Rotten Flower: A Disney Descendants Story

A trident and a close call

The skeletons came out of the darkness, descending from the sky like ghosts, their calcium-white bones glistening in the light of Uma's torch. They danced in the black, their limbs making herky-jerky motions up and down, bobbing as they walked.

Lilith frowned at the sight of them, quickly stepping back until her back hit the muddy wall. How in Lucifer's name was this possible? There's no magic on the Isle! Was this also residue from the Dragon Eye? But if so, shouldn't it have died out a long time ago?

Uma swung at the nearest skeleton with all her fury, hoping to nick a bone or perhaps to break a rib or two but instead its entire rib cage shattered, sending bones flying in all directions, landing in the water with a hundred different splashes.

Meanwhile Lilith stared in curiosity. She was separated from the entire crew, without a sword she was no threat, but she could still make a run for it with the treasure chest. Why were none of the skeletons facing her?

Taking a gamble, she reached out to the air, right above the head of one of the skeletons, only to feel a thread. But of course!

"It's not magic! They're not floating, they're suspending in the air with string!"

Relieved by the news, the rest of the pirates were all slashing at the ropes. But they could only cut so many, so the dead continued their dance. Pieces of broken arms and legs kept jerking about in the air.

"I never thought they were alive." Harry said as he pushed against a skeleton, sending it swinging away. But it swung right back, hitting him so hard it knocked him to the ground.

"Maybe they don't need to be alive to take you down," Uma joked while Lilith snorted, taking the sword out of the hand from one of the skeletons.

Cutting the strings to make them all fall to the floor, the crew worked hard but had to be careful. While the skeletons were fake, the blades in their hands were very real and could still do some serious damage if they were reckless.

One of the crewmen retrieved the still-flaming torch that Uma had dropped near the water's edge. He held it high above them all, revealing at last an elaborate web of strings and cables, all of them disappearing upward toward the cavern's ceiling.

In spite of their increased illumination, Harry got his hook wrapped up in a skeleton hand. He twisted to and fro before finally getting so caught in the cables he fell to the sand. Gil was doing a little better, having wrestled one of the skeletons to the ground and stomped all over its bones. He slashed the ropes when he was finished. The rest of the crew howled their battle cries, as they took down the cables.

Lilith in the mean time was looking for any other booby traps. Surely Yen Sid wouldn't go trough all this trouble if it was his only defense.

As the last skeleton fell to the ground at last, a low thrum echoed in the darkness.

"What was that?!" She heard Uma shriek, but was unable to see what happened.

"What's going on?" She asked, cautiously feeling her way around the walls, keeping an eye out for booby traps.

"When we cut that last skeleton it must have triggered some new part of the mechanism." Harry explained. "Uma almost got shot with an arrow."

Lilith's jaw dropped at the thought of what would happen if the arrow had struck it's target. "I'm fine tho, don't worry. You focus on looking for a way out." Uma said, making Lilith nod slightly.

The dark haired girl looked at the slight hole further up the beach. "It looks like the way out is clear. If you guys can make it over here with the chest, we should be fine." She told the others.