Mistress of the Night p-2

by Dave Gross

  The wolf within her howled right along with the woman. And somewhere in the silver brilliance of Selune's light, Feena could hear a whole chorus of wolves and beasts raising their voices along with her.

  The New Moon Pact was reborn!

  Feena felt stone under her feet and kicked out. She shot up through the water and into the night, still howling. Shining water streamed from the fur of her hybrid form. She felt stronger and more alive than she ever had in her life. Everything seemed brighter and more vibrant. Growling with fierce ecstasy, she threw back her head and howled at the sky.

  "Feena!"

  She looked downno, just across. Julith crouched beside the sacred pool and Feena stood within it. The water was no more than waist deep. But it had felt as though she had been so much deeper! She snarled in awe. There were things to be seen by moonlight

  She surged forward through the water and heaved herself out of the pool. Julith was still staring at her in amazement.

  "How…?"

  "Later, Julith," Feena said. "There's a battle-" "Feena, you're talking!"

  She froze and reached up with tremendous, clawed hands to touch her face. A wolfs muzzle, a wolfs ears, a wolfs head, and yet

  "Moonmaiden's grace," Feena gasped. Her voice was deep and resonant, but she could speak just as well as she — could as a human. "Oh, Bright Lady of the Night!"

  A chilling howl broke through her awe. Julith paled. Feena's head snapped around. One of the Sharrans' otherworldly dogs. The sounds of it raised the hair on her neck and all the way down her spine. Up on the rooftop, she could see Selune's clerics scrambling back.

  "Julith, gather anyone you can and arm yourselves. We're taking the fight to the Sharrans!"

  She didn't wait for a reply. Powerful legs drove her across the courtyard. There was no time to rush through the twisted passages that led out onto the roof from inside the temple. In one bounding leap, she jumped up and caught the lowest windowsill in the wall above the covered cloisters. Muscles rippled under her fur as she drew herself up and braced her body in the window frame.

  Her claws sank into the mortar between the stones of the frame. She looked at them with surprise, then bared her teeth and swung out from the window. Digging in with fingers and toes, she scaled the wall as easily as if it were nothing more than a steep bank of earth. Six feet… ten feet… twelve… and she was racing up the pitch of Moonshadow Hall's roof toward the high walkway. All along the parapet, the iron hooks of grapples shook as Sharrans scaled the outer walls while Selunite priestesses huddled against the edge of the walkway, driven back by the unnatural horror of the black dogs' howling. They shrieked and flinched as Feena vaulted onto the walkway.

  Moonshadow Hall's defenders had been reduced to frightened girls. Feena spread her hands. If she could speak in hybrid form, could she work magic as well?

  "Selune be with us," she prayed. "Protect us from the terrors of the night!"

  The Moonmaiden's magic swirled like a stirring song, blotting out the lingering echoes of the black dogs' howls. The priestesses gasped as renewed courage took hold of them.

  "To arms, sisters!" Feena howled. "To arms!"

  She whirled toward the parapetjust as the first Sharrans hurled themselves over the edge and onto the walkway in a frenzy of screaming madness.

  If the sight of a werewolf startled them, they didn't show it. A surprisingly well-dressed young man flung himself at her.

  "Beast!" he shrieked. "This is for Cyrume and Keph!"

  He swung at her with a sword, but Feena blocked it with her arm. The blade sliced into her fleshbut without magic or silver behind it, the cut was no more than a sting. The young man's blow was unnaturally strong, though. She could almost smell the dark magic that clung to him. Growling, she caught his arm before he could swing again, then grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him in close.

  "You fool!" she roared in his face. "Keph is my friend!"

  The wolf in her bayed for blood, urged her to rake claws across the Sharran's flesh. She held back the savage instinct and punched instead. A jab rocked the Sharran's head back. A backhand twisted it around. If Keph could recognize the mistakes he had made and turn from Shar, maybe there was hope for the other cultists as well. When she released her grip, the young man slid down to sprawl across the walkway. Feena grabbed the next Sharran to come over the parapet and gave him the same.

