Chapter 4
Collision
She could feel the air rush past her, tangling her hair and whistling in her ears. The great rift in the ground before her was like the hole in her heart after Kosar had left her, the vast nothingness of loss and isolation she had felt at that moment, when he had gone without her. It was dark below, so dark and lonely and empty. And there was no one there to catch her.
She was falling, and there was nothing to stop her.
Falling.
Falling.
Falling!
Diana suddenly jerked awake with a gasp.
In spite of the throbbing pain in her head and feeling sick, Diana forced open her eyes.
Everything seemed to be black, and for a moment she panicked, thinking something had happened to her eyes. She raised her hand to her face, and felt the sticky wetness of blood on her forehead.
What had happened? Why did she feel so terrible?
She looked round, but it was dark, except for a greyish light directly above her that seemed to lurch every time she blinked. As the Acrobat gazed up, there was a sudden flash of memory.
The disappearance of Hank and Sheila, Bobby and Uni; Presto being pulled into the wall.
And Eric.
Her chest tightened as she thought of the Cavalier overwhelmed by advancing Mummies, and the vivid memory of the look in his eye, willing her to leave without him. The images almost suffocated her.
Oh God, what had happened to him? To all of them? And what had happened to her? Where was she?
The Javelin, in its collapsed form, was still in her hand and it gave off a very faint glow as she lifted it up. It wasn’t so much of a rift, or a cave, but more like another road, a much older road, buried deep under the ground, though she had no idea why it was there. Above there was the faint light of the sky, and she was sure she could see stars.
She moved slightly, feeling an unwelcome ache all over her body. But though she hurt, and was probably covered in bruises and cuts, nothing seemed to be broken or strained. Her natural agility had saved her from the worst injuries.
There was a tiny voice in her head whispering questions: How long had she been down here? And what was she going to do? Alone, with a long climb out of the rift ahead of her, she couldn’t even start to answer those questions.
The only thing she was sure about was that she had to get out of here, and find help, just as Eric had told her too.
Again, she though back to the last time she had seen him, injured but with his Shield raised high to protect her. For some reason, the thought of him like that made her feel even worse until, overwhelmed with emotion, she closed her eyes and began to cry.
Tears silently poured down her cheeks. It was hard to believe she was crying, about Eric of all people!
She had looked back, just once, seeing the blue and yellow of his armour and the flashing light of his Shield. For a moment, he had stood there, fending off Mummies, and then he was gone, overwhelmed. Her imagination took over, seeing Eric attacked and hurt by the horde of corpses. Her stomach gave a sickening lurch at the next thought, those disgusting things could easily have pulled him apart.
She shuddered, forcing the wave of nausea down.
Her escape hadn’t been easy, and she knew with certainty that if she’d stayed to help Eric neither of them would have stood a chance. Even so, with Eric defending her, it was a very close thing. She shivered once again, thinking of those grabbing dusty hands, the stench of rotting fabric, and rotting breath.
Her head dropped forward, and she rested her aching forehead in the palms of her hands, tears still flowing down her cheeks. What if she was too late, and there was nothing left to save? What if he was gone too, like Kosar? What if they were all gone? What if she was alone?
The though lingered in her mind for a moment: What if she really was alone? What if...
No!
No! She couldn’t think that! She wasn’t going to give up! She was NOT going to give up!
Diana sniffed, looking back up to the stars again, a strange cold aching feeling filling her heart. Why was she crying? It was stupid to cry, now of all times. She had to find the others and get help.
The voice in the back of her head spoke again; what if she was the only one left?
No! Eric and Presto were still ok, she had to believe that. Hank and the others were out there too, though she didn’t; know where, she did know they were there, somewhere.
The Acrobat took a long, slow breath in, trying to focus on what she had to do. What would the other think of her, sitting here crying? She had to pull herself together and get help.
What about Hank and the others? For a moment, a tiny smile crossed her face as she thought about them. Sheila would be fine, no doubt, able to duck away out of trouble at a moments notice. Hank would be as well. In fact, the others probably hadn’t even met any Mummies. That would just be typical!
They would probably be searching for them, wondering what sort of trouble Eric had lead them into!
Diana’s tiny smile grew wider as she imaged what choice words Eric would have to say to Hank for wandering off without them! She would love to see that little confrontation!
As she smiled more widely, another though occurred to her. Why hadn’t the Mummies come for her as well? It wouldn’t have been hard for them to clamber down here, even if they were the Undead. Why had they just left her?
