“Do youwant me to kill them?”
On thewall, the crawling bones quickened like blood in an artery.The skulls shookviolently from side to side.
Zariapressed herself to his back, baring her teeth at the bones.
“Whynot?”he asked.“Isn’t that why you spared my life?”
Theskulls did not move.They only stared at him.
“Isthere something in this chamber that you don’t want me to see?”
After afew long moments, the skulls nodded.
“Areyou going to attack the puppeteer yourself?Is that why you don’t want me tointerfere?”
Thebones crawling along the door shuddered, like a bird unfurling its feathers.
“Well,”Isaac said.“Either way, I’m sure this is all very inconvenient for you, butI’ll be entering your torture chamber now, if you don’t mind.”
“Isaac,”the skulls replied, shaking themselves from side to side.
Zariawaved her axe at the surrounding masses of bone, as if daring them to approach.
“Whatgame are you playing, necromancer?”Isaac demanded.“Don’t you want my aid?This puppeteer is too strong for you to handle alone, aren’t they?”He glaredat the skinless faces.“They’ll kill you if I don’t interfere.”
Nearlya dozen faces stared back at him.They nodded once.There was a certainfinality to the action.
“Thenwhat is this?”Isaac asked.“What do you want from me?Are you simply going tobeg me to leave?”
For along moment, the skulls did not respond.The only sound was the dry scraping ofbone over bronze.Eventually, the stalks extended, shunting more vertebrae intotheir lengths.He thickened his spell, creating a radiant shell of white, andhe felt Zaria tense beside him, her poleaxe held firm and ready.
Theskulls stood at the edge of the lighted dome, peering into the brightness.Their gaze was silent and still.No facial expressions could be read from theancient bone.Shadows danced through the empty sockets.
Then, alltogether, the skulls nodded again, with the same sense of finality.
“I amnot leaving,” he said.“I will see my journey through.I’ll rescue my father,and I’ll cleanse your defilement from this place, for the good of all who’veperished here.However....”
Somethingmade him speak.The way the skulls were looking at him, how the bones scurriedto block the doors, even the leering sway of the masses behind him.
Itreeked of desperation.
Somethingwas very wrong here.
“If yousurrender,” Isaac said, “then I will show mercy.I will take you back to theDiet to face fair judgment.Your crimes are many, but ...maybe some good cancome from the knowledge you possess.”
Herreaction surprised him.The skulls flailed along their stalks, some of thefaces snapping from the vertebrae columns entirely.The bones on the wallboiled like insects.Every skull careened from side to side, nearly losingtheir jaws with the force of motion.It was the most furious head shake he hadever seen.
“Do youhave some personal vendetta against the Diet?”Isaac asked.
Theskulls nodded briskly.
“TheDiet is barely a generation old.You’ve lived for millennia.What quarrel couldyou possibly....”He trailed off, not finishing the thought.The skull didnot answer.All of a sudden, he did not care if it ever did.“Well, regardless,that is your only choice.Death or imprisonment.You can try to stop me, butyou will not dissuade me.”
Theskulls gathered around each other, chittering and gasping.“Isaac.Isaac.Isaac.Isaac.”
“Getout of my way,” Isaac said.
For along moment, the head stalks swayed above him.The flowing masses of boneleered closer, their bodies crackling with constant motion, their forms growingangled and sharp.Zaria filled the air with a snarl.
