Squirrels, raccoons, birds, a pair of wolves, and a nest of rabbits. Damien never thought he’d see monsters in so many shapes and sizes all in one place. He blasted and burned while Jen sliced and chopped. None ever came within ten feet of Leah though every one they cut down seemed to wound her just the same. They emerged from the corrupted forest near dark, exhausted and hungry.

Ahead of them stretched an expanse of bare stone and dirt in which nothing grew and no spark of animal life showed itself. In its own way the emptiness was as horrifying as the tainted life of the dark forest. Damien would have liked to find a place for them to rest, but the only cover was back in the woods and he doubted anyone wanted to camp surrounded by demonic animals. About a hundred yards across the dead zone the slope turned steep and at the top of a rough trail was a cave.

“Is that it?” Damien asked.

“Yes.” Leah sounded weak and he feared she hadn’t fully recovered from her long sleep. “It wasn’t like this before. The terrain was rough, but there was life. Interfering with the Green Path has damaged all the life in this area. I can’t believe he did this. Eleck once revered the wilderness.”

“You can discuss it with him after we set things right,” Jen said. “We need to find cover and scout their position.”

Leah pointed at a clump of boulders half again as tall as Damien partway up the slope and a little to their left. “Perhaps behind them?”

Jen frowned. “Not ideal, but we don’t have much to work with here. Let’s go.”

They trotted across the open ground and up the slope as quick as they could without raising a racket. If the enemy had any lookouts posted Damien couldn’t spot them. They sat behind the stones and Damien conjured a scout bug. When he had the construct connected to a viewing rectangle he sent it toward the cave.

Jen and Leah leaned in closer. He guided it through the opening and after a short flight the cave brightened. He tried to find the source of the glow, but it came from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. It didn’t have the same green tint as the light in the temple but Damien sensed no corruption.

“What’s that light?” he asked.

“The blood of the earth. It’s running through the walls close enough to the surface that the light oozes out fine crystals embedded throughout the tunnel. It isn’t a natural phenomenon. They’ve been working on this project for a long time, months at least. Even in the weeks since I first discovered this place it’s changed. We’ll need a lifetime to put right the damage they’ve done.”

The bug continued down the tunnel until it came to a fork. “Which way?” Damien asked.

“Left, I think.” Leah shook her head. “I roamed for hours in those passages. I can’t remember the exact path.”

Damien shrugged and guided the construct left. If it turned out to be wrong they’d just have to check the other direction.

It took almost an hour of staring at empty tunnels before the bug reached something interesting, a walkway that ran between two pools of lava. Blood of the earth, was she talking about lava? If the molten stone ran just beneath the walls of the whole complex they were essentially walking into a death trap. One wrong blast and they’d be burned to a crisp.

“Damien, what’s wrong?” Jen asked.

“Just thinking that we’re walking into a live volcano and how it might be better if I just blast the place and bury them all in a magma pool.”

“You can’t,” Leah said. “If you destroy the circle our ability to fix the ley line will be greatly diminished. The flow of the earth force will be disrupted for years if not decades.”

“Yeah, I was afraid you’d say something like that.”

He guided the bug across the walkway and into the tunnel beyond. After thirty feet it opened into a cavern suffused with a green glow. In the center was a rune circle surrounded by six men and women in green robes, their bodies throwing off the same light he’d come to associate with druid sorcery.

“They’re still moving it. After all the damage they’ve caused they’re still nudging the ley line further out of position.”

“Wait. I thought it required a full circle to move the line,” Damien said. “They’re two people short.”

“It takes a full circle to initiate the movement or to make a big change like the one that caused the quake, but once the ritual is underway a smaller group can keep it going. Though I’d say this is the minimum they’d need.”

“Anything else you neglected to mention?” Jen sounded as annoyed as he felt.

“No. I’m sorry, I didn’t think it would make any difference.”

“Never assume anything,” Jen said. “The smallest detail could be the one that saves our lives, or gets us killed.”

Damien let the bug vanish and turned to his companions. “I don’t think there’s anything else.”

Jen frowned. “It’s too easy. There should be guards for something this important. I can’t believe they’ll just let anyone walk through the front door.”

“Easy!” Leah stared at his sister, a slightly hysterical tone to her voice. “They set up in the middle of nowhere. The cave is surrounded by a demon-haunted forest that would daunt any normal person assuming they could even find it. That seems like pretty good protection to me.”

“Maybe.” Jen’s expression didn’t soften in the least. “I hope you’re right, but even if you aren’t the only thing we can do is move forward.”

Damien surrounded both women with shields strong enough to protect them even if they should fall into a pool of magma. It took a fair chunk of his power, but he wouldn’t let anything happen to either of them if he could prevent it.

The little group left the safety of their hiding place and scrambled up the steep slope, bits of loose stone crunching under their feet. Damien went in first, his shield almost crackling with power. If there were any surprises waiting he intended to be ready. Leah followed him and Jen brought up the rear.

The tunnel was wide enough to permit them to walk side by side, but that would have just presented a bigger target. Not that there seemed to be anyone around to attack them. No sound reached them. Nothing moved in the eerie reddish light.

Maybe Leah was right and the renegade druids had depended on their remote location for the bulk of their defenses.

More likely that Eleck had stripped the cave of its defenders to attack him and Jen at the temple. The preemptive strike wouldn’t have been a bad idea if it had worked. Now that decision had left his base vulnerable.