“Open the doors!” Pylum ordered.
Some of the Necropolitans gasped. “But we’ve never opened up the crypt before!”
The Master of Cerements held up his hand to silence them. “These are cursed times. The ancient laws demand that we throw the violators into the crypt. Open the doors!”
Tash was amazed at how willingly the mob followed Pylum’s orders. Only a few days ago, some of them had thought he was an old fool fretting about outdated superstitions. Now they were frightened enough to make him their leader.
It took two or three strong men pulling at each handle, and even then the great doors moved reluctantly. When the doors were opened wide enough, Pylum ordered them to stop. “Put the offworlders inside.”
Tash and Hoole were shoved through the opening so roughly that Tash would have tumbled down the steep stairway if Hoole hadn’t caught her arm. They turned back toward the opening, where they could see Pylum addressing the mob. “Go back to your homes! I will go into the crypt and plead with Sycorax to call off this evil curse. When I enter, shut the doors behind me and go back to your homes until all is calm again!”
With that, Pylum entered the crypt. The Necropolitans shut the doors behind him, plunging all three of them into complete darkness.
A second later there was small click and a glowrod lit up the stairwell, casting eerie light over Pylum’s face. He looked at Tash and Hoole, and chuckled.
“Those superstitious fools,” he laughed.
“What?” Tash replied in amazement.
Pylum laughed again. “Imagine believing all that nonsense about curses and legends.”
“Y-You mean you don’t?” she stuttered.
“Of course not.” Pylum pushed past them and started down the stairs. “Follow me.”
Tash and Hoole had no choice but to follow Pylum down the steep stairway into the tomb below. At the bottom of the stairs, Tash could see two stone coffins and a large, closed door. Pylum walked up to the coffins.
“Sycorax,” he chuckled. “What a foolish story. But at least all my years of study finally proved useful.”
“I don’t know what you’re thinking, Pylum,” Uncle Hoole said, “but I warn you that you alone are no match for me.”
Pylum grinned. “Oh, I know all about your Shi’ido powers. You could turn into a wampa ice beast and tear me apart right here. In fact that’s why I arranged to have you brought down here. My associates and I consider your shape-changing powers a perfect test.”
Tash’s brain was spinning in confusion. “Test of what?”
Pylum smiled. “Why, a test of our undead soldiers, naturally.”
He pounded on the door. It slowly creaked open. Inside an army of zombies was waiting.
CHAPTER 19
Tash screamed.
Hoole didn’t hesitate. In the blink of an eye, he did exactly as Pylum predicted. He quickly shape-shifted into an enormous wampa ice beast, using the creature’s great claws to swipe at the zombies. His blows tossed them aside like feathers. But after every blow, the zombies simply stood up and started forward again, clutching at his arms and legs.
Tash knew she could do nothing to stop the zombies. But she thought she could slow them down. She found an old length of chain lying on the tomb floor and used it to trip the awkward zombies. It didn’t slow them for long, but at least it kept some of them from swarming over Hoole.
The Shi’ido shifted from a wampa to a gundark and from a gundark to a reptilian creature that Tash had never seen before, but nothing stopped the undead. They felt no pain and no fear, and they were determined to bring Hoole down.
Hoole and Tash soon found themselves backed up against the wall. Zombies crowded into the small space around them, pressing forward. Hoole had transformed into a Wookiee, and shoved the zombies back with a roar, but it was like pushing against a brick wall. Powerful hands clutched at his Wookiee fur, dragging him down and smothering him.
In a blur, Hoole transformed into a dozen different species from across the galaxy. But none of them were strong enough, fast enough, or slippery enough to escape the undead mob. Hoole returned to his Wookiee form for one last surge of strength, then fell to his knees with a defiant roar. A dozen zombies hung onto him, ensuring that he could not get up again. Hoole had lost the battle.
Pylum drew a small blaster from his pouch and held it to Tash’s head. “Now, Dr. Hoole, I suggest you return to your normal shape and stay that way before I do the girl serious harm.”
The Wookiee snarled but obeyed. Hoole reappeared under the pile of walking corpses. He looked tired but unhurt.
Beyond the door, Tash heard the sound of someone clapping. “Excellent, excellent,” said a malicious voice. “You see, Pylum, I told you the zombies were invincible. They fear nothing and they feel nothing. They are the perfect soldiers, and this test proves it.”