The Gates of Night

CHAPTER 34

Pierce?” 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.

“I must admit, I never expected to see warforged here,” Lakashtai said, watching as Pierce rose to his feet and Lei walked across the room. “If I’d known this was possible, I could have targeted Lei from the very beginning, and this would have been so much simpler.”

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

“Mind your temper, Captain,” Lakashtai said. Dark mist played around her feet, shadows clinging to the hem of her black gown. “You’re not in your dreams anymore, little Daine. You’re in mine. They see what I want them to see.”

“And we don’t. Isn’t that interesting?” Jode said. The halfling must have followed Lei; he was leaning against one of the curved tusks. Lakashtai’s eyes widened. For her, this was as significant as a shout. “Surprised to see me?”

“That meddling sphinx,” Lakashtai said, and her calm façade dropped, revealing the anger below. “I admit, I wondered what had become of you, Daine-why I couldn’t touch your mind anymore.”

Daine remembered his first dream after drinking the potion in Karul’tash … the vision of the dark giant, shattering against the shield of light. “You couldn’t match our combined strength.”

Lakashtai smiled. “Oh, Daine. Yes, your twin souls are more powerful than I expected. A clever gambit. But now you’ve delivered yourself into my hands. You may have the strength of two souls, but I am one of the chosen of the Dreaming Dark itself, and this is my place of power. You should have left well enough alone and enjoyed the little time left for your world.”

“You’re clever,” Jode said. “But for all your false bravery, we’re still here. I don’t think you can stop us. Give us the crystal moon, and let’s be done with this.”

Lakashtai laughed, a terrible sound. “You don’t think I can stop you? You have no idea, halfling. The Dark has rewarded me for my faithful service, and my power is beyond your imagining. You are alive only because it amuses me … and I think I’ve had enough of you.” She looked at Daine and smiled. “Daine, why don’t you kill your friend for me?”

“Why would I-”

“Because if you do, I’ll let Lei go, and I’ll let the both of you wake up and have your last few days together. If not, she dies while you watch. Then I’ll kill your friend. And if you’re lucky, afterward I’ll let you die.” She held out her hand, and the darkness rose up to twine around her fingers. “You have to the count of five.”

“No,” Daine said. “There’s no need. You’ve won.”

Images passed through his mind. The vast army outside. Creatures of nightmare, tearing through High Walls and Sharn. And Lei. Lying on a bed in Thelanis, all but dead. The tear in his heart when he thought that he’d lost her.

“Daine-” Jode said.

“I’m sorry.” Daine forced all emotion from his mind. He raised sword and dagger, calling on all the speed and strength of the dragonfire that still burned within.

He struck Lakashtai.

For once, Daine caught Lakashtai unprepared. The point of his grandfather’s sword disappeared in her throat, while his dagger flashed toward a brilliant green eye. It was swift and brutal, and Daine took no pride in his work. But he could not risk letting her live another moment.

Yet she did. She dropped to one knee, blood spilling down across her pure white skin. But she did not fall. She opened her ruined eye, and now it was a pool of utter darkness.

In that moment, Pierce lunged at Lei, his flail a streak of light in the shadows. Daine heard a sickening crunch as the ball slammed into Lei’s chest, and blood flowed from her mouth as she staggered backward.

“No!” Daine cried. He forced Lakashtai to the ground, striking again and again. Rage overwhelmed all senses. When his vision cleared, his hands were covered with blood, and the life had fled Lakashtai’s body. He turned, afraid of what he might see.

Lei must have struck back at Pierce; both were stretched out on the ground. Lei’s green jerkin was torn and burnt, and blood flowed from her chest. Half of Pierce’s muscle cords had snapped, and his armor plates were pitted, some hanging from his body. Jode knelt next to Lei, and the dragonmark on his head burned with blue light.

Daine was there in an instant, kneeling between the two. “How bad?”

“I … am … functional …” Pierce said, his voice barely a whisper. He raised his head, though he seemed to have difficulty holding it straight. “Lei?”

