I turned my attention back toward the east.

The trail of dried blood continued along the stone corridor. We had only gone a few dozen paces when Kobold stopped before a horned skull.

The skeleton wore a bone breastplate reinforced with black metal. A long spear remained clenched in a hand that had lost every trace of flesh.

More skeletons filled both sides of the corridor.

Dozens.

Then hundreds.

They lay in two rows that had once stood in perfect order. Some had fallen across the bodies beside them, while others rested in half-seated positions. A few still leaned upright where their spears or pieces of armor had caught against the walls.

Their weapons were not broken. The armor still attached to their bodies showed no damage severe enough to have brought down an entire army.

It was as though they had all lost their strength at the same moment.

I approached the first skeleton.

Behind its ribs hung a dull object the size of a fist. It resembled a heart that had dried and hardened, pale gray in color and wrapped in a tangled mass of fibers. Stiff strands extended from it toward the spine and joints.

I activated Analytical Perception.

[Target: Bone Construct]
[Complete Identification Failed]

That was all.

There was no explanation for the object inside its chest.

Ossuary.

It was the closest name I could think of for a place filled with bone constructs like these.

Beside me, Kobold pulled a black-iron spear from the grip of one of the skeletons. The weapon looked too heavy for his body.

A human scream rang clearly from the east.

The group of prisoners we had been pursuing was not far now.

‘Take anything useful. Move.’

We quickened our pace between the two rows of fallen constructs. As we passed them, I noticed that the direction of their skulls and weapons never changed.

Every one of them faced east.

They looked as though they had once guarded something there.

Another scream echoed through the corridor, followed by the heavy sound of something scraping across the floor. The scent of fresh blood began to cut through the ancient dust.

Ratkin’s presence still moved at the back of my awareness. On the surface, Bloodhorn, Deadeye, and the two Orcs followed Ratkin’s resonance. Alden moved with them.

I continued toward the source of the screams.

Ratkin’s presence suddenly stopped.

Almost at the same moment, the four Vassals on the surface stopped as well. The resonance between the two groups sharpened into a distinct vertical pull.

Ratkin was directly beneath them.

I stopped.

‘Guard my body.’

Goblin Leader and Elongated Helm stepped forward. I closed my eyes and activated Parasitic Synapse.

My senses connected with Ratkin.

Ratkin stood at the foot of a straight flight of stone stairs. A flat slab fitted tightly into place sealed the top. Dry earth packed the seams around it, and the smell of soil was strongest between the stones.

Ratkin clawed at the surface.

Dust trickled from the seams, but the cover did not move.

The path had been sealed from the outside.

I severed the sensory connection with Ratkin, then activated Parasitic Synapse on Deadeye.

The world turned pale and sharp.

Deadeye stood among the stone markers filling the cemetery. Some were little more than rough slabs driven upright into the ground, while others had tilted or sunk with age.

One structure dominated the center of the cemetery.

A monumental tomb stood upon a wide stone foundation. It resembled a small building more than a grave. A massive sarcophagus occupied its center, its lid carved with the figure of an armored knight.

Bloodhorn and the two Orcs had stopped beside the tomb.

Ratkin’s presence pressed upward from directly beneath its foundation.

Through Abyssal Relay, I sent Alden a message.

‘The large tomb at the center of the cemetery. Ratkin is underneath it. Direct Bloodhorn and the two Orcs to move the sarcophagus and open the passage beneath the foundation.’

I ended Parasitic Synapse.

Another scream erupted from the east, much closer than before.

I opened my eyes.

‘Quickly.’

We ran.

The corridor ended at a massive stone doorway that had been forced open. One door leaf had collapsed onto the floor, while the other hung crooked from black hinges.

Fresh blood stained the floor before the entrance.

I approached the side of the doorway and looked inside.

A vast hall stretched before me.

Its ceiling rose beyond the reach of the torchlight. Black pillars stood in two rows, each one wide enough to conceal three adults standing shoulder to shoulder. More bone constructs lay collapsed along the walls and between the bases of the pillars.

A massive circular pattern covered the center of the hall.

Hundreds of lines had been carved into the floor, connecting the pillars, the walls, and a large structure at the center of the chamber. Narrow channels followed parts of the pattern.

At the center of it all stood a mass of bone nearly as tall as a single-story house.

At first glance, its shape resembled an egg, but its surface was formed from interlocking vertebrae and enormous ribs. Long spines protruded from several places.

Not a shell.

Something had coiled its body so tightly that it had formed a cocoon.

I signaled the Vassals, entered the hall, and approached the structure.

Through the gaps between the ribs, I saw a black throne.

A woman sat upon it.

A long dark gown covered her body down to her feet. The fabric had grown dull and stiff with age, yet had never fully decayed.

Long hair fell across the side of her face. Its color was mixed between white and black, like fibers that had once burned but never completely turned to ash.

