He caught him!

Sharp stings crossed Sagus' stomach in two places, followed by an acidic burn-tingle.

"He got me! Sophie, Rebecca, finish him off! Marianne, RUN!! RRRRRRAAAAAAHHHH!!!!" Sagus screamed as he fell to the ground, burning and melting within. Sophie searched her cape frantically as Rebecca loaded three arrows to cover her. "Sophie, get Sagus some anti-venom! I'll keep him off you! GO!" Sophie found three different anti-venoms and rushed to Sagus' side. Sharcha started to follow, but stopped when a crossbow bolt dug into his chest, just barely stopping before his heart. He turned to the archer, and rushed her.

"Sagus!? It's Sophie, are you still alive?!"

"uuuuuhhhh...."

Wasting no more time, Sophie quickly administered the first anti-venom. No effect, for any of them it turned out. "Now what do I do?" Sophie thought.

Sharcha lunged at Rebecca, each time missing her and catching another bolt in a vital, but well-armored spot. But this could only happen twice before the crossbow ran out of ammo, and it's user was rendered helpless. Rebecca screamed as Sharcha lunged in for the kill.

"STOOOOOP!!!!"

Everyone but Sagus turned to the source of the voice. Marianne.

"I won't let you kill my friends, you demon!!" She raised her arms and began chanting in a strange language that no one had heard before. Except for Sharcha, who gasped in terror.

"She...! She is a...a puppet-mistress!!" As soon as he said it, a hand burst out of the ground and grabbed his foot, then another and another, untill fifteen pairs of hands had a hold of Sharcha's legs and pulled him down into the ground. The more he resisted, the more hands appeared. Dirty, rotten hands, some only bones and a tendon or two.

The hands of the dead.

Sharcha screamed and tried desperately to escape their grasp, but even he couldn't. They dragged him down untill only his head was above ground.

"STOP!! YOU WIN!! PLEASE CALL THEM OFF!! HELP ME, PLEASE!!!" Sophie stormed over to him, furious.

"I will not forgive you for what you've done today!" She reached into her cloak and withdrew a vial, full of liquified nitrogen. She poured it over his head, and his scales soon began to become solid, like they were becoming one skin rather than a lot of pieces. His face frozen into a horrified scream, Sophie left to allow either Rebecca or Marianne to finish him. To her surprise, Marianne accepted the offer. She dropped one arm and left the other up in the air. The owner of one set of hands, a rotted, bloated corpse rose halfway from the ground and grabbed Sharcha's head. He twisted it untill it snapped off, then sank back into the dirt, taking the head with him. Marianne lowered her arms, and fell to the ground, panting. "Sagus...! How is Sagus?!"

"I'm sorry...," Sophie said solemnly. "He's gone..."