The Shattered Land_ The Dreaming Dark - Keith Baker [77]
“Staff …” Lei whispered.
Daine saw the darkwood staff lying amid the objects she’d scattered across the floor and snatched it up. It seemed unnaturally cold, but there was no time to worry about this, and he pressed it into Lei’s hand. She clung to his arm with her free hand, her lips twisted in a pained smile. Lakashtai and Pierce were there in a second, each reaching out to lay a hand on her shoulders.
Riedran soldiers were pouring out from behind the shelves in a flood of black silk and steel. Daine met the gaze of a black-robed woman, her arm outstretched and energy flaring around her fingertips, but even as he saw the blast flying toward him, the surroundings melted away.
After the dim light of cold fire and Lakashtai’s glowing eyes, the brilliant sunlight was as stunning as the pain from Daine’s injury. They had emerged on a side street, black mud paved with chunks of stone pried from an old, rust-colored ruin. A vendor dropped the purple fruits he was holding, staggering back against the thorny weeds covering the nearby wall, and a trio of colorful birds was startled into flight. The other people on the street didn’t even spare a glance; apparently Stormreach truly was a place where the fantastic happened every day.
We must move quickly, Lakashtai thought. Clearly we have concerns beyond Hassalac, and they may have others who can teleport. To the harbor.
“Are you injured?” Pierce said, looking to Lei. “I can carry you if you require assistance.”
“No, I’m … I’m fine.”
Miraculously, it seemed to be true. She began to lope after Lakashtai, and despite her initial unsteadiness, now she appeared to be in better condition than Daine himself. He staggered along, doing his best to ignore the pain that came with every step. Maybe Pierce could carry me.
Pierce took the lead as they made their way through the city, and most people were quick to move out of the path of the charging warforged. They drew a few stares from council watchmen and mercenary soldiers, but there was no hue and cry in their wake, and they made it to the harbor unmolested.
It’s the third pier, Lakashtai thought, but Pierce already knew where they were going. He’d seen Gerrion’s boat the night before, and even if he hadn’t been able to recognize the battered black hull in the daylight, the gray man was standing on the deck waiting for them.
“We’re sailing in that?” Daine said. “Maybe I’ll stay and take my chances with the Riedrans.”
“That is your choice,” Lakashtai said, as she made her way across the wobbly gangplank and onto the deck. “I wish you pleasant dreams.”
“Great,” Daine sighed. He followed Lei across the plank, looking for holes in the sails.
“Welcome aboard the Gray Cat,” Gerrion said with a grin, once all four of the companions were aboard. “Everything is cleared with the harbor lord, and I’ve stocked the hold. Oars couldn’t hurt until we catch the wind; Master Daine, Pierce, if you’d care to lend your strength to the cause we can be on our way.”
Perhaps the Riedrans weren’t pursuing them. Perhaps the Riedrans were stranded in Hassalac’s caves. Whatever the truth, there was no sign of their enemies as the Gray Cat moved away from the docks and out into the water. Daine gritted his teeth against the pain that flared in his shoulders with every stroke of the oars. Gerrion was manning the lines, and soon he found the wind. As Stormreach fell away behind them, Daine pulled in his oars and finally fell asleep.
When he awoke, Lei was leaning over him. She was sitting on the deck behind him holding a short wand in her hand. He felt a soothing warmth as she passed the wand over his skin and realized that his pain was all but gone.
“Lucky for both of us that I finished the wand before our trip,” she said, smiling faintly.
There was no time for thought as he sat up, wrapping his arms around her. For a moment, he thought it was all another of his mad dreams, but she was there. “You’re alive. You’re still with me.”
She gently pushed him