There was only one way she was going to find any of the answers. She pulled herself to her feet, feeling a sore and more than a little dizzy, and she started to climb.
It didn’t take her as long as she’d feared to get out of the hole, the wall was rough and had plenty of hand holds. At the top, she paused and looked around very carefully. But there was nothing to be seen anywhere. No Mummies; but no friends either.
Night had definitely fallen, as the stars were clear above her. But there was light in the city as well, as there were torches of greenish flame dotted around the street, giving off an eerie, sickly glow.
She moved forward slowly, keeping a sharp look out for anything unusual, but there was nothing, it was if the place was dead. That was not a reassuring thought.
A first she could see nothing but crumbling sandstone buildings, every way she looked there were great walls of brick. It all looked the same, and there was no way to tell where she was. How was she supposed to find the others when she had no idea where to start looking?
Dungeonmaster’s words whispered in the back of her mind: Always choose. Was it really as simple as that? Was that all it was going to take? She looked warily around at the buildings beside her. Always choose.
She didn’t have any other, better idea so, keeping the thought of the others in the front of her mind, she walked on.
As she walked, she though about her missing friends. She wished Hank was here with her, as he always seemed to know what to do. He would have any number of ideas about how to find the others, and he would be better able to defend himself against those Mummies as well!
But more than that, she wished Eric was there beside her. The thought surprised her. She had never expected to actually miss him, but she did. She missed his sarcasm and his unfailingly bad attempts at humour. But more importantly, she missed the way he made her feel when he was around, he helped her feel strong and needed within the group, like Hank did but in a different way, a way she couldn’t really explain.
She knew this was probably hopeless. The chances of finding Hank and the others were lessening every minute. Other than following Dungeonmaster’s “advice” she had no idea what she was going to do, or where she was going to find the rest of her friends.
Diana kept on going, creeping quietly through the dusty streets of Kish.
She tried to keep calm, but it was getting harder all the time, and she knew she was starting to panic. She knew that Eric would have laughed at her, and actually, she could have done with the reassurance at that moment. Eric knew how to help her feel better, even if he didn’t know he knew!
At last, the road slanted downwards again, but that fact didn’t help her to feel better about her situation. If anything she was feeling more nervous than she had when she had some round. She felt so exposed and vulnerable, as if Mummies were watching her every move and were ready to materialise out of the buildings behind her.
But none did.
Every so often, peeping out between the houses, was the giant Pyramid. She had considered going towards it, but each time she tried she just seemed to get further away! Like a massive stone Jack-in-the-box, it would appear suddenly at the corner of her eye, making her start.
She had quickly grown to hate its looming presence. It felt like the building was watching her, testing her, and waiting to see what she did next.
Finally, after a particularly big surprise appearance, she couldn’t stand it any longer. Whirling round to face the Pyramid, she scowled at it.
‘Ok!’ she said aloud, placing her hands on her hips and glaring defiantly at it,’ Ok, you win, you have my attention!’
There was only the whisper of moving sand in reply, but she suddenly smiled, imagining what Eric would have to say to her if he knew she had started talking to buildings! He would never let her hear the end of that one.
‘Well, let’s just see what you want from me!’ she said.
Though she was still unsure and still afraid, the thought of the Cavalier and his quips and his sarcastic expression gave her that little bit of a push and she started down the street towards the Pyramid, her head held high.
The street was much, much shorter than she had anticipated, judging by the distances and buildings. She had expected to walk for a number of minutes, but the Pyramid loomed high on the horizon and all the other buildings petered out. After only a minute of walking, the Acrobat found herself at the edge of the Pyramid’s plateau, a huge, wide, empty space in which the structure itself sat smugly in the centre.
But Diana didn’t have too much time to enjoy the open, free space which was so welcome after walking around in the maze of streets.
There were Mummies everywhere.
Her reactions were still primed ready for trouble, so she was fast enough to duck into the shadows beside the wall, and none of them seemed to notice she was there.
It took a few moment for her to gather her courage and look round again.
The Pyramid was a beautiful sight, huge, high, almost the highest thing she could remember seeing up so close. It was made of smooth, yellow sandstone, and rose up out of the ground at a perfect angle. She looked up at its top, where there was a shining white stone at the very top, that seemed to be filled with a light of its own, casting dark shadows and drowning out the faint light of the stars in the sky behind it.
