The Gates of Night

CHAPTER 6

The unnatural darkness was deep, but not complete. Daine could still see the vague shapes of Pierce and Lei in the shadows. But the drow woman had vanished, disappearing the instant the darkness fell.

“Draw your weapons.” The dark elf spoke with a low, lyrical cadence, but an occasional pause suggested that she was not entirely comfortable with the common tongue. “You should not die unarmed.”

Lei’s never going to let me hear the end of this, Daine thought. He could see motion in the shadows-Pierce raising his bow. But Daine wasn’t going to play this game. “No,” he said. “Lei. Pierce. Stand down. We’re not fighting.”

“No?” The voice was all around them, seeming to emerge from the shadows. “Am I unworthy of your blade? Change your mind swiftly.”

The blow was a hammer in his back, a solid kick that landed directly on his spine, forcing him forward. He turned around, but the woman faded back into the shadows. Pain pulsed through his nerves, and he was tempted to give into his growing anger, to draw his sword and give this woman the battle she sought. Then the battlefield at Keldan Ridge flashed through his mind. This woman might be a stranger, but they’d fought the same foe. He’d lost too many of his comrades-in-arms over the last two years to give up on one now-even one who considered him an enemy.

“Why are you doing this? We saved your life.”

“You gave me life?” Her voice reminded Daine of the buzzing of hornets … musical, but full of deadly fury. “You?”

There! Daine ducked to the side, and this time the kick brushed past him. He reached out, trying to touch her, but his hand fell on empty air.

“Enough!” Lei cried, and light flooded the room. She had her hand raised above her head, and her glove glowed with brilliant illumination, a magical radiance that shattered the shadows. “Enough of this! I don’t know what’s wrong with you, woman, but I brought you back from the edge of Dolurrh. If you want to return, I can show you the way!”

Even as the light revealed the presence of the drow woman, she was moving, a blur of shadow. She leapt into the air, spinning up and over Lei in an incredible display of agility; Lei had barely finished speaking when a dark-skinned hand appeared around her throat.

“Light the path, then, spellweaver,” the drow said. “I am ready.”

The dark elf was holding Lei’s neck with three fingers, but the effect was dramatic. Lei’s face went pale; she was struggling to keep from choking, and her arms were hanging limp at her side. The dark elf’s other arm was curved back, fingers and thumb drawn together to form a point, reminding Daine of the tail of a scorpion.

Daine’s sword was in his hand; he didn’t remember drawing it. Next to him, Pierce had an arrow to his bowstring and a second between his fingers, ready to loose in the blink of an eye. Daine felt fury building within, and if anything happened to Lei, it really would be his fault. He opened his mouth, but before he could speak another voice filled the chamber.

“Your anger is misplaced,” said Pierce. The words were sibilant and swift, spoken in the language of the dark elves. Lakashtai had granted Daine the power to understand the speech of the drow, but even he could not speak it. “We fear your fury, but know not why we face it.”

While the woman’s pale eyes widened a fraction, her hands never wavered. “I tire of this mockery, man of metal,” she said, answering Pierce in the drow tongue. “You have broken my path, and the last of my blood is lost to me. And you boast of your deeds!”

The point of Pierce’s arrow never wavered, but his voice was soft and steady. “We know nothing of your customs,” he said. “We sought only to save the life of a valued ally, and we would have done the same for your companion if it had been possible. If death is what you wish for, it is a gift easily given. But do not make Lei pay the price for our ignorance.”

“Kkk.” The drow made a sharp noise with her tongue. “Your gift of death is as flawed as your gift of life. Do you know nothing of the world that lies beyond? You have shattered my path to the final land, and now I must begin anew.”

“This was never our intent,” Pierce said.

The woman narrowed her eyes. “How can you not know these things? You are warriors. Why follow this path if you do not look to its end?”

Pierce was distracting the woman, but her fingers were still wrapped around Lei’s throat. Daine could see the pain and anger in Lei’s eyes, and it burned like fire. He still didn’t know what power the woman was holding in reserve, but if he moved swiftly, he might be able to push the distracted dark elf away from Lei before she could move. He tightened his grip on his sword, and a rush of adrenaline flowed through him. He prepared to move …

… and the sphere shook.

Previously, the floor had been perfectly stable-none of the motion of a ship, and it was easy to forget that it was a vehicle at all, and not simply some sort of windowless building. This was false security. A second tremor struck, and Daine staggered a few steps, struggling to keep his footing. Lei stumbled and fell to her knees, but the drow woman kept her balance and her grip on Lei’s throat. This was no storm. The second quake was accompanied by a heavy thud, a massive impact against the outer shell.

