If hecould get to the other side....
“Xotra’sweeping cunt,” Zaria said, picking herself up.Isaac saw a naked circle of skinon her back, where the skull had landed.She swiped awkwardly at the pinkenedflesh.“Did he just spew a volcano of death?”
“Yes,”Isaac said.
Zariabreathed out, her ears flicking with dust.
Isaacpointed.“Look.”
Below,in the destruction left by Berith’s geyser of bone, there were several crumpledhumans, their black robes peppered with falling dust and shards of rustedmetal.They were so withered and drained their corpses had not even bled.
“Hekilled nine people to cast that spell,” Isaac said.“Not including the souls.”
Zariaspat.
“Itmeans,” Isaac said, “he can’t do it again.That kind of magical display isunsustainable.He was only trying to intimidate us.”
“Iain’t dandy about callin’ that bluff.”
Isaacleaned over the edge, his mind racing.The revolution of the stairway continuedbelow their feet, but the distance was so large that dropping down would likelybreak their legs.It was also impossible to leap from one end of the tower tothe other, though Zaria could likely use her zoanthrope strength to leap acrossthe broken stairway in front of them, if she wanted to.Caine could crawlacross the wall as easily as a beetle.
Isaacneeded a path for himself.
If hecould just....
Hestared down at the tangle of pipework surrounding the glass pillar, knowingthat every moment he wasted was more time for Berith to gain a lead.His unclewas heading directly for the bottom of the tomb.Once there....
The airshuddered.
For thefirst time, Isaac noticed the dust.
Itmingled with the wisps of smoke and souls, dancing through the slight currentsof his breath.At certain angles, it glinted almost metallically.Slowly, itbegan to swirl on its own, as if attempting to catch his attention.When Isaacfocused, the dust shot itself down through the air like the trail of a comet,pointing towards a bed of pipework below, which hung horizontally across thecircular expanse, forming a half-broken net.
Aroundhim, the souls leaking from the cracked pillar were spreading themselves along through the dust, transmitting their energyacross its medium, as if they were made of similar substance.The dust sparkledlike stars within a nebula.
Whatwas this dust made of?
Had thenecromancers bound their souls to solid objects?This dust, this same substancewhich had repeatedly attempted to guide him through the tomb, clearly possessedsome manner of intelligence.Were the extracted souls actually bound to aninfinitesimal substrate, something too small for the eye to see?Had theprocess of time eroded the oldest souls into dust?
Didthese people still exist as specks in the air?
Why didit look like metal?
He hadno answers.A moment later, his thoughts were interrupted as a clattering ofbone sounded above his head.Caine crawled down the obelisk wall, his film ofcorpses having grown noticeably thin.He now possessed half as many bones asbefore.Isaac did not need to guess that a sizable fraction of his mass hadbeen destroyed by Berith.
“Well,”Zaria said, joining Isaac at the edge of the stairs.“No way down.”
“Do yousee that?”
“What?”
Hegestured at the stream of glinting dust, which was still pointing down to thepipework below.Zaria squinted, giving a few cautious sniffs.
“Justdust,” she said.
“No.Itcan’t be.The pattern is too consistent.They’re trying to tell me something.If only I could....”
Hisvoice trailed away.Zaria glanced at him.After a moment, she turned to Caine.“Oi, bones.”
