A/N: I'm baaaaaack! And finally ready to continue this monster of a fic. It was supposed to be five or six chapters and, well, look where we are now!
"Right," Sarah said with a cheerfulness she didn't feel. "One brother coming right up."
She put together a game plan for efficiency. She quickly sorted out the best way to put the other golem to shape, with smaller rocks to form its legs and arms while larger rocks were sorted out to fill out its core.
Once the rocks were sorted, she then turned her mind to the task of actually getting them up to where the others floated—she could only hope that once she did, the new rocks would remain in place besides the ones already there.
She considered the rocks before her, pressing her lips together before she decided to get on with it. She grabbed a rock and then tried to stack a few of the larger rocks together to climb them.
Unfortunately, the rock pile collapsed on her each time she tried to climb up it. No matter how wide or sturdy her base seemed to be, it refused to support her weight without collapsing.
After a few minutes, she abandoned that plan of action and turned back to the golem who stood there watching her, unblinking.
"I don't suppose you have any ideas on how to go about this, do you?" she asked hopefully. When the golem shook its head, she sighed. "I thought not."
"Do not make golem," the golem said in response to her comment.
She pressed her lips together. "Well, who made you?"
"Keeper," he answered simply.
"What keeper?" she asked, striving for her patience.
It evaporated a moment later when the golem simply shrugged.
She felt like she'd had more conducive conversations with Penelope in a full outrage than she was having now with the golem before her. "Mr. Golem," she began, hating that she felt like a child for saying that, but she also didn't want to be rude to the only being that might be able to help her reach her goal.
After all, she certainly didn't know where she was going.
The golem stared at her.
"I wish to help you, truly I do, but I don't know the first thing about making golems." She took a deep breath. "Shouldn't you ask this 'keeper' for help instead?"
"Gone," the golem said simply.
Of course he is. Sarah sighed heavily. "Alright, well, I don't see any way I can reach those floating stones to pile new ones atop on my own. Do you think you could give me a lift, Mr. Golem?"
The golem turned to look at the floating rocks. "It is high."
"Yes," Sarah said, pushing back her impatience, "but you are tall and I think between the two of us, we just might make it. If you'll agree to help, that is. And then you can have a brother of your own for company in no time at all. I'm sure it's a bit lonely, being out here on your own."
The golem seemed to be considering her words. "Golem is guard," he said after a moment and from that, she guessed that he'd been acting as a guard on his own for some time now.
No wonder he wanted a brother for companionship.
"Right. And a brother will help you guard," she agreed, her tone coaxing as she tried to persuade the golem. "And be a friend to you. Someone else to speak to, I mean, once I leave."
The golem was silent for a moment longer. "Will help," it announced, suddenly ambling over to her with a speed she wouldn't have thought such a bulky creature capable of.
She selected one of the limb rocks and stepped onto the golem's large hand. It then lifted her up towards the floating rocks—no mean feat, since the rocks were easily floating a story above their heads.
Sarah gingerly sat that rock into place above the ones already formed and then hesitantly pulled her hands back, careful to keep them close if it should fall down.
It didn't.
The rock remained in place.
Whatever magic was helping the rocks float would clearly apply to the new ones.
"Yes!" Sarah cheered with a short dance in the golem's hands. "I'm not sure what this pile of rocks is supposed to represent, mind you, or why they're magically floating, but I suppose we can sort that out later! Let's get this golem built for you, Mr. Golem!"
The golem simply nodded its head as it lowered her to the ground.
She moved to get the next rock and repeat the process until the golem was finally assembled in full, complete with two smaller crystalline rocks for eyes.
Together, she estimated it had taken them about half an hour to assemble, but once the rocks were in place, the golem they'd built suddenly shuddered, the rocks grating as the golem began to move.
I did it! I built a golem! She was ecstatic at her success.
To her astonishment, it fell straight to the ground and for a moment, she'd thought she'd failed and broken it somehow.
And then the new golem, a little larger than the one now lowering her to the ground, stood up and turned to face them.
"Brother," her golem companion said to the newer one.
The other golem tilted its head. "Brother," it echoed, sounding pleased.
If rock golems even could sound pleased with their grated voices.
The rock golems embraced then, with Sarah having to quickly dodge out of the way, lest she be crushed. After a moment, she coughed lightly. She hated to interrupt the moment, but she needed to be on her way. "So, the castle is which direction?" she asked when both golems turned to look at her.
The shorter golem, the one who had helped her build the larger, turned and pointed to the direction that she assumed to be the castle. "There," he told her, "you will find the castle."
"Thank you, Mr. Golem." She smiled, pleased.
The shorter golem nodded. "Thank you for restoring my brother."
Restoring? She was taken aback. So I didn't build so much as rebuild?
"We return to guard the gate," they both said then in unison.
"You must go now before we reach it," the newer golem added.
She wasn't entirely sure what they meant by that, but saw no reason to stick around to find out. Not with a clock ticking on her timeframe to complete the labyrinth.
"Thank you," she said again, inclining her head for a moment.
The golems echoed her movement.
Humming, Sarah then set off in the direction they pointed. Whatever her subconscious was trying to tell her, this dream puzzle would be quite easy to solve, by the looks of it. Nothing so far had really been remotely that challenging.
That assumption, as it turned out, would quickly turn around to bite her on the ass.