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Rose’s scream drew the attention of the six cultists. Three of them—Nico and the other two men from the bar—started up the steps toward her. They didn’t appear to be armed, and Bones wasn’t going to shoot the men in cold blood, but he knew he had to do something.
He thrust the little Glock into Jessie’s hands. “Cover me.”
Then, he planted a firm hand atop the golden altar and drove down with his legs, vaulting up and over it in one smooth motion. As he came down, he lashed out with his right foot, catching the closest cult member—Mayor Giolito—in the side of the head. The man went down like a ton of bricks.
Rose was still screaming, albeit less coherently, but Bones ignored her and pounced on the next closest cultist—Santi. He charged the slight man and bulled into him from the side, knocking him off his feet, sending him sprawling into one of the bone piles. Vivianna promptly retaliated by leaping onto Bones’ back and pounding at him with her fists, but he swiftly pried her loose and flipped her toward the throne. She slammed into it with a thud and cried out in pain, holding her hip.
Bones balled his fist to meet her next attack but was caught from behind by Santi. Shrugging out of the older man’s grip, Bones wheeled on him and drove a knee into his gut. Stumbling back, the archaeologist tripped over Giolito and fell backward into the same altar Bones had just vaulted over. His head hit with a thud and his body slumped to the side, definitely down but not completely out.
Jessie popped up, brandishing the gun, but didn’t seem to know whom to aim it at. Bones pointed up the stairs to where Nico and the others were turning to join the melee. She swiveled toward them and shouted, “Stop!”
The trio froze, realizing that she was serious.
Bones blew out his breath and turned his attention back to the others. Vivianna was conscious but clearly in pain, crawling toward her dazed brother. Giolito was still unconscious but breathing.
Santi roused, startled awake from Jessie’s shouted order. The gun went to him next since he was now the closest of the threats.
“Please, Mr. Bones,” he begged a groggily. “Let me explain.”
The plea surprised Bones, but Santi didn’t really look like someone who had just chowed down on a feast of human flesh. Had he gotten this wrong? “All right,” Bones replied. “Explain.”
“No, Valentino,” Vivianna protested through clenched teeth, “you must not tell—”
“They need to know if they are going to help.”
“Help?” Jessie laughed. “You expect us to help you monsters?”
“Jessie’s right. We found one of your human sacrifices. Eaten.” Just saying it turned Bones’ stomach.
Santi climbed to his feet, using the altar for assistance. “We are not monsters. But they do exist. Or rather, he does.”
Bones ground his teeth together, frustrated by the cryptic explanation. “He who?”
Santi nodded at the throne.
Bones groaned. “Let me guess. There’s a king, too?”
The other man nodded. “And he is not in a particularly good mood since his beloved was killed in the cave-in. I was trying to keep the excavation centered on the single chamber but my team showed up a day early and moved into the second chamber without my knowledge. Her body wasn’t meant to be found.”
“Is that why Giolito it?” Jessie asked, putting together the pieces.
“We were hoping to report the disappearance as a theft. You two were going to be blamed.”
“Then, the mayor would have been be able to officially take over the site and close down the excavation.” Bones said.
“Where it would stay closed forever,” Santi confirmed. “The secret must be preserved. He must not be threatened any more than he already feels.”
“He,” Bones repeated. “And you guys worship him. Provide sacrificial victims for late night snacks.”
“We worship him to appease him and spare the town above. We are all that stands between him and disaster. But you are wrong. We do not provide human victims.” Santi’s lips twitched into something like a smile. “Despite what you have seen, his tastes are not that discriminating. He’ll eat any kind of meat as long as it’s fresh.”
“Where is he now?”
The man’s face dropped. “On his way here. We were summoning him with our prayers.”
Bones’ heart sank. “Crap.” He turned to Jessie who quickly shoved the gun into his hand. “Time to go.”
Bones and Jessie started for the stairs, but the loud thump of fast moving, oversized footfalls from the eastern passage told them they were already too late.
The king stepped through the eastern tunnel, loudly sniffing the air as he did. He was completely hairless and deathly pale, no doubt the result of centuries of living underground. Lean, with muscles rippling under nearly translucent skin, he looked human enough, aside from his towering twelve-foot height.
Bones watched as the buck-naked giant ducked through the ten-foot-tall archway to enter the room. As soon as he was inside, his eyes instantly locked on the two intruders. Circular grooves were carved into the flesh of his cheeks, right below his eyes. The patterns were the same as on the statues surrounding the queen’s pedestal.
So far, he and Jessie were spared, but after Rose let loose another scream, it got the king moving. He squatted, opened his arms out wide, and roared. Mid-bellow, he began his descent.
Leveling his gun at the giant, Bones unloaded three quick shots. Each struck the king dead center in the chest but the only effect was to piss him off.
