Diablo III: Morbed Read Free

“No matter. We may as well be talking to ourselves.”
    Above the stones, ghostly moving images took on greater definition, finally assuming the forms of animals—spirit wolves that circled Aedus affectionately. The druid issued several commands in his strange language.
    The wolves obeyed, their hazy paws padding soundlessly over the tile floor as they dispersed. Two ascended the nearby stairs, two more loped ahead, and the last fell back to the entryway, walking in a tight circle before lying down, tail tucked, resting its muzzle on crossed forepaws.
    Aedus inclined his head toward the wolf at the doorway. “Roshan will notify us if the thing outside returns. The others will scout.”
    Jaharra adjusted her haversack. “Very well, then. Let’s keep moving.” With that, she strode deeper into the keep. All followed save Morbed, who stayed a moment, watching the ghostly guardian at the doorway.
    â€œMorbed!” Jaharra shouted. “Are you with us?”
    The thief did not answer but fell in with the others.
    *  *  *
    They drove farther into the wide, open hall. At the far end, the floor dropped down to a lower level accessible via grand, deep stone steps. Jaharra descended, followed closely by the others. The fisherman’s attention was fixed ahead and to the right. He stared, lips parted slightly as if in anticipation.
    The glowing orb’s luminescence filled the antechamber, revealing another jumble of items. Vorik shambled diagonally across the massive room toward the northeastern corner, where a rounded section of wall indicated the base of a large tower. The orb’s light reached deeper, exposing an arched alcove next to the base, along with three more slain defenders and one more attacker.
    The alcove housed a great staircase that curved down around the tower base and out of sight. Although the stairs were wide enough to easily allow the passage of five men abreast, much of the masonry around the arch and along the wall and ceiling was dislodged, as if something too large for the space had forced its way through.
    Despite the cold, Morbed felt a bead of sweat trickle down his temple.
    The fisherman glared at the access with round eyes, pupils constricted. His hands were held tight across his stomach.
    Vorik stood at the edge of the stairs, peering down. “Whatever transpired here . . . the answers lie below,” the old man stated.
    Jaharra strode purposefully to the steps. “Then answers we shall have!” Over her shoulder she called, “Fisherman, keep up!”
    Morbed kept pace with the wizard as they descended the winding stairs. After several spiraling turns, their path opened onto a large, long passageway.
    Jaharra gestured, and the glow from her orb illuminated the full length of the hall like water filling an aqueduct. The stench of death hung heavy even in the immense subterranean space.
    The explorers stepped around giant dislodged chunks of stone and passed small storage rooms filled with old furniture, linens, and tools, arriving finally at an intersection where the spokes of four hallways joined. Jaharra’s light spread to illuminate the corridors, each two and a half times the height of a human and five times as wide.
    Vorik stood staring down a corridor that ran opposite the tunnel ending under the great hall. This led deeper into the mountain. Massive hunks of masonry littered the path. Markings of forced passage were etched in the walls to the end of sight, where the corridor appeared to bend.
    â€œThis way,” the necromancer rasped.
    Just then one of Aedus’s ghost wolves came trotting from the recesses of the hall that the group would have entered had they continued forward.
    The druid kneeled as the wolf barked silently. Aedus muttered an unintelligible phrase and held his hand to the spirit’s head. He closed his eyes. His brow furrowed. “Bones. Further in and below. Many and many of