Page 76 of Grave Situation

“Notice how he said ‘try,’” my beloved sister mocks. “He knows—” She freezes. “Leicht says there’s a group coming fast, behind us.”

Before she’s even finished speaking, Coryn’s tossed me the remainder of his bread (I bobble it, but it doesn’t hit the ground) and is tightening his horse’s girth. He’s in the saddle and riding back to the road while I wonder what I’m supposed to do now.

“Mount up,” Tia says, drawing her sword in one hand and a dagger in the other. “You’re less vulnerable on horseback.”

“What about you? Get on Leicht.” I cram the last of my current bun into my mouth, shove Coryn’s bread in a pocket, and reach for Sweetie’s girth. For once, she doesn’t try to resist.

“They’re too close for him to be effective,” she says, even as I hear the muffled squelch of hooves. “I’m more useful on the ground this time.”

Jaimin passes her the reins to his horse. “I’ll double with Talon. I’m not much use in a fight.”

She swings into his saddle immediately, turning the tall horse to follow Coryn just as the riders come into view. Any hopeI had of them being travelers in a hurry flees when I see the flash of light on weapons. “Stay back and shield if you can,” Tia calls over her shoulder.

“I can do better than that.” It’s not loud enough for her to hear, but she’ll find out soon enough. I’ve been preparing for this—planning how I can help with my magic, rather than just reacting. “Are any of them zombies?” I ask Jaimin.

He nods. “A lot of them, if I had to guess. The wrongness is outweighing the sensation of regular people.”

I mount Sweetie and reach down a hand for him, ignoring the odd (but I’m not stupid; I know what it is, but this is not thetime) tingle when his palm meets mine. He seats himself behind me just as Leicht screams in challenge and the front ranks of attackers reach Coryn and Tia.

And die.

I blink. I was told Coryn was pretty much an unparalleled fighter, but it’s different to see it with my own eyes. As he hacks his way through his share—and some of Tia’s—of the fifteen or so riders, leaving dismembered bodies and riderless horses behind him, I pull myself together and carefully aim magefire at every body part I can clearly see.

“Can you tell from here which of the living ones are zombies?” I’d really like a living, human prisoner so I can ask a few questions, but I can’t deny it would be safer for us all if I could burn thembeforethey engage with Coryn and my sister.

Jaimin shakes his head. “Not for certain. Leave a few of them unburned, if you can. I want to examine them more closely now that I have all my wits about me.”

Leicht screams again, and if we were closer to him, I’d tell him to shut up. We’re all trying to concentrate, dammit; we’rebusy.

“Okay, but if they get up and attack again…”

“Then you can burn them,” he agrees.

I reach out to Tia.“Try to leave a few alive if you can. Jaimin wants to examine them.”

She doesn’t reply, but the angle of her sword changes mid-strike, delivering a disabling rather than killing blow. Jaimin sucks in a breath.

“Surely you don’t expect me to believe that was a coincidence.”

“What was?” I ask, playing innocent as hard as I can. I’m starting to feel guilty about keeping this secret from him, which is ridiculous.

“You can trust me, you know,” he murmurs.

What does it mean that I find that scarier than the zombies attacking us?

When the fight is done,Tia’s prisoner is out cold. Possibly due to blood loss, but I’m no healer. Jaimin looked a bit grim when he paused beside the stranger, and he did do some kind of healing, though not enough to heal the wound completely. I try not to think about why that is—even though I understand we can’t take prisoners or leave living enemies behind us, I’m still squeamish about killing them.

Coryn, on the other hand, is not. For such a happy-go-lucky cuddle monster, he has a very wide bloody streak. Literally, at the moment. Apparently dismembering people is a good way to get yourself covered in blood. He stands over our prisoner, face grim in a way that makes him look completely different, sword in hand dripping blood on our captive’s arm.

“Maybe you should move your arm an inch or so away,” I suggest. “You know, so the blood falls on the ground and not on a human being.”

He shakes his head. “If he wakes up and sees me standing here with the blood getting on him, it’s scarier. We want him to talk, right? That’s why you won’t let me kill him even though I’m supposed to dismember them all?”

I give up. “That’s why. Sorry, I wasn’t thinking. Carry on. I’m going to”—go somewhere else—“see how Jaimin’s doing.” I take two steps back, but Coryn seems to be focused on glaring at the unconscious attacker at his feet and doesn’t even notice as I leave.

“Anything interesting?” I ask as I approach the others. Jaimin had me leave assorted body parts of three zombies (we think—it’s hard to tell when they’re in pieces), but I burned everyone else. He’s inspecting the sometimes-moving parts under Tia’s watchful eye. Every once in a while, she makes him stand back so she can hack at the reanimated limbs.

Safe to say that this time in my life will give me nightmares for many years to come.

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