The Gates of Night_ The Dreaming Dark - Keith Baker [47]
“Then cross the river, and do not return.” The serpent lowered its flat head, and Daine gingerly stepped atop it. The creature raised him up, and a moment later he was walking cautiously along the snake’s length, struggling to keep his balance. Soon he was on the opposite shore. Pierce could just see him leaping down from the serpentine bridge.
Now the beast fixed Xu’sasar with its stare. “Child of the scorpion, tell me truly, what has your journey cost?”
Xu’sasar didn’t pause. “The lives of my family, the lives of my foes, and my place in Final Lands.”
The serpent lowered its head and Xu’sasar raced up and across its back, seeming as comfortable on the scaled bridge as she was on the ground. Now only Pierce and Lei remained, and the snake looked at Lei.
“Tell me, shaper, and tell me truly, where did your journey begin?”
Lei’s brow furrowed in thought. Pierce tried to imagine what answer he would give. Did the beast mean this recent journey, which began in the Monolith of Karul’tash … or perhaps in Sharn, depending how far back one went? Or was it speaking of a longer journey?
“My journey began in my mother’s womb,” Lei said. There was a slight tremor of uncertainty in her voice, but the snake lowered its head for her. Lei slid her staff into her bag, freeing both hands, and made her way up onto the creature’s back. Slowly, carefully, she made her way out across the river.
“You have much to learn,” the serpent hissed.
And it bucked.
The movement hurled Lei up into the air, and Pierce could see that she would come down in the water. He charged into the river. He’d forded rivers in the past; he had little skill when it came to swimming, but he didn’t need to breathe, and the water was calm and still. He wondered what dangers might wait in the water, but he had no intention of allowing Lei to face them alone.
The water barely reached his hips. This was no river; it was little more than a wide stream. There was a massive splash as Lei struck the water, followed by a disturbing stillness. She did not thrash about, or even rise to break the surface of the river. Pierce pressed forward, struggling against the mass of water.
She is alive. Shira’s thought brought a flood of relief, and even as he moved forward he knew Lei’s approximate location. He shifted his course and reached down, pulling a soaking Lei up from the riverbed. She lay limp in his arms. Her eyes were closed, her skin pale.
She is alive.
Tell me, shaper, and tell me truly, where did your journey begin?”
Daine could barely see Pierce and Lei in the shadows across the river. But the snake was still speaking through both its mouths. Daine and Xu’sasar stood on the far shore, where the serpent was wrapped around another pillar of dark stone. The creature was ignoring them, and its golden gaze was fixed on the opposite shore.
Shaper, Daine thought. That has to be Lei. Sure enough, a slender shape rose up onto the serpent’s back and began the crossing. Daine remembered just how treacherous that passage had been. The scales of the snake were smooth and slippery, its flesh yielding beneath his boots. His heart leaped every time he saw Lei miss a step, but she always managed to recover.
“You have much to learn,” the serpent hissed.
Daine saw Lei thrown into the air. He felt his feet pounding across the soil, breath filling his lungs as a shout built inside him. But the shout never came, and he never reached the water. A moment of pain, a swift blow against the back of his legs, and Daine tumbled down against dirt and grass.
Xu’sasar was upon him. She gripped his neck with one hand and pressed three fingers against the base of his spine. A surge ran through his nerves, a flash of adrenaline and pain, and every muscle in his body went rigid. Fury and fear for Lei flooded his mind, and he struggled against the treacherous drow, but to no avail. She held herself steady as a statue, and as long as she remained still, he found he was powerless.
“You have crossed the river,” Xu’sasar said. “You cannot return!”
Daine wanted to