She screamed. Pleaded. Heaved on the casket’s lid. But the same thing Dalius had put in place to protect her was trapping her. There was nowhere to run. She couldn’t even reposition herself. The dead body began to snap, rotten teeth biting, trying to claw at her. Cara screamed a dead man’s name as she tried to block the face, the hands.

But he never heard her.

——

Ser Dalius finished the Bone Giant after ten minutes of combat. The construct just—collapsed. The death magic animating it couldn’t regenerate indefinitely, as he had known. And the incorporeal, invincible ghost had just slashed it into pieces again and again, flying upwards to deliver devastating blows to its midsection.

It wasn’t the most honorable of battles, but lacking his Skills—which would have actually expedited the process—Ser Dalius couldn’t help but preen a bit. He flew around, making sure the mice were well and truly dead.

“They must have all animated at once and escaped their caskets. Because of a living soul. No—did I seal the first one improperly? Or was it just Miss Cara? Both?”

The man alighted on the floor, kicking bones out of the way, speculating. He crushed a few still-twitching frames of bone, and then looked around.

“Ah, Miss Cara’s coffin.”

It was slightly out of line with the others. Ser Dalius floated over to it. He’d even made sure to place it that way, lest Cara run out of air as he searched for the right lid. He pushed at the lid, straining without feeling any of the muscular discomfort he would have in life. The ghost shoved the lid to one side.

“Miss Cara, I have dispatched—”

A figure rolled out of the coffin. Ser Dalius saw Cara land on the floor, scramble away. He turned, astonished.

“Miss Cara? Wh—”

He froze. Cara’s face was cut. Someone had bit her—a tooth was stuck in one cheek, torn out of rotten gums, and her arms were scratched to pieces by rotten fingernails. Ser Dalius turned.

The zombie rose out of the coffin, shambling, wrathful. It turned its head, coming after Cara. The little undead mouse that had animated it scurried past the zombie. The undead figure lurched—

Ser Dalius’ fist smashed into its face. The zombie rocked backwards. The [Knight] grabbed the undead by the neck. He smashed the skull into the lid of the coffin.

Once—the skull cracked. Twice—skull and skin deformed. Again, again—pounding the zombie’s head into paste. The man only let go when he realized the body he held was headless. The rest was…paste.

Lying on the ground. Then Ser Dalius whirled.

“Cara!”

He saw her. Lying there, bleeding. Her eyes were wide. She looked up at him and the [Knight] saw her flinch as the last mouse crept towards her, both back legs smashed. She stared at the undead.

Both of them.

——