We spent the rest of the night walking down the other side of the peak, and the next day asleep under another crag jutting from the mountainside. I had terrible dreams, of a white heat creeping closer to me as I lay there, paralysed. A blue ghost hovered above me, laughing as the ground around me began to blister and turn to smoke, and my skin began to crack and dry and I slowly dissolved into dust

I shot up straight when I woke, fumbling for my knife and sword. The sky was orange, and rapidly fading to black. No white light, nor blue ghost assailed me. Captain Lorsson was sitting at the edge of our crag, staring at the sky. He turned to me.

“Good morning,” he said. “Well, night.”

“Good morning,” I replied, and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. My stomach rumbled; the rising sun had sent my appetite right away and I hadn’t felt well enough to eat dinner before we’d slept. I took my hands from my weapons and grabbed some of the mushrooms we’d collected in the tunnels from my pocket to cram into my mouth. Their outsides were cracked and dry to the point of flaking, but the inside was soft and juicy, if unpleasantly flavoured. I washed them down with a sip from my canteen and offered a bunch to Captain Lorsson.

“Thanks,” he said, smiling, but the taste soon wiped his smile away.

“I’ll have to show you where to get decent food once we finish all this,” he said, swallowing a chunk of mushroom with obvious discomfort. “You should have enough money to pay for it.”

“Oh,” I said, surprised.

“It’s the least I can do,” he said. “You and the miners have been a great help to my dwarves and I, really. I’ll make sure you all get your share of whatever treasure this King of yours is offering us. Plus whatever reward my father will offer.”

I frowned. It was a little arrogant of him to assume he’d be dividing up the King’s treasure, when it was me who found the sapphire in the first place. But it was nice of him to at least offer me something, even if his goodwill was filtered through a natural superiority complex.

“Thanks. No one’s ever made that kind of offer to me before. I almost don’t believe it.”

“Not all of us rich dwarves stingy and cruel. Just most of us.” He gave a wry smile, which I returned in kind. “I offered to lead this expedition because I knew my brothers wouldn’t treat any of the miners well. I thought I could do a better job, like I had with my soldiers.”

“Not all of them seemed to like you,” I said. “Not your officers, at least. You know Horir called you an idiot behind your back.”

Captain Lorsson shrugged.

“Well, you can’t please everyone. Horir was a new recruit, recently commissioned and sent to me because no one else wanted him. I tried to treat him well, but he had his own ideas about how to command, and caused a lot of trouble. I couldn’t get him removed though - army politics.”

“I see.” Perhaps I’d been to hasty in judging Lorsson ignorant.

“I can tell you don’t much like me either, Stony.”

I sighed.

“Not particularly. But I don’t like most people, and I dislike you less than most. It’s just how I am, I think.”

“I always though there might be something more behind it.”

‘There was. I suppose I blamed you for my being in the mines. My family lost everything after being outmaneuvered by another, and I ended up down in the mines to make ends meet. I guess I’ve always hated anyone above me after that.”

“You’re over it now?”

I snorted.

“Of course not. But I realised it was pointless complaining about you to myself. You’re a good commander, and I’m glad it was you who dragged us along and not someone else.”

Lorsson nodded, then looked back at the sunset. The orange was nearly completely gone.

Buro was the next to wake. He sat up with his eyes wide open, totally alert.

“Good morning,” said Lorsson. Buro looked at the nearly set sun, and then back to Lorsson.

“We need to get moving fast,” he said. “We should try to be at the King’s tomb before the priests start the ceremony.”

Lorsson shook his head.

“We need to keep our strength up. It’s no good rushing off on empty bellies.”

“No,” I said. “Buro’s right. We should get there as soon as possible. It’s not far now is it?”

“Another day’s walk, and we’ll reach the tomb and the God-killing weapon.”

“Exactly. We can rest once we get the weapon.” I took a deep breath. We needed to save Airon, and there was no point dawdling. A restless energy filled my legs and I stood up. “Come on Lorsson. Let’s wake Tradfast and hurry.”

Lorsson grimaced and stood up, knees shaking with the effort. Last night’s run had tired him out more than I’d expected. That and he was still wearing full armour.

“Alright,” he said. “You really have changed.”

Tradfast didn't take kindly to being woken, but he got over his drowsiness after eating a few mushrooms. Before long, we left the crag.

The stone crumbled more underfoot, but less of its sound reached my ears through the thinning air. The moon shone right in our faces, and I had to keep my head bowed to avoid hurting my eyes. One step after another, monotony began to creep into my head until I didn’t know how long we’d been walking.

