The Gates of Night_ The Dreaming Dark - Keith Baker [119]
“It is one manifestation of the Dreaming Dark,” Pierce said, allowing Shira to speak through him. “As is the stone we stand on. In some ways, the tower will behave like a living creature. Pierce a wall, and it will bleed. But there is no intelligence behind its actions, and it cannot sense our presence.”
“It’s the Tower of a Thousand Teeth,” Lei said. “That’s where the dragons told us the orb was hidden.”
“So where are the guards?” Daine said. “I don’t like this.”
Once again, Pierce gave voice to Shira’s thoughts. “The guards are all around us, Captain. The quori don’t believe that it is possible for anyone to teleport to this place. We are at the heart of an army, and any intruder would have to fight his way through thousands of nightmare spirits. With luck the lords of this realm will have seen no need for additional security.”
“Let’s not rely on luck,” Daine said, as he examined the tower. “It’s small, so prepare for close quarters. Pierce, ready your flail. Lei, how are you holding up?”
“Close to the edge,” she replied. “Fighting Harmattan took a lot out of me.”
“Jode?”
Jode rubbed a hand across the top of his head. “I’ve got a little more magic in me, I think. Just try not to lose a limb.”
Daine nodded. “Lei, get Pierce patched up as best as you can, then take a look at the path. It’d be a fool’s death to come this far and then step on a blast disk.”
There are no blast disks, or mystical wards of any sort.
“There are no blast disks,” Pierce said.
“I’d like to hear that from Lei,” Daine said.
He doesn’t trust me, Shira thought. Perhaps he is wise. I can feel the darkness growing within me. But I will die before it turns me against you. And I will die soon.
Pierce felt a pang of sorrow, but he knew nothing could be done. He could feel Shira’s thoughts growing weaker every time she communicated. Once her presence had been as strong as his; now her thoughts were faint echoes in the back of his mind.
Stay close to Lei, Shira told him. My strength fades quickly, and should you stray too far from her, the connection will be lost.
Lei finished her work on Pierce and turned her attention to the plateau, taking a few steps in the direction of the tower. “No blast disks, nothing at all,” she said. “It’s clear from here.”
“Then I suggest we get inside,” Jode said. “We may be far from that army below, but some of my nightmares have wings, and I don’t want to be standing here in the open when one of them comes along.”
“Agreed,” said Daine. He drew his sword, and the Watchful Eye engraved on the hilt flashed in the night. “Pierce, at my side. Lei, directly behind, and watch for wards.”
No threats emerged from the darkness as they crossed the plateau; no horrors fell from the sky or rose from the plains below. There was only one problem: opening the dragon’s jaws. Teeth and fleshy walls resisted both Lei’s magic and Daine’s adamantine blade.
This is the dream of the darkness itself, Shira told him. Force will not avail you here. Only willpower can open the gates. Imagination is the key.
Daine looked skeptical when Pierce relayed the message, but Jode understood.
“All the pieces are in place,” he said. “Daine, I don’t understand this power we seem to have, but we are stronger together. Lei’s mother said you’d have to ‘use your gift to the fullest measure.’ I think we can make the jaws open.”
“Just by thinking about it?” Daine said.
“Just by thinking about it.”
“It’s worth a try,” Daine said. He looked at each of them in turn. “This is it, then. I don’t know if we’ll all come out of this alive—”
“I doubt I will,” Jode said. He sighed. “Sorry, I know, not a moment for levity.”
“No, you’re right, Jode,” Daine said. “You’ve already sacrificed your life, and now I’m asking you to risk your soul. But look off the edge of that cliff. I thought the Mourning was the worst disaster I’d ever see. But I’ll be damned to Dolurrh before I let that horde reach Khorvaire.”
He turned to face Pierce. “When I first met you, I knew little about the warforged. I’m ashamed to say I thought of you as an object. A