The Gates of Night_ The Dreaming Dark - Keith Baker [107]
Daine opened his eyes. “This will have to do, then.” He looked at the desert around them. “I see we’re back where we started. Where do we go from here?”
“The dragon told us of a path,” Pierce said. “A place of pain, a memory forgotten, a battle you have fought a hundred times.”
“What battle have we fought a hundred times?” Lei said. “We spent that one summer fighting Valenar, but not in one place.”
“Not you,” Daine said, a smile spreading across his face. “The dragon was speaking to me. And there is one battle that I have fought a hundred times and more, and a memory we have all forgotten. Jode, can you help me find a path?”
“Certainly,” Jode said, holding out his hand. “Where are we going?”
“Keldan Ridge,” Daine said. “And this time, we finish the battle.”
They walked across the desert, and the world slowly changed around them, becoming more like Cyre with every minute that passed. Perhaps this was normal for the others; perhaps reality always shifted in dreams. But Pierce had never had a dream, and it was disconcerting to see trees sprout from barren earth and day turn into night. Pierce had his greatbow in his hands, an arrow nocked to the string, and he did his best to maintain awareness of the surroundings, searching for any sign of enemy motion, as he had done on countless patrols since the time of his forging. But how could he be expected to prepare against an enemy when the land itself refused to hold one shape?
Pierce was still coming to terms with the flail he’d drawn from within, and the newfound capabilities of his quiver. Like Lei’s satchel, the space inside was larger than it appeared. In fact, there were two pockets, a narrow space filled with arrows, and the larger area that held the flail—and, as it turned out, could hold his bow. It was strange to think that he’d had this capability all along and never known it. He wondered if other secrets lay hidden within his frame.
“Sovereign lords,” whispered Lei.
Pierce had little use for wonder. He tried to analyze every situation, evaluating it from a tactical standpoint, searching for the threats hidden within. Yet the sight before him was enough to give him pause.
They stood on the edge of Keldan Ridge. Fires burned in the valley below, smoke rising from the shattered airship and torn tents. Corpses littered the field, Cyran soldiers intertwined with the warforged they’d fought that night. Pierce had no memory of how this battle had ended, but the beginning was fixed in his mind. The cries of the wounded. His comrades in arms—his friends—being butchered by these bizarre constructs. He remembered how those who survived the initial assault had looked at him, the fear in their eyes, as if they blamed him for the actions of the strange soldiers. The memory was strong, but Pierce had never dreamed, and he’d never thought to see this place again.
“There,” Daine said, pointing. A small group of soldiers made their way down the distant hill where the Cyrans had built their redoubt. It was hard to see much detail at such a distance, but Pierce could see the long wooden poles they carried—small trees, stripped of their limbs.
“It’s just as I dreamed it,” Daine said. “Lei, you set up a siege staff in the center of the valley—”
“I can’t build a siege staff,” Lei said, her gaze on the descending soldiers.
“I know. But the enemy didn’t. They sent out their soldiers to engage you. Jode, Krazhal, Kesht, and I used the confusion to enter the base. The tunnel should be … there. It’s concealed behind an illusion, but the earth is worn down around the entrance.”
“And what is inside this base?” Pierce said.
“I don’t know,” Daine replied. “In my other dreams, I never made it very far. All we know is that we somehow ended up on the Dorn Plateau by morning. Perhaps tonight we’ll find the answer.”
“Look, that’s me,” Lei said, pointing at the soldiers setting up the weapon in the center of the field. “You can see the green.”
“I told you,