The dark trees continued to rustle ominously, but there had been no repeat of the sinister trap the forest had set for them before. Twice, the trio had avoided skeletal patrols, and once something large and black had leaped among the branches above before moving on. There had been no other Titans yet, but Idaria could not imagine that she and her companions would be fortunate enough to avoid a future confrontation with one or more.
Stefan suddenly waved for a halt. Holding the medallion just ahead of him, he began muttering as if speaking with someone.
A moment later, he glanced back at his two companions, the elf and the gargoyle. “The Titans’ sanctum is near.”
That simple sentence made Idaria shudder. The culmination of her work, of her suffering, lay just ahead.
Stefan led them on. Chasm sniffed the air, shaking his head. Idaria recalled being told by Chasm that he was sensitive to magic. The nearer they drew to the sanctum, the more the gargoyle appeared bothered by the emanations.
The elf put a comforting hand on Chasm’s arm. The winged creature let out a low rumble of pleasure.
Then, through the trees ahead, they sighted a silhouette that grew larger as they neared. It was a tall, massive structure with wide arches and jutting towers. There was a fearsome, fiery tint to its thick, stone walls.
Idaria immediately sensed something wrong about the structure and knew just what it was. “The Fire Rose …” she whispered. “This place has been transformed by it.”
“‘The more it is used, the more it will demand to be used,’” Stefan replied, clearly quoting someone else. “In that may lie our best hope.”
“How so?”
“If it enchants the Titan leader so much, then he may not be very mindful of small things like our task.”
The forest finally began to thin out. Stefan made them pause again.
“This ground is accursed even more than the forest,” the cleric murmured. “I can’t say how, but tread very cautiously and follow closely where I step.” As an afterthought, he added, “Pay no attention to any noises you hear. Any distraction could be costly.”
He stepped into the more open area, with Idaria behind him and Chasm, as usual, taking up the rear guard. The Titans’ sanctum loomed over them.
Idaria stared up. “The building … for some reason I can never really focus on it.”
“Yes, I noticed that. Keep your eyes on the path I take, my lady. We’ll see enough of the sanctum should we reach it.”
A sound arose from their left. The area where they walked still featured the occasional crooked tree but otherwise appeared to be a seemingly harmless patch of black soil with small, rounded spots here and there. The elf saw nothing when she looked for the source of the sound, but her action made Chasm growl low in warning, reminding her of the knight’s caution.
Nodding to the gargoyle, Idaria kept her eyes trained on Stefan’s back. A similar noise rose up from the right, but that time she did not bother to look. There was an odor, too, one that she could not place, but which disturbed her. It reminded her of the musky smell of unbathed ogres and yet not exactly.
From behind her there came a surprised grunt from Chasm. Idaria looked over her shoulder to see what disturbed him.
The gargoyle looked back at her, as if confused by what she was doing.
Only then did Idaria realize that the grunt had not come from him.
She started to turn back, discovering then that she was just slightly off Stefan’s trail. It was no more than a step.
Without realizing it, the elf had set a foot down on one of the tiny mounds.
The mound was rumbling. Idaria tried to pull her foot back up, only to find that it stuck to the ground.
Chasm came to her aid, but in the process stepped even farther away from Stefan’s path.
“Stand back!” Stefan called, brandishing both his sword and the medallion.
The ground below Idaria exploded. As bits of dirt showered her, a skeletal hand reached up to clutch at her ankle.
Pulling hard, Chasm freed her. The fleshless hand scraped her skin as it lost hold.
Even as the gargoyle helped her to safety, the rest of the monstrous figure rose up from the ground. An undead ogre akin to the forest guards stalked toward them.
Worse, more of the fiends began shooting up to the surface wherever the small mounds were located. All were armed with rusted weapons. Their hollow eye sockets fixed on the trio.
Stefan slashed repeatedly with his blade. With a startling flash, the weapon cut through solid bone. The upper half of the nearest fiend toppled over, crashing to the ground. However, both the bottom and the severed top continued toward the intruders, the top dragging along on bony fingers.
Chasm thrust himself in front of Idaria. The gargoyle seized one of the tall skeletons and, despite the danger of being stabbed, hurled it at the closest other. The two undead ogres collided with a scattering of bone everywhere.
But the bones began to mend and knit together almost as soon as they landed. And the growing ranks of the Titans’ horrific guards closed on the threesome.
“Stay between us!” Stefan ordered, making Idaria feel even more useless than before. Yet there was no arguing with his command.
Something struck her foot. The elf gasped as she saw an arm bone sliding past her to join the fragments of one of Chasm’s earlier defeated foes. The bone slid and jerked toward its companion pieces as if tugged by an invisible string.
Idaria seized it. The bone fought her, but she gripped it with both hands and gained control. Holding the wriggling bone, the slave watched for a chance to help either of her companions.
Chasm was the ogre undeads’ most formidable opponent. With pure, brute strength, he’d rip off an arm of one creature then twisted off the rib cage of another. Whenever he could, the gargoyle would tangle his adversaries together. Chasm laughed as two sought in vain to extricate themselves from each other.
But still the undead came at them, and the only thing that gave Idaria hope was the fact that the Titans were oddly absent. The possibility existed that, from somewhere safe, they were watching the desperate trio, savoring their predicament.
Stefan brandished the medallion, thrusting it toward each monster that came close. The two nearest skeletons reeled away as if burned, but others came at the Solamnic from all sides. The knight tried to fend them off, but they were converging on him.
One monstrous guard raised a chipped axe. Stefan, his back to the creature, did not notice the imminent threat.
Lunging, the elf struck the creature’s weapon hand. The sword slipped from its bony grip. The towering undead turned to Idaria.
Slipping under his grasp, she shoved the arm bone between the skeleton’s legs, turning it with all her strength. The guard, bending down to grab her, lost its balance. The great skeleton went tumbling.
Idaria immediately lifted her makeshift weapon and crushed in the skeleton’s skull. For good measure, she swatted the ruined skull hard enough to send it flying. If she could not stop the fiend, she would at least do what she could to slow it.
Suddenly, Chasm gave a furious roar that made both elf and human look toward him. With furious energy, the gargoyle tore into one skeleton after another and, for a moment, cleared the path.
Pausing in his frenzy, Chasm turned his ferocious eyes to his companions-especially Idaria-and growled one word.
“Go!”
Idaria might have hesitated, but Stefan seized her arm and plunged ahead with her. Behind them, they heard Chasm unleash another tremendous roar, followed by a raucous clatter of bones and weapons.
The entrance to the sanctum awaited the pair. Twin columns shaped to resemble a Titan flanked great doors that appeared to be carved from silver pearl. Emblazoned on each of those doors was the face of the same Titan whose figure made up the columns: Safrag.