Captain Lorsson held up his hand to motion us to a stop, and pointed to the distance. There lay another group of mountains, perhaps a few kilometres away, it was hard to tell, with a river flowing down one. The line of blue continued through the desert and to the group we stood on. Was that the river that flowed into the ancient city? I wondered what that group of mountains was, and if dwarves had ever set foot there.

“That’s where we all lived,” said Captain Lorsson. “The dwarfholds.”

“What?”

My eyes widened in surprise. Could it be true? The mountains looked pitifully small in the distance, but I suppose most of everything was underground. Squinting harder at them, I saw a few tiny lights at the mountain bases, surrounded by a little green. Forests, and a few thin lakes as well from the water welling up from below. It was true, those were the places I’d heard stories about in school, where herds of carefully cultivated deer frolicked to be eaten by the very richest dwarves.

I sighed, wishing I could be over there. Not outside, of course, but in an apartment at one of the topmost peaks, looking down on the river from behind a glass screen, sipping wine.

“I remember soldiering around there,” said Tradfast, stroking the hilt of the runed sword at his hip. “The holds looked so big from down below.”

“Let’s keep going,” I said, noticing that Buro was striding forward even faster than before, and surely he had a good idea of how fast we had to move in order to reach the tomb before the priests. “We can stare across after all this is over.”

“Alright,” grunted Tradfast.

Another hour and our goal came into view, the tallest peak and its twin beside it.

“Are those mountains?” asked Tradfast. “Is that where we’re heading?”

For a moment, I didn't understand what he was talking about. The highest peak seemed normal enough, except for a large crater at the top. And then I noticed the bizarre construction of the second peak. Instead of a natural slope, it was a maze of vertical pillars, each joined by bridges, all tightly packed together. Tiny holes, which could be nothing other than doors, led into each pillar and from each one came a soft white glow. A glow like had come from yesterday’s tomb.

“Is that the temple?” I asked Buro, pointing at it. “What are the priests planning to do there?”

“A sacrifice,” he replied. “A ceremony where every soul in those paradises will be consumed, and the Gods will know exactly where to head to start the rebirth of the world.”

“We should stop them,” said Captain Lorsson. “Let’s get moving.”

I looked at Buro, expecting him to tell the Captain we needed to reach the king’s tomb first. But he just stayed silent.

The reason why became apparent an hour later, when a line of dwarves snaked up to the second peak. The moonlight glinted off their armour as they hurried up and through one of the holes in the side of a pillar.

“I had no idea they were so ahead of us,” said Lorsson. “Did they...”

“Move under the sunlight?” finished Tradfast. “They must have done. Odd for them to not care about their borrowed bodies, isn’t it Buro?”

“They believe the new paradise the Gods create will heal their bodies,” replied the possessed dwarf. “But they’re wrong. What the Gods will create will be no paradise for dwarves.”

I felt I already knew that. The destruction wrought by the God in the city, and those terrible four armed monsters had shown me all I needed to know about what the Gods would create.

“Can we make it there in time to stop the ceremony?” asked Captain Lorsson. “It’s not so far away. We could stop the Gods before they come down, and rescue our friends before-”

“No, there’s no time,” said Buro, cutting Lorsson short.

Captain Lorsson made as if to protest, and then stopped. It was clear Buro was right, as he usually was.

We doubled our pace, so that the thin air rushed past my cheeks and I began to feel faint. My legs burned too, like fire was eating away at their strings of muscle, and my feet became especially sore, the twinge in my left one coming back with a vengeance. But still I marched on, biting my dry lip until blood bubbled out and ignoring the pain. For the most part I kept my eyes firmly on the ground, but when we came to a slight bend I turned my head to look at our destination to see how close we were. My heart skipped a beat as I saw the lights in the pillars were winking out one by one. Already half of them were gone.

“Have they started already?” said Lorsson.

“Yes,” said Buro. “They are gathering the souls to create the final beacon. We won’t make it there before they finish.”

“How many? How many souls?”

“A hundred million.”

I let out a long breath, and wiped the sweat from my brow. That was a number I could not even begin to comprehend. I was not the sort of dwarf to niggle over good and evil, but if these priests were not evil, what was? I had been wrong to doubt the King and his guards. If he could wipe out these monsters, I would be grateful, and now not only because they had taken my friend.

Another hour passed, and by this time I could barely walk, and from the limping gait of Buro and Lorsson in front of me, neither could they.

“Stop!” I said. “We need to take a rest.”

Captain Lorsson stopped, and slowly crumpled to the ground, wincing.

“Stony’s right, there’s no point destroying our bodies like the priests are. Let’s all have a drink and some food.”

So we ate and drank while we watched the second highest mountain in sick fascination. Nearly all the lights had winked out now, only the last three or four near the very peak being left.

