Page 153 of Mountain of Mirrors and Starlight
“Did the vines—”
Rock showered from the ceiling.
“Move!” hissed Bell.
“Is it a cave-in—”
“It’s no rock fall,” Bell said, leaping on the back of her wargi and the wall rumbled and shook. “It’s a golem.”
Aislinn froze as a giant emerged from the rock. She’d heard tales of golems and seen their likenesses in the tunnels and murals—great creatures of rock, forged in the shape of dwarves. She’d known they were a bit bigger, that they’d been made to fight, to crush.
She had not expected them to be this big. Her entire body could have been crammed into its hollowed-out arm.
It was massive. Monstrous. Horrific. As large as a giant and as unconquerable as stone.
Her wargi leapt out of the way as the golem stumbled forward, dripping with moss and shards of rock. The wargi bolted, following the others as they charged across a narrow bridge, Beau shattering it the second everyone was across.
They weren’t trapped—there were a dozen platforms they could jump across on, but they were out of reach of the golem.
At least for now.
It picked up a boulder and hurled it towards them. Minerva urged them around a corner, cramming them into a cave.
“Now, who remembers anything about the Golem Rebellion?” she asked, as rocks showered from the ceiling.
Beau’s hand shot into the air. “Ooh, I do, I do! The Golem Rebellion was started inthe Silver Age, year 446.The lead conspirators were a dwarf named Brutus Greysirite and a fae sorcerer called—”
The party stared at him.
“I am now realising that question was probably rhetorical and I am wasting time.”
“Golems,” Minerva explained, “are dwarf-made creatures. Virtually indestructible. Their flesh is stone and earth. But to make that work, they needed the help of a sorcerer. Like all beings, they have a core, in their case a crystal which functions as their heart and contains the magic they need to exist. Damage that, and the golem is just a pile of rock again.”
“So… whereisthis crystal?”
“Brutuswas clever,” Minerva explained. “He built three different types of golem, storing the crystal in either their mouth, back or chest. Makes it much harder for them to defeat in battle if you have to check each spot.”
“Oh, this isn’t going to be hard at all.”
“The good news is I know this one doesn’t have its core in its mouth.”
Beau frowned. “How do you know that?”
“I got a good look at it when it tried to eat my arm.”
Aislinn paled. “It’sthatgolem?” she asked. “How can you be sure?”
“I recognise the marks of my axe in its fist.”
“Lovely,” said Beau. “Question—why do golems eat flesh if they don’t need to eat?”
“Because they’re programmed to,” Bell explained. “Or because it’s the closest thing they will get to being human. We don’t fully know.”
A loud whimper squashed the conversation. Caer moved from his spot, staring out from behind the rock. “Mace,” he reported. “He isn’t dead—just injured. But he’s going to struggle to move away—”
“Right, right, quick plan—” Minerva hastily scribbled out instructions in the dirt. “Bell, Diana, you hold its attention. Luna, get the wargis somewhere safe. Flora, stay vigilant. Drag us out if you need to. Beau, heal Mace, and then get back out. I want you to fire at its face—keep it busy. Mags, you’re with me on the legs. Caer, the front, Ais, the back. Dillon—are you all right to be a human shield?”
Dillon placed his hand to his chest. “It is my honour to be mangled on behalf of any one of you.”
