The Gates of Night

CHAPTER 30

A smile lit Daine’s face. He was about to challenge an army of demons to determine the fate of the world, and he was grinning from ear to ear. Despite the madness of their quest, he felt better than he had in years. He’d spent the last year as a haunted man. Jode’s death, the mystery of Keldan Ridge, the horror of the Mourning-all of these weighed heavily on his soul. Now Jode was at his side, the answers to Keldan Ridge lay ahead, and if he couldn’t save Cyre … well, he had a chance to save Eberron itself. A fool’s quest? Perhaps. But this time, he’d succeed or die in the effort.

Beyond this newfound confidence, Daine was amazed by his own strength and stamina. Once, descending the ridge would have proven a challenge. Now, it felt like child’s play. He found that he felt even better when he was close to Jode. If the halfling was within a few arm’s lengths, Daine felt swifter, more coordinated, and his every sense seemed sharper … almost as if he were adding Jode’s strengths to his own. And all of his abilities were enhanced yet again by the breath of the draconic eidolon. He felt as if a fire raged within him, an endless pool of energy. When he fought his first battle at Keldan Ridge, Daine didn’t know about the Mourning. He didn’t know that it was the last night of his service to Cyre. Today, he knew exactly what was at stake, and if he died in dreams, he would take a few nightmares with him.

“There it is,” Lei said. She was wearing the goggles she’d been given by Thelania, and the lenses shimmered in the moonlight. “There’s a door on the other side of the illusion.”

“I know,” Daine said. “Krazhal blew it open. Once inside, we set secondary charges so we could seal off the exit if needed. I can only assume that those blast disks were never detonated, since we made it out alive.”

“Hmm,” Lei said, adjusting the lenses on her goggles. “I’ve never much cared for explosives. It’s going to be tricky working through the illusion, but I should be able to get it open.”

“Keep watch,” he told Pierce and Jode. “We didn’t encounter any resistance going in, but obviously history isn’t going to repeat itself perfectly.” A curious thought occurred to him. “Jode, are we going to show up here? If we’d waited, would Krazhal have opened the door?”

“Anything’s possible, but it’s unlikely,” Jode said. “Essentially, we’re in your dream. Since you’re already here, and breaking in at that, there’s no reason for you to appear again.”

Daine shook his head. “Dreams.”

“Got it,” Lei said. She stepped forward, into what appeared to be rough hillside, and vanished. Daine signaled the others and made his way through the illusion.

The hallway was exactly as he remembered. Bare stone, just tall enough for a warforged juggernaut to make his way through, spheres of cold fire set at distant intervals, shedding faint illumination throughout the hall.

“I know we didn’t encounter any danger in the tunnel itself,” Daine said quietly, “but I can’t remember what came after. Jode, when we first came here, I sent you to scout ahead. What do you remember?”

“There’s a sort of barracks up ahead,” Jode said. “Empty now. I came back to report to you, and that’s all I can remember.”

“Then from this point on, we go quiet and careful. Given the presence of the warforged, we have to consider the possibility of magical countermeasures. Lei, I’ll need you watching for glyphs, blast disks, or anything else.” That would have been Krazhal’s job, he thought. I wonder how well he fared.

“Pierce, bring up the rear. If we get more space, move to the side. If you see a clean bowshot, take it.”

“So we assume all motion is hostile?” Pierce said.

“Have you forgotten the battle, Pierce? Did you see the corpses? Whoever built this place is responsible for the deaths of all those soldiers, and who knows what else?”

“Remember, it’s only a dream,” Jode said.

“And if it’s drawn from my memories, then this is our chance to finally make these bastards pay for what they did.”

Lei nodded, her expression grim. “Let’s go, then.”

She adjusted her goggles as she moved forward, and something occurred to Daine. How does she know what those goggles do? The lenses were a gift from Thelania, but Daine never saw Lei put them on while they were awake. Now they were dreaming she was wearing them, apparently to some useful effect, but if the powers of their weapons were based on their own memories, how could this work?

Daine shook his head. He had his sword and his dagger, and that was all he needed. The rest of this dreaming could go to Dolurrh, for all he cared.

They’d moved less than fifty feet down the hall when Lei raised her hand. Danger! She knelt, making a few passes over the ground, and when she stood, she had a blast disk in her hand.

