Daine nodded and turned away. He made his way below decks, hoping to find a warm bed and dreamless sleep.
CHAPTER 8
Daine lay on a hard bunk in the small cabin, his mind slowly drifting in and out of sleep. Vague images drifted through his mind. A memory of Jode passed across his thoughts, and he found himself following, seeking one more moment of conversation with his friend, even if it was only in his imagination. A vision slowly resolved around him. Night. The sounds of sword and steel in the distant background. A warforged corpse lay on the ground; Jode was kneeling next to the fallen foe, studying the shattered body. Krazhal stood over him, looking down.
“Captain?” the dwarf growled. “How long do we wait? You can hear the battle above, and here we stand studying-”
Daine silenced him with a glare and a sharp gesture. “What have you found, Jode?” he whispered.
“Well, Captain, I’m a healer, not a spectacularly gifted House Cannith artificer standing less than a mile away from our current location-”
“Jode!”
The halfling smiled disarmingly. “I did manage to extract this from the arm of our little friend.” He held up a small platinum cylinder etched with arcane symbols. “I can’t decipher all of these signs, but I think it’s a key.”
Daine nodded, taking the cylinder. “Good work. Krazhal, keep that blast disk ready, but if the Flame is with us this day, we won’t need it.” He caught Kesht’s eye with a sharp gesture; pointing to Kesht and Donal, he gave the signal for them to move deeper into the tunnel.
“And when has the Flame been with us?” Krazhal grumbled as he slowly began to follow in the path of the scouts.
“The Flame is always with us,” Daine said. “Look for the Light and listen for the Voice. We’ll see this through, old friend.”
The words were ritual, but they felt empty even to him. Two years ago he’d had confidence in the Silver Flame, in the force that brought strength to the righteous and defended the innocent. These days, that faith was harder and harder to find. Every massacred village, every tale of atrocity from across Khorvaire, even Thrane itself-when he went to sleep at night, it was becoming increasingly difficult to say his prayers without biting his tongue, but his troops needed his faith, even if it was failing him inside.
Indeed, the faintest smile crossed Krazhal’s lips, the first of the night. “Aye,” he said. “Aye, I do believe we will, sir.”
Blades drawn, Daine stepped into the tunnel, moving as quietly as he could. He could see the glint of Donal’s hammer in the darkness ahead, and slid along the wall in the scout’s wake.
There was a flash of brilliant white light, a sunburst spilling blinding radiance over the field. Daine’s last thought was that this was wrong … that this hadn’t happened.
“Fool!” Lakashtai was standing over him, her eyes burning like emerald coals. “After all you’ve faced today, you would give yourself to dreams so easily?”
The room slowly came into focus. Lakashtai stood by the bunk, and Daine could feel her concern as if it was a physical force pressing against his thoughts. Pierce and Lei were standing to either side of her-Lei, worried and weary, Pierce as impassive as ever.
“Hnh-What?” he said, trying to make sense of her words.
“Your dreams are the path our enemies use to enter your mind. With Tashana in hiding-it is best that you do not dream for now.”
Lei snorted, and Daine pushed himself up into a sitting position. “Oh, is it?” he said. His thoughts were still muddy. “Just … stop, just like that?”
Lakashtai nodded, as if this was a perfectly ordinary request. “I must be present when you are going to sleep. I can divert your spirit, and keep the gateway closed. As long as I am here, I can shield you from this foe and protect you from the attacks you have been suffering … at least, for a time.”
“That’s enough,” Lei said, her voice cold. “I’ve had it with all of this mysterious nonsense. This isn’t the first time Daine’s ever been asleep. If his head was going to rot away, why didn’t it happen yesterday? All I see is you showing up, threatening Daine, and then this other creature joining the fight … A woman who looked rather remarkably like you, looking back on things. Why don’t you tell us exactly what’s going on?”
“Daine has been at risk these last few nights. You have been losing consciousness during waking hours. When did this first occur?”
“Four days ago,” Daine said.
“This is when they first found your dreams. With each night, the bond grows stronger, and if you let them into your dreams, they can track us … and then all will be lost.”
“Them,” Lei said. “What ‘them?’”
“Il-Lashtavar,” Lakashtai said quietly. “The darkness that dreams.”
“Oh, well, that makes everything clear. Why didn’t you just say so in the first place?” Lei said.
Lakashtai looked at her, and as before the intensity of the kalashtar’s gaze silenced Lei. “We do not speak of this to those we do not know. This is our war: the battle of the kalashtar, the struggle we were born to. You and all those creatures who dream when the night comes-I would spare you from knowing of the horrors that await you.”
There was no trace of a smile on her lips, and though her voice was music, it was a cold and chilling tune. For a moment, no one spoke. Then Pierce’s voice filled the room, deep and calm.
“You may have chosen this battle, but we have been drawn into it, and a soldier who cannot identify his foe-one who knows nothing of the nature of the battlefield-cannot expect to triumph.”
Daine nodded. “I can’t avoid making mistakes unless I know what I’m fighting, and damn it, it’s my mind!”
Lakashtai studied each of them, then turned and walked toward the far corner of the room. When she looked back at them, the light had faded from her eyes.
“You are correct, of course,” she said softly. “I cannot say what lies ahead of us, and you must be prepared. Please, Lei, be seated. This will be a long tale, and I know that you have had a trying day.”
Lei glanced at Daine, and he gave her a slight nod. Grumbling, she sat on the bunk next to him. Pierce stepped back away from Lakashtai, creating as much space as possible in the small room.
Lakashtai turned to face them. Despite her torn clothing, despite the dried blood on her skin, she carried herself with the dignity of a queen. Her beauty was breathtaking, but it was the cold beauty of a marble statue-human perfection, yet fundamentally unnatural.
“I am kalashtar, born of two worlds. Over a thousand years ago, my ancestor bound her bloodline to the spirit Kashtai, and I am a child of that union. Kashtai moves within me. Her memories come to me as dreams, and at times her voice whispers in the silence of my mind. As long as at least one of my sisters is alive, Kashtai will survive-and as long as she lives, she will fight il-Lashtavar.
“While I can tell you of this struggle, it is far better if you see it for yourselves. Relax. Let your thoughts wander. Open your minds, and let me show you the nightmare that lies within.”
Her voice was soft and lulling. She continued to speak, but her words seemed to blur together in a warm, relaxing song. Eventually Daine closed his eyes and dropped into another world.
A glowing halo lay before him, a wreath of light hanging in a field of utter darkness. As he studied it, he saw that it was composed of glittering particles. There must have been billions, yet somehow he could see each and every one; his eyes were unnaturally sharp, and though each particle was no larger than a grain of sand, with every passing second they became clearer.
Where was he? He tried to turn his head and found that he couldn’t. It was then that he realized he had no body. He could sense his surroundings, yet there was no he there; he simply knew what was around him. It’s like a dream, he thought.