Author's Note: Once again, I owe a huge of debt of gratitude to my beloved Loaf for helping me with the fighting scene. Thanks, sweetie. You're the best!
Chapter Twelve: A Monstrous Task
"What do you see?"
Emily considered the question, rolled it around in her head for a moment as she studied the runes in the circle. Her guess had been correct. This was indeed Tuath, element of earth, and the runes were no less deadly than the ones which had summoned the tornado in the garden. The circle itself was carved into the moist, slightly rocky earth of the cavern floor near the subterranean lake. The air here was musty and wet and cool; and, despite the danger, a sense of peace pervaded.
"Well," she began, "the bad news is that it seems to be just as unpleasant as the first one. But," she continued, pacing the perimeter slowly, "the good news is that the elemental runes themselves aren't connected to the summoning runes."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning that whatever this circle summons shouldn't continue unabated until the circle's destroyed. "
"Shouldn't or won't?" he asked with a scowl. "There's a world of difference."
"Shouldn't," she answered, admitting her lack of certainty. "Assuming the runes summon something that we can fight, we can take it together, then I can dispel the circle in peace."
"Is there any way you can be certain?" he asked.
She shot him a wild grin. "Where's the fun in that?"
He stepped to the edge of the rune and drew his wand with a determined air. "I feel I should warn you that, if you're wrong, I am going to be extremely annoyed with you."
She gave a short laugh. "Do your worst, Professor."
A slight narrowing of the eyes was his only answer before stepping over the edge of the circle.
The reaction was so subtle that at first she thought she'd seriously misjudged the power of the glyph, but the sudden tingle of magic that raced down her spine gave her to know that her assessment had been dead on target. The Professor now stood in a very pretty green glow that swirled around his black robes, then sank back into the earth, leaving the cavern a bit dimmer than before.
Severus looked over his shoulder at Emily, and she gave a small shrug.
With a subtle snap, a tiny crack formed at Snape's feet and he prudently stepped back, aiming his wand at the floor. The fracture spread slowly at first, moving inch by inch in a jagged line toward the edge, then splintering in a single movement to the enormous cavern wall behind them, it stopped. Severus and Emily shared a single, confused glance before the silence was split with a deafening explosion that threw them both from their feet.
They regained their feet a moment later, coughing and sputtering, trying to peer through the cloud of dust, but it was far too thick. Emily gave her wand a commanding wave. "Lumos Maxima," she shouted, illuminating the cavern as if they stood in sunlight.
"Nox," came a terse, baritone command from the side. The room went dim again.
"I beg your pardon?" she argued.
"Firstly, I fight better when I'm not blinded," he hissed. "Secondly, if we can't see it, then it can't see... " The rest was cut off by a panicked cry as he dove to the side to avoid an impossibly huge fist which shot out of the darkness and slammed into the ground, creating a fair-sized crater where he had stood only a second before.
"Sweet fucking Merlin!" Emily breathed, gaping stupidly as the dust finally settled to reveal a mountain of moss-covered stone towering above them. A golem, easily twelve feet of animated rock stared out of the settling debris, seemingly fixated on Emily. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a bookish voice began to rattle off what she knew of these creatures. They were mindless and emotionless, seeking only to follow the commands of their creator. As this one had been summoned by a destructive rune, it would single-mindedly seek to destroy.
Golems were also known to be highly resistant to magic.
Perfect.
The creature took a lumbering step toward Emily, moving much more quickly than she would've thought possible. Its enormous foot slammed against the ground with a rumbling, crunching sound that echoed as the cavern floor shook, nearly causing her to fall.
Without thinking, she shouted a stunning spell which slammed into the creature with absolutely no effect.
"It doesn't have a mind to stun, you brainless imbecile!" Severus shouted from across the room, his voice echoing angrily from the walls as he sent an explosive spell that had the hall thundering from the impact. Whether it affected the giant at all remained to be seen as Emily was completely preoccupied trying to escape.
