The five-faction allied army broke through the successive defensive lines at the foot of the mountain and reached a quiet hollow.
The Blood Lake spread silently through the hollow, its dark red liquid rising above their ankles and giving off a stench of rust and decay. As the soldiers stepped into the bloody water, the sticky sensation beneath their boots turned many faces pale.
"How many people did they have to kill..." a Leyndell soldier murmured.
Spiked torture devices rose from the bloody water like dead trees, the bodies bound to them no longer recognizable as human. Some had shriveled, their skin clinging to their bones like drained fruit husks; others still twitched faintly, maggots writhing in their wounds as broken moans escaped their lips.
Tanith, accustomed to a life of luxury, covered her mouth and nose in disgust. "The Mother of Truth... likes this?"
"To be precise, she likes the act of bleeding itself." Morgott's voice was icy. "Wounds, pain, flowing blood-to her, they are the sweetest offerings. That is what Tarnished told us."
Edgar arrived with his troops from another direction, and the two forces linked up without trouble. His expression darkened the moment he entered the Blood Lake hollow, while Nepheli spat outright. "Damned cultists."
The leaders exchanged glances, finding the same anger in one another's eyes-and something rather more practical.
"So much labor..." Morgott said quietly. "If we could free them, they could spend three years just repairing the roads around Leyndell."
"Is this really the time?" Tanith rolled her eyes at him, then sighed. "Still... what a waste."
Jerren directed the Redmane Army to establish a defensive perimeter around the Blood Lake, then turned to the others. "The terrain here works against us. The blood will slow our advance, and-"
Before he could finish, something