The City of Towers

CHAPTER 42

Lei groaned. The coppery taste of blood filled her mouth, and her head was a throbbing anvil. Gripping the staff, she forced herself to her feet, trying to ignore the pain in her ribs. She found her footing just in time to see Pierce shatter Teral’s skull. But as she moved forward, Pierce knocked Daine to the ground and pulled back for a second swing.

It was clear to her in an instant. As difficult as it was to influence the thoughts of a warforged, it was not impossible. Chyrassk must have found a way to twist Pierce’s perceptions. Pierce had struck Teral first, and Lei surmised he was seeing everyone as enemies. If so-she prayed she was right-at least Pierce wasn’t under Chyrassk’s direct control. If that were the case, she knew beyond doubt that she and Daine were both dead.

Lei lunged forward and put her hand on his chest. She concentrated and time seemed to stand still. Pierce became the center of all her senses, the rest of the world fading away as his binding web of energy came into view. She sharpened her focus, trying to find some way to sense what Chyrassk had done, to break his mental hold. Her talent was with mending metal and stone, not thought and spirit, but desperation drove her to act on pure instinct, and she pushed deeper and deeper. But there was nothing to be done, and for all that time seemed frozen she knew that she only had moments to act. Filled with remorse, she hardened her thoughts and struck at the heart of the web, the light that gave Pierce life. And her world exploded.

For a moment she thought she had gone mad. Pierce’s lifeweb had replicated, and she was looking at four different variations of the same pattern. Then she realized that changes were being made, that someone else was thinking with her mind and making minor adjustments to each of the four webs, discussing the shifts with another whose thoughts she couldn’t feel. She couldn’t hold onto any of the words. It was as if she forgot them the moment she heard them. But there was a sense of self, a recognition, and she realized these were the thoughts of her mother, preserved in the very essence of Pierce since the moment of his creation. In that instant, that mere fraction of an indrawn breath, she knew what Pierce had been built for.

And just as suddenly, she was back in the material world, falling to her knees. Pierce stood stock still for a second, wavered, then collapsed. Lei retched, both from the pain in her ribs and head and the horrible ache in her mind. The memories were already fading, and she could no longer remember exactly what it was she had seen. But she knew that her parents had built Pierce the same year that she was born, and looking down at the fallen warforged, she wondered if she had killed her brother.

Daine struggled to his feet. Lei was looking down at Pierce’s inert form. “Is he dead?” he said, reaching out and putting his hand on her shoulder.

“I … don’t know.” Lei wiped at her face, brushing aside the mingled blood, tears, and bile. “I tried. I tried to destroy him. I had to. But something … something happened.”

Her words were lost in a new round of tears. Daine didn’t know what she was dealing with, but he didn’t have the time to find out.

“Lei,” he said. “We need to keep moving. That thing, Chyrassk, it must have fled while we were fighting Teral. We need to find it. We have to finish this. If Teral was telling the truth, there are dozens of those warped warriors up above. We need to destroy Chyrassk before it can reach them. Otherwise, all of this-Pierce, Jode-it’s been for nothing.”

Lei had a gift for turning grief into anger, and it came to her aid now. In her mind she saw the monster leaning over her, its piercing tongue descending to devour her brain. She imagined Jode suffering the same treatment, and fire burned in her blood. She blinked away her tears and nodded.

Daine led the way. He was weak from loss of blood, but he ran as fast as he could. Before long they emerged from the long room. Identical hallways stretched left and right.

“Which way?” Lei said.

Pierce had always been the tracker for the unit, but Daine had had to hone his senses in his first career. “There,” he said, pointing. A few patches of green-black blood could be seen along the floor to the left. “It looks like Pierce managed to get in a few good blows before Chyrassk overwhelmed him.”

They ran down the dark corridor. The cold fire torches were few and far between, and the air was damp and cold. The hall twisted and turned. It was ideally suited to an ambush, so Daine was hardly surprised when one finally came.

Daine turned a corner and found two Cyran refugees-a half-elf woman and a scarred, elderly man-waiting for them. The moment Daine came into view, the woman began to sing. Her voice was the sweetest sound Daine had ever heard, a music beyond mere words. For a moment he forgot the devourer of minds, Teral, the old man. The world vanished in the purity of the sound. But a moment later the sound came to an abrupt end-just as the old man was leaping at Daine, a mouth full of needle teeth descending towards Daine’s throat. Instinct was all that saved him. He sidestepped the attack and planted his dagger between his enemy’s ribs. The warped man hissed, clawing at Daine, but he did not possess the vitality of Teral, and a moment later he collapsed to the floor.

Pulling his dagger free, Daine found Lei in battle with the woman. Even as he turned to face them, Lei delivered a powerful blow to the throat, and the half-elf fell.

