Marc Chadbourn - The Devil in green

'What's that?' Miller's voice was filled with dread.

Gardener peered past him. 'Old bones.'

It was the ossuary. Mallory felt they would have ended up there whichever path they had taken. Hipgrave hovered on the threshold, seemingly afraid of entering.

'There used to be a graveyard around the cathedral,' Gardener said. 'They flattened it when they landscaped the grounds.'

'I don't want to go in there,' Miller said.

'Well, you can always go back. On your own.' Mallory pushed past Hipgrave and entered. As the lamp rocked it sent shadows of skulls and protruding bones dancing across the walls.

The remains were heaped against opposite walls, leaving a path between them. Hipgrave had grown sullen-faced and quiet, so Mallory took the lamp from him and led the way. A clatter came from the rear: Gardener had kicked away a thigh bone. 'I keep bloody catching myself on them,' he said.

Mallory progressed slowly; occasionally an icy breeze would bring grunts or moans from the tunnel ahead. Off to his right, he glimpsed something glittering green amongst the bones before losing sight of it again. Behind him, Gardener cursed; another clatter.

'Go slow,' Daniels cautioned unnecessarily.

The lamp swung; the green glittered again. 'What is that?' Mallory said.

'What?' Miller said anxiously. 'What? I can't see anything!'

'Calm down,' Daniels snapped; nerves were fraying.

Gardener had dropped back further, swearing profusely under his breath. The green was so incongruous amid the yellowing bones that Mallory was intrigued. He drew to a halt and began to search amongst the pile to see what it was.

'Don't waste time with that,' Daniels said.

Hipgrave had started to make a strange noise in his throat that sounded like the mewling of a kitten. 'For God's sake shut him up,' Mallory whispered with irritation.

The green light glowed again as the illumination from the lamp struck it. Mallory leaned forwards over the bones to get a better look, careful not to touch the precarious pile for fear of bringing it crashing down.

A pair of green eyes stared back.

Recoiling in shock, Mallory brought his sword up sharply, but the bones were already erupting in front of him as the concealed figure thrust its way out. He smelled loam, saw the black of a clerical outfit and then the grasping hands clawing towards his face blocked most of his vision. The lamp went flying, crashing on to its side, still alight.

Across the piles on both sides, more figures emerged, grotesque spectres throwing larger shadows that swooped and struck like crows. Bones showered all around. Mallory recognised the ghostly things they had glimpsed in the wine cellar, now given unpleasant substance.

Gardener's muttered curses turned to an exclamation of horror as bony fingers grasped his ankles tightly. Some of the other bones — the ones that still had some skeletal shape — were moving with a life of their own. They dragged themselves out on splintered metatarsals, sending shanks and ribs cascading, jaws sagging, skulls lolling.

Mallory tried to throw the thing off him, but its strength far exceeded its frame as it tried to force stinking rough-paper fingers into his mouth. Somewhere Miller was squealing like a baby. Sparks showered through the dark as Gardener's sword crashed against the flagstones in an attempt to chop up the bony limbs gripping his feet. Whether by luck or skill, only Hipgrave had escaped. Lithely, he vaulted one of the attacking figures, then dropped low and scurried out of the far door. As he passed, Mallory glimpsed a face transformed by the flickering light into something almost bestial, eyes glinting with a primal determination.

Only Mallory's sword had any effect on the revenants. They shied from the blade's sapphire glow until they could find another path of attack, but they didn't relent. Mallory was forced to move back and forth, defending both himself and Daniels. Beyond, Miller was already down with three of the things forcing their fingers into his mouth; it looked as if they were trying to tear off his jaw. Rigid with fear, his eyes were wide and tear-streaked.

Mallory attempted to get to him, but before he could make contact with any of the attackers something crashed into his waist, knocking him to the ground. The breath was smashed from his lungs, purple flashes bursting behind his eyes as the weight of one or more of the things crushed him down.

When his vision cleared, Miller's mouth was ripped open as wide as it would go; Mallory heard the cracking of his jaw. A cowled, skull-like head hung barely an inch from Miller's lips as if it were ready to kiss him. And then it did press forwards, not kissing, but forcing itself into his mouth.

Mallory at first tried to convince himself it was some bizarre optical illusion — the head was so big, Miller's mouth so small — but somehow the thing's face was disappearing between Miller's teeth. Mallory felt a sickening sense of failure when his friend's terrified eyes flickered towards him, pleading desperately, as if Mallory were the only person who could ever save him.

While Daniels and Gardener fought their own batdes, he could only watch as the revenant rolled on to its back while somehow keeping its head pointing in the same direction. It was eerie and sickening at the same time. And then it gradually melted into Miller's body until it was he, and he it, the features a bizarre hybrid of the two.

At that moment, the other things stopped fighting and quietly retreated to the edges of the ossuary; the dead bones clattered to the floor, their newfound life lost.

Mallory pushed himself to his feet and advanced on Miller with Daniels and Gardener close behind, but the thing and Miller had merged seamlessly.

'It's possessed him.' Gardener's voice was an awed whisper filled with religious dread.

'Why have the others backed off?' Daniels looked around nervously.

'Hear me!' A voice boomed out across the ossuary, so unfeasibly loud and distorted that it took Mallory a while to realise it was coming from Miller's mouth.

'This sacred land has been corrupted,' the voice continued, 'and with each passing day it is corrupted more. When we had life, we raised God's standard on this acre. We built this shining beacon of devotion, and now your actions threaten to tear it down! Our sleep has been broken to warn you… turn back before all is destroyed!'

The echoes died away until the only sound in the ossuary was the guttering of the torch. In the gloom around the edges, Mallory could just make out the other things waiting motionlessly.

He looked from Daniels to Gardener, then stepped forwards. 'Are you warning us about the enemy outside the walls?' he asked.

The force of the reply made him take a step back. 'The enemy within! God's Kingdom is built on purity, not lies and murder!'

He exchanged another glance with Daniels and Gardener. They urged him on. 'What do you want us to do?'

'We will not see all we believed in destroyed. We will not have our eternal rest interrupted. Your actions have dragged us back to this foul place from the Glory of God! We cannot return to the sublime beauty until this perversion has been averted. You must stop this corruption… or we shall exact our vengeance on those who do the Devil's work… eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.' The tone brought coldness to all of them. 'Take this warning back with you. Let the perpetrators know… we are watching. Time is running short.'

Mallory asked who the perpetrators were, but this time there was no response. Instead, the hybrid Miller-face grew fluid, then ran like oil. Slowly, the thing that had possessed him rose out of his body. It detached itself foot-from-foot, then drifted past Mallory as if he wasn't there; a faint coldness tingled his skin on the side against which it brushed. The other things followed it in a mute, eerie procession through the far door.