Keith Baker - The Shattered Land

She opened her eyes. Mere seconds had passed. Daine was frozen in place, paralyzed by another spell. Sakhesh was walking forward, preparing to wrap Daine in his burning embrace. He hadn’t even spared a glance for Lei.

That was a mistake.

Lei spun in place as she rose from the ground, and her darkwood staff was a black blur as it smashed into the priest’s head. There was a burst of flame, but it dissipated harmlessly around her; even her staff was protected by the magical aura of her armor. Sakhesh cried out in pain and stumbled away from her, one hand rising up to shield his head.

Lei threw herself forward, striking again and again. The priest had his own magical shield that helped turn the brunt of physical blows, but he simply wasn’t prepared for the sheer ferocity of Lei’s attack. Neither was she. She felt as if she was being swept away by her own anger; she was guided more by instinct than conscious thought. Jode’s death, Daine’s affliction, Lakashtai’s cool condescension, and now Pierce’s injuries and these battles in a strange land-it had been building up inside her ever since they’d arrived in Sharn almost a year ago. Now she had an outlet for all that rage and frustration, some arrogant man who wanted to kill Daine and didn’t even understand how to show proper respect for the Sovereigns.

Sakhesh was no fool. He was no match for her physically, and he knew it. He fell back, circled the room, and tried to put obstacles between them. He clenched his fist, and Lei felt his hand trying to grasp her mind and freeze her in place, but his magic paled before her fury, and the spell shattered against the wall of her will. Gouts of flame were dispersed by the magic of her armor, and every moment that passed she landed another blow.

Finally, Sakhesh fell to the ground. His flaming aura had guttered and died. His face was a mass of bruises, and Lei was certain she had felt a rib crack on her last blow. Now a new feeling rose within her … a strange sense of shame. Was this really who she was, a thief, who would break into a man’s home and beat him? The point of her staff was lowered, ready to strike-but she paused, her anger finally fading.

Sakhesh glared at her, forcing himself up with one hand. Blood dripped from his mouth, and she could feel the raw hate in his gaze.

“Fool! ” he spat. “You cannot fight me.”

“I think I just did.” She wondered if she should strike him again, silence him, but now that her fury had faded the idea of beating a fallen foe seemed repellent.

“You have won nothing! ” A shattered tooth fell from his mouth as he gasped out the words. “You … you will lay down your weapon and return what is mine. Now!”

“And if I don’t?”

“With one word … one! I can turn my fires on your warforged, burning him from within. You cannot stop me in time.”

He was right. He’d fallen back when he’d dropped to the ground, and now she was too far away. He could cast one last spell before she could close, and Pierce was horribly damaged. Surely this … it couldn’t be worth it.

“Very well,” she said.

“Now drop your-”

He never finished the sentence. Even as he shouted his final demand, the point of a black dagger spouted from his throat.

“Trouble speaking?” Daine said.

He planted his boot on the priest’s back, grasping the hilt of his dagger as he pushed down with his foot. The blade was slick with blood as it emerged, and Sakhesh sank to the floor without another word.

Lei stared at Daine. In the battle with Sakhesh, both she and the priest had forgotten about him, and he’d finally broken free of the magical paralysis. Daine looked down at the corpse beneath his boot and the spreading pool of blood, and she wasn’t sure if his expression was one of sorrow or cold resolution.

“I guess I’m an assassin after all,” he said. He knelt next to Sakhesh and wiped his bloody blade on the priest’s robes. “Get Pierce on his feet and that scale in your pack. We need to go. Now.”

Daine took the lead as they charged up the stairs. Pierce was still wounded, and they couldn’t afford to take the time to fully repair his injuries. Lakashtai might be dying. Sakhesh could have called for help. There was no time to lose.

Daine leapt over the top of the stairs, sprinting into the nave. His sword was out, adrenaline surging as he looked for the next foe.

Lakashtai was in the center of the chamber. She was kneeling over three bodies in the robes of temple acolytes, and as Daine drew closer he saw that she was binding their wrists and feet with silk cord. She looked up as he approached.

“I expected you sooner,” she said. Her clothing was singed, and there were burns across her left arm, but her voice was low and calm. “I apologize about the loss of thought-speech, but he took me by surprise. I imagine that your actions triggered some sort of warning. I chose to feign defeat; I couldn’t match them alone in my current condition, but these three posed little challenge.”

Daine looked at Lei. Neither had anything to say. Pierce stood silently behind them.

“Come now, move quickly!” Lakashtai said, standing up and striding toward the door. “This was only the beginning. The true danger is still to come.”

That went about as well as could be expected,” Gerrion said cheerfully. “I am sorry about your warforged.”

“He’s not my warforged,” Daine said, stepping out of the way of a cart pulled by a lizard the size of a horse.

“No? My apologies. I’ve never been to your land, and we’ve seen only a few of these creatures here in Stormreach; most of them are servants at the Cannith enclave. If it doesn’t belong to you, why is it here?”

Good question , Daine thought. “It was his choice. He’s a person, Gerrion, not some lump of metal.”

The gray man gave an easy shrug. “I suppose, but he was built from a lump of metal, wasn’t he?”

“What were you built from?” Lakashtai said coolly. “What brought sun and shadow together in you?”

For a moment Gerrion’s smile faltered-he recovered quickly, but not quickly enough. “I couldn’t say. With all the sailors and merchants passing through this town, a foundling in Stormreach is like a pebble on the beach.”

“Pierce was built by design, while you were built by accident,” Lakashtai said. “The soul is what matters, not the origin of the vessel.”

“What makes you think he’s got a soul?”

“What makes you think you do?”

That thought kept Gerrion silent for a full two hundred feet.

Gerrion had been waiting for them when they emerged from the temple. Lakashtai wanted to meet Hassalac immediately. With Sakhesh dead, she felt it was more important than ever that they conclude their business and leave Stormreach as quickly as possible. Gerrion assured them that there would be no battles in Hassalac’s domain or that if there were, that two more people wouldn’t make a difference. They paused long enough for Lei to produce the dragon scale shield, and for Lakashtai to study it and confirm that it was indeed the object that they sought. Then Lei and Pierce had returned to the Ship’s Cat, where Lei could take the time she needed to repair Pierce, and so it was Daine, Lakashtai, and Gerrion who finally arrived at Hassalac’s door.

“That’s quite a … door.” Daine said. Black marble pillars stood to either side of the portal, and ruby-eyed dragons forged from gold peered down from the tops of the pillars. With the number of tomb raiders and treasure-seekers that came to this place, the fact that these statues were still intact hinted at some sort of magical defense. A massive door of dark densewood hung between the two pillars. Mystical symbols were engraved along the edge of the frame and inlaid with silver. There was no sign of handle or hinges, just a dragon’s head of silver bearing a heavy knocking ring in its jaws. “But somehow I expected a mansion to go with it.”