The Shattered Land_ The Dreaming Dark - Keith Baker [39]
As Lakashtai was talking, Daine bumped into Lei. When she glanced at him, Daine rubbed the palm of his left hand with his index and forefinger. Web, he mouthed silently.
Lei looked surprised but slid a hand into one of the pockets of her pack, coming up with a small clay disk.
“What’s Kashtai have to say right now?” Daine said.
“It is not so simple, Daine. She does not speak in words. Her memories … they simply rise to the surface when needed. She is part of me.”
“Well, not to question her guidance, but let’s try a shortcut.” Daine put an arm on Lakashtai’s shoulder and steered her down an alleyway off the main street.
Lakashtai resisted at first, then shrugged and allowed Daine to lead the way. With a careful glance back Daine saw that the man in the dark cloak had followed as well—and he had a friend, likewise shrouded in black, with the distinctive shape of a shortsword visible in the folds of his cloak.
Not a problem, Daine thought. Two we can handle. Just a little further.
He was prepared for two, even three. He hadn’t counted on five.
Just as Daine was preparing to turn on the two men shadowing them, three new figures stepped out of the shadows that lay ahead. They were dressed alike in loose black cloaks and robes hemmed in labyrinthine patterns of silver thread, faces hidden beneath hoods and silver veils. The man in the lead held a long, curved blade that appeared to be carved from a single piece of glass, and there was a glitter of chainmail beneath his cloak. The woman at his side held a blade of steel. These two were blocking the alleyway, but Daine caught a glimpse of the woman behind them and didn’t like what he saw. She carried no weapons but held a crystal in one hand. Daine knew enough to recognize someone used to using magic in battle.
Daine cursed. These back alleys were a maze, and he’d chosen at random—how could these strangers have predicted his path?
“Lakashtai?” he said. “From now on, we’re letting Kashtai choose the path.”
Servants of the darkness,” Lakashtai hissed, her voice even colder than usual. “You know not what you do. Forsake your foolish path and turn away from your masters, while your souls are yet your own.” A wave of coercive force accompanied her words—even Daine felt a momentary compulsion to do as she commanded, but if the strangers were affected by her words or her power, they gave no sign of it.
“It is you who have turned away from the light,” called the man with the crystal sword. His voice was soft and clear, with an unfamiliar accent that gave a sibilance to his words. “We did not come to this place in search of you, lost one, but my lady came to me in dreams and warned me of your arrival.”
“Feel like introducing us?” Daine said quietly. He hadn’t drawn his sword yet; so much about Lakashtai was a mystery, and for all he knew these were second cousins.
“Warriors of Riedra,” she said. “I give you this last chance. Leave. Now. For my wrath is as fearful as any nightmare.”
“Mine too,” Lei muttered, keeping her eyes on the soldiers behind them.
“You underestimate your power, katesh. Our lords are all-knowing, and they have not left us unprepared.”
The sparkling crystal shard in his companion’s hand flared with a burst of red light, and Lakashtai cried out in pain. She dropped to one knee, her face a mask of concentration and agony. Daine’s hands flew to the hilts of his weapons, but the stranger spoke again before he could draw them—and even though he knew his thoughts were being manipulated, Daine felt compelled to hear him out.
“Surrender, fool,” he said. “You cannot fight our power. It is you alone that we seek. Come with us now, and we leave your companions alive—even the foolish katesh. Do battle and we take you still, and their deaths are agonizing and slow.”
“All right,” Daine said quietly, turning to Lei and letting his eyes flicker back over her shoulder. “I’d hate for my friends to get tangled up in something that doesn’t concern them.” He looked at Pierce, tilting his head slightly. “Sorry,