Escape from Undermountain (The Nobles) by Mark Anthony

Author:Mark Anthony [Anthony, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9780786964116
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Publishing
Published: 2012-10-23T00:00:00+00:00

River of Death

Dropping stray gobbets of rotten flesh, the zombie pirates shuffled toward them.

Artek heard a wet, squelching sound and glanced over his shoulder. Panic clutched at his heart. More half-decomposed zombies clambered out of a trapdoor near the prow of the schooner. The scent of decay wafted in the air, thick and choking. Clutching Muragh, Corin stumbled hastily toward Artek, Beckla and Guss close on his heels. Back to back, they all huddled together in a tight knot, staring in horror at the approaching zombies.

“There must be at least forty of them,” Artek said.

“Sometimes I hate being right,” the wizard sighed.

“Well, this time your guess was dead on.”

“Must you use that word, Ar’talen?” Corin asked in a squeaking voice.

“What word?” Artek demanded.

The nobleman swallowed hard. “Dead.”

There was no time to reply. The zombies closed in, trapping them in a foul circle. Beckla raised her hands, ready to cast a spell. Guss extended sharp onyx claws. Corin tossed down Muragh and drew his slim rapier in trembling hands. Artek’s fingers brushed the hilt of the saber at his hip. He hated to draw the cursed weapon, knowing that once he did he would not be able to stop fighting until all the zombies were destroyed—or he joined them in death.

The pirates shuffled to a halt not a half-dozen paces away, exuding a noisome reek, and then one of their number shambled forward. By its tattered red kneecoat and the gold earring dangling from its moldy ear, Artek guessed that this zombie had been in life the captain of The Black Dart. A decomposed parrot missing most of its feathers still perched on the captain’s shoulder, clinging with skeletal claws to the tarnished epaulets of the captain’s coat.

“Aaawk!” the bird gurgled. “Stooowaways, captaaaain!”

“Aaaye, sooo theeey beee,” the captain replied in a slurred voice. Writhing worms dropped from the zombie’s festering lips. “Aaand yooou knooow whaaat weee dooo wiiith suuuch laaandlubbers.”

“Aaawk!” the parrot cried again. “Waaalk the plaaank! Waaalk the plaaank! Waaalk the pl—” The bird’s bubbling cries ended abruptly as its rotted beak fell off.

The captain pointed a bloated arm toward a group of about ten pirates. “Yooou. Taaake theeese stooow-aways tooo theee plaaank. Theee reeest ooof yooou looouts, maaan yooour staaations!”

Artek and the others watched in grisly fascination as the zombie pirates shuffled off to reenact the tasks they had performed in life. A dozen pirates climbed clumsily into the ship’s rigging. Several promptly fell back down to the deck, landing with wet, nauseating thuds, then lurched to their feet to try again. Other zombies began swabbing the deck with ragged mops. They made little progress, for every time they cleaned an area to their satisfaction, a gobbet of their own putrid flesh dropped to the deck and had to be wiped up. Still other undead pirates manned the schooner’s booms and lines.

“Look out!” Corin cried in terror.

They ducked just in time to avoid a whistling boom as it swung overhead. One of the nearby zombies was not so quick. The cross-mast struck it in the forehead, and its cranium burst apart like an overripe melon.

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