Bone Crier's Moon (Bone Grace, #1)(63)

I remember my knife. By some miracle, I haven’t lost my grip on the hilt. I plant my feet and reach past my shoulder. I slice the woman’s left wrist, then her right one. With a raging scream, she lets go of me. I suck in a burning gasp of air and shove her into the third Chained, stealing his opportunity to lunge at me. Before the two souls regain their balance, I spring in the air, turn my blade down, and fall on each of them. I wound them deeply, then dart away toward the entrance to the stairs.

I don’t make it far. Three new Chained pour out from between the two boulders. A moment later, two more follow. I halt and scramble in the other direction.

Bastien catches up to me. He makes no move to attack when I freeze as more souls flood over the cliff. He takes a defensive stance, positioning himself with his back against mine. “Where are they?” he asks, his knife drawn.

I shake my head. “Everywhere.”

Five more Chained pull up to their feet after they finish climbing. Two of them I’ve already fought—the soldier and the man with the shaved head. Their chazoure- glowing eyes lock on mine.

They’re not after Jules and the flute; they’re after me. I played the siren song.

There’s magic at work here I don’t understand. But if a song from the flute bound me to Bastien, what does that mean for me and the dead?

The Chained converge on us, picking up speed. “Mother!” My desperate cry shudders through the air. The Chained can’t be killed, only ferried. All this fighting is in vain. If I can’t get the flute to Odiva quickly, she’ll have to come and take it from Jules. I glance around for her, but can’t find her past the oncoming swarm. “We’re surrounded, Bastien. There are too many!”

The muscles in his back tense against mine. “How do we break through them?”

I rake my gaze over the tightening circle. “I don’t think we can. Stay close to me.”

“I’m not leaving you.”

“I’ll tell you when to attack.”

“I’ll be ready.”

The Chained man with the shaved head is the first to charge at me. The woman with the velvet ribbon leaps for Bastien. “To your left!” I cry, and swipe my knife at the man. Bastien blindly stabs the woman with his blade, and Jules’s throaty voice cuts the air.

“Stay away from them! It’s me you want.” I see Jules now, standing on a lone boulder several yards away. Wisps of her golden hair have sprung loose from her braid. She holds the bone flute high in her right hand. “I’m the one with the flute, and I can send every one of you to Hell with it!”

A bluff, but the Chained man and woman stop attacking. Chazoure flashes as the other souls turn conflicted gazes on Jules. Bastien’s brows hitch up. “Jules, what are you—?”

“Run!” she shouts, and jumps off the boulder. She sprints across the plateau and away from the cliff.

Half of the Chained follow.

Bastien expels a sharp breath. “Merde.” He bolts after her.

I race alongside him. My heart beats a frantic rhythm. “Come back!” I yell at Jules. She just saved us, but she can’t take the flute away from here. It’s the only thing that can stop the Chained.

If Jules hears me, she makes no indication. She only runs faster, keeping her distance from the Chained. Marcel jogs a little ahead of her. His floppy hair whips in the breeze. Eventually they’ll both tire, but the Chained won’t.

The souls that don’t follow Jules pursue me and Bastien. “Careful!” I say, as one draws near him. I reach for his hand and tug him out of the way. We keep our fingers locked as we race onward.

He veers when I pull him. “On your right!” I warn. He whips out his knife and cuts another Chained man across the chest.

“Is he dead?” Bastien looks back as we race faster.

“He was already dead.”

“Right.” He tightens his grip on my hand.

Two Chained come at us from both sides. “Duck!” I shout.

Bastien drops to the ground and dodges a brutal punch. I roll over his back and stab one of the Chained men in his side. I turn to fight the second one, but Bastien’s already sliced his legs. He kicks him down, then jumps back up.

Our hands come together again, and we keep running. I glance back and scan the now-distant cliff for my mother. Or Sabine. Or any Ferrier. But all I see is the grassy plateau glowing with the chazoure of the dead.

I have to stop them before they reach Jules and Marcel—and then all of South Galle.

I have to get the flute.





28

Sabine

MY LEGS BURN AS I near the top of the long flight of stairs. I’ve fought and outrun two Chained already, but at least five more are ahead of me. Finally, I’m close enough to one to attack.

I raise my staff to slam it down on him, when someone grabs my dress from behind. I swing my staff around, but the staircase is too narrow. My staff hits the limestone wall with a loud crack.

Instinctively, I kick and shove the Chained off me. But then I see she wears no chains. She’s only a young girl, at the most twelve years old, with chazoure-glowing ringlets.

Her eyes round as she tumbles backward, falling down the steep stairs. My chest pangs. “I’m sorry!” I run down three steps after her, but then I force myself to stop. I’ve hurt her, but she won’t die. Ailesse might.