The Gates of Night: The Dreaming Dark - Book 3 (16 page)

Pierce could
feel
Shira indicating a point in space, and he let her guide his eyes. Xu’sasar held her right hand low and close to her side, and had casually placed her body between the others and the object she held … but Pierce caught a glimpse of a curved point of ivory.

“What is it that you hold?” he said.

Guilt was not an emotion Xu’sasar seemed to feel. Her expression was utterly innocent as she raised her hand. The object appeared to be a primitive double-bladed dagger. It might have been carved from the claws of some great beast, two curved spurs sharpened to hold an edge and joined.

“Where were you hiding that?” Daine said, surprised.

“I hide nothing,” Xu’sasar said. “The spirits gave me this gift as a reward for my courage, and to meet the challenges of the path that lies ahead.”

“The
spirits
did this,” Lei said. “And when was that?”

The dark elf turned to fully face Daine, ignoring Lei’s question. “I have shown you the way. The bridge awaits.”

“I know you fought a giant boar with your fists,” Daine said. “But do you really want to attack that serpent with a little knife?”

“That would be an act of a fool,” Xu’sasar said. “To fight such a creature, I should want a longer weapon, one with which to hold the creature at bay and force open its jaws.”

“Right, which means—
Flame!”
Daine swore.

The double dagger expanded in Xu’sasar’s hand, a
leather-wrapped shaft of bone extending even as the claws on each end stretched into long, flat blades. Xu’sasar shifted her grip, and now she was holding a double-bladed halberd. The claw-like blades merged seamlessly into the haft.

There is great power in that object
. Shira’s thought came before Pierce had even formed a query.
I cannot see it fully at this time, but be certain—it has strength beyond the bones of any mortal creature. It may be impervious to physical harm
.

“Yet this is meaningless,” Xu’sasar said. The polearm twisted and melted in her grasp, and an instant later she held a three-pronged wheel of bone in her hand—a bone variation of the wooden throwing weapons they had seen the drow use before. “I would no more fight this creature than great Vulkoor. Do you know nothing of the spirits? This is surely Ko’molaq, the Keeper of Secrets. We must buy our passage with our words.”

“So you want to
talk
to the serpent?” Daine said. “I—”

Lei grabbed Daine’s shoulder and pulled. “She may be right, Daine.”

This surprised even Pierce. Since their arrival in Thelanis, Lei had seemed unwilling to accept anything the drow girl said. It was clearly difficult, but she pushed the words out.

“Xu’sasar, your people have a tale of this? The serpent by the river?”

The dark elf clicked her tongue.

“That’s what this is,” Lei said. “The realm of stories. I don’t know if some force is shaping the realm to match her expectations, or if one of her people journeyed through Thelanis and returned to tell of it, but after that scorpion, I think we need to take her tales seriously.”

Daine looked down at the massive snake. “Fine. Xu, it’s your story. How do we do this?” He glanced around. “Xu’sasar?”

“Captain?” Pierce pointed.

The drow was already halfway to the serpent.

Cursing Sovereigns and snakes, Daine rushed after her.

Pierce remained at Lei’s side as they approached the serpent. He shouldered his bow, returning his last arrow to the quiver. He knew this beast could not be felled with one blow, and if he needed to protect Lei it seemed best to have both hands free.

Daine caught up with Xu’sasar, and the two approached the pillar together. As they drew near, the massive snake loosened its coils, turning its head to fix Daine with gleaming golden eyes. Then a second serpentine head peered around from the other side of the pillar, a great wedge covered with crimson scales.
Two of them!

“I give you greetings, traveler.” The voice was the hiss of a thousand serpents, woven into words. Both mouths spoke as one, moving in perfect unison, and Pierce realized they were the opposite ends of the single serpent. “What is it you seek?”

Xu’sasar knelt, dwarfed by the immense snake. “I give you greetings, great Ko’molaq. My companions and I seek to cross the river you guard.”

“And will you pay my price and abide by my rule?” The serpent watched from each side of the pillar. Pierce studied it, considering how long it might take the creature to uncoil should they choose to retreat.

“What price is that?” Daine said, at the same moment Xu’sasar said, “We shall.”

The crimson head rose to regard Daine, while the black-scaled serpent kept its gaze on Xu’sasar. “Knowledge, traveler. Truth. Answer my question, and you may cross the river unharmed. But once you cross you may never return. Be certain in your choice.”

“And what’s so terrifying about this river, anyway?”

“Knowledge,” the serpent said. “Truth. It is a stream of consciousness, but no mortal mind can survive the pure knowledge that lies within.

Daine took a step back, turning to Lei and Pierce. “Thoughts?”

“I don’t see that we have a choice,” Lei said. “I don’t exactly understand what this thing is talking about, but we need to cross and we can’t touch the water. It may seem insane, but I think that’s fairly normal for this place.”

Daine glanced at Pierce.

“I will follow your lead,” the warforged said. Shira was silent, and he had seen nothing to suggest another course of action.

“Very well.” Daine turned back and walked up to the serpent, staring into the golden eyes of the crimson head. “Ask your question.”

“Questions,” the serpent said. “One for each who would walk my path. Answer, then cross, leaving all else behind.”

As it spoke, one end of the serpent entered the river, slowly making its way across. It seemed impossible for the beast to reach across the river, yet somehow it did. A few coils remained tightly wrapped around the dark pillar, and slowly it rose up above the water, apparently anchored on the far shore.

