The Tyrant's Tomb

I looked at the terrified girl behind him, feral and fierce and ready to
spring. I wondered who was protecting whom. “Ah…maybe?”
The old god’s face hardened a bit more, which shouldn’t have been
possible for stone. “I see. Well. I’ve concentrated the last bits of my power
here, around Julia. They may destroy New Rome, but they will not harm this
girl!”
“Or this statue!” said Julia.
My heart turned to Smucker’s jelly. “We’ll win today, I promise.”
Somehow I made it sound like I actually believed that statement. “Where’s
Hazel?”
“Over there!” Terminus pointed with his nonexistent arms. Based on his
glance (I couldn’t go by his nose anymore), I assumed he meant to the left.
We ran in that direction until we found another cluster of legionnaires.
“Where’s Hazel?” Meg yelled.
“That way!” shouted Leila. “Two blocks maybe!”
“Thanks!” Meg sprinted on with her unicorn honor guard, their nail file
and corkscrew attachments at the ready.
We found Hazel just where Leila had predicted—two blocks down,
where the street widened into a neighborhood piazza. She and Arion were
surrounded by zombies in the middle of the square, outnumbered about
twenty to one. Arion didn’t look particularly alarmed, but he grunted and
whinnied in frustration, unable to use his speed in such close quarters. Hazel
slashed away with her spatha while Arion kicked at the mob to keep them
back.
No doubt Hazel could’ve handled the situation without help, but our
unicorns couldn’t resist the opportunity for more zombie-posterior-kicking.
They crashed into the fray, slicing and bottle-opening and tweezing the
undead in an awesome display of multifunction carnage.
Meg leaped into battle, her twin blades spinning. I scanned the street for
abandoned projectile weapons. Sadly, they were easy to find. I scooped up a
bow and quiver and went to work, giving the zombies some very fashionable
skull-piercings.
When Hazel realized it was us, she laughed with relief, then scanned the
area behind me, probably looking for Frank. I met her eyes. I’m afraid my
expression told her everything she didn’t want to hear.
Emotions rippled across her face: utter disbelief, desolation, then anger.
She yelled in rage, spurring Arion, and plowed through the last of the