One of Krazhal’s blast disks.

Daine realized-this was where the dwarf had set the charge to bring down the tunnel. He glanced back at Jode. How was this possible?

“It’s part of the environment,” Jode whispered. “You knew it would be there. I suggest we move past and let Lei reset it.”

“I’m not a sapper,” Lei said. “I can place it, but not to do maximum damage.”

“Lady Lei, I seriously doubt that it matters,” Jode said quietly. “It’s not even real. It exists only because it has a role to play, and if it’s supposed to bring down the tunnel, I suspect your skill in placement won’t be the deciding factor.”

“What if I just keep it?” Lei whispered.

“I think it’s better if we don’t find out.”

Daine nodded. “Enough. We move on. Replace the disk behind us.”

They emerged in a large chamber. As Jode had suggested, it was a barracks of sorts … a barracks for warforged. There were no beds, no tables. The warforged needed no rest. Instead, the room was littered with the tools of war. Weapon racks were largely empty, but a few swords and maces hung from the walls, along with quivers of arrows. A small forge filled the room with heat, and hammers and tongs lay scattered around it. There were no molds, nothing that would serve to create new weapons. This was simply a repair station, where warforged could remove the wear of battle.

Daine gestured. Keep moving. Doubt gnawed at the back of his mind. What if there was nothing to find? What if this place was simply an outpost for the warforged now on the battlefield? Could he and Jode have explored and left? No, he concluded. Because Krazhal and Kesht didn’t survive the night.

Lei led them through the barracks and down a hall. The smell of molten steel filled the air, mingled with another scent. Sap? Burning wood? They came to the entrance of the next chamber, and Lei stopped short in amazement.

They stood on a wide platform at the top of a flight of stairs, with at least a hundred steps leading down to the floor of the hall. The chamber was a vast sphere, with walls of polished black marble covered with lines and sigils, complex engravings that pulsed with crimson light. But it was the object in the center of the chamber that took his breath away. It was a pillar of black marble, but it was neither smooth nor uniform in shape. Rather, it looked like the trunk of an ancient tree, gnarled and twisted, with patterns of red light in place of the lines of bark. It was studded with glowing stumps, as if limbs had been severed with a perfect blade. The base of the pillar was hidden in a radiant pool. Fibrous tendrils-massive roots-rose from this pool and spread out across the floor, each terminating in a stone pod.

“It’s a creation forge,” whispered Lei. “This is what House Cannith uses to produce warforged.”

“So whoever’s running this place was using this to make the warforged army?” Daine said.

“They must be,” Lei said. “But only one who bears the Mark of Making can use a creation forge.”

“So … rogue heirs? Or was your house creating an army for its own ends?”

Lei shook her head. “It still doesn’t make sense. There’s no practical reason to produce such a diverse range of warforged. The labor and resources required to create the variety of designs we saw on the battlefield would be immense, and to what end?” She squinted down at the forge. “And the colors, the patterns … there’s something strange about this forge. I want to take a closer look.”

“Then let’s-”

Daine never finished the sentence. He’d been blinded by the spectacle of the forge, and he’d allowed their easy entry to make him overconfident. Black metal covered the warforged, and he was all but invisible against the chamber wall-until he moved. All Daine saw was a blur of motion, followed by a sickening crunch and a cry of pain as the construct smashed into Lei and sent her tumbling down the stairs.

The construct had a hunched, apelike posture. His arms were long and powerful, and he ran on all four limbs. His head and face were similar to Pierce’s, except for the mouth; he had a massive hinged jaw with blades fused along the rim, and this was gaping wide as the construct lunged at Daine.

Daine yearned to follow Lei, but if she was injured there was nothing he could do for her. He needed to clear a path so Jode could reach her. Was this when Krazhal died? he wondered. It was clear this creature wouldn’t fall easily, but right now Daine just wanted him to move. He lashed out with his blade, catching a ringing blow on the creature’s head; as he expected, it barely left a mark, but it drew the metal monster’s attention.

“Come on!” Daine cried, darting back a few steps.

