The Gates of Night

CHAPTER 32

This isn’t the Dorn Plateau,” Daine said.

You have teleported, Shira reported. You remain within Dal Quor. Your current position … is impossible.

Pierce felt pure astonishment radiating from Shira, an uncharacteristic burst of emotion. Why? Their surroundings seemed mundane enough. They were on a plateau, a butte raised high above canyon lands. A lone moon hung above them, full but strangely faint.

You have entered the heart of Dal Quor. No simple spell could allow such motion.

“Clearly history has been altered,” Jode said. “I think that much of what we saw actually happened at Keldan Ridge. That would explain Lei’s father not recognizing her at first, and why you had as much trouble as you did with the second warforged.”

“Fourth,” Pierce said.

“As you wish,” Jode said. “At the end, the woman was clearly addressing us now. She wasn’t talking about our history. She must have sent us here … ‘where we need to go.’”

“And she said she was using Daine’s own strength to do it,” Pierce observed.

Most likely a reference to the energy of the draconic eidolon, Shira observed. I underestimated this power. I believe an exponential effect is at work.

“So why didn’t we remember any of it?” Daine said.

“You saw the mist filling the room at the end,” Jode replied. “We’ve seen that mist before, marking the barrier of the Mourning. Perhaps, when it really happened, we were trapped just a little longer, and our amnesia was a result of a brief exposure to the energies of the Mourning.”

“Or perhaps Lei’s parents made us forget,” Daine said. “We still don’t know what they were doing there! They-”

Daine paused, and a slight flush reddened his cheeks. Pierce was puzzled. Then he realized that Lei had just watched her parents die, and dream or not, that was surely a difficult experience. Normally she would be in the midst of any discussion on arcane and planar theory, and her silence spoke volumes. In fact, she had wandered away from the others and was walking toward the edge of the plateau.

Pierce and Daine exchanged glances. “Captain,” Pierce said, “while I recognize the strength of your feelings, at this moment I believe my presence will offer greater comfort.”

Daine sighed. “Go.”

Pierce quickly caught up with Lei. She stared out over the barren land far below, all but hidden in the gloom of night. He extended his hand. He wasn’t certain if this was the appropriate gesture, but she reached out and clasped it tightly. He said nothing, letting her choose the time to speak.

“I can’t think about this right now,” she said. Her voice was thick, her cheeks streaked with tears. “This … not now. Not with everything else that’s at stake.”

“I understand,” Pierce said. And for once, he did. He felt emotions warring within him, feelings he didn’t even know he had. Recognition of Harmattan had been shock enough. Yet there was something else, a stranger feeling. Talin and Aleisa were his parents, too. He’d never known his creators, and he’d never thought such knowledge mattered. But now his mind was full of questions. What expectations did his parents have for him? How had he measured up? What plans had they had for him?

And what did Harmattan mean-This is the will of our true creator?

While loss and confusion welled within, there was one bright ember. Lei. His sister. They would face the future together, and if these mysteries could be unraveled, they would find a way.

Lei’s grip tightened. “Sovereign Host!” she said, her eyes widening. “Look at the plains!”

Pierce pushed aside his troubled thoughts and looked down at the desert. At first he saw nothing of note. They were high above the plains, and the moon was dim, then he realized …

The plains were moving.

There were no campfires below, no lights of any sort, and it took time for Pierce’s eyes to adjust to distance and limited visibility. An army spread across the desert below, stretching out as far as the eye could see. Pierce had seen many armies during the Last War, but this was a force drawn from nightmares. Platoons of insect horrors arrayed alongside masses of serpentine tentacles and figures formed of pure shadow. Shapes of strange siege engines rose up into the night, cannons formed of crystal and curved bone. Despite the constant motion, an eerie silence lay across the desert. No light, no sound, just nightmares girding for war.

Daine sprinted over to their position. “What is it?”

Lei pulled her goggles down over her eyes and adjusted the lenses. “There’s thousands of them,” she said. “Tens of thousands. Maybe more. I see … circles, glass rings set into the ground, maybe forty feet across.”