  Bolstered by Shar's magic, none of the cultists went down easily. Selune's faithful were better armed than the Sharrans, however. Inch by inch and blow by blow, the Sehlnites pressed them back toward the parapet until a woman's voice rolled up from below, speaking a blasphemous prayer to the Lady of Loss.

  The worst of the wounds the defenders had inflicted on the Sharrans vanished. The cultists surged forward with renewed vigor. Variance! It had to be the dark priestess.

  Feena cursed and leaned out over the parapets, but could see nothing in the shadows below other than the black dogs. They paced and snarled, waiting for prey to come within reach. Feena howled at them and their snarling broke into a frenzy.

  Farther along the curve of the wall, though, there was trouble. The battering ram she'd heard as she spoke the oath of the New Moon Pact was swinging again at the front gates. Its dull thunder echoed in the street. Feena wrenched one of the Sharrans' grappling hooks, abandoned now, free of the parapet and charged along the walkway, rope trailing after her.

  "Make way!" she shouted. "Make way!"

  Another Sharran tried to stop her. She met him with a stiff arm that knocked him back off his feet and left him clutching his chest and choking. On the ground below, the black dogs shadowed her in a growing pack.

  The walkway ended in a squat bell tower over the gates. The alarm bells that the acolytes had rung earlier as she lay dying in the kitchen were silenta strong defense was better than a vain hope of rescue! Feena dived inside and peered out one of the high windows. Below her, manned by ten Sharrans, the battering ram swung against the gates hard enough to send vibrations all the way up to shiver through the pads of her feet.

  At least it did until the black dogs that had pursued her came bounding around the walls. The ram crashed to the ground as the cultists scattered in shock. Teeth bared, Feena set the grappling hook against the stone of the windowsill and tossed the rope out the window, then grasped it firmly and swung out herself. The dogs howled and scrapped under her like puppies begging for a dangling sausage. Feena counted five of them.

  Ten feet up from the ground, she pushed away from the Wall, swinging herself out. The black dogs followed her, ugly heads swiveling and spinning. A couple of them darted after her. Feena's swing slowed and stopped as it reached the end of its arc, then started back down.

  She let go of the rope and aimed straight at the ugliest of the dogs. It had time to stare at her in alarm before her full weight slammed into it. The beast went down with a yelp of surprise. The other dogs only hesitated for a heartbeat before closing on her in a frenzy of claws and teeth.

  Feena's teeth were at least as big. Her claws were bigger. And because the dogs had no hope of redemption, she had no regret in letting loose all of the pent-up savagery of the wolf within her.

  She tore into the first dog to come within reach, her claws shredding its slick black hide. The dog's flesh was cold and darkwhere light fell on its wounds, black blood hissed away like mist before a flame. A dank smell reached her nose. Shadowstuff. The black dogs had been summoned out of pure darkness.

  When she hooked out the first dog's throat with her claws, its body faded into darkness as well. A hard kick smashed the ribs of the struggling dog she'd brought down with her leap. A third dog darted in to rip at her legs. Feena tore down blindly with her claws and took an ear, but the dog's teeth caught her arm. She howled in pain. Unlike the Sharrans' weapons, the dogs' unnatural teeth could hurt her. She lashed at the clinging dog with her free hand, tearing long strips of dark flesh from its side until it released her.

  The last two dogs seized th
e moment to dart in at her. Feena whirled on themand dropped to all fours, changing into a wolf as easily as she had in her dream of the New Moon Pact. Another gift from Selune! Caught off guard, the darting dogs hesitated. Feena leaped at one, growling and bristling. It cringed backand she spun to the other, seizing its massive neck in her powerful jaws and wrenching hard. It staggered and shook her off, but it was bleeding shadowstuff, darkness drifting from its wounds and fading away. Feena backed off. The dog with the torn ear slunk in to join its packmates. Low snarls seething from out of their throats, all three paced forward. The outer two moved to flank her.

  Feena leaped past them, straight at the dog in the center, the only one she hadn't injured yet. It reared up to meet her charge, but her weight was greater and she bowled the beast over onto its back.