At ground level, Mummies were trudging past the edge, but were all moving in one particular direction. Though she couldn’t be absolutely sure, they all seemed to be going into the Pyramid, maybe though an entrance on the far side, where she couldn’t see it.
She crouched down to the ground, watching the creatures carefully, trying to decide what her next move should be.
It seemed obvious on the face of it; the Mummies were going into the Pyramid, and it was likely that that was where they had taken Eric and the others.
The trick was going to be getting in there without being seen!
There was a sudden stomping noise from close by, from one of the streets that led to the Pyramid. Diana knew without looking round what had caused the noise, and she had no choice but to freeze, and hope that they didn’t see her.
Sure enough, less than five seconds later a line of Mummies appeared, less that fifteen feet away, all heading to the Pyramid!
Diana hardly dared to breathe. She was in very deep trouble; and if they saw her she would be in even worse trouble!
Minutes passed, and she was still in exactly the same position that she had been in. Her legs had begun to ache and her knees, but the Mummies still marched on by oblivious to her presence.
She watched them, all the time hoping that this would end soon, and she could stand up and stretch her sore muscles.
The number of Mummies seemed to lessen, and instead of being bunched together, they marched in single file. Diana began to count them, trying to keep her mind off the growing pain.
The numbers grew less again, as she passed one hundred, but it wasn’t lessening nearly fast enough for her! The number petered out, and it seemed that they had at last reached the end.
The relief was overwhelming, but she had to force herself to remember that she could still be seen, all it would take was one look in her direction and it was over!
Her hand tightened into a fist as she tried to keep control, the red-hot ache in her legs filling her mind.
And then, from the other side of the plateau, in the dark gloom of the shadows she saw the tiniest glint of gold. It was only for a second, but she stared at the point where it had been.
That was impossible.
It looked like… well, it had looked like Hank!
But that was impossible! Wasn’t it?
But even though her rational mind was thinking of reasons that that fleeting image couldn’t have been the Ranger, in her heart she knew that it was.
That had been Hank! That had been Hank!
She had to stop herself sprinting forward to see. This was not a good time to go sprinting anywhere. She had to think. She had to think carefully.
The line of Mummies was still moving forward again, each lumbering along in their own unique way, and Diana froze. She closed her eyes for a few seconds, knowing that if the creatures spotted her she wouldn’t have any chance. She had no escape route planned, she had no other way out.
A few seconds later she opened them slowly. The Mummies were a few feet further ahead, none of them had noticed her. She watched for a few more seconds, never blinking not even daring to breath. But the Mummies just kept on going.
One by one they lumbered out of view, round the corner and into the Pyramid.
Even after they had gone, she didn’t dare move. She waited for a few seconds, her body still tensed and ready for action. But there was no need. She was alone.
Except…
She looked up, back towards the place where she had seen Hank, or though she had seen him. If it had been the Ranger, he wouldn’t know that the coast was clear.
Diana was standing in a moment, though her calves were unpleasantly stiff from the kneeling and her legs felt like jelly. Still wary, she moved along the road to the alleyway where she thought she had seen Hank, and peeked round.
The first thing she saw was a bright golden arrow pointed directly at her head!
For all her anticipation, the Acrobat was so surprised that she was unable to move for a momnet. She heard a sharp intake of breath.
‘Diana!’
The bright, overpowering light of the arrow vanished and she could see her friend clearly. She darted forward to his side, not resisting the urge to embrace him in a warm hug.
It was one of the best moments of her life. Hank was there, just when she needed him!
From somewhere behind there was a quite whine, and Diana started slightly.
‘It’s ok, It’s only Uni,’ Hank whispered.
Diana released the Ranger and looked into the shadows. Sure enough, the little Unicorn was standing there looking incredibly happy to see her. She reached forward and ruffled Uni’s mane, something she didn’t normally do. Uni whinnied and rubbed against her hand.
‘Are you ok?’ Hank asked her. ‘You look…’
Diana glanced down at herself, as if for the first time noticing the dust and sweat, and the cuts and scratches. And then there was the cut on her head as well. She reached up to touch it, nervously, but it seemed to have stopped bleeding for the moment.
‘I’m ok,’ she said in a whisper. ‘I fell when we were attacked.’ A sudden, painful image of the Cavalier flashed unwanted in front of her eyes; seeing him like that, injured and standing up to those hideous creatures alone… No!
