The Shattered Land_ The Dreaming Dark - Keith Baker [133]
“Let me guess,” Daine said. “Without meaning to, we’ve just made plans to desecrate your holiest temple.”
Shen’kar looked at him, and Daine could feel his disdain. “Not ours,” he replied. “You know nothing of this land, is that not so?”
“I think ‘nothing’ is a little strong, but …”
Lakashtai raised her hand. “Warrior. If we have given offense through our actions, I assure you it was unintentional. We are no friends of these firebinders, and we hold them as our enemies. It seems we lack knowledge. Perhaps you can help us overcome this flaw.”
“All things have their price,” Shen’kar said. “What is it you offer in exchange for this wisdom?”
Lakashtai studied him carefully; Daine wondered if she was probing Shen’kar’s thoughts or simply reading his expression. “Gold and jewels are the currency of cities,” she replied, after a moment. “We are not merchants or explorers. We are soldiers, and we are fighting a war. Now we have learned that your foe is ours as well. With your knowledge, we can fight them. Otherwise, we may be tricked into doing their bidding.” She paused. “We ask for vengeance. We offer the blood of your enemies and our strength at your side.”
Weak as she was, Lakashtai had lost none of her charisma. The drow glanced at one another, and even the chainmaster clicked his tongue in affirmation. Shen’kar turned back to Daine and Lakashtai, and began his tale.
“In the first days, the mighty ones enslaved the people of the land—”
“‘Mighty ones?’ “Daine asked.
“Giants,” whispered Lakashtai. “Don’t interrupt.”
Shen’kar glared at Daine then returned to the story. “In the first days, the mighty ones enslaved the people of the land. The overlords were great and powerful. Their size and strength alone would have made them masters of the earth, and they possessed deadly magicks as well. The mighty ones ruled for age upon age, until the time of terror, when madness struck the minds of the mighty and tore through the veil of the world itself.”
Daine shot an inquiring glance at Lakashtai, and a second later her thoughts touched his. I believe he’s talking about the invasion from Dal Quor. Even I know little of what the giants faced, but the battle would have taken place in both dreams and reality.
“… host of horrors,” Shen’kar was saying, “but the mighty ones were wise as well as strong. They plucked a moon from the sky and used its power to force their foes into the darkness of the mind, where they were soon forgotten.”
The giants defeated the quori by severing the ties between Eberron and Dal Quor, Lakashtai explained. Ever since then, it has been virtually impossible for anything to physically travel between the two planes.
And the moon? Daine thought.
Legends say there was a thirteenth moon that disappeared long ago. He seems to be blaming it on these giants. Now hush.
“… battle had left marks on the land and weakened the once-mighty overlords,” Shen’kar continued. “Their slaves saw this weakness and rose up against their cruel masters. Small and cunning were these people, and the great size of the overlords often proved a hindrance. The wise among them took a troop of loyal slaves and imbued them with the essence of night—with the power to shape darkness and see through its depths, the strength to resist magic and the courage to face it. These dark soldiers and their children swore an oath to the overlords, promising to die in their service, and to bring death to all who stood against the masters.”
“Which brings us to the Oathbreakers?” Daine said
Shen’kar clicked his tongue. “The masters used many tricks to bind my ancestors to their service—magic, promises of immortality, threats—but the bravest children of night saw through these lies and turned against them. The pale slaves did not trust them, so they fought alone, battling the mighty and those slaves who remained in their service. So it continued until the destruction of the land, the Wrathful Night that brought the masters low. Today we are the masters of the land. The mighty ones have