Her skin was pale and slightly desiccated, but showed no signs of rot. The lines of her face remained smooth and intact, enough to reveal that she had once been a beautiful woman.

Her eyes were closed.

There were no restraints or signs of violence upon her body. She looked as though she had deliberately taken her place upon the throne, closed her eyes, and never risen again.

A jagged crown rested upon her head. Dull gold formed a thin framework that curved backward and merged with spines resembling bone.

A faint pressure brushed against my mind when my gaze settled upon the crown.

It was not a voice or a will I could understand. Only an alien weight that tightened my thoughts for a moment.

I activated Analytical Perception.

[Analytical Perception Active]
[Target: Unknown]
[Life Signs: Not Detected]
[Consciousness Activity: Not Detected]
[Authority Residue: Unmeasurable]
[Complete Identification Failed]

There were no signs of life.

Yet the pressure lingering within her body, the throne, and the crown was too powerful to have come from an ordinary corpse.

A necromancer, perhaps.

It was the most reasonable conclusion after seeing the army of bones and the throne surrounding her.

The sound of tearing flesh cut through my inspection.

I turned toward the eastern side of the hall.

A burrowed opening had been torn through the wall between the final two pillars. Its edges were rough and irregular, covered in claw marks and fragments of black stone.

The section opening into the hall was only wide enough for one or two hunched ghouls to pass through at once. Several paces beyond it, however, the earthen passage widened and continued beneath the settlement.

Blood trails and drag marks continued into its depths.

Wet chewing sounds came from deeper within.

The scent of fresh blood poured from the tunnel, far stronger than the trail we had followed. The stench of entrails, excrement, and rotting flesh mingled inside it.

A scream rang out.

Short.

Then came the sound of bone breaking between teeth.

A flash of silver appeared for an instant within the passage before hunched bodies moving through the shadows concealed it again.

I signaled the Vassals and moved closer to the burrowed opening.

From its edge, I could see the interior more clearly.

Several Grave Gnawers crouched around a human corpse. One pinned the victim’s chest beneath its foot, then pulled on an arm until it tore free at the shoulder joint. The monster backed away with flesh still hanging from the bone between its teeth.

Severed body parts covered the earthen floor. Some had already dried, while the rest dripped blood into the mud churned beneath the ghouls’ feet.

A group of prisoners had been packed farther inside the tunnel. Those still capable of sitting huddled together, while several others lay against the wall without enough strength to raise their heads.

Four Heart Skinners moved around them.

Among the prisoners sat an old man in filthy robes. White hair clung to his bruised face. His left shoulder sagged lower than the right, while both arms hung weakly at his sides.

A silver emblem showed through a gap in his robe.

Calvar.

He was still alive.

A heavy scraping sound came from deeper within the tunnel.

The ghouls’ behavior changed.

The Grave Gnawers lowered their bodies. The Heart Skinners turned toward the sound, then bowed their heads.

Something emerged from the darkness.

The creature walked with hunched shoulders, yet still towered over an adult human. Its body was broad and heavy, supported by long forelimbs whose claws nearly brushed the ground.

Bone plates grew along its abdomen, forming a rough layer from its ribs to its hips. The skin between them was covered in scars and masses of flesh that had fused together imperfectly. Its jaw split far beyond its cheeks, allowing its mouth to open wide enough to bite through a human at the waist.

I activated Analytical Perception.

[Analytical Perception Active]
[Target: Burrow Matriarch]
[Deep Corruption: Low]
[Complete Identification Obstructed]

The Burrow Matriarch stopped several paces from the prisoners. Its body was too broad to pass through the section of tunnel opening into the hall, but the space behind it was wide enough for it to move without difficulty.

One of the female prisoners collapsed onto her side.

A Heart Skinner seized her by the hair and dragged her emaciated body before the Burrow Matriarch.

The woman screamed and clawed at the ground.

The Heart Skinner pressed a knee into her back. Its long claws slid beneath her breastbone, then pulled sideways.

Skin and muscle split open.

Her scream collapsed into a ragged rasp as one hand plunged into her chest cavity.

Her heart was torn free.

The victim’s body was still moving when the organ was carried to the Burrow Matriarch.

The ghoul matriarch lowered its head and swallowed it without chewing.

The Heart Skinner threw the woman’s body aside. Several Grave Gnawers immediately pounced upon her, tearing into her belly and thighs before the last movement left her body.

I kept myself concealed behind the edge of the opening.

Taking Calvar without provoking a battle was impossible. The priest was surrounded by the horde, while the Burrow Matriarch waited within the wider section of the tunnel.

But the connection leading into the hall could only allow one or two ghouls through at a time.

If we attacked and immediately withdrew, the horde would be forced to pursue us through the narrow passage before they could spread out.

The hall would become a slaughterhouse.