“Harpy’s voice,” Lei said, looking at the unconscious woman. “Lead on.”

They passed a few open portals, but the trail of inhuman blood continued on down the hall. Through the open arches, Daine caught a glimpse of a room filled with stone slabs. A barracks? Crypt?

At last, the hall came to an end. Stepping into the final chamber, Daine had to catch his breath.

A labyrinth of steel catwalks was suspended above pools of glowing fluids, a kaleidoscope of colors and scents. A hot wave of air washed over Daine as he stepped onto the catwalk, and the sweet, cloying scent filled him with dizziness. He almost lost his balance, but he managed to pull himself together just in time. The catwalks were barely three feet across, and there was no railing. Any loss of composure would result in a fall into the churning reservoir that lay below.

Daine took the lead, and the two of them slowly walked down the first catwalk. There were no torches in the chamber, and the only light came from the bubbling pools thirty feet below. Daine couldn’t see any sign of Chyrassk, but there was a patch of oily green blood on the catwalk ahead. As far as he could tell, there were no other exits from the room.

“Lei, what do you make of this?” he whispered.

As his eyes adjusted to the light, he could see that there were a series of chains and pulleys fixed to the ceiling. Some of these were supporting the catwalks. But others descended into the pools below.

Lei peered over the edge, studying one of the pools. “I think it’s some sort of incubator. Look where the chain is touching the surface? There’s some sort of casket down there. I think that people have been lowered into these pools.”

“But why?”

“Think about it. Teral and his followers had those things grafted to their bodies. We know that it’s something they were continuing to do here. The container at the end of that chain may hold some sort of creature waiting to be grafted to a human host-or it may be the human subject, recovering from the experience.”

“That’s great,” Daine said. “So each of these chains is attached to a monster-to-be? What do we do about that?”

“Cut the chains?”

“I suppose there’s not much choice.”

Daine looked down at the catwalk, studying the way the steel segments were joined together. He felt a growing sense of satisfaction. Just a few more steps …

“Lei! Move!” he cried, charging forward and shoving her with all his might. Caught completely by surprise, she tumbled forward. Nearing the edge of a catwalk, she managed to stop her movement by plunging her staff through a gap in the floor of the platform.

“Dolurrh!” she swore. “What do you think-”

A tremendous crash struck behind her, and she spun around. The catwalk that they’d been standing on a moment earlier had dropped to the floor of the chamber. The suspending chains had come undone, and Daine had barely pushed them onto the next segment in time.

“Chyrassk is here,” Daine said. “I can feel him.”

Lei studied the supporting chains and drew the lightning wand. “I think this platform is stable, but now we’re cut off from the exit.”

Daine watched the shadows. He could feel a presence, a gloating thought in the back of his mind. Two have no hope, he thought. Best to end it quickly. They were his thoughts, pure and natural, and for a moment he shifted his balance and prepared to throw himself to the floor.

Only Lei stopped him, holding him back with the darkwood staff. “Daine, what are you doing?”

“I was … I … don’t know,” he said. “It … was … I … there!”

Chyrassk stepped out from the shadows. Its slick skin glistened in the light of the pools, its golden eyes gleaming in the shadows. Chyrassk was less than thirty feet away, but it was on a different catwalk, and at a quick glance it was impossible to see how to reach it. It raised a hand in their direction.

Fall and be done.

Once again Daine was caught in a storm of savage thoughts, a mental tumult that drowned out all conscious reasoning. He staggered in the wake of the mental blast-then the pain was gone. There was a sound, faint but clear, that seemed to surround him and drive the madness away. It took him a moment to realize what it was.

Lei’s staff was singing. The tiny darkwood face was fully animated. Its voice was faint but clear. Daine could feel Chyrassk’s fury, and again the storm of chaotic thoughts lashed, only to scatter against the barrier of song. Daine glanced at Lei, but she seemed as surprised as he was.

Daine didn’t like the darkwood staff. There was too much they didn’t know about it. The sphinx had wanted Lei to have it, but it still seemed possible that Flamewind had sent Jode to his death-or at least set him on the path that killed him. And when it had sprouted thorns to catch Hugal’s hands …

What was it? What did it want?

It was too dangerous. He needed to get rid of it. He’d find a way to deal with the mindflayer, but he needed to be able to trust the people at his side. How could he know that this thing wasn’t manipulating Lei’s mind? He still had the long chain attached to his wrist, and he lashed out with it.

Lei was just as surprised as Daine when her staff began to sing. It was clear that it had hidden powers, but with the chaos of the last few days she hadn’t had time to study it properly. Was it actually sentient? As expressive as the tiny face was, it was entirely possible that the powers of the staff were triggered by certain events. The song seemed to be shielding both of the from Chyrassk’s attack, but for how long? Lei knew she had to act.