  One fast snap of her jaws around its throat sent it back into Shadow, but another dog leaped onto her back. Feena felt jaws closing, trying to find purchase on her neck. She twisted around, willing a change as she moved. Her wide, clawed hands caught the thing's jaws. She jerked them sharply to the side. The dog shuddered, died, and vanished.

  The last dog, the one with the savaged throat, shrank back with its tail between its legs as she rose. Feena stalked toward it, growling and flexing her hands. The dog whimperedthen lunged. Feena spun out of its way and raked it deeply with her claws as it passed. It landed, spun around, and managed one last growl before it collapsed and vanished as well.

  The mutter of human voices brought her around. On the far side of the abandoned battering ram, the Sharrans who had manned it stood clenched together in a frightened little pack of their own. Standing at their head, however, was a man with an eerily stiff and flawless face: Bolan!

  "You've beaten shadow mastiffs, Selunite," he called, "but do you think you can take Shar's faithful?"

  The Sharrans managed a weak rattling of weapons. Bolan scarcely seemed to notice. By his voice and the eyes that glared out from his unmoving face, he was half mad. Ceramic flasks and little pouches hung from a harness that crisscrossed his chest. The metallic stink of alchemy drifted off him. Feena dropped down into a defensive crouch. Bolan reached up to his harness with both hands and plucked off flasks.

  "Specially created for Selunites," he said, "and for werewolves. Powdered silver ground into alchemist's fire!"

  Feena growled. The other Sharrans flinched back, but Bolan stepped forward.

  "Untested, it's truebut I've had so little opportunity." His arms swept back, ready to throw the flasks. "You'll be the first to experience my creation!"

  "No!"

  To the side of them, the doors of Moonshadow Hall swung open. Julith stood between them, a helmet on her head, a shield on her arm, and a mace at her side. Selune's symbol was in her hand.

  "By the Moonmaiden," she shouted, "she shall not!"

  Feena smelled the clean white breeze of the moon goddess's magic as it roared between priestess and dark priest. The flasks in Bolan's handsall of the flasks that festooned his chestshattered in a cascade of quiet popping noises. Feena saw an instant of horror in his eyes,

  Then the gooey liquid that coated his hands erupted into white flame. His chest burst into flame as wellor at least those patches of it that didn't steam with acid or melt under the bite of vile poisons. Pouches caught fire and flared up in thick, greasy smoke. Bolan screamed in agony, whirling around and around.

  "Shar, have mercy! Mistress of the Night, save me!"

  The cultists leaped away from him as he danced. Smoke and flame spun a trail behind him.

  "No! No! No"

  Something burst and burned in a puff of deep violet flame. Bolan gasped and choked on it, then clutched at his throat with blazing hands. He staggered once more and pitched over onto his back.

  The Sharransand Feenastared as the mingled fires of a dozen alchemical preparations consumed the fallen priest.

  But the defenders of Moonshadow Hall were rushing through the gates, clergy and acolytes armed for battle and with prayers on their lips. A few of the cultists scattered with Selune's followers in pursuit. The others were surrounded in a matter of moments.

  "Feena, we've won!" called Julith. The dark-haired priestess strode across the abandoned battering ram like the Moonmaiden's own warrior. "The Sharrans who reached the roof are dead or captured. We've won!"

  "No," Feena growled. "There's one more Sharran to find." She held up her hand and roared, "A mace! Someone give me a mace!"

  A priestess spun and tossed one to her. Feena snatched the weapon out of the air. The blessing of Selune clung to it. She growled in satisfaction.

  "Stay close," she ordered Julith. "We need to find Variance."

  – — amp; — There was a growl from the shadows ahead. Keph froze in alarm as one of the shadow mastiffs seemed to detach itself from the darkness. It paced toward him, growling.

  "You… you stay back!" he said.

  The mastiff didn't stop. Keph felt sweat run cold down the sides of his face. His arms ached from the strange weight of the book of black slates. His head pulsed with the effort of resisting its dark force and the mad whispers within. Moonshadow Hall was close. He could see the steady glow of magical moonlight above the intervening buildingsthe priestesses had all but lit up the night.

  He was so close to being done with Variance, too, so close to giving her the cursed book. He tried moving to the side of the street but the shadow mastiff matched his movements.

