"Tad, we are only a couple of hours ahead of them. We won't have much time once we get there. " projected Kettle.

"I have the constructs up here ready to pull the wagons to the Temple. We will get them all inside the curtain and have the dwarves leave soon as they unload. Kettle, we should have enough time for this. Once inside, Bismuth will not be able to get past this sand. We just threw a few rocks in it while we waited, not only did they shoot straight up into the air, but they were blasted into bits before they rose out of sight. They are not coming through this if they can't project a shield like this, and Galadinidú doesn't think they can do a powerful enough shield. He said his was special, and they wouldn't be able to match that. We should be fine as long as you get here soon. " Tad projected back.

"We are coming up to the bottom of the curtain now. The wagons are turning right. You should see us," said Kettle.

"We are waiting inside. The constructs are too heavy to wait in the sand. We will need assistance from the dwarves to get the wagons to the forearm. Then the constructs can pull the wagons in one at a time while I shield them. You should see five stone fingers coming up from the sand. Let me know when you are there," said Tad.

A few minutes later, "We are stopping Tad. The driver says they are unloading here. " projected Kettle.

Tad instructed two of the smaller constructs and one of the city guard-sized constructs to follow him carefully. Then Nico and he walked slowly through the curtain of sand as Tad used Galadinidú to project a large spherical shield around them. Zanna and Lamruil stayed on the valley side to help organize the wagons as they came through. Tad had given the constructs instructions to follow Lamruil and Zanna.

Tad's small group appeared on the other side as the curtain's sand fell away from Galadinidú's projected shield.

Beothorn was standing near the fingers, and already two of the wagons had been unloaded down ramps attached to the larger dwarven wagons. The dwarves had sheets of thick hide they were using under the wheels of the Carnival wagons to move them on the sand. Tad halted the constructs on the forearm. Then he went over and gave Beothorn a big hug.

"Glad to see you made it safely, " said Tad loudly over the noise of the sand blowing behind him.

"Me too, son. Your mother said she misses you and wanted me to tell you that," said Beothorn.

"Tell her when you get back that I miss her too, " said Tad.

"Son, I'm staying here with you till this Bismuth thing is sorted, " said Beothorn.

Tad looked at his father for a few moments. He could see the worry on the dwarf's face, even with the beard and his helmet. In the rising sun, Tad could see the worried frown that always appeared.

"No, I'll not have my baby brother thinking our father left him. We will be fine, the curtain is formidable, and I have a plan if that fails," said Tad. He didn't want to tell his father that he would give himself up to spare everyone else if needed. But that was the plan if all else failed. But not until Bubbles emerged, and he knew she was safe.

"Now none of that, I'll be stayin, " said Beothorn.

"Follow me inside. You will see it will be fine, I think. You leave when the last wagon comes in, " said Tad. He didn't stop to argue. He just turned and ordered the constructs to move the wagon across the forearm into the wall of moving sand as he stood in the front of the wagon, projecting a larger shield around the group.

The wagon moved forward as Lamruil directed it to line up where he stood on the other side. Tad planned to bring all the wagons in then have the constructs move them down the ramp in teams until they were all in the Cathedral on the island.

"Well, will you look at that, " said Beothorn, who had shadowed the wagon and was now standing a few feet away looking at the curtain wall of sand. The sun wasn't up high enough to light it fully. It was a dark dawn in the valley. Outside, the sun was already shining on the dunes warming the air.

"Nico, can you show him around. This will take a few minutes as we move these in," said Tad.

"Sure, we will stay up top if you need us, " said Nico as he followed Beothorn off towards the edge of the cliff so they could look down into more of the valley and the ruined city.

Tad escorted the Carnival guards, their wives, the quartermaster Bernard, and Iliphar the druid into the valley next, asking them to help if needed; otherwise, just stay out of the way of the constructs. He didn't think they would be hurt, but the constructs were stone, and he didn't' want anyone stepped on or crushed.

Tad called three more constructs to him, leaving the others, and went back into the sand wall.

