Calenelda pushed her senses farther. Then she felt it. Not Talia's heavy armored footsteps. Pawprints. Light, fast and uneven. Calenelda froze.
"Stonefang!"
But there was something about him. His weight was different. He was heavier. Much heavier. The rhythm of his footsteps was uneven, one foreleg striking the ground with a painful hesitation. And there was something else. Someone else. Calenelda's breath caught. He was carrying a—
"Talia!" Calenelda nearly collapsed with relief.
The paladin found herself riding on the direwolf's thick fur as Stonefang raced across the sand. It felt nothing like riding a horse. There was no smooth rhythm to it. Every movement was powerful and uneven. Talia could feel every contraction of his muscles beneath her hands, every tendon stretching beneath his hide, every desperate adjustment he made to compensate for his injured leg. And then she understood. Calenelda wasn't merely sensing the world around Stonefang. She was feeling it through him. The thought struck her with unexpected wonder. She buried her face in his fur.
"You saved me."
Stonefang gave a low growl. It was strained. Painfully strained. Talia pulled back and looked down. His front leg was bleeding.
"Oh…"
She gently stroked the side of his neck, the only part of him she could comfortably reach while he was moving.
"I know." Stonefang kept running. "You did it for her." Talia smiled despite herself. "For Calenelda."
The wolf gave another strained growl. Talia's smile softened.
"You really do love her, don't you?" Stonefang's ears flicked backward. "I understand."
She rested her forehead against his neck. "It's okay. I'll try to heal your paw."
And somewhere behind them, beneath the thunder of the Colossus and the roars of the Draconians, Calenelda felt the familiar vibrations approaching. Stonefang. Talia. Together. Alive.
The only thought on Calenelda's mind was to join them as fast as she could. She ran as best as she could. Bare feet sliding in the loose dune sands. It almost seemed as if every step she took set her backward by two.
More accurately, he felt his friend's increasingly awkward footsteps through the ground. His ears flicked backward. Then he changed direction.
"Stonefang?" Talia sounded worried. "You can't carry both of us.. Not like this." The wolf continued unrelentingly. "Let me heal you first." Still nothing. "My armor alone is about her weight." Still nothing. Talia groaned. "You're just as stubborn as her! No wonder you like her."
She began unbuckling her armor, piece by piece, starting with the shoulder guards. If she couldn't convince him to stop, she could at least make herself lighter. Soon enough, they swept past Calenelda. Talia reached instinctively for her, forgetting for a moment that Calenelda couldn't see the gesture. At the last instant, she corrected herself and caught her around the waist. Calenelda barely had time to gasp. The next moment she was pulled against Talia, one arm instinctively wrapping around the Paladin as Stonefang carried them both.
"What—"
Then she felt him beneath her. Stonefang. His familiar presence immediately steadied her. But there was something else. Talia. Calenelda's fingers brushed against the fabric of her remaining underlayers, confirming just how much armor the Paladin had discarded. She went very still as her fingers ran gently over Talia's bare abdomen. Then her attention shifted and she felt a bare back against her stomach. Actually, all she felt was linen underwraps. That got her to blush a little. Talia noticed.
"Don't."
Calenelda's mouth curved into a lopsided grin. "I didn't say anything."
"You were about to."
"I was only going to observe that you're considerably lighter than usual."
"Calenelda."
"What?"
"Not. A. Word."
Calenelda laughed softly and settled against her, quietly enjoying the skin on skin contact while she could.
Then, after a moment: "Are you using my strategy against me?"
Talia's face warmed. "What strategy?"
"Pretending you don't know what I'm talking about."
"I hate you."
Calenelda smiled. "No, you don't."
Stonefang felt the weight shift behind him. Two heartbeats now. One familiar. One that had become familiar because his human had decided she belonged beside her. His injured leg protested with every stride. He ignored it. The ruins were ahead. The batwoman was there. He had heard his humans call her Foxglove. Calenelda had promised. Promises mattered to her. Stonefang's ears flicked backward as the two humans behind him began speaking again. They were strange. Always strange. They were surrounded by monsters, running through a desert, and one was half-dressed while the other was mostly undressed and barely able to stand. And yet they were flirting. Stonefang exhaled through his nose. Humans. His humans especially. He would get them to the ruins. He would get the batwoman out. Then he would get them somewhere safe. Then they could flirt. He pushed himself harder. Behind him, Calenelda tightened her grip around Talia.