"Damn it, Sev," she shouted back, diving behind a stalagmite for cover as the golem lumbered after her. "I'm quite open to suggestion!" For a moment, there was silence, then a massive fist collided with her makeshift shelter, and a shower of stone rained down on her head, the stone protrusion reduced to rubble in an instant. The realization that she was screaming didn't hit until she inhaled a lungful of dust and debris, and as she rolled gracelessly for the far wall, she choked until she gagged. There was no time to recover, though, as the massive creature took another swing, this time missing her by only a few feet. For an instant of sick curiosity, she glanced at the last place she had occupied, and nearly retched at the gaping hole in the stone.
She was up and running again in a moment, the creature close on her heels as Severus hurled a barrage of spells, any one of which would have blown a human to pieces. "Any time, Sev!" she yelled, casting a warding charm that saved her from a blow that would've felled a hill giant. Unfortunately, the single strike destroyed the charm, and she was quickly running out of the energy required to cast another.
"It's too solid," Severus shouted back. "We need to weaken it."
Had she the time, she would've laughed aloud.
Of course they needed to weaken it! And, here she was dodging and running like a common muggle. When exactly had she forgotten how to be a witch?
"I think I can handle that," she managed to pant loudly enough for her collaborator to hear. "Can you hold it still?"
In true Snape form, he allowed his actions to answer on his behalf.
"Immobulus!" The power and certainty of his voice stopped her as effectively as it had the giant, and she looked on him with awe. For a moment, he concentrated on holding the monster, his back rigid, wand outstretched, and face as stony and impassive as his victim.
He was beautiful, and when this disaster was finally cleared away, he was hers... at long last; a reason to fight if there ever was one. For a moment she forgot how to breathe.
"Do you intend to be of any use at all today, Miss Grey?" His caustic tone jerked her from reverie into action.
Taking a cue from him, she saved her breath and went to work. Making a quick dash to the golem, trying desperately to avoid thinking what would happen if Severus failed to hold him long enough, she knelt at his feet, drew her dagger, and placed a wicked cutting charm on the blade. Then, raising the dagger high above her head, she plunged it into the foot of the monster. To her great delight, it slid in like a hot knife through butter, and she began to carve a weakening rune, chanting as she worked, encouraging the magic to finish its task quickly.
What felt like a century later, she lifted her blade and watched with great pride as the beginnings of a series of cracks spread from the rune up the creature's leg. It proved to be a moment she couldn't spare.
She was vaguely aware of Severus shouting her name as he lost control of the golem, but most of her attention was riveted on the massive foot which seemed to rise in slow motion. The warding spell had barely enough time to leave her lips when it collided with her. There was a glorious feeling of flying, then an explosion of pain as her body hit the stairs.
Somewhere, far in the distance, Severus was shouting spell after spell, some of them she recognized, some of them she didn't. But, she knew a disillusionment charm when she felt one, and silently thanked him as the creature stopped, confused by its disappearing target, then apparently turned on him. "Conglacio!" Snape shouted. It was an odd spell to cast, that was certain, but the tone of his voice spoke volumes and was all she required to know that he'd prevailed at last.
Somehow, she managed to raise her head in time to see a sheet of ice form under their adversary's feet. Its next step sent it sliding to the ground, huge legs splitting apart until the strain pulled them from its body, fracturing it like a hatching egg until it fell to its side with a resounding crash and crumbled, at last, to rubble.
Emily was on her feet, shouting acclamations to the rapidly-approaching potions master before she realized she'd even moved.
"Sev, that was brilliant!" she gushed, throwing her arms around him with just a slight wince of pain. "I'm so proud of you!"
He pulled away sharply. "Are you injured?"
"I don't think so," she panted. "I cast the ward just in time."
He nodded, clearly relieved. "I feared you were dead."
"Oh, please," she laughed. "I'm harder to kill than a cockroach."
Severus made for the rune, grasping her sleeve and pulling her behind him.
"What's the rush?" she protested, trying to pull away.
"I merely wish to finish this task and get out of here," he muttered. "That was far too close for..."
He glanced at her and she back at him, obviously hoping that she hadn't heard the familiar snap of cracking stone, that he'd imagined it, but her panicked face evidenced that she'd heard it too, and together they drew their gazes to the floor where the crack had severed and was slowly creeping along a second path toward the edge of the rune, obviously headed for the same place it had before, where there was now a yawning hole in the cavern wall.
