Keith Baker - The City of Towers

Someone was combing her hair, straightening it and tugging at it with a dozen small brushes.

The pain across her back was becoming more specific, concentrated into distinct points, as if a dozen small needles were pushing slowly into her flesh. The light before her eyes faded until it was the barest flickering of firelight.

The image of fire brought new thoughts. Fire … flame … Flamewind the sphinx, and her words-

You killed him, Lei. Those watching you have plans for you, and a life with Hadran was not what they wished .

A surge of anger rushed through her, and she managed to lift her head a little. This couldn’t be real! Hadran is dead!

“Lei! Lei, let it go!” It was Daine. He caught her head between his hands and pushed her back down into the cold, into the stinging. Small rocks had been scattered across the surface of the table-or were they on her skin? It was so hard to tell. Daine’s fingers continued to brush gently against her forehead, driving away the pain. “It’s all over, Lei,” he said, massaging her scalp. “Forget your fears. We’re together, and-”

“Lei! Wake up NOW!” It was Daine’s voice again, but louder and urgent. For a moment she was on the battlefield of Cyre, with blood and steel all around, and in that instant she followed the command without thought. She opened her eyes.

It was not a hand that she had felt on her forehead. It was a tentacle. Her first sight was of slick, purple skin, a round mouth lined with needle teeth, and deep black eyes with glowing golden pupils. Four tentacles ringed the vicious mouth of the creature that was bending over her, and they were carefully holding her head in place. She could see a barbed, razor-sharp tongue emerging as the mouth, descending toward her forehead, and with every ounce of strength she possessed she threw her head to the side.

She broke free of the confining tentacles. The piercing tongue scraped against the side of her head but failed to penetrate her skull. Hissing, the figure stepped back.

At first, she thought she was still dreaming. Silhouetted against the light, her enemy seemed to be a man-tall, thin, and regal. He wore a cyan robe of rich brocade, covered with swirling, interlocking lines of golden thread. But his head was a violet nightmare, powerful tentacles writhing around the lamprey mouth.

Stinging thoughts will send our work awry , she thought-

No, it thought. It was almost impossible to separate the alien thoughts from her own. She could sense its aggravation at the delay in its work.

Enforced tranquility drains the derivations of shadows. Release your fears. Embrace your fate .

Her head was beginning to clear, and she could feel her limbs again. It felt as if the icy liquid had eaten through the back of her clothing and tiny crystals had formed along her skin. She raised her head and stared into the creature’s inhuman eyes.

Go to Dolurrh , she thought.

Xoriat , it returned, naming the Plane of Madness. We must ride the imperfect mind .

It moved in, bending over her, the steel manacles pinning her in place. The suckers on the beast’s four tentacles latched onto the sides of her head. There was no chance of breaking free now.

Release your thoughts. Embrace eternity in me .

The piercing tongue stabbed down.

"Lord Chyrassk,” Teral whispered, and he and his comrades prostrated themselves. Daine watched in horror as the hideous being entered the room. The creature did not speak, but the tendrils around its mouth twitched, and Daine could feel its satisfaction as if it were his own.

Chyrassk strode across the chamber to the table where Lei was bound and began to fill the basin in the table with glowing fluids.

“Lei!” Daine cried.

The gaunt figure continued its preparations, adjusting the fluids in the basin and arranging crystals around Lei’s body. Occasionally it would stroke her forehead with one of the tentacles around its mouth.

“Lei!”

No response.

Even from across the room, Daine could feel the creature’s power, the mental force that was holding Lei entranced. Its presence was overwhelming. It was as if he were seeing through the thing’s glowing golden eyes, as if he were preparing to drain Lei’s very life. Daine could almost taste Lei’s brain, both the delicious flesh and the far more exquisite memories within. He knew that the instant she died, her essence-her spirit, her dragonmark, all that she was-would be drawn away, captured in crystal and ready to be processed. The sensation passed, and Daine’s thoughts were his own again.

Teral was cackling and chittering to himself, rubbing his hands together. “Mine soon,” he muttered. “Her soul mine, yes, mine.”

Curiosity overcame Daine’s horror and he spoke. “But why? Why would that monster share power with you?”

Teral’s eyes were mad and gleaming, and Daine wasn’t sure the councilor even knew he was speaking. “Chyrassk is a child of madness, an emissary of the age to come,” Teral said, his eyes gleaming. “He feeds on thoughts and minds, but he is not of this world, and he cannot devour a human soul. But I have no such limitations. Chyrassk will consume her flesh, but her spirit will be mine. Yes.”

Lei moved slightly as the mind flayer caught her head with its tendrils. Daine could stand no more.

“Lei!” he cried, putting every ounce of energy into his voice. “Wake up now!”

It worked. Teral drew in a sharp breath as Lei jerked her head to the side, pulling free of the monster’s grip. The creature paused, and Daine could feel its frustration. A restless mind was less savory for the devourer. Again, its thoughts flooded through his mind, and he could see Lei’s face as Chyrassk darted in for a second attack.

“Kazha zar!” Lei cried.

The air rippled, and Lei vanished. Chryassk’s piercing tongue whipped through empty air. The enchantment Lei had woven into her glove could only be used once and its range was limited, but it was enough. Slipping through space and time, Lei reappeared an instant later in the dark corner of the room, standing over her pack.

Surprised as he was, Teral recovered quickly. But Daine knew what enchantments Lei had prepared, and he was already in motion. Calling on every ounce of strength, he pulled himself up, straining against the chains, and lashed out with his legs, catching Teral by the throat and hurling him to the ground.

“Do it!” he called to Lei.

Daine’s blow had stunned Teral, but only for a moment. He was already rising to his feet. Chyrassk spun to face them, its anger a stabbing pain in their minds, and Hugal and the others were sprinting across the hall, claws and blades glittering in the faint light. A moment was all Lei needed.

Grabbing her pack, she threw open the central compartment, folding out the cloth funnel that allowed her to fit large objects into the extradimensional pocket.

“Now!” she cried.

Pierce emerged, his massive bow in hand, and loosed an arrow the moment he cleared the portal. The feral boy charging Lei fell with an arrow through his knee.

But Pierce was not alone. Two smaller warforged, swift-moving scouts with swords fused to their arms, darted through the portal in his wake. Lei and Daine had found three of these ’forged damaged and inert in the ruins of Cyre, and Lei had been carrying them with her for months. Last night, she had finally managed to get two of them working. They were battered and worn, and Lei’s enchantments would not hold for long, but for the moment they could fight.

They charged Councilor Teral. The warped councilor was unnaturally swift and strong, but two warforged were a challenge for any warrior, and being made from metal and wood, the ’forged were immune to Teral’s paralytic venom. Teral hissed and cursed, dodging a blade and planting a powerful kick in the stomach of one of the scouts.