The Gates of Night: The Dreaming Dark - Book 3 (40 page)

Six tusks rose from the fleshy floor of this room, curved pillars of ivory spread in a circle around the center of the chamber. Twice Pierce’s height, each was easily wide enough to provide shelter for an enemy. Daine gestured to the right and proceeded to circle slowly to the left, staying close to the wall. Pierce followed the signal, moving carefully along the wall.

Nothing.

The center of the chamber, the space between the tusks … there was nothing there. No monsters, no glowing orb, just a mosaic of interlocking teeth, drawn from dozens of different creatures.

Pierce continued to circle the tower. When he rejoined Daine, they could determine their next course of action.

But by the time Pierce reached him, Daine was already dead. His throat had been severed, a deep wound that cut through to the spine, almost decapitating him. Another blow had pierced his heart, puncturing chainmail and going straight through back and chest. His eyes were wide and shocked. Blood flowed from his injuries, but the fleshy floor soaked it all up.

There was no time for fear. Whatever had done this had moved swiftly and silently. Pierce hadn’t even heard Daine’s body fall to the ground. There would be time to mourn the loss of his captain later. Now he needed to defend the living.

Lei?
Pierce had yet to fully grasp the use of the telepathic bond he now shared with Lei, and he wasn’t entirely certain how to activate it.
Danger
.

No response.

Keeping his back to the wall, Pierce moved swiftly to the stairwell. He could see the light of Lei’s cold fire at the top of the stairs. And as he drew close, he saw a hand in a glowing gauntlet, lying severed on the floor.

Lei!

“You think this is painful?” the voice came from behind one of the ivory pillars. The figure that stepped into view was barely visible, her skin covered with shifting patterns of darkness. “You still have much to learn about pain.”

Pierce set his flail whirling, and the golden ball burst into light, burning with a heat as intense as his own fury. Indigo stood exposed before him, and adamantine blades slid from the sheathes in her forearms.

“You cannot be here,” Pierce said, anger warring with doubt. “You cannot dream.”

“You forget,
brother,”
she said. “You tried to bury me in a vault beneath Xen’drik, the same vault from which you plucked your metal companion. Did you think she was the only one?”

Pierce saw the jeweled sphere embedded in Indigo’s chest—a sphere almost identical to Shira.
Is this possible?
he thought, but there was no response from within.

“I may be trapped forever in the Monolith of Karul’tash,” Indigo continued, slowly circling him, “but I was given one final chance to see that you pay for your betrayal. I told you, Pierce. If I die, she dies with me. And now she has.” She spread her arms wide. “So come, brother. Will you not finish what you began?”

“No,” Pierce said. His thoughts were in disarray. He could have ensured Indigo’s destruction before they left Karul’tash, when he’d allowed her to survive in an inert state. “You do not understand what you have done. The fate of Eberron itself—”

“Means nothing to me,” Indigo said. “You saw to that. Why should I care what happens to the world beyond my prison? All I wanted was for you to feel my pain, and that is done. Come, Pierce, let us die in battle. That is all we ever had.”

No
, Pierce thought. Lei and Daine, presumably Jode—they were all dead. Nothing could be done for them. It was over. What good would another death do?

“Perhaps you should keep this,” Indigo said. “Something to remember her by.”

She kicked Lei’s severed hand across the floor, and it struck Pierce’s foot.

And something within him broke.

Pierce was not given to anger. Battle was a matter of careful calculation—until now. Pure rage drew him across the ivory floor, and his flail was a streak of light. Swift as she was, Indigo wasn’t prepared for the fury of his assault, and the ball smashed into her chest, denting her armored plates and scorching the cords below. She staggered back, and Pierce raised his flail to finish her. Before he could strike, she flew forward, arms outstretched. Her adamantine blades should have dug into his torso, but he felt no such impact. Instead, a fire spread throughout his body, tearing him apart from within. The agony was terrible—and all too familiar.

Lei!
He cried out in his mind, and then pain drove out all thought.

A
thought was all it took for Lei to weave cold fire into her gauntlet, conjuring a faint light to drive back the shadows. Her eyes widened as she saw the vast mouth set into the floor. Pierce stood on the very edge of a tooth, and it was all too easy to imagine that maw opening wide and swallowing them all.

Daine gave her a questioning look, and Lei pulled her goggles over her eyes and studied the room. These lenses were a tool designed to locate and analyze magical auras. If there were magical defenses in the chamber, the goggles would help her find them. The lenses were certainly an unusual gift to receive from a faerie queen. They bore marks of Cannith design and seemed well worn. Of course, Lei had seen an identical pair less than a day ago, after she fell into the river of truth, and saw her young mother in Xen’drik. Could these goggles have belonged to Lei’s mother? How would they have fallen into the hands of the Queen of Dusk, and why would she give them back to Lei?

These questions wouldn’t be answered in Dal Quor, and Lei turned her attention to the task at hand. She
saw no signs of glyphs or wards, and she gave Daine the signal for safety. He in turn gestured to Pierce, and the two warriors ascended the disturbing flight of stairs.

Lei waited at the foot of the staircase. As useful as her glowing gauntlet could be in this darkness, it would certainly draw the attention of anyone on the second floor. She needed to give Pierce and Daine the chance to move away from the stairs before she followed. She glanced over at Jode, and he smiled at her. Despite all the horror around them, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of warmth. The four of them were together again, and she felt like nothing could challenge them.

