Damien would have expected a room with two open pools of lava to be hotter. Even with his shield he should have been sweating like a pig in a room like this. Instead it was no warmer than a midsummer day, probably not even a hundred degrees. Beyond the walkway the figures of the six druids stood in the dim green light. They seemed oblivious to the intruders’ presence.

“This isn’t right,” he said.

“I’ve been thinking the same thing since we set foot in the cave,” Jen said. “What do you want to do?”

Damien conjured a ball of energy. “I could kill them from here.”

“No.” Leah grabbed his wrist. “An explosion might damage the circle, plus they’re not bad people, just weak-willed ones tricked by Eleck.”

“Besides, if there is a trap we’ll need to deal with it so our allies can get through to repair the damage,” Jen said. “I’ll go first.”

Damien stepped in front of her. “I don’t think so.”

“What?”

He winced. Maybe that had been a little forceful. “At least let me check it for anything obvious.”

He conjured a humanoid construct and gave it twice the weight of a regular person. If there were any pressure plates or hidden tripwires the construct would set them off. If the traps were sorcerous Damien figured he would have sensed them.

The construct clomped toward the walkway. The moment its golden foot crossed from the cave floor to the walkway the lava shifted and surged up, forming a ten-foot-tall giant of liquid stone on either side of the path. Both giants brought their fists down on the construct. The instant before they struck Damien absorbed the energy rather than have it dissipate.

Jen glanced at him, all traces of irritation vanished. “What are those things?”

Damien shook his head. “I have no idea. There’s no corruption in them, so they’re not demons. I’ve never seen or heard of anything like them.”

“I have,” Leah said.

Damien didn’t dare take his eyes off the giants. So far the monsters seemed content to hold their places. “Don’t keep us in suspense.”

“They’re earth guardians. Our oldest scrolls describe them being used to guard important ritual sites. They’re physical manifestations of the earth force, given purpose by a druid ritual. I never would have guessed Eleck possessed skill enough to accomplish such an advanced spell.”

“How do we kill them?” Jen asked. She’d drawn her sword, for all the good it would do against creatures made of molten rock.

“They’re not alive and therefore can’t be killed.”

Jen ground her teeth. “You know what I mean. How do we stop them?”

“The guardians are connected directly to the earth force. They can’t be stopped except by the will of the one that bound them or the destruction of the area to which they’re bound.”

“Why don’t they attack?” Jen asked.

“I can’t say for certain, but I’d guess the task Eleck gave them is to prevent access to the ritual chamber. So long as we don’t try and get in they won’t bother us.”

“Wait, how do the druids get past them?” Damien asked.

Leah shrugged. “A password or talisman most likely.”

Damien nodded. “I guess we’ll just have to ask one of the druids inside.”

Jen raised an eyebrow “How? We can’t get in there.”

“We’ll have to bring one of them to us.” Damien conjured a small sphere and sent it across the walkway.

The guardians swung at it, but it was too fast. Half a second later it was past and flying toward the circle of druids. They were fully engrossed with the ritual and didn’t even notice it approaching. Damien shifted its shape and formed a collar that he slipped around the neck of the closest druid. He crooked his finger and the collar dragged the unfortunate woman out of the circle and across the cave floor toward the walkway.

She dug in her heels and tried to hold herself back, but she would have had a better chance stopping a horse by pushing on its chest. Damien’s power was irresistible. She reached the edge of the walkway and he stopped pulling.

“Is there anything you’d like to say before I yank you across?” he asked.

Her jaw clenched and she remained silent. Either she was willing to die for her master or she had a talisman hidden in the folds of her green robe. Damien shrugged and pulled her across.

The guardians never flinched as she skidded across the walkway. When she was four feet away from the group he stopped the collar and inserted a mental block into her head to stop her from lying.

Damien smiled. Not the nice smile he used on people he liked, but the cold, humorless one that Lane said gave her chills. “So, let’s get right to it. How do we circumvent the guardians?”

The female druid just glared at him prompting Damien to sigh. “You’ve got guts, I’ll give you that. Do you guys think we should try torture first or should we strip her one piece at a time and keep running her past the guardians until they crush her?”

“I vote torture first and if that doesn’t work we try stripping her.” Jen turned her head and winked at him. She knew the game as well as he did.

Damien switched his attention to Leah. “What do you think?”

“I think if you give me a minute I can probably find the talisman without torturing or stripping her.”

“Works for me, though it doesn’t sound anywhere near as much fun.” Damien waved her over. “Have at it.”

When Leah approached, the prisoner raised her hands like she planned to fight. Damien added shackles around her wrists and ankles that held her rigid. “There. Now behave yourself and maybe I won’t make you test Leah’s guess by running past the guardians without your talisman.”

“Please, sister, don’t let him hurt me.” The woman had a pleasantly warm voice. He’d expected someone willing to betray her people to sound more shrill.

“Don’t call me sister. You betrayed your oath and the Green Path. The only reason I’ll argue for your life is because even someone as horrid as you is a child of the path. Now be silent.”

After two minutes of searching Leah pulled the prisoner’s robes open and slipped a pin out of the skin beneath her left breast. “This is it.”

“You’re certain?” Damien asked.

“As certain as I can be without walking across the path.”

Damien turned his gaze on the prisoner. “Is that your talisman?”

She remained silent.

He shrugged, lifted her off the ground and floated her toward the path. Five feet short of the walkway she screamed, “Yes! That’s the talisman. Please stop.”

He pulled her back to safety. “There. Wasn’t that easier?”

“What now?” Leah asked.

“Now I’ll fish the rest of them out of their hole and you can find five more talismans.”

“What about her?” Leah nodded toward the prisoner. “We didn’t bring any rope to tie her up.”

“No need.” Jen hammered the female druid in the back of the head with the pommel of her sword. The woman went limp in her restraints and Damien let her fall to the floor. One down five to go.