The horned beast continued to gouge and score Monolith's chest and sides with its claws. Monolith staggered. Kiril had seen the earth noble take stronger blows with less effect. How…? She realized the demon's life-draining miasma was potent enough to affect even an elemental noble.

Prince Monolith thundered several harsh syllables, speaking the language of the earth Kiril couldn't comprehend.

Thormud replied in Common, answering Monolith's question. "No, you don't need to preserve it-destroy it if you can! The longer it survives, the more our enemy perceives! Be careful of the crystal in its chest-it is some sort of infection!"

The snarling demon, still gripping the elemental in its raking claws, growled in Common, "Meddle not in affairs beyond your ability, geomancer. You're-argk!"

Prince Monolith clamped his grip onto his tormentor and raised the creature high, each massive hand wrapped around one of the demon's arms. The creature's legs kicked violently in the air. Monolith boomed, "I free you from your bondage." So saying, he pulled. The creature came apart with a sound like burlap ripping. The elemental flung the two pieces to either side.

Kiril swallowed and focused on the remaining threat amidst the shower of gore.

The purple crystal that had been in the demon's chest rolled free, glaring a sickly violet light. Thormud raised his rod to smash the crystal, but the earth lord reached one gargantuan hand down and touched it. Immediately, the glow was doused. "I have power enough to suppress whatever infection hides in this fleck of stone," the elemental proclaimed.

Thormud lowered his rod and nodded, but eyed the apparently quiescent crystal. He addressed the earth lord. "Prince Monolith, you have my heartfelt thanks for honoring the accord we made so many years ago. You came to my summons quicker than ever before, and your unexpected celerity is appreciated."

"I sensed something wrong in the vacuous spaces above the mantle," replied the prince. "I came to see what you knew of it, and found your elf embattled with a seed of the very trouble I detected."

Kiril interrupted, shaking her head. "Still one for impressive-sounding words. What're you a prince of, anyway? I've always wondered."

Prince Monolith rotated his body to face Kiril. "You've grown crueler over the years," he observed.

She shrugged. "The world's a tough place when your flesh is mortal."

"The world tries those whose flesh is mineral, too."

She snorted and turned to retrieve Angul. She carefully avoided touching the blade's hilt as she slid him into his sheath. The blade steamed and hummed in frustration. So like a child in his unwavering, uncompromising desires. The old heartsickness welled up as she accidentally recalled what Angul had been.

"Tell me, then, Thormud Horn-what do you know about the poison shard controlling the flesh of your attacker?" As the elemental noble spoke, Xet winged in from the rain-shrouded darkness and alit on Monolith's shoulder. "Prince, it is a long story." The elemental nodded. Thormud continued. "We've traced twisted telluric currents and a disturbance I can't describe. That disturbance is related to these crystals. We've seen crystal of this sort before, integrated into a monstrosity different from what you just defeated. It seemed infected with an evil presence. I don't know if each crystal holds a separate evil, or if each stone is a portal through which a single presence can reach out and influence the world around it. I summoned you because we are near a potential nexus for this crystal, although perhaps not the true source of our troubles. I was hoping to ask for your aid when we arrived there." Monolith gazed down at the crystal with the empty caves of his mineral eyes. "I can tell you this. The mineral is not native to our earthly orb…" "Where's it from?" asked Kiril. Thormud motioned for her to be quiet, but the elemental lord took no notice.

He continued to stare intently at the dark, blood-slicked shard. Kiril muttered, "I'm thirsty," and reached for the flask of the verdigris god. She was still a little shaky after being so overpowered by the horned interloper. A couple of sips was just the thing to lift her spirits. "It is a mineral whose nature is quite strange," Prince Monolith finally stated. "It appears to be the sort of encrustation that might occur along the edges of an… expanding demiplane."

"Demiplane!" exclaimed Kiril. She wiped her mouth with her sleeve, the contents of her flask still bitter in her mouth. "Yes," said Monolith.

The earth lord pivoted to face east, the direction they'd been traveling, toward Adama's Tooth. "I sense some resonance with the crystal in that direction. "But…" Monolith slowly pivoted again until he faced north, toward the line of mountains whose foothills they were already traversing. "… the largest, most malignant intrusion of this putrid crystal into the orb lies on the surface, that way." "East is the way to Adama's Tooth, not north!" exclaimed Kiril. Monolith shrugged his mountainous shoulders. "I believe you should reconsider your destination, lest you fail to find the true author of your misfortune and it instead eliminates you." "North lies Raurin, the Dust Desert. Certain death for any who are not desert-born. Or so I've heard," observed Thormud. "That may well be.

But the infection has its true source to the north." The dwarf nodded.

"North it is." Kiril said, "Thormud, we're so close to Adama's Tooth.

We should mop up whatever's brewing there, then head north afterward."

"I can lead you directly to the infection's source in Raurin," interjected Prince Monolith. "If you follow me, I will overstay the limits of our original pact. I will aid you until the infection is cut away from the orb, or until my ultimate destruction." Kiril paused in her protest, considering. In her experience, the amount of time that elementals even half as powerful as Prince Monolith persisted was usually counted in heartbeats, never days. "Prince Monolith," responded Thormud, "your generosity, as usual, is without bound. We accept your kind offer. Please lead us north and help us heal the earth of this wound." "I will." "Great," muttered Kiril. "Let's head blindly north, into the desert. Sounds like a dripping great idea."

Being a practical elf, she knew that investigating the nearer Adama's Tooth was still a better idea, all else being equal. Even if it wasn't the primary source of these blood-damned crystals, discovering whatever lay within the rock could provide clues about the nature of the disturbance in Raurin-clues that might help them prepare to meet a completely unknown threat. Perhaps even the kind of clue that would prove the difference between their success or ultimate failure. She shrugged. "What about this crystal? Is it dead now?" wondered the swordswoman. Thormud stepped closer, pointed his selenite rod at it, and uttered a sharp word. The crystal began to tremble as if it convulsed with a shiver of ever-increasing frequency. A heartbeat later, it shattered into ineffectual dust. "Yes," said the dwarf.

Kiril smiled. That smile faded as she observed the old dwarf walking away, his steps unsteady, and perspiration on his brow. Her employer wasn't well.