“They’re coming back!” Lei cried.

  There was none of the slow build-up that had characterized the departure. A second later, the chamber was flooded with light. Daine could feel the energy flowing through him, pressing against his heart and lungs.

  In an instant it was over. The thirteenth sphere had returned. Its surface was glowing a dull orange, and Daine could feel the heat from a hundred feet away. It slowly descended toward the floor, cooling as it dropped. A moment later the sphere opened, and the crystal ramp extended toward the floor. The interior of the sphere was still cloaked in shadows.

  “RELEASE THE PRISONERS!” It was Holuar’s voice, yet it was different, stronger and far louder, with an underlying ripple like the crackling of flame. “APPROACH AND BEHOLD OUR GLORY!”

  The soldier released Daine, and he raised a hand to massage his throat. The two drow sprinted toward the sphere.

  “KNEEL!” Holuar roared from the darkness. “KNEEL AND GIVE HOMAGE, FOR THE MOMENT OF OUR DESTINY HAS COME!”

  The firebinders knelt, one to each side of the ramp. Daine’s breath caught in his throat as the shapes emerged from the darkness.

  Small shapes. Moving swiftly. Three-pronged wheels of dark wood.

  Two boomerangs snapped out of the sphere, each one catching a firebinder warrior in the neck. Even as the soldiers struggled to rise, Shen’kar and Xu’sasar dove out of the darkness. Numbed by poison, the firebinders had barely raised their weapons before the oathbreakers were upon them. Xu’sasar’s twin blades flashed and Shen’kar’s spiked club rose and fell, and the battle was over in seconds.

  Within moments, Shen’kar was at Daine’s side, untying his hands.

  “What happened?” Daine said.

  “Just as you planned,” the dark elf replied. He had released the magical glamour that he’d used to mimic the voice of the high priest. “The shadows we wove hid us from the foe, and the walls of this vessel shielded us from the flame. We followed the instructions of the lady—” he inclined his head toward Lei—“to return with this craft as soon as the firebinders departed. We left them standing upon an island of black stone in a lake of fire. Perhaps they will find the power that they seek, but they shall never return with it.”

  “And Gerrion?” Daine said.

  “You struck well. The priest healed the wound but did not look beyond the flesh to see the poison that coursed through the veins of your victim. As I promised you, the venom is as slow and patient as Xan’tora herself. By now, your enemy lies dead on the burning shore.”

  Daine sighed. He’d never expected the firebinders to sacrifice Gerrion, but he had no intention of allowing the gray man to escape after what he’d put Lei through. My precious honor, he thought, remembering a time when that might have mattered.

  “Now we look to your bargain,” Xu’sasar sang. “Holuar is left in this sea of endless flame, but the monolith is now open, and others could follow. Let this place be destroyed?”

  “Lei?” Daine said. He pulled his weapons out from under the dead giant, and went to help Lakashtai.

  “I don’t know. The power contained in these spheres—even if I can find a way to destroy them, the energy released could devastate the area for miles around—or worse.”

  “You will find a way,” Shen’kar said.

  The dark elf was still holding his poisoned rod, and his scorpion was perched on his left wrist. His words were fluid and beautiful, but it was clear to Daine that this was a statement, not a request.

  “There may be weapons elsewhere in the monolith that could be of use,” Lakashtai said. “Have you learned how to dispel the wards that are blocking the use of mental powers?”

  “In fact, I think I have,” Lei said. She’d wandered over to another panel halfway around the vast chamber. “These inscriptions on the walls defend against all sorts of supernatural effects. I think that these crystals empower these enchantments, so if I remove this one …”

  A long line of glowing words faded into darkness. The temperature began to drop, and Daine’s breath steamed in the suddenly frigid air.

  “I can destroy the heating enchantments. Hmm. It seems the gate system has a rather … chilling effect. Let me try something else.”

  A second line of light faded off of the walls.

  “Yes!” Lakashtai said. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, slowly letting the air flow out of her lungs. “I can feel again.” She stretched out a hand, rotating slowly in place.

  “There,” she said. The central chamber was like a great wheel. The passage to the surface was but one of the spokes, and there were five more tunnels spreading out from the chamber of gates. Lakashtai paused, pointing to the northeast. “This is the way we must go.”

  Daine considered. “The wards should keep any more firebinders from following, but I don’t like the thought of leaving this place unguarded. Pierce …”

  “I should accompany the explorers, captain. It is possible that the information I now possess will be needed.”

  “Go,” Shen’kar said. “Xu’sasar and I will remain and watch from the shadows. We have fought our battle. Now you must fight yours.”