“I’m doing the best that I can,” Jode muttered.

A moment later Lei choked and coughed, blood bubbling along her lips.

“Jode,” she said faintly, and Daine’s heart soared.

“Yes, Lady Lei,” Jode said. “You’re not rid of us yet.”

Oh, but I will be.

The new voice echoed around them, and Daine couldn’t say if it was sound at all, or all in his mind. There was nothing human in that voice. It was cold fear, the force a child sees in the darkness, a horror all the worse for not being seen.

You think killing one body means anything to me? You have no conception of what we are. I am your nightmares, Daine. I am every fear you’ve ever had, and horrors you’ve never imagined.

“Shield them, Daine,” Jode said, clasping Daine’s wrist. “We know we can do it. Don’t let her take them again.”

Once again, Daine felt warmth flowing from Jode and into him. He could feel the emotions of his friend, his love and his courage. He thought of Lei and Pierce, and he reached out with his feelings, covering them with light. And he turned around.

There was a shadow above Lakashtai’s corpse, a mass of pure darkness. Daine could see shapes hidden within-

Lakashtai risen again.

His father with a sword in his hand.

Children slaughtered in the streets of High Walls.

Terror and despair rose within him, and he felt a mad desire to cut his own throat. But Jode was at his side, and Lei and Pierce needed him. He threw his will against the frightful storm, and it abated.

Most impressive. I had so hoped to watch you kill yourselves. But you cannot fight me.

Tendrils spread out from the cloud, serpentine tentacles of solid shadow. Some bore the heads of vicious beasts, while others were tipped with razor-edged blades. They crawled toward Daine and Jode, moving slowly but inexorably, and Daine knew no blade could touch that darkness.

But fire could.

Daine’s arm rose up of its own accord, his sword dropping from suddenly nerveless fingers. Energy surged within him-the dragonfire, the gift of the draconic eidolon. The darkness collapsed in on itself, bound in a web of prismatic light. And the shadow howled.

“What are you doing?” Jode whispered.

Daine had no idea. He felt the power growing within him, but it was none of his doing.

You cannot harm me! The voice roared around them. I am a part of this realm, a part of the darkness itself! I cannot die!

Daine felt a terrible pain, as if acid were being poured across his back. He could feel the dragonmark searing his flesh, and a deep red glow filled the chamber-light from the mark, piercing his armor to fill the room. The agony built with each passing second. And then it exploded. A beam of energy burst out of his chest, a mass of twisted lines. It was as if the dragonmark itself reached out. This bolt smashed into the cloud of darkness, enveloped it, consumed it-and was gone, snapping back into Daine with another wave of pain. All that was left of Lakashtai’s spirit was a ball of glowing light-a crystal orb. The sphere fell to the ground and rolled across the floor.

“Moon,” Lei said. She rose on one knee, and Jode helped her rise, moving toward the sphere.

“What have … you done … Captain?” Pierce pushed himself to his feet. “Shira … says the spirit … is destroyed. Impossible.”

“I don’t know,” Daine said. Every nerve cried out in pain, and his back still burned. Far from fading, the dragonfire presence felt even stronger than before.

“Captain,” Pierce said. “Lei and I … only moments … Shira dies.” He staggered toward Lei.

The tower shook.

“What now?” Daine said.

Pierce knelt by Lei, who clutched the crystal sphere.

“Your work … not unnoticed,” he said. “The Dreaming Dark … rises.”

“I need time,” Lei said. The sphere pulsed in her hands, and her face was tight with concentration.

Jode took Daine’s hand again. “Just a few more moments, my friend. Let’s hold this place together.”

The walls shook. Every mouth opened, and a single inhuman howl of rage filled the room. The walls began to distend, twisting outward.

“Imagine,” Jode said.