That’s enough time, she thought. She started up the rickety stairs, fighting to maintain her balance. She reached out to steady herself against the wall, jerking her fingers back as a tiny set of razor-sharp teeth snapped at her. Step by step. Slowly.

She reached the top of the stairs. It was a welcome change from the flesh and bone of the lower level. The black stone was comfortingly stable beneath her feet. And there was light, spilling from cold fire lanterns lining the long hall. A hallway that was far too long to fit in the tower, at least as it had appeared from the outside. She looked at the nearest lantern, and a chill ran down her spine.

She was in Blacklion. The stairs behind her had vanished, and there was no sign of Jode, Daine, or Pierce.

“This is a dream,” she said. “I’m not a fool. None of this is real. You’re just drawing images from my mind.”

Lei?

Was it a sound? Or just a thought, pressing into the back of her mind?

“This is a dream,” Lei said again. She remembered what Jode had told them about the nature of this place, and she tried to imagine the black stone walls fading away. Instead, she heard footsteps far down the hallway, the faint laughter of a little girl. And a cold whisper, echoing across the stone.

We’ll have to destroy her
.

It was her father’s voice, and she couldn’t suppress a shiver. “Very clever,” she called. “But I began working with illusions when I was a child. You’ll have to do more to impress me.”

We have no wish to impress you
.

Cold fire glittered on the thousands of shards of Harmattan’s body, and the razor cloak that spread around him. Just as when she’d first seen him, his head was shrouded in a cloud of mist. Now that darkness settled down into his body, revealing the scarred warforged head … the battered remains of his original body.

We only wish to destroy you, little sister
.

“Then why don’t you?” Lei said. “You’re trying to provoke me. Drawing on my memories. Showing me the creature who killed my father. If you want to destroy me, you could have struck me down without saying a word.”

I didn’t say I wanted to kill you, Lei. I said I wanted to destroy you. You have no idea of the troubles you’ve caused. To let you die quickly and unaware … the time for such mercy is long past
.

Lei fought against doubt. Could he be telling the truth? She knew so little about Harmattan. What was he capable of?

“Where are the others?” she said. “Daine? Pierce?”

There
, Harmattan said.
That will do. Die now, never knowing their fate
.

She’d forgotten how quickly he could move. His fist was a blur, and she felt flesh tear and ribs break
as it smashed into her. The physical force threw her back, but there was something else, a terrible heat that burned her skin.

Harmattan raised his fist for another blow, but before he could strike Lei leapt forward, driving her hands into his chest. She had no idea if she could harm him in this way, but on some level he was still warforged. She could feel a lifeweb before her, and she poured all her energy into it, seeking to shatter Harmattan once more. Only then did she realize—the pattern she sensed was familiar.

Lei!

It was Pierce who was burning in her grasp. Lei released him, her head spinning from her own terrible injuries, and she fell against the ivory floor.

P
ierce?” Daine said quietly. The two of them had made their way to the upper chamber, circling around the edge of the room. At first, Daine was merely disappointed. He thought their luck had indeed turned, that they might find the orb unguarded and waiting for them.

When he crossed the chamber and met up with Pierce, his disappointment turned to concern. The warforged ignored Daine’s signal and even his words, moving past him and heading back to the stairs.

“He can’t hear you.” The voice came from behind one of the tusks rising up around the center of the room. And it was a voice that Daine knew well.

“Lakashtai,” he said. “And I thought I’d have to fight my way through that army to find you.”

“Oh, Daine, did you come looking for me? I’m touched.”

Lakashtai walked into the circle of tusks, and her slight smile sent a chill down Daine’s spine. She was a creature of dreams, too perfect for nature, her skin snow-white, her hair a dark river flowing down her back, her features sculpted by a craftsman with an eye
for beauty but no grasp of emotion. In the faint light rising from the lower chamber, Lashkashtai’s green eyes seemed truly to
glow
, and even across the room Daine could feel the force of her personality—her almost irresistible charisma.

Daine didn’t hesitate. He lunged, the point of his blade in line with her throat. Lakashtai’s response was perfect. She took one long step backward, moving with languid grace, as if she wasn’t even concerned about the outcome. But that step was just enough to take her out of Daine’s reach. He was drawing back for a second attack when she spoke again.

“Lei!”

One word, but it was enough to stop Daine in his tracks. He kept his sword steady, ready to thrust. “What about her?”

“If you care about Lei and Pierce, I suggest you lower your sword.”

“Lei!” Daine called. The light was drawing stronger. Lei was coming up the stairs. “Lei!” he yelled again.

No response. Glancing over his shoulder, Daine saw that Pierce was kneeling, as if examining something on the ground. Lei appeared at the top of the stairs. If she’d heard Daine, she gave no sign of it, nor did she acknowledge his presence. She looked around the room with a confused expression.

“What have you done to them?” Daine said.

“Lower your sword, Captain Daine, or I assure you that you’ll find out.”

Lakashtai’s eyes gleamed in the darkness, and Daine could feel the subtle urge to obey her commands. It was a powerful and insidious effect, and only now did he realize how often she had used it against him in the past. It had little impact on him, but he still had no
choice. He lowered his weapons.