He did this a couple more times. Beothorn left after the third wagon to rejoin the dwarves outside. Tad had one more wagon to move now. The Quartermasters wagon. It was bigger than the one holding the World Egg and Kettle. Tad brought five constructs for this, two large and three smaller.

He went outside to retrieve the wagon to see a group of nineteen dwarves in three rows of six, with one standing in front of them.

"Greetings, Master Rockgrip. We are reporting for duty!" he said in a loud, crisp voice that Tad could easily hear over the rush of sand behind him.

" Kizzac, isn't it? Glad your eyes are better. But you are not coming inside. " said Tad. He figured his father had put this dwarf up to this.

"Well, Master Rockgrip, the lads and I have been talking about this for a week. We feel we owe you a debt for saving us and all after the battle with the orcs. You healed every one of us after that battle. We were originally going to offer to help build you and your friend someplace nice to stay. But seeing as you might have other problems soon, we are here to serve till the threat is gone. We will not be taking no for an answer, " said Kizzac.

Tad sighed loudly. He knew there were all these rules for dwarven honor and debt.

"I release you from any debt you feel you owe me, " said Tad.

"Ey, your father said you'd be saying that. We do not accept this and will follow that wagon there into that storm, even if we have to push it ourselves, " said Kizzac.

Tad looked over at the dwarven wagons, he saw his father sitting in the closest one trying to look innocent, but he clearly didn't understand that always made him look more guilty. Perhaps he didn't put these dwarves up to this, but he certainly helped them do it.

Tad gave a look of frustration to his father, then turned back to Kizzac, "I can't shield all of you and the wagon. I'm not even certain I can cover this thing completely, and you can't be under it. I give my word that I will come back for you as soon as this wagon makes it through. Just stay here for now, " said Tad.

"We respect your word Master Rockgrip. We will wait here, " Kizzac said, then he turned and gave a whirling motion to the wagons with his spear above his head. The dwarven war wagons started moving away across the desert at an angle towards the mountains.

Well, they just made sure he would come back and get them. Tad instructed the constructs to move forward, slower than the previous wagons as he judged the width and the shield above as the wagon moved across the chest of the dead god into the storm. They reached the other side with a light blasting of sand to one of the constructs and the top corners of the wagon when the wheels caught and Tad had leaned too far forward. The wood didn't take the sand too well, but the construct took little damage in a few seconds. He had a nice new rock look where the sand had blasted years of grim off the statue in just that small amount of time. The top corners of the wagon look curved now from the sand blasting, and part of one eve was shredded. Tad had felt the weight of the wagon as the wheels thumped over some of the bigger folds in the dead god's stone garment.

Tad told the constructs to follow Zanna's direction, jumped off, and headed back to the squadron of dwarves. Yea, it was too big to be called a squad. He was going to call them a squadron.

Tad made it out of the curtain, and Galadinidú was complaining about almost being out of energia. "Kizzac, are you ready? " shouted Tad as the dwarves came back into view.

Kizzac nodded, then turned around and pointed at a large plum of dust not far off coming from behind the dunes. Then he gave a command that Tad could not make out, and the dwarves turned and marched in a tight block to Tad. Tad raised the magic shield around them, and they walked through the sand storm.

"To all the banished gods, what is this road we travel?" shouted Kizzac looking at the chest of the god and the ragged hole they had to make their way around.

Tad was worried now about the shield and didn't want to lose concentration. He ignored the comment till they were all safely on the other side of the curtain. The sun was just peeking over the dusty clouds above them.

"That was bridge was exactly what you said, Kizzac, a banished god. Well, that one is gone for good," said Tad as he made his way over to the wagons with the dwarves walking in formation behind him.

He stopped at the edge of the cliff, looking off at the Cathedral with its massive tower behind it, "Lamruil, do you see Maximilianus on the top of that tower from here? "

"Yes, he has been there the whole time, watching us and using that magical eyeglass of his, " said Lamruil by the first wagon.

Maximilianus had insisted he could not help move the wagons or even be seen with Tad while he did the work. Telling him that he needed to keep his neutrality. He said he would stay at the top of the tower and watch.

"Lamruil, this is Kizzac. He is going to be staying with us for a while to help, " said Tad.

