Mistress of the Night (25 page)

Feena's eyes narrowed. "I've heard rumors about that place. It's supposed to be the ancient seat of Sharran power, the oldest of Shar's temples."

"Bolan and Jarull never said much about it. They just went really quiet whenever they mentioned it."

"Jarull..." Feena glanced at Keph. "Your friend seems to have taken to his conversion zealously."

"I guess he has," Keph said. "What am I going to do, Feena? Have I damned myself over stupid revenge?"

Feena sighed again and rubbed her medallion between her fingers.

"I don't really know," she said. "I'm no philosopher. For

what it's worth, I don't think you did anything wrong. Think about the initiation Bolan put you through. You swore no oaths. The sacrifice you made was only an illusion. And you're repentant. There's hope, I think." "And what I did to Lyraene?"

Feena said, "That you'll have to live with, Keph. It was no noble act. You'll carry the stain of it for the rest of your life."

"I guess I have to expect that," Keph replied. He stared out at the distant, dark horizon. "But what about the orison? I felt Shar's power, and I channeled it..."

"You couldn't have." Feena scowled. "A priest has to take oaths and training. It sounds too easy, too convenient. It must have been some trick. There's a spell that lets a priestess share the power of her faith with someone else. If Variance worked that on you, it might have felt like you were casting an orison when it was really Variance's magic." She closed her eyes and scrubbed her knuckles against her forehead. "The thing you have to fear is Shar's cult, not the goddess herself."

The young man blinked. "I shouldn't be running?"

"Oh, you should be running," Feena said. She opened her eyes again and gave him a long look. "They've gone to a lot of trouble to seduce you. They're up to something, and like you say, I don't think they'll give up easily."

Keph exhaled slowly and shuddered. He leaned back, stretching out on the grass and staring up at the star-speckled sky.

"What if I came to Arch Wood with you?" he asked after a moment. "Just for a little while. The Sharrans won't think to look for me there, will they?"

Feena groaned, "Oh, aye. That should cause some talk. I go aWay and come back with a man ten years younger than me and a price on my head in Yhaunn..." She looked at him and asked, "Are you so sure you want to travel with a werewolf who'll tear into her oldest friends?"

For a moment, Keph was silent, then he rolled over onto his side to look into her eyes.

"For what it's worth," he said, "I don't think you did anything wrong either. Dhauna manipulated you. Just like Variance manipulated me."

Feena stared at him—and raised her eyes to Selune's crescent.

"Moonmaiden's grace," she whispered, "aren't we just the best people to give each other advice?" She smiled and sighed, "Thank you, Keph." She picked up the wine bottle and offered it to him. "How about a toast? To the two most gullible fools in Yhaunn."

"Not so gullible anymore," Keph said. "And never again in Yhaunn."

He reached for the bottle—

—and let it slip through his fingers to tumble onto the ground.

"Listen!" he gasped.

Feena heard it too: a wild cascade of hooves in the night. Someone was riding hard and fast along the Ordulin road. A sudden foreboding struck her. She grabbed the glowing rock and willed the magic to fade. Darkness wrapped around them. Keph ran for his horse and Feena scrambled for the crest of the hill and a better view. Staying low, she scanned the road's length.

A lone rider moved in a broad patch of bright moonlight, galloping west from Yhaunn like a madman. Or a madwoman, Feena thought. As the rider drew closer, Feena slid down from the hilltop. Keph was already mounted, his overstuffed saddlebags abandoned.

"Is it the Sharrans?" he gasped.

"No," said Feena. "The rider travels in moonlight. It's one of my people."

"What do you want to do?"

The hoofbeats were even closer.

"Wait," she said. "We'll face her. I think I know who it is. If she finds us, then she deserves to."

Out on the road, the rider slowed then stopped. The horse whinnied in alarm as its rider pulled hard on the reins, wheeling the animal around and back to a narrow gap in the hedgerow. Heels kicked into the horse's side

and sent it cantering across a field of swaying grain toward the hill.

"Feena!" shouted Julith. "Feena, where are you? I know you're close!"

Feena stepped forward and called, "Here!"

Julith spun her horse around, then slid out of the saddle and ran toward her.

"Feena! Moonmaiden's grace, Feena—thank Selune I found you."

