Keith Baker - The Shattered Land

“What is this?” Daine said. He glanced back at Tashana. Had she somehow fled her body and possessed Lakashtai?

Oh, no . It was Lakashtai’s thought in his mind, but as sharp and cold as a blade of ice. “Tashana has played her last trick, thanks to you, and in truth, treachery was never her strength.” She laughed again.

A terrible chill gripped Daine’s heart. I cannot dream . Yet it was in dreams that Tashana had threatened him, dreams or as a telepathic voice. The two times they’d actually met in the flesh, Tashana hadn’t even said his name. She’d dismissed him out of hand. She was only interested in …

“Lakashtai!” Daine charged toward the altar. He didn’t know what was going on, and at the moment, he didn’t care, but Lakashtai was standing next to Lei-and Lei wasn’t moving.

Lakashtai’s eyes glowed like twin stars, and Daine felt as if he had slammed into a wall. The force pinning his thoughts was a hundred times more powerful than that of the woman he’d just killed. He was as helpless as if he’d been caught in a block of ice.

Lakashtai stepped down from the block and walked toward him. “Daine, Daine, with your valuable dreams and hidden secrets.” She stood next to him, and she reached out and ran two fingers along his cheek. “This was never about you. You are a piece on a board so vast you cannot see the squares.”

Take whatever you want from me! Daine couldn’t speak, but he could still think. Just leave them alone!

“We don’t want anything from you, little Daine,” Lakashtai said. She glanced back at Lei. “Sometimes the best way to achieve your goals is to threaten another piece, but I’m sure you can understand that. After all, ‘Perhaps, when you’re mine, I’ll make you kill her myself.’”

Suddenly he remembered the terrible presence he’d glimpsed in his mind when Lakashtai had helped him so long ago in Sharn, and the crystal … the sliver of crystal he’d kept close at hand, which she’d said formed a bond between them. He’d let her in.

“Yes.” She paused for a moment, as if listening to some distant sound. “If only there was more time, but who can say …” She ran her fingers along his cheek again. Perhaps I’ll see you in your dreams .

He heard her laughter in his mind, and she slowly faded away, with the crystal orb clutched in her hands. The aura of magical energy faded with her, as did the power pinning his thoughts; he almost tumbled forward as the paralysis faded. He tore the emerald shard from his pouch and dashed it against the ground, and as it shattered he felt a pressure fade from his mind, a touch so faint he hadn’t noticed it was there.

Across the chamber, Pierce rose to his feet. “Daine … Lei!”

She was still spread across the dais. With desperate strength Daine forced himself up onto the table, with Pierce right behind. Lei’s skin was cool to the touch, but she was still breathing.

“LEI!” he called, shaking her.

She moaned. Daine clung to her, refusing to let go.

“It is the orb,” Pierce said. “Restoring it-the process has drawn on her own life energy. She is weak, but she will survive.”

A dull vibration shook the room … a slow, rhythmic rumble.

Daine frowned. “Is that …”

“The gate,” Lei whispered.

“Lakashtai!” he cried.

For a moment, he was torn, struggling between fury and the fear of leaving Lei. Pierce was looking straight at him, and somehow Daine knew that the warforged felt the same way.

“Go,” Lei said. “Stop her.”

Daine lowered her gently, and he and Pierce leapt to the ground. Pierce snatched his flail off the ground, and they were halfway to the archway when they saw the figure waiting for them.

Daine , Harmattan said. It’s been a long time .

Daine’s blades were out in an instant. As he charged, a chain snaked around his ankle and brought him tumbling to the ground. Pierce’s flail

“This fight cannot be won with a sword, captain,” Pierce said quietly. “Others need you. Do not throw away your life.”

The massive figure rustled, shards of metal rattling against metal, and Daine saw blood falling to the floor. He wondered about Shen’kar and Xu’sasar-this creature had to have come through the chamber of gates.

The vibration in the floor grew stronger.

If you think you can win my trust so easily, you are sadly mistaken, little brother , Harmattan said.

“Indeed.” A dark figure slid into the room, stepping out from the shadows of Harmattan’s steel cloak. Adamantine blades slide from Indigo’s arms. “You made your choice, Pierce. You chose your masters. Now you may die with them.”

“Surely you did not come this far to threaten me,” Pierce said, helping Daine stand.

You are irrelevant. Despite Indigo’s wishes, I think I shall let you live … Our family is small enough as it is, but you have already served your purpose, whether you meant to or not. You passage gave us entry, and as for why we are here … It seems I was mistaken, after all. Destiny is a strange thing .

“What do you want?” Daine growled. He was studying the strange figure, searching for any signs of weakness.

The rumbling in the floor ceased, and all was quiet.

I came here in search of one thing and one thing alone. I knew that it was waiting for me in this ancient place, so I assumed it to be a relic of the distant past . Harmattan rustled again. But the one I serve works in mysterious ways and leads me down paths I never considered. I want the vial .

“What are you talking about?” said Pierce.

He knows , Harmattan responded, and Daine felt a sudden chill. A vial filled with blue liquid, glowing slightly, with a familiar seal stamped on the top . His cloak spread further out around him, ready to lash forward in a swath of razored steel. I have no desire to damage it, and I would rather let my brother live; you will all die if we do battle. Give me the vial, little fleshling, and I may even spare you and sister Lei .

“Daine?” Pierce said, uncertain.

Daine reached into his pouch and produced the crystal vial. “Is this it?”

“Yes.”

“You came all the way to Xen’drik-you cut off Lei’s finger-for this?”

Yes. You are prepared to surrender it?

Daine looked at the unstoppable warforged, dripping with the blood of his allies. He remembered Jode’s voice in the darkness of the obsidian city. He thought of Lei, lying on the altar behind him.

And he thought of a temple in the depths of Sharn, of a winged lion with the head of a woman.

“No,” he said.

Harmattan hissed and Indigo leapt forward, but even as they moved Daine wrenched the seal from the top of the vial. As Pierce dove between him and the attacking warforged, Daine brought the bottle to his lips, and the liquid flowed down his throat. It was like light, brilliant and burning, overwhelming every sense.

Wake up .