Keith Baker - The Shattered Land

“I’m quite satisfied-”

“I didn’t ask,” the halfling said sharply, turning the point of his halberd toward Lei.

The larger man sniggered loudly.

The instant the halberd turned on Lei, Pierce was considering courses of action, weighing the odds and merits of a direct strike versus an attempt to trip or disarm the little man, yet these were guardsmen. He and Lei had been involved in a robbery. To fight the watch as well …

“I think the safest course of action would be for you to give us your gold and goods, lady,” the halfling continued. “That should keep you from making any unwise purchases in the future.”

Lei and Pierce exchanged glances. Lei didn’t have much money on her, but her enchanted pack was extremely valuable, and her staff was irreplaceable.

“Stormreach guard, yes?” the halfling snapped, seeing their hesitation. “When the guard asks, you give.”

Pierce could see that Lei wasn’t going to surrender to these two. He had grown accustomed to her temper, and if she was going to fight, he would stand by her side. He loosened the chain of his flail, ready to strike-

And the guards fell down.

It took a moment for the event to fully register in Pierce’s mind. A lithe figure stood over the fallen guards, wrapped in tattered burlap and a stained gray cloak. Her face was hidden beneath a deep hood and motheaten scarf. He hadn’t seen her approach; she must have stepped up behind the big man. A single kick for the halfling, a swift jab in a tender spot for the bulky man … both were stretched out across the muddy cobblestones, dead to the world.

Lei simply stared at the newcomer. The point of her staff was lowered, and she studied the stranger with a watchful eye.

“They will live.”

Pierce only recognized the voice, because it had been on his mind so much of late. It was softer, more … human. If he hadn’t been contemplating their earlier conversations in his mind, he would never have thought this woman was warforged.

“What do you want with us?” Lei said.

“I suppose gratitude would be too much to ask. I simply wanted to keep your companion from fighting in his current condition.”

“So you attacked the guards,” Lei said.

“As you were about to,” the stranger stated calmly. “Do not worry about retaliation. The guards of this town are little better than bandits, and they’ll find easier prey.”

Studying the people around them, Pierce thought it was more likely that the guards would be robbed. The faces of the onlookers were cold and hard, and a scruffy boy with wild black hair spit on the halfling and laughed.

“Nonetheless,” the stranger continued, “I imagine we should go our separate ways.” She inclined her head to Pierce. “A shame to see you like this, brother, but I suppose it is the price of your service. A strong wall indeed-and yet the first to be sacrificed, it would seem.”

“Brother?” Lei said. But the woman had already gone, swallowed up by the crowd. Lei glanced at Pierce. “Can you explain that to me?”

“No,” Pierce replied, but the words remained in his mind, echoing the conversation on the docks the night before. Was she right? Was he just a tool, a shield? Was she following them? Why did he find himself wanting to see her in battle again-to test her limits against his own?

“Then let’s get out of here,” Lei said, with an uncomfortable glance at the growing mob. “I want to get you properly repaired before the next disaster strikes.”

Pierce nodded, and they made their way through the crowd. Pierce could hear the people close ranks around the fallen guardsmen.

He didn’t look back.

The reptilian guard led them through a labyrinth of twisting passages. Though the caverns appeared to be natural, Daine noticed a few places where the stone had been smoothed down or where a tunnel appeared to have been widened. Torches were embedded directly into holes in the stone; Daine could feel the heat of the flames, but as the tunnels stretched deeper and deeper, he could only imagine that they were sustained by magic. The only sounds were the scrape of the beast’s talons against the stone, and the labored hiss of its breathing.

“What is it with this town and dragons?” Daine muttered to Lakashtai. “I thought Sakhesh was obsessed with his little eggshell collection, but at least he didn’t live in a cave.”

“Have you ever seen a dragon?”

“Has anyone?”

“I have not seen one with my own eyes, but I carry the memories of those who have. It is easy to understand why people like Sakhesh would consider them to be divine. A dragon-it carries a sense of majesty that I have seen in no other mortal creature.”

“Except me?”

Lei would have rolled her eyes at the comment, but Lakashtai didn’t even acknowledge it. “Long before human civilization arose in Sarlona, Xen’drik was the realm of giants. In the dawn of their civilization, these giants learned the art of magic from the dragons of Argonnessen, and with this knowledge they created wonders you cannot begin to imagine.”

“If these dragons are so great, why haven’t they taught us these magical secrets?”

Lakashtai shook her head. As always, the movement was minimal, yet somehow Daine felt her deep disappointment, as clearly as if she’d heaved an enormous sigh. “Where are the giants today? Power without wisdom can be a terrible thing. The giants unleashed terrible forces to bring an end to their war against the spirits of Dal Quor. They disrupted the very alignment of the outer planes-the fundamental order of reality itself. It brought an end to the war, certainly, but it devastated the land, and we may still be suffering the consequences of their rash action.”

“But they beat these nightmare creatures.”

“Perhaps, but that is the danger of fighting immortals. The quori still exist, even if they have been banished to the outer darkness of reality. The empires of the giants are only memories.”

Daine considered this. “I thought we were talking about dragons.”

“The giants did not fall to the horrors of Dal Quor, but it was the beginning of the end. The elves had long been slaves of the giants, and in the wake of the quori incursion, many of the slaves rose in revolt.”

“The dragons?”

Lakashtai spared a glance. “You have no patience. All things come in time, and all things fall in time. The elves slowly turned the tide against their former masters, and it became clear that the civilization of the giants would not survive. In their pride, the greatest wizards among the giants decided to unleash the same powers that had been used on Dal Quor against Eberron itself. The consequences of such actions-it is impossible to say. The world could have been torn apart, and it would have been, if not for the dragons of Argonnessen.”

“Finally. So dragons beat giants?”

“To say the least. The details are largely unknown, even to the elders of the kalashtar. The ancestors of the elves of Aerenal had fled before the disaster came. The dragons swept across the land, and all that can be said for certain is that when they left, the civilization of the giants was ash and ruin. In the present day, the giants are largely savages-or at the least, no more sophisticated than your people.”

“Thanks,” Daine said.

“Many look to that power-the strength that leveled one of the greatest civilizations in the history of Eberron-and seek to claim it for their own. Many believe that these secrets are hidden here in Xen’drik.”

“Including … “Daine paused in midspeech, distracted by another group coming down the tunnel toward them. The strangers had a reptilian guard of their own, and Daine only caught a glimpse of the silver hem of a cloak, fluttering as its wearer moved.