“What do we do?” she said. She glanced over at Daine-and jerked back, just in time to avoid the blow of the chain. Dropping the wand, she took up a defensive posture. “What are you doing?”

“Get rid of the staff, Lei,” Daine said, moving toward her. She stepped back, but there was little room to maneuver on the narrow catwalk. “Throw it over the edge. It’s done something to you, and we can’t take any chances.”

“Don’t be ridiculous! It’s the only reason we’re still standing!”

“It’s manipulating you, Lei! If you won’t get rid of it, I will.”

Daine lashed out again. Lei managed to turn the edge of the blade with the staff, but Daine’s dagger drew a long furrow against the shaft. For a moment, the song took on a pained note.

It’s Chyrassk, Lei realized. The mindflayer was standing, unmoving, on the catwalk across the chamber. Chyrassk must be amplifying Daine’s fears and suspicions and using them to control him. If I drop the staff, we’re both defenseless.

“Daine, stop! What happens once the staff is destroyed?”

Daine was still weak from his injuries, and that was the only reason she’d been able to avoid his attacks as long as she had. But now he was moving in, trying to grab the staff with his free hand, and she was running out of room to retreat.

Calling on desperate reserves of willpower, Lei reached out with her mind. Her armor was a family heirloom, designed to hold temporary enchantments. While it normally took a significant period of time to weave an enchantment, she could weave minor effects into her armor swiftly, though it was just as much of a drain on her energy as crafting a longer, more powerful enchantment.

As Daine came forward, she whispered a word of power and leaped forward. The golden studs of her armor seemed to pull her into the air. It wasn’t full flight, but she could ignore much of the pull of gravity, and she sailed over Daine’s head. She landed on the platform behind him. Turning around, she gave him a quick shove with the staff. He staggered and almost tumbled off the edge of the platform.

“Damn it, Lei, are you trying to kill me?” Daine cried. He spun around, and now there was real fury in his eyes.

What can I do? She thought. In his weakened condition, it was possible that she could knock Daine off the catwalk. Then what? But if she let Daine destroy the staff, they’d both be helpless.

Daine charged again. Lei leaped a second time, but she had underestimated him. This time he was ready for her, and as Lei sailed overhead his chain wrapped around her ankle and she landed hard, barely staying atop the catwalk. Daine faced her, and his expression was grim.

“No more running, Lei. Can’t you see what it’s done to your mind? Or is it too late to save you?” He paused for a moment, as if listening to inner voices. “Either you throw the staff below or I’ll have to kill you. It’s the only way … the only way to be sure. It’s for your own good.”

She could hear the uncertainty in Daine’s voice, but clearly Chyrassk’s desires were worming their way to the foreground. He was shifting his weight, preparing to charge, and this time he would probably kill her.

Lei didn’t think her injured leg would take the strain of another jump, but Daine was still off-balance himself. If she timed it right, she might be able to trip him as he approached. He would certainly fall into the toxic fluid below, but she would live and she’d still have the staff to protect her.

But she couldn’t do it. She’d already sacrificed Pierce. She couldn’t hurt Daine, no matter the cost. She closed her eyes and waited for the blow to fall.

Even as Daine began his charge, there was a blur of motion at the entrance of the chamber-a massive steel shadow emerging into the light. Pierce raised his bow, drew the string back, and loosed. There was the whisper of an arrow in flight, and Chyrassk cried out-a weird ululating wail.

Daine froze, confused, as the mindflayer’s mental focus faltered. Had he really been about to attack Lei?

Pierce continued loosing, smooth and deadly. Arrow after arrow slammed into Chyrassk, and Daine could feel its fury. It lashed out with its thoughts, trying to crush Pierce’s mind once and for all, but the warforged fought with stoic determination. The next arrow pierced one of Chyrassk’s gold-flecked eyes. There was a terrible cry, a burst of pure pain that threatened to split Daine’s head-and then Chyrassk tumbled from the catwalk, disappearing into the vat of bubbling vitriol that lay far below. Lei and Daine peered down, looking for any sign of movement. But aside from a brief trail of blood, which quickly faded, there was nothing. Chyrassk was gone.

Daine knelt beside Lei and held her tightly. Her leg was still bleeding and she winced in pain, but she smiled. “Pierce …” she whispered.

“Pierce!” Daine called. “Are you all right?”

“I am functional, though damaged,” Pierce replied as he approached them. “I remember little after I first engaged that creature.”

“You arrived just in time, and that’s all that matters.”

“No,” said Pierce. “There is more. I believe … while I was incapacitated, I believe I had a dream.”

“Dream?” Lei said, weakly. She had pushed herself to the edge of her limits, and she was fading fast. Daine noticed that the darkwood staff was no longer singing, and that the face was again frozen in wood.