His plan worked all too well. The warforged charged. It was the very move Daine wanted the construct to make, but he’d underestimated his opponent’s speed. The metal beast crashed into him, throwing him back to the floor. Light filled the room-Pierce’s flail-but the warforged monster was already towering over Daine, iron fists descending to crush flesh and bone.

No.

Once, Daine might have been too slow to evade the construct’s blows. In another time, another place, this might have been the end. Not here. He could feel the dragonfire in his blood, feel his anger and his concern for Lei, and it gave him strength and speed he’d never imagined possible. The warforged struck bare stone, scarring the finish. Daine was already standing, moving behind the creature, lashing out with sword and dagger. Pierce was at his side, and the enemy construct staggered beneath the blows of the glowing flail. But the fight was far from over.

For all his newfound strength, Daine’s sword was not the most effective weapon against the armored bulk of the iron beast. The construct turned his back on Daine, smashing Pierce with both fists. Pierce was stunned by the impact, and the enemy warforged grabbed him by both arms and lifted him off the ground. The construct’s intention was clear. He was going to tear Pierce limb from limb.

“No!” Dropping his sword, Daine gripped the hilt of his dagger with both hands and drove it into the construct’s back. No mundane metal could withstand the adamantine blade, and the dagger sunk deep. Calling on every ounce of his dream-inspired strength, Daine pulled down on the blade, carving a deep gouge where a human would keep his spine. For a moment there seemed to be no effect, and Daine could hear the tendrils snapping in Pierce’s joints. Then a shudder ran through the frame of the iron beast. He fell forward, collapsing on top of Pierce.

“Pierce? Pierce!” Daine struggled to push the beast off his companion. The dead construct shifted, and then fell to the side.

“I … am functional,” Pierce said. He rose slowly, one arm hanging at an awkward angle. “I thank you for your aid, Captain.”

“Everyone in one piece?” Jode’s voice rose from below. “We’ve got a little problem down here.”

Daine cursed. Quiet and careful. Could I have made myself any clearer?

He pulled his dagger from the ruined construct. “If you can use your bow, get it out,” he said to Pierce. He headed for the forge, taking the stairs two and three at a time.

Lei stood by the central trunk, studying the stone pillar, while Jode followed the path of one of the roots.

“What are you doing?” Daine grabbed Lei by the arm and whirled her around. She seemed unharmed by her fall-thanks, most likely, to Jode-and Daine’s anger warred with his relief.

“Examining the forge,” Lei replied.

Daine expected more from her. Lei had led a sheltered life, and when they’d first met she was certainly naive and arrogant, all too careless with her own safety. The war had changed her, and he’d come to rely on her courage and intelligence. But to indulge her love of research in the midst of an enemy stronghold, while Pierce was injured …

“Pierce needs help, now!”

Lei pulled away from him and turned back to the trunk. “You don’t understand. The forge-”

“-will wait,” Daine said, taking her arm again. “I need Pierce repaired now. The enemy could return at any time, and-”

The lights went out, and the room fell into utter darkness.

“Too late,” Lei said.

Crimson light filled the room. The central pool and every line on the wall that had been glowing before now burned with a blinding radiance. Daine threw up his hand to shield his eyes. A vast roar filled the hall, the sound buffeting Daine and driving out all other thought.

Daine barely realized when the sound and lights faded. His head was pounding, his vision scarred by the terrible light. He could see movement around him, shadowy shapes. He raised his sword, but his reflexes were still scattered. He felt a chill in his back, a burst of cold that spread out through his muscles, freezing him in place.

Then his vision returned. He was surrounded by warforged, at least a half-dozen of them, every one different. Some were unarmed, while others had spikes, claws, or other weapons merged into their limbs. The pods ringing the forge … Daine saw that they were hinged like coffins, and that they were open.

“Well, this is a surprise.”

The voice came from behind him. Daine tried to turn his head, but the magic holding him in place had paralyzed every muscle. He couldn’t even speak.

A man walked in front of him, a tall, lean man in a robe of shifting colors. His wavy red hair was streaked with gray, and his green eyes were hard as stone. He reached out and took hold of Daine’s chin, turning his head to study him.

“Daine of House Deneith, isn’t it? Now captain in the Cyran army?” The stranger’s voice was cold, and there was something terribly familiar about it. “Tell me, Daine, what have you done with my daughter?”