Page 154 of Mountain of Mirrors and Starlight
“Nottoomangled, please,” Luna whispered. “Not that I would mind. Or… or anyone. No one would mind. I just… I don’t want you to get mangled.” She pulled up her sleeves and hid behind her hands.
“That was so disgusting, I think the stone is blushing,” Minerva said, staring at her. “Let’s move out.”
Aislinn skidded back into the tunnel, leaping over the platforms, a hail of arrows surging over her, along with Beau’s fire. The golem’s black eyes stared upwards. She slid under its legs, Caer not far behind her, his greatsword clashing against its chest.
Minerva and Mags hacked at its legs. They chipped off little, but they kept its focus, dodging out of the way of its massive swings. Aislinn threw away her sword and whipped out two daggers, scurrying up its back and locking her legs around its neck. She plunged her daggers into the grooves in its stony skin, searching for any opening.
The golem swung, trying to jerk her off. “Anything?” she called to Caer.
“Hard—to—tell—”
She searched every crack, driving her blades as deep as they would go. Nothing.
She leapt off, rolling against the floor, narrowly missing a massive stomp.
The golem’s great fist came sailing through the air. Dillon caught it against his chest. A crack sounded.
“Dillon!”
“I’m fine,” he grunted.
Aislinn dashed forward, sliding back under the golem’s legs. Beau had blasted another fireball—straight into its mouth. She drove her daggers into its chest, along every cranny—
One sank deeper than the others.
She pressed her second blade into it, and levered a panel free.
Bright, hot light emanated from within.
The golem’s core.
She poised to strike, but the golem shook her free, letting out a long, soundless roar—a wail of the rock. Aislinn fell to the floor with a hard thud. A colossal stone foot rose above her, but she rolled out of the way, the ground shaking in her wake. A spool of wire shot out of nowhere, tangling around its legs.
“Pull!” Diana shouted.
Every dwarf swamped the space, like ants on a carcass. Everyone took control of a limb, pinning it, holding it. Minerva looped a rope around its massive neck, holding it as it grunted and groaned in that wretched, wordless way.
“Now, Caer!” Minerva hissed.
Caer didn’t need to be told twice. He thrust his blade deep into the cavity and twisted.
The crystal shattered.
The golem fell.
Silence flew through the tunnel, endless and unyielding. Minerva stared at the fallen monster, now no more than dirt and stone and dust.
Bell touched her shoulder. There did not seem to be any words she could utter.
“Well,” said Minerva. “No point in hanging around, is there? If no one’s injured, I suggest we go investigate the tunnel it was guarding.”
If Minerva felt in any way disappointed that the golem that had no doubt haunted her dreams for years had been disposed of in a matter of minutes, she did not show it. She didn’t showanything, although Caer noticed her rubbing her shoulder when no one was looking, and Bell sticking unusually close to her side as they descended into the dark, holding each other’s hands.
Caer wondered if he would ever experience something as simple as holding someone’s hand as they walked, afraid of less because they were there beside him. He wondered what he’d trade for such a pleasure, what evils he’d commit if he went too long without human contact.
You can touch the dwarves,a voice reminded him.There will be hundreds of people in Avalinth you could befriend.
But they would not be Aislinn.
