The Gates of Night_ The Dreaming Dark - Keith Baker [38]
The boar laid a mighty blow across Daine’s back, tearing through his armor and slamming him to the ground. Time shattered, and images flashed through Lei’s mind—blood dripping from the beast’s tusks; Daine on the ground, struggling to rise; Xu’sasar leaping into the creature’s gaping maw. And then Lei found herself beside the beast, its rank odor washing over her as she darted around a massive hoof. She didn’t remember moving. Rage, fear, and the howling song of her staff drowned out all thought as she lashed out again and again.
Her staff struck empty air. Flesh and blood transformed into black smoke, boiling out and over her. Warm wind and dark fog blotted out moonlight and moor.
When Lei’s vision cleared, everything had changed. The moonlight outlined the lean shapes of a dozen giants, reaching for her with emaciated limbs. She spun around, fighting back panic. The creatures were all around her, and her companions were nowhere to be seen. Even her staff had fallen silent. She was alone. Mastering her fear, she raised her staff and waited for her enemies to strike.
No one moved. Lei’s eyes adjusted to the darkness, and things became clear.
Trees surrounded her.
The moor had become a forest, and the trees weren’t the only change. Moist, warm air flowed around her, rich with the smell of moss and sweet flowers. Calls of night birds merged with the sounds of insects and frogs.
Lei cursed her stupidity. Teleportation, I suppose. At the same time, something about her surroundings was deeply disturbing, beyond the sudden change. The gnarled hulks of the trees seemed to move in the shadows, in ways that couldn’t be justified by the slight wind. At the edge of her vision the trees were twisted into contorted human shapes, and she could almost see screaming faces pressing out from the trunks … but when she turned to look, the shadowy images fell away, leaving plain wood and bark.
“My lady?”
Shock and relief rushed over Lei as the warforged stepped out from behind a tree. “Pierce! What happened?”
“I do not know. I had one arrow left, which I intended to use in close combat. I saw Daine rise to his feet and strike the beast. Then I found myself in this place.”
“Daine!” A chill ran through her heart. She’d thought she was alone, but if Pierce was here … Lei charged through the trees, ignoring clawing branches and leaping over roots as she tried to remember exactly which direction Daine had been in.
Lei found him sprawled across the ground, his sword a few inches from his outstretched hand. Blood glittered on the grass.
Xu’sasar knelt over him, and she glared at Lei like a challenged cat. Lei felt her fury grow … then she saw what Xu’sasar was doing. The dark elf had removed Daine’s cloak and cut it into strips. She had bound the smaller wounds and was applying pressure to the deep cut on Daine’s back.
Lei stepped forward. “Let me—”
The drow’s hostile gaze stopped her short.
“I protect him,” Xu’sasar snapped. There was something in her hand, a curved rod of ivory.
“Then you’ll let me work,” Lei said.
“You know nothing,” Xu’sasar said. “You would send him to your cold and empty place of death.”
“Daine’s on the brink of death, and you’re arguing cosmology? Get back, girl. I know you mean well, but he needs my help. Out of my way, or we’ll all die together.”
Lei could feel Pierce behind her; he might only have one arrow, but his strength and speed could make all the difference if it came to a fight.
Xu’sasar held Lei’s gaze, her silver eyes glowing in the light of the moon. Then she vaulted backward, a swift flip that brought her down a few feet away.
“Save him, or we will all die together,” she said.
Lei barely heard the threat. She knelt