Keith Baker - The Gates of Night

Lakashtai smiled. “Oh, Daine. Yes, your twin souls are more powerful than I expected. A clever gambit. But now you’ve delivered yourself into my hands. You may have the strength of two souls, but I am one of the chosen of the Dreaming Dark itself, and this is my place of power. You should have left well enough alone and enjoyed the little time left for your world.”

“You’re clever,” Jode said. “But for all your false bravery, we’re still here. I don’t think you can stop us. Give us the crystal moon, and let’s be done with this.”

Lakashtai laughed, a terrible sound. “You don’t think I can stop you? You have no idea, halfling. The Dark has rewarded me for my faithful service, and my power is beyond your imagining. You are alive only because it amuses me … and I think I’ve had enough of you.” She looked at Daine and smiled. “Daine, why don’t you kill your friend for me?”

“Why would I-”

“Because if you do, I’ll let Lei go, and I’ll let the both of you wake up and have your last few days together. If not, she dies while you watch. Then I’ll kill your friend. And if you’re lucky, afterward I’ll let you die.” She held out her hand, and the darkness rose up to twine around her fingers. “You have to the count of five.”

“No,” Daine said. “There’s no need. You’ve won.”

Images passed through his mind. The vast army outside. Creatures of nightmare, tearing through High Walls and Sharn. And Lei. Lying on a bed in Thelanis, all but dead. The tear in his heart when he thought that he’d lost her.

“Daine-” Jode said.

“I’m sorry.” Daine forced all emotion from his mind. He raised sword and dagger, calling on all the speed and strength of the dragonfire that still burned within.

He struck Lakashtai.

For once, Daine caught Lakashtai unprepared. The point of his grandfather’s sword disappeared in her throat, while his dagger flashed toward a brilliant green eye. It was swift and brutal, and Daine took no pride in his work. But he could not risk letting her live another moment.

Yet she did. She dropped to one knee, blood spilling down across her pure white skin. But she did not fall. She opened her ruined eye, and now it was a pool of utter darkness.

In that moment, Pierce lunged at Lei, his flail a streak of light in the shadows. Daine heard a sickening crunch as the ball slammed into Lei’s chest, and blood flowed from her mouth as she staggered backward.

“No!” Daine cried. He forced Lakashtai to the ground, striking again and again. Rage overwhelmed all senses. When his vision cleared, his hands were covered with blood, and the life had fled Lakashtai’s body. He turned, afraid of what he might see.

Lei must have struck back at Pierce; both were stretched out on the ground. Lei’s green jerkin was torn and burnt, and blood flowed from her chest. Half of Pierce’s muscle cords had snapped, and his armor plates were pitted, some hanging from his body. Jode knelt next to Lei, and the dragonmark on his head burned with blue light.

Daine was there in an instant, kneeling between the two. “How bad?”

“I … am … functional …” Pierce said, his voice barely a whisper. He raised his head, though he seemed to have difficulty holding it straight. “Lei?”

“I’m doing the best that I can,” Jode muttered.

A moment later Lei choked and coughed, blood bubbling along her lips.

“Jode,” she said faintly, and Daine’s heart soared.

“Yes, Lady Lei,” Jode said. “You’re not rid of us yet.”

Oh, but I will be .

The new voice echoed around them, and Daine couldn’t say if it was sound at all, or all in his mind. There was nothing human in that voice. It was cold fear, the force a child sees in the darkness, a horror all the worse for not being seen.

You think killing one body means anything to me? You have no conception of what we are. I am your nightmares, Daine. I am every fear you’ve ever had, and horrors you’ve never imagined .

“Shield them, Daine,” Jode said, clasping Daine’s wrist. “We know we can do it. Don’t let her take them again.”

Once again, Daine felt warmth flowing from Jode and into him. He could feel the emotions of his friend, his love and his courage. He thought of Lei and Pierce, and he reached out with his feelings, covering them with light. And he turned around.

There was a shadow above Lakashtai’s corpse, a mass of pure darkness. Daine could see shapes hidden within-

Lakashtai risen again.

His father with a sword in his hand.

Children slaughtered in the streets of High Walls.

Terror and despair rose within him, and he felt a mad desire to cut his own throat. But Jode was at his side, and Lei and Pierce needed him. He threw his will against the frightful storm, and it abated.

Most impressive. I had so hoped to watch you kill yourselves. But you cannot fight me .

Tendrils spread out from the cloud, serpentine tentacles of solid shadow. Some bore the heads of vicious beasts, while others were tipped with razor-edged blades. They crawled toward Daine and Jode, moving slowly but inexorably, and Daine knew no blade could touch that darkness.

But fire could.

Daine’s arm rose up of its own accord, his sword dropping from suddenly nerveless fingers. Energy surged within him-the dragonfire, the gift of the draconic eidolon. The darkness collapsed in on itself, bound in a web of prismatic light. And the shadow howled.

“What are you doing?” Jode whispered.

Daine had no idea. He felt the power growing within him, but it was none of his doing.

You cannot harm me! The voice roared around them. I am a part of this realm, a part of the darkness itself! I cannot die!

Daine felt a terrible pain, as if acid were being poured across his back. He could feel the dragonmark searing his flesh, and a deep red glow filled the chamber-light from the mark, piercing his armor to fill the room. The agony built with each passing second. And then it exploded. A beam of energy burst out of his chest, a mass of twisted lines. It was as if the dragonmark itself reached out. This bolt smashed into the cloud of darkness, enveloped it, consumed it-and was gone, snapping back into Daine with another wave of pain. All that was left of Lakashtai’s spirit was a ball of glowing light-a crystal orb. The sphere fell to the ground and rolled across the floor.

“Moon,” Lei said. She rose on one knee, and Jode helped her rise, moving toward the sphere.

“What have … you done … Captain?” Pierce pushed himself to his feet. “Shira … says the spirit … is destroyed. Impossible.”

“I don’t know,” Daine said. Every nerve cried out in pain, and his back still burned. Far from fading, the dragonfire presence felt even stronger than before.

“Captain,” Pierce said. “Lei and I … only moments … Shira dies.” He staggered toward Lei.

The tower shook.

“What now?” Daine said.

Pierce knelt by Lei, who clutched the crystal sphere.

“Your work … not unnoticed,” he said. “The Dreaming Dark … rises.”

“I need time,” Lei said. The sphere pulsed in her hands, and her face was tight with concentration.

Jode took Daine’s hand again. “Just a few more moments, my friend. Let’s hold this place together.”

The walls shook. Every mouth opened, and a single inhuman howl of rage filled the room. The walls began to distend, twisting outward.

“Imagine,” Jode said.

And Daine did. As the tower collapsed around them, he imagined a secure place of shelter. A home. A welcoming fire. The voices of children, coming from below. The walls of flesh and ivory fell away, and only the floor remained. They were caught in the eye of a storm, and all around was howling darkness, a maelstrom of horror.