Where Lies Adventure!

OF GODS AND MEN Chapter 29: To Do the Impossible               Finnian was true to his word.  The young Pell flew down the crumbling stone staircase of Malthus’s tower with incredible grace; dodging loosed stone and leaping over perilous gaps as though he’d always known them to be there.              “Mind the boulder!” Finnian shouted back to Tarsus.   “Make this jump with speed!   Stay as close to me as you can, the ceiling’s coming down on us!”             For his part, Tarsus obeyed dutifully…almost slavishly.   His body heeded every order Finnian shouted at him, but his mind was still in the throne room with Cecily.               “Can I save her?” he asked himself over and again.   “Is there anything two mortals can do for her, in the face of such divinity?”             The descent felt endless to Tarsus.   Each obstacle overcome allowed them to see more of the obstacles they had yet to face in their monotonous, grey descent.                 “Perhaps this is our

OF GODS AND MEN Chapter 28: Sovereign              Tarsus could not take his eyes off of the tip of the dagger that protruded through Cecily’s breastplate.  For some minutes, her blood was oozing out of the stab wound, cascading over her body and onto the stone floor below; a vibrant crimson wash staining the sea of faded grey and brown.             “So much blood…” Tarsus thought in horror.   “It seems endless.”             “Tarsus…” Cecily forced out, calling him back to her tortured face.   “…it hurts.”             “Of course it does, my dear,” a rich baritone voice confirmed.   A tall, regal figure stepped into Cecily’s upturned line of sight.   For a moment, the stranger seemed a shadow to her, surrounded entirely in a halo of golden light.   The dark shape of a man bent toward her, and the closer it came, the clearer this menacing shade came into view.   “You are a full goddess now,” Adulatio said, stopping just short of his nose touching hers.   He smiled down a