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Lakashtai was in the center of the chamber. She was kneeling over three bodies in the robes of temple acolytes, and as Daine drew closer he saw that she was binding their wrists and feet with silk cord. She looked up as he approached.

“I expected you sooner,” she said. Her clothing was singed, and there were burns across her left arm, but her voice was low and calm. “I apologize about the loss of thought-speech, but he took me by surprise. I imagine that your actions triggered some sort of warning. I chose to feign defeat; I couldn’t match them alone in my current condition, but these three posed little challenge.”

Daine looked at Lei. Neither had anything to say. Pierce stood silently behind them.

“Come now, move quickly!” Lakashtai said, standing up and striding toward the door. “This was only the beginning. The true danger is still to come.”

That went about as well as could be expected,” Gerrion said cheerfully. “I am sorry about your warforged.”

“He’s not my warforged,” Daine said, stepping out of the way of a cart pulled by a lizard the size of a horse.

“No? My apologies. I’ve never been to your land, and we’ve seen only a few of these creatures here in Stormreach; most of them are servants at the Cannith enclave. If it doesn’t belong to you, why is it here?”

Good question, Daine thought. “It was his choice. He’s a person, Gerrion, not some lump of metal.”

The gray man gave an easy shrug. “I suppose, but he was built from a lump of metal, wasn’t he?”

“What were you built from?” Lakashtai said coolly. “What brought sun and shadow together in you?”

For a moment Gerrion’s smile faltered—he recovered quickly, but not quickly enough. “I couldn’t say. With all the sailors and merchants passing through this town, a foundling in Stormreach is like a pebble on the beach.”

“Pierce was built by design, while you were built by accident,” Lakashtai said. “The soul is what matters, not the origin of the vessel.”

“What makes you think he’s got a soul?”

“What makes you think you do?”

That thought kept Gerrion silent for a full two hundred feet.

Gerrion had been waiting for them when they emerged from the temple. Lakashtai wanted to meet Hassalac immediately. With Sakhesh dead, she felt it was more important than ever that they conclude their business and leave Stormreach as quickly as possible. Gerrion assured them that there would be no battles in Hassalac’s domain or that if there were, that two more people wouldn’t make a difference. They paused long enough for Lei to produce the dragon scale shield, and for Lakashtai to study it and confirm that it was indeed the object that they sought. Then Lei and Pierce had returned to the Ship’s Cat, where Lei could take the time she needed to repair Pierce, and so it was Daine, Lakashtai, and Gerrion who finally arrived at Hassalac’s door.

“That’s quite a … door.” Daine said. Black marble pillars stood to either side of the portal, and ruby-eyed dragons forged from gold peered down from the tops of the pillars. With the number of tomb raiders and treasure-seekers that came to this place, the fact that these statues were still intact hinted at some sort of magical defense. A massive door of dark densewood hung between the two pillars. Mystical symbols were engraved along the edge of the frame and inlaid with silver. There was no sign of handle or hinges, just a dragon’s head of silver bearing a heavy knocking ring in its jaws. “But somehow I expected a mansion to go with it.”

“That sort of thing just attracts thieves,” Gerrion said.

The door stood on a square marble platform, perhaps ten feet across, but there were no walls. It simply filled the space between the pillars. Daine peered behind it and found that the back was identical to the front, including the silver knocker.

“You’re sure about this?” Gerrion said to Lakashtai.

“Yes, though you need not accompany us if the prospect fills you with fear.”

“Oh, fear and I are old friends,” Gerrion said,