  Daine nodded. “All right, Lakashtai,” he said. “Lead the way.”

  “So what kills a hundred giants?”

  The hallway was cold and dim. The only source of light was the glowing inscriptions on the walls, and Lei’s efforts in the chamber of gates had caused many of these to fade into darkness.

  Lakashtai was in the lead, lighting the way with a cone of light from her eyes—an effect Daine still found unnerving. They’d encountered the corpses of half a dozen giants as they progressed down the hall; one wizard was sprawled on top of a long scroll, a sheet of parchment that must have been eight feet in length. They had been able to avoid most of the corpses, but two guards had fallen side by side, and the explorers had to climb up and over the dried remains.

  “I don’t see any signs of violence,” Daine continued, “They’re just … dead.” He had sword and dagger out and ready; the massive corpses raised his hackles, and it was all too easy to imagine that the withered faces were watching them pass.

  “The battle they fought came to an end centuries before the final fall of Xen’drik,” Pierce said. “These magi were battling dreams and tampering with the boundaries of the planes themselves. It is dangerous to tamper with reality: I believe that they paid the price, and that those giants who survived the war wisely chose to leave this place as a tomb.”

  Lakashtai glanced back at Pierce for a moment. “You seem to know a great deal about the conflict, Pierce. Do you know what was built here?”

  “No. My … memories do not extend to the end of the war. I only know of its purpose: a forge to build a weapon to end the war stretching across the dimensions.”

  “Let us hope that it did,” Lakashtai said, “and perhaps we’re about to find out.”

  The hallway came to an end at a wide archway. A guard lay across the passage; he was wearing a coat of crimson chainmail, and each link was the size of Daine’s hand. An obsidian greatsword lay on the ground next to him, over ten feet in length. Lakashtai leapt over the corpse without even touching it; her strength had returned, and she seemed more alive than she had since they’d left Sharn. Daine wasn’t feeling so spry; he simply ground his teeth and climbed up over the giant’s chest.

  The room beyond the arch was smaller than the chamber of gates, but it was no less spectacular. The walls were studded with translucent spheres, ranging from the size of a man’s head to a vast orb that was at least eight feet across. For a moment, Daine thought they were made out of glass, but as he drew closer he realized that they were far too fragile. They were soap-bubbles formed from traces of light, glowing with the faint essence of a dying coal. He almost reached out to touch one, but reason and the memory of eerily untouched corpses triumphed over curiosity.

  “What are they?” Lei whispered.

  “Dreams,” Pierce and Lakashtai answered together. They glanced at each other, and Pierce inclined his head.

  “The purest essence of dreams,” Lakashtai continued. “Every living creature that sleeps has a bond to Dal Quor, and obviously this is a vulnerability to those who would fight the lords of the night. I wonder …” She glanced up at the ceiling. “Could they have been trying to create dreams? To forge an alternate realm, a refuge they could retreat to in the dark hours?”

  “Can you hear them?” Lei said. Her voice was sluggish, almost slurred, and Daine turned toward her. Lei’s eyes were distant and confused. “So many voices …”

  “Lakashtai?” Daine said, but the kalashtar was already by Lei’s side.

  “Hear only my voice,” she whispered. “Set all else aside. Nothing here is real, all is illusion. Hear only my voice and let it return you to the light.”

  Lei closed her eyes, her forehead twisting with the effort of thought. Daine and Pierce rushed forward, but Lakashtai held them back with a commanding gesture. The kalashtar leaned in, whispering in Lei’s ear. Her eyes flashed with light, and Lei convulsed for a moment; then she opened her eyes again, breathing deeply. Lakashtai squeezed Lei’s shoulder and stepped back toward Daine.

  “She will recover,” Lakashtai said, “but her affinity for this place and the magic of this era is most unusual. Give her a moment of peace.”

  Daine glanced over at Lei. “I’m … fine,” she said. She was pale, but she seemed to have regained her composure.

  He returned to the study of the room. The fragile spheres covered the walls and ceiling. The center of the chamber was dominated by a dais of opalescent glass—reflective, pale white material lit from within, slowly shifting in color as Daine watched. This altar was ten feet long and six feet high, and two giants were sprawled around it. Standing across the room, they could see that there was something on top of the dais—pieces of broken glass, perhaps a shattered sphere. Whatever it was, it was dull and lifeless, a stark contrast to the gleaming platform.

  “There …” Lakashtai breathed. “That is what we have sought. Help Lei climb onto the platform—the end of this quest is at hand.”

  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.

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

 

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