The Crucible of the Dragon God

scientific trappings, including complex and delicate machines beyond understanding, suggested that they were records of experiments the Old Races had conducted — perhaps that the Faith wished to replicate — but experiments into what, with what, and for what purpose? A further clue came when Slowhand somehow triggered the opening of a number of small and strange, crystalline drawers in an adjacent chamber. Kali looked and saw that, indexed with elven pictograms, were what appeared to organic tissue samples of every animal that she knew existed — and many, many that she didn't. There was the grank at the top of the food chain, to the bassoom in the middle, all the way to the humble worgle at the bottom. There were samples of insect life, too, of avian, reptilian and aquatic lifeforms, and there, in a section of their own, those of elves, dwarves and — Kali swallowed slightly — humans.

What disturbed her the most was that, in almost every case, the indexing attached to the specimens were cross-referenced to others — sometimes two or three, sometimes seven or eight, or sometimes as many as twenty other specimens in the collection.

'What is this?' Slowhand said.

'Disturbing,' was all Kali could say in reply.

Again, she and Slowhand moved on, working their way towards the hub of Twilight now, passing chambers even more mystifying than those they had already investigated.

Here was a chamber whose circumference was lined with membranous booths, most of which stirred with what looked like variously coloured gases; here one whose laboratory equipment was, bafflingly, positioned on the ceiling; and here a considerably larger and perfectly circular chamber whose only content was a strangely shaped chair suspended on the end of a metal arm looking like the hour hand of some giant clock. The purpose of these devices was, for now, beyond their ken and, shrugging to each other, they ignored them, coming at last to a point where the corridor joined — became — a circular affair surrounding the hub itself. This was clearly a centre of activity as other corridors joined it at regular points but, like some of the earlier doors, they had all been barricaded by the Faith. Neither Slowhand or Kali were very much interested in what lay along them, however, because their attention had instead become fixed on what actually lay at the heart of Twilight.

'Slowhand?'

'Don't look at me. I haven't a clue.'

They were staring at another sphere within the sphere, or at least half of one. For a broad hemisphere lay in front of them — one that perhaps would take a hundred men to surround with arms outstretched — but this one was transparent, made of a substance that felt like soft glass, and its interior slowly roiled with a thick green fog. From what Kali and Slowhand could see through the fog, the interior of the hemisphere did not end at floor level but went much deeper, and they realised that they were looking through some kind of observation dome into the lower half of Twilight. There was some kind of chamber down there, a completely organic space whose uneven floor was punctured by perhaps fifty circular holes, each the size of a farmstead's well. They appeared to contain liquid, too, but it was not water. Instead, there was a slowly bubbling, lava-like gloop the colour of the mist it produced that was slightly overflowing their edges.

'Looks like pea soup,' Slowhand commented.

'Oh, I think it's some kind of soup, all right. Just not the kind you'd serve at dinner.'

Kali studied the chamber further, noting three demi arches that arced over the wells, their tips almost meeting above their centre. An odd looking runed prism was suspended between the tips, though it looked damaged and skewed. But even so, every few seconds, it discharged spidery, slowly dancing bolts of energy into the wells themselves, as if it were in some way vitalising them. Kali's attention turned to the hemisphere itself, and here she noted that it was not completely transparent but instead etched all around its circumference with the same pictograms that had indexed the specimen drawers. Thousands of them, one after the other. The fact that these etchings glowed slightly suggested they were more than simple decoration. They reminded her of the 'orchestral' selection controls she had once used in the Forbidden Archive and knew instinctively that if she danced her palms over them she would be combining one species with another in whatever combination she wished. Merrit Moon had been right when, back in Gargas, he'd said that the Old Races had been playing Gods. The wells beneath them were not wells, they were birthing pools for whatever was created within them.

'The Crucible of the Dragon God,' Kali said. 'We've found it.'

'So we know where the k'nid come from. Unfortunately, I don't think we've come at the best time.'

'What?'

'Time's up, Hooper. They're spawning again.'

Kali snapped her gaze back into the fog and thought, dammit.

Their exploration of the spheres had obviously taken longer than they had reckoned because something was indeed happening down there. Something they had come to prevent but were now forced to be witness to. From each of the birthing pools a small platform was rising and atop each platform, gloop dripping from it's irregular, angular flanks, was a k'nid. The dark, unnatural creatures did not move until they had fully risen from their pools but then they burst into frantic activity. Some sped up what appeared to be a circular pathway just discernable around the wall of the chamber and a second later could be heard battering at one of the Faith erected barricades, others headed out of view of the observation dome and did not return, perhaps finding some other exit from the chamber. Still others, sensing Kali and Slowhand above, launched themselves the not inconsiderable height towards the dome itself. One actually made it, thudding upside down against the transparent substance, and was followed in quick succession by another, and then another.

'Whoa!' Slowhand said, backing up. He unslung Suresight and aimed at the dome.

'I wouldn't worry too much. This stuff is probably tougher than it loo — '

The soft glass tore before her eyes, rent by the scrabbling of the k'nid. Fog billowed through — noxious and foul.

'Yeah?' Slowhand said, loosing three rapid arrows while coughing. 'You wanna think that one through again?'

'Shit!' For a moment Kali considered blasting the k'nid with her crackstaff, but she had no idea how volatile the fog that accompanied them might be. There was only one alternative. 'Run!'

'Where?'

'Anywhere!'

The sound of the dome tearing accompanied Kali and Slowhand's footfalls. These were soon drowned out as more of the k'nid trailed the others through the newly created exit. Kali didn't look back to count, but from the noise she reckoned at least another five of the things were in pursuit. It didn't take an arithmetical genius to work out that eight k'nid was eight too many. Nor did it take a genius to work out that if they didn't get the hells out of their way, they were dead. But where to run to? All of the laboratories they had explored so far were open and offered no protection, and the sealed doors were out, but there had to be somewhere. Finally, she noticed one of the chambers they had passed earlier — the one with the gas filled booths — and ran towards it. One of the booths appeared clear of gas and, hammering on it to test its strength, Kali punched a panel on its outside which she hoped would open it. The front of the booth slid aside.

She grabbed Slowhand and threw him into the chamber, before following him. As she squeezed up to the archer the door slid shut. A second later, the k'nid slammed into their makeshift refuge, shaking it but otherwise unable to gain entry.

Slowhand stared out at the scrabbling things, the sound of their assault muted, his face pressed up against the side of Kali's head. 'Cosy.'

'Cramped is the word I'd use.'

Kali shuffled round so that they were face to face, trying to avoid as much body contact with Slowhand as she could. But it wasn't easy — thigh pressed against thigh and breasts against torso — she could barely raise her arms before they were touching the smooth walls of their circular confinement.

'Closet?' Slowhand hazarded.

'There's nothing in it.'

'We're in it.'

'I'd noticed.'