The Shattered Land_ The Dreaming Dark - Keith Baker [122]
“We cannot open these doors with the key?”
No, Harmattan hissed. The key … it is not so much a key as a lock-pick. It was not created by those who made this vault but rather by their enemies. Unfortunately for us, those who built the vault thought to add a second system of defense. He began walking along the edge of the northern wall, studying the panels. Indigo stayed with him; Pierce started to explore the other wall, but once he drifted too far from Indigo the darkness became too deep.
This is the one, Harmattan said. He stood aside, and Indigo produced a series of small tools; Pierce had seen Lei use similar items when breaking down protective wards.
“Our prisoner is in there?” Pierce said, still puzzled.
Yes, Harmattan replied. With his help, we shall unlock the gates of Karul’tash, and then—we shall see what fate has in store for us.
Karul’tash—the name was familiar, but Pierce couldn’t place it. He watched Indigo. She worked in silence, her attention completely focused on the task. A moment later, the sigil in the center of the panel began to glow, and this light spread out in a vertical line. Once the door was bisected, the panel swung inwards with a faint hiss. The chamber within was rectangular, padded with dark fabric. It held one object: a metal sphere two inches in diameter. It was forged from silver or mithral and polished to a mirror finish, its surface studded with red and gold dragonshards.
Yes, Harmattan said. We have found it. He reached forward and drew the sphere out of the vault; it was almost lost in his massive hand.
“This is a prisoner?” Pierce said.
It is a vessel—a housing for sentience, not unlike our own. It—He paused abruptly and raised the sphere closer to his glowing eyes. Something is wrong. I can barely sense the energies within.
Indigo glanced at the sphere. “Perhaps we chose the wrong vault. It would be dangerous, but I could try to open another.”
No. This is the key, and we would not have been sent all this way or found our brother Pierce, if this was not the path of destiny. There must be an answer.
Harmattan looked at Pierce and extended his hand. Perhaps—
And the sword came down.
The glass giant in the center of the room had sprung to life. It had no joints, but it moved anyway, as if obsidian were as flexible as flesh. The massive great sword slammed through Harmattan’s right arm and completely severed it. Whatever force was binding the arm together dissolved, and it disintegrated into a mass of metal shards, falling to the floor. The sphere was thrown from his hand and rolled into the darkness.
Harmattan hissed in rage. Even as the glass giant raised its sword for another blow, Harmattan flew forward, exploding into a whirlwind of steel. The shattered remnants of his arm were swept up off of the floor to join the storm of razors. The maelstrom struck the statue with the sound of a hundred knives on glass, and slivers of stone scattered through the air.
“INDIGO, STAND READY!” Harmattan’s voice thundered through the chamber, louder than Pierce would have thought possible. “PIERCE, HYDRA, FIND THAT ORB!!!”
Pierce had seen the sphere fall, and he traced the path through the darkness. Behind him, he could hear the blade of the glass warrior smashing into the floor. Harmattan might be indestructible, but he was at his deadliest when fighting creatures of flesh; he was slowly chipping away the surface of the statue, but it would take time to bring it down.
“NOW!”
Turning, Pierce saw that Harmattan had drawn back from the giant and was reforming his humanoid shape. Indigo spun forward, her adamantine blades glittering in the darkness. Pierce had seen Daine cut through stone and steel with his adamantine dagger, and Indigo’s swords were just as strong. She moved with inhuman speed and precision, dodging a blow that would have split her in two and rolling between the statue’s legs. Coming up behind it, she slashed at its