The Shattered Land

CHAPTER 45

Lakashtai? Daine thought. This would be a good time for your paralysis trick.

I am weary, Daine. I do not have the power, and in truth, I am amazed I was able to immobilize them all before.

The three drow had spread out in a semicircle, and Shen’kar was slowly walking toward him. Previously Daine had encountered these elves in the dark of night. Now, with the dim sunlight filtering down through the canopy, Daine could truly see his enemy. They wore less armor than the elves of the burning city, and instead of metal they seemed to rely on chitin, leather, and wood. There were a few exceptions-their long knives, the mithral chain-but Daine wondered if these might have been scavenged from elsewhere; the hilts on the daggers didn’t seem to match the style of the blades, and he suspected that these drow had scavenged the weapons or inherited them from previous generations. The minimal armor and clothing they wore revealed their tattoos, showing that the practice covered the entire body. Where the firebinders had occasional bands of flame, these elves were covered with intricate designs, stark white against their black skin. Daine imagined that Lei would know all about these tattoos and their significance and could probably give an hour-long lecture on the topic, and it was then that he realized how much he missed her. The last few hours had been a constant race to stay ahead of death; only now did he realize how empty he felt inside.

He held his hands up in front of him. “We don’t want to fight,” he said.

“The half-blood is gone,” Shen’kar observed. He paused fifteen feet away from Daine, his weapon poised to throw. “How is that?”

“Ah, that.” Daine scratched his head. “Well, he turned us over to his relatives, and they tried to burn us to death in a maze.”

“Maze?”

“Invisible, shifting walls, kills you if you touch it?”

“Ah,” Shen’kar said, tilting his head to the side. “It is as we thought,” he said quietly, speaking to his warriors. “The firebinders still seek outlanders for the opening of the gate.”

“Then let us kill them before they aid the Keeper of the Gate,” said the chainmaster.

“That’s really not necessary,” Daine replied. “We’ve met, and we’re not on good terms. All we want to do is find our friends.”

Shen’kar spun back to face Daine, and it took a moment for Daine to understand the reason for his look of surprise. They were speaking Elvish! Daine had grown used to hearing the language-he’d forgotten that they didn’t expect him to understand it.

“How is it that you speak the language of the land?” Shen’kar had adjusted his grip on his boomerang, and his eyes were narrowed.

“I gave him the gift,” Lakashtai stepped forward. Her Elvish was steady and flawless, though the accent was slightly different than that of the drow. “He cannot speak your tongue, but he can understand your words.”

“Right. See? Speaking the Common?” Daine pointed out.

“He speaks the truth, however, whatever tongue he uses,” Lakashtai continued. “We mean you no harm, and we have no intention of aiding your enemy. We were betrayed by our companion, whose true loyalties were unknown to us. We know nothing of your culture or these others who you fight. We simply seek to find our companions and to locate a ruin known as the Monolith of Karul’tash.”

The elves were listening attentively and seemed calm enough-until the last word. The moment Lakashtai named their destination, the chain-wielder set his weapon whirling.

“Kulikoor!” Shen’kar snapped-apparently the man’s name. “Hold your strike.”

“Let me guess,” Daine said. “Without meaning to, we’ve just made plans to desecrate your holiest temple.”

Shen’kar looked at him, and Daine could feel his disdain. “Not ours,” he replied. “You know nothing of this land, is that not so?”

“I think ‘nothing’ is a little strong, but …”

Lakashtai raised her hand. “Warrior. If we have given offense through our actions, I assure you it was unintentional. We are no friends of these firebinders, and we hold them as our enemies. It seems we lack knowledge. Perhaps you can help us overcome this flaw.”

“All things have their price,” Shen’kar said. “What is it you offer in exchange for this wisdom?”

Lakashtai studied him carefully; Daine wondered if she was probing Shen’kar’s thoughts or simply reading his expression. “Gold and jewels are the currency of cities,” she replied, after a moment. “We are not merchants or explorers. We are soldiers, and we are fighting a war. Now we have learned that your foe is ours as well. With your knowledge, we can fight them. Otherwise, we may be tricked into doing their bidding.” She paused. “We ask for vengeance. We offer the blood of your enemies and our strength at your side.”

