Gathering of the Titans: The Tol Chronicles Book 2 by Robert G. Ferrell Page B

whole. I applaud their tenacity and I don’t blame them for treating cautiously with us.”
    With that he wandered off into the darkness at the rear of the cell. Petey had told him that the chamber they were in penetrated fairly far, and he wanted to see what was back there. After a few minutes of exploration he came to a heavy wooden door framed by a splendid arch. He expected it to be locked; it wasn’t. He swung the big portal open on hinges that protested their long years of non- use and stepped cautiously inside.
    There were rows of niches in both walls, stretching back into the distant gloom. He had found the elusive mausoleum! Examining one of the niches closely, he determined that it did indeed host remains. They had located the evidence they needed to pursue Tartag’s claim.
    Tol returned to the others and made his announcement. “So, we can settle down and relax. Sooner or later they’ll release us and we can carry the news back to surface. It won’t make Belbomit very happy, but I’m sure we can work something out.”
    Just then a figure shimmered into existence again, but this time it was not Plåk. It made no social overtures whatever.
    “Tol: your brother has disappeared.”
    “Well met, Oloi! What do mean, ‘disappeared’?”
    “I mean he was visiting a dwarven shrine in the center of the Kopyrewt Forest when, in the presence of dozens of witnesses, he suddenly vanished. I’ve checked all the magical and quantum pathways and he has not traveled any of them. This is a wholly new dimensional transport mechanism. In other words, I can’t track him.”
    “What measures are being taken?”
    “The RPC are ripping the place apart, or trying to. Every time they damage anything it heals itself almost instantly. Ballop’ril is on his way there. I’m heading back now and I think you should come with me.”
    Tol stood in thought for a moment. On the one hand, he owed something to these people as the leader of the party. On the other, his brother and Liege-lord was in need of him. There really wasn’t much option.
    “Is there any way you can transport my companions to the entrance of the tunnel?”
    “How about if I just create a distraction that will draw the titans away and let them make a run for it?”
    “That works for me. You gobs in?”
    “I’m not certain how well I can run,” said Koxo, “But I’ll give a shot.”
    “If we are injured in any way, I will hold you personally responsible,” said Episk.
    “Yeah, you do that,” Tol replied, rolling his eyes. “Okay, Oloi, let it rip!”
    After a few seconds there was a bright light accompanied by a rumbling noise and crashing sound somewhere in the opposite direction of the entrance. The alarmed titan guards all ran to investigate. Oloi opened the lock and the two other gobs ran for all they were worth toward the surface.
    “Do you think they’ll make it out?” Oloi asked.
    “They’ll be all right,” replied Tol,“They both can use the exercise, anyway. I am a little worried about Tartag, though. If the other titans think he was somehow involved in this, he might get a lot of grief.”
    “Tartag is much more important and powerful than these isolated titans know. He is the last surviving member of his race: the Storm Titans.”
    “Storm Titans? I thought those were just mythical figures invented to make little gobs behave: ‘if you don’t eat all of your globeroot soup the storm titans will get you.’ That sort of thing.”
    “No, they’re quite real. Or at least they were a millennium past. When the titans dispersed they of all the kin groups fared the most poorly; Tartag is the sole remaining member.”
    “What makes a storm titan different from a regular titan?” asked Tol, scratching his chin.
    “In appearance, nothing; although they tend to be a bit taller. Contrary to certain folk beliefs that they have no arcane abilities, Titans are in fact creatures of elemental magic, meaning they are able to employ magic