Keith Baker - The Shattered Land

“Another move will end you,” a soft voice sang in the common tongue.

A drow woman stood over her. The stranger’s armor glowed with the heat of burning coals. Her eyes were surrounded by tattooed flames, and these glowed with their own inner light.

L akashtai? Daine thought. This would be a good time for your paralysis trick .

I am weary, Daine. I do not have the power, and in truth, I am amazed I was able to immobilize them all before .

The three drow had spread out in a semicircle, and Shen’kar was slowly walking toward him. Previously Daine had encountered these elves in the dark of night. Now, with the dim sunlight filtering down through the canopy, Daine could truly see his enemy. They wore less armor than the elves of the burning city, and instead of metal they seemed to rely on chitin, leather, and wood. There were a few exceptions-their long knives, the mithral chain-but Daine wondered if these might have been scavenged from elsewhere; the hilts on the daggers didn’t seem to match the style of the blades, and he suspected that these drow had scavenged the weapons or inherited them from previous generations. The minimal armor and clothing they wore revealed their tattoos, showing that the practice covered the entire body. Where the firebinders had occasional bands of flame, these elves were covered with intricate designs, stark white against their black skin. Daine imagined that Lei would know all about these tattoos and their significance and could probably give an hour-long lecture on the topic, and it was then that he realized how much he missed her. The last few hours had been a constant race to stay ahead of death; only now did he realize how empty he felt inside.

He held his hands up in front of him. “We don’t want to fight,” he said.

“The half-blood is gone,” Shen’kar observed. He paused fifteen feet away from Daine, his weapon poised to throw. “How is that?”

“Ah, that.” Daine scratched his head. “Well, he turned us over to his relatives, and they tried to burn us to death in a maze.”

“Maze?”

“Invisible, shifting walls, kills you if you touch it?”

“Ah,” Shen’kar said, tilting his head to the side. “It is as we thought,” he said quietly, speaking to his warriors. “The firebinders still seek outlanders for the opening of the gate.”

“Then let us kill them before they aid the Keeper of the Gate,” said the chainmaster.

“That’s really not necessary,” Daine replied. “We’ve met, and we’re not on good terms. All we want to do is find our friends.”

Shen’kar spun back to face Daine, and it took a moment for Daine to understand the reason for his look of surprise. They were speaking Elvish! Daine had grown used to hearing the language-he’d forgotten that they didn’t expect him to understand it.

“How is it that you speak the language of the land?” Shen’kar had adjusted his grip on his boomerang, and his eyes were narrowed.

“I gave him the gift,” Lakashtai stepped forward. Her Elvish was steady and flawless, though the accent was slightly different than that of the drow. “He cannot speak your tongue, but he can understand your words.”

“Right. See? Speaking the Common?” Daine pointed out.

“He speaks the truth, however, whatever tongue he uses,” Lakashtai continued. “We mean you no harm, and we have no intention of aiding your enemy. We were betrayed by our companion, whose true loyalties were unknown to us. We know nothing of your culture or these others who you fight. We simply seek to find our companions and to locate a ruin known as the Monolith of Karul’tash.”

The elves were listening attentively and seemed calm enough-until the last word. The moment Lakashtai named their destination, the chain-wielder set his weapon whirling.

“Kulikoor!” Shen’kar snapped-apparently the man’s name. “Hold your strike.”

“Let me guess,” Daine said. “Without meaning to, we’ve just made plans to desecrate your holiest temple.”

Shen’kar looked at him, and Daine could feel his disdain. “Not ours,” he replied. “You know nothing of this land, is that not so?”

“I think ‘nothing’ is a little strong, but …”

Lakashtai raised her hand. “Warrior. If we have given offense through our actions, I assure you it was unintentional. We are no friends of these firebinders, and we hold them as our enemies. It seems we lack knowledge. Perhaps you can help us overcome this flaw.”

“All things have their price,” Shen’kar said. “What is it you offer in exchange for this wisdom?”

Lakashtai studied him carefully; Daine wondered if she was probing Shen’kar’s thoughts or simply reading his expression. “Gold and jewels are the currency of cities,” she replied, after a moment. “We are not merchants or explorers. We are soldiers, and we are fighting a war. Now we have learned that your foe is ours as well. With your knowledge, we can fight them. Otherwise, we may be tricked into doing their bidding.” She paused. “We ask for vengeance. We offer the blood of your enemies and our strength at your side.”

Weak as she was, Lakashtai had lost none of her charisma. The drow glanced at one another, and even the chainmaster clicked his tongue in affirmation. Shen’kar turned back to Daine and Lakashtai, and began his tale.

“In the first days, the mighty ones enslaved the people of the land-”

“‘Mighty ones?’ “Daine asked.

“Giants,” whispered Lakashtai. “Don’t interrupt.”

Shen’kar glared at Daine then returned to the story. “In the first days, the mighty ones enslaved the people of the land. The overlords were great and powerful. Their size and strength alone would have made them masters of the earth, and they possessed deadly magicks as well. The mighty ones ruled for age upon age, until the time of terror, when madness struck the minds of the mighty and tore through the veil of the world itself.”

Daine shot an inquiring glance at Lakashtai, and a second later her thoughts touched his. I believe he’s talking about the invasion from Dal Quor. Even I know little of what the giants faced, but the battle would have taken place in both dreams and reality .

“… host of horrors,” Shen’kar was saying, “but the mighty ones were wise as well as strong. They plucked a moon from the sky and used its power to force their foes into the darkness of the mind, where they were soon forgotten.”

The giants defeated the quori by severing the ties between Eberron and Dal Quor , Lakashtai explained. Ever since then, it has been virtually impossible for anything to physically travel between the two planes .

And the moon? Daine thought.

Legends say there was a thirteenth moon that disappeared long ago. He seems to be blaming it on these giants. Now hush .

“… battle had left marks on the land and weakened the once-mighty overlords,” Shen’kar continued. “Their slaves saw this weakness and rose up against their cruel masters. Small and cunning were these people, and the great size of the overlords often proved a hindrance. The wise among them took a troop of loyal slaves and imbued them with the essence of night-with the power to shape darkness and see through its depths, the strength to resist magic and the courage to face it. These dark soldiers and their children swore an oath to the overlords, promising to die in their service, and to bring death to all who stood against the masters.”

“Which brings us to the Oathbreakers?” Daine said

Shen’kar clicked his tongue. “The masters used many tricks to bind my ancestors to their service-magic, promises of immortality, threats-but the bravest children of night saw through these lies and turned against them. The pale slaves did not trust them, so they fought alone, battling the mighty and those slaves who remained in their service. So it continued until the destruction of the land, the Wrathful Night that brought the masters low. Today we are the masters of the land. The mighty ones have been forced into savagery, and now they are our prey. The pale slaves fled in fear, but we are strong and wise. The spirits of the jungle guide us. The scorpion teaches us to hunt, to hide, to care for our young. They teach us to protect the land from those who would bring back the horrors of the past: the mighty ones, the outlanders, and the misguided children of night … the firebinders and their kin.”