The Gates of Night

CHAPTER 2

Lei was cold. Every nerve numb. It took all her energy to open her eyes, and when she did, her surroundings were blurred and distorted. She could hear distant sounds, but she couldn’t make sense of them or muster the strength to turn her head.

Memory trickled back through her mind. Crystals. Shards of crystal. A woman had given Lei a shattered object … pieces of a crystal sphere. When Lei touched it, a doorway had opened in her mind. She could feel the pattern within the sphere, feel its great age. The woman whispered to Lei, urging her to mend the broken pattern, and her voice was impossible to resist. Lei knew what had to be done. She felt as if she’d always known. She could see the proper pattern in her mind. She knew how to repair the damage. And at the urging of the voice, she had done just that. But it had taken so much energy-more than she had to give. She could see a network of light take shape as the crystal shards fused, the true shape emerging from the ruin. But as the pattern became clearer, her surroundings blurred. Thought became muddled. The only thing that mattered was repairing the damage. And as the last piece fell into place, everything else faded.

Sensation was returning. Lei flexed her fingers. Something felt wrong with her grip. Feeling returned to her arms, her legs. She was lying on a hard, cold platform. She heard metal scraping against stone. She turned her head to face the noise.

Pierce leaped into view. He was fighting another warforged-a smaller, slender figure who lashed at Pierce with twin blades. The two seemed well-matched, and their deadly dance distracted Lei. Then Harmattan bound Pierce with a coil of metal, and the battle came to an end.

The sight of Harmattan was a shock. Images flashed through her mind-

Harmattan ordering his minions to torture her.

Harmattan surviving a powerful blast of electricity, reforming after a hole was punched right through his torso.

Harmattan transforming into a storm of razor-edged steel, scouring the flesh from a pack of predators in the blink of an eye.

Lei blinked. The warforged were speaking, but there was no time to listen. Pierce needed her. There had to be an answer. Physical force was useless against Harmattan. He could reform from any injury. His body wasn’t a body at all. It was a mass of shards held together by magical force.

Held together by magical force.

No time to waste. Lei visualized a pattern in her mind and traced it on the palm of her left glove. As exhausted as she was, she found a last ember of energy within her, just enough power to complete the ritual.

The warforged hadn’t noticed her. The blue warrior had one of her blades leveled at Pierce’s face, the threat unmistakable. Offering a prayer to Onatar, Lei clenched her fist and made a swift throwing motion.

Only the faintest ripple in the air marked the passage of the energy she’d released-until it struck Harmattan.

Agony tore through Lei. She’d woven a charm of abjuration into her gauntlet, a burst of power that could shatter other spells. During the War she’d used this technique to counter the arcane blasts of enemy sorcerers. But she’d never touched such a powerful force. It was as if she’d tried to snuff a candle with her fingers and found her hand in a bonfire. Dousing this flame seemed impossible, and every instant the pain grew. But she wouldn’t let go. She remembered Harmattan’s mocking words, the pain as his servant Hydra cut off her finger, and she clung to that rage, using it as a pillar against the pain.

Harmattan shattered, as if a figure formed of sand struck by a mighty gust of wind: His body dissolved, scattering mirror-bright shards across the floor.

Indigo responded instantly. As Lei struggled to her feet, the warforged assassin was already turning toward her. Under normal circumstances, Lei’s powers might have proved a match for this foe; she had destroyed one of the warrior Hydra’s bodies earlier in the day. But she was drained. The attack on Harmattan had used her last reserves, and she didn’t have the energy to fuel any form of artifice. In her current state, a battle with Indigo would be brief and unpleasant.

But even as Indigo turned to face Lei, there was a flash of metal and the warforged tumbled to the ground.

Pierce!

Freed from Harmattan’s grasp, Pierce brought Indigo down with a well-placed kick. Lei felt a wave of relief-but it soon turned to fear. Indigo regained her feet, and the warforged fought in earnest. Pierce lost his flail, and with Harmattan’s fall Indigo fought more fiercely than before. Lei winced as a well-placed thrust sheared through Pierce’s left shoulder. For a creature of flesh and blood the wound might have been mortal, but Pierce continued the fight. Nonetheless, the outcome wasn’t in doubt. Weaponless, Pierce could slow Indigo but not stop her.

