The Gates of Night: The Dreaming Dark - Book 3 (12 page)

The spirits split, one darting toward the humans while the other circled Xu’sasar. It was as swift as lightning, but Xu’sasar had fought giants who could call storms from the sky, and she had dodged lightning in the past.

She let her mind go blank, until her foe was the world. The wisp flashed before her, but it seemed to crawl through the air; the slightest motion was all it took to move out of its path, and she slashed her palm through the gleaming globe as it passed by. For an instant she wished that she had her knives, the long daggers that had belonged to her mother and to her grandmother before her, but it was no surprise that one should be forced to face the trials of the final lands with only hand and foot. Here she needed to prove the strength of her spirit and her knowledge of Vulkoor’s teachings. It was strange that the outlanders were allowed to keep their tools, but they were soft and weak, and it was hardly surprising that they were not pressed as hard as the children of the night.

The metal hunter still sought to aid Xu’sasar. An arrow passed through the heart of the wisp, but this second attack was insufficient to shatter the orb. She caught a flash of light in her peripheral vision as the humans brought down their prey. The last wisp had no desire to share the fate of its fellows, and it sped away across the field. Xu’sasar sprinted after the wisp, letting the panther’s speed flow through her limbs. She heard a warning in the back of her mind
—they are deceivers
—but the thrill of the hunt was upon her, and her prey would not escape her now. With every step she closed the distance between them. The wisp darted behind a tor and she raced after it, spinning around the corner.

The scorpion was waiting for her.

The Jalaq Qaltiar revered many spirits, but the greatest among them was the scorpion, known as
vulkoor
in the tongue of her people. Many lessons could be learned from Vulkoor, and the scorpion shared its armor and its venom with the drow. Many tribes refused to listen to any spirit but the scorpion, and her father had been killed in battle with drow who saw the pantheistic beliefs of the Qaltiar as heretical. For an instant Xu’sasar was paralyzed with fear.
He has come to punish me
.

Then he spoke. At first she thought he was speaking in the tongue of her people, then she realized that she couldn’t hear the actual words; she simply
knew
their meaning, as if his language was so primal that it bypassed all mortal knowledge.

“You have done well, warriors,” he said. His voice was deep and strong, and the mere sound of it seemed to push the lingering echoes of pain from Xu’sasar’s breast. “But your trials have just begun.”

The humans had come around the edge of the tor, the metal hunter behind them. Xu needed to act quickly; the outlanders were fools when it came to matters of the spirit, and the man was likely to raise his sword and doom them all. She fell to her knees, raising her palms before her.

“Forgive these people their ignorance, great Vulkoor,” she said. “You in your wisdom have let them walk this path. Tell us what we must do to find our way to the endless struggle.”

“What endless strug—” Daine said, but the mighty spirit cut him off.

“You honor me, Xu’sasar of the Broken Oath, but you are mistaken in many things. I am but a servant of Vulkoor. The highest spirits cannot be known in this life, even to those such as I. The path you walk does not lead to the endless struggle. Though you pass through the final lands, you still have a duty in the lands of the living.”

Xu’sasar reeled. How could she be so close to her destiny—so close to her reunion with her fallen kin—and have it torn away? Was she to be reborn in a lesser form? A thousand cries echoed through her mind, but one did not challenge the words of so great a spirit.

Apparently, no one had told Daine. “So we’re
not
dead?” he said.

Xu’sasar almost struck the rash human. If he angered the spirit, rebirth would be the least of the punishments it could inflict upon them. But the scorpion did not move, and when it spoke there was no trace of malice in its voice.

“You are not dead, traveler, though many perils still lie before you, and I make no promises that you will survive to see the light of evening.”

Daine considered this. “And you’re not planning to … eat us, tear us apart, marry us, or anything like that?”

“I am only a messenger, sent to offer guidance and advice.”

“Sent by who, exactly?” Lei said. Far from being grateful, she sounded suspicious. She still held her staff at the ready, as if she could fight the great scorpion with her little piece of wood.

“I heard your call earlier, child of Cannith. Have you forgotten the message you were given? Your answers lie in the twilight.”

“Beyond the Gates of Night,” Lei said. “And what does that mean, exactly?”

“You have already learned what you need to know. You stand beneath the Hunter’s Moon. The Gates of Night lie beneath the Deepwood Moon, in the domain of the Woodsman. You hold the key to the gates in your hand. Open the gates, and pass into Dusk and the domain of the one I serve.”

“And the danger?” Daine said.

“These are the realms of the Nine Brothers of Night. The Woodsman is the mightiest among them, and he has been waiting long for the return of the Lady Darkheart. He guards the Gates of Night, and he will kill you if he can.”

“Look,” Daine said. “Gates, woodsmen … I don’t pretend to understand any of this. I don’t care about the mystery. All I want is to get home.”

“Your answers lie in Dusk, traveler, as do passages to your world. Open the Gates of Night, and you will find the path to your future.”

“And what is my fate?” Xu’sasar said, finding her voice at last.

“For now, you must protect this one,” the scorpion replied, indicating Daine with the slightest twist of its mighty stinger. “Set aside your questions and place your trust in our guidance. Your kindred watch you with pride and await the night when you will fight alongside them once more. But you have yet to earn your way. For now your path leads back to the world of the living. Honor your ancestors, heed the spirits, and let no harm befall this man.”

The words burned in her ears. Protect this outlander? She had spent decades hunting his kind! But it was not her place to question the commands of the spirits or the wishes of the fallen. She bowed her head.

“Do I get any sort of say in this?” Daine said.

“No.” The voice of the scorpion grew cold, and the slightest shift of its stance served as a subtle reminder of its power. “You will need her aid if you are to survive the dangers that await you. Now you must make your way to the realm of the Woodsman.”

