The Shattered Land_ The Dreaming Dark - Keith Baker [126]
Quickly! Lakashtai was standing thirty feet further down the bridge, her neck swathed in a halo of golden light. A drow soldier was charging at her with his spear lowered, but the kalashtar raised her hand and stood her ground. A cone of sparkling green light blazed forth from her palm, and the elf staggered back and fell; as Daine drew closer, he saw that each sparkling light had been a shard of crystal, and this storm of glass had shredded the flesh of the unfortunate elf.
“Hold tight,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around him once more.
This time Daine could see clearly, and for a moment he found it strangely difficult to obey the command, but she was holding on to him, and as she began to rise into the air reflex took over and locked her in his arms.
Lakashtai had brought them beneath one of the gaping holes in the ceiling, and now they rose up and out of the chamber. The roof was surprisingly thick, but a moment later they were out in open air, gazing out across the orange and red canopy of the jungle. From this perspective, the castle was a ruin. The battlements were uneven, the towers were shattered, and there were a dozen holes in the roof, but as old and damaged as it was, there was one thing that truly stood out: it was on fire.
The entire fortress was built from obsidian, and the outermost walls were brilliant orange. The heat was even worse that the wall of flame. The roof around them looked like it might actually be molten; Daine couldn’t see what was keeping it from flowing down into the chambers below.
For a moment they hung there, just above the burning castle.
“What are you waiting for?” Daine whispered. His neck ached, and he was all too aware of the pit below them. “Let’s go!”
“It is not that simple,” Lakashtai replied, studying the molten glass. “It is a trivial matter to move across the vertical axis, but horizontal motion is—”
“Just do something!”
“Lift up your feet.”
“What?”
Do it! The thought was a command, and the next thing he knew, Daine’s feet were wrapped tightly around Lakashtai’s waist. To his utter surprise, she actually closed her eyes … and charged forward into the glass.
The roof was just as hot as it appeared, and her feet sunk deep into the molten surface. She should have been burnt to ash, but instead, there was a flash of light.
The shield!
It seemed that the mental field she had created to protect against the collar extended across her entire body. As Daine watched, she pulled her foot free and took another step forward. Her feet were surrounded by a blinding radiance, as the heat of the molten glass was transformed into pure light. Step by step, Lakashtai pulled them across the boiling roof, until they finally reached the edge of the wall.
“One moment more,” Lakashtai said, her voice barely a whisper.
She had opened her eyes, and for the moment the serene mask of the kalashtar had fallen; her face was filled with pain and pure determination. She stepped off the edge of the shattered battlement, and they fell toward the earth.
Seconds later they hit the ground. Lakashtai’s powers held to the last second, but as soon as they touched soil she released Daine and fell forward. She would have collapsed if he hadn’t caught her by the shoulders to steady her.
“It’s all right,” he said. “Let me carry you.”
He swept her off her feet and ran for the cover of the foliage. Behind him, he could hear sentries calling out in the musical tongue of the elves, but he didn’t stop to try to decipher the meaning, and a moment later he was hidden in the cool darkness of the jungle.
The next hour was a blur as they forced their way deeper into the jungle. Daine didn’t even try to find a path; he just tumbled recklessly forward, trying to put as much distance as he could between them and the burning castle. He plunged on, struggling to ignore his aching muscles and the collar of seared flesh around his neck, but he could only stay ahead of the pain for so long. Eventually he stumbled and collapsed to the ground, his breath coming in ragged gasps.