The titan raised his eyes and found himself looking at the contrasting faces of his two-headed servant, the ettin. Julien's features were swarthy and handsome, with curly dark hair and a cleft chin. Arno was a pale-skinned brute, with a pug nose and double chin encrusted with reminders of his last several meals. Their necks descended to a single point, joining atop a broad-shouldered body that, at Julien's insistence, they kept reasonably clean.
Lanaxis rose, looking around the veranda for the thane. The only sign he found of the wood giant was a set of half-buried footprints leading to one entrance of Bleak Palace.
"It seems Dunmore has left," observed Nicias. "No doubt to do as you feared and tell Othea of our intent."
The giants were silent, for they all knew how great the Mother Queen's anger would be when she heard of their plan.
"I'll go," said Masud. The khan started for the archway. "It won't take me long to stop that runt."
Nicias caught the smaller giant's shoulder. "The Sons of Annam do not fight each other."
"Nor do they betray the confidences of their brothers!" Masud raised his fiery eyes to seek support from Lanaxis. "For that, I say we throw him in the smelter!"
"There's no need to incinerate him," replied the titan. "Just bring him back, and the ettin will hold him here."
"No! There will be a struggle when Masud captures him." Nicias continued to clutch the shoulder of the fire giant. "Dunmore will be injured-perhaps killed."
"Better that than let him go!" boomed Lanaxis. "If Dun-more tells Othea of our plans, none of us will ever set foot on the Great Glacier, and Ostoria will be lost!"
"If we attack our own brother, or even hold him prisoner, We have lost it already," said Nicias. "I will not stand for that."
"And I will not let the glacier scour our empire from the world!" Lanaxis fixed an angry glare on Nicias.
The cloud giant returned the stare. In Nicias's eyes there was no anger or fear, only determination, and Lanaxis knew his foe would never concede the argument. The titan's anger grew hotter than Masud's forges, and his fists burned with the urge to strike, but he locked his arms at his sides and kept them there. Many other giants held Nicias in high esteem, and to strike the dynast would be to cast Ostoria into a carnage that would destroy it as surely as the Great Glacier.
Vilmos laid his hand on Lanaxis's shoulder. "I am sorry, my brother," rumbled the storm giant. "Perhaps Nicias is right. To move against Dunmore is to destroy Ostoria's spirit-and I'm sure none of us wants any part of that."
With that, Vilmos turned to leave the veranda, as did Nicias. The other giants moved to follow, for they all knew that, without the help of the cloud giant and storm giant, even Lanaxis was not powerful enough to reach Ulutiu's body. Nor did anyone suggest open defiance of Othea. So great was the Mother Queen's power that only a fool would dare such a thing.
Still, Lanaxis could not bear to watch them go, for with them went the future of his beloved empire. "Wait!"
The giants stopped and looked toward the titan. "Accept our fate," advised Nicias. "Let Ostoria die in peace."
"I'm not asking you to move against Dunmore," said Lanaxis. "Only to give me time. Stay until morning. Perhaps I can think of a way to convince Othea to let us save Ostoria"
Nicias and Vilmos exchanged glances, then Nicias asked, "You will raise no hand against ouj brother Dunmore?"
"I will leave the thane alone," the titan promised. "All I want is time. If Ostoria has hope, I will find it tonight."
The cloud giant nodded. "Then we will all try to think of something." He looked to the other giants. "We meet beside the Well of Health tomorrow at dawn."
With that, Nicias and the other guests entered Bleak Palace. Once they were gone, Lanaxis turned to glare at the mountainous glacier that loomed over his empire.
“Traitors!" Though Lanaxis had only whispered the word, it echoed across the plain as though he had screamed it from the highest mountain. "What do they care for Ostoria?"
"Them cowards!" offered Arno. "They 'fraid to-"
"Quiet1" hissed Julien. "Can't you see Lanaxis is thinking?"
"No-Arno's right," said Lanaxis. "They are cowards-as am I, quivering in Othea's shadow!"
The titan smashed his fist down, so consumed by his growing rage he did not notice when the blow broke an entire section from the veranda railing.
Julien raised a brow. "It's merely prudent to be cautious. After all, Othea is a goddess."
"A demigoddess," Lanaxis corrected. "And I am done venerating her. She is my enemy. I will treat her as such!"
"What?" gasped Arno. "Attack Othea? She butcher us!"
Lanaxis heard the objection only as a distant echo, for the heinous task ahead had already caught his thoughts in its dark web. The titan stood staring at the distant glacier for many minutes, then suddenly spun around and stepped toward one of the archways leading into Bleak Palace.
"Fetch me an empty vial and bring it to my chambers- and be quick. We have much to do before dawn," he said. "Say nothing to my brothers. Let tomorrow's events surprise them"
At dawn, the morning sun hovered just above the snowy horizon, a crimson disk that filled the open end of the colonnade. The orb's rosy rays coursed down the length of the arcade, running almost parallel to the floor, so they just skimmed the Well of Health's bubbling waters and set the pool aglow with scarlet light. Despite the fiery colors, to Lanaxis the colonnade felt as cold as the Great Glacier.
The titan's brothers had already gathered, and none of them raised their eyes to meet his as he stepped out of Bleak Palace. Without asking, the titan knew the giants had thought of no way to save Ostoria. They had left that task to him, and now they would have no excuse for shirking the price.
Lanaxis stepped over to the Well. The ettin followed close behind, bearing a tray of silver chalices, each sized for a particular giant.
"My brothers, I bid you drink."
Nicias and the others finally met the eyes of their host. "Then you have reached the same conclusion we have," said the cloud giant. "Ostoria cannot be saved."
Lanaxis did not answer. Instead, he took the two largest chalices from the tray and offered them to Nicias and Vil-mos. "Have your fill from the Well of Health." The titan smiled, taking care that his guests saw that it was bravely forced. "By now, Dunmore has found our mother. She will come quickly."
Nicias did not accept his chalice. "We were all willing to deceive our mother. We should bear the consequences."
Lanaxis's smile remained frozen on his face. He had not expected to endure such pretensions of nobility. Exhausted as he was from his long night of labors, it took him a moment to think of a suitable response.
At last he said, "It would be foolish for all of us to suffer." Inside his mind, an angry voice was screaming for his cowardly brothers to drink and leave. He had to prepare the Well before Othea arrived. "Besides, the blame lies with me."
Lanaxis was about to continue when the floor trembled beneath his feet. A series of distant rumbles sounded from the other side of Bleak Palace, each one growing progressively louder. Othea was coming.
"My brothers, I'm sorry," said the weary titan. "But it appears there is no time for you to drink from the Well of Health today. Julien and Arno will show you out."
The ettin set the tray of chalices on a bench, then started down the arcade. Masud and most of the other giants followed at once, but Nicias and Vilmos lingered behind.