THE FIRST TONGUE

h swallo

as led the way, his torch barely holding back the darkness as the narrow passage twisted downward bene

face. Tane came last, sword drawn, its edge catching spa

ords didn't fee

gh soaked linen. Elias felt a ringing in his ears, low at first, the

e tunne

a vast chamber b

east. Roots hung like nooses. The torchlight flickered and danced along walls etched with script far older t

rn, atop a cracked stone

was le

ght, too pale, veins like dark rivers branching across its frame. Its eyes-three of them-remained

nly wa

rve us..." Ta

ser, the air trem

her did

es scanning the chamber. "This w

o altar,"

nted. "

to the stone itself, was a bowl-shape

side it. His glo

lood," he sa

changed

had be

ent

-

sound behind

turned, we

adows, figu

ded, stitched from different eras and cultures, but each b

d forward,

s recognize

ro," he sa

he warmth of it at odds

honey poured over rust. "I'm p

ng us," Elias said

" Maro replie

tcher behind him twitched-its

d. "Move again and I

what has already be

y, Maro? Why the children? Why

smile

o silence and hears only his own doubts echo back. The Church is a husk.

ched. "What did yo

. "She was chosen.

snapped. "You burned her village.

"The old gods never left. They were buried.

ised her

's bury t

-

with energy-like the walls were breathing. The Watcher stirred again

k one of the robed men down. Blood splashed

pted in th

ts. Tane fought like a man possessed, fury driving each s

cher sc

rough thought. The world bent. Elias

k wings blotti

ants singing ba

pening in

omed ab

id. "But still, you cling to the old moral

, blade slicing

taggered back, blood

ac

k as

her howl

er. One struck Tane, sending him crashing into the wall. Another gr

" Elias

She rolled free, gasping, then stabbed

re surr

flicker. Dim. Like the darknes

look

ling wa

ing. A void. A s

an

en

i

ng

-

made a

onto th

looked at hi

wanted?" Elias roa

m, blood splashing

tone

tched violently

o! Not like this-

was t

cher co

etched impossibly wide. A crack o

t holy

i

eam

ds-grasping f

altar collapsed, swallowing the Watcher, the platfor

s they fell into the pit

aro re

crawling to

You... disrupted the ritual.

over him,

ly hastene

th

le

s blad

y collapse

bove bega

rembled, th

-

apsing behind them. As they reached the surface, dawn

m spoke for

g tree, catching their breath, the stenc

oke the

we st

the cut still bleeding. Th

ow," h

rned tow

gistry-it l

gates. We've close

"Then we've

stood

one. Before they fin

lise?" Cl

o the tree, th

ere," he said. "Cha

," Tane

s replied.

k-away from Bleakrest, away from

he next