The shelf camp was already behind them when dawn marked the place.
Nyxara and Vespera led the nine into a low range of broken arches where the ash weather thinned, and the air turned cooler. The tokens at Zeus's belt stayed quiet. It did not make the passage tolerable. Ahead, the stone opened into a length gallery, cut through ended law, and lined with pillars that retained the outlines of ended gods and unformed beasts, some of which were statues, and others that bore only the semblance of these things until the group passed inside.
'Do not touch the faces,' Nyxara told the others, 'do not answer a dead name if it calls.'
Vespera's hook hung loose in her hand. 'And you do not fall behind. The gallery eats stragglers first.'
They discovered the truth of that warning fifty paces inside.