The elf nodded to the dwarf leading the squadron.

Tad turned back to Kizzac, " I need to get these wagons down and to that Temple on that island. Stay here and watch the curtain and as much of this valley as you can see. Let me know if you see any shiny bronze statues walking around, don't fight them. Just give a yell to one of us. If they are grey stone ignore them and stand out of their way. Those are ours."

"Yes sir, " was all Kizzac said, then he turned and gave two orders directing the squadron to two points. One above the ramp where they could see down into the valley and the other back behind the wagons. His squadron split and went to the positions indicated. Tad raised one eyebrow, thinking this might work out, then turned to give orders to the constructs to start moving the wagons down the ramp.

It took two hours to take the wagons down to the valley floor.

"Tad, I can feel them all outside the curtain of sand. I think one of them went into it. He didn't make it. " projected Kettle.

"How do you feel them?" asked Tad.

"I think the same way they found me. The metal we are constructed from comes from Bismuth. It is part of everything. We meld it into shapes, and it is a part of us. We might have broken their control over me when you cast the spell, but I think they can still sense my presence because I was part of them, and the metal calls out or resonates when they search. There are things about Bismuth I haven't told you because they would kill you if you knew them. But I know it, and I do not believe we can ever really be free of them if they want to find me, " said Kettle.

"Why didn't you tell me this earlier, Kettle," asked Tad looking down at the bracer on his arm.

"I thought perhaps we were far enough away that they couldn't sense me any longer. There are no portals here. I couldn't sense them at all till they all showed up a few miles distance behind the dwarves. I was wrong, " said Kettle.

Tad didn't blame his friend, he had been wrong about a lot of things so far. "Well, friend, we will work through this. We were not going to avoid them for long anyway. I was just hoping for more time to be ready. There is nothing to be sorry about, well, unless you count that crap about you letting me think you were dead. You can definitely keep being sorry about that. " Tad followed it up with a projected half-smile.

"That was funny, Tad, " projected Kettle with an happy-sounding tone.

"No, Kettle if you take one thing away from this conversation, I didn't and still don't find it funny, " Tad projected in a serious tone. At no point did he want his friend to do that again, he had been genuinely heartbroken, and he didn't want to go through that again.

Kettle gave a projected sigh, "Fine. "

Once they were all at the base of the ramp, Tad assigned a few constructs to each wagon and put a dwarf in the seats to give direction, then told them all to follow in a line, the lead wagon giving it a distance of twenty feet behind. The dwarfs were to tell the constructs to stop the wagon if it got off course.

An hour later, they were all being pushed into a circle inside the Cathedral. The inside was big enough to allow for a large circle. This place looked much larger once the wagons were inside. It gave him perspective on the massive scale of the structure.

"Kettle do you know where my clothes and the items I needed to have identified were stored? " asked Tad.

"They placed them in the World Egg Tad. There is a wooden crate here and a sack with your clothes in them. Marena wanted me to tell you she had them all cleaned before we left. " responded Kettle.

Tad made his way into the large bread-shaped artifact to find the items he still needed to identify. In particular, he wanted to identify the crystal dagger hoping he could use that as the artifact required. He cast identity on it first.

Crystal dagger of the Drake. You feel this tooth from a crystal dragon will augment your ability to channel lightning magics.

Well, that didn't look promising. He needed an artifact, and this is only magical because of the nature of the creature. He was uncertain it would count or be powerful enough.

He laid out the remaining items to identify. A ring that someone had wrapped a string around to pick it up without touching it. There was also the stone from his cell when he was captured in the Demon's fortress. He knew it contained some magic but still was uncertain what that magic was. It looked like a worn river stone. Flat on both sides with rounded edges. It had the weight of a stone too.

He cast his identity on the stone first.

Mermaid's Tear, you believe if a call for aid is made at sea that this could draw the attention of nearby sentient creatures.

Well, that is interesting and just about useless in a desert. No wonder it was left in the cell in the fortress. There was almost no water there, and this would quite possibly just drive the prisoner insane if they knew its purpose. Perhaps that was what it was used for; maybe Zanna might now. It is not an artifact, though. Tad identified the last item.

