City of Towers_ The Dreaming Dark - Keith Baker [123]
The altered humans were the lesser threat. The deadliest foe was Chyrassk. Now that Lei was on her feet and fully conscious, she recognized the creature from her studies—an illithid, a mindflayer, devourer of hope. These were the commanders of the armies of Xoriat, the Plane of Madness. It was said they had come to Eberron thousands of years in the past, in an extra-planar invasion that had devastated the empires of that age. An ancient order of druids had driven them and their armies into the depths of the earth, sealing them in the caverns of Khyber. Clearly those ancient bonds had grown weak if the flayers were preying on the surface once more.
Although it could consume a human brain in a matter of seconds, the greatest weapon of the illithid was its telepathic power. Even as Lei was rummaging for their weapons, Chyrassk unleashed a devastating mental shockwave. From Hugal to Daine, the creatures in the room gasped and twitched, their minds caught in the storm of conflicting thoughts. The one-armed man next to Hugal fell to the floor sobbing, and Hugal himself clutched at his head, his face a rictus of pain.
Lei struggled with the flood of emotions. Her mind was a blur—despair, hopelessness, and pain sought to overwhelm any sort of conscious thought. But she fought it. She clung to the memories of her companions—Jode’s laughter, Daine striding through the burning field at Keldan Ridge, the calm and gentle voice of Pierce. She remembered the challenges they had faced together, the forces they had overcome, and knew she could not falter now.
As suddenly as it had begun, the assault was over. The warforged were largely unaffected by the mental assault, as was Teral. Daine had withstood the attack, but his face was pale, his eyes haunted.
“Pierce!” he cried, his voice trembling. “Engage … leader … now!”
Pierce responded instantly. Dropping his bow, he charged Chyrassk, drawing his long flail as he ran. The mindflayer hissed, and a bolt of pure mental force engulfed Pierce. Even the inhuman consciousness of the warforged was not enough to shield him from its effects. But while the blow would have reduced a human to drooling catatonia, Pierce was only momentarily dazed. Within seconds he had reached Chyrassk, and the mindflayer barely avoided the first sweeping blow of the flail.
“Daine!” Lei called.
She threw his adamantine dagger through the air. It was a good throw, but he barely managed to catch it with one manacled hand. And not a moment too soon. Hugal had recovered, and he leveled a sweeping blow at Daine with his own sword. Daine flung himself to the side, but he couldn’t move fast enough, and the Deneith blade raked his ribs. Hugal cackled.
He wasn’t laughing for long. Lei produced the wand she’d stolen from her cousin, and she flung a crackling bolt of energy at Huhal. But the man seemed to have eyes in the side of his head, and he moved with unnatural speed. The lightning flew over him as he ducked and spun. Righting himself, he ran for Lei.
The distraction was enough. Gripping his chains with his left hand and bracing against the wall with his feet, Daine pulled himself up and slashed at the length of loose chain above his right wrist. No metal could stand against an adamantine edge, and the chain parted as if it were simple rope. Daine fell to the floor, his sore muscles causing him to cry out in pain. But there was no time to indulge the agony. Hugal had backed Lei into the corner of the room, and the wand was no match for the sword.
With a length of chain dangling from his left wrist, Daine charged for Hugal. He lashed out with the chain, but his foe turned, slipping under Daine’s attack with unnatural ease.
“You’re no match for me, Daine,” Hugal said with a laugh. He spun out of the path of Daine’s dagger, and for a moment Daine was looking right at the tip of Lei’s wand. A second later, Hugal’s blade raked across Daine’s back even as he turned. “I have extra eyes inside my mind. I can