“I knew this mountain range was close to where I was born,” Ruth said in a hushed voice, from where she stood to Po’s right. “This is my homeland. There was no volcano here then. I’ve not been back for over a hundred years.”
Ruth was that old? “You lived here? There are no houses.”
“We lived beneath the ground, as some dwarf tribes do. That tower sits above a most sacred place. The Doors of Derayagungun. Where they stand lies far underground.”
The name seemed to echo in Po’s mind. Mayhap she needed a hearing test. “What are those?”
“Some say magic. Some say an unknown science.” Ruth shrugged. “What I do know is that the day I crawled to a place that was forbidden to all dwarfs, only two of the ten doors still worked. I ran through the one with an inscription in dwarf, even though dwarfs did not make the doors: Enter and beware. Your greatest weakness will become your strength. Your greatest strength, your weakness.”
She’d just told them, Po realized, how she had become a giant. An innocent adventure and the terrible mistake of a child playing.
Though John turned to study Ruth, and he clearly saw the significance of her words, Shades was preoccupied.
“That tower,” Shades said, “is well within the range of my eye. The windows are devoid of glass and nothing obstructs my view. No trees. No rocks.”
Why was he going to such detail? Her curiosity stirred.
John must know. He remained unmoved, staring toward the tower, with the wind lacing itself through his dark hair and tossing it about. His spectacles made him as unreadable as ever.
Shades continued. “The coffin you seek resides there, on the lower floor.”
They’d found Xander?
“There are six guards only, and horses, but I have seen no evidence of the man John calls the Storyteller. We should be able to reach the tower by dusk.”
“When we can sneak in,” John said. “They won’t expect us, and for once I will not be killing men.”
She stared. “They are Thulians? Have you seen their faces, Shades?”
“I saw one, and he might be called an abomination, if you want to label people who are non-human such a thing. They have tentacles curling where their mouths should be. But then, I am not one to condemn, being half metal myself.”
John grunted. “Truth. Still, it will be a relief not to see death in a man’s eyes.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
moment came for Xander and he seized it, as one should—swallowed the antidote from the uncorked ampoule, then let the hand concealing the tiny bottle flop from his mouth. The guards were lax without their master. It had been days and surely the Storyteller would return soon.
He’d taken the chance, used the only dose he had, though from memory they seemed to give him more than a single ampoule to wake him. Of course, he could never remember that part of the day well.
Already the surge of life within was energizing him, bringing warmth to his fingers and toes. He would escape once he judged them likely to be asleep. He would do anything he must do to get free. Kill anyone who tried to stop him.
Anything.
Alas by nightfall, his vision was still blurred and his limbs were not functioning at their full efficiency.
He had to try.
* * * * *
As Shades had predicted, by the time they negotiated their way to the tower, evening had brought its shadows down upon them and the tower. She told John she did not know if the Thulians could see in the dark, or anything of their prowess as warriors. He shrugged, addressed the loading of his pistols, even though she’d seen him check them previously.
Then he signaled to Shades to stay put and ran, doubled over, into the blacker shadows at the base of the tower.
The only cover in the vicinity was rocks and small shrubs and so they stayed below the edge of the rocks.
Po waited with her fingers interlaced with each other in her lap. The horses were further back where their noises should be too distant or dismissed as those of wild animals.
There was always a chance these Thulians were the ones who could best John. Overconfidence could be his downfall. She chewed her lip, even chewed at one fingernail. Her stomach spawned an entire squadron of butterflies and worms.
There came the bangs and the flashes of his guns, same as at the caravan, then silence fell.
More silence.
Then a little more.
Crickets began to chirp.
She was cursing under her breath by then.
A few minutes after this they heard a whistle, then John shouting.
“All clear! Come and see. Xander is here! And alive!”
She would excuse his tardiness. He must have been checking the entire height of the tower.
Even as she sprinted with the others, Po recalled John’s words about seeing death in men’s eyes, and how Shades had wondered if these were simply different people, no matter what they looked like and the aforementioned tentacle mouths.
The first one had her shuddering. Ewww.
The tentacles were a foot long and there was blood leaking from a hole in the… person’s chest.
She whispered a prayer for them as she dashed by.
The six guards were sprawled from the doorway all the way inward, almost to where the coffin lay with the glass lid propped up. The interior of the tower was an open space, apart from the central well that held the spiraling staircase that she supposed went to the very top.
Her steps slowed. She’d been travelling with John for so long. Been without Xander. There’d been a vow, and their declarations of love and now, at the last step, doubt
