The chamber felt all too familiar to Edeline. There were differences, of course, with the walls being naturally worn rocks instead of cut stone bricks, and the shallow channels cut into the cavern floor, all carrying water down at out through several passages. But the glowing energy that was floating in the air in ribbons and streams, if distinct in color, was just as it had been back in Hallowscroft.

  This turquoise energy was concentrated around the statue in the center. While a bit shorter than that of the Stormsage, it still held the same posture of arms reaching upwards, staring sightlessly towards to the earth above. Knowing as they did, it was as much majestic as it was tragic.

  This was the Sluice. The goddess the people here had spoken of. The source of Lasfont's life...and the bringer of Lasfont's end.

  Edeline looked over at Hamond. "Do you have any further preparations, or do I introduce myself now?" She kept her voice low, even though she was fairly certain the Sluice had to already know of their presence.

  "None I can think of," Hamond answered.

  "Let us spread out a bit." Ugotlas's tail was waving anxiously. "It would not aid us in any way to make ourselves a single target for spells."

  Edeline nodded, and waited a moment while Ugotlas and Taeseger paced partway around the chamber. As for what she was going to say...she had no idea. How exactly did you address the sealed essence of an ancient wielder of magic trapped in a statue? There was no lesson in manners in all of Hyarch that could cover this situation.

  An introduction would have to be enough. "I am the thaumaturge Edeline," she announced, "I come bearing word from, and news of, the Stormsage."

  The energy begun to rotate, condensing around the statue. "Another seeks us out." The voice was smooth and soft, but a rumbling echo followed it that Edeline could feel pass through her. "Will this one show the same lack of respect to us that the hunters of the north did?"

  I mean no offense," Edeline quickly said, "Again, I come bearing the word of the Stormsage Brontyla."

  "That name is unfamiliar to us. Perhaps we knew of it long ago, but time fades even our memory into the long night. Do tell us then, of who bade you come here."

  Edeline blinked, trying to make sense of this. "The Stormsage Brontyla. Your fellow member of the Elemental Hex, from the early days of Hyarch."

  "We have no such fellows that we are aware of." The Sluice, already stern, sounded even harsher. "If others such as us existed, they would have made themselves known to us before."

  "Are you not Drimaera? The Sluice?" Edeline asked hesitantly, "Who are you then?"

  "We are child. We are mother. We are sage. We are found in the tallest of trees and the smallest of dust. We are the goddess of this land, giver of water, granter of wishes. Forever young. Forever old. Simply forever."

  This was possibly a more dangerous situation than they had thought. The possibility of Drimaera's mind having faltered over the ages had occurred to Edeline, but this was nothing like how Brontyla had acted. The Stormsage had held on through countless years. The Sluice had completely let go.

  "What sort of wishes do you grant?" Hamond spoke up.

  "The desires of the desperate and forsaken who call upon us." There was a sudden surprising gentleness to the words. "They come weak of body and weak of mind, supplicating us to break that which restrains them. Our gifts strengthen their bodies and free their minds, the truest of salvations. You have no doubt witnessed some of the recent bearers of these wishes above. We have released them from both those who would brand ownership into their flesh as well as the rude ambitions of the hunters of the north."

  The implications left Edeline shaken. "How long have you been doing this?" she asked, dreading the answer.

  "We have already spoken of this," the Sluice said, "Our divine existence is forever, and so too is our generosity. When the children of your children go to their graves, we shall remain."

  Edeline gasped as the truth struck her. They had mistakenly thought of the spell that engulfed Lasfont as a single event. It had been going on as long as Lasfont itself had stood, hadn't it? The ashabti who sought freedom at any cost, the poor peasants who just wanted a better life...they all could have found their way here. Each could easily fall victim to the false promises the Sluice offered, only to lose themselves as their bodies were transformed.

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  "We are certain that your desire was not to hear tales of our past." The Sluice's voice grew stern again. "You have clearly come to seek to have your own wish granted. Step forward then, that we may bless you so."

  "I did not come here for this blessing." Setting aside the matter of Lasfont's history with the Sluice for later, Edeline knew this was their last opportunity to avoid a fight. "We came to offer you a gift instead, one you have certainly earned."

  "What gift could one of your limited stature offer to us?"

  "The gift of relief from your burden," Edeline told the statue, hoping this would work. "Even you have suffered here in this chamber, a prisoner yourself. That was the Stormsage's request of me."

