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Ben leaned to one side and studied his old friend. “You sound very certain.”
“Because I am,” Impara replied as he crossed his arms over his chest and kept his attention on the stage. “The boy’s had natural talent since he was a lad. His mother and his grandfather before him also had the gift of song.”
My eyebrows shot up. “You knew his grandfather?”
He nodded. “Yes, and his other grandfather, for what that’s worth. He was a scoundrel, though not nearly as bad as his son. Thomas Fox, however, was a gentleman who passed away far too young, leaving his little girl. I raised her myself until she came of age, and then she was sent into the arms of a rather stupid aunt who introduced her to the fiend we now face.” His shoulders sagged and he shook his head. “That poor girl deserved better.”
Sorrow was etched into his face. I leaned over Ben and set my hand atop Impara’s wrinkled one. “I’m sorry.”
He shook off his remembrances and straightened. “Yes, well, the past is done and the future is very uncertain, but at least we have his music to enjoy.”
That is, until the rotten hand shot out of the dirt between the stage and where we sat. We all jumped to our feet and the musicians stopped their playing. The hand dragged out the rest of the corpse, and the creature opened his gaping maw and let out a groan.
That was the signal for the band to evacuate. All except for Hearth, that is. He leapt down from the stage as the others raced through the doors. The masked man reached into his vest and drew out a small dagger with a shimmering silver blade. We were going to need more weapons than that as another half dozen corpses pulled themselves out of the earth.
Fortunately, there was Ben with his dagger, and the professor drew out a vial of some silver-colored liquid. Phil and I scuttled back as the fighting began. Ben and Hearth’s blades sliced through air and fiend, and their numbers dropped with the beheaded bodies. Impara through the contents of the vial at a pair of fiends who approached Phil and me. The liquid ate through rotten cloth and flesh, and exposed the strange ‘heart’ in their chests before it ate that, too, extinguishing that unnatural light and their unnatural resurrection.
In a minute the battle was done and the unmoving corpses were strewn about the place. Hearth sheathed his blade and pursed his lips as he studied their fallen foes. “I had no idea there were graves beneath the hall.”
Impara stooped and studied one of the bodies. “Horsemen, no doubt. Their boots show as much. They must have been buried with honors near the old imperial stables.”
Shouts from the corridor caught our attention. Ben tucked his blade into his jacket. “We had better finish this discussion in a more private area.”
“There’s another way out over there,” Phil told us as he nodded at a small door hidden away behind the far side of the stage.
“I’ll stay here and distract whoever’s coming,” Hearth offered. He didn’t give any of us a chance to argue before he hurried to the main stage entrance.
The four of us hurried across the sands and to the other door. We slipped inside and found ourselves in a narrow hall. The passage led along the side of the seats before it turned and widened to the corridor behind them. An exterior door led outside, and Phil took us through that one.
He held open the door and let us pass before stepping back inside. “I’ll help Phantom deal with the trouble. Where can we meet you later?”
“At my home in the Campion. Number thirteen,” Ben told him.
Phil nodded. “I know where that is. We’ll be there as soon as we can.” He ducked back inside, closing the door behind him.
Ben set his hands on each of our shoulders and guided us down the street. “We had better hurry away before they scour the area for more undead.”
Our group traversed the city by foot and cab, and in half an hour we found ourselves back on Ben’s doorstep. We slipped inside, but even that silent entrance didn’t catch Tully unawares. The servant met us in the hall and gave Ben a questioning look.
Ben shook his head. “Nothing good, old friend, and should anyone come looking for me I’m not at home.” Tully bowed his head before his eyes settled on me. Ben chuckled. “No food yet, but we’ll need three more glasses for a stiff drink.” His servant nodded again before he slipped away to obey.
“What an interesting performance,” Ben teased as he led us down the hall to his study. “Though the additional entertainment left something to be desired.”
I snorted as we walked into the comfortable room with its crackling fire. “Yeah, like a barrel of purifying salt.”
“That leads me to wonder what you have on your person,” Ben mused as he turned his attention to our guest.
“A little something of my own invention,” Impara informed us as he stopped beside one of the chairs placed before the fire. He patted his coat pocket where he had produced the vial. “A purifying substance that destroys all unnatural creatures.”
I blinked at him. “Anything?”
He wrinkled his nose. “Yes, well, in theory. I hadn’t been able to try it until this morning, and I’m glad I made the time to stop by my home and fetch it.”
“What did bring you back at such an opportune time?” Ben wondered as he poured a couple of glasses of wine.
A dark cloud settled on the professor’s brow. “I returned as quickly as I could after hearing the news of the dead rising. The dirt you gave me, too, intrigued me, and I discovered that it contained more than mere earth.”
My eyebrows shot up. “What is it?”
