The Fading Dream_ Thorn of Breland - Keith Baker [92]
Drix finished him before the blow ever landed. The light faded, leaving only the broken bolt and scraps of black cloth.
“This isn’t going to help my reputation,” Thorn said. She wanted to sit down. Her leg ached, the stone in her neck was throbbing, and all of a sudden, she felt the weight of it all pressing down on her.
“You can do this,” Drix said as he reloaded the crossbow. “You’ve got to. This is the last of the bolts that I charged. And that’s it. Behind that doorway.”
Thorn forced her doubts down, concentrating on the gilded portal. “I don’t sense any wards. Together, then, if you’re ready?”
Drix nodded, smiling.
With her stolen wand in one hand and Steel in the other, Thorn planted a kick in the center of the door. It flew open and as it did, the room around them changed. Walls sprang up and they weren’t in a hallway any longer. They were in a dining hall. The same feasting hall they’d just walked through, only it was filled with life. Logs crackled in the fireplace, and a bard was singing in the distance, a piece of the “Song of the Stormblade.”
Thorn glanced at Drix. There were revelers all around them, yet they appeared to be ignoring them completely. Thorn tried to watch them all, but there were simply too many. Still, she didn’t see any weapons beyond the knives people had for their meat. She truly didn’t see anyone paying any unusual attention to them.
“Are we still not eating?” Drix whispered.
“Oh, I insist,” a voice boomed. “Please, make yourself comfortable. I assure you, I mean you no harm.”
People moved out of the way as Shan Doresh stepped into the firelight. His crescent brooch gleamed against his black cloak, and he held a long scepter in one hand topped with the same eye-and-moon symbol. He appeared just as he had at the Silver Tree, with a warm smile and gleaming eyes.
“Please,” he said. “You have broken in like common thieves. You have assaulted my guards. And all that I have done in return is to prepare a feast in your honor.”
“We’ve been in your kitchen,” Thorn said. “I don’t think I have the stomach for your delicacies.” She kept her eyes locked on Doresh, ready to throw Steel at the first sign of treachery. Meanwhile, every moment was an opportunity to study the fey prince, to search for the opening she’d need for a quick kill.
Doresh shook his head sadly. “Come now. Remember where you are and who brought us to this.” A little anger found its way into his voice. “I remember a time when this was a place of purest beauty, harmony unmatched by the Tree itself. We fought to defend our people, and for that we were merged with this horror. We have made the best we could of an untenable situation. You will see terrible things in this place, Thorn. And some of them you brought with you. That is the nature of the fortress. But we need not be enemies.”
“Is that so?” Thorn said. “We’ve come for the treasures you stole from the Silver Tree.”
“No,” Doresh said, and his voice grew cold. “You are here because I wished it. And you will stay until our business is concluded.”
Drix hesitated but Thorn did not. When Drix paused, she pulled the crossbow from his hand and loosed the bolt at Doresh’s throat. Her aim was true, and there was a blinding flash of light as the shard-tip shattered against him and the energy engulfed the eladrin lord.
It can’t be that simple, Thorn thought.
It wasn’t. Shan Doresh was still standing when the light faded. He was revealed for what he truly was. A moment earlier he’d worn the guise Thorn knew from her dream. That might have been the man Shan Doresh wanted to be, but it wasn’t the man he was anymore. He still wore his silvered armor, but scales were missing from his jerkin. His handsome