The Shattered Land

CHAPTER 49

Daine swore. Years ago he’d vowed never to use a bow, but if Pierce had left arrows, he would have broken the oath in an instant.

“Lakashtai, link us now!” he yelled as he sprinted forward, “and I want Shen’kar!”

Done.

You soil my soul with your thoughts, outlander! Shen’kar’s mental voice was filled with fury. Only the spirits may speak to me so!

THERE’S NO TIME FOR THIS! Daine roared, and Shen’kar faded to silence. Pierce! Catch! Pierce was still running toward him, and Daine flung the longbow at the warforged with every ounce of strength he could muster. Pierce leapt up and caught the whirling weapon, and by the time he had landed he had an arrow to the string.

Back to the monolith! Daine commanded. Drop the staff-wielder if you get a clear shot, but we need to get the wards back up. The others can’t be far away!

The firesled was closing on the monolith. Daine was running at full speed, but he was still far from the crimson tower.

Lei! Take cover!

Her thoughts are not linked to ours, Daine. Lakashtai’s thoughts were calm and cool. The power has a limited range, and she is still too far.

A ball of flame engulfed the gate of the spire. When the smoke cleared, Daine could see no sign of Lei. She’s no fool, Daine thought. She must have gone inside.

They come, Shen’kar thought.

The edge of the jungle was alive with fire. Dozens of Sulatar soldiers were emerging from the treeline, carrying burning banners and flaming spears.

Run! Daine said. We can’t engage them in the open. We need to reach the gates!

Uul’she and Kulikoor will slow the advance, Shen’kar thought, and I shall show them the danger mocking the clouds.

Slow the … Shen’kar, that’s suicide. Call them back!

It is already done. It is the right of the warrior to choose his death.

“Elves,” Daine muttered, but he thought of the battles he’d fought, and the courage of two soldiers who would face an army. Good luck. To all of you.

A second blast of flame burst against the gate of the monolith. Shen’kar sang a soft invocation and then pulled away from Daine, racing forward with inhuman speed. He was a ghostly blur in the fading light of dusk. Moments later he had reached the gates, and without pausing he vaulted into the air, rising in an astonishing thirty-foot arc. He slammed into the side of the sled and pulled himself aboard. The bombardier raised her hand, and Shen’kar was engulfed in a cone of fire. Even as Daine cried out, the fire faded-and Shen’kar was unhurt.

You cannot burn the wraith with flames, Shen’kar whispered into Daine’s mind. I am a shadow of the night, and such magicks cannot touch me.

As both elves drew weapons, a pair of arrows sang through the air and thudded into the staffer’s throat. Shen’kar lashed out with his spiked club, and Daine looked away; clearly this situation was under control.

At last he reached the tower. “Lei!” he called. “LEI!” She was nowhere to be seen, and the walls and soil were blackened from the blasts of mystic flame. For a moment an iron hand closed around his heart.

And then she emerged from the gate.

“Daine!” She wrapped her arms around him. “Thank the Sovereigns!”

“No time,” he said, forcing himself to push her away. “Lakashtai, link her!”

Already done.

We’re going in. Shen’kar, get your soldiers and take point. Don’t go fartherthan a hundred feet in, Daine thought. “Pierce, I need that ward back up!”

The Sulatar were marching across the field, and at this distance Daine guessed they were over a hundred.

“There is a problem, captain.” Pierce was kneeling down, inside the glass-lined gate.

“That’s not what I need to hear right now!”

“The firebursts have damaged the shard that raises the wards. It is not responding to my commands.”

Flame! Daine ground his teeth. Can’t anything EVER be easy? “Lei, can you fix it?”

“I don’t know, Daine. This is Xen’drik! I’ve probably never seen anything like it.”

“Get over there and find out,” Daine said, “and if you need encouragement, just look at the approaching army.” Shen’kar, what have you found?

No response.

Shen’kar?

Daine turned to Lakashtai, who was frowning. “The link has been severed,” she said. “Sharp and sudden.”

“They’re dead?” he said. Can this get any worse?