The legions of Dal Quor prepare for battle. I remember when my people gathered around our gates. Shira’s thought was touched with sorrow and shame. Song filled the air, and our crystal banners made the plain an ocean of stars. We served the great light. We thought ourselves the heralds of glory, perfect embodiments of wisdom. But the people of Xen’drik spurned our guidance and refused to be hosts for our people. And when they would not shield us from our destruction, we turned to war. We struck at their dreams. We tore at the fabric of reality itself. And these horrors down below will do far worse. There is no mercy in them, only malice. I can feel it.

“Flame,” Daine murmured. “We can’t fight that.”

“We don’t have to,” Lei said, pushing back her goggles. “All we need to do is find that orb and destroy it. That’s what my mother said. She’d send us where we needed to be. The only question is what we do now.”

“Turn around?” Jode said.

Pierce followed Jode’s gaze but saw only stone and sky.

“What are you talking about, Jode?” Daine said.

“There, in the center of the plateau. Can’t you see the tower?”

He is correct, Shira said. There is a force that seeks to deceive your senses, to hide what lies before you. Look beyond the lie.

Pierce studied the plateau. A tower, Jode had said. If there was a tower in this place, what might it look like? He let the image drift into his mind, a dark spire set against the starless sky … and it appeared. A tower of teeth. Four massive tusks reached into the night, supporting a single spire of ivory and raw flesh. Dozens of mouths adorned walls of dark muscle, and the jaws of an ancient dragon stood in place of a gate, grinning at the top of a short flight of stairs.

“What is it?” Daine said, studying the tower. “Is it alive? Can it see us?”

“It is one manifestation of the Dreaming Dark,” Pierce said, allowing Shira to speak through him. “As is the stone we stand on. In some ways, the tower will behave like a living creature. Pierce a wall, and it will bleed. But there is no intelligence behind its actions, and it cannot sense our presence.”

“It’s the Tower of a Thousand Teeth,” Lei said. “That’s where the dragons told us the orb was hidden.”

“So where are the guards?” Daine said. “I don’t like this.”

Once again, Pierce gave voice to Shira’s thoughts. “The guards are all around us, Captain. The quori don’t believe that it is possible for anyone to teleport to this place. We are at the heart of an army, and any intruder would have to fight his way through thousands of nightmare spirits. With luck the lords of this realm will have seen no need for additional security.”

“Let’s not rely on luck,” Daine said, as he examined the tower. “It’s small, so prepare for close quarters. Pierce, ready your flail. Lei, how are you holding up?”

“Close to the edge,” she replied. “Fighting Harmattan took a lot out of me.”

“Jode?”

Jode rubbed a hand across the top of his head. “I’ve got a little more magic in me, I think. Just try not to lose a limb.”

Daine nodded. “Lei, get Pierce patched up as best as you can, then take a look at the path. It’d be a fool’s death to come this far and then step on a blast disk.”

There are no blast disks, or mystical wards of any sort.

“There are no blast disks,” Pierce said.

“I’d like to hear that from Lei,” Daine said.

He doesn’t trust me, Shira thought. Perhaps he is wise. I can feel the darkness growing within me. But I will die before it turns me against you. And I will die soon.

Pierce felt a pang of sorrow, but he knew nothing could be done. He could feel Shira’s thoughts growing weaker every time she communicated. Once her presence had been as strong as his; now her thoughts were faint echoes in the back of his mind.

Stay close to Lei, Shira told him. My strength fades quickly, and should you stray too far from her, the connection will be lost.

Lei finished her work on Pierce and turned her attention to the plateau, taking a few steps in the direction of the tower. “No blast disks, nothing at all,” she said. “It’s clear from here.”

“Then I suggest we get inside,” Jode said. “We may be far from that army below, but some of my nightmares have wings, and I don’t want to be standing here in the open when one of them comes along.”

“Agreed,” said Daine. He drew his sword, and the Watchful Eye engraved on the hilt flashed in the night. “Pierce, at my side. Lei, directly behind, and watch for wards.”

