The Gates of Night

CHAPTER 33

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.