  "An arrogant suggestion. This destiny is one we chose for ourselves, and it is but a trifle to bear its weight. We have endured it long, and will endure longer still. Take this word back to your Stormsage that their assistance is not needed."

  Edeline knew she needed to keep her patience, but the Sluice was making that difficult. "Please listen to me. Do you not remember who you once were? You were Drimaera, one of the thaumaturges of the Elemental Hex. You protected Hyarch in its early years."

  "So you doubt our divinity, and come bearing stolen secrets as well?" The energy flowing through the air accelerated to a blur. "Our name is only granted to a chosen few who have earned such an honor. You have not, and yet you dare to use it as if we were familiar. Such rudeness we have not seen in countless years."

  Edeline almost protested that she had already spoken the Sluice's name, but then stopped herself. There was no reasoning with the madness that possessed Drimaera. A few lifetimes before, perhaps, but no longer. She supposed that she had known all along how this would end.

  "We shall now prove it to you." The energy all suddenly rushed inward, pulled into the Sluice's statue in a single moment, leaving the chamber much dimmer. "The goddess of the fountain calls, and Lasfont itself shall come to our aid!"

  The walls, floor...everything started to shake. Falling to one knee, Edeline shot a worried glance in Hamond's direction. He was also crouched, looking around for the source of the shaking. If the entire cavern collapsed on them...well, no spell they had could prevent that.

  Suddenly, a stream of water the width and height of a man burst in through one of the tunnels. The water, instead of settling to the floor, started to flow in a circle around the Sluice, tighter and faster. No words of power spoken, no clues to the nature of the spell, just raw power channeled through the water.

  And then another stream spat forth from a different tunnel.

  And then another still.

  The combined waters began to shape themselves into a growing sphere, with the statue at the center of it all. It was both barrier and weapon against them, Edeline realized. While not fast, if it continued, it would eventually fill the chamber and drown them all. There was no doubt more than enough water in all the various wells and caves under the town to do so.

  "What do we do now?" Hamond shouted, just barely loud enough to be heard over the sounds of the rushing water.

  It was extremely risky, but Edeline had an idea. "Terra volt!" Pulling chunks of rock off the walls, she then sent them floating towards one of the tunnels, wedging them into the opening with as much force as she could.

  It worked, to a degree - a few trickles of water still were making their way through the cracks in and between the stones, but it greatly slowed that particular flow of water down. If she could cut off enough of them, it should give them extra time.

  "Be careful!" Hamond called out again. "Don't collapse the place."

  Edeline knew that was a danger, but what other choice was there? "Terra volt!" Repeating the process, she blocked off another stream of water. If anything else, she just could...of course, if she grabbed the stones from the floor, there shouldn't be a collapse.

  Thankfully, the cavern walls were holding despite her stupidity. Edeline turned to the next opening funneling water in, then paused, realizing that was the tunnel they had entered through. Better not, she thought, and moved on to blocking the next stream instead. "Terra volt!" Just a few more such spells, and they could move on to figuring out how to break through to the Sluice.

  "I believe someone else is approaching!" Ugotlas's voice was booming, louder than Edeline had ever heard the sphinx.

  The tunnel Ugotlas was staring down was one of the only ones without water being forced to flow to surround the statue. Edeline could only assume that was intentional, and the Sluice left it clear for some reason. A reason that might well be the dark shape coming into view.

  It emerged from the tunnel, slithering along on a serpentine tail. Above it sat the body of a man, albeit covered in gleaming scales. Its face was frozen and emotionless, an expression made further unnerving by the lack of any hair or eyebrows.

  But none of that compared to the feature that truly disturbed Edeline. Where arms and legs would be on a normal man, there were four twisting snakes, fanged mouths snapping open and closed at random. Thinking back to Takhat's warning, and to what Nela had said, Edeline knew they could not let the creature land a single bite.

  "There's another!" Hamond yelled as another of the snake creatures emerged from the same passage.

  This one clearly had been once a woman, but again there were no signs of the person it had once been. More importantly...had the Sluice somehow summoned them here? It wasn't clear, but Edeline had to admit it was possible. That meant they had to act quickly before more joined their fellow creatures. And they could not hope to focus on breaking through the Sluice's barrier while fighting them all off.

  "Hamond!" There was no helping it - Edeline knew what she would be best doing in this situation. "I will hold them off! You all stop the Sluice!"

  "What?" he called in confusion.

  They didn't have time to argue or plan further. "Corpus volt!" Her body now surging with her spell's crackling energy, Edeline charged forward, sword held high.

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