Ring of the Horse Lords, you feel that this ring could be used to summon your mount to you, giving the creature magical assistance to arrive quickly.

Well, that was something he should have been expecting. The person that had possessed his staff long ago had been buried with his personal items as his civilization was losing to the demons that now owned his fortress and his world. These items and the regeneration ring he wore were all from the previous wielder of the weapon. It was so long ago that even the intelligence inhabiting the staff had forgotten most of the details as it slumbered. Well, at least this ring will be more useful than the summon guide ring that had been in the cache.

Tad opened the small chest in the crate. It looked like some of the coins had been taken out, probably to purchase food or pay the Carnival people. Everyone that works gets paid, and everyone in the Carnival worked he thought. Inside on top was a bracelet.

Tad saw a note attached to it, "I discovered what this was, but I thought I'd let you find out for yourself. Don't take it into a fight, please. - Marena. "

Well, that is interesting. His mother usually did stuff like this when she wanted him to learn on his own. Tad cast identity on the bracelet.

Love's First Kiss, you feel that this bracelet will allow you to know where your love is when worn.

Interesting, would he have to wear this, or would the person he loved have to? Mothers, he put it back into the chest and put the chest back in the crate. He gathered up the other items, including the amulet of disguise and his Cittern.

He took them down to the lower Temple and placed them near the goddess's cocoon, lying under the gaze of the construct. He instructed the creature not to let anyone remove the items and keep protecting the cocoon. Tad looked at the cocoon of the soon-to-be reborn god, and he could see more magic flowing into it. The casing looked like a hard shell now, and the white of the threads was turning grey.

Tad saw Nico helping set up some tables and benches from the Quartermasters wagon. The wives of the Carnival guards were setting up a metal cook pit in the center of the wagons. Tad looked up. There were a lot of broken windows along the walls of the Cathedral, and the smoke wouldn't be an issue. The thought of hot food was making him hungry.

"Nico come on, let's get this done," said Tad as Nico followed him into the World Egg.

"Are you sure this is necessary, Tad? " asked Nico.

"No, I'm not sure any of this will matter, Nico, but if the goddess that awakens is going to choose things randomly. I'd like to make sure I limit those options to choices we control, " said Tad.

They were both standing in front of the four large tubes near the wall inside the world egg. The tubes were taller than Tad. Each tube touched both the floor and ceiling.

"Kettle, can you close the door of the World Egg till just a tiny sliver of light comes in. Don't close it all the way, " said Tad. He had talked to Kettle about this already, and they both believed it should work.

"Ok, I think it's dark enough." Tad cast a small light that circled above him, then put his hand out. Nico placed his hand on Tad's sleeve, and they were both standing in the Artificers Workshop several seconds later. Tad noticed the time to transport from commanding the Torque to do this was seven heartbeats. He wondered if that was affected by the number of people he took.

"So you want me to hold two of them while you hold one, " Nico sighed, "Well, you take the Tiara one. She is still … Ick."

"Sure," said Tad.

Nico went over to the table and took the bottle of half-finished liquor and took a drink, and put the cork back in the bottle. Then he picked up one of the frilly-dressed vampire cadavers, one under each arm. Tad took ahold of the one with the Tiara, Synethaes. Then reached out, holding Nico's arm, and willed the Torque to take them back.

Tad and Nico placed each vampire in a tube as Kettle made them slide open. The front of the tubes appeared to be round doors that slid around behind to allow access. Just like with the main door he couldn't see what was holding them in place. Once the desiccated body of a vampire was placed in a tube, Kettle shut it. There were four tubes in total that were large enough to do this and one smaller one that was half the size of the others. Tad could see no seam when the tubes were closed, and Kettle said no air could enter or escape unless he opened it.

"Kettle, can you open the last one," once it was opened, Tad reached into his bag of holding and took out Quigly's phylactery he had sworn to keep safe and the book on necromancy. He placed them in the empty tube. Kettle closed it once done.

