The Gates of Night_ The Dreaming Dark - Keith Baker [66]
The Karrnarthi attacks were designed to cause terror. Karrnath couldn’t bring serious firepower to bear so far within Cyre’s borders, but the firestrikes sent ripples of fear and uncertainty throughout the populace. And the damage was done. This morning, Daine had stepped over the charred body of a child on the way to the market. It wasn’t his concern. He had a duty to his family. He—
“Living in the past?”
For a moment the speaker was a child wearing a blue mask shaped like a dragon’s head, one of the many revelers around him. Then the party was gone the mask with it.
Jode smiled. “Don’t you think it’s time to put it behind you?”
They were on an airship, one of the largest Daine had seen. The ocean below was a sea of clouds. “Where are we going?” he said.
“Do we need to go anywhere?”
“I suppose not.”
They watched in silence, Daine simply basking in his friend’s company. The setting sun painted the clouds orange and gold, and as it slipped beneath the surface, three moons claimed possession of the sky.
Jode took Daine’s hand. No … this hand was too large to be Jode, too small for Pierce.
“Daine,” a voice whispered. It was Lei.
He turned to her, and now he was on a tiny gray bed in a tiny gray room. She was stretched out before him, and she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Her skin seemed to glow in the moonlight, and her hair was aflame.
“Daine,” she said.
He tried to speak and found that he had no voice. But the emotion demanded release. There was no time for thought as he kissed her. Her hand traced patterns of fire across the back of his neck, but she fell into his arms, warm and yielding.
“Do you wish privacy for this act?”
Xu’sasar stood at the foot of the bed, watching them. Lei stiffened, pulled away, and Daine realized that he wasn’t dreaming at all. Lei pulled the gray blanket up and around her, her pale skin flushed.
Daine sat up and snapped at Xu’sasar, anger mingling with his own embarrassment. At least, he tried to. No sound came from his mouth. Slowly the events of the night came back to him.
“Daine?” Lei said, clearly wondering why he hadn’t answered.
“He cannot speak,” Xu’sasar said. If she was uncomfortable, she didn’t show it. “I do understand your head motions. Do you wish me to leave?”
As angry as Daine was, he knew this wasn’t Xu’sasar’s fault. She’d been in the room to begin with, and he had no idea what the customs of her people were. Damn it, she can see in the dark! Then it occurred to him. It was still dark. How long had he been asleep?
The door opened, and Pierce entered. Lei leapt out of bed, a sound between laugh and sob escaping her lips. She wrapped her arms around the warforged, and he returned the embrace.
“It is good to see you well again, my lady,” he said, his low voice filling the room.
The darkness beyond the window, the curse of silence, the mysterious journey that still lay ahead—these things would sort themselves out in time. For now, they were together again, and that was all that mattered. Daine smiled like a fool, and he couldn’t have stopped if he’d wanted to. Xu’sasar watched him, waiting for an answer, and he looked at her and shook his head.
“What happened?” Lei said when she finally released Pierce. “Where are we?”
“Not far from the river where you had your accident, my lady. We were able to find shelter in this inn, so that you could rest. By the bell in the common room, eight hours have passed since our arrival.”
Eight hours? The faint moonlight beyond the dusty window was just as it had been when they arrived. The room looked just the same as it had when he had fallen asleep. Thrice-damned world of darkness.
But none of it mattered now that Lei was awake.