“Always,” Lakashtai replied, “but I am not certain that is the case. The tower feels … empty. Unnaturally so.”

“It is the tower, not you,” Pierce said. He had pulled a bundle of arrows from Lei’s magical pack, and now he was pushing them into the ground in front of him, preparing for the assault to come. The army was moving slowly, but the enemy would soon be in range. “Karul’tash was built during the war against the inhabitants of Dal Quor, who possessed mental powers similar to yours. The defensive enchantments of the building shield Karul’tash from mystical scrying and suppress the use of mental abilities.”

“How-” Daine began, than shook his head. “Never mind.”

“Can this shield be deactivated?” Lakashtai said. She spoke calmly, but Daine could see the tension in her eyes.

“Yes,” Pierce said, “but not from here.”

“If we don’t get those wards up, we won’t have to worry about it,” Daine said, as the drow continued to stream across the field. “Lei?”

“I’m working on it!” she snapped. “It’s a bizarre design, but … it feels familiar somehow.”

A small party had pulled ahead of the main army. “Look next to the standard-bearer, captain,” Pierce said. “I believe that is Gerrion.”

Daine squinted, but his eyes were not as keen as those of the warforged. “Do me a favor, Pierce-if this doesn’t work, kill him first.”

Pierce nodded. “It will be done.” He brought an arrow to the string. “Time runs short. The wards do not cover the entire field. They are almost at the border, and in any case, soon we will be in range of their bows.”

“Lei!” Daine said.

“I’m doing the best I can!”

“Do better.”

“All right.” She stood up. “Pierce?”

“Come inside,” Pierce said. “You do not want to be trapped beyond the door once it is sealed.” The travelers sprinted into the mouth of the tunnel and Pierce rapped against the wall.

“Dak ru’sen Karul’tash. Hasken ul tul’kas.” The ancient voice shook the tunnel.

Pierce hesitated for a moment, and when he spoke, his voice was a thunderous rasp. “Kej’dre. Isk. Han’tal. Kulas Kastoruk ru’sen Karul’tash. Drukil ejil ul siltash!”

Nothing happened. “Drukil esul ul siltash’un!” Pierce said.

Daine sighed. “Very well. Lei, get ready to-”

A blinding flash of ruddy light banished the drawing gloom of night. Cries filled the air-elven voices and shouts of alarm.

“Door?” Daine said.

“It appears to be broken,” Pierce said, “but the wards have been restored.”

“Fine. Pierce, with me, we’re going to take a look. Lei, we need something to fill this hall. I don’t care what.”

Understood. She was already fiddling with a shard of clear glass she had pulled from her pouch.

“Let’s go!”

Daine and Pierce ran for the entrance. Pierce went out first, and he loosed an arrow the instant he was out of the passage; judging from the cry that followed, the victim was at least a hundred feet away. Slipping up to the mouth of the tunnel, Daine peered around the edge.

Over a dozen drow had made it through the deadly wards, and the burning banner still twisted in the wind. In the lead were two familiar figures. Gerrion brandished a blazing sword in one hand and wore a pulsing buckler on the other. He stood next to an older elf wearing an iron crown-the high priest Holuar, and Holuar was pointing right at them.

“Get back!” Pierce spun sideways, smashing into Daine and throwing him back into the tunnel. A gout of flame struck the entrance, and for an instant Pierce was outlined by fire.

“Pierce!”

The warforged staggered forward a few steps. “I will survive, captain, but I fear that the priest can bring that power to bear again if we reveal ourselves.”

Daine shook his head. “Everyone down the tunnel! Lei, I hope you’ve got something to slow them down.”

“Yes, captain,” she called, as Daine and Pierce ran toward her. “Just a little farther, and … this’ll do.”

Turning around, she flung the crystal shard up the passage to the surface. An instant later, it exploded in a burst of mist. A blast of frigid air swept over Daine, frost forming on his skin. He blinked, and when his eyes opened, the tunnel was blocked.

By ice.

“Ice?” he said. “We’re under attack by masters of fire, and you give me a wall of ice?”

“It was that or fire,” Lei replied.

“Wonderful.”

