The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

continuing on to the left and right as far as I could see.
Maybe even thousands.
The statues were of women, their heads lowered. Each
hand held a stone sword that jutted forward. The stone
women had wings sprouting from their backs, splayed wide,
each touching the wings of the ones standing on either side
of them. They formed a chain of sorts, blocking whatever
resided beyond. You could only pass through under the
wings.
They were beautiful.
“Poppy?” Casteel’s voice neared the opening. “You okay
out there?”
“Yeah. Sorry.” I cleared my throat. “It’s safe.”
Within a handful of moments, Casteel and the rest made
their way out, coming to stand beside me in silence. They all
stared at the statues, their wonder bubbly and sugary.
“Are they supposed to represent the draken?” I asked.
“I don’t know.” Casteel’s hand touched my lower back.
“They’re stunning, though.”
They truly were. “I guess we walk ahead and see if what
they’re guarding is what we’re looking for.”
We started to cross the barren land, searching for any
signs of life. There was nothing. No sound. Not even a
breeze or the distant call of a bird.
“This is kind of creepy,” I murmured, looking around.
“The silence.”
“Agreed. Perhaps this should be called the Land of the
Dead,” Delano said as he walked under the shadowed wing
of a stone woman.
A faint tremble stirred the ground under our feet.
Casteel threw out a hand. We all stopped. “This happened
before,” I told them. “It stopped—”
The ground erupted in several geysers all around us,
sending clouds of dirt into the air and spewing small rocks in
every direction.