Free The Fading Dream by Keith Baker Page B

Last War,” Cadrel replied.
    “Cyran breacher,” the captain said. The words were an effort.
    “I fought on the ground,” Thorn said. “What’s that?”
    “A nightmare,” Shaeli said. She gasped as the ship shuddered again.
    Breachers are a joint creation of House Cannith and the binders of Zilargo
, Steel told her.
A warforged leech built to prey on elemental vessels. The first impact must have been it latching onto the hull. Now it’s fighting the captain for control of the elemental core. If it overcomes her willpower, it’ll loose the elemental and shatter the vessel. Even if it doesn’t, it will carve a hole through the hull
.
    “Lovely.” Thorn murmured. “How do we fight it?”
    “No weapons,” Shaeli said. Her breathing was shallow, her voice strained. “I’ll try … to surface. You might survive the wreck.”
    I’m afraid she’s correct. On a normal ship, you might be able to target the breacher from above. On this vessel, by the time it penetrates the hull, it will be too late
.
    “Get to the hatch,” Shaeli whispered. “Lifeboat.”
    “And what about you, Captain?” Cadrel said.
    “Must remain … If I let go … it’s over.”
    The ship shook again. Thorn’s mind raced. There was no way for her to fight an enemy outside the ship, and if it punched a hole in the hull, the water would finish them before battle was an option. Then a memory came to her. Merrix d’Cannith shattering a warforged soldier with a single touch, in the tunnels below Sharn.
    Drix was still in the galley when she returned. He’d spread the pieces of the crossbow across the table again and seemed oblivious to the threat.
    “Drix!”
    “Oh, hello again.” He smiled at her. “What’s wrong?”
    Thorn pulled Drix from his chair, sending tools and twine tumbling to the floor. “We’ve only got a few minutes before this ship gets cracked like an egg. Can you do anything about it?”
    “What could I do?” Drix said, seeming honestly curious.
    Thorn strode into the hall, pulling Drix with her. She could feel the vibrations as the breacher drilled into the hull, and she followed the sensations. “You’re Cannith, aren’t you? Can’t you do anything?”
    “I’m just a tinker,” Drix said. “I fix things. Make things work better.”
    Host above, Thorn thought. He certainly isn’t Merrix. “Have you ever fixed a warforged?”
    “Yes,” Drix said.
    They entered the heart of the vessel. There ahead of them was the elemental core—a swirling sphere of the bluest water Thorn had ever seen, suspended in a cage inscribed with glowing sigils. The sphere was shaking, pseudopods lashing out to strike at the bars. And to the side, Thorn could feel the breacher grinding into the wall, separated from them by less than a foot of wood; if not for the mystical force strengthening the hull, it would surely be through already.
    “How? Just hammering the plates? Or with magic?”
    “I’ve been working with magic,” he said. “But I’ve still got a lot to learn. It’s hard.”
    The breacher could break through at any time
, Steel warned her.
Or the elemental could break its bonds. In either case, this is the worst place we could be
.
    “I know,” she said, returning the dagger to his sheath. “Tell me what it’s like.”
    “A warforged … it’s magical but also alive. You need to reach out with your thoughts. Feel the threads of life.”
    The liquid sphere pulsed, and the ship rocked as it did. Thorn could feel the vibration of the construct digging into the wood, and she could imagine the metal beast latched onto the hull.
    Drix was oblivious to the threat, lost in his memories. “You follow the threads, search for the breaks,let your strength flow into the broken strands to bind them together …”
    Thorn pushed Drix up against the shuddering wall. “Can you feel what’s on the other side of this?”
    Drix looked nervous but he pressed his hand up against the hull. “Yes.”
    “Can you feel