Keith Baker - The Shattered Land

Pierce took the lead as they made their way through the city, and most people were quick to move out of the path of the charging warforged. They drew a few stares from council watchmen and mercenary soldiers, but there was no hue and cry in their wake, and they made it to the harbor unmolested.

It’s the third pier , Lakashtai thought, but Pierce already knew where they were going. He’d seen Gerrion’s boat the night before, and even if he hadn’t been able to recognize the battered black hull in the daylight, the gray man was standing on the deck waiting for them.

“We’re sailing in that?” Daine said. “Maybe I’ll stay and take my chances with the Riedrans.”

“That is your choice,” Lakashtai said, as she made her way across the wobbly gangplank and onto the deck. “I wish you pleasant dreams.”

“Great,” Daine sighed. He followed Lei across the plank, looking for holes in the sails.

“Welcome aboard the Gray Cat,” Gerrion said with a grin, once all four of the companions were aboard. “Everything is cleared with the harbor lord, and I’ve stocked the hold. Oars couldn’t hurt until we catch the wind; Master Daine, Pierce, if you’d care to lend your strength to the cause we can be on our way.”

Perhaps the Riedrans weren’t pursuing them. Perhaps the Riedrans were stranded in Hassalac’s caves. Whatever the truth, there was no sign of their enemies as the Gray Cat moved away from the docks and out into the water. Daine gritted his teeth against the pain that flared in his shoulders with every stroke of the oars. Gerrion was manning the lines, and soon he found the wind. As Stormreach fell away behind them, Daine pulled in his oars and finally fell asleep.

When he awoke, Lei was leaning over him. She was sitting on the deck behind him holding a short wand in her hand. He felt a soothing warmth as she passed the wand over his skin and realized that his pain was all but gone.

“Lucky for both of us that I finished the wand before our trip,” she said, smiling faintly.

There was no time for thought as he sat up, wrapping his arms around her. For a moment, he thought it was all another of his mad dreams, but she was there. “You’re alive. You’re still with me.”

She gently pushed him away. “Careful. I’m not quite done with you yet-your injuries were quite severe. I’m amazed you made it to the docks.”

“What happened?”

“From talking to Lakashtai, it appears that some of the Riedrans we were fighting have the power to shift the location of matter with their thoughts alone. This was-a sort of partial teleportation. It’s an interesting-”

He put a hand over her mouth, stopping her in mid speech. It was all he could do to keep from laughing. “What happened to you?”

“Oh!” She glanced away. “Well. It seems that I was struck with the same form of attack that you were.”

“You were dead, Lei. One moment you weren’t breathing, the next you’re running ahead of me.”

“I don’t know, exactly.” Her eyes were distant, and her voice had dropped to a whisper. “I …” she held up the wand in her hand. “This is livewood. It’s a perfect vessel for healing energies. By binding power into the wand, it becomes a reservoir of healing, magical power that can be released later-”

“Lei. I know what a wand is.”

Lei nodded, the corner of her mouth twisting down. “Yes. Well. I was carrying the wand. I thought we might need it. As best as I can tell, when I was struck by the attack, the wand healed me.”

“You were unconscious. It wasn’t even in your hand.”

“I …” She shook her head. “I know. Someone needs to activate a wand to release its power, but somehow-I can’t explain it. It’s as if the wand acted on its own, as if it sensed my need.”

“Is this a breakthrough, my lady?”

Dusk was beginning to fall, and Daine hadn’t noticed Pierce in the shadows. He might have just arrived, or he could have been there for the entire conversation. My lady , Daine thought to himself-it’s been a while since I’ve heard that.

“No. I don’t think so. I don’t know. Everything I did …” She studied the wand in her hand, holding it gingerly. “There’s nothing unusual about the design. A wand can’t act on its own.”

“And you felt nothing else? I too once stood on the edge of life and death. Did you … dream?”

Lei glanced at Pierce for a moment, and Daine could see the tension building in her. She shook her head. “I can’t talk about this right now.” She looked back at Daine. “I … I need to be alone right now.”

He just nodded. Confusion, pain, joy-his emotions were a storm within him, and at the moment he just wanted to close his eyes and let it all go. He gave her arm one more squeeze, then she stood up and walked away. Daine let his head drop back against the deck, glancing up into the sky. The boat rocked beneath him, and the sound of the surf seemed to wash away his thoughts. Pierce was standing over him, as silent as any statue, and the face of the warforged was the last thing he saw before he drifted off to sleep.

When Daine opened his eyes again, the sky was dark; the faint glow on the horizon hinted at the approaching dawn. Someone had draped a blanket across him, but he still felt a shiver run across his skin. Though the images were quickly fading, the night had been filled with disturbing dreams. Probing eyes, beating wings, masses of tentacles barely held at bay by a fading shield-he had been standing in the center of a hurricane, and with every passing second it threatened to come crashing in upon him. Even now, with the sun rising in the distance and the fresh tang of warm, salty air, he still felt a cold and inevitable dread. The darkness was there, waiting, whenever he closed his eyes. How could anyone fight something like that?

“More bad dreams?”

Lei was next to him, wrapped in a ragged blanket of her own. Lakashtai had yet to emerge from the cabin, and Pierce was nowhere to be seen. Gerrion was back at the wheel, but his eyes were fixed firmly on the coastline.

Daine just nodded, sitting up and leaning against the side of the boat.

She glanced away, looking out into ocean and night. “I … I know how unsettling that can be.”

“Really? What’s trying to destroy your mind?”

She looked at him, and for a moment he wondered if he’d crossed a line-if there was something she wasn’t telling him. She’d been on edge for weeks, and her expression seemed … haunted. He reached out, laying a hand on her shoulder.

“Lei-what’s wrong?” He kept his voice low, trying to avoid drawing Gerrion’s attention.

She shook her head and looked away again, but she raised her left hand and clung to his arm. “I don’t know,” she said, a quaver in her voice. “It’s all so-chaotic. What’s happening to you. Lakashtai. She-I just don’t like her, but I wonder if I’m just jealous because she can help you and I can’t, and by the Nine, I died yesterday! I should be in the claws of the Keeper right now.” The dawn light caught the first glitter of a tear in the corner of an eye. “How am I supposed to feel?”

Daine put his hand on her cheek, turning her face toward him. Her fingers tightened around his wrist. “Lei …” his words felt like iron in his throat, but he forced himself to stumble on. “You’ve helped me in ways Lakashtai never could. I’d never have made it this far without you.”

She closed her eyes, and a tear ran down her cheek. He could feel her shivering.

“I don’t know what’s happening to me,” he said. “I don’t know what will happen, but we’ll survive it. We always do. A month from now, Lakashtai will be ominously helping some other poor soul, but still we’ll be together.”