“It’s nearly starting, isn’t it?” said Lorsson. “The ceremony, I mean.”

Buro nodded, and the last glows faded. For ten minutes, all was darkness, and the mountain was dead. Then a blazing star erupted from the peak, right on the topmost pillar. It hurt to look at, but my eyes refused to avert themselves. Around the star were the possessed dwarves, jumping around in a circle. The faint sound of their chanting, in a language unknown to me reached our ears, and a cold dread sank into my heart. Lorsson stood up and turned his ear to the blazing ritual.

“What are they saying?” he asked, voice dimming to little more than a horrified rasp.

“I don’t want to know,” said Tradfast, trembling.

I wrapped my arms around myself. I didn't want to know either. I understood now why the lights had been winking out. The dwarves must have been collecting the gems house in the pillars, and bringing them to the top. Now they would do whatever bizarre magic was required to destroy them, and send a signal that could be seen and heard by everything in the world, and perhaps even some things outside of it.

“Wait!” I cried, a sudden shock shooting through my heart, and stood up. “Buro, you said that the last ceremony killed your entire civilisation, including the worshippers. Won’t the same happen now?”

“No, Stony,” he said. “The priests have had ten thousand years to reflect on what went wrong. The ceremony will go according to plan this time.”

I swallowed, not quite convinced. Conversely, if they had got it wrong the first time, why not the second? Was a great wave of death about to engulf us? But we could do nothing about it.

Although there was no way to hold our breaths for fear of passing out, our breathing quietened distinctly. My heart beat harder as the star faded and dimmed, until the mad dance of the priests became clearly visible. They waved and twisted their limbs madly, contorting their bodies - or rather, the bodies they had stolen - into shape impossible for any sane dwarf. The taste of bile crept into my throat.

Ten, twenty minutes later, and the the star faded nearly to nothing, and I saw that it was not a star, but instead a pile of crystals. It was hard to tell, but I thought they might be of the same type as the pillar in the tomb from before, but each one must have been a lot smaller than the one I had seen, for the priests to carry them up so quickly. Even so, it could not have been easy work. They must have torn their muscles to shreds taking them all up, and, squinting, I could see a few with one arm hanging limp. Some of them had removed their armour to move quicker, and red burns glistened on their skin.

Damn it! Was one of them Airon?

“I’m ready to go,” I said, clenching my fists.

Captain Lorsson nodded and stood up. “Yes, let’s get a--”

He was cut off by a red flash that lit up the world like the greatest lamp that had ever been, or could ever be. A scream sounded out, no, a hundred million screams, a hundred million peaceful souls burned into nothing, and each one of us clapped our hands over our ears. Still the sound pierced through, stabbing right into my brain until it stopped abruptly, cut off at its zenith.

“They’ve done it!” I cried.

“Hurry!” shouted Buro, his panicked voice cutting through the screams. “They managed to do it quicker than I thought! Come on!”

Lorsson stumbled forwards, beckoning us onward, and we began to follow, a new wind blowing against us from the second mountaintop. A hot wind, and sticky as if it was dense with the ectoplasm of a hundred million obliterated souls. I coughed and choked as we pushed onward, and then a presence disappeared from behind me. Tradfast!

I looked back, and he had stopped a dozen paces behind, head craned to stare at the sky.

“What are you doing?” I shouted. “We need to get moving!”

“Look at the sky!” he replied. I turned my head up and froze.

The sky was red, like a pool of shimmering blood, and in my mind up became down and I felt like I was going to fall into the sky to be torn apart with the rest of the souls there. But I could not make myself look away. Even as every nerve in my body tried to pull my head down, I stared up. Screaming faces appeared projected on the sky and were distorted and ripped apart like reflections.

“Stony! Come on!” came Captain Lorsson’s shout.

But I couldn’t! What if Airon’s face appeared?

A ripple spread across the sky as if a stone had been dropped into the bloody pool, and Buro screamed out.

“We need to get moving! We need to seek shelter!”

I turned to look at the origin of the ripple, and saw a great lizard descending from the sky across the desert. A God, similar in form to the monster in the city before, but with great green antles. More ripples came, and from each one a new God, until a hundred were making their way to the desert ground. In the distance were great plumes of sand and dust that could only mean more were on their way through the desert. Then the mountain began to rumble, and the bloody sky began to darken. Red rain fell and wet my skin the colour of blood.

The sapphire flashed blue.

“Run!” came a shout from all angles. “Run you fool. They’re here! You must reach the tomb before the priests! Or we are all doomed!”

Was it my imagination, or did a tone of joy run through the terror in the King’s voice. But I had no time to consider that strange feeling as I pressed onward through the hot rain.