The Gates of Night_ The Dreaming Dark - Keith Baker [40]
Lei didn’t know what to say.
“What’s going on?” Daine said, trying to peer over his shoulder.
In the end, it was Xu’sasar who spoke. “You have red and black lines spread across your back, much like the wards of the warrior that grace my skin. Did you not earn this honor?”
“Lei?” Daine said. “What’s she talking about?”
“It’s a dragonmark,” Lei said, her voice little more than a whisper. “An aberrant dragonmark.”
You carry the greatest treasure of the house in your veins. Your blood is our power. This is a glorious gift, and a fearsome responsibility.
Daine had abandoned House Deneith many years ago. Even as a child, he hadn’t paid much heed to his father’s lessons. At the time, it had seemed like so much arrogant propaganda, designed to preserve the power of the dragonmarked bloodlines. Daine had dismissed the warnings against mixing the blood of two houses, and the tales of the bitter war fought to purge this tainted blood. That was before Sharn. Now Daine remembered the wild eyes of the little girl who spoke to rats, and the chilling touch of the rotting man.
As our blood can produce champions, so can it produce monsters.
Rage and fear warred within him. Daine wanted to shout, to deny it, but even as he drew in his breath he knew it was the truth. Now that he knew it for what it was, Daine could feel the mark on his back. It was as if three living serpents had been fused to his flesh. He could sense the pattern they formed, their coils intertwined and woven together in an intricate pattern. Worse than that, he could feel them writhing. The terrible itching was no rash: it was the mark, moving against his skin.
“How?” he asked.
Lei shook her head. Fear rimmed her eyes, and Daine couldn’t decide if she was afraid for him or afraid of him. Lei had taken the lessons of her house to heart, and Daine remembered her horror when they encountered the aberrants of Sharn.
Daine took a step toward her, and Lei shrank away from him. Pierce moved between them, and a chill settled over Daine’s heart. He was certain that Pierce knew he wasn’t a threat, that the warforged was simply acting to reassure Lei. Nonetheless, the two were the only anchors he had left in the world, and to have both desert him at once …
Vertigo swept over him. The world spun around Daine, the ground rushed toward him, and his head slammed into the soil. Then he felt Lei’s hand wrap around his. Drawing strength from that contact, Daine pushed back the nausea. He made a cage of his thoughts and wrapped it around the writhing vipers, crushing them into a ball of energy and forcing it into the darkness.
Daine opened his eyes. His face was still pressed against wet grass, and his skin was clammy with sweat. The woman holding his hand braced herself and helped pull Daine to his feet.
“Thanks,” he said. He reached out to embrace his benefactor, and then stopped short in surprise. A woman had come to his aid, but it wasn’t Lei holding his hand … it was Xu’sasar. The drow’s silver eyes were locked on his, twin moons gleaming in the dark woods. In the past her pale gaze had always been unnerving; now it seemed softer. Still, it was not the face Daine had expected to see, and he pulled away.
Now Pierce was there, towering over him. “Can you stand, Captain?”
“I think I’m fine now,” he said. And it was true. The crawling, itching sensation was gone. He could feel the spark of energy burning within him, but it wasn’t entirely painful. He found that he felt sharper, more alert. Even the smell of fresh grass seemed strong and clear. For a moment he wondered … “Is it still there?”
“Yes,” Lei said. “I—” Her voice caught in her throat as Daine turned to face her.
“Fernia’s flames!” he swore. “We’re in the middle of the thrice-damned forest of eternal night. I didn’t ask for this to happen, and there’s no time for us to turn on each other. Lei, I don’t care how scared you are, I need you to tell me what’s going on!”
“Perhaps you did.” Pierce’s voice was steady and calm, slow flowing water.
“What?”
“Perhaps you did ask for it to happen.”
“What are you