Her hair was wild, blown and tangled by her ride. She spread her arms. Feena hesitated, then opened her arms to accept the young priestess's embrace.

"I'm sorry, Julith," she sighed. "So much happened. There was too much to say. I just couldn't stay in Yhaunn any-"

Julith stiffened, staring up. "Who—?" she gasped. Feena twisted her head to see Keph looming over them on his horse.

"Keph Thingoleir," Feena said. "That's another story." She ran a hand over Julith's flushed, wind-burned face. "What are you doing out here, Julith? Why come after me?"

"To warn you." Julith hugged Feena then pushed her away. "We found Jhezzail. Mifano and Velsinore are coming after you and they're bringing half of Moonshadow Hall with them."

Feena's eyes went wide. "What are you talking about?"

"They mean to take you back by force, Feena. They think your attack on Mother Dhauna was deliberate."

"But you don't," Feena said. The realization felt like a weight lifted from her.

"I know you would never do something like that of your own free will," Julith said as she dug into a satchel that she wore slung at her side. "They're going to be an hour or so behind me. The only reason I managed to get out ahead of them is because they were arguing over the best magic to use to find you. They'll be working together by now and on your-trail."

"How did you manage to find me, then?" Feena asked.

"Unlike Velsinore and Mifano," the younger priestess said with a smile, "I know you, Feena. I knew that if you were running, you'd be heading back to Arch Wood. I just rode in the right direction, and while I rode, I prayed to Selune to guide me. And she answered my prayer."

"I—" Feena pressed her lips together, then exhaled slowly. "Thank you," she said.

"Don't thank me just yet," said Julith. She pulled out a gray bundle tied up with a leather strap. "This is how you carry your clothes while you're in wolf form, right?" Feena blinked and nodded. Julith breathed a sigh of relief. "Good." She thrust the bundle at her. "That's a robe. Take off your clothes, change into your wolf form, and get back to Moonshadow Hall."

"But if Mifano and Velsinore are coming after me, why would I want to run to them?"

"You wouldn't," Julith answered, looking her in the eye. "You need to get back for Mother Dhauna's sake."

Feena's heart sank.

"What's happened?" she asked.

"She let Chandri heal her wounds, but when Velsinore tried to give her the belladonna you prescribed, she refused it. Velsinore tried casting healing magic on her as well, but Mother Dhauna resisted that, too." Julith swallowed. "Then she prayed to Selune herself, asking her to send her brightest light."

Selune's brightest light...

"The light of a full moon?" Feena asked, and Julith nodded. Feena sucked in her breath. "Moonmaiden's grace, she's forced herself to transform into a werewolf!"

CHAPTER 12

Keph watched color spring back into Feena's face. Her jaw shifted in determination. She dropped the gray bundle to the ground and began to loosen the drawstring of her skirt. He stared, then turned away.

It felt very much like he was on the periphery of events. Whatever was happening at Moonshadow Hall didn't involve him. Feena had helped him just by talking to him—but what was he to her? Just a misguided enemy of her faith she'd only met once before. Her real devotion lay with her old friends and her own mistakes.

Something inside him raged at being ignored, just as Strasus and Dagnalla had ignored him, but he fought it down, swallowing the arrogance that had brought him so much trouble.

"Wouldn't she have changed at the next full moon anyway?" he asked over his shoulder.

"The next full moon. A tenday and a half from

now. We..." Feena's voice caught. "Moonshadow Hall would have been ready."

"She caught us off guard," said Julith. "The clergy present managed to keep her back, but just barely. She needs your help, Feena. You're the one who knows the most about Iycanthrope. Mother Dhauna was locked in a chamber in the infirmary when I left. She's like a w'ld animal."

"She is a wild animal," Feena said. "That's the chamber I used to be locked in when I changed as a girl. Julith, what are you doing?"

Keph glanced around out of reflex.

Feena was naked. Before her, Julith was also undressing—and swiftly donning Feena's discarded clothes. Keph gulped and looked away again. He heard Feena growl at him.

"Keph, don't be an idiot." "Sorry," he muttered.

