GrimWall slumped forward.

His chest collapsed inward with a final, wet sound. The thing inside him shriveled, blackened, and then went still.

Silence filled the kitchen.

Fire crackled. Blood dripped from broken counters. I stayed where I was, sword hanging heavy in my hands.

I did not wait to see if it would rise again.

I stepped forward.

My grip adjusted slightly, just enough to steady my hands. Pain throbbed through my ribs. Blood ran warm down the side of my neck where my ear was gone, but I ignored it.

One clean motion was all it took.

I swung.

The blade flashed once.

There was no resistance.

Steel passed through the top half of GrimWall’s head, slicing straight across the middle of his head. Bone parted cleanly. Flesh followed a heartbeat later.

The upper portion slid away.

What remained collapsed inward, the exposed brain and twisted flesh sagging before spilling out onto the floor with a wet sound. The thing inside him convulsed once, then went still.

No scream this time.

No laughter.

Just a body hitting the stone.

I stood over him, breathing hard, blade dripping steadily. Blood pooled around his knees and spread across the ruined kitchen tiles.

Nothing moved.

I waited.

The flesh did not crawl. The wounds did not close. The fiend did not answer.

Only then did I lower my sword.

The fight was over.

I stopped at the doorway.

The fire crackled behind me, heat licking up my back, smoke curling along the ceiling. I had already decided to leave it. Letting the flames finish my work.

“Can you hear me, child?”

I turned.

GrimWall’s body had not moved from where it fell. Knees folded. Torso slumped. The top of his head was still cleanly split, the crown missing like it had been carved away.

Then the flesh at the cut began to move.

It bubbled.

Blood swelled outward from the exposed wound, pulsing like something breathing under the skin. The surface stretched, thinned, then pushed forward.

A face began to form.

Not GrimWall’s.

Cheeks pressed out of nothing. Lips split open, stitched together from muscle and vein. Eyes surfaced last, sliding into place like they were being fitted rather than born. They opened and locked onto me.

“You hear me,” the thing said, smiling through GrimWall’s ruined body.

The corpse twitched.

One arm dragged against the floor. Fingers curled.

I raised my blade.

“You did well,” the face continued, voice calm, pleased. “You know what I am, yes?”

The torso straightened slightly. Bones creaked. Flesh crawled across itself, knitting where it should not have been able to.

“Am I speaking to the lord of this land?” He didn’t respond at first. He just smiled and grinned. Already answering my question.

"The body convulsed. One arm dragged across the floor, fingers scraping stone as it pushed itself upright." 

I stepped forward and cut.

One clean horizontal strike.

My blade passed through GrimWall’s body at the waist. Armor split. Flesh parted. Bone snapped. The upper half slid away from the lower with a heavy, wet sound.

"Why do you not work for me?" I could use someone with your ability, he says while lying on the floor.

I didn’t answer

Seeing a familiar bottle sitting on a shelf. 

I turned and grabbed a bottle from the shelf. Rum. The cork was already loose. I pulled it free with my teeth and took a long swallow. The burn was sharp but a familiar Welcome.

I had my fill, and I hurled the rest onto the body.

The alcohol soaked into flesh and cloth and pooled blood.

I stepped back as the fire reached it.

Flames crawled eagerly across the corpse, climbing skin, sinking into the open wounds. The face writhed as it burned, features melting.

“So be it,” it hissed as the fire took it.

“I’ll be waiting for it to rest in the throne room.”

The flames roared higher, swallowing the words, consuming the flesh until there was nothing left but burning meat and cracking bone.

I turned and walked away.

This time, nothing followed.

End of  chapter 10