“And since we all intend to survive, though we know it will not be pretty,” Apollo continued, “my reckoning is that we’ll all be in very foul moods in regards to anyone involved in this villainy when it’s over.”

“It wasn’t me,” Joseph said in a small voice.

“Convince us,” Tor demanded.

“It wasn’t me!” Joseph cried.

“Convince us!” Apollo barked.

“The Society of the Beast has been trying to draw him to the surface for centuries,” Joseph spat.

Finally.

Tor and Apollo settled in.

“Go on,” Apollo invited.

“May I have some fresh water?” Joseph requested snidely.

“You may,” Apollo agreed. “When you tell us something we give a shite about.”

Joseph glared at him and then he sat back, crossing his arms on his chest.

“It is in the tomes. Of Go’Doan,” he stated. “The Society of the Beast. I’ve read them myself and I thought it was ridiculous. Wicked men going about the wicked business of rape and murder and convincing themselves it had some higher power, some purpose, by telling themselves this was at the calling of the Beast. That in sacrificing virgins every fortnight, or whatever the schedule, the Beast would be roused, and he would ascend.”

Neither Tor nor Apollo spoke a word, though the thickness of the air in that cold, cramped room spoke to their moods at hearing what they were hearing.

“It was G’Thom’s idea,” Joseph carried on. “To discover if they continued to do this, and if they did, seek them out and infiltrate their organization for the purpose of taking control of the Beast when it rose and using it to complete the work of The Rising should we need that assistance. He sent G’Jell on this mission, which, in my opinion, something I shared at the time, was a faulty decision. Jell cares for no one but Jell. And regardless, he only likes cock up his arse, so how is he going to rape anybody?”

“So G’Thom, who was the leader of your faction, sent another priest to join this Society,” Apollo stated.

“Yes.”

“However, you said you didn’t know they did it, but here, you’re stating you knew they sent a priest to do this,” Apollo observed.

“I do not keep track of Jell. I did not wish to keep track of Jell. Thom deciding to assess the situation and sending Jell to do it is one thing. Jell actually doing it is another. Indeed, I didn’t even know they had discovered there still was a Society. But truly, think on this. It’s ludicrous. Bringing forth the Beast? If that insane idea could come to fruition, then thinking you could control it? I actually thought it a good errand for Jell in the end. Useless but it kept him out of the way.”

Apollo looked up to Tor.

Tor dipped his chin.