Conjunction

"Don't slash. Sever!" Caden shouted as he parried another sword swing. "They can't fight if they don't have arms!"

He modulated the mass of his staff, swinging it like a club, intercepting the next of his opponent's attacks. The blow knocked its gauntleted hand aside, and he followed up with another crushing strike that caught it in the face, snapping its head back in a way that would have broken the neck of a normal person. It stood there for a moment, twitching as the gears that made up its innards whirred, its head slowly returning to its normal position. The sculpted steel that made up its visor was dented, but it seemed none the worse for wear. Caden was going to have to hit them harder than that if he wanted to bring them down.

The one wielding the polearm lunged at him again, the blade grazing Caden's cheek, missing him by a hair's breadth. The constructs were always marching forward in lockstep, slowly pushing the intruders back down the corridor, away from the marble door. Their gait was so strange, like clockwork toys, their sudden, jerking motions making them hard to predict.

The sword whistled through the air, the flared blade striking the wall to Caden's left with enough force to chip the chiseled stone, forcing him to take another step back. They had to go on the offensive, or these things would corner them in the stairwell.

Caden hooked the beaked figurehead on the end of his staff behind his assailant's leg, pulling it off-balance, sending it toppling to the floor. It was far heavier than it looked, the impact shaking the stone beneath his feet. Without missing a beat, he raised his staff above his head, the muscles in his arms and chest bulging as he imbued them with magic. His staff grew heavier, its mass increasing to that of a war hammer, Caden bringing it down on the felled construct's chest. The armored plate that made up its torso dented inward as though an anvil had been dropped on it, the sound of metal on metal reverberating through the corridor. The thing began to rise again regardless, starting to climb to its feet. It felt no pain, he hadn't even dazed it.

With a roar of frustration, he lifted his staff again, but two more of the constructs moved to take its place. One stepped over its prone companion, swinging a hammer at him, the steel head bouncing off the stone floor as it narrowly missed him. Caden was forced to retreat, already muttering a spell under his breath.

To his right, Kadal danced out of reach of her opponent, the sound of grinding metal echoing as it lunged at her with its axe. This time, she struck at its weapon, the magic-imbued blade cleaving the leather-bound haft in twain. The heavy axe head clattered to the ground, the construct examining the severed pole with its crimson eyes, whatever simple intelligence the Alfar had given it struggling to decide on a course of action.

Kadal moved quickly, severing the arm that held the haft at the elbow, the steel armor and clockwork providing no resistance against the enchanted blade. The limb dropped to join the axe head on the floor, Caden glimpsing the complex gears and rods that allowed it to move. Undeterred, the thing reached for Kadal with its remaining hand, its metal fingers outstretched. She chopped them off with another whirling strike, removing its hand with the next, then stepping in to drive the knife towards its neck. Only when its helmeted head was sent toppling from its shoulders did the thing finally relent, the red glow of its eyes dimming beneath its visor, its body slumping to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

Kadal's victory was short-lived as its companions stepped over it, forcing her back with more flashing steel. One of them swung a sword, and her reflex was to block it with her blade, the enchanted knife slicing through the metal like butter. The construct didn't seem to care that its sword was broken, continuing to swing it regardless.

Caden finished his incantation, sending a bolt of lightning flashing towards the nearest golem. It shuddered as the electricity melted a glowing hole in its chest piece, arcing between its internal workings. He could see the spinning gears through the breach, glowing red with heat, but it was not enough to stop the thing. It rewarded him with another sword strike, this one glancing his upper arm as he dodged out of its path, blood soaking his tunic.

More of them turned their red eyes in his direction, drawn either by his blood or his magic, he couldn't be sure of which.

The head, that was the key. The one that Kadal had killed had stopped moving when its head had been removed. Preparing another swing, Caden willed strands of magic to weave between his muscles, his staff growing so heavy that he could scarcely hold it aloft. The staff's power dulled the pain in his arm as the nearest clockwork creature advanced, Caden waiting for the right moment...