“And where’s that? We haven’t seen a lot of woods lately.”

“Xu’sasar is correct. You will have to pay for your passage in blood. Seek Colchyn, the Great Boar of the Hunter’s Moon. Lady Darkheart will guide you. Defeat Colchyn, and the path will be clear.”

Lei considered this. “If you want us to do this, how come
you
don’t beat this boar for us?”

“We
must earn passage,” Xu’sasar said. “Another cannot earn it for us.”

“It is as she says,” the scorpion replied. “I can only advise. Were I to fight your battles, you could never leave.”

Lei nodded but still looked unconvinced. Xu’sasar blew out her breath.
Humans!

“Your trial awaits,” The scorpion said. “Heed the voice of Lady Darkheart, child of Cannith. Beware and be wary. Many a hero has fallen to Colchyn’s tusks, and you will find him a formidable foe.”

With that, he was gone. There was no sound, no burst of light. One moment the scorpion towered over them, and the next they were alone. Even the grass was undisturbed.

Daine broke the silence. “Lei?”

The woman ran a hand along the shaft of her dark staff, which murmured slightly. “I can feel the direction she wants us to go. Beyond that, your guess is as good as mine. At least we’re not dead.”

Xu’sasar blew out her breath. To be so close and have eternity stripped away—this was nothing to celebrate. Still, she had been entrusted with a task by one of the mighty spirits. This was the stuff of tales—were there any other Jalaq left to tell them.

She watched the human she had been ordered to protect, and wondered what interest the spirits could have in such a man.

C
haos. That’s what troubled Daine.

“We’re following a haunted stick, which is going to help us to hunt a boar,” Daine said, “because a scorpion says that’s the only way we can get through the night. And why do we think this makes sense?”

“It’s not about sense,” Lei replied. “This is Thelanis. This is the source of faerie tales and superstitions. Remember the story of the Tower of Thorns, where Kellan kills the ogre and its ribcage becomes a ladder? That’s what we’re dealing with. This is a world of magic, not logic.”

“So you’re saying that we should believe it
because
it doesn’t make sense?”

“No. I’m saying that it doesn’t matter.” Lei raised her staff. “The spirit in the wood wants to lead us
somewhere
. We can choose to follow. We can look for a boar. Or we can wander aimlessly around this wasteland waiting for more stars to fall from the sky and kill us.”

Daine glanced at Pierce, who had remained silent throughout the exchange with the scorpion. “Pierce, anything to add? Any insight from your mysterious friend?”

“No,” Pierce said. “My companion is disturbed by
this realm. It is sensitive to the flow of mystical energies, and the ambient level of magic in this place is causing it pain. I agree with Lei. We have nothing to lose from hunting this beast, and I would rather pursue a goal than act without guidance.”

“Why do you question this?” Xu’sasar said. The drow girl was just behind Daine, having slipped closer while he talked to the others. “We have a goal now, a path to follow.”

“I don’t like other people choosing my path,” Daine said. “Still, we don’t have much of a choice. But let’s not go into this blind. Lei, I want you to charge Pierce’s bow. Make it more effective against animals. I want this to be as quick as we can make it.”

“Be without fear,” Xu’sasar said, even as Lei took Pierce’s bow and began whispering over it. “Mine is the speed of the shifting panther, and I strike with the skill of the scorpion. This beast shall not escape us.”

“I’m not worried about it escaping,” Daine said. “Let me explain something to you. If you’re going to stay with us, you need to do what
I
say. When I come up with a plan, you follow it. If you can’t do that, go looking for your own boar. I don’t care how fast you are. We work as a unit, or not at all.”

Daine expected a hostile response. Instead Xu’sasar glanced down at the ground. “I meant no harm with my actions. I am the last of my tribe. Now my place is with you, and I will do as you say.”

Her voice was low, her words slower than usual. For a moment, the mask of the deadly warrior seemed to fall. Since the fight in the planar sphere, Xu’sasar had been arrogant, overconfident, grating. But …
last of my tribe
. Daine had expected her to be grateful to be saved,
but he’d never considered what she’d lost. He didn’t know her relationship to Shen’kar or the other drow that had died at Karul’tash. But she was alone, just as far from home as the rest of them were, without even the comfort of familiar faces. It was impossible to tell her age—had she been human he might have guessed eighteen or twenty years, but an elf could reach a century with few signs to show for it. Still, in this moment she seemed like a child, embarrassed, lonely, and confused. She wanted to help, to impress him with her skills, and he’d snarled at her.

“I know you’re skilled. I’m sure we’ll need your help if we’re going to get through this. I just need you to follow my orders. I need to know what my people are going to do. Strike out on your own and you place us all in jeopardy. Understood?”

Xu’sasar didn’t look at him, but she clicked her tongue. Daine remembered the drow captain Shen’kar doing the same thing as a sign of affirmation. He reached out to put a hand on her shoulder, and found only empty air; dejected as she was, Xu’sasar apparently had no need of physical comfort.

“Done,” Lei called.

“Good. Now, make a tangler. We let your staff lead the way, and hope that it has a taste for boar. Xu, Pierce, I want you flanking, searching for spoor. If the staff doesn’t do its job, we’ll have to do this the hard way. When we find the boar, Lei uses the tangler to root it to the ground. Pierce brings it down from a distance. Xu, you and I stay by Lei, and we engage the creature only if it breaks loose. Is that clear?”

Xu’sasar clicked her tongue again, and the others nodded.

Daine scratched his back and allowed himself to
smile. “Good. Now stay alert. We’ve dealt with bloodhounds, falling stars, and scorpions. Surely we can handle one little boar.”