‘I’m ok,’ she said again, as the concerned expression on Hank’s face hadn’t changed. ‘What happened to you? Why did you wander off like that!’
‘I was about to ask you the same thing!’
They looked at each other.
‘It was magic, wasn’t it, just like Presto said.’
‘It must have been,’ said Hank. ‘But I don’t know why.’
Diana gave a sigh and sat down beside him in the sand, suddenly so grateful for the chance to rest.
‘I don’t know why either. We though it was the City, wanting help,’ she looked up and saw Hank nod his agreement, ‘but after meeting those Mummies, I’m not so sure!’
‘It had to be the City, wanting help,’ said Hank thoughtfully, ‘because there is nothing else it could be.’
There was silence for a minute, as that statement seemed to sit uneasily with both of them. Finally, Diana said:
‘Well, I suppose it didn’t have to be… I mean, there is definitely something else around here.’
‘A something that could chase away birds like the Rocs,’ said Hank slowly. ‘I don’t like where this is going…’
‘Neither do I!’ admitted Diana. ‘But if it wasn’t the City, I suppose it must have been the big bad nasty thing that we were supposed to avoid, the same thing that’s been controlling the Mummies.’
Hank gave a long sigh and nodded.
‘It seems quite obvious, now.’
Diana saw the dejected and angry look on the Ranger’s face and she laid a hand on his arm.
‘I didn’t think of it before, either,’ she said, hoping that would help.
‘I think our problems just multiplied,’ said Hank. ‘If it was the Mummies’ Master, then it split us up to try and capture us.’
‘And it succeeded! Four down and three to go!’
Hank nodded slowly.
‘But why only four of us,’ he said thoughtfully. ‘Why hasn’t it come after the ones it missed? I mean, we’re fairly easy targets.’
The Acrobat could only shrug. She had wondered about that question too!
‘How did you escape?’ asked Hank suddenly. ‘What happened?’
Once again, an image of that moment returned to Diana and she almost winced.
‘We were running,’ she said, ‘and stopped to rest for a moment. Some grabbed Presto and pulled him into the wall.’ She saw Hank recoil at the thought. ‘Eric and I couldn’t get to him in time, we tried but it took too long. Eric was injured and couldn’t run well. They were catching up and we were trapped on the wrong side of a hole in the road. Eric…’
She stopped, unable to continue. Telling the story like that was too painful, who would have ever believed that Eric could be so heroic!
Hank squeezed her hand gently.
‘He told me to run, to jump over the rift,’ she murmured. ‘And I did. But instead of reaching the other side, I fell. I don’t remember anything else.’
‘We were cornered by them too,’ he said. ‘They ran us down, and even though Sheila tried to slip past them using her Cloak, it didn’t work.’ Again, when he said the Thief’s name, his voice wavered. ‘I was fighting them off, but there were too many of them. The arrows didn’t do more that slow them down! I tripped and landed beside Uni, and I could see there was no hope of getting out, Sheila and Bobby were already being hauled off.’ Hank looked to the ground, and seemed to be angry and ashamed. ‘Uni teleported me away.’
The admission of having to run off and escape while leaving his friends (especially Sheila) behind was a hard one for Hank, she could tell from the expression on his face. She had never seen him quite like that before, it seemed as though he was clamping down on his emotions so tightly that all it would take was one tiny push and it would all explode out. She knew that things between him and Sheila had taken a “serious” turn (it had been so obvious that there was something going on between those two), and she couldn’t imagine what he must be feeling at the moment. She cared about her friends, all of them, very deeply; but she didn’t actually love any of them. Not in the way Hank loved Sheila.
‘You did the right thing,’ she said softly. ‘Both of you did. Now, together, we‘ve got a chance of helping them.’
Hank nodded, though even that small action seemed like a very great effort.
‘We don’t know where they have been taken,’ he pointed out. ‘I would think that the Mummies would have taken them into the Pyramid, but we don’t actually know that!’
Indecision was written all over his face.
‘We’ve both been led here,’ Diana said. ‘All the Mummies are inside that thing, and I think our friends are there too!’
‘But what if they’re not,’ said Hank.
His attitude confused the Acrobat, it wasn’t like Hank to be so negative and so hesitant.
‘I don’t know, Hank,’ she admitted, ‘but we’re not going to know unless we take a look and find out!’