“Run, my lady!” he said as he dodged another blow. “Take Daine and go!”

Indigo hissed in fury, and her next blow shaved a layer of mithral from Pierce’s chest.

I’m not leaving you to her, Lei thought. She reached into her satchel, the magical bag that held her gear. She was too weak to wield her staff, but there had to be something …

There. Her fingers found a long wand. She smiled, drawing the weapon. It might have proven useless against Harmattan, but Lei had a hunch that Indigo wasn’t so durable.

Unfortunately, what Indigo lacked in armor, she made up for in speed. Indigo danced around Pierce, never staying in one place for more than a second, and the last thing Lei wanted to do was hit Pierce.

Now!

Pierce pulled back, and there was a boom of thunder as Lei released the lightning bound in the wand. The energy lit the chamber with a brilliant burst of light-but when Lei’s vision cleared, Indigo still stood. The warforged had completely evaded the bolt of energy. She charged at Lei, her black blades spread like wings, ready to shear through flesh and bone. And Pierce was too far away to help her.

A chill ran through Lei’s heart. Her instincts screamed flee, but the warforged was faster than she was-and there was nowhere to run. There was only one chance. As Indigo swept toward her, Lei steeled her nerves, raised her wand, and released the final charge of energy.

This time the bolt caught the warforged squarely in the chest. Indigo staggered backward, arcs of electricity crackling around her limbs. The blue enamel of her torso blackened and scorched, but she remained on her feet.

What is this going to take? Lei kept the wand pointed at Indigo. It was drained of power, but the warforged didn’t know that. Lei struggled against exhaustion, fighting to keep her fear from showing on her face. Try me.

Indigo watched her warily. She was clearly hurt, but she’d managed to dodge the first blast. She might be able to dodge another.

“Enough.” It was Pierce. “You can’t win this. Don’t make us destroy you.”

Was that a note of sorrow Lei could hear in his voice? Or desperation?

“You already have,” Indigo said, her eyes fixed on Lei, but her words were for Pierce. “I trusted you. I thought you were … my brother. But you choose this one over me. Not once but twice.” Her armblades retracted half an inch, then extended again. A nervous tic? “Perhaps you will destroy me this day. But she will die with me.”

Indigo spread her blades, leaping forward in a blur of blackened metal. But there was another flash of motion, another flare of light. A foot of steel burst through her abdomen. Perhaps it was a trick of the light, but it seemed to burn with an inner radiance.

Daine’s sword.

Whether the lightning bolt had caused more damage than it appeared or some unknown magic was hidden in the gleaming sword, the blow brought the warforged to a halt. Indigo gazed down at the blade. Then she fell to her knees, the sound of metal on stone curiously muted. The light faded from her crystal eyes and she collapsed, deadly grace reduced to inert wood and metal. And there, behind her, stood Daine.

Lei fell into his arms, giving in to her exhaustion. She lay against him, her eyes closed, finding comfort in his warmth. She knew he was speaking, but the words just washed over her in a comforting wave. Then a thought penetrated her weary mind and jerked her back to the world.

Harmattan.

She pulled back from Daine. “We have to get out of here.”

Daine frowned, laying his hands on her shoulders. “What’s wrong?”

She looked over at the archway, at the shards of metal scattered across the floor. “He’s not dead. I don’t know how long the effect will last, but we may only have minutes to spare. Maybe less. If he recovers-I can’t do it again. I can’t.”

Daine scowled at the remnants of the warforged leader. “Well, that’s good news.” He squeezed her shoulder and smiled, though she could see it was forced. “Pierce, let’s go.”

Pierce stood over Indigo’s body, staring at the fallen warforged. After a moment he pulled the sword from her back. He joined Daine and Lei and presented the blade, handle first. He said nothing.

Daine sighed as he took the sword. He glanced around the room, searching for anything they might be leaving behind. His gaze passed over Tashana’s corpse, the fallen Indigo, and the remnants of Harmattan. Was there a flicker of movement? A shift among the metal shards?

Lei pulled at his arm. “We need to leave. Now.”

“I know. But …” He looked around again. “Where’s Jode?”