Kuerolong's chair creaked as he rose in one smooth motion, lifting his immense weight until he stood upright in the middle of the room. He still faced the fire. His powerful back muscles flexed beneath the black fur that covered his whole body, and when he turned his enormous head to face Ranno, his curved white horns stood proud on either side of his head. Large black orbs stared from each side of his wet, twitching snout.
Ranno stood motionless as Kuerolong faced him like a muscle-bound giant. He was King of the minotaurs, unequalled among his kind. His black, bulging chest rose and fell with the steady rhythm of his breathing, and his voice was deep and powerful as though it came from the depths of the mountains around them.
'Tell me,' he said.
Ranno glanced down at Kuerolong's wide, back hooves as they scraped against the rock floor while he shifted his balance. 'Where should I start?'
'We fought well together in the Iridium Wars - you and I,' Kuerolong said, opening his mouth to reveal a wide set of imposing white teeth. 'You had spirit and honour.'
Ranno nodded, remembering their times together with genuine fondness. They had been warriors, fighting a war against insurmountable odds. A lot had changed since that time. Things had got worse in every way possible.
'We fell before Hades took you into his domed city,' Kuerolong said, letting out a deep snort from the back of his throat
'Yes. I heard Malkor had broken the minotaurs.'
'Never!' Kuerolong roared, his chest expanding as thick bands of muscle rippled across his neck and torso.
Ranno took a step back. 'There were rumours. Nobody knew the facts.'
'It was the human army that he broke! We fought alongside them, but we are few in number. We couldn't fight so many lords alone.'
'How many survived?' Ranno said, glancing at the roaring flames of the open fire on the other side of the small study room.
Kuerolong gazed up at the rock ceiling a metre above their heads. 'We're less than half what we once were.'
The news stung Ranno. He wanted to rant and rage and throw things around, but there was nothing in the room except Kuerolong's old wooden chair.
'Your charge is dead,' Kuerolong said. 'Why did you fail?'
Ranno searched within himself, seeking answers he had never been able to find. Failure wasn't a word he associated himself with, but Hades had been his charge since the dawn of the Dome Shield, and his body now swung from the reckoning tree.
'You must face the Takawock,' Kuerolong said. 'You cannot refuse now that you're here.'
'I don't mean to refuse, but there's something I must speak of first.'
Steam rose slowly from the tip of Kuerolong's snout as his unblinking eyes absorbed the world around him. Ranno didn't feel fear like any human but there was no denying that the King had always had an intimidating presence about him.
'Then speak,' Kuerolong said in a voice as old as the mountains around him.
Ranno nodded. 'I accompanied a sky lord into the Blasted Lands.'
'You dare to cast yourself as guardian to a sky lord?!'
'I didn't choose her. She chose me. She forced me to accompany her. She didn't know who I really was.'
'It is forbidden!'
'I'm not her guardian. She's not my charge.'
'But you accompanied her! What else would you be - a companion, a friend?' Kuerolong threw back his head and roared with laughter, but there was an edge to his voice. His shoulders shook with rage rather than mirth.
'I don't know what I was. All I know is that she would have died if she had come alone. I stayed with her until we were attacked by a lord and his clerics.'
'She's a sky lord!' Kuerolong said. 'You know what that means.'
Ranno nodded. 'When the sky lords return, the Iridium Wars will start once more.'
'And yet you brought her, knowing it would mean war.'
'I didn't bring her. She would have come without me. My only purpose was to keep her alive —'
'To be her guardian,' Kuerolong corrected as he folded his arms across his furry black chest. 'How could you lose her?'
'We were attacked. I led some of the clerics away, meaning to give her the chance to escape. I doubled back and tried to find her but she took flight. She has the talent. She covered a great distance before I could catch up with her. I don't know where she is now but I know she's in danger. We have to find her.'
Kuerolong surged forwards, grabbing Ranno by the throat with enough force to crush his windpipe. It wasn't real. He didn't need it to breath, but the King had made his point.
'Have to?' he said, pressing his wet snout against Ranno's face.
Ranno spoke with his mind while his throat was unusable. 'I ask for her sake, not mine.'
Kuerolong released him and his throat popped back into its original shape.
'I will face the Takawock - as is my duty,' Ranno said, using his normal voice once more. 'I only ask that you help her after I'm gone.'
'She's a sky lord. They look after their own.'
'She's more than that. She reminds me of Lord Cupris.'
Kuerolong frowned, thick wrinkles spreading across his long black snout. His animal scent was stronger now, a mix of sweat and musk and something stronger from the dander in his fur.
'She's naive,' Ranno said. 'She needs guidance, but she's special too.'
'You put me in a difficult position. Why couldn't you have stayed in your domed city? You would have saved us both this day?'
'She needed me. I had to come.'
Kuerolong backed away, turning to face the fire once more. 'Then there is nothing left for me to say.'