Simon ran to get between the necromancer and the tendrils of the Skin of Ra. He grabbed hold of strips of the linen and pulled them away. It reacted violently, coiling around him like a python and for a moment he thought the Skin might choose him instead. Perhaps there was still a trace of magic left in him. It tightened around him, wrapping his chest and arms, crushing the breath out of him. Then abruptly it loosened and flung him aside. He tumbled across the floor and collided with one of the columns surrounding the altar.
The Skin whipped like a snake, pursuing the staggering Ash down the side aisle. A small vial sailed over the slithering linen and smashed in front of it. A black wash of Kate’s treacle elixir covered the floor like a patch of tar. The rolling wave of linen tumbled right into it and it slowed as the black concoction coated every filament that fell into it. Wild tendrils flashed out and strained to reach to the corners of the once-beautiful church, wrapping itself around the galleries, roof beams, and columns. It began to pull itself free of the sticky mire.
Simon glanced up as fine bits of stone drifted over him and he saw a massive crack in the column next to him. He struggled to his feet and ran around the other side. He began to push at the crumbling buttress. “Penny! Hogarth! Help me!” Simon cursed the lack of aether. He could have toppled the damn thing easily if he still had his tattoos. Hogarth smashed a shoulder next to him and the great column shuddered. “Keep pushing!”
Penny grabbed hold of a tall brass candlestick and jammed an end of it into the widest section of the crack. Then she put all her weight against the makeshift lever. Simon saw her and put his strength on it also.
The Skin of Ra coiled, preparing to pull free of the treacle, when the column snapped loudly and suddenly shifted its weight like a great tree falling. The pillar creaked to the front and slowly toppled onto the frantic tangle of linen. The disembodied god struggled to escape as it was smashed beneath the thunderous collapse. The vibration of the tumbling column rocked the chamber. The sudden quake cracked the other weakened columns at their bases. Their huge forms slid unstoppably forward, crashing into each other, toppling in a divine cataclysm of deafening power. The Skin of Ra disappeared into the inescapable rain of stone, obscuring it in dust and tons of pure wreckage.
Simon heard nothing but crushing noise as the thunderous crash seemed to tear him apart. A choking wave of dust rolled over him, turning his world grey and thick. He covered his face, gagging on grit rushing down his throat and blinking against slivers of stone stabbing his eyes.
“Kate!” he called out, fearful that she might have gotten caught in the collapse.
“Here! I’m over here,” she answered, standing near the prone body of Barnes, whose legs were crushed under a large piece of the broken column.
Hogarth and Penny helped each other to their feet as Simon stood and started to climb over the debris to get to Kate. He saw the mountain of stone shift. Among the twisted rubble, he saw something move. A burnt scrap of linen slithered out.
Simon’s heart sank.
The wreckage moved again, loosing another tide of stone and wood. More horrible pale tendrils appeared and pulled themselves loose from the tomb of the ruined church. The nearest tendril grasped angrily at Simon.
He tried to move, but slipped. Something grabbed him and pulled him back. The tendril slapped down where he had just been. Noise roared in his ears. He stumbled over loose detritus as Hogarth steadied him.
A wall started to collapse along with a massive portion of the ceiling. One of the huge bells from the shattered tower above crashed down. He barely moved in time for it to thunder past him. Then a huge chunk of the gallery fell toward Penny. The strength spell was already past Simon’s lips before he realized how useless it was. He shouted in alarm at Penny to jump. She gave a valiant try, but timbers fell on her and she was buried under a cloud of debris.
Hogarth was the first to Penny and he struggled to pull her limp body free. Kate also made a move to help her when the linen slapped her aside. Simon felt heavy shards of stone still falling onto his back. The church was coming down around them.
The Skin of Ra began to pull itself out of the tar. Dripping black, it crawled across the wreckage. Long tendrils of still-sparking linen lashed Ash’s arm, swiftly wrapping its way from wrist to elbow. Ash screamed in terror.
“Don’t let it take you!” Simon shouted at the necromancer, kicking free of rubble.
A tendril tossed aside the stone that pinned Ash. The linen quickly undulated over Barnes’s body and closed over the dead features of the necromancer.
Malcolm and Charlotte pushed their way through the crowd outside. Everyone was looking at St. Mary Woolnoth, pointing and shouting or crying. Surely the militia would arrive soon; the Lord Mayor’s residence wasn’t far from the sounds and sights of destruction. Charlotte glanced back at the sound of another section of wall collapsing. Malcolm held her hand tight. He wasn’t sure what she could accomplish in her human form, but they had few options left.
“We need the box. That’s the only thing that will stop that monster.”