He clasped against his mouth, for he could not afford to be found now. The creature spoke—some horrible mockery of a language he couldn't possibly comprehend, too ancient and too warped by the balefire twisted skeletal skull from which it poured forth. Whatever it said, it then moved off, its ponderous weight crushing the ground beneath it as Handy let go of a breath he didn’t know he had been holding. How did it come to this?