Keith Baker - The Shattered Land

“She can’t help us, Daine.”

“What makes you so sure? Is there a thousand-year-old prophecy backing you up?” Daine threw the coin in front of him; it flew three feet and disintegrated, dissolving before his eyes. Daine sighed and took a step forward, staying just ahead of the encroaching flame.

“They’re wrong , Daine. I know Tashana. You don’t. She can’t help us. She wouldn’t if she could, and I’ll kill us both before I give you to her.”

“A few more minutes and you won’t have to.” Daine took out another coin and tossed it to the left; it went five feet before vaporizing. “Come on. I’ve got five more crowns to my name … That’ll buy us some time.”

It took two more coins to find a path that led ahead, getting them five feet further from the creeping wall of flame. Daine shivered-it was a strange feeling standing in an empty room, but knowing that death could be just an inch away.

“I wonder if these ‘shifting walls’ can move on top of us while we’re standing still,” he mused.

“Most likely.” Lakashtai idly traced a finger along the edge of the leather collar wrapped around her neck.

Daine looked up at the catwalk stretching above them. On a whim, he flung one of his remaining coins at the drow guard; it struck her squarely in the forehead. She glared down at him and spat, and her aim was just as good as his.

“Interesting,” he said, wiping his face. “No barriers above us. If we could just get up there …”

“A simple task,” Lakashtai said.

“How?” He could feel the temperature rising as the burning wall drew close once more.

“I could levitate myself. I believe I could support both our weight.”

“So do it!”

Lakashtai shook her head. “A simple task under normal circumstances, but should I engage my mental abilities, I will trigger this collar, and it will burn through my neck.”

The flames crept closer.

Daine gritted his teeth. “Any ideas that would actually work?”

Lakashtai gazed into the distance, and the creeping fire was reflected in her emerald eyes. “It is possible … I could try to divert the energy generated by the collar, converting it into a less dangerous form of energy-light, perhaps. However, the act of raising this shield would itself trigger the collar-I might not survive long enough to complete the manifestation.”

The flames were a foot away. “Lakashtai, I’ve only got two crowns left …”

“I believe I could survive. If …” She met his gaze, and he could see the uncertainty in her eyes. “… If you would share the pain with me.”

“What?”

“I could … empathically transfer the experience, spreading the agony between us, but I do not know the power of the collar. It could kill us both.”

The flames were licking at Daine’s back, and it was becoming hard to breathe. “Just do it!” he shouted.

Lakashtai seized his hands. Time slowed to a crawl. The roaring flames faded to a dull whisper, and all he felt was the touch of his skin against hers. Staring into Lakashtai’s eyes, Daine felt a deep sense of peace, of serenity. As her eyes began to glow, he felt …

Agony.

In an instant, reality came tumbling back. The hot air seared his lungs, but it was nothing compared to the blinding pain that was tearing into his neck. He could feel the skin charring, the terrible heat eating away at the flesh beneath. He drew in breath to scream …

And it was over.

The torment had forced all thoughts from his mind. A dark shape pressed against him, a woman, covered with sweat. She wrapped her arms around him.

“Hold me,” she said.

“Lei,” he whispered, pulling her close.

Then he was in the air. He clutched at the woman, and as sense and memory came flooding back, he recognized Lakashtai. He almost let go of her, but they were ten feet off the ground and rising quickly, and reflex made him tighten his grip.

Within seconds they had risen to the level of the glass catwalk. Though the pain was no worse, Daine’s neck was still in agony; the cracked skin ached with every motion, but he couldn’t afford to give into the pain. The guard had seen them, and she was already raising her crossbow.

Summoning all his strength, Daine let go of Lakashtai and shoved her, using the force to fling himself backward onto the catwalk. Even as the dark elf leveled her weapon, Daine was tumbling toward her. He felt a flash of pain as the quarrel grazed his back, tearing a furrow across a shoulder-blade, but then he was upon her. The elf was small and quick, her black skin crisscrossed with spiraling flame tattoos, and she dropped her crossbow and grabbed at her sword as Daine rose up before her, but she wasn’t fast enough. Daine slammed into her, throwing all his rage and pain into one mighty blow. She fell back, struggled to find her balance-and failed. She spun off the edge of the catwalk, and disappeared into the massive wall of flame that stretched out below.

“That’s what you get when you play with fire,” Daine muttered, as the scream faded.

Daine, quickly! Toward me! Lakashtai’s thought forced its way through his mind. We don’t have long!

She was right. The wall of flame had been a deadly threat-but it had also served to shield their actions from view. The battle had drawn the attention of Gerrion and the others, and if Gerrion’s archery wasn’t threat enough, Daine was certain the old priest could bring magic to bear.

The thought proved all too prophetic. Even as Daine turned toward Lakashtai, he heard the old elf calling out to the powers of flame. Daine threw himself forward as a pillar of fire struck the platform behind him, melting the space he had been standing on.

Quickly! Lakashtai was standing thirty feet further down the bridge, her neck swathed in a halo of golden light. A drow soldier was charging at her with his spear lowered, but the kalashtar raised her hand and stood her ground. A cone of sparkling green light blazed forth from her palm, and the elf staggered back and fell; as Daine drew closer, he saw that each sparkling light had been a shard of crystal, and this storm of glass had shredded the flesh of the unfortunate elf.

“Hold tight,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around him once more.

This time Daine could see clearly, and for a moment he found it strangely difficult to obey the command, but she was holding on to him, and as she began to rise into the air reflex took over and locked her in his arms.

Lakashtai had brought them beneath one of the gaping holes in the ceiling, and now they rose up and out of the chamber. The roof was surprisingly thick, but a moment later they were out in open air, gazing out across the orange and red canopy of the jungle. From this perspective, the castle was a ruin. The battlements were uneven, the towers were shattered, and there were a dozen holes in the roof, but as old and damaged as it was, there was one thing that truly stood out: it was on fire.

The entire fortress was built from obsidian, and the outermost walls were brilliant orange. The heat was even worse that the wall of flame. The roof around them looked like it might actually be molten; Daine couldn’t see what was keeping it from flowing down into the chambers below.

For a moment they hung there, just above the burning castle.

“What are you waiting for?” Daine whispered. His neck ached, and he was all too aware of the pit below them. “Let’s go!”

“It is not that simple,” Lakashtai replied, studying the molten glass. “It is a trivial matter to move across the vertical axis, but horizontal motion is-”

“Just do something!”

“Lift up your feet.”