As the golem with the molten hole in its chest raised its sword, he swung, pouring momentum into the strike. He could feel his bones fracturing under the impact as the bronze figurehead made contact with the construct's helmet, tearing it from its shoulders with such force that it bounced off the wall on the other side of the passage, narrowly missing another of the golems. The headless body ceased its movement, the sword falling from its grasp as its fingers went slack. Before it even had time to slump to the floor, one of its companions roughly shouldered it out of its path, sending it crashing into the wall.

He heard a cry of alarm from Kadal, turning his head to see her grappling with her opponent. Its broken sword had been knocked out of its hand, and it had caught Kadal's arm, its metal fingers tightening around her wrist to prevent her from using her knife. As she brought up her other hand in an attempt to pull it away, it grabbed that too, a yelp of anger and pain escaping her lips as the two wrestled. For all of her inhuman strength, she could do little against this mechanical beast, it was like trying to fight off a siege engine with one's bare hands.

Caden rushed to her aid, lifting his staff over his head, increasing its mass and momentum as he swung it. It impacted the top of the golem's helmet, crushing the ornate brush and collapsing its head into its torso like a turtle retracting into its shell. Its body ground to a halt as shattered metal was forced into the gears in its chest, jamming them, the red glow of its eyes fading. It released its grip on Kadal, and she darted clear just as it was pushed to the floor by the construct behind it. They just kept coming, they were incapable of feeling fear or doubt.

In his bid to save Kadal, Caden was opened up to an attack, the golem with the war hammer swinging the weapon into his side. Even with magic fortifying his body far beyond human limits, he felt his ribs crack as he was lifted off his feet, sent tumbling across the floor. He heard Kadal's yell of anger, but she was locked in a duel with another opponent, she could do nothing to help him.

Fortunately, the golems were not swift, and Caden had time to get his bearings before the hammer-wielding construct got close enough for another strike. He rose to his knees, blocking the next blow with his stave, very nearly buckling under its weight. Not even Kadal had been this strong when she had challenged him in the desert.

He deflected the next strike, the hammer cratering into the floor beside him, sending pieces of shattered stone flying through the air. As it raised the weapon again, unrelenting, he focused his magic into its steel head. The weapon grew heavier and heavier, the golem starting to tilt backwards, seemingly unable to account for the change in weight. It staggered back, bumping into its companion, its arms swiveling in their sockets as the hammer impacted the ground behind it.

Taking advantage of the opening, Caden rose to his feet, the bronze falcon at the end of his staff glowing like molten metal. He commanded heat, focusing it on the inner workings of the golem, the metal starting to soften. Now that the weight of its hammer had returned to normal, the construct resumed its attack, but it soon faltered as the gears that powered it turned to slag. It was only a matter of melting enough machinery that it could no longer fight, its body seizing up as though it had been frozen in place.

Beside him, Kadal was still dueling with her opponent, which was leveraging the long reach of its polearm to keep her at bay. Before he could help, the next golem stepped around its disabled friend, its sword flashing. He only just had time to deflect it, the thing pressing the attack as it advanced on him. Wood clashed with metal, the golem moving in ways that no human could, able to completely rotate at the waist and shoulders. He couldn't predict where the next attack would come from, and so he was kept on the defensive, forced to react.

He suddenly slipped on something, his stomach turning as he fell to the ground. It was one of the patches of ice that he had created to cover the pitfall traps. In all the commotion, he had completely forgotten about them. The golem took full advantage, beginning to harry him with blows, Caden doing his best to block them. On his back like this, he had no leverage, he couldn't get clear.

The blade of its sword glanced off the haft of his staff, embedding itself in his shoulder, Caden loosing a growl of pain even as he numbed his nerves with magic. It had gone deep enough to chip bone, another stab of agony rocking him as the golem withdrew the blade, now slick with his blood. It felt no triumph, no satisfaction, it merely prepared its next strike with all the callousness of a trebuchet launching its payload. He couldn't concentrate on his magic with this thing pummeling him, he couldn't do anything other than try to stop that blade from finding its mark again.

