Keith Baker - The Shattered Land

Lei still seemed slightly dazed, but she held Daine’s hand and clambered up onto the table when Daine and Pierce hoisted her up. Lakashtai leapt up beside her.

“Touch the shards, Lei,” she said. “Feel the pattern within. Reshape what has been broken.”

“What is it?” Daine said, standing on his toes and trying to peer up over the edge.

“It is the reason I came here, though even I did not believe it possible,” Lakashtai said, walking over to stand above Daine.

“You see-”

Then she screamed.

There was a distortion in the air around her chest, as if a fist-sized chunk of flesh was being twisted out of phase with the rest of her body. The aura faded, and Lakashtai dropped to one knee, gasping for breath.

“Surely you will not fall so easily, little sister.” The voice echoed through the hall. “After all you have put me through, I expected more of a challenge.”

It was Tashana.

Green eyes burned beneath the hood of a dark cloak, and a long braid of silver-white hair caught the light. Shadows were swirling about Tashana, and for a moment Daine thought he saw faces howling in the darkness.

“You have been most helpful,” she said. “I would never have found this place on my own. You shielded your mind well; I thought I had lost you until you reappeared only moments ago, but this chase ends here, in this chamber of broken dreams.”

“Just how does it end?” Daine said, walking slowly toward her. He motioned to Pierce- keep your distance, engage at range .

“This is no battle for humans,” Tashana hissed, dismissing Daine with a gesture.

He felt her mental grip tighten on his mind, but this time, he didn’t give in. He tightened his grip on his grandfather’s sword, and for the merest moment he felt the old man at his shoulder.

“Perhaps you underestimate humans,” he said, setting himself on guard. Behind him, he could hear Lakashtai talking to Lei, guiding her work. “One chance, and one alone. Leave. Now.”

The shadows were winding around Tashana, forming the ghastly silhouette he’d seen before. “Fool!” she roared, her voice distorted by the darkness. “Do you have any idea what you are doing?”

“Stopping you. Pierce!”

Pierce’s bow sang, and two arrows flashed toward Tashana’s chest, but this time she had prepared for such an attack-or else her powers had grown since they’d seen her on the docks of Sharn. The cloak of shadows was far more solid than it appeared, and the arrows shattered against this shield.

Daine wasn’t surprised; it was Pierce who had driven this creature off the last time they’d fought, and it seemed unlikely that she’d attack so brazenly without having a defense. If they were to win this battle, he needed to know the rules of engagement. He leapt at the dark figure, feinting with his long blade. As she swatted at his sword with talons of shadow, he switched his footing, ducking under and striking with his dagger.

The adamantine blade could carve through steel and stone, and Daine had never found the substance that could match it-until now. His thrust was perfect, but the blade was thrown back, and his wrist ached from the impact.

Pain . Tashana’s claws raked along his left arm before he had time to retreat, and the shadows carved through steel and muscle with equal ease. Whispers of fear and doubt crawled into the back of his mind-how could he hope to succeed? Why fight, when it was so much easier to just surrender, to let fate take its course?

No . Daine’s grandfather was still behind him, and now he felt Jode’s presence with him as well. He could hear his friend’s laughter, and his zest for life, and it banished the cold fingers of fright. When Tashana came in to strike again, Daine ducked to the side and slashed with his longsword. The shadow parted like smoke, and Daine felt the faintest touch to the flesh within.

Tashana roared out a phrase in an alien tongue, and Daine didn’t need to know the language to recognize a curse. Green eyes flashed in the depth of the shadow, and once again he felt her thoughts clutching at his mind, but he was not alone. Now Lei joined the others-her voice, her scent, the sound of her laughter. Tashana’s earlier words echoed in the darkness- Perhaps, when you’re mine, I’ll make you kill her myself .

“You should have stayed in my dreams,” he hissed, putting all his strength into a thrust with his sword. The blade pierced the shadows, and he felt it penetrate flesh.

Tashana howled in pain, and a dozen faces howled along with her, vague amorphous shapes lurking in her ghastly shroud. “ENOUGH!” The air rippled around her, and a wave of raw force threw Daine off his feet, sending him flying ten feet through the air before crashing into the ground. “These schemes end NOW!”

Lakashtai was still standing next to Lei on the shimmering altar. The two of them had assembled the pieces of the shattered object. It was another sphere, two feet in diameter, this one formed of dark crystal. Lei was holding it in her hands, a look of intense concentration on her face, while Lakashtai whispered in her ear. A glowing web surrounded the orb, pulsing like a heartbeat, and Daine could only guess that it was repairing the shattered seams. Before Daine could rise to his feet, Tashana flew forward, a streak of deadly shadow.

And ran into Pierce.

The warforged rammed into the shadowy figure, throwing her back. As she recovered her footing, Pierce landed a stunning blow with his flail-and the spiked chain bounced back from the shadow, as if striking a wall of steel.

“Keep her down!” Daine called, charging across the room. He could feel magical energy building around them, as it had when the planar gate had been activated.

Pierce lashed out once more. The flail couldn’t penetrate Tashana’s shadowy defenses but he still managed to wrap the chain around her feet and pull her tumbling to the ground. She roared again, and it was Pierce who flew back through the air.

Now Daine was upon her, and a dozen more voices had added their strength to his: Jholeg, the goblin scout he’d last seen at Keldan Ridge; Greykell, the soul of High Walls; Krazhal, the surly dwarf sapper; Pierce, with his calm strength; even Alina Lyrris, and Grazen, his old comrade in arms. Daine slashed with his blade, one blow after another.

“Leave us ALONE!” he cried. “Stay out of my life. Stay out of my dreams! Go back to your wretched gloom and STAY THERE!”

Then it was gone.

The voices that had carried him forward fell silent. The shadow beneath him dispersed like smoke, and there was only a young woman with pale skin and long white hair, her dark clothing streaked with blood. Daine’s blade was raised for a final stroke when her eyes caught his and he froze. It wasn’t the power that was in them … but the pain. Her mouth worked as she struggled with a final word. “I …”

Kill her!

“I …”

Kill her! But the rage was fading. A moment ago she had been a monster. Now she was just a dying woman. He knelt down next to her.

“I … cannot … dream.”

The last embers of light faded from her eyes.

For a moment Daine just stared at her. He could feel the charge of mystical energy building in the air, and he knew he should feel satisfaction, but standing over the ruined corpse, the victory felt hollow. I cannot dream … what did she mean? Why deny what she’d done?

“It’s over,” he said.

“Oh no,” Lakashtai said. “It’s just begun.”

She laughed, and he realized it was the first time he’d ever heard that sound … sharp and deadly, like chimes of glass.

Daine stood and turned around. Lakashtai was standing on the altar, and the orb was in her hands. Lei was slumped next to her, though Daine could see no sign of harm, and Pierce lay frozen against the edge of the dais.