The Gates of Night_ The Dreaming Dark - Keith Baker [112]
“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?”
His creation forge was strange, like no design Lei had ever seen. She’d never been trained to operate a creation forge. The position of forgemaster was one that needed to be earned. But while she had no hands-on experience with these artifacts, she’d spent her childhood learning all she could about them. Living in a warforged foundry, it was hardly surprising that she’d be fascinated by the forges. One touch was all she’d needed to see that the forge was in the final stages of a production cycle. She’d tried to interface with the pillar, hoping she could find some way to disrupt the energies within. Even if Daine had left her alone, it was a hopeless task. She’d never seen anything so complex.
Knowing what to expect from the forge, Lei was able to cover her eyes in time to preserve her vision. But she could do nothing about the overwhelming noise. Struggling to stay on her feet, she reached down and pulled the darkwood staff from her satchel. Keeping her eyes tightly closed, she leaned on the staff, drawing comfort from its presence.
At last the thunder faded. Lei opened her eyes, but just as she feared, the containment pods were open and warforged soldiers were emerging from each one. In a traditional Cannith facility, these newborn soldiers would be confused, requiring direction and instruction. Not so the warforged of Keldan Ridge, who seemed to have a clear purpose in mind: apprehend the intruders.
Daine was dazed. Jode was nowhere to be seen. Pierce, by her side, loosed an arrow from his bow, burying the shaft in the leathery throat of a warforged scout.
They’re warforged, Lei thought. I know how to fight warforged.
She readied the necessary patterns of magic in her mind, infusions that would shatter and destroy whatever construct she touched. She reached out for the nearest warforged—and everything went numb.