“The Sleeping Gods, of course. It's a myth only to be found in the most obscure of texts, hidden in the darkest past, and the Gods intended it that way. All the legends tell of their benevolence toward the land, but this one raged and rampaged and destroyed so much that they had made. They buried it up here. What stories there must be from that time! A time when Gods walked the land! A time when they went to war! But they are stories none of us will ever know, because it was a time before Noreela. Perhaps before time itself. It was the Gods' time to leave the land, and sleep in readiness for an occasion that might warrant their return. So they took Noreela's early tribes and brought them here, gave them language and knowledge and the will to learn, and left them with one simple purpose: protect the Fallen God and let no one or nothing near it. And in the Sentinels' minds back then as now, the prayer: The sleeper cannot be woken. That is their mantra and their meaning. Though they've lost their way, it is still central to their existence.”

“A Fallen God,” Nomi said. “I can't imagine.”

“It's beyond imagining.” Sordon sighed. “I know little more about them than you. Myths and legends, but we're so much closer up here.”

“How close?”

Sordon turned to look at her, his old eyes bearing the dreadful weight of his years. “Who is Ramus?” he asked.

“Ramus is dead,” she whispered. But she feared that her thoughts revealed her.

A SENTINEL CAME to them, gave Nomi a drink and bowed its head before Sordon. He took a drink and handed the jug back to the Sentinel, saying something in their strange tongue. The creature turned away before looking up.

“They'll not look me in the eye,” Sordon said. “None of them talk to me anymore. I wander around, and sometimes they'll leave food and drink. Sometimes I have to find it myself. The only time they interact with me is if I go south. Two miles, three, once I think I even managed four miles before they came and turned me back.”

“Then that must be where the Fallen God sleeps!”

“No,” he said, but he glanced sidelong at Nomi and shook his head. “I think there are dangers south of here, that's all. As I was once their god, they still find it in their mad hearts to protect me.”

“What sort of dangers?”

“I no longer care.” Sordon rose as if to leave.

“Wait! Don't leave, not now. Not yet.”

“I can't release you, Voyager.”

“You haven't even asked my name.”

He looked at her blankly for a beat, then offered what may have been a smile. “And why would I wish to know your name?”