Weak as she was, Lakashtai had lost none of her charisma. The drow glanced at one another, and even the chainmaster clicked his tongue in affirmation. Shen’kar turned back to Daine and Lakashtai, and began his tale.

“In the first days, the mighty ones enslaved the people of the land-”

“‘Mighty ones?’ “Daine asked.

“Giants,” whispered Lakashtai. “Don’t interrupt.”

Shen’kar glared at Daine then returned to the story. “In the first days, the mighty ones enslaved the people of the land. The overlords were great and powerful. Their size and strength alone would have made them masters of the earth, and they possessed deadly magicks as well. The mighty ones ruled for age upon age, until the time of terror, when madness struck the minds of the mighty and tore through the veil of the world itself.”

Daine shot an inquiring glance at Lakashtai, and a second later her thoughts touched his. I believe he’s talking about the invasion from Dal Quor. Even I know little of what the giants faced, but the battle would have taken place in both dreams and reality.

“… host of horrors,” Shen’kar was saying, “but the mighty ones were wise as well as strong. They plucked a moon from the sky and used its power to force their foes into the darkness of the mind, where they were soon forgotten.”

The giants defeated the quori by severing the ties between Eberron and Dal Quor, Lakashtai explained. Ever since then, it has been virtually impossible for anything to physically travel between the two planes.

And the moon? Daine thought.

Legends say there was a thirteenth moon that disappeared long ago. He seems to be blaming it on these giants. Now hush.

“… battle had left marks on the land and weakened the once-mighty overlords,” Shen’kar continued. “Their slaves saw this weakness and rose up against their cruel masters. Small and cunning were these people, and the great size of the overlords often proved a hindrance. The wise among them took a troop of loyal slaves and imbued them with the essence of night-with the power to shape darkness and see through its depths, the strength to resist magic and the courage to face it. These dark soldiers and their children swore an oath to the overlords, promising to die in their service, and to bring death to all who stood against the masters.”

“Which brings us to the Oathbreakers?” Daine said

Shen’kar clicked his tongue. “The masters used many tricks to bind my ancestors to their service-magic, promises of immortality, threats-but the bravest children of night saw through these lies and turned against them. The pale slaves did not trust them, so they fought alone, battling the mighty and those slaves who remained in their service. So it continued until the destruction of the land, the Wrathful Night that brought the masters low. Today we are the masters of the land. The mighty ones have been forced into savagery, and now they are our prey. The pale slaves fled in fear, but we are strong and wise. The spirits of the jungle guide us. The scorpion teaches us to hunt, to hide, to care for our young. They teach us to protect the land from those who would bring back the horrors of the past: the mighty ones, the outlanders, and the misguided children of night … the firebinders and their kin.”

“Right. The firebinders. This whole discussion was so fascinating, I almost forgot it had a point.” Daine sighed. “At the risk of another lecture, what are the firebinders trying to do?”

“My ancestors turned away from the brutal masters, but the firebinders served them faithfully. The Wrathful Night stripped the masters of their knowledge, but the slaves escaped the disaster. We turned to the voices of the wild, but others of their kind sought the knowledge of the mighty ones-the terrible secrets that have made them masters of flame.”

“You’re saying they work for giants?”

“No,” Lakashtai interjected, before Shen’kar could speak. “The giants are savages now, but they have reclaimed knowledge that the giants once had.” She glanced over at Shen’kar. “And this ‘gate’ of theirs? A path to greater knowledge?”

Shen’kar clicked his tongue. “The hidden vaults of the mighty are all around. We seek to reclaim the tools of our ancestors, but the secrets of the masters tore a moon from the sky and shattered this world. They should remain buried.” He gestured at his two companions. “We are scorpion wraiths, the champions of our tribe. We do not have the strength to face the firebinders in their burning city, but we slaughter them when they venture into the darkness beyond. When the season of fire is upon the land, we come in force, to ensure that they do not open their gate of flame.”

Season of Fire?

