Pierce started. "You spoke with him directly?"
"On occasion," Sev shrugged. "He likes to take meals with the forgemasters from time to time. Painreapers too. It's good for morale. Sometimes you'll even catch him sweeping up after Monstrosity larvae."
How slow am I? Pierce thought to himself. Only now had he realized what a gold mine Sev would be to Gorgonbane, and to Overland as a whole. If he was willing to speak about Kash and Testadel, about their ways and secrets, it could help turn the tide of everything that was to come.
Surely Axebourne had realized this. Why would he leave Sev with Pierce and not interrogate him right then and there?
Then Pierce saw it. He recalled the sparkle of trust in Sev's dark eyes. Axebourne had led many men in his time. He would have recognized it too. He could have asked, or demanded information from the forgemaster, and Sev may have been willing to share. Yet if he was allowed to reach out at his own pace, his help would be earnest, uncoerced, and all the more valuable.
A thousand questions had cropped up in Pierce's mind, but he bit them back. He had been starting to think Sev could be a friend. Treating him as an asset would alter everything.
Let it return to that, he thought. Forget about what he knows, and just help him find his way.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
A Loss of Flesh
Pierce wasn't sure he could go back to sleep. Sev didn't seem to be too interested either.
So they sat together on a pile of rubble and watched the moon slide across the sky, chatting intermittently.
"I've been curious," Sev said, "about the golem on your team."
"Golem?" Pierce asked. Ess's servant had been left behind at Brackenverge.
"The skeleton that moves and speaks," said Sev. "Do you know how they forged it? Kash had asked for such things many times, but it was a secret none of us had been able to crack open."
"Agrathor?" Pierce asked. He chuckled. "He's not a golem. He's a man. That's his real skeleton."
Sev looked surprised.
"I was surprised too," said Pierce. "I thought he was a monster at first. I was ready to melt his bones."
"I am sure he appreciated your restraint."
"Then I was curious. I asked about his... condition," Pierce said, raising a hand to where his eye had been blackened. "He's a little sensitive about it."
"As anyone would be."
"I guess so. Anyway, he told me how it happened. I guess he won't mind if I tell you, at least if he doesn't know. Spare you the black eye."
"I would love to hear," said Sev.
"They actually weren't called Gorgonbane during the Alban wars, where they earned most of their reputation. It wasn't until a few years later, in the gorgon outbreak, that they got their name. It was a good time for mercenaries - people all over the continent were getting turned into stone outside their cities and villages, so there was no lack of jobs. Agrathor and the others had already slain a dozen or so lesser gorgons, mostly cattle feeders, a few abductors. They got called out to Helmforge in the southwest for a real nasty one. Someone was paying ten times the usual rate, just to get rid of this thing.
"It was more aggressive than most gorgons. It didn't just lure people in with promises of treasure or other glamours - it would actually go out hunting for its food, and it had a thing for children. The people of Helmforge called it the Hydragon, claiming its many snake heads would regenerate and multiply if cut off.
"So Axebourne and the others tracked it down to its lair and infiltrated. The Hydragon had wights on patrol in its maze of tunnels, but the group's enchanted weapons made short work of those. They heard the thing's voice as they neared its nest. It was already trying to mess with their heads.
"'Pretty things. Pretty people, come in,' it said. To the men it sounded female, to the women it sounded like a man. 'I'm sorry that my wights weren't better company. Usually they are far more welcoming. Did you remember to offer them a bone to chew on? They so love bones.'
"The Hydragon went on with its chattering. 'Who will keep me company? They say my caresses cannot be matched, for I have many hands.' The monster's lair was a high cavern, columns, archways and alcoves revealing that it had once been a structure - probably a temple. Now it had been underground for so long, everything had been covered in a layer of minerals. It almost looked natural.
"'We won't fall for your attempt at lovely words,' Agrathor growled at it. 'And you're only revealing your position.' The thing laughed in the darkness. 'Did you come for the children?' it asked. 'I'm afraid they've already gone.'
"The group fanned out, keeping to cover as much as possible. If any one of the thing's heads revealed itself, they'd be turned to stone in an instant, so they all closed their eyes. Ess knew a spell that would reveal the Hydragon's body heat in the audible spectrum, and she activated it. Everyone was taken aback to hear the hiss of the monster's presence coming from nearly every direction.
"It must have sensed the spell's activation. It cried and began to lash out with its many heads. The group had been up to this for months, though, and had lots of practice fighting blind. Only with the Hydragon, every head they lopped off was replaced by two more. The only respite was the brief retreat of each snakelike appendage as it generated new heads. The thing laughed, thinking them foolish.
"The group knew they needed a better plan. Scythia gained them some time by throwing a gem-bomb toward the far end of the room. She got
