She was probably right. Especially without food and water, the longer they stopped, the more their energy levels would drop.
No one said much more as they sat, letting their muscles breathe and gazing into the dark. They were about to start out again when the sky above lightened ever so slightly, revealing the dim outline of the Monstrosity stretching out above them.
"Look," said Ess, pointing.
The Underlands' pale silver moon was peeking out from behind the edge of some obstruction, revealing perhaps a quarter of the luminescent oblong. It looked farther away than it normally would have from the surface of the Underlands, but Pierce could still see its slow crawl across the sky. He took this as more evidence proving Scythia's theory. What hung above them now must be a hole leading up into the Underlands. The giant stopped moving.
Everyone stayed frozen in stillness. They held their collective breath, as if the slightest thing could get the Monstrosity's attention. Was it looking down at them with its massive, sad face? It was impossible to tell with the thing's head being partially obscured by the rest of its torso, and backlit besides.
The ultra-Monstrosity lifted its arms, and its body shuddered with tension as it gripped the lip of the hole above. It heaved, and the lower half of its body swung out wildly as it pulled itself up through the cavity in the earth. The huge humanoid's form rippled visibly as it passed through some intangible membrane. The sensation of passing through the membrane was much like that of a convergence, uncomfortable, but less disturbing, more stable.
Gorgonbane held on for dear life. The force of the swing was greater even than that of its forward-moving foot as it walked, and Pierce almost lost his grip. He was praying that the giant wouldn't lift itself up and onto its side. If it put even a fraction of its weight on the thigh that Gorgonbane had stopped to rest on, they would die.
Thankfully, the giant came out of the hole and onto its knees, then lifted itself up onto both feet again. It stood, and Pierce could just see one of its eyes, blinking as if the moonlight were too bright. The Monstrosity stayed there for several minutes, either waiting for something or just spacing out.
Pierce checked on his comrades. Everyone's eyes were wide with surprise, even Sev's.
"Everyone okay?" asked Scythia. "I'm sure we didn't expect that."
Everyone signaled they were in one piece. Ess had followed them up through the air, then perched again on the giant's upper leg.
It was nice to be able to see again. Pierce felt like a blind man gaining sight, or as if he'd been sleeping, wading through deep dreams, and awoken in the early morning. He wondered where the thing would take them next.
"We could climb down off of it now," he said to the others. "We could find a convergence and go from there."
"It's an option," said Agrathor.
"But if we stay, it might take us right to where the action is," said Scythia.
This of course was tempting to Pierce, but was it wise?
"We do not know that it will climb up again, though," said Ess. "It is clear now that the level beneath the Underlands is only a mile or so further down, since the giant was able to reach the gap and climb up. It may be a similar distance from here to Overland. We cannot guess whether the giant will climb up for some other task, or cast another portion of earth down, or something else."
"And if it does cause more destruction," said Scythia, "the rubble may knock us off of it, or even kill us."
"I say we see if it moves again," said Agrathor. "Might as well get as close to the next battle as we can. We have to assume it's on its way somewhere, don't we?"
Everyone agreed, and they did not have to wait long before the Monstrosity started moving. It lurched up onto its feet, and Gorgonbane was swung about again, holding on for dear life.
Now its huge feet splashed grossly into the pervasive muck of the Underlands, leaving vast footprints in the nasty layer of mud and filth. Pierce was glad not to be down in that stuff again. He was even more relieved to be out of the endless dark of... sub-Underland? He wasn't sure what to call it, but he wasn't eager to return. Adventure was a grand thing, but it was nice to be able to see what was coming at least.
Gorgonbane agreed not to climb any higher. The Monstrosity had not noticed them hiding on its flank, so there was no sense tempting fate. When the time was right, they could dismount the giant and use a convergence to get back to Overland. Meanwhile, they tightened their belts and tried to ignore the complaints of their stomachs and the dryness of their tongues. And the Monstrosity marched slowly onward.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
A Circle
The ulta-Monstrosity's slow strides covered much ground and made good time. It finally stopped a few dozen miles west of a jagged mountain range with murky water flowing down some of its slopes from high above. Pierce recognized it.
"It's the falls under Murkfathom," he said to the others.
Sev nodded. "We are where Testadel used to be. Look, you can see the remains of Death-hedge below."
The dreaded maze of razor-sharp brambles had been crushed and ruined by rock and earth falling from below the site of Grondell. There was a crater where Testadel's foundations had been.
Gorgonbane now knew that the ultra-Monstrosity had been responsible for physically pushing the fortress through the surprisingly thin crust of the earth, the strange vaulting invisible membrane, and into the heart of the Temple. All around the area were the tall, black obelisks, currently silent. They stretched up from Underland's floor and pierced the stone sky. It was hard to tell whether they offered any real