The serpent spoke only through the head with the blood-red scales, but its voice was just as strong.
“You will be first,” it said to Daine. “You have led in battle. You have left many things behind. So shall it be here.”

Daine frowned, and Pierce could almost hear his thoughts—his reluctance to abandon the others, set against the need to evaluate the dangers of the other side. “Very well,” he said at last.

The serpent reared up, towering over Daine. “Tell me, traveler, and tell me truly. Where does your journey end?”

Daine opened his mouth, and then closed it. He looked at the others. “Is this some sort of riddle?” he said to Lei. “You know that’s not my—”

“This is your question, and yours alone.” The voice of the serpent drowned out Daine’s objection. “Think of what has brought you to this place, traveler. And tell me where your journey ends.”

Daine was silent for a moment and stood staring into the serpent’s eyes. Then he said, “My journey ends beyond the Gates of Night, at the end of my dreams. My journey ends when Lakashtai falls by my hand.”

“Then cross the river, and do not return.” The serpent lowered its flat head, and Daine gingerly stepped atop it. The creature raised him up, and a moment later he was walking cautiously along the snake’s length, struggling to keep his balance. Soon he was on the opposite shore. Pierce could just see him leaping down from the serpentine bridge.

Now the beast fixed Xu’sasar with its stare. “Child of the scorpion, tell me truly, what has your journey cost?”

Xu’sasar didn’t pause. “The lives of my family, the lives of my foes, and my place in Final Lands.”

The serpent lowered its head and Xu’sasar raced up
and across its back, seeming as comfortable on the scaled bridge as she was on the ground. Now only Pierce and Lei remained, and the snake looked at Lei.

“Tell me, shaper, and tell me truly, where did your journey begin?”

Lei’s brow furrowed in thought. Pierce tried to imagine what answer he would give. Did the beast mean this recent journey, which began in the Monolith of Karul’tash … or perhaps in Sharn, depending how far back one went? Or was it speaking of a longer journey?

“My journey began in my mother’s womb,” Lei said. There was a slight tremor of uncertainty in her voice, but the snake lowered its head for her. Lei slid her staff into her bag, freeing both hands, and made her way up onto the creature’s back. Slowly, carefully, she made her way out across the river.

“You have much to learn,” the serpent hissed.

And it bucked.

The movement hurled Lei up into the air, and Pierce could see that she would come down in the water. He charged into the river. He’d forded rivers in the past; he had little skill when it came to swimming, but he didn’t need to breathe, and the water was calm and still. He wondered what dangers might wait in the water, but he had no intention of allowing Lei to face them alone.

The water barely reached his hips. This was no river; it was little more than a wide stream. There was a massive splash as Lei struck the water, followed by a disturbing stillness. She did not thrash about, or even rise to break the surface of the river. Pierce pressed forward, struggling against the mass of water.

She is alive
. Shira’s thought brought a flood of relief, and even as he moved forward he
knew
Lei’s approximate
location. He shifted his course and reached down, pulling a soaking Lei up from the riverbed. She lay limp in his arms. Her eyes were closed, her skin pale.

She is alive
.

T
ell me, shaper, and tell me truly, where did your journey begin?”

Daine could barely see Pierce and Lei in the shadows across the river. But the snake was still speaking through both its mouths. Daine and Xu’sasar stood on the far shore, where the serpent was wrapped around another pillar of dark stone. The creature was ignoring them, and its golden gaze was fixed on the opposite shore.

Shaper, Daine thought. That has to be Lei. Sure enough, a slender shape rose up onto the serpent’s back and began the crossing. Daine remembered just how treacherous that passage had been. The scales of the snake were smooth and slippery, its flesh yielding beneath his boots. His heart leaped every time he saw Lei miss a step, but she always managed to recover.

“You have much to learn,” the serpent hissed.

Daine saw Lei thrown into the air. He felt his feet pounding across the soil, breath filling his lungs as a shout built inside him. But the shout never came, and he never reached the water. A moment of pain, a swift blow against the back of his legs, and Daine tumbled
down against dirt and grass.

Xu’sasar was upon him. She gripped his neck with one hand and pressed three fingers against the base of his spine. A surge ran through his nerves, a flash of adrenaline and pain, and every muscle in his body went rigid. Fury and fear for Lei flooded his mind, and he struggled against the treacherous drow, but to no avail. She held herself steady as a statue, and as long as she remained still, he found he was powerless.

“You have crossed the river,” Xu’sasar said. “You cannot return!”

Daine wanted to scream at her, to strike her down. Only when Pierce had risen from the river with Lei’s dripping body in his arms did Xu’sasar release him. A moment later he was by Lei’s side, driving the water from her lungs. She breathed, but her skin was pale and cool, her body limp and unresponsive. He was vaguely aware that he was shouting at her, ordering her to wake up, slamming his fist into the dirt.

Pierce was holding him, pulling him away. “She is alive, captain. You cannot help her.”

“Why won’t she wake up?
”

“I do not know. But her condition is stable. Nothing has changed since I removed her from the water.”

Glancing back at Lei, Daine saw a dark shadow kneeling over her … Xu’sasar. Pulling free from Pierce, Daine smashed into the drow girl, striking her full on with his shoulder. She was caught completely off guard. She fell over Lei and barely kept from slipping into the water herself.