"Stonefang, you're limping." The wolf ignored her. "I mean it. You're going to make that leg worse." Nothing.
Calenelda rested her head against Talia's shoulder.
"He won't listen."
"I've noticed."
"He's stubborn."
"So are you."
Calenelda smiled. "I know."
Stonefang's ears twitched. There it was again. More flirting. He ran faster. The humans could flirt when everyone was alive.
In the distance, the Colossus screeched as another spear drove through one of its segments. The draconians' victorious roar was short lived when one of them got swept up by one of the Colossus'giant limbs. The heavy set dragon descendant flew through the air, its screams muffled as it failed to glide to safety when the Colossus lunged up. It disappeared in a massive, gaping maw.
Stonefang continued across the dunes. Talia and Calenelda had switched places, mostly because Talia felt safer with her injured friend in front of her so she could hold on to her. She kept one arm around Calenelda's waist, the other resting against the wolf's neck. For a while, neither woman spoke. Then Calenelda lifted her head.
"Stonefang." The wolf's ears twitched. "Where are you going?"
He continued forward. Talia glanced at the horizon. Everything looked different. She couldn't even see the ruins where the Draconians had been hiding anymore. The Colossus had shifted enormous amounts of sand.
"Do you think he knows?"
"He knows we're supposed to find the ruins."
"That isn't an answer."
"I know."
Calenelda placed her palm against Stonefang's shoulder. She closed her eyes. Then she reached downward. The world changed. The sand was no longer simply sand. It became movement. Pressure. Weight. Stonefang's paws struck the ground beneath them, sending tiny ripples through the earth. Calenelda followed those ripples downward, letting her awareness spread through his body and into the ground beneath him. At first, it was overwhelming. Stonefang's heartbeat. Talia's heartbeat. The shifting muscles beneath her. The pounding of distant feet. The Colossus. The Draconians. Too much.
Calenelda almost withdrew. Then she remembered what she had learned riding Stonefang before. She didn't need to control everything. She only needed to listen. Her breathing slowed. The chaos separated itself. Stonefang's footsteps became a rhythm. His weight became a point of contact. The earth beneath him became an extension of her own senses.
And suddenly—
She felt it. Stone. Not the scattered stones of the desert. Something deeper. Older. A straight edge buried beneath several meters of sand. Then another. A corner. A wall.
Calenelda's eyes opened. "There."
Talia looked around. "Where?"
Calenelda smiled. "Under us."
Talia frowned. "That isn't particularly helpful."
"Not literally under us."
Calenelda shifted slightly and placed her palm against Stonefang again.
"There's something beneath the dunes."
Talia looked toward the endless desert. "You can feel it?"
"Stone." She smiled. "Old stone."
Stonefang changed direction. Calenelda felt it immediately.
"He knows."
Talia looked down at him. "You're both terrifying."
Calenelda laughed. "Don't worry. I'm only terrifying when necessary."
Talia raised an eyebrow. "You threw yourself at a Colossus."
"Necessary."
"You nearly died."
"Still necessary."
"You're impossible."
Calenelda smiled and leaned against her. "And yet you came back."
Talia's expression softened. "Yes." She tightened her arm around Calenelda. "I did."
Ahead, Stonefang pushed onward. The dunes slowly began to change. The sand became more compact. Then scattered fragments of masonry began emerging from the slopes. A broken pillar. Half a wall. A weathered stone arch. Calenelda felt each one before they reached it. The ruins were no longer merely a destination. She could feel them beneath the desert. And somewhere inside them, Foxglove was waiting.
Calenelda straightened. "Faster."
Stonefang growled. His injured leg faltered. Talia immediately felt it.
"Calenelda—"
"I know." Her expression hardened. "We're close."
Stonefang pushed onward. Because promises mattered. And they had made one.
He slowed as the dunes began to flatten. Calenelda felt it before she heard anything. The ground beneath them had changed. The loose, shifting sand gave way to something harder beneath their feet. Stone. Old stone. It ran beneath the dunes in long, deliberate lines, buried so deeply that only the occasional fragment broke through the surface.
"There," Calenelda whispered.
Talia followed the direction of her voice. At first she saw nothing but dunes. Then the shape emerged. A broken pillar protruded from the sand, followed by the remains of an enormous arch. Beyond it, half-buried walls stretched away into the desert.