He swallowed and turned back around. Under the moonlight, Feena's skin shone like ivory. Her arms and legs were long, lean, and muscular. The moonlight had leeched the color from her hair, turning flaming red into lustrous copper. If Selune herself had stepped down onto that field, she couldn't have chosen a more beautiful, vigorous form. He bit back a gasp and forced his eyes away before he could stare too long.

Julith pulled Feena's blouse down over her head. The other woman's country clothes hung ridiculously loose on her frame.

Julith shook her head in response to Feena's stare and said, "I'm not mad." She reached into her satchel again and produced a slim case of worked silver. "Jewelry and baubles aren't the only treasures in Moonshadow Hall's chests."

She touched the case and it sprang open. Inside, two square vials of crystal wound with silver filigree nestled side by side. The liquid inside them caught the moonlight and reflected it back in a blue-white glow.

"Temple records refer to this as Iraelathe's Escape,"

Julith said, "presented to a High Moonmistress over three hundred years ago by a worshipful devotee. When the vials are replaced in the case and the case placed in moonlight, the potions regenerate themselves with the turning of the moon."

"What do they do?" asked Feena.

"Tonight, they'll help us outwit Mifano and Velsinore." She held out her free hand. "I need three strands of your hair. Wrap them around my finger."

Feena reached up and plucked at her scalp, then twisted fine red hairs around one of Julith's fingers like a delicate ring, carefully knotting the ends so they wouldn't come free,

"Now," said Julith, "you take the potion on the right. I take the potion on the left. We drink them at the same time."

Keph watched the two priestesses slide the vials free of the case and open them carefully. Feena's nose wrinkled.

"It smells like sugared almonds."

Julith just smiled and counted to three. She and Feena lifted the vials and drank their contents at the same moment.

A slight shimmer passed over both of them. When it faded, Julith wore Feena's face and long red hair spilled down her back. The country clothes no longer hung loose on her. Keph couldn't tell if it was just an illusion or a true transformation, but if he hadn't seen it happen, he certainly wouldn't have known the woman tucking the vial back into the silver case wasn't Feena.

Feena, however, was still herself.

She frowned and said, "Nothing happened to me."

"Nothing you can see," answered Julith. She might have looked like Feena, but the younger priestess's voice was still her own. "But until the potions wear off, only the most powerful divination magic can locate you. When Velsinore and Mifano try to find you, their magic will find me instead." She smiled as she took Feena's vial from her and replaced it in the case, then put the case back in her satchel. "Iraelathe's Escape—to sight

and magic, one person takes the place of another."

"What if they've already found Feena?" Keph asked. "You said they were already on their way."

"At best the trail will lead them to this field. I'll ride from here—the trail they follow will be mine and I'll lead them a merry chase." Julith gave Feena a brief hug and said, "Selune watch over you, sister."

"Selune watch over you."

Feena stepped back. Julith pressed a hand to her tired horse's heaving side and murmured a prayer. Light flickered around her hand and the horse shivered, standing tall with renewed energy. Julith swung up into her saddle.

And what, asked a small voice inside Keph, are you going to do? He swallowed, and urged his horse forward.

"I'm going with you, Julith."

Both Julith and Feena looked at him sharply.

"You don't have to do that, Keph," Feena said. "Velsinore and Mifano aren't looking for you."

"They might be," Keph said firmly. "We've been traveling together since Yhaunn. If their magic shows that, won't it look odd if we separate now?"

Julith frowned and said, "He's right."

Feena grimaced.

"All right then." She stepped up to Keph's horse and put her hand on his leg. "We'll meet again, Keph. May Selune favor you until we do."

The blessing pulled at him. He clenched his teeth against tears and gave Feena only a brisk nod of farewell. The priestess moved away.

"Keep hold of your horses," she warned—then shook herself.

Her transformation was at once both terrifying and awe-inspiring, beautiful woman flowing smoothly into powerful wolf. Keph's horse shied.back at the sudden appearance of the predator. He couldn't blame the animal. Even though he had been expecting it, the wolfs appearance struck a primal fear in him as well.

"Easy," he whispered to the horse, "easy." He might as well have been whispering to himself.

Feena gave one sharp yip, caught the strap around Julith's gray bundle in her mouth, then turned and surged off through the grain, across the field and back toward Yhaunn.