Daine took a moment to study their surroundings. The air was stale and slightly cold, though Daine imagined Lei was to blame for the temperature. The hall was about twenty feet across and roughly as tall as it was wide. The walls and floor were formed of the same red stone they’d seen outside, with no signs of blocks; it was as if the tunnels had been carved into a massive slab of stone. Light came from the walls themselves. Every surface was covered with words in a flowing script unknown to Daine, painted in cold fire.

“Lei?” Daine said. “What does it say?”

“Many of the inscriptions are simply proclamations of light,” Pierce responded, to Daine’s surprise. “Others speak of protection and secrecy-I suspect these are the shielding glyphs that I spoke of earlier.”

“He is correct,” Lakashtai said. “I … I cannot feel Kashtai’s presence. I cannot call on my inner strength.”

“Great,” Daine said, “but aside from our melting wall and powerless kalashtar, everything’s fine? We don’t have to fight-”

“Giants,” Shen’kar said. The glowing inscriptions covered every wall, but somehow the scorpion wraith found a shadow to step out of. Xu’susar stood beside him.

“Of course,” Daine said. “Naturally. How many?”

“Sixteen that we saw,” Shen’kar replied. “Six of the blade and ten weavers of magic.”

“Did they notice you?”

The elf cocked his head. “How would they do this?”

“I know you’re talented, but-”

“They are all dead.” Shen’kar said.

There was a faint thud … the ringing of a flaming sword striking against a distant wall of ice.

“Ah,” Daine said. “In that case, lead the way.”

“Onatar’s name,” Lei whispered.

“Yeah.”

Daine had foresworn his belief in higher powers long ago, but what lay before them seemed beyond the capabilities of any mortal force. The passage had led them directly to the center of the monolith. The tower stretched up above them, a hollow spire hundreds of feet across and perhaps a thousand feet in height; perspective was hard to judge from so far below. As impressive as the tower was, it was the object within that drew gasps of astonishment. The heart of the monolith was a massive obsidian cylinder almost as tall as the tower itself. It was covered with glowing sigils and inscriptions in the ancient language of the giants, inlaid with a dozen different metals and gemstones.

And it was floating. It was suspended ten feet above the floor of the chamber, and slowly rotating.

“Think of how much that must weigh …” Lei whispered. Daine preferred not to.

Perhaps a hundred metal rings encircled the central pillar, supported by invisible forces. Rising and falling, silently spinning in different directions and speeds, what truly caught the eye were the spheres. Thirteen crystal spheres circled in low orbits, each one studded with gems and glowing inscriptions. Perspective made it difficult to judge the size of these objects … but they were big.

The spheres drew their eyes up-but eventually Daine looked down. Circular tables were spread around the base of the obsidian cylinder. These were made of red stone and rose directly out of the floor. Here were the giants, slumped against the tables or sprawled across the floor.

The corpses were dried and desiccated but almost perfectly preserved; Daine wondered if the seal on the monolith gate had held all air in or if some other magic were at work. The closest corpse was that of a man; his skin was wrinkled black leather, as dark as that of the drow, and he would have been twelve feet tall if he were standing. He wore a tunic of a metallic, brass-colored fabric; the hem was trimmed in silver and embroidered with golden spirals. Daine guessed that the man had been broadly built in life, and it reminded him of the massive worn statues flanking the altar in the city of the drow.

“Look,” Lei said, pointing. “I think that’s a wand.”

Indeed, the fallen giant was clutching an object in his hand-a rod tipped with a black gemstone, but it was two and a half feet long, and as thick as Daine’s arm.

“Is it a weapon?” Daine said.

“I don’t know.”

“Then I don’t care. We’ve only got a few minutes. Is this thing remotely useful? Unless one of you can tell me what it does, we’d better keep moving and hope we can find an armory.”

Daine was looking at Lei and the newly erudite Pierce, but it was Lakashtai who spoke. “These are the planes,” she said.

“Yes … that’s right!” Lei echoed, staring at the column in wonder.

Daine sighed. “That clears everything up. Thanks.”

