Zariagripped him very tightly.
Theskull stalks bent back, like they had been taken by surprise.
“I willnot be intimidated,” Isaac said.“You’ll have to do better than a wyrm if youwish to scare me.I’ve fought many to get here, and I’ll fight whatever elseyou may throw at me, as well.”
As ifin response, the bone wall slithered back.
Was sheretreating?
Was shescared?
Isaacstepped forward into the gap, dragging Zaria with him.“What do you want?Theremust be some reason you’re sparing us.”
“Isaac,”the skull stalks replied, swaying like a meadow of flowers.
“Do youwant my aid?”Isaac asked.“Is that why you’re sparing us?Did you summon thewyrm just so we could help you slay the beast?”
Theskull stalks twisted and bent, tangling their vertebrae stems.
“That’sit, isn’t it?You wanted our help.”He burned his light a little brighter.“Thesandwyrm was already going to attack.You just centered it on where we were.And if it didn’t kill us, then you’d have our help killing it.Isn’t thatright?”
Theocean of bones flexed around them, like the pull and expansion of a diaphragm.
“And,now,” Isaac continued, “you’re not killing us because you still want our help.”He glared at the skulls.“Let me guess.It’s the other sorcerer.Thepuppeteer.”
Theskulls gasped.
“You’rescared of this sorcerer.Scared enough to ask us for aid.That must mean you’redesperate.You are, aren’t you?”
Allaround him, the skulls began to nod, wobbling on their vertebrae stems.
“Who isthis sorcerer, then?”Isaac asked.“What do they want?How many thralls do theyhave under their command?”
Themelted skull, the one Isaac had initially burned, leaned forward again, itsvoice gurgling and raspy.All the other faces clattered around it, and he couldsee dozens of others inside the ocean, briefly visible as they spun andtumbled, each of them mouthing at a word.Isaac began to feel, very strongly,that the sorceress wastryingto communicate, but the anatomy of herstructure was preventing any speech, and she was unable to bridge the gap.
It wasodd.
Whatwas the point of all this?
“Simplequestions,” Zaria said, spitting blood from her mouth.“Just yes or no.”
“Areyou going to kill us?”Isaac asked.
Thestalks of heads shook from side to side.
“If wefind the other sorcerer, will they try to kill us?”
Thestalks nodded.
“Isthis your way of asking for an alliance?”
Thestalks hesitated.After a moment, they nodded again.
Isaacclenched his jaw, staring into the rows of skulls.“Is my father still alive?Have you tortured him all these years?”
Thestalks flexed toward the rib cage sky, as if begging it for strength.
“Answerme!”
