The Gates of Night_ The Dreaming Dark - Keith Baker [109]
And he wanted to hit something.
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.