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Lies a hollow with more than empty space.
No blood it holds, no breath it needs,
To the soul unsullied, the heart concedes.”
My eyes flew open as the golems as one took three steps forward closing around the central space of the garden, the sound making us all jump.
“Well, that’s helpful,” muttered Theo.
“A guardian born of earth and spell…” mused Carlisle. “It must be one of the golems. One of them must have the scroll. And the ring too? Or maybe one has the scroll, and one has the ring?”
"Looks like," I confirmed, casting a wary glance at the still statues. Their silent vigil was unnerving.
"Great," Alastor muttered. "So how do we pick the right one? There are hundreds!"
"And once we find it, getting the scroll out is just the start," Ash added. "We've got to get it out of this city intact."
“Oh, well, that’s just great,” said Theo. “Any idea which one, or do we have to smash them all open to find out? Cause thatcould get tricky in that there’s five of us and about five hundred of them. Not too keen on those odds.”
I could feel Alastor's gaze fixed on the golems, his brow furrowed in concentration. "I'm working on it," he muttered, more to himself than anyone else.
"Solomon didn't mess around, did he?" Theo said. "Creates a whole golem army to guard one scroll then sticks it inside one random soldier."
"But he wouldn’t," Alastor's voice was low, thoughtful. "If they started brawling, he'd risk the scroll being smashed to bits alongside them. It's got to be a special one."
"Special how?" I scanned our eerie audience. They were a silent sea of stoic faces and stiff limbs.
“I’m not sure,” he admitted.
"Come on,” said Theo. “We've dealt with worse than a bunch of oversized pottery projects before."
My eyes darted through the stone army, searching for any hint of anomaly, but all I found were identical figures… until my gaze fell on the single figure standing upon the dais in the pool's centre.
"There," I pointed, my voice slicing through the tension. "The scroll must be there."
Alastor frowned. "Why that one?"
"Because it's set apart," I answered, the answer clear as day to me now. "Solomon placed his treasure in plain sight yet out of reach of those he wanted to protect it from. Solomon despised demons: he'd make sure his most prized possession was untouchable by demon blood. Not under demon eyes, like in the riddle. That statue is the only one protected by a Solomon’s circle where demons fear to tread."
I was right. I was certain that was it, and without thinking I moved down two steps my eyes fixed on the pool. Alastor reached out and grabbed my arm, dragging me back up.
"What exactly do you think you're doing?"
"Let go, Alastor," I snapped, dragging my arm out of his grip. “We need to move now. We don't know how long they’re going to stand there just watching.”
“I’m trying to keep you alive,” he growled, his rough voice sending a not unpleasant shiver down my spine.
“If we don’t get the scroll and get out of here, we’re all dead,” I shot back. “Trust me, I can do this.”
Alastor eyed me with a mix of exasperation and something else I couldn't quite place. Was that a glimmer of respect? His eyes narrowed, a muscle twitching in his jaw as if he were chewing on his next argument. But before he could unleash it, Theo's hand landed on Alastor's shoulder.
"Boss, we've got bigger fish frying," Theo said, his gaze darting to the vast space.
Alastor's head whipped around, following Theo's line of sight. Dark shapes were pouring out of the tunnel we had recently come through ourselves - the winged hellions had found their way through, and I didn't need to look to know that our brief window of opportunity was slamming shut—with every second we wasted here, that window grew smaller, the danger greater.
"Damn it," Alastor muttered under his breath. "Fine," he finally conceded, stepping back. "But don't do anything foolish, Sariel.”
“I'll try my best, Alastor," I replied dryly, inclining my head at him before turning back to the ominous stone army.
