Nearest him, two huge pedestals surrounded in rubble marked where statues had once been. In the eternally damp mud around them were tracks, footprints, signs of some kind of scuffle. Immediately beyond rose the first of the intact monuments, the dull black stone appallingly lifelike in its rendition of hide and muscle. At its base stood a structure of some kind.
The carriage arrived, and Paran heard the side door open. Shareholders were leaping down to establish a defensive perimeter.
Dismounting, Paran walked towards the structure, Hedge coming up alongside him.
'Someone built a damned house,' the sapper said.
'Doesn't look lived in.'
'Not now, it don't.'
Constructed entirely from driftwood, the building was roughly rectangular, the long sides parallel to the statue's pedestal. No windows were visible, nor, from this side, any entrance. Paran studied it for a time, then headed towards one end. 'I don't think this was meant as a house,' he said. 'More like a temple.'
'Might be right – that driftwood makes no joins and there ain't no chinking or anything to fill the gaps. A mason would look at this and say it was for occasional use, which makes it sound more like a temple or a corral…'
They reached one end and saw a half-moon doorway. Branches had been set in rows in the loamy ground before it, creating a sort of walkway.
Muddy feet had trod its length, countless sets, but none very recent.
'Wore leather moccasins,' Hedge observed, crouching close to study the nearest prints. 'Seams were topside except at the back of the heel where there's a cross-stitch pattern. If this was Genabackis, I'd say Rhivi, except for one thing.'
'What?' Paran asked.
'Well, these folk have wide feet. Really wide.'
The ghost's head slowly turned towards the building's entrance. '
Captain, someone died in there.'
Paran nodded. 'I can smell it.'
They looked over as Ganath and Karpolan Demesand – the latter flanked by the two Pardu shareholders – approached. The Trygalle merchant-mage made a face as the foul stench of rotting meat reached him. He scowled over at the open doorway. 'The ritual spilling of blood,' he said, then uncharacteristically spat. 'These Deragoth have found worshippers. Master of the Deck, will this detail prove problematic?'
'Only if they show up,' Paran said. 'After that, well, they might end up having to reconsider their faith. This could prove tragic for them…'
'Are you reconsidering?' Karpolan asked.
'I wish I had that luxury. Ganath, will you join me in exploring the interior of the temple?'
Her brows rose fractionally, then she nodded. 'Of course. I note that darkness rules within – do you have need for light?'
'It wouldn't hurt.'
Leaving the others, they walked side by side towards the doorway. In a low voice, Ganath said, 'You suspect as I do, Ganoes Paran.'
'Yes.'
'Karpolan Demesand is no fool. He will realize before long.'
'Yes.'
'Then we should display brevity in our examination.'
'Agreed.'
Reaching the doorway, Ganath gestured and a dull, bluish light slowly rose in the chamber beyond.
They stepped within.
A single room – no inner walls. The floor was mud, packed by traffic.
A shattered, up-ended tree-stump dominated the centre, the roots reaching out almost horizontally, as if the tree had grown on flat bedrock, sending its tendrils out to all sides. In the centre of this makeshift altar the core of the bole itself had been carved into a basin shape, filled now by a pool of black, dried blood. Bound spreadeagled to outstretched roots were two corpses, both women, once bloated by decay but now rotted into gelatinous consistency as if melting, bones protruding here and there. Dead maggots lay in heaps beneath each body.
'Sedora Orr,' Paran surmised, 'and Darpareth Vayd.'
'That seems a reasonable assumption,' Ganath said. 'The Trygalle sorceress must have been injured in some way, given her stated prowess.'
'Well, that carriage was a mess.'
'Indeed. Have we seen enough, Ganoes Paran?'
'Blood ritual – an Elder propitiation. I would think the Deragoth have been drawn near.'
'Yes, meaning you have little time once you have effected their release.'
'I hope Karpolan is up to this.' He glanced over at the Jaghut. 'In a true emergency, Ganath, can you… assist?'
'Perhaps. As you know, I am not pleased with what you intend here.
What would please me even less, however, is being torn apart by Hounds of Darkness.'
'I share that aversion. Good. So, if I call upon your assistance, Ganath, you will know what to do?'
'Yes.'
Paran turned about. 'It may sound unreasonable,' he said, 'but my sympathy for the likely plight of these worshippers has diminished somewhat.'
'Yes, that is unreasonable. Your kind worship from fear, after all.
And what you unleash here will be the five faces of that fear. And so shall these poor people suffer.'
'If they weren't interested in the attention of their gods, Ganath, they would have avoided the spilling of blood on consecrated ground.'
'Someone among them sought that attention, and the power that might come from it. A High Priest or shaman, I suspect.'
'Well then, if the Hounds don't kill that High Priest, his followers will.'
'A harsh lesson, Ganoes Paran.'
'Tell that to these two dead women.'
The Jaghut made no reply.
They walked from the temple, the light fading behind them.
Paran noted Karpolan Demesand's fixed regard, the dread plain, undeniable, and he slowly nodded. The Trygalle master turned away and, exhausted as he had been earlier, his weariness seemed to increase tenfold.
Hedge came close. 'Could've been shareholders,' he suggested.
'No,' said Ganath. 'Two women, both expensively attired. One must presume that the shareholders met their fate elsewhere.'
Paran said to Hedge, 'Now comes your final task, sapper. Summoning the Deragoth – but consider this first – they're close, and we need time to-'
'Run like Hood's bowels, aye.' Hedge lifted a satchel into view. 'Now, before you ask me where I been hiding this, don't bother. Here in this place, details like that don't matter.' He grinned. 'Some people would like to take gold with 'em when they go. Me, I'll take Moranth munitions over gold any day. After all, you don't know what you're going to meet on the other side, right? So, it's always better holding onto the option of blowing things up.'
'Wise counsel, Hedge. And those munitions will work here?'
'Absolutely, Captain. Death once called this home, remember?'
Paran studied the nearest statue. 'You intend to shatter them.'
'Aye.'
'Timed charge.'
'Aye.'
'Only, you have five to set, and the farthest one looks two, three hundred paces away.'
'Aye. That's going to be a problem – well, let's call it a challenge.
Granted, Fid's better at this finesse stuff than me. But tell me something, Captain – you're sure these Deragoth