And Daine did. As the tower collapsed around them, he imagined a secure place of shelter. A home. A welcoming fire. The voices of children, coming from below. The walls of flesh and ivory fell away, and only the floor remained. They were caught in the eye of a storm, and all around was howling darkness, a maelstrom of horror.

“Yes,” Lei said. “It wants to be destroyed. It’s a weapon. It was made to shatter, to break the bonds between the planes. All I need to do is find the right path. Just another moment …”

Her face was caked with blood, her clothes were torn, her skin scabbed and burnt. But she was still the most beautiful woman Daine had ever seen, and the light in her eyes gave him the strength to fight the storm.

And then she vanished.

The sphere was glowing, pulsing in her hand, and then it fell to the floor. Lei and Pierce were gone. Daine saw a shadow in Pierce’s place, then it was drawn away into the swirling mass around them.

“No!” he cried. Despair overwhelmed him, shattering his emotional shield. The floor crumbled around them, and Daine and Jode fell toward the darkness, horror howling in triumph.

But as they fell, the moon fell with them.

Cracks appeared, fine at first, then growing and spreading. And as the darkness rose to meet them, the crystal moon shattered into a thousand pieces. The orb became a sphere of pure energy, glowing like the sun, then it burst, flowing out and over Daine and Jode, engulfing them in brilliance.

Daine felt the dragonfire surge once more. The power rose within him, tearing at flesh and spirit, and pulling.

And the dream faded away.

Light.

Sunlight.

A desert. He was lying on desert sand, beneath a brilliant sun.

No … two brilliant suns.

“Daine?” Jode pushed himself to his feet and looked around. “Are you hurt?”

“I don’t think so,” Daine said. He sat up. Something was wrong. Something was missing. The dragonfire. That sense of burning energy, the strange presence within-it was gone.

Suddenly the earth shook and everything changed. Air, sand, even the suns; for a moment they seemed to flicker and almost fade away.

“Where are we?” Daine whispered.

“This is a dream,” Jode said, looking around. “We’re on the fringes of Dal Quor.”

“It’s no dream of mine,” Daine said, looking at the two suns.

“No, I don’t think it is.” Jode put his hand on Daine’s chest, and his dragonmark glowed. “I don’t know what’s happened. But I don’t think you’re dreaming any more.”

“What are you talking about?” Daine said. The ripple came again, stronger this time. When it passed, the sand had become a sheet of red glass.

“These quakes-I think they’re because of what we did. The plane is falling out of alignment with Eberron. I don’t know if that’s the reason or not, but you’ve become like me. You’ve lost your connection to your body.”

“No.”

“Then wake up.” Jode held out his hand.

Daine took it, and he thought about that first dream in Karul’tash, remembering what he’d done.

Wake up.

He opened his eyes … and the desert remained.

“Lei,” he said. “Pierce. Are they-”

“They should be fine,” Jode said. “Pierce said their connection was failing. They disappeared before the moon shattered. There’s no reason their spirits wouldn’t have returned to their bodies.”

Lei. He saw her in his mind, bloody and beautiful, proud and strong. Challenging the Woodsman. Looking at him in the night of Thelanis, with the moon in her eyes. He remembered her warmth in his arms. There’ll be time for us later, he’d told her.

“No,” Daine said. “No. I don’t accept this. There’s a way out of here. There’s got to be. And we’re going to find it.” He looked down at Jode. “For both of us.”

Another tremor. Fractures ran across the surface of glass desert.

“We’re not alone here,” Jode said. “We may have stopped the Dreaming Dark from opening its gates, but the quori still rule this realm. We’ll need to stay on the fringes, to keep moving.”

“Whatever we need to do. But I will find my way back to her, Jode.”

“Even if you have to face a thousand nightmares to do it?”

Daine nodded. “I believe that we just saved the world. How hard can this be?”

Jode smiled and held out his hand. “Then let’s go, my friend. If the right woman is dreaming, I know an inn with a tribex stew the likes of which you’ll never find in the waking world.”

Daine clasped his hand, and the two of them faded away.