Keith Baker - The Gates of Night

Daine considered this. “And you’re not planning to … eat us, tear us apart, marry us, or anything like that?”

“I am only a messenger, sent to offer guidance and advice.”

“Sent by who, exactly?” Lei said. Far from being grateful, she sounded suspicious. She still held her staff at the ready, as if she could fight the great scorpion with her little piece of wood.

“I heard your call earlier, child of Cannith. Have you forgotten the message you were given? Your answers lie in the twilight.”

“Beyond the Gates of Night,” Lei said. “And what does that mean, exactly?”

“You have already learned what you need to know. You stand beneath the Hunter’s Moon. The Gates of Night lie beneath the Deepwood Moon, in the domain of the Woodsman. You hold the key to the gates in your hand. Open the gates, and pass into Dusk and the domain of the one I serve.”

“And the danger?” Daine said.

“These are the realms of the Nine Brothers of Night. The Woodsman is the mightiest among them, and he has been waiting long for the return of the Lady Darkheart. He guards the Gates of Night, and he will kill you if he can.”

“Look,” Daine said. “Gates, woodsmen … I don’t pretend to understand any of this. I don’t care about the mystery. All I want is to get home.”

“Your answers lie in Dusk, traveler, as do passages to your world. Open the Gates of Night, and you will find the path to your future.”

“And what is my fate?” Xu’sasar said, finding her voice at last.

“For now, you must protect this one,” the scorpion replied, indicating Daine with the slightest twist of its mighty stinger. “Set aside your questions and place your trust in our guidance. Your kindred watch you with pride and await the night when you will fight alongside them once more. But you have yet to earn your way. For now your path leads back to the world of the living. Honor your ancestors, heed the spirits, and let no harm befall this man.”

The words burned in her ears. Protect this outlander? She had spent decades hunting his kind! But it was not her place to question the commands of the spirits or the wishes of the fallen. She bowed her head.

“Do I get any sort of say in this?” Daine said.

“No.” The voice of the scorpion grew cold, and the slightest shift of its stance served as a subtle reminder of its power. “You will need her aid if you are to survive the dangers that await you. Now you must make your way to the realm of the Woodsman.”

“And where’s that? We haven’t seen a lot of woods lately.”

“Xu’sasar is correct. You will have to pay for your passage in blood. Seek Colchyn, the Great Boar of the Hunter’s Moon. Lady Darkheart will guide you. Defeat Colchyn, and the path will be clear.”

Lei considered this. “If you want us to do this, how come you don’t beat this boar for us?”

“We must earn passage,” Xu’sasar said. “Another cannot earn it for us.”

“It is as she says,” the scorpion replied. “I can only advise. Were I to fight your battles, you could never leave.”

Lei nodded but still looked unconvinced. Xu’sasar blew out her breath. Humans!

“Your trial awaits,” The scorpion said. “Heed the voice of Lady Darkheart, child of Cannith. Beware and be wary. Many a hero has fallen to Colchyn’s tusks, and you will find him a formidable foe.”

With that, he was gone. There was no sound, no burst of light. One moment the scorpion towered over them, and the next they were alone. Even the grass was undisturbed.

Daine broke the silence. “Lei?”

The woman ran a hand along the shaft of her dark staff, which murmured slightly. “I can feel the direction she wants us to go. Beyond that, your guess is as good as mine. At least we’re not dead.”

Xu’sasar blew out her breath. To be so close and have eternity stripped away-this was nothing to celebrate. Still, she had been entrusted with a task by one of the mighty spirits. This was the stuff of tales-were there any other Jalaq left to tell them.

She watched the human she had been ordered to protect, and wondered what interest the spirits could have in such a man.

Chaos. That’s what troubled Daine.

“We’re following a haunted stick, which is going to help us to hunt a boar,” Daine said, “because a scorpion says that’s the only way we can get through the night. And why do we think this makes sense?”

“It’s not about sense,” Lei replied. “This is Thelanis. This is the source of faerie tales and superstitions. Remember the story of the Tower of Thorns, where Kellan kills the ogre and its ribcage becomes a ladder? That’s what we’re dealing with. This is a world of magic, not logic.”

“So you’re saying that we should believe it because it doesn’t make sense?”

“No. I’m saying that it doesn’t matter.” Lei raised her staff. “The spirit in the wood wants to lead us somewhere . We can choose to follow. We can look for a boar. Or we can wander aimlessly around this wasteland waiting for more stars to fall from the sky and kill us.”

Daine glanced at Pierce, who had remained silent throughout the exchange with the scorpion. “Pierce, anything to add? Any insight from your mysterious friend?”

“No,” Pierce said. “My companion is disturbed by this realm. It is sensitive to the flow of mystical energies, and the ambient level of magic in this place is causing it pain. I agree with Lei. We have nothing to lose from hunting this beast, and I would rather pursue a goal than act without guidance.”

“Why do you question this?” Xu’sasar said. The drow girl was just behind Daine, having slipped closer while he talked to the others. “We have a goal now, a path to follow.”

“I don’t like other people choosing my path,” Daine said. “Still, we don’t have much of a choice. But let’s not go into this blind. Lei, I want you to charge Pierce’s bow. Make it more effective against animals. I want this to be as quick as we can make it.”

“Be without fear,” Xu’sasar said, even as Lei took Pierce’s bow and began whispering over it. “Mine is the speed of the shifting panther, and I strike with the skill of the scorpion. This beast shall not escape us.”

“I’m not worried about it escaping,” Daine said. “Let me explain something to you. If you’re going to stay with us, you need to do what I say. When I come up with a plan, you follow it. If you can’t do that, go looking for your own boar. I don’t care how fast you are. We work as a unit, or not at all.”

Daine expected a hostile response. Instead Xu’sasar glanced down at the ground. “I meant no harm with my actions. I am the last of my tribe. Now my place is with you, and I will do as you say.”

Her voice was low, her words slower than usual. For a moment, the mask of the deadly warrior seemed to fall. Since the fight in the planar sphere, Xu’sasar had been arrogant, overconfident, grating. But … last of my tribe . Daine had expected her to be grateful to be saved, but he’d never considered what she’d lost. He didn’t know her relationship to Shen’kar or the other drow that had died at Karul’tash. But she was alone, just as far from home as the rest of them were, without even the comfort of familiar faces. It was impossible to tell her age-had she been human he might have guessed eighteen or twenty years, but an elf could reach a century with few signs to show for it. Still, in this moment she seemed like a child, embarrassed, lonely, and confused. She wanted to help, to impress him with her skills, and he’d snarled at her.

“I know you’re skilled. I’m sure we’ll need your help if we’re going to get through this. I just need you to follow my orders. I need to know what my people are going to do. Strike out on your own and you place us all in jeopardy. Understood?”