“No need.”
I didn’t clarify that no one would successfully survive the journey without me to guide them.
We walked in silence until we reached a stone door, the massive slab placed there by me all those years ago.
“He’s behind that door.”
Pan snickered. “Like Jesus. Of course he thought he was that important. Megalomaniacs always do.”
I raised a pointed brow.
“What? My arrogance is well earned.”
Alek slapped him on the shoulder. “Sure it is.”
“True prowess requires no accolades,” Tor added. “It speaks for itself.”
“Sounds like something only a loser would say,” Pan scoffed. “How do we open this tomb? I don’t see a handle or helpful switch.”
Alek reared back and punched the stone square in the center. It cracked, dust falling from the ceiling and coating us in the fine mist. Then, with a grunt, he finished it off with a front kick. It took a moment for the air to clear enough for us to see, but when it did, Khan was there, clear as day, encased in his armor. I was certain once I closed the distance between us, I’d find nothing but porous bones damaged by time underneath the remaining iron pieces. The leather and fabric that once attached the metal were long since gone, eaten by insects there was no defense against.
“Looks like a happy chap,” Pan murmured, walking alongside me as I strode forward. His gait was no longer even, and I sent him a sharp glance. Beads of sweat dotted his brow, and there was a slight tremor in his hand. My eyes darted down to the spider bite and noted the fresh blood staining his thigh with a frown. We needed to get out of here and see to his wound.
“He was a real charmer.” I didn’t try to hide my sarcasm.
“Is that it?” Tor asked, pointing to the Mongol saber clutched in Khan’s skeletal fist.
“Do you see any other weapons lying around, brother?” Alek teased.
“Forgive me for asking, but the last weapon was a shard of bone repurposed into a blade by magic. It could be much the same.” Tor’s tone said he wasn’t interested in playful banter. He was as on edge as I was.
“It’s a fair point,” Pan said, shooting Alek a considering look.
Before they wandered off and started tearing into the various chests and jars littering the rest of the room, I reached for the saber. “This is it.”
My fingers slid smoothly around the hilt, and I gave it a gentle tug. Khan’s arm lifted with the weapon, much to my chagrin. I had to yank hard before his arm dislocated at the elbow and the sword and forearm came free.
“Fuck,” I muttered, reaching down and removing each finger bone by bone.
“That is a special type of unsettling, and I’m a demon.”
“Not a fan of desecrating corpses?” Alek asked.
“Not exactly my scene. I’m more a fan of creating them.”
Tor offered him a smile that would have been terrifying were I anyone else. “Me too.”
“Psychopath,” Alek muttered.
“Berserker,” Tor corrected.
“Same thing, in the end.”
“Basically,” his brother agreed.
An icy chill swept around the room, setting off my internal alarms as the weapon finally left Khan’s possession. The air had been relatively still since we entered Khan’s tomb... So where was the current suddenly coming from?
A low rumble had us all freezing in place, not even a breath taken between us.