  "What is it?" Keph demanded. "What do you want?" He held out the book. "LookI'm on Variance's business. Leave me alone!"

  He'd seen Variance speak freely to the beasts, but the mastiff gave no sign of having understood him. It crouched low, moving closer, but at an angle that forced Keph to step away from the wall if he wanted to keep his distance from the beast. Its growl was deep and menacing. Keph twisted around, walking backward so he could keep an eye on it.

  "Stay back," he repeated.

  He juggled the book into his left hand so he could reach for Quick with his right… instinct again. The Selunites still had the damned rapier! He gasped out a curse and brandished the book like a shield.

  The shadow mastiff darted forward.

  Keph yelped and thrust out the book.

  "Get back!" he yelled Except that the words that emerged from his lips weren't his. With a sudden, hideous rush, the whispers of the book came together, blasting through the weakness of his fear to tear across his soul, and out of his mouth. Keph shouted words that grated on his ears for a fleeting moment before vanishing like bad dreams.

  The shadow mastiff let out a howling wail as its body smeared out against the darkness and evaporated into a wisp of dark smoke.

  Burning pain seared through Keph's hand. With a howl of his own, he tossed the book back into his right hand and stared at his left. A silvery character branded his thumbone of the characters from the black slates. He stared at it then at the book.

  It seemed lighter than it had moments before. The whispers had receded slightly in his head.

  He swallowed hard.

  "Variance!"

  Feena stalked around to the east side of Moonshadow Hall. If Bolan had commanded the attack on the temple's south, it made sense that Variance should have commanded the attack from the east. When Feena fought the Sharrans on the rooftop, that had been the direction the dark priestess's prayers had come from as well.

  "Variance!" she roared again. "Come out!"

  Behind her, Julith raced to keep up. Feena moved just slowly enough to allow her the chance to keep pace. Prayers of moonlight overhead cast bright, colorless pools down onto the streets and alleys around the temple wallsbut in the shadows between buildings, darkness lay deep. Feena stopped and spun around, her arms raised.

  "Variance, come out! I know you're here!"

  A sudden whiff of shadowstuff, much like the mastiffs, caught her nose. She whirled.

  Shadows parted down a side street and a tall Calishite woman stepped into a patch of moonlight. Dusky pale sk
in, plain black clothes, long dark hair… the only color about Variance was the purple wink of the amethyst ring on one finger.

  Though she held the sharp steel ring of a chakram in her right hand casually, her eyes were intense.

  "Your continued interference is unexpected and unwelcome."

  "So was your attempt to turn Yhaunn against me by sending a shadow mastiff to mutilate Cyrume's body."

  Variance's eyebrows rose slightly and she said, "You guessed."

  "With Keph's help." Feena jerked her head at Julith and the younger priestess nodded. She slipped down the side street, keeping wide around to one side of Variance. Feena began to circle the other way. "Where is Keph? What have you done with him?"

  "He's performing a special service for Shar."

  "You lie," Feena growled. "You kidnapped him. He wouldn't help you or Shar."

  Variance's gaze flickered to Julith, then settled back on Feena. "You've broken my enchantment as well, then. You are extraordinary. You speak as a beast. And I saw you fight the shadow mastiffsyour form flows like water. Selune's touch is strong upon you." Her eyes narrowed. "New Moon?" she asked.

  Feena caught her breath and growled, "How do you know about the New Moon Pact?"

  Variance laughed and said, "Shar's archives hold many secretsespecially the lore of her enemies. And the New Moon Pact is an old enemy to the Mistress of the Night. It was old when Netheril fell." Feena caught the subtle movement as she tensed. "Your defeat will be a pleasure."

  "You're already defeated, Variance," called Julith. "Your cultists are captured. Your beasts are gone."

  "Girl," Variance hissed without turning around, "do you expect me to surrender to you? To seek absolution from your cold goddess? Or perhaps you think I'll flee and you can avoid a fight." She caught Feena's gaze. "Do you want that, Feena?"

  Feena's hands tightened on the metal shaft of the mace.

  Variance smiled and said, "I didn't think so."