33 Golem

The Golem trod steadily forward, red eyes piercing the inky blackness of the water without effort. Some kind of strange underwater crab detected its approach a moment too late, and was crushed underfoot. The Golem didn't notice. It did notice a yellow glow pop into life ahead and to one side of it though.

The automaton stopped as the Master's scowling face appeared in the picture. "Where are you now?" he asked, his voice distorted by the water.

"In the Black Lake. Someone said Dreth took a boat…"

"Idiot! You were tricked! Dreth and seemingly half the dungeon are in the castle! Get back here at once and deal with them!"

If the Golem were alive it would have sighed.

"And hurry! They're in the library. There are books in there that I don't want him finding."

"Yes Master." The Golem started to turn, and then paused. A spark of curiosity passed through the silicon brain. "Why aren't you wearing anything?"

The Dungeon Master looked down. "Cursed teleport spell!" He looked up again. "You! Get moving!" The image disappeared with a red flash.

The Golem turned and started running back the way it had come, stirring up the bottom and leaving a cloud of mud in its wake.

~ * ~

"How long do we have to wait here?" complained Percy.

"Yes, this light is playing havoc with my skin," said Cuthbert, peeling a strip off his face to emphasize the point.

"It won't be too long now," said Dreth from his position on the brow of the dune.

"I don't understand why we're waiting at all," said Emerald. "Surely the longer we stay in one place, the more chance we have of being found."

"Exactly," replied Dreth, his gaze never leaving the horizon.

Emerald gave up and went to join the wizard, who was resting on a mat and holding the sleeping baby. "Have you thought of a way to get rid of the Spite yet?" she asked.

Redthorne shook his head. "They are hard to kill." He sighed. "Dreth could probably skewer it with his sword, he's fast and powerful enough, if we worked together, but he insists on waiting here and staring off into the distance."

"What's he up to?" she asked, sitting down next to the mage. "We must have been here nearly a full day."

The wizard shrugged. "I suspect he has a plan. Whatever else he is, Dreth isn't stupid. At least I'm well rested now."

Sprat played with the dark sand as he listened to the others talk. He didn't understand what was going on, but if Uncle Dreth said they needed to wait, then they needed to wait. Daddy had always said that Dreth was some kind of very powerful zombie, and so should be respected, or at least feared, which was the same thing really.

The little undead looked up. Dreth was motioning to him. "Come here Spit, I've a task for you."

Sprat frowned at the mangling of his name, but obeyed, plodding unsteadily over to Uncle, who gripped his shoulder hard enough to crack bone.

Kneeling down Dreth looked Sprat in the eye, and held the black marble up between two thin fingers. "I want you to do something for me. It's very important you do exactly as I say. Do you understand?"

Sprat didn't, but nodded anyway.

"Good. Now, look over there. What do you see?"

The undead child followed the direction that Dreth was indicating, and saw a large figure, distant, but approaching fast.

"That's that nasty stone man!" he said.

"Sshhh!" said Dreth, putting a finger to his dry lips. "This can be our secret, okay? If you do as I ask, I will give you all the arms in my bag."

Sprat grinned and nodded, he loved arms!

"Very well. All you have to do is go to the Gol… er, big stone man, and touch him with this marble. Do you understand? Very well. Go on, there's a good zombie."

Sprat smiled, took the marble, and trotted off towards the advancing Golem.