"You specifically said..." Severus began angrily, a hint of panic growing in his voice.
"Oh, no you don't," she interrupted, already on her knees before the runic circle, dagger drawn. "I told you I wasn't sure. Now, keep that damn thing away from me while I work on this."
A moment later another explosion was heard as a second golem broke away from the wall. Severus cast a ward this time, hoping that it would fare better than Emily's had. He hadn't long to wonder as the boulder that served as the golem's hand smashed into the magical barrier and shook the earth beneath his feet.
It wasn't bad, actually, not as powerful as the tornado. Still, he knew he couldn't keep this up indefinitely. Their salvation lay in Emily's completing her task quickly. He risked a glance over his shoulder to see her working in earnest. The Draught of Destruction was nowhere in sight. She'd apparently decided that the use of her own magic would be much more efficient, and was likely correct. As powerful as their combined gifts were, pouring a potion into each runic carving would waste time they simply didn't have.
"Hey, Sev!" Emily called out in an inappropriately jolly tone.
He glanced over his shoulder once more to see her laughing merrily as she pointed up at the railing monster. "If the ward fails, just aim for that thing. That's got to hurt!"
He followed her pointing finger to a gigantic quartz protrusion that was, admittedly, in just the right place to be mistaken for a renowned member of the male anatomy.
Severus was not amused.
"Emily, if you don't get back to work..."
"Alright, alright!"
For a few moments more she worked in silence as the golem struck the ward with a mind-numbingly regular cadence of thunderous blows. He hadn't counted on the golem's single-mindedness which was rapidly wearing him down. Soon, the ward began to shiver under the consistent blows, and he knew they were in trouble. Emily's shouted request for him to not damage the quartz phallus as it would make a wonderful trophy for her cell did nothing to lighten his mood.
"Emily, hurry!" he shouted back, trying to impress upon her the severity of the situation with his tone.
He was sure she'd begun a biting retort, but her words were lost in the violent blast as the ward finally gave way to a particularly violent blow and the stone fist slammed into the earth, spraying chunks of earth and rock into the air like a geyser. In a single motion, he disillusioned Emily and dove for the wall opposite, drawing the murderous creature with him. Taking a cue from Emily, he began to hit the creature with a barrage of weakening spells, darting through the rubble of its forebear, using the larger chunks of stone as cover.
Crouching behind the downed golem's head, he glanced up to see the creature stopped, staring stupidly about, having lost sight of its prey. The colossal stalactite above its head was too sweet an opportunity to pass up. Gathering his strength, he sent a vicious breaking charm to the base of the hanging protrusion and down it fell, crashing into the golem with a thunderous boom. Vaguely he heard Emily cry out at the sound. He willed her to be silent and concentrate on her work. When the dust cleared a moment later, the monster was missing an arm.
Severus at once cursed and blessed his luck, before hitting it with another weakening charm. If he could manage to trip this one as he had the last, it would very possibly break apart; but, without being certain, he was hesitant to try. The golem surged forward, then, with speed and agility it shouldn't have possessed and caught Severus up in its crushing grip, lifting him into the air with dizzying swiftness.
Another moment in the creature's grasp and he faced the grizzly prospect of being crushed like a grape. With the breath remaining in his lungs, he brought his wand to bear, wheezed a disarming spell, and was thrown by his own magic through the tip of a stalagmite, tearing a neat hole in his side, and fell to the ground several feet below. It was his will alone, for there was no strength left in his body, that brought him staggering to his feet an instant later.
Unfazed by it all, the golem was still advancing.
There was no help for it, now. He'd have to hope that his weakening spells had been as effective as Emily's rune. Lowering his wand to ground, he covered the earth beneath his enemy's feet with a thick sheet of ice, and hoped.
"Done!" came the feminine cry from the runic circle on the other side.
Both golem and potions master stopped and turned in the direction of her voice. An instant later, almost comically, the creature's feet were taken from beneath him by the rapidly-melting ice and he fell to the floor with a deafening crash which shook both Emily and Severus from their feet once more.
The cadence of running feet heralded Emily's arrival, and Severus smiled once, softly into her panicked face before falling beneath the sweet, dark blanket of oblivion.