The golem planted its sabaton on his belly, crushing him beneath its weight, holding him there. Caden tried to bat at its leg with his staff, but he had no leverage, he couldn't do anything besides annoy it. Muttering an incantation frantically, he aimed his staff at the thing, gritting his teeth as it put what felt like the weight of a carthorse on his midsection. Recognizing what he was trying to do, it batted the staff aside, only magic saving it from flying from his hand.

His eyes widened as it drew back its blade, intending to drive its sharp point into his throat. There was a blur of mottled scales as Kadal darted in from his right, pulling her blade from the helmet of her opponent, who was now slumped against the wall. She crossed the distance in the space of a moment, the enchanted dagger whistling as she extended her arm, severing the construct's right hand at the wrist. It caught her in the face with a back-handed blow from the left, sending her staggering backwards. Her long tail wound its way around the thing's ankle, Kadal swinging her hips, pulling its leg out from under it.

Caden rolled out of its way as it stumbled, its foot lifting off his belly, feeling the cold ice beneath his hands as he scrambled clear. Kadal leapt through the air, launching herself onto the thing's back, hissing a war cry as she grappled with it. She wrapped one arm around its neck, her tail coiling around its waist for purchase, clinging to the golem as it reached back in an attempt to grab her. The furious reptile dodged its one remaining hand, her frill flaring as she drove the blade of her dagger into the side of its helmet, burying it up to its ornate hilt.

The construct slowed its struggling, its limbs jerking to a stop, the crimson glow that emanated from the empty sockets of its visor going dark. Kadal jumped down from its back as it fell, slamming face-first into the floor, shattering the ice. The impact triggered the pitfall, the trap door opening, Kadal dancing away as the heavy suit of armor was sent crashing into the depths.

Caden rose to his feet, leaning on his staff, one hand clutching his bloody shoulder.

"Are you alright!?" she demanded, skidding a little on another sheet of ice as she rushed to his side. She began to hug him, then thought better of it, looking him up and down. "You are hurt!"

"Nothing...a little magic...can't fix," he grunted. He was already starting to heal, drawing energy from the felled golems. While they weren't alive, the magic that animated them was no different from that of a plant or a beast, he could use it to power his spell. Torn flesh knitted back together, fractured bone healing, his mind becoming sharper as the fog of pain began to abate.

"You didn't come out of that fight unscathed either," he said, the spell letting him see that her wrist was fractured.

"It is nothing," she insisted, watching as he took his weight off his staff.

"Nonsense," he continued, reaching out to take her arm in his hand. She winced as he began to mend the breaks, Caden pouring his energy into the bones, willing them to set. When it was done, he released her hand, Kadal flexing her fingers as she rubbed her forearm.

"Thanks for saving my skin again," he added, Kadal's frill fluttering. She was either relieved, or pleased with herself. Maybe a little of both. "I'm starting to lose count of how many times this quest would have failed without your help."

"What kind of guard would I be if I abandoned my charge?" she replied, exposing her pointed teeth in a grin. They shared an embrace for a few moments, Caden wrapping his arms around her midriff, the coolness of her scales on his cheek calming the racing of his heart. Kadal responded in kind, nestling her clawed fingers in his hair, her tail coiling around him possessively.

"Are you sure they are dead?" she asked, turning to glance at the fallen constructs that still clogged the passageway.

"I'm sure," he replied, releasing her from his grasp. He straightened his tunic, reminding himself that their ordeal was not yet over. "Their magic is leaving them, whatever enchantment that was cast on them has been dispelled."

Kadal handed his knife back to him, Caden sliding it back into its sheath, wary of its sharp edge. He had been wrong to doubt her, she hadn't even nicked herself with it.

"Come on," he said, stepping over one of the lifeless suits of armor as he made his way back down the passage. He skirted the open pit, leaning over to see a glint of steel in its depths. "Let's see if we can find a way through that door."

They approached the black marble, Caden waving his staff to create another shower of shining dust, his attention drawn to its gilded handle.

"This handle is false," he announced. "It holds a dangerous enchantment, one that would kill whoever touches it by conjuring a flash of electricity. There must be some other way to open it..."

