The Glass Prison

Whitlock knelt next to the body, but Mela

The body at their feet held no recognizable features for any of them. All three of them, in fact, were certain they'd never seen the individual before. He wore a leather jerkin and carried equipment and supplies befitting someone who knew he was going underground-torches, rope, pitons, and more. Vheod also noted that the dead body was well armed with a short sword and a number of daggers.

Vheod took the sword and daggers, shrugging his shoulders as he stood back up and looked at his companions. "We may need these." Whitlock replied with a grim nod. Mela

"We should get moving," Whitlock said. He took the torch from Vheod.

Whitlock led the three of them down the corridor as Vheod tucked the weapons in his belt. The hauntingly cool air currents chilled their summer-accustomed flesh. The smooth angular walls and floor were coated with a thick layer of dust, though in places the flickering torchlight indicated disturbances suggesting that others had passed through there before.

"That man was not killed by the stone guardian…" Mela

"I don't think the guardian was activated until we got here," Vheod replied.

"… I think he was a sacrifice," Mela

"The gnolls?" Vheod asked.

Mela

"I think it must have been the gnolls." Whitlock said from ahead of them. "Take a look at this."

Whitlock moved to one side to allow the other two to see beyond him. The passage gave way to a small chamber with smooth stone walls and powerful arches supporting the ceiling. In the center of the room, hundreds of small green stones glittered in the torchlight. They lay in a carefully constructed pile.

"Those are the same stones the gnolls were gathering," Mela

"Yes," Whitlock replied. "They must have been bringing them here as an offering or something."

Vheod entered the room and approached the stones. He could see that they'd not just been piled on the floor, but had been placed in a deliberate pattern. When he stood next to the pile, directly over the pattern, he could see what was intended. It formed a crude depiction of a leering, fiendish face.

Instinctively, he brought his left arm up to look at the back of his hand. There the Taint emblazoned on his flesh, mockingly took the same shape as the pattern on the floor. The leering face was a shape that the Taint had taken numerous times before. He never thought about it before, but it was the shape the tattoo took most of the time. The stones had been positioned here in the same ma

Mela

"I don't think you should be here," she told him. Her voice was soft.

"You're probably right," he said slowly. Sighing deeply, he continued, "I've been led here, Mela

"But," Mela

"For all I know, I have." "I don't understand."

"Neither do I," Vheod said, shaking his head and stepping away from the stones, "but I do know that all my life I've borne this Taint and that sometimes it acts as though it's an intelligent force of its own. It leads me places. It set into motion the events that brought me here in the first place. The Taint led me to Arach and Gyrison. It led me to Orrag. It… it led me to you."

"Why?" Mela

"I don't know," Vheod said, looking at the tattoo.

"Can you get rid of it somehow? Can you use magic? Can you cut it off?"

"In the first battle with the giant ravens, the flesh where it rested was slashed, but it didn't affect the Taint."

Mela

Finally, she said, "Is Chare'en-the demon-imprisoned here like you said?" She paused, and knelt down to look at an individual green stone. "If so, why are we here? Does that mean everything we've been told, and all we've relied on to save our parents and possibly ourselves, has been a He?" She stood again. "Perhaps." Vheod lowered his head. "If you even so much as suspected this, why did you come at all?"

"If it wasn't true, then you might come here and free Chare'en accidentally. I thought you might need my help." He looked back up at her.

"By the Mother of All," Mela

"I am my own man. I have to prove that-at least to myself."

"I understand," Mela

Vheod's shoulders fell. He shut his eyes.

"No," Mela

Whitlock suddenly returned, though Vheod hadn't noticed he'd left. "I looked ahead-the passage continues beyond this chamber. It leads fairly far into the mountain, and I'm pretty sure I heard something moving around up there. I think we should probably check it out. Besides,"-he looked back the way they'd come-"there's no way to tell if and when the gnolls or that guardian statue might show up at our backs."

Mela

Vheod arched his back, thrusting his chest ahead of him. He took a deep breath. "Yes," he said quietly, "let's go."

The passage was indeed long, and the temperature dropped slightly with each step down its length. Ahead of them they saw light and heard movement. They continued without discussion.

At the corridor's end, a huge set of brass doors barred the way. Runes, glyphs, and other symbols covered the entire surface of both doors. Four figures stood before the portals, obviously attempting to open them. As Vheod, Whitlock, and Mela

The figures were human men, each brandishing a short sword, a dagger, or a long, curved knife. Two held well-burnt torches high above their heads. They glowered silently as Vheod and the others approached. Their eyes showed only malice. "Hello," Mela

Whitlock and Vheod both tightly gripped their already drawn swords. No response came. The three of them stopped about twenty feet away from the doors, the menacing figures in front of them.