“The planes,” Lei said, “the outer planes-Dolurrh, the realm of the dead. Dal Quor, the region of dreams. You know.”

“Sure,” Daine said suspiciously, “so you’re telling me that the souls of the dead come here? Good, because give it a few minutes and we’ll probably be joining them.”

“No,” Lei said, exasperated. “This is a model of the planes. They … shift around Eberron, drifting in and out of phase, like the moons, and this is a model of that movement.”

“It’s more than that,” Lakashtai said. She took Lei by the hand and led her forward. Daine reached out to stop her, but Lakashtai brushed away his hand. “Look closely,” she whispered, stepping over the wrinkled head of a fallen giant. “Feel it. See what lies within.” Slowly, she placed Lei’s hand on the closest console, and the mosaic of gemstones encrusting the top of the panel burst into light.

“I can see it,” Lei said, breathless with wonder. “I can feel it, spreading out. It’s so much more complicated than any pattern I’ve seen before. It’s … beautiful.”

“And it helps us how?” Daine said, exasperated.

“It’s a gateway,” she said, “and I think … I think I can activate it.”

“I believe you are correct,” Pierce said, “but how can you possibly know how to operate such a device?”

“I can’t explain it, Pierce. The knowledge … it’s just there, as if it has always been there. It’s … the spheres. Each sphere is linked to another plane.” Without even seeming to notice what she was doing, Lei clambered onto the back of a giant’s corpse so she could run her fingers along the console. A deep, pulsing hum filled the air, and the orbiting rings began to spin at different speeds. “Passengers enter the sphere, and it is physically transported across the planar barrier. I believe-each sphere has controls inside allowing the travelers to return.”

“This provides access to every plane?” Pierce said, looking up at the spheres.

“It’s not that simple. Alignment, orbit … Only two planes are accessible at the moment, Thelanis and Fernia, the plane of fire.”

“Fire.” Daine’s mind was racing. “And these spheres are controlled from here?”

“Initially, and from the sphere itself. The sphere protects the passenger from any dangers of the plane, though if you leave-who knows.”

“Do you understand how they work?”

“I can’t explain it … but yes, I do.”

“Good,” Daine said. “Shen’kar, if you don’t mind, I’ll need you for this. Here’s my plan …”

The high priest Holuar was surrounded by an aura of mystical fire, and he was simply walking through the ice that blocked their way. The chill air could not breach his shield of flames, and as old as he was, destiny gave strength to his limbs. The end is near, he thought. At long last, I shall reap the rewards of my ancestors’ loyalty. The Lords of the Promise will enfold me in their power, and we shall set the world aflame.

The ice had filled a long stretch of the hall, and progress had been slow until Holuar had called on the cloak of fire. Now the wall crumbled before him: he had reached the end of the barrier.

There was a man in the hallway twenty feet away. He was too tall, too thick. His skin was sickly pale, and no marks of honor stained his skin-an outlander-the false child of war, the one that had been tested and failed. Holuar pointed a bony finger and prepared to call on the deadly fires, but the stranger dropped to his knees, holding out his hands in supplication.

“Just hear what I have to say before you kill me,” the man said. The words of the outlander tongue were flat and graceless, and the man spoke terribly slowly. “I know what you’re looking for, and I can give it to you.”

“What is this?” Holuar said. His soldiers were emerging from the tunnel, but he raised his hand and they simply spread out around him.

“You want to pass through the Burning Gate. That’s what this is all about, right? Well, I came here with the woman who can open it for you.”

“The woman of two worlds,” Holuar said. Could it be that she was needed to open the gate and not simply the monolith? He reflected on the words of the prophecy: she would free the voice of the past, she would make the way clear, she would hold the keys. “She will aid us, or you will all die.”

“I know. I don’t care where you go or what you do. I’ve got my own business here. So here’s the deal. You give us what we want, and we’ll open the gates for you. You go through and do … whatever it is you have planned. We go on our way. Everyone lives.”

Holuar narrowed his eyes. “What you want, you say … what is this, that you want?”

“Him.” Daine pointed at the man next to Holuar. “Gerrion.”