No threats emerged from the darkness as they crossed the plateau; no horrors fell from the sky or rose from the plains below. There was only one problem: opening the dragon’s jaws. Teeth and fleshy walls resisted both Lei’s magic and Daine’s adamantine blade.

This is the dream of the darkness itself, Shira told him. Force will not avail you here. Only willpower can open the gates. Imagination is the key.

Daine looked skeptical when Pierce relayed the message, but Jode understood.

“All the pieces are in place,” he said. “Daine, I don’t understand this power we seem to have, but we are stronger together. Lei’s mother said you’d have to ‘use your gift to the fullest measure.’ I think we can make the jaws open.”

“Just by thinking about it?” Daine said.

“Just by thinking about it.”

“It’s worth a try,” Daine said. He looked at each of them in turn. “This is it, then. I don’t know if we’ll all come out of this alive-”

“I doubt I will,” Jode said. He sighed. “Sorry, I know, not a moment for levity.”

“No, you’re right, Jode,” Daine said. “You’ve already sacrificed your life, and now I’m asking you to risk your soul. But look off the edge of that cliff. I thought the Mourning was the worst disaster I’d ever see. But I’ll be damned to Dolurrh before I let that horde reach Khorvaire.”

He turned to face Pierce. “When I first met you, I knew little about the warforged. I’m ashamed to say I thought of you as an object. A weapon.”

“As did I, Captain.”

“Tonight, just make it Daine. You’ve been a good soldier, Pierce. The best I’ve ever seen. But you’ve been a better friend, and I count myself lucky to have known you.”

“We are equally lucky, Daine,” Pierce said. “And I do not intend to let you die tonight.”

Daine smiled. He looked at Lei and opened his mouth to speak, but she kissed him before he could utter a word.

Watching the two, Pierce felt a twinge of envy. For all that he had a sense of touch, he would never know what this moment felt like for them. Then he thought of Indigo, and the pleasure he’d found in her company … and simple satisfaction when Lei had held his hand. He might never know what love felt like for a human, but he knew what it was for a warforged.

“Don’t tell me goodbye,” Lei said, when they broke apart. “I’m not letting you go.”

Daine looked into her eyes in silence, and finally turned away. “Well, Jode,” he said. He reached down and took the halfling’s hand.

And slowly, very slowly, the jaws of the dragon opened wide.

“With me, Pierce,” Daine said. And together, they walked into the Tower of a Thousand Teeth.

Entering the tower, Pierce braced for battle. War was his purpose, and he felt a thrill as he prepared to engage the enemy. He’d calculated plans for a half dozen scenarios, based on the number and nature of enemies awaiting them.

But the chamber within the hall was silent and empty.

There were no guards, no beasts out of nightmare-at least, none that he could see. The floor was soft muscle, but Pierce felt the scrape of ivory against his feet. The room was utterly dark, and while Pierce’s vision was sharp enough to assure that there was no movement in the room, he could see little else.

A pale light took shape behind him. Lei, binding cold fire to her gauntlet. Now they could see the room’s barrenness. No furniture, no banners, nothing but flesh and tooth. Then Pierce took a good look at the center of the chamber. The floor of the room was one vast mouth. Pierce had just stepped onto the edge of a pointed tooth larger than he was. He didn’t know if the maw could open fully, but if it could, they’d all tumble down into whatever lay below.

Daine caught his attention, urging Pierce to move back against the wall, away from the massive mouth. Daine gestured upward. Long fangs protruded from the walls of the chamber, and Pierce saw that they formed a staircase, rising to an opening in the ceiling above them. The tower wasn’t that large, and this upper chamber would be its apex. The object of their search must be above.

Unless it lies below, Pierce thought, glancing at the grinning maw stretching across the floor. He thought Shira might respond, but she remained silent.

Daine wrapped his fey cloak around him as he ascended the stairs. He was shrouded in shadows, and Pierce almost lost sight of him. He followed close behind. The long teeth were slippery and felt all too fragile beneath Pierce’s feet, but despite his concerns, the stairs held his weight and he ascended into the upper chamber.

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.