"Tad, look at what I discovered, " said Kettle. Then the front of the tube he had just used turned opaque, and Tad could clearly see the book and the phylactery resting on the bottom where he had placed them. He tried to reach them but felt the walls of the tube stop him. A few seconds later, the tube looked like shiny metal again.

"I think I can keep the surface in different gradients of dark if I want also, " said Kettle.

"Nice. Make sure to keep them dark when the door is open, though. I do not know which of these are followers of the goddess or if all three of them might be. But I do not want her to have any access to them. With the tube shut, she should not be able to access them without you allowing it, " said Tad.

"Gods are really powerful, Tad. We need to be careful. Angering a god that might not be entirely stable after rebirth could end horribly, " said Kettle.

"We are just making the odds better, Kettle. I do not intend to keep them in there forever. I just don't want her accessing her followers without us controlling it. You heard what Max said. She will ask each in turn till she gets an answer she likes. I, for one, do not want a vampire champion or high priest if I can help it. I probably should just put them out in the sun right now, " said Tad tapping his foot, thinking.

"Ok, that was fun and gross. I want food, " said Nico standing in front of the door, waiting for it to open.

***

"Kettle is there any change with Automatrons or curtain?" projected Tad.

"They sent a group around the valley. They stopped before entering the river and went back. Now they are all just standing there, " responded Kettle.

Tad sent a mental nod, then looked out across the lower temple seats. With the dwarf squadron, thirty people were sitting on the benches looking at the platform Tad was sitting on the side of with the large cocoon containing the soon-to-be goddess behind him. He had his Cittern, and next to him was Nico.

Tad looked at Maximilianus and Herman sitting on a bench near the front of the crowd. Maximilianus gave him an affirmative nod.

"People, I'd like to explain what we are here to do. This cocoon contains a goddess that is going to be, " Tad paused, organizing his thoughts, "She is going to reemerge. When we found her, she was silent and unmoving. My friend Bubbles is now in there, and they will be emerging as something else. We believe it will be a goddess, but we do not know yet. She hasn't spoken to me since this happened. Maximilianus was kind enough to help me help her by explaining what would be needed. We or I think this will work. One of the parts is we must pray and show homage. I have never done this, and we believe we can guide how this will be done. So we, "Tad nodded to his friends, starting with Nico, then Zanna and Lamruil, "would like to try something different. More importantly, being true to ourselves. We have decided that we will show homage by doing what we do best, and that is with music," Tad pushed the button on the amulet in his hand, and his Cittern appeared in his hands.

He started playing slowly at first. A simple song, after that a light jig and Nico joined in. Several minutes passed as Tad watched the gathered crowd enjoying the music. The dwarves in the back were not showing much enthusiasm until Tad started using the soulmancy bar on the instrument. He remembered his time with the drummers, it was hazy, but he remembered most of it. He would play triplets, thrum, thrum, thrum, using energia to cause it to resonate. He saw Kizzac then some of the other dwarves started to smile. They were several songs in when it was Zanna's turn to join. They only had one more song after this, and Zanna was flowing through high octave notes keeping harmony with Tad and Nico. Tad decided he would add more thrum, thrum, -- THRUMmmmm.. Then there was a sudden pulse, and the light-emitting from the stone that was always softly glowing went dark along with the magical lights on the walls.

The music stopped, Tad could feel the magic behind him. It was pulling him like a stream of water. He didn't move, but he could feel it around his soulmancy energia. Trying to pull it out of him with small tugs.

"What was that? " asked Nico.

Tad looked at Maximilianus in the glow of the cocoon.

"She is drawing in all mana, Thaddius, " said Maximilianus excitedly.

Tad used his magic sight, and he could see it all flowing into her like she was the drain in the bottom of a tub of water. The magic was both from the flow that permeated the island and the specks that normally floated freely. It all rushed to her. Tad felt other magic fail around him as he watched all the mana and energia get drawn into the cocoon of the goddess. A light was now coming from the surface of the cocoon, but even that dimm light was fighting to escape the pull.

Kettle's voice cut through his mental wandering like a hot knife, "Tad, what was that. The curtain is failing. "

Tad's only reply "Oh crap."

***