The Shattered Land

CHAPTER 51

Green eyes burned beneath the hood of a dark cloak, and a long braid of silver-white hair caught the light. Shadows were swirling about Tashana, and for a moment Daine thought he saw faces howling in the darkness.

“You have been most helpful,” she said. “I would never have found this place on my own. You shielded your mind well; I thought I had lost you until you reappeared only moments ago, but this chase ends here, in this chamber of broken dreams.”

“Just how does it end?” Daine said, walking slowly toward her. He motioned to Pierce-keep your distance, engage at range.

“This is no battle for humans,” Tashana hissed, dismissing Daine with a gesture.

He felt her mental grip tighten on his mind, but this time, he didn’t give in. He tightened his grip on his grandfather’s sword, and for the merest moment he felt the old man at his shoulder.

“Perhaps you underestimate humans,” he said, setting himself on guard. Behind him, he could hear Lakashtai talking to Lei, guiding her work. “One chance, and one alone. Leave. Now.”

The shadows were winding around Tashana, forming the ghastly silhouette he’d seen before. “Fool!” she roared, her voice distorted by the darkness. “Do you have any idea what you are doing?”

“Stopping you. Pierce!”

Pierce’s bow sang, and two arrows flashed toward Tashana’s chest, but this time she had prepared for such an attack-or else her powers had grown since they’d seen her on the docks of Sharn. The cloak of shadows was far more solid than it appeared, and the arrows shattered against this shield.

Daine wasn’t surprised; it was Pierce who had driven this creature off the last time they’d fought, and it seemed unlikely that she’d attack so brazenly without having a defense. If they were to win this battle, he needed to know the rules of engagement. He leapt at the dark figure, feinting with his long blade. As she swatted at his sword with talons of shadow, he switched his footing, ducking under and striking with his dagger.

The adamantine blade could carve through steel and stone, and Daine had never found the substance that could match it-until now. His thrust was perfect, but the blade was thrown back, and his wrist ached from the impact.

Pain. Tashana’s claws raked along his left arm before he had time to retreat, and the shadows carved through steel and muscle with equal ease. Whispers of fear and doubt crawled into the back of his mind-how could he hope to succeed? Why fight, when it was so much easier to just surrender, to let fate take its course?

No. Daine’s grandfather was still behind him, and now he felt Jode’s presence with him as well. He could hear his friend’s laughter, and his zest for life, and it banished the cold fingers of fright. When Tashana came in to strike again, Daine ducked to the side and slashed with his longsword. The shadow parted like smoke, and Daine felt the faintest touch to the flesh within.

Tashana roared out a phrase in an alien tongue, and Daine didn’t need to know the language to recognize a curse. Green eyes flashed in the depth of the shadow, and once again he felt her thoughts clutching at his mind, but he was not alone. Now Lei joined the others-her voice, her scent, the sound of her laughter. Tashana’s earlier words echoed in the darkness-Perhaps, when you’re mine, I’ll make you kill her myself.

“You should have stayed in my dreams,” he hissed, putting all his strength into a thrust with his sword. The blade pierced the shadows, and he felt it penetrate flesh.

Tashana howled in pain, and a dozen faces howled along with her, vague amorphous shapes lurking in her ghastly shroud. “ENOUGH!” The air rippled around her, and a wave of raw force threw Daine off his feet, sending him flying ten feet through the air before crashing into the ground. “These schemes end NOW!”

Lakashtai was still standing next to Lei on the shimmering altar. The two of them had assembled the pieces of the shattered object. It was another sphere, two feet in diameter, this one formed of dark crystal. Lei was holding it in her hands, a look of intense concentration on her face, while Lakashtai whispered in her ear. A glowing web surrounded the orb, pulsing like a heartbeat, and Daine could only guess that it was repairing the shattered seams. Before Daine could rise to his feet, Tashana flew forward, a streak of deadly shadow.

And ran into Pierce.

The warforged rammed into the shadowy figure, throwing her back. As she recovered her footing, Pierce landed a stunning blow with his flail-and the spiked chain bounced back from the shadow, as if striking a wall of steel.

“Keep her down!” Daine called, charging across the room. He could feel magical energy building around them, as it had when the planar gate had been activated.

Pierce lashed out once more. The flail couldn’t penetrate Tashana’s shadowy defenses but he still managed to wrap the chain around her feet and pull her tumbling to the ground. She roared again, and it was Pierce who flew back through the air.

Now Daine was upon her, and a dozen more voices had added their strength to his: Jholeg, the goblin scout he’d last seen at Keldan Ridge; Greykell, the soul of High Walls; Krazhal, the surly dwarf sapper; Pierce, with his calm strength; even Alina Lyrris, and Grazen, his old comrade in arms. Daine slashed with his blade, one blow after another.

