Chapter Twenty-Two

Perchta trailed Krampus up the stairwell as he swiped away guards with his ruten. When they came upon a closed door, Krampus yanked it off its hinges and Perchta dove in to slaughter whoever kept watch within.

Guards heard the commotion and descended the stairwell to find a nearly ten-foot-tall horned monster beating guards with a birch switch, and a gruesome, haggard lady disemboweling whoever was behind him.

The men fled upstairs. If they encountered a closed door, they warned the guard inside to join them. “You’re dead if you stay in there!”

A dozen guards had reached the top steps and the frontmost men pounded the door, pleading for refuge.

More than halfway up the tower, Krampus found a locked door, tucked his ruten under his arm and pulled the handle with both hands. Stones gave way, and he flicked the door down the stairs as Perchta scurried inside.

A surprised guard dropped his crossbow at the sight of a double-fisted, knife-wielding crone. He climbed onto the window’s ledge and judged how far he’d fall. Then he looked up, and Perchta saw fleeting happiness in his expression as he jumped and plummeted, screaming until Perchta heard the distant life-ending thump.

She leaned over the ledge to see the pancaked guard and then glanced above the window as Krampus scrunched through the doorway. “What’s the holdup?”

“I know why he jumped,” she said, eyeing the heavens. “Keep the guards busy. And be ready.”