Maggie took the lead. Not because she wanted to—she would have preferred a hundred times over to stay back, watching others' footsteps—but because the role was stuck to her skin. The bait. The vanguard. The piece of meat thrown into the monster's maw to see what came out.
The colossus advanced just ahead of her, so massive it seemed to swallow the torchlight. Each step from that mountain of stone made the ground vibrate like a funeral drum.
Gripping the shaft of her halberd, Maggie felt ridiculous next to him. She felt like an ant armed with a toothpick following a tamed avalanche.
Yet, her role wasn't useless. She was the key, the one who bore the bond. Without her, the colossus might have remained motionless, frozen forever in its mineral silence.
"Advance," she thought, and it advanced.
"Stop," she murmured inwardly, and it halted abruptly, the stone of its joints grinding with a low rumble.