“Leave us ALONE!” he cried. “Stay out of my life. Stay out of my dreams! Go back to your wretched gloom and STAY THERE!”

Then it was gone.

The voices that had carried him forward fell silent. The shadow beneath him dispersed like smoke, and there was only a young woman with pale skin and long white hair, her dark clothing streaked with blood. Daine’s blade was raised for a final stroke when her eyes caught his and he froze. It wasn’t the power that was in them … but the pain. Her mouth worked as she struggled with a final word. “I …”

Kill her!

“I …”

Kill her! But the rage was fading. A moment ago she had been a monster. Now she was just a dying woman. He knelt down next to her.

“I … cannot … dream.”

The last embers of light faded from her eyes.

For a moment Daine just stared at her. He could feel the charge of mystical energy building in the air, and he knew he should feel satisfaction, but standing over the ruined corpse, the victory felt hollow. I cannot dream … what did she mean? Why deny what she’d done?

“It’s over,” he said.

“Oh no,” Lakashtai said. “It’s just begun.”

She laughed, and he realized it was the first time he’d ever heard that sound … sharp and deadly, like chimes of glass.

Daine stood and turned around. Lakashtai was standing on the altar, and the orb was in her hands. Lei was slumped next to her, though Daine could see no sign of harm, and Pierce lay frozen against the edge of the dais.

“What is this?” Daine said. He glanced back at Tashana. Had she somehow fled her body and possessed Lakashtai?

Oh, no. It was Lakashtai’s thought in his mind, but as sharp and cold as a blade of ice. “Tashana has played her last trick, thanks to you, and in truth, treachery was never her strength.” She laughed again.

A terrible chill gripped Daine’s heart. I cannot dream. Yet it was in dreams that Tashana had threatened him, dreams or as a telepathic voice. The two times they’d actually met in the flesh, Tashana hadn’t even said his name. She’d dismissed him out of hand. She was only interested in …

“Lakashtai!” Daine charged toward the altar. He didn’t know what was going on, and at the moment, he didn’t care, but Lakashtai was standing next to Lei-and Lei wasn’t moving.

Lakashtai’s eyes glowed like twin stars, and Daine felt as if he had slammed into a wall. The force pinning his thoughts was a hundred times more powerful than that of the woman he’d just killed. He was as helpless as if he’d been caught in a block of ice.

Lakashtai stepped down from the block and walked toward him. “Daine, Daine, with your valuable dreams and hidden secrets.” She stood next to him, and she reached out and ran two fingers along his cheek. “This was never about you. You are a piece on a board so vast you cannot see the squares.”

Take whatever you want from me! Daine couldn’t speak, but he could still think. Just leave them alone!

“We don’t want anything from you, little Daine,” Lakashtai said. She glanced back at Lei. “Sometimes the best way to achieve your goals is to threaten another piece, but I’m sure you can understand that. After all, ‘Perhaps, when you’re mine, I’ll make you kill her myself.’”

Suddenly he remembered the terrible presence he’d glimpsed in his mind when Lakashtai had helped him so long ago in Sharn, and the crystal … the sliver of crystal he’d kept close at hand, which she’d said formed a bond between them. He’d let her in.

“Yes.” She paused for a moment, as if listening to some distant sound. “If only there was more time, but who can say …” She ran her fingers along his cheek again. Perhaps I’ll see you in your dreams.

He heard her laughter in his mind, and she slowly faded away, with the crystal orb clutched in her hands. The aura of magical energy faded with her, as did the power pinning his thoughts; he almost tumbled forward as the paralysis faded. He tore the emerald shard from his pouch and dashed it against the ground, and as it shattered he felt a pressure fade from his mind, a touch so faint he hadn’t noticed it was there.

Across the chamber, Pierce rose to his feet. “Daine … Lei!”

She was still spread across the dais. With desperate strength Daine forced himself up onto the table, with Pierce right behind. Lei’s skin was cool to the touch, but she was still breathing.

“LEI!” he called, shaking her.

She moaned. Daine clung to her, refusing to let go.

“It is the orb,” Pierce said. “Restoring it-the process has drawn on her own life energy. She is weak, but she will survive.”

A dull vibration shook the room … a slow, rhythmic rumble.

Daine frowned. “Is that …”

“The gate,” Lei whispered.

“Lakashtai!” he cried.

For a moment, he was torn, struggling between fury and the fear of leaving Lei. Pierce was looking straight at him, and somehow Daine knew that the warforged felt the same way.

“Go,” Lei said. “Stop her.”

Daine lowered her gently, and he and Pierce leapt to the ground. Pierce snatched his flail off the ground, and they were halfway to the archway when they saw the figure waiting for them.

Daine, Harmattan said. It’s been a long time.