Bul-Kathos looked up. “Rathma has…no victims. He is not…Esu…never Esu…if she still lives…”
Uldyssian finally gave up. Bul-Kathos had obviously long ago abandoned touch with others…and perhaps even himself. If the strange being was no threat, then it was time for Uldyssian to move on.
And again, his eyes shifted to the towering mountain. This time, Uldyssian wondered if he should go to it.
But as if reading his intention, the macabre figure, suddenly animated, leapt up. “Your path…lies elsewhere…young one…not there…”
That only made Uldyssian even more determined to reach the peak. “And why not there?”
“Because…it is forbidden…for you.”
To be told that further infuriated Uldyssian. Thrusting his chin out defiantly, he returned, “A good enough reason to journey to it, then.”
Bul-Kathos swelled in size and an ominous shadow crossed his earth and rock face. Even the eyes—the almost human eyes—now held a threat. “No. You will not.”
The giant moved toward Uldyssian, and as he did, more stone and dirt fell away. Now, although he still looked as if created from the very ground, Bul-Kathos wore the vague semblance of a bearded warrior. His skin was the brown of the soil and his hair the green of grass. There was nothing hesitant anymore about his movements—
Nor about his intentions toward Uldyssian.
Bul-Kathos raised a fist and in it formed a huge, stone club. He swung at the mortal’s midsection.
But the club deflected off an invisible barrier quickly created by his target. Uldyssian already sweated from effort; the giant’s strike had nearly penetrated.
“You are more than you seem,” rumbled Bul-Kathos. “A nephalem I would call you, young one, if not for the fact that I and Rathma may be the last…”
“The last of your age, maybe,” retorted the son of Diomedes. “But time has long passed you just as you’ve pointed out.”
“But no matter how many centuries, I yet recall my duty well! And so Mount Arreat will remain forbidden for you and all else who would desecrate its interior!”
He struck the ground with the club and the land shook so much that Uldyssian toppled. More and more the earthen creature gave way to an ancient warrior. Clad in kilt and sandals and with a golden band around his head, Bul-Kathos resembled some barbarian deity…a barbarian deity who radiated raw force such as Uldyssian had never faced, not even from Lucion.
“We swore that the way to the mount would be forever sealed from those like Esu,” continued a furious Bul-Kathos, “who would’ve used that within to further ravage a weakened world! And though the others may be more of the soil than even I desired to be, in their memory and our oath I’ll continue to fulfill my sacred duty!”
He struck the ground again and Uldyssian, who had nearly gotten to his feet, fell back. Uldyssian turned that tumble into a roll, a wise maneuver as the club next shattered the stones atop which he had just lain.
“I am not the master of the elements that Esu was, young fool, but Bul-Kathos wields much might of his own!”
“And speaks about it even more!” snapped Uldyssian in turn. From his awkward position, he still managed to focus on his adversary. The giant made for a hard-to-miss target…
There was a sound like a thunderclap. The area between the two exploded, as if the very air had caught fire. Both combatants were thrown far from one another.
Uldyssian struck a tree, jarring his bones so hard he thought that they were all shattered. Despite that, he managed to immediately fall forward into a crouching position and seize a handful of dirt. He threw the handful high in the air and concentrated.
The dirt broke apart, becoming a whirling, blinding force that assailed the giant just as he regained his own balance. However, Bul-Kathos did not recoil, but rather inhaled…and sneezed. The whirlwind broke apart and the dust formed in a tight ball that landed in the warrior’s brown palm.
With a bellowing laugh, Bul-Kathos raised his hand and the dirt stretched two directions, creating in the blink of an eye a spear with a tip that gleamed like a diamond. He threw the spear at Uldyssian.
Again, the former farmer raised a shield, but this time it was not quite strong enough. The spear slowed, yet did not halt. Uldyssian pressed, but the missile caught him in the left shoulder. He cried out as the point penetrated—
Bul-Kathos was suddenly before him, the giant gripping the spear with both hands. He obviously intended to drive the spear deeper, for Uldyssian had managed to keep the wound fairly shallow.
“You were warned! If only you’d not refused to turn away, young one! I’m sworn to do what I must now!”
Uldyssian clutched the upper edge of the spear.
Lightning crackled along the length of it, racing to where his foe held the weapon. Bul-Kathos let out a roar as the powerful energy engulfed him.
Gritting his teeth, Uldyssian shoved the spear from the wound. Falling back, he touched the bloody opening, which immediately sealed.
The pair paused. Both Uldyssian and Bul-Kathos gasped for air as their gazes met.
“A fine battle!” the giant almost cheerfully called. “It breathes new life into me, recalls me the magnificent challenges I once faced daily…”
“You may find amusement in this, but I don’t!” Uldyssian snapped. “A friend is dead, my brother is lost, and the woman I love and those who trust in me might all be dead now while I waste my time on this !” He suddenly straightened. “Continue with your game, if you wish, Bul-Kathos, but I’m done with it all! Very well! Keep whatever foul secret you guard in that mountain to yourself!”
“I can’t trust that you’ll not be returning, young one, and though ’tis in part my own folly that you know of Arreat and that she houses something, I cannot let you live!”
The giant clasped his fists together, but before he could do whatever it was he planned, a figure materialized between them.
“But you will let him live, old ox. Not only live, but come with me to the depths of Mount Arreat…”
Bul-Kathos blurted the name before Uldyssian could. “Rathma!” Then, as the other’s words registered, a scowl spread across the giant’s gravelly features. “Inside the mount? Am I mad from isolation and only dream you? You’d never suggest such a thing!”
“I am as real as you, Bul-Kathos.” To prove his point, Rathma thrust a gloved finger into the taller figure’s chest. “And, perhaps, even more so,” he added, his glove coming away covered in ground and grass. Rathma shook his head. “I thought you would outlast even me…”
“I may yet, if you persist in this! How does this one come to need to visit the mount?”
“Because my mother has returned.”
It was all Rathma had to say. Bul-Kathos’s face changed utterly. He spat, but instead of water, mud landed on the ruined ground. Uldyssian realized that Rathma had the right of it concerning the giant; Bul-Kathos looked much more like them now, but what the son of Diomedes had first seen was the truth. Bul-Kathos existed more as spirit; his true body had long ago been replaced by the soil in which he had lain.
It bespoke how very old the giant was and how very long he had likely stood sentinel over this mysterious peak.
“Lilith…” Bul-Kathos spoke her name like someone who had just discovered that they had swallowed poison. “She still bears the murders of my parents on her shoulders! They would’ve never let Inarius slay us, as she said he would, Rathma! I’m sure of it—”
“And I am not…but that is neither here nor there. My mother saved us only to become hers, a fate that would have been worse than death, trust me. As for my father…in the name of his sanctimony, he is capable of things just as terrible…”
That stilled the huge warrior completely. “Aye, I know that too well…”
“Then you understand why I shall now take Uldyssian to see Mount Arreat’s secret.”