He examined the door's inner workings, finding that all was not as it seemed. There was indeed a lock hidden within the marble, the keyhole so small as to be imperceptible, located at the center of the block. Speaking the right password was not the only way to gain entry. Unlocking it would retract a series of bolts that extended deep into grooves in the wall, allowing it to swing open.

"I can't get at this lock with my knife," Caden muttered, "it won't fit in the gap."

"Can you smash through, as you did with the wall?" Kadal suggested.

"Maybe. Marble is a pretty brittle rock, but the enchantment that it holds might be too powerful for me to break. It seems to negate magic, as the lock on the first door that we encountered did. The surrounding stone is not enchanted, however. If I can break it, the bolts will come loose. This isn't made from limestone, though, looks like granite. This is going to take a lot of force to break."

He targeted the area where the steel bolts extended into the wall, calling upon his staff's power, drawing it back like a woodsman preparing to cut down a tree. He slammed it into the rock, then drew it back again, repeating the strike. Over and over, he struck the doorframe, his muscles starting to burn, strands of energy enhancing his strength. Chips of rock began to fall from it, fractures slowly forming, Kadal watching in awe as it began to break. He exposed one of the metal rods, then another, Caden finally lowering his staff as the last bolt was revealed.

"That did it," he panted, wiping the sweat from his brow. "Stand back, I'm going to open it."

He gripped one of the bolts in his hand, pulling the heavy door ajar, the ancient block of marble creaking on hinges that had not seen use in eons. Beyond it was a gaping maw, pitch black, so shrouded in shadow that he couldn't make out a thing.

"There are no light shafts in here," Caden said, casting another cloud of glittering particles into the air as he stepped into the dark room. Kadal followed after him, her tongue darting out to taste the musty air. It was like being in a sealed crypt, the eerie silence making Caden's skin crawl.

He muttered an incantation under his breath, the bronze figurehead on the end of his staff lighting up, bathing the chamber in a pale glow that cast wavering shadows.

The vault was circular, maybe fifty feet wide, the domed ceiling rising high above their heads. At the center of the room was a raised platform made from the same jet-black marble as the door, octagonal in shape, unusually spartan when compared to the fineries that they had encountered above ground. There were no statues, no engravings, no golden trim. There was only a set of steps carved into its near face, leading up to a strange sculpture hewn from the dark stone. It looked like the claws of some beast, as though the cupped hands of a demon had been raised in supplication, just high enough to be at chest-level to the average person.

Nestled in their palms was a sphere about the size of a human head, perfectly round, its smooth surface devoid of any imperfections. More than that, Caden found that he could not see its surface. Even shrouded in shadow, and sitting upon pitch-black marble, it was so much darker than its surroundings that it more resembled a hole in reality than a physical object. It seemed to bend light around itself, giving off not the slightest reflection, not even casting a shadow on the marble behind it.

"The black stone," Kadal whispered, "just like in my dreams."
"Is this...really it?" Caden wondered as he gazed about the room. "Can we just walk up and take it? Somehow, I expected this to be more difficult."

"You shall go no further," a booming voice declared. It was loud enough that Caden felt it reverberate in his bones, echoing off the chiseled walls, Kadal hissing an alarm as she dropped low to the ground like a cat preparing to pounce. A ring around the marble platform began to move, Caden aiming his staff at it, illuminating the shifting circle. No, it was no ring. There was a bowl-shaped recess around the pedestal, and there was something inside it, something that was now slithering.

From the circular recess rose a creature, a great snake large enough to wrap around the entire room, rearing up until it towered over the pair. Its head must have been thirty feet in the air, a pair of eyes burning with a red glow, illuminating its dark hide. Caden put himself between it and Kadal, casting his light on it, seeing that it was no living thing. This was an artificial construct, just like the golems that they had encountered in the passage outside. Its hide was made from shards of black stone that had been carved to resemble scales, clockwork mechanisms glimpsed between the gaps. He could hear it, the sound of its stone belly grating against the floor, the clicking and whirring of its metal guts. The construct of machinery and magic opened its jaws, revealing pointed fangs of white pearl, fixing the pair with a gaze that cast them in a crimson spotlight.