"The ruins," Talia breathed.
Calenelda nodded. "There's something underneath them."
"Foxglove?"
Calenelda closed her eyes. She placed both hands against Stonefang's neck. The wolf stopped. His breathing was heavy. His injured foreleg trembled beneath him, but he remained perfectly still. Calenelda reached into the earth. The desert unfolded beneath her. Stone. Sand. Roots. Cracks. Hollow spaces.
She followed the buried structures deeper, tracing the foundations beneath the ruins. Then she heard it. Not with her ears. A vibration. A tiny, rapid pulse coming from somewhere beneath the stone.
Calenelda's expression changed. "She's here."
Talia immediately dismounted. "You're sure?"
Calenelda nodded. "She's calling."
Talia listened. At first, she heard nothing. Then—
Keek-keek-keek.
A high-pitched sound echoed faintly through the ruins.
Talia's head snapped toward it. "Foxglove."
Stonefang gave a low whine. He was already moving.
"Wait," Calenelda warned.
The wolf stopped. The ruins had suddenly become very quiet. Too quiet.
Calenelda's hand remained against his shoulder. "Something about this place…"
She frowned. "It feels familiar."
Talia looked toward the partially buried entrance. "The temple?"
Calenelda nodded. "Like Bahk'Ehmet."
Her voice became quieter. "But not awake."
Talia glanced at her. "What does that mean?"
"I don't know." Calenelda tilted her head. "That's what worries me."
"Whatever you do.." Talia began. "Promise me you're not rushing into weird fire again."
Calenelda gave her a teasing look.
"I mean it Calenelda."
Talia tried to make herself sound stern, but Calenelda heard what was underneath it. The slight change in her breathing. The tension in her voice. Fear. Not fear of the temple. Fear of what Calenelda might do inside it. The teasing smile faded.
"I promise I'll try."
Talia frowned. "That's not a promise."
Calenelda considered that for a moment. "Then I promise I'll listen when you tell me I'm going too far."
That seemed to catch Talia off guard. She nodded.
"Good."
Calenelda smiled faintly. "Besides, you're usually right."
"Usually?"
"Don't push your luck."
Talia snorted. They entered on foot. Stonefang went first. Calenelda followed with one hand resting lightly against his flank, using the wolf's movements to supplement her earthsense. Talia stayed close behind them, one hand hovering near her sword. The one thing she hadn't discarded. The entrance descended into darkness. The air became cooler almost immediately. Sand whispered from the ceiling whenever the wind found its way through cracks above them. The walls were covered in carvings. Talia raised her palm and demonstrated just how much she had grown. A steady light spread out from the center of her palm. The glow revealed enormous figures carved into the stone. Humanoid shapes kneeling before something vast. Not a god. Not exactly. Something with too many legs. Something whose body disappeared beyond the edge of the carvings.
Talia frowned. "Calenelda."
"I feel it."
"You do?"
"The walls." Calenelda ran her fingers across the stone. "They're old."
"How old?"
She shook her head. "Older than the temple in Bahk'Ehmet."
Talia looked back toward the darkness behind them. "How much older?"
"I don't know." Calenelda's expression tightened. "But the stone remembers being here longer."
Talia gave her an exasperated look. "You know how strange that sentence sounds, right?"
"Yes."
"And you still say things like that."
"Yes."
They continued. The deeper they went, the more the temple began to resemble the one they had already encountered. The same geometric symbols. The same kneeling figures. The same closed eyes carved into the walls. But there was something different. There was no heat. No whispering. No pulse of magic. No sense that something was watching them. The temple felt—
Dead. Or sleeping.
Calenelda stopped. "Quiet."
Talia froze. "What?"
"Listen."
They waited. Nothing. Then—
Keek.
A faint echolocation call. Closer this time.
Calenelda smiled. "She's ahead."
They followed the sound through a collapsed corridor. The ceiling had partially caved in, leaving enormous stone pillars scattered across the floor. Another call echoed through the darkness.
Keek-keek.
"Foxglove!" Talia shouted.
"Careful!" Calenelda grabbed her arm.
Talia lowered her voice. "Sorry."
A muffled voice came from somewhere beneath the rubble. "Is someone there?"
Talia's face lit up. "Foxglove!"
"Who is Foxglove?"
"Hold on! We'll get you out."
