Serenthia took aim with her spear, throwing it with accuracy enhanced by her powers. It drove through the giant’s chest much the way Uldyssian had earlier sent the arrow through the priest’s.
At first, Mendeln thought her heroic action had been all for nothing, for Dialon moved unperturbed by the gap in its torso. After all, it was only animated stone…
But then fine cracks quickly spread forth from the hole, racing along until they covered the statue’s body with what looked almost like a web. As the effigy raised its hammer, portions of the giant began breaking off.
Serenthia gave out a warning cry to those in the vicinity of Dialon. They backed away just in time, for the hand wielding the murderous tool chose that moment to break off. As even the statue itself watched, both dropped to the floor, shattering in pieces that spread throughout the chamber.
No sooner had Dialon lost its hand, then the rest of the limb followed. That opened the floodgates, huge chunks of the stone goliath dropping like rain. The effigy looked down at its crumbling body—and the neck snapped.
As the head crashed in front of Mendeln and Serenthia, what was left of Dialon joined the wreckage.
But there were two other giants with which to contend, two giants making savage sweeps across the chamber as they hunted the tinier figures. However, Mendeln gave thanks to whatever watched over the humans, for despite their attempts, the behemoths were having little good luck since the initial slaughter. He wondered at that until he saw the hand of Mefis bounce off of the air just before Romus and a small band of Parthans and Torajians. The bearded man—a villain reformed by Uldyssian—looked to be the guiding force of this group. He stared at the menacing figure, almost seeming to defy it to break through.
There was still a good chance that it might just do that. Mendeln decided that it was time he lent his hand to the matter rather than stand around gaping while others merely struggled to survive. The shadowy gift that he had been granted had to be of some use now…
Words finally flowed through his head, words in that archaic language first glimpsed on the stone just outside Seram. They were the ones Mendeln knew that he had to speak and so Uldyssian’s brother did just that.
Hands formed into fists, the statue battered at the invisible barrier. Yet, as the first blows struck, the giant was repelled. Cracks materialized in the giant body and chips broke off as if something unseen had fought against the effigy with the same violence with which the latter had attacked Romus’s band.
Mendeln allowed himself the ghost of a satisfied smile. Undeterred by the damage to it, Mefis renewed its assault. Yet, each hit caused more and more damage. Driven by whatever dark force had animated it, the giant would not cease. It did not understand that the magic Mendeln somehow knew was making it the instrument of its own destruction.
Romus, on the other hand, evidently understood. He gestured for those with him to remain calm and wait out the situation. The statue of Mefis was strong and that tremendous strength—turned on itself—quickly reduced the giant to a precarious state. At last, great portions of the statue already piled around its feet, Mefis collapsed.
That left only Bala…or, it would have, if the third of the great statues had not suddenly frozen. The robed figure—in the act of leaning down to swat three Torajians with the tablets—teetered, then tipped over. But Bala did not fall in the direction his balance would have demanded. Rather than plunge forward—toward his would-be victims—the effigy went against common sense and dropped backward.
Only as it smashed to pieces on the floor did the reason for its sudden and peculiar destruction become obvious. Uldyssian, his aspect even more grim than Mendeln’s, stepped through the immense pile of shattered stone, the path ever clearing ahead of him.
Mendeln did not like what he read in his older brother’s eyes. He had not made it clear to Serenthia that Uldyssian faced not merely a pair of demons, but Lilith herself. Had she known that, the merchant’s daughter would have attempted to plunge in ahead of even the demoness’s former lover.
After all, Lilith was as guilty, if not more so, in the death of Achilios than Lucion—who had merely been the physical cause. Lilith it had been who had drawn all of them into this.
Lilith, whose memory would no doubt tear at Uldyssian’s heart until he was dead.
Mendeln’s brother glared at the losses caused by the statues. “Damn her…”
Fortunately, Serenthia had turned to help one of the injured. That gave the siblings a moment to confer.
“Nothing was resolved…” Mendeln offered.
“Nothing…” Uldyssian continued to survey the dead. “Too many…”
The younger brother refrained from making any comment. He understood that his own recent opinions concerning death did not always sit well with Uldyssian.
What sounded like a great rumble of thunder shook the temple. Uldyssian glanced up, his expression hardening yet further.
“The fires and other damage have taken their own toll. The temple’s about to collapse.” He stepped past Mendeln. “Leave now!” he shouted to the rest. “Our task is done here!”
It was a measure of the utter command Uldyssian had that no one even hesitated. The dead were left where they were. It was not that they were so readily forgotten, just that the survivors knew that their leader would not have ordered them out without good reason. Some helped in carrying the wounded away, whom Uldyssian would surely attempt to heal later.
Mendeln turned his gaze back to his brother…and his studious gaze noted a sudden strain in the other’s expression.
“Uldyssian—”
“I said that we all need to leave now.” Uldyssian’s voice remained even, but the vein in his neck had begun throbbing.
There was a second rumble, but much more muted. Mendeln noted an increase in the throbbing.
“As you say,” he finally replied as calmly as possible. “But the doors are sealed—”
“No, not anymore.”
Mendeln took his brother’s reply as truth and, sure enough, he turned just in time to see the formerly sealed doors fling themselves open just as the first of Uldyssian’s followers reached them. None of the others questioned this; they had the utmost faith that he would see them through anything.
“They need to move faster…” Uldyssian growled under his breath.
Nodding, Mendeln increased his pace. “Do not lag,” he called to the rest. “Be wary but swift.”
From farther on, Serenthia caught his eye. Her own gaze informed Mendeln that she understood the truth concerning the situation. Like Uldyssian’s sibling, she did her utmost to quietly usher out the others.
Another rumble briefly shook the temple. Cracks appeared in the walls and ceiling, but otherwise the edifice remained fairly intact. The only fragments on the floor were the result of the earlier conflicts.
Mendeln felt the warm night air rush at him as he neared the outside. Aware of what they faced, he counted each step as if they were as important as the beats of his heart. It would have been simple to tell the others to run, to flee from the area before it was too late, but that would have only caused more calamity.
Flames illuminated the outdoors. In their awful light, Mendeln glimpsed some other parts of Toraja. The tree-lined streets were most obvious, their foliage the home of the serka—small simians revered by the populace. There were also the tall, rounded buildings with their columns carved to resemble one powerful beast standing atop another. The work was so intricate that some of the animals almost seemed to be gazing in concern at the conflaguration surrounding them. In truth, there would be no stopping the fire from consuming the immediate district, not that Ulydssian would have cared. The serka had long fled the area and everything else here bore the mark of the Triune.