Or at least that was the plan.
Suddenly something snatched the axe out of his hand. One moment he was holding it in readiness: not in a death grip, but hardly loosely by any means. The next, the axe was gone, plucked from his hand before he could even think to resist, and with a strength that would have been irresistible regardless.
Gareth had only a heartbeat to wonder what had happen before he felt a vice take hold of his throat and lift him off his feet.
Shock, pain, and sudden loss of breath all worked in unison to confuse him; it took longer than it should have to realize that the vice was in fact a hand. Thin, skeletal fingers wrapped around his throat with a strength Gareth never imagined possible. Panicked horror surged through him. It was another of those walking corpses!
Then