Again, there was a flash in fear and confusion on the Ranger’s face. But it vanished in a moment, and he looked up at her and smiled.
‘You’re right,’ he said. ‘I know you’re right. We’ve got to take a look.’
Diana smiled back, and pushed herself standing once more.
‘I think they will be in there,’ she said. ‘It seems like the best place to take them, if you’re a Mummy.’
She glanced to Hank. Though he was smiling, there was still a hint of worry about him. No doubt he was thinking along the same lines as she was; that if their friends were in there, then the Mummies’ Master was in there too! And all the Mummies! And they had no idea what they were dealing with, or who they were up against.
Carefully, she looked round at the plateau, to check to see if it was still empty. Nothing moved, not even the wind and the light dusting of sand was as still as if it had been glued onto the ground.
Hank was at he elbow, and Uni by her leg, and the Ranger signalled that they should move forward, down the opposite side to where Diana had come from, to try and find the entranceway in.
They walked as softly as they could. Without nearby buildings to absorb the sound, every footstep seemed to Diana to be like a deafening thump. Even Uni’s dainty hooves made a loud noise.
But they kept going, always alert and on their guard, and nothing stopped them.
They moved to the base of the Pyramid, and then along, towards a dark shadow in middle of the side; what she hoped would be an entrance in.
Fortunately, it was and the three of them stopped by the side of it, and listened. There seemed to be no one there. Hank leaned forward to look, and after a moment, so did Diana.
The interior wasn’t quite what she had expected. She had seen books on the Egyptian Pyramid, and knew they were built of solid stone, with a few narrow passages.
This was completely the opposite, there was a vast space inside, carefully sculptured and carved all the way up to the roof, which was very, very high up!
But, though they could see up to the roof, they couldn’t see what was directly ahead. Something was in their way, but Diana couldn’t be sure exactly what it was. Behind it, there came an eerie, greenish glow, similar to the light from the torches outside, but a much brighter, casting deep shadows that obscured the details of where they were.
She and Hank exchanged glances, then crept forward as quietly and carefully as they could, with Uni following just behind.
They went inside. Diana had been worried that they might be making too much noise, but as they went further, they heard movement from behind whatever was blocking their way.
As they came up to it, Diana realised it was a great big wooden wall. It seemed an odd place for a wall to be, but it was very effective in blocking the way forward.
Wary of talking openly for fear of being heard, Diana signalled to the Ranger that she would climb up and take a look. Hank agreed.
The wooden barrier seemed to be very think, but it was roughly hewn, and so relatively easy to climb, even without her Javelin.She climbed up in less than a minute, taking no chances with her foot and hand holds, and peeped over the top very slowly.
Behind the wall was a great arena, a wide, open space under a vaulted ceiling. And Mummies. Lots of Mummies.
But the details were unimportant, as the first thing she noticed were her friends.
Sheila. Presto, Bobby. Eric. They were lying on the ground, still, as if they were dead.
Her breath caught in the back of her throat and she almost lost her hand-hold and slipped.
Dead?
No.
No, they couldn’t be dead.
She had to believe they were ok.
Below, Diana was aware that Hank was waiting and he would be getting worried, so instead of looking more, she clambered gently down to the ground, wincing as her muscles strained under the effort. Somehow the descent was much more difficult than it had been going up.
‘I saw the others,’ she said to Hank in as quiet a voice as she could, leaning against him to whisper in his ear. She hoped he didn't feel her shaking.
‘They were there? Were they ok?’ he whispered back.
She couldn’t lie to him, he needed to know, and she could only hope that he believed that they were ok as well.
‘They were just, sorta… lying there.’
The image of the others lying in a line like pieces of meat made her shudder, and she closed her eyes.
Hank put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently.
‘They’ll be ok, if we can get to them in time!’ he told her.
She looked round at him.
‘How do you know that! They weren’t moving! They looked…’ she couldn’t even bring herself to say the word! If she didn’t have to say it, she could still believe that they were ok.
The Ranger tightened his grip on her shoulder.
‘I don’t know that much about Mummies,’ said Hank, ‘but if they want someone dead, they don’t drag them around, they dismembered them there and then. They must be still alive.’
It was much of a comfort, but still, Diana breathed a sigh of relief.
They were still alive.
‘But we have to get them out of there,’ said Hank. ‘And quickly too. As fast as we can.’
‘Why?’ she asked, suddenly afraid again at the tone of Hank’s whispered voice.