“What is this?” hissed the drow.

“Harmattan?” Daine shouted to Pierce.

“I think not,” Pierce called back. The room still rang with the sound of the impact, and sigils and lines were glowing with shifting patterns of colored flame. Pierce turned his attention back to the dark elf, speaking in the drow tongue. “We are all in equal danger, and the one you threaten is the only one who can save us. Is this truly the death you seek?”

The room shook under a third impact, and a passage of glowing words etched into the wall flared and then faded with an eerie fluting. The drow woman remained perfectly poised in the chaos, her right hand coiled back and ready to strike, her eyes narrowed in thought.

“No.” She released Lei, and the artificer dropped to the ground, choking and rubbing her throat. Daine rushed to her side, while Pierce continued to cover the dark elf with his bow.

Lei had pushed herself up on one arm by the time Daine reached her, and was struggling to catch her breath. “Center … of the floor …” she gasped.

Glowing lines and symbols covered the floor of the chamber, reminding Daine of the pictures he’d seen of wizards constructing prisons for demons or wayward spirits. He remembered Lei sitting in the middle of this vast seal when they’d left Karul’tash, and he helped her reach the center of the pattern. Another impact shook the chamber, and this time there was a fearsome crack of shattering glass. Lei sat down, and the cold fire of the mystic pattern grew brighter. Daine could feel a cold tingle against his skin as the magical forces grew.

“Helkad thelora!” Lei’s eyes were closed, her skin sheened with sweat. Another crack, and fragments of crystal fell from the ceiling. A terrible sense of vertigo swept through Daine, and suddenly he felt solid … it was if he had been floating for the last day and never noticed it, and gravity had suddenly returned. The light from the glowing inscriptions faded, and Lei let out a deep breath. Her breathing was still a little ragged, but her expression remained calm. It appeared their journey was over.

He turned back to the drow woman. “You!” he said. Daine’s sword was still in his hand, and as his anger swelled within him he could swear that the hilt grew warmer in his hand. “So, you still want to die?”

Though unarmed and outnumbered, the dark elf showed no signs of fear. She met his gaze; he kept his blade level, ready to strike at the first motion. At last, she spoke. “This man of metal speaks truth,” she said. “This is not the death I seek. Where is the storm of razors?”

Harmattan? “We left him behind when we fled the monolith, and he’s not getting out.”

“Then let us return!” she said. “If it is your enemy as well, let us fight together once more. Let us face our destiny together!”

“Or we could not return, leave him trapped in the monolith, and go on to live long and fruitful lives,” Daine said.

The woman hissed. “You are a warrior. You fought the firebinders. And yet you would walk away from this enemy?”

“For now,” Pierce said. “Only a fool fights a foe he knows he cannot defeat, and we have found no flaw in his armor. This one is our prey, and in time he will fall, but this hunt will be a long one.”

“Then I will join you,” the woman said. “I must defeat this creature if I am to find my way to the final land. Let me fight by your side, and I may forgive the wrong you have done me.”

We saved your life, ungrateful wretch, Daine thought. But they were in an unknown land, and whatever her flaws, this woman was a skilled warrior. “We accept your gracious offer,” he said. “What was your name again?”

“Xu’sasar,” she replied. “A child of the scorpion, blessed by three moons.”

“How do you feel about ‘Xu’?”

The woman hissed again. “You outlanders despoil all that you touch. I suppose that it is only natural you should destroy the beauty of my name.”

“Xu it is, then. I’m Daine. This is Pierce.”

“And I’m Lei.” The darkwood staff flashed in the dim light. The thrust caught Xu’sasar directly in the throat, and the staff struck with tremendous force. The dark elf flew back against the wall. Lei had pulled her staff from her pack while the others were talking, and now she stood next to Daine, the point of the weapon leveled at the drow. Daine could swear he heard faint singing, a beautiful voice just on the edge of hearing. “If you change your mind about dying, let me know.”

Xu’sasar was crouching against the wall, ready to spring, and Daine thought the battle would begin all over. Then the dark elf relaxed.

“Well met, weaver Lei,” she said. “When we next do battle, let us fight on equal terms.” She turned back to Pierce. “So, man of metal, where does our hunt begin?”

“Right here,” said Lei. “Welcome to Thelanis.”