“Move!” he shouted.
Giolito rolled out of the way as did Vivianna, dragging the still senseless Giolito, but instead of fleeing, they huddled together near the base of the throne. Nico and the other men, already standing on the steps, turned and fled.
Jessie needed no further encouragement. She turned and bounded up the steps, pumping her arms furiously as she ran. Bones managed to keep up, taking the enlarged steps two at a time, but as he neared the top, he felt the floor shake beneath him. The tremor caused him to stumble, and he cracked his knee painfully on one of the stone steps. He grunted in pain but took the moment to glance over his shoulder. The king was already on the lower level, passing the throne, taking enormous strides.
Bastard must’ve jumped!
Bones rolled onto his back and fired two more rounds—to no better effect—and then crab-walked the rest of the way up to the entrance to the west tunnel, where Jessie, Nico and the other two men were waiting.
“My wife!” Nico shouted.
Bones didn’t think Giolito, Vivianna, and Santi were in any real danger; the king had blown right past them. He hated to leave anyone, even these three conspirators, but getting torn to pieces trying to save them was an even less appealing proposition.
“We’ll figure something out,” Bones promised, producing his Maglite to illuminate the path forward. He found Jessie huddled next to an almost catatonic Rose, trying desperately to pull her friend to her feet.
In one smooth motion, Bones yanked Rose up and threw her over his shoulder as he started down the passage at a dead run. Jessie and the three local men were right behind him.
When they reached the chamber with the partially consumed man, Bones heard Jessie gasp in dismay.
“What about the others?” she asked, breathlessly.
Bones was about to answer that they should probably assume the worst, but then remembered that they had someone with them who could probably confirm it. “Nico!” Bones yelled.
The local man looked up in surprise. “What?”
“Do you know what happened to the others—the ones Santi left behind to watch the site?”
Nico swallowed nervously. “He took them.”
“Kinda figured that. But are they dead?” He glanced down at the carcass. “Did he eat them all?”
Nico took on a pained expression. “I don’t know. They have not taken a human in decades, and only then because they were desperate. They want to be left alone and only require food every few weeks.”
“Which you provide.”
“We do. They stay below if we keep them fed—especially now with such easy access to the surface.”
“What do you feed them?” Jessie asked.
“Livestock mostly—cows, sheep, pigs. They love beer, too.”
Bones tried not to grin. “My kind of monsters.” Jessie snapped her horrified gaze toward him. “I mean the beer,” he added, “Not the uncooked livestock and man-flesh.” He swung his gaze back to Nico. “You said they only eat every few weeks. So maybe he’d keep them alive a while. Captive stock for fresh meat.”
Nico shrugged.
“Does the king have a lair of some kind?”
“About a mile east of the throne room.” Nico looked like he was about to say something more, but then he clammed up.
Bones didn’t press the issue. They were in no shape to attempt a rescue now. The first priority was getting back to the surface. If the rhythmic thump of giant footfalls reverberating down the length of the passage was any indication, making it out alive was by no means a foregone conclusion.
They passed the chamber with the queen’s sarcophagus, and continued back to the site of the cave in. Bones set Rose on her feet, holding her at arm’s length. “Princess, you with us?”
Rose nodded dully.
“Then up you go. Jessie, stay with her.”
Nico went up the ladder next, followed by his two companions. The thump-thump of footfalls was getting louder with each passing second. Finally, it was Bones’ turn. He started up the rungs but kept his eye on the passage until it was eclipsed from view. Even then, he didn’t allow himself the luxury of sighing in relief.
He had just three rungs to go, when the king appeared below, stalking toward the ladder. Too impossibly big to scale it, the giant latched onto the bottom and with an almost disdainful effort, nearly ripped it from its moorings. Bones, realizing what was about to happen, scurried to the top and managed to get his hands on the lip of the pit, just in time to avoid a fatal tumble, but suddenly his lower half was swinging out into open air. Jessie wrapped both her hands around his right wrist, and Nico slid into view and snagged his left. Together, they pulled Bones to safety.
A tremor rippled through the ground. Bones glanced back to see a pair of impossibly large hands appear above the rim of the sinkhole, gripping the stone as he had done just a moment before.
Holy crap, Bones thought. He just jumped thirty feet straight up.
The stone crumbled under the weight of the creature and it disappeared from view, but Bones knew it would try again, and again, until it succeeded. He turned to Nico. “Will it follow us into town?”
“I don’t know,” Nico replied, though judging by his expression, Bones guessed it was a very real possibility.
"The last thing we want is to lead that thing into town,” Bones said. “We’d be walking him right into the biggest all-you-can-eat buffet in history.”
Nico pursed his lips together in thought for a moment—a moment that ended when another tremor signaled the giant’s second attempt to jump up and climb out of the pit.
“Follow me,” he said.