The Gates of Night_ The Dreaming Dark - Keith Baker [84]
Lei filled her glass from the flagon by her plate, and blinked at the rising steam. “Blackroot tal,” she said. “With honey already mixed in.” She uncovered her plate and her eyes widened at the spread of meats and vegetables revealed beneath it.
None of this is what it seems, Shira informed Pierce. There is no danger, she added, before he could shape the question. This food and drink is formed of pure magical energy, and it will strengthen body and mind of the creature that consumes it. You should be able to eat such matter. It will be absorbed into the web of energy that gives you life.
Very well, Pierce thought. After years of watching others eat, he felt a certain level of excitement at the concept of eating his first meal. He removed the silver cover. The deep plate below was filled with a colorless paste. If there was an odor, it was too subtle for his senses.
Gruel.
His flagon proved to be filled with water. The others are eating the same thing, Shira observed. The magic responds to your memories, and you have no pleasant memories to draw upon.
Pierce tried a spoonful of the thick gruel. There was no noticeable taste, but Shira’s prediction was correct. The matter seemed to dissolve in his mouth. As he continued to eat, he felt a sense of strength and confidence. It was difficult to pinpoint, but he felt better than he had since they’d first set out to Xen’drik.
For a time, they dined in silence. They’d gone a long time without food, and Pierce’s companions were enraptured by the meal. As plates were finally cleared, a new figure entered the room. It seemed that all other light faded, and that she was the sole illumination in the room. The sparkling constellation above the table remained, but these tiny embers were eclipsed by the newcomer. There was no mistaking her. The Queen of Dusk had arrived.
The lady had the features of an elf, but she was taller than Pierce. Her dress was a marvel, a mirror of the sky. The gown was hemmed with pure gold, and the patterns woven into the thread burned with inner light. The skirt was the rosy hue of sunset clouds, while the colors shifted into the varied blues of a cloudy night above the waist. A net of gemstones gleamed in her long black hair, and she wore a circlet of silver with a crescent moon atop her brow. Beauty meant little to Pierce, as he had no biological response to such things. Yet Thelania transcended mere biology. There was a perfection to her form that made Pierce think of a perfectly balanced sword. Her beauty was an elemental force, and Pierce could feel the power of her presence, a thrill that ran through him when she looked his way. Pierce waited for Shira to identify the phenomenon, but his companion remained silent.
“Welcome.” The woman’s voice was pure music; while it had little impact on Pierce, he could gauge its sensuous power in Daine’s reaction. “We have much to discuss, and all too little time.”
“And what do we have to discuss?” Far from being awed by this otherworldly beauty, Lei sounded angry. “Do you even know who we are?”
Thelania showed no signs of anger, no signs of emotion whatsoever. Despite her beauty, there was something strangely inhuman about her; her calm features betrayed no hint of the thoughts below. “I know far more than you can imagine, Lei, once of House Cannith. I have been watching you throughout your life. I know the circumstances of your birth, and your true nature. And I know the disaster you have wrought in Xen’drik, however unwittingly.”
Blood rushed into Lei’s cheeks, but it was Daine who spoke first. “What are you talking about?”
“I speak of the Dreaming Dark, of the force that has used you since the day you arrived in Sharn. For tens of thousands of years they have been trapped in nightmare, awaiting their own destruction. Now you have given them the key to escape that prison and overrun your world.”
“We did this?” Daine said. “When?”
“The moon …” Lei breathed, her eyes distant.
The faerie queen smiled, but there was no warmth in it; this was the smile of