The silhouette of a mail-clad elf looked down at them from the lip of the pit. This one said, "Now, look! I told you to ignore it, but you had to mess with it. Just like before!"
A tiny creature flew down into the pit to alight on the shoulder of the great earthen being. Warian realized it was another animate sculpture, this one like a tiny dragon carved of reddish glass. It opened its mouth and pealed a series of tiny, bell-like chirps. The sound was reminiscent of laughter.
Ususi stepped toward the great earthen entity and said in Common,
"Greetings. I am Ususi Manaallin. Thank you for disrupting these encroaching walls. We would have been crushed. We are in your debt.
But who are you? You don't seem to be in thrall to Pandorym…"
Warian tensed. "I am Prince Monolith. I am in no one's thrall. The question is, what are you doing in this ancient tower of malignancy?"
Iahn moved as quickly as a snake to stand protectively next to Ususi, one hand on his dragonfly blade, still sheathed. Ususi replied, "That was my question for you. We are here because this structure was built by my ancestors." The figure from above yelled, "So this is all your fault!" Warian now recognized the one above to be a woman, though he'd never seen an elf, male or female, quite so broad of forearm and rough of voice and manner. "What blame do you place on us?" inquired Iahn, his voice ice. Warian judged the vengeance taker was only a jibe or two away from launching a physical attack against the newcomers. The elf pointed at Ususi. "She just said your ancestors built this place.
You must be Imaskari, hiding all these centuries when everyone thought you were dead. I've spent the better part of two months tracking down this tower because of the fell influence it released into the earth!
Did you release it? My friend Thormud lies sorely wounded, or dead, because if it!" Iahn bristled, but Ususi said, "Pandorym is what we call the evil you speak of. It is even now using the greater part of its strength to destroy my homeland, and may have already done so. We have not released it. We are here to destroy it." His face suddenly hot, Warian interjected, "My sister died to bring these opponents of Pandorym here! Don't suggest they're in league with the master of this tower, or you dishonor Eined's name!" The elemental called Monolith raised both of its giant hands, palms outward, and said, "You are not of this tower, I sense, but are newly come to it, like us. I have saved your lives, I think, from these crushing walls. That should prove our good intentions. For now, my friend and I will have to trust yours. Perhaps we should join our strength to overcome this Pandorym?"
"You believe them?" snorted the elf woman. "I want to know who released Pandorym if these relics of the empire didn't do it." She glared at Ususi. "It was my grandfather," said Warian. "Shaddon Datharathi. He found his way into a forbidden plane where this tower, until recently, slept through the centuries. Greed drove him. We're here to help put right his mistake." "Sounds good enough for a trial partnership," interjected Monolith. "What do you say, descendants of Imaskar?" Ususi considered, nodded, and said, "Help us out of this pit, and we'll compare strategies."
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Another set of circling stairs. It wasn't far now. The Imperial Weapons Cache was ahead. And, presumably, Pandorym. The stained corridors, translucent stairs, sealed chambers, and dozens of fascinating but ultimately unimportant features of the Purple Palace were behind them. As were the most vicious protests of the elf woman who called herself Kiril. She'd finally accepted Prince Monolith's opinion, but distrust still lay openly across her face whenever Ususi looked back. Of course, Iahn wasn't much better. Because Ususi was of his lineage and knew something of his ways, the wizard saw the vengeance taker's behavior for what it was. She could see Iahn's distrust in the way he carried himself, how he kept his hand always ready on the hilt of his weapon, and how he consistently checked the behavior of the elf and elemental as they traversed the dark corridors of the tower. He was on knife-edge alert, ready to assassinate the rough-speaking elf and at least damage the elemental lord at the first hint of betrayal. To everyone else, he probably seemed stiff and unfriendly. The two Vaelanites were likewise quiet, or perhaps merely tired, and at the very least, emotionally drained. The one with the prosthesis was running on willpower alone. Ususi hoped the slow walk would help renew the young man's energy. Iahn had offered him some morsels from his pack to keep his strength up. Warian's facility with his arm could prove pivotal in dealing with Pandorym. His sister's death colored all Warian's utterances, or lack thereof. Ususi knew she would suffer the same way if Qari were to come to harm. Perhaps Ususi's sister was in danger even now, back in Deep Imaskar. If only she could see what was happening there! But dealing with Pandorym in the palace was the quickest, surest method of stopping the entity's forces… she fervently hoped. No. No, she knew her course was the right one, but would they be quick enough? Would they even be successful? It was all she could do to force herself ahead instead of back to the gate into the Celestial Nadir, and from there directly back to the foot of the Great Seal, using her keystone to forge a way.
"Explain again what this Pandorym is, and what your great-to-the-gills grandparents did to anger it," insisted the hard voice of the elf swordswoman, continuing a conversation Ususi thought was complete.
Ususi took a deep breath and said, "It is an entity too powerful to be controlled or even destroyed. The ancient Imaskari were under siege from their slaves' avenging deities. They were desperate. A powerful Imaskaran imperial faction lured Pandorym from a distant dimension beyond the local cosmology. In a fashion I do not understand, they caged Pandorym and threatened its release in this world as a way to dissuade the gods from destroying the Imaskari Empire. Apparently, the threat wasn't taken seriously, or the Imaskari were destroyed before their threat was issued. Either way, Pandorym remained forgotten and confined for millennia. Until miners from Vaelan found a gate into the Celestial Nadir, found the palace, and partially released Pandorym.
Pandorym, once released, dropped the palace back into the world, onto its original foundation." "These miners…" began Kiril, but the wizard snapped up a hand to deflect the elf's question. Ususi wasn't about to reveal the relationship between Warian, Zel, and Datharathi Minerals to this revenge-obsessed elf warrior, especially one who carried a blade of considerable potency. Ususi's magic-sensitive eyes watered whenever she looked directly at it. The wizard said, "What's important now is to bind Pandorym anew into whatever cage it slipped from. The fact that we still walk freely in these halls should be assurance enough that it has reclaimed only a fraction of its potential power." Kiril replied, "Sounds like a familiar tale. I know something of binding wickedness." "Really? What?" asked Zel. "Let's just say that well-meaning accomplishments rarely go unpunished." Zel waited for more, but seemed unwilling to press. Kiril lapsed back into silence. They curved around another bend in the corridor and faced darkness. Ususi's hand went to her mouth. "No…" Night blocked the passage ahead. So complete was the blackness that the magical radiance of Ususi's orb dimmed as its farthest rays fell into the dark chasm. A cold breeze cooled her flesh, and the howl of a distant wind conjured the image of desolation. Shadows rippled, and tendrils of darkness emerged, dissolved, and reappeared, as if attempting to cross the intervening space and pull all of them into its insatiable void. "I dreamed… I have dreamed this!" the wizard insisted. She backed up.
Iahn's sudden hands upon her shoulders turned her about so she faced away from the unnerving abyss. "What do you see?" he asked, his tone conveying worry, even if his eyes retained their usual pristine clarity. "Is it more than an enchantment of shadow?" She croaked, cleared her throat, and tried to speak. "It… it is something I've faced in my dreams for… more years than I can name." She stole another peek at the apparition at her back and shuddered. "It's my nightmare, here now, alive in the world." "How can that be?" demanded Kiril. The swordswoman pushed forward to stand alongside Iahn. She was as tall as the taker, and perhaps broader of shoulder. "I don't know,"