‘Those Mummies need them for something, that’s for sure. And whatever that is, it isn’t good!’
She looked into Hank’s eyes, staring levelly at him.
‘What do you mean?’ she said, though she knew the answer he was going to give.
‘Mummies are Undead,’ he said. ‘Presto, Eric, Bobby and Sheila… aren’t.’ His voice wavered as he said the Thief’s name.
But the implication was clear.
If the two of them didn’t do something soon, the others would be Undead as well!
‘What else did you see?’ whispered Hank.
Diana struggled with the answer as the details of the Pyramid’s interior had been swamped by the sight of her friends. She closed her eyes, trying had to remember.
‘It was big, and round, like a cave,’ she replied. ‘With lots of Mummies. There was a table at the front, maybe two. And lots of statues as well.’
Hank frowned, and nodded slowly as if thinking.
Suddenly the silence was broken by the deafening sound of grinding stone. Wincing at the noise, the two friends looked at each other, and Uni looked between them nervously.
We’ve gotta find out what’s going on, thought Diana. Hank must have been thinking the same thing, as he glanced upwards.
Diana nodded and started to climb.
Hank climbed up just beside her, but the unicorn stayed on the ground, waiting for them with a forlorn expression on her face.
The Acrobat could feel the vibrations of moving stone through the wall, making it more difficult to climb. She tried not to think about what sort of event could make such a noise.
She saw the details more clearly this time. There were a great number of Mummies, standing like a silence army of bandaged statues. They were all facing forward toward the table at the front, and Diana suddenly realised that it wasn’t a table. It was an Altar!
Even worse, the other table she had thought she had seen wasn’t a table either. It was a Sarcophagus.
And it was open!
Diana’s breath caught in her throat as she stared at the scene in front of her.
The occupant of the Sarcophagus was clearly Undead as well, it had the same rough outline as a Mummy, and a few bandages. But it was still dressed in clothes as well, though some of the material had decayed away.
Mummies never wore any adornment; they didn’t think like that and always pulled it off, since they were virtually mindless zombies. The only thing that she knew of that was Undead and wore clothes wasn’t a Mummy, it was a Lich!
Liches were nasty, evil creatures with a very high intelligence (quite the opposite from the shuffling thoughtless Mummies) and could use powerful magic.
The creature in the sarcophagus shifted slightly, and Diana caught a glint of gold from something she hadn’t seen. On the creature’s head was a golden crown, and it was that more than anything else that made the Acrobat suddenly much, much more afraid.
This Lich was wearing a crown. It was a King! She didn’t know if it was just a King when it was alive or if it was actually a King of Liches. But either way, that was not good!
Beside her, she heard Hank give a sharp gasp, and knew he must be thinking exactly the same as she was. She looked round at him with the unspoken question on her face: What are we going to do?
Hank just gave a helpless shrug.
At least the others were alright for the moment, she thought. At least…
Diana looked to where the others had been lying, but something was wrong. It took her a moment to realise that one was missing. he Cavalier wasn’t with the others!
Surprisingly, instead of the shock she expected a small voice in the back of her mind whispered that’s just typical of the damned Cavalier! He just can’t stay out of trouble!
Why hadn’t she notice this before? He was kinda hard to miss in blue and yellow! What hadn’t she seen him?
She looked round desperately searching, and suddenly her eyes fell on the small step just below the Sarcophagus.
A bizarre mix of embarrassment and fear flooded through her.
Eric was lying there on the narrow step, his arms off the side and his hands lying on the ground below, in what looked like special carved-out bowls. There were long wickedly curved knives lying on the ground next to him as well.
But the reason she hadn’t see him was glaringly obvious and she felt the colour rush to burn in her face.
He was almost the same grey colour as the stone of the floor.
Instead of wearing his clothes, his armour and chainmail, he was naked but for a thin line of rope across his neck.
Her chest tightened and for a few seconds she struggled to breath.
Hank looked at her.
‘Diana, are you alright?’ he whispered.
She nodded, her head spinning. They had to be quick, they had to be careful. They couldn’t afford any more distraction. They had to think up a plan, they had to act. They had to do something!
As the Acrobat stared, open-mouthed, at the sight before her, the Lich King moved. It pulled itself up and out of its coffin, the sound of scratching bone and stone filling the air.
But she couldn’t concentrate. Her attention was entirely consumed by one simple fact: Eric had no clothes on.