Stonefang immediately began sniffing around the collapsed chamber. Calenelda knelt. She placed her palm against the floor.
"She's underneath there."
Talia looked at the enormous stone slabs.
"Can we move them?"
"Some."
Calenelda reached for the earth. Stone groaned. It strained her already depleted reserves. The rubble shifted. But Calenelda immediately released it.
"Not that one."
"Why?"
"There's a chamber beneath it."
Talia frowned. "And?"
"And if I move that pillar, the floor collapses."
Stonefang approached from the opposite side. He sniffed at a gap between two slabs. Then he dug. Sand and dust scattered.
"Good boy," Calenelda whispered.
Stonefang continued until his claws struck something beneath the rubble. Metal. He stopped. Calenelda felt it.
"There's a mechanism there."
Talia crouched. "What kind?"
"I don't know."
Stonefang sniffed it again. Then he pulled back. Calenelda reached into the gap. Her fingers brushed cold metal. She froze.
"Don't touch it."
Talia went in to examine it, but immediately withdrew her hand.
"What is it?"
"Something mechanical." Calenelda traced the shape with her fingers. "It's connected to the walls."
Stonefang sniffed around it again. Talia raised her light. The object was enormous. A circular metal structure was embedded in the floor, nearly three meters across. Several curved plates surrounded its center, each one suspended inside a stone frame. They looked like bells. But they were far too large.
Talia stared. "Those look like…"
"Earth bells," Calenelda finished.
Talia looked at her. "What?"
"Something used to transmit vibrations through the ground." Calenelda slowly pulled her hand away. "And if I'm right…"
She didn't finish. They all became very still. The temple was silent. The mechanism was silent. But now they knew it was capable of making the entire desert listen.
"Let's not activate anything," Talia whispered.
"Agreed."
From beneath the rubble came another irritated chirp.
Keek.
Talia smiled. "Let's get Foxglove out first."
It took nearly twenty minutes. Calenelda carefully shifted the smaller stones while Talia levered the larger pieces away with her sword and whatever she could find around them. Stonefang helped where he could. Eventually, they uncovered a pair of dark wings.
Foxglove hissed as dust fell over her.
"Finally."
Talia crouched beside her. "Are you hurt?"
"Bruised. Angry. Embarrassed."
"Can you move?"
"No. My wings are pinned."
Calenelda touched one of the pillars. "I'm going to lift this."
Foxglove immediately called out. "Wait."
Calenelda stopped. "What?"
"I felt something."
Talia glanced at her. "What?"
"The temple." Her ears flattened. "About an hour ago."
Calenelda's face went still. "What did you feel?"
"A vibration." Foxglove's voice lowered. "Deep." She swallowed. "Everything shook."
Calenelda stared at the earth beneath them. "When?"
"About an hour ago."
Talia looked at Calenelda. "That's…"
"When we called the Colossus." Calenelda finished the sentence.
Her fingers slowly curled. The earth bell. The vibrations. The juvenile Colossus. It hadn't merely heard them. The temple had heard them too.
Once Foxglove was freed, she remained close to Stonefang while Talia helped her test her wings. Calenelda wandered farther into the temple. The carvings became more elaborate deeper inside. Talia followed.
"You're sure this place is older?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"The stone."
Talia sighed. "Right."
Calenelda smiled. Then she stopped. Talia nearly walked into her.
"What?"
"Look."
Talia raised her light. A massive mural covered the wall. At first she couldn't understand it. There was a mountain. No. Not a mountain. Something alive. Something impossibly vast. Its body stretched across the entire wall. Its back rose into ridges like hills. Trees grew across it. Rivers flowed down its sides. And on top of it—
Cities. Talia stepped closer.
"Those are buildings."
Calenelda traced the carving with her fingertips. "There are more."
Talia raised the light. There were cities built on the creature's back. Then another panel. Those cities had fallen. Their towers were broken. Their streets buried. And above them, the creature continued walking. Another civilization rose. Another fell. The mountain remained. Talia's expression slowly changed.
"Calenelda…"
"I know."
She could hear the change in Talia's breathing. The awe. The unease. And, underneath it, something else. Calenelda smiled.
"You're doing that thing again."
Talia frowned. "What thing?"
"Getting distracted."
"By an ancient temple?"
"By me."
