The Gates of Night_ The Dreaming Dark - Keith Baker [59]
There was a hiss, and her father clenched his teeth. Aleisa rushed to his side, her hand on his arm. “Talin!”
His face twisted in pain, but intense concentration soon pushed away the agony. He opened his eyes, staring down at the hand, and the fingers flexed. He was controlling the hand as if it were his own. “Success,” he said. “Now give me the key.”
Aleisa rummaged through her own pouch and produced a flat metal disk. “I just hope you can remove it when this is done,” she said. “Luck has been with us this far, but I think Merrix would notice that.”
“It would be just the way of our guide to leave me bound to this thing,” Talin said. He pressed the disk against the palm of the warforged claw; when Talin removed his hand, the disk remained fused to the gauntlet. “But it is too early in the game, beloved. We will not be sacrificed so soon.”
Talin turned and embraced Aleisa. Lei wasn’t sure she could remember ever having seen them kiss, and the sight was both heartwarming and disturbing. For all his calm words, she could sense her father’s fear, something else she had never seen. Finally Talin pulled away from his wife and knelt next to the patch of glass. He looked up at her and smiled once more, then he pressed the warforged hand against the glass.
The air above the glass rippled with energy. The glass grew red with heat, collapsed in upon itself, and cooled. Now, in place of the obsidian circle, a set of glass stairs descended down into darkness.
Talin raised his hand, and cold fire wrapped his staff. In silence, the two began the descent into the passage, and Lei found herself drifting forward to follow them. The enormous steps and the height of the ceiling left no question as to the origin of this place. This was a compound of the ancient giants.
The air was still and silent. Aleisa took the lead, and she drew a different wand, darkwood bound with strips of red gold. Her goggles shimmered in the shadows as she studied the floor, and she flinched. “There,” she said, pointing at the floor ahead. “I’ve never seen a glyph with such power. Ah! It’s blinding!”
Talin came forward, the warforged fist held out like a shield. He stretched out his hand, palm first, as if pressing against a physical force. Once again, there was a ripple in the air. “Clear?” he said.
Aleisa nodded, and they continued through the hall. Soon the corridor came to an end, a tall archway opening into a vast chamber. Aleisa walked through the doorway, glancing.
The blade missed her by inches.
Watching from the hallway, all Lei saw was a section of the obsidian sword. Her mother saw her attacker just in time, and threw herself to the side as the blade came crashing down. As the sword rose again, Talin charged into the room, and Lei’s vision followed with him.
A giant, a tall warrior with jet-black skin and glistening ebon armor, towered over Talin. The giant held a glass sword in two hands. The blade flashed toward Talin, breaking the man’s staff and scattering glowing shards of wood across the chamber. Talin didn’t hesitate. Stepping forward and under the sword, he placed his human hand against the giant’s leg. A crackling filled the air, and Lei saw fissures run across the giant’s armor and skin. That was when she realized that the giant was a statue—an animated warrior. Her father struck at the magic that empowered the creature, as Lei had when she had fought warforged.
The giant emitted no cry of pain, just as it had given no warning when