The Gates of Night: The Dreaming Dark - Book 3 Read Free Page B

nerves, raised her wand, and released the final charge of energy.
    This time the bolt caught the warforged squarely in the chest. Indigo staggered backward, arcs of electricity crackling around her limbs. The blue enamel of her torso blackened and scorched, but she remained on her feet.
    What is this going to take? Lei kept the wand pointed at Indigo. It was drained of power, but the warforged didn’t know that. Lei struggled against exhaustion, fighting to keep her fear from showing on her face. Try me.
    Indigo watched her warily. She was clearly hurt, but she’d managed to dodge the first blast. She might be able to dodge another.
    “Enough.” It was Pierce. “You can’t win this. Don’t make us destroy you.”
    Was that a note of sorrow Lei could hear in his voice? Or desperation?
    “You already have,” Indigo said, her eyes fixed on Lei, but her words were for Pierce. “I trusted you. I thought you were … my brother. But you choose this one over me. Not once but twice.” Her armblades retracted half an inch, then extended again. A nervous tic? “Perhaps you will destroy me this day. But she will die with me.”
    Indigo spread her blades, leaping forward in a blur of blackened metal. But there was another flash of motion, another flare of light. A foot of steel burst through her abdomen. Perhaps it was a trick of the light, but it seemed to burn with an inner radiance.
    Daine’s sword.
    Whether the lightning bolt had caused more damage than it appeared or some unknown magic was hidden in the gleaming sword, the blow brought the warforged to a halt. Indigo gazed down at the blade. Then she fell to her knees, the sound of metal on stone curiously muted. The light faded from her crystal eyes and she collapsed, deadly grace reduced to inert wood and metal. And there, behind her, stood Daine.
    Lei fell into his arms, giving in to her exhaustion. She lay against him, her eyes closed, finding comfort in his warmth. She knew he was speaking, but the words just washed over her in a comforting wave. Then a thought penetrated her weary mind and jerked her back to the world.
    Harmattan
.
    She pulled back from Daine. “We have to get out of here.”
    Daine frowned, laying his hands on her shoulders. “What’s wrong?”
    She looked over at the archway, at the shards of metal scattered across the floor. “He’s not dead. I don’t know how long the effect will last, but we may only have minutes to spare. Maybe less. If he recovers—I can’t do it again. I can’t.”
    Daine scowled at the remnants of the warforged leader. “Well, that’s good news.” He squeezed her shoulder and smiled, though she could see it was forced. “Pierce, let’s go.”
    Pierce stood over Indigo’s body, staring at the fallen warforged. After a moment he pulled the sword from her back. He joined Daine and Lei and presented the blade, handle first. He said nothing.
    Daine sighed as he took the sword. He glanced around the room, searching for anything they might be leaving behind. His gaze passed over Tashana’s corpse, the fallen Indigo, and the remnants of Harmattan. Was there a flicker of movement? A shift among the metal shards?
    Lei pulled at his arm. “We need to leave. Now.”
    “I know. But …” He looked around again. “Where’s Jode?”

I n their final battle, Tashana had torn into Daine’s left arm. Her shadowy claws had cut through chainmail with ease, leaving deep gouges in the flesh below. Yet this wound wasn’t bothering him; if anything, his arm was numb. Instead, he was troubled by a burning sensation across his back. He’d noticed it the instant he’d awakened: soreness and itching, as if he’d rolled in fireweed. But there was no time for back scratching.
    “Where’s Jode?” he said.
    Lei and Pierce glanced at him, shock and concern painted across Lei’s face.
    “Jode is … dead, Daine.”
    “It’s a long story. But I was just talking to him, and here I am, so I assume …” He glanced around the