Keith Baker - The Gates of Night

Or so it seemed. Harmattan hissed in anger, and Daine withdrew his blades to parry the blow. From where she stood, Lei could see the injury immediately begin to heal. The root-muscles beneath the armor bound back together. I was created to survive , he had said. And in her mind she saw her father holding the warforged head. This is how you defeat death .

In that moment she knew that Harmattan would never fall to sword or flail. There was only one hope. She forced her way into the melee, ignoring Daine’s cry of pain as Harmattan struck him. She ducked past Pierce, reaching out for Harmattan-but she wasn’t fast enough. His shield slammed into her, knocking her back and almost to the ground.

Her companions weren’t fools, and both realized what she was trying to do. They redoubled their efforts, now not even trying to bring down the warforged warrior, but merely to distract him. Harmattan could repair the damage from Pierce’s attacks, but even if it caused no permanent damage, a flail-blow to the face was difficult to ignore. Daine bound Harmattan’s blade with his own, preventing the warforged from striking at Lei. All they were doing was buying time, but time was all that she needed. Slipping behind him, she laid her hand on Harmattan’s back and let all her rage and fury fall into him. The indignities she’d suffered in Xen’drik, the death of her father, the mysteries that might never be answered. Her fury was a white-hot knife, and she cut at the core of Harmattan’s being.

He exploded. Pieces scattered across the room, chunks of root and shards of metal. Lei knew that the Harmattan she’d met in Xen’drik could have reassembled himself even from this state, and she held her breath. But nothing happened. The shards fell to the floor and were still. Lei let out her breath.

“There’s no more time.” Aleisa was kneeling beside Talin, and her robe was soaked with his blood. “I’ve set the circle to take you where you need to go. Leave. Quickly.”

“Mother …” Lei said. She knelt next to her, reaching out to touch her. “I can’t just leave you. You don’t know what’s coming. You don’t-”

“I do, my child, more than you know. Talin didn’t want it to happen like this, but he knew it was inevitable. All that is flesh must die, after all.” She smiled, a weary smile, and kissed her daughter on the cheek. “My work here is done, Lei. As long as you are alive, we will be with you.” She stood, holding Lei’s hand, and brought her to the circle. When she spoke again, there was something different in her voice, and even her face. It seemed as though she were younger, more like Lei with each passing moment. “Remember, Lei. It wants to be destroyed . That is its purpose. Look within, and follow the path.”

“Mother?” Lei asked, confused.

Aleisa turned to Daine. “At this moment, you have more power than you know, and it is that power that will take you where you need to be. In this place, you have been bound by your own memories. Where you are going, you will need to use your gift, and to its fullest measure.”

“One moment, my lady,” Jode said. “Do you mean that you’re-”

“There is no more time!” Aleisa said. As she spoke, there was a change in the air, a sickly chill that seemed to twist at Lei’s flesh and her thoughts. “Go!” Aleisa pushed , shoving them back into the silver circle. Even as she did, the room behind her began to fill with dead-gray mist.

“MOTHER!” Lei cried.

And they were gone.

This isn’t the Dorn Plateau,” Daine said.

You have teleported , Shira reported. You remain within Dal Quor. Your current position … is impossible .

Pierce felt pure astonishment radiating from Shira, an uncharacteristic burst of emotion. Why? Their surroundings seemed mundane enough. They were on a plateau, a butte raised high above canyon lands. A lone moon hung above them, full but strangely faint.

You have entered the heart of Dal Quor. No simple spell could allow such motion .

“Clearly history has been altered,” Jode said. “I think that much of what we saw actually happened at Keldan Ridge. That would explain Lei’s father not recognizing her at first, and why you had as much trouble as you did with the second warforged.”

“Fourth,” Pierce said.

“As you wish,” Jode said. “At the end, the woman was clearly addressing us now . She wasn’t talking about our history. She must have sent us here … ‘where we need to go.’”

“And she said she was using Daine’s own strength to do it,” Pierce observed.

Most likely a reference to the energy of the draconic eidolon , Shira observed. I underestimated this power. I believe an exponential effect is at work .

“So why didn’t we remember any of it?” Daine said.

“You saw the mist filling the room at the end,” Jode replied. “We’ve seen that mist before, marking the barrier of the Mourning. Perhaps, when it really happened, we were trapped just a little longer, and our amnesia was a result of a brief exposure to the energies of the Mourning.”

“Or perhaps Lei’s parents made us forget,” Daine said. “We still don’t know what they were doing there! They-”

Daine paused, and a slight flush reddened his cheeks. Pierce was puzzled. Then he realized that Lei had just watched her parents die, and dream or not, that was surely a difficult experience. Normally she would be in the midst of any discussion on arcane and planar theory, and her silence spoke volumes. In fact, she had wandered away from the others and was walking toward the edge of the plateau.

Pierce and Daine exchanged glances. “Captain,” Pierce said, “while I recognize the strength of your feelings, at this moment I believe my presence will offer greater comfort.”

Daine sighed. “Go.”

Pierce quickly caught up with Lei. She stared out over the barren land far below, all but hidden in the gloom of night. He extended his hand. He wasn’t certain if this was the appropriate gesture, but she reached out and clasped it tightly. He said nothing, letting her choose the time to speak.

“I can’t think about this right now,” she said. Her voice was thick, her cheeks streaked with tears. “This … not now. Not with everything else that’s at stake.”

“I understand,” Pierce said. And for once, he did. He felt emotions warring within him, feelings he didn’t even know he had. Recognition of Harmattan had been shock enough. Yet there was something else, a stranger feeling. Talin and Aleisa were his parents, too. He’d never known his creators, and he’d never thought such knowledge mattered. But now his mind was full of questions. What expectations did his parents have for him? How had he measured up? What plans had they had for him?

And what did Harmattan mean- This is the will of our true creator?

While loss and confusion welled within, there was one bright ember. Lei. His sister. They would face the future together, and if these mysteries could be unraveled, they would find a way.

Lei’s grip tightened. “Sovereign Host!” she said, her eyes widening. “Look at the plains!”

Pierce pushed aside his troubled thoughts and looked down at the desert. At first he saw nothing of note. They were high above the plains, and the moon was dim, then he realized …

The plains were moving.

There were no campfires below, no lights of any sort, and it took time for Pierce’s eyes to adjust to distance and limited visibility. An army spread across the desert below, stretching out as far as the eye could see. Pierce had seen many armies during the Last War, but this was a force drawn from nightmares. Platoons of insect horrors arrayed alongside masses of serpentine tentacles and figures formed of pure shadow. Shapes of strange siege engines rose up into the night, cannons formed of crystal and curved bone. Despite the constant motion, an eerie silence lay across the desert. No light, no sound, just nightmares girding for war.