It must be a planar conjunction, Lakashtai thought. The outer planes are shadows of the world, orbiting like the moons, and when they come into alignment … well, strange things are possible. I think that Fernia is aligned with Eberron right now-that must be what they’re talking about. It should enhance all forms of fire magic.

Well, we certainly haven’t seen any of that.

“This gate of fire …” Lakashtai said. “This is the monolith of Karul’tash?”

“Karul’tash is its name in the language of the masters. It is surrounded by the invisible walls of which you speak, and none can approach it and live. Terrible powers lurk within, and the firebinders say there is a gate that will lead them to paradise.”

“So?” Daine said. “Why not let them go?”

“The legends say that those who pass through the gate will gain powers beyond those held by the ancient overlords and will return with an army of flame that will burn the world in their wake.”

“Oh.”

“So every cycle we come, to kill those who try to enter Karul’tash, slave and outlander alike.”

“Why not destroy it?” Lakashtai said.

“Such a thing would be impossible.”

Lakashtai shook her head. “Not at all. If there are gateways or magic-anything can be destroyed.” She looked at Daine. “We must get inside the monolith. My companion will be consumed by madness if we do not, and the forces first fought by the mighty will return.”

The drow glanced at Daine, shifting their grip on their weapons.

“Join us,” Lakashtai said. “Together we will find a way to destroy the forces hidden within Karul’tash and end your long vigil.”

Her voice was filled with passion and conviction, and Daine could feel the whisper at the back of his mind urging him to agree. Does she even know she’s doing that? He wondered.

Moments passed as the drow considered in silence. At last, Shen’kar clicked his tongue. “We may fight together, but to destroy Karul’tash, you must first enter it, and the firebinders have waited more than six thousand cycles for the coming of the opener.”

“We didn’t have much luck during our time in the maze,” Daine pointed out.

Lakashtai frowned. “Yes. I did not know about these defenses, but there must be a way …”

Her reflections were interrupted by motion in the trees. A shadow slipped out of the forest-another drow, long knives in her hands. It was the woman Daine had fought the night before. She stopped short when she saw Daine and Lakashtai and dropped into a fighting crouch.

“Xa’sasar,” Shen’kar sang. “There is blood between you and this outlander, and you may settle it in time. For this moment he is our ally and not to be harmed. What is it you have seen?”

The woman watched Daine. It was difficult to read the expression in her pale eyes, but her body language was deadly. “The firebinders move in force. There are outlanders with them: a man of metal and a woman in green, grievously wounded. They are to join with the first priest at the burning gate.”

“Lei!” Daine exclaimed.

Shen’kar ran a finger along the back of his scorpion, considering the news. “The first priest would not leave the walls of the city unless …” He turned to the other drow. “They believe they have found the two outlanders who can open the gate. We must go quickly. We are outnumbered but can still kill the outlanders.”

“No!” Daine said. He rushed at Holuar, but the other drow were between them in the blink of an eye, weapons out.

“This cannot be risked,” Shen’kar said.

“You forget.” Lakashtai’s silky voice seemed to wrap around them, even more beautiful when speaking the Elven tongue. “If they can open the gate, we can destroy it.”

“There are too many!” Xa’sasar cried, but Shen’kar was considering the matter.

“Are you afraid to try?” The dark elves stiffened, and Daine could see that Lakashtai’s words had struck home. “You are the champions of the night,” she continued, “and we have crossed the ocean to see this done. This is destiny. Embrace it, and together we will strike a devastating blow against your ancient enemy.”

Again the drow paused, whispering among themselves, but at last, Shen’kar clicked his tongue in agreement.

“Very well. Let us move swiftly.” He looked at Daine. “We have faced one another in battle. Now we shall stand together. It is fitting that this be returned.” Reaching down, he unbuckled a belt and handed it to Daine. A sheathed longsword hung from the belt, its pommel emblazoned with the Watchful Eye of Deneith.

“I suppose it is,” Daine said, taking the sword and belt. “Lead the way.”

Daine had barely buckled the belt when the hunt began, with Xa’sasar taking point. The elves were swift and graceful, and it was all Daine could do to keep up.

Just tell me we get to kill them when all this is done, he thought to Lakashtai.

Hush, she thought, but even across the distance he could feel her smile.