Talia stared at her. Foxglove, who had been examining her wings nearby, slowly turned her head. Calenelda's grin widened.
"I can hear your heartbeat."
"That doesn't mean anything."
"It does when it starts beating faster whenever I get close."
Talia's face immediately warmed.
"Calenelda."
"What?"
"We are standing in an ancient temple."
"Yes."
"Foxglove was just trapped under a pile of rubble."
"Yes."
"We may have just activated some ancient mechanism capable of calling a creature the size of a mountain."
"Also yes."
"And you're flirting with me?"
Calenelda tilted her head.
"Would you prefer I stopped?"
Talia opened her mouth. Then closed it. Calenelda's smile became unbearably smug.
"I thought so."
Foxglove stared at them. Then at Stonefang. Then back at them.
"Is this normal?"
Stonefang gave a long, exhausted groan. Foxglove blinked.
"I'll take that as a yes."
The dire wolf lowered his head against his paws. His humans were strange. Very strange. They had survived a Colossus. They had fought Draconians. They had broken into an ancient temple. They had rescued a Nyxir from beneath half a building. And now, apparently, they were flirting again. Stonefang closed his eyes. Not again.
Foxglove's ears twitched.
"You know," she said dryly, "I was expecting my rescuers to be somewhat more intimidating."
Talia looked at her. "We are intimidating."
Calenelda nodded. "Very."
Foxglove glanced at the two of them. One was standing in little more than linen underwraps and bandages, the other had discarded most of her armor somewhere in the desert and was equally disheveled.
She raised an eyebrow. "Of course."
Calenelda laughed. Talia crossed her arms.
"Don't encourage her."
"I wasn't."
"You were."
"I was merely making an observation."
Calenelda stepped closer to Talia. "An accurate one."
Talia narrowed her eyes. "You're enjoying this."
"Very much."
"Why?"
Calenelda's expression softened. "Because you're happy."
Talia's teasing expression faltered. Calenelda reached out, gently brushing her fingers against Talia's hand.
"And because I like making you blush."
Talia looked away. "You're impossible."
"I know."
Foxglove watched them for another moment. Then she looked at Stonefang. The wolf opened one eye.
Foxglove whispered, "Does she always do this?"
Stonefang closed his eye again.
Foxglove sighed. "Right."
Talia finally shook her head and turned back toward the mural.
"Fine. Enough."
Calenelda smiled. "For now."
"Calenelda."
"I'm stopping."
"You're smiling."
"I can't help that."
"You're impossible."
"You've said that already."
"And I'll keep saying it."
Their banter faded as Talia's attention returned to the carvings. Another panel. A city burning. The enormous creature beneath it remained indifferent.
Another.
A forest growing over ancient ruins.
Another.
A civilization with enormous walls.
Another.
Those walls reduced to rubble.
And through every age, the creature walked. Talia's smile slowly disappeared. The humor drained from her face.
"The same creature."
Calenelda nodded. "The same."
Talia raised the light. The mural continued farther than she could see. Civilization after civilization. Rise. Fall. Rise. Fall.
The mountain remained.
Foxglove approached slowly, wings still folded. "What is that?"
Talia answered without taking her eyes from the mural. "I don't know."
Calenelda placed her palm against the carving. The stone seemed to tremble beneath her fingers. Not because the temple was moving. Because something inside her recognized it. "The Moving Mountain."
Foxglove's ears rose. "The legend?"
Calenelda nodded. Talia looked at the endless creature carved into the wall.
"You mean this thing actually existed?"
Calenelda's expression was uneasy. "I think…"
She traced one final carving. A tiny human figure stood beneath one of the creature's feet. The scale was almost absurd.
"It's still alive."
Silence filled the chamber. Talia looked back toward the earth bells. Then toward the mural. Then toward the exit where the desert waited.
Her voice became barely audible. "We called it."
Calenelda didn't answer. Because beneath her fingertips, deep beneath the ancient temple, she felt something. A vibration only she could feel for now. Not the juvenile. Something much, much larger. Something so slow that it barely qualified as movement. One pulse. Then another. Far beneath them. Calenelda's face went pale. "It's awake."
No one spoke. Outside, somewhere beyond the ruins, the desert remained perfectly still. For now. Talia stared at her. For once, there was no teasing answer. No reckless confidence. No certainty. Only that quiet, frightened apology.
"I'm sorry, Talia… I called it."