oonagh snapped her chin up, red eyes flashing. ‘Strike!’ she shrieked.

Her beasts sprung into action but for half of them it was already too late. The witches had gained the upper hand. As chaos descended on the clearing, Rose made a beeline for her sister.‘Wren!’ she cried, swinging Daybreak wildly as she leaped over a snarling fox and nearly tumbled into the mouth of a snow tiger just as Rowena and Bryony toppled it with a combined gust.

‘Thank you!’ cried Rose, without stopping.

Wren turned at the sound of her sister’s voice. ‘Rose!’

They met at the far edge of the clearing, where Wren swung her sword wildly, fending off the skeleton of a roaring wolf. Rose jumped over its twitching body, flinging her arms around her sister and pulling her close. Wren sagged against Rose, her body shuddering violently as the sword fell to her side. ‘Rose, you’re alive,’ she said, with a sob. ‘I knew you were. Iknewit.’

‘Hush now, it’s all right.’ Rose struggled to hold her sister up, startled by how ill she looked, how much weaker she had become in the days since they had last seen each other.

Wren hoisted her sword, her body tipping to one side as she tried to run back into the fray. ‘It’s time to end this, Rose. We have to fight.’

‘You can barely stand, let alone fight,’ said Rose, tugging her back. ‘And where did you get that thing?’

‘This is Night’s Edge. Eana the first witch gave it to me,’ said Wren. A frown, then. ‘It’s a long story.’

‘Tell it to me after the battle,’ said Rose, raising her own dagger to show Wren. ‘This is Daybreak. It looks as if we’ve both had some luck with weapons.’ She glanced over her shoulder to where Oonagh was standing at the other end of the clearing. Even though there were hundreds of witches between them and just as many beasts still snarling and snapping, their ancestor was staring straight at them.

Rose contemplated hurling her dagger at her but thought better of it. What if she missed?

Oonagh’s ice bears still stood on either side of her, but the rest of her beasts were falling one by one. Wren swung her sword, barrelling her way across the clearing. ‘We have to do it now,’ she shouted. ‘We have to break the curse.’

‘Wren! Come back!’ cried Rose but her sister was too determined. Even despite her ailing strength, there was no stopping her.

As the Sunkissed witches and the Anadawn army fought tirelessly against Oonagh’s undead beasts, their roars and growls began to die out. Soon, there were barely twenty beasts standing between Oonagh and the twins.

Rose might have felt hopeful – triumphant even – if it wasn’t for the mocking smile that had remained on her ancestor’s face. When Wren was almost upon her and the beasts were all but felled, Oonagh uttered a soundless command.

By the time Rose screamed, it was already too late.

The entire forest shook. The trees quivered and the ground trembled as a thousand more bodies burst up from the earth. Rose saw the whites of their bones punching through the mulch before she spied their skulls, toothless and gaping. They were human remains, some so ancient their very skeletons were crumbling, while others were still rotting, their lumbering bodies infested with maggots, their eyes turned red with bloodlust.

They swarmed the clearing in a hail of fresh terror, every bit as vicious and rabid as the beasts that came before them. Only the sudden arrival of Oonagh’s reanimated corpses inspired a kind of sickening dread that momentarily brought Rose’s entire army to a standstill.It was a mistake that cost them dearly.

As more bodies crawled up from the undergrowth, tearing through soldiers and witches alike, the Weeping Forest echoed with a new chorus of dying screams.

Wren

CHAPTER 41

Rose’s scream split the clearing in two. By the time Wren looked up, it was already too late. A rotting corpse leaped from the earth and charged her. Wren landed face first in the dirt with Night’s Edge twisted awkwardly beneath her body.

The undead human screeched, its fetid breath rustling her hair. Wren could sense – rather than see – it unhinge its crumbling jaw. She tried to roll over, but the corpse was too heavy. She cried out but the sound was muffled by dirt, and even if it hadn’t, Wren knew it would have got lost in the horror unfolding around her. Suddenly, everyone was fighting for their lives. Some were now fighting their own ancestors.

Oonagh had outdone her own sickening depravity.

The corpse twisted its skeletal fingers in Wren’s hair, wrenching her head back with unimaginable strength. She spied a rusted dagger in its other hand, the blade flashing as it rose. Wren screamed as a fierce wind swept over her. The corpse howled as it was knocked off-kilter and then flung further still, into the dark of the forest, where a pair of soldiers quickly descended on it, retching as they hacked at the cadaver with their swords.

Wren rolled on to her back to find Celeste peering down at her. ‘Turns out I’m a pretty good tempest,’ she said, lips trembling.

Wren blew out a breath. ‘I think I’m going to be sick.’

Celeste offered Wren her hand. ‘Hold your nerve.’

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