Authors: James Enge
Tags: #Werewolves, #General, #Ambrosius, #Fantasy, #Morlock (Fictitious character), #Fiction
Chapter
Eleven: New Year's Night
93
PART Two: ELECFIOIY5
Chapter
Twelve: The Outliers
111
Chapter
Thirteen: The Sardhluun Standard
123
Chapter
Fourteen: Fund-Raising
131
Chapter
Fifteen: Quarry
153
Chapter
Sixteen: Offers Made; Offers Refused
157
Chapter
Seventeen: Fight and Bite
171
Chapter
Eighteen: Wisdom at World's End
199
Chapter
Nineteen: Electrum
205
Chapter
Twenty: A Long Night
215
Chapter
Twenty-one: Night Shapes
235
PART THREE: MASKS
Chapter
Twenty-two: The Shadow Market
251
Chapter
Twenty-three: War in the Air
269
Chapter
Twenty-four: Shadow and Substance
293
PART FOUR: THE DIRE WOLF'S DUE
Chapter
Twenty-five: Friends and Foes
315
Chapter
Twenty-six: Death of a Citizen
327
Chapter
Twenty-seven: Long Shots
345
Chapter
Twenty-eight: The Stone Tree
373
Chapter
Twenty-nine: Election Results
391
Chapter
Thirty: Makers Meet
407
Chapter
Thirty-one: Plans and Devices
427
Chapter
Thirty-two: Last Words
439
Appendix A: Calendar and Astronomy
453
Appendix B: Names and Terms
461
-VOL USPA
AMONG WOLVES, BE WOLVISH OF COURAGE.
-LYDGATE
isten, lacomes. This is what I see.
The Strange Gods were gathering by the Stone Tree, but Death and her sister justice had not yet appeared. Justice, they knew, would not, but they expected Death to be there before them and War was angry.
"I swear by myself," War signified, indicating by a talic distortion that the oath was not sincere or binding, "Death is the strangest of the Strange Gods. She pervades the mortal world, but she can't manifest herself anywhere within a pact-sworn juncture of space-time!"
"I am here," Death signified.
Now that they noticed her presence among them, the Strange Gods realized she had been implicit in a fold of local space-time all along, and simply had not chosen to reveal her presence to them. The other gods signified nontrivial displeasure with her.
Death indicated indifference and readiness to begin the pact-sworn discussion.
The Strange Gods did not submit to a ruler. In their discussions, it was common for the weakest of them to preside. So Mercy manifested herself more intensely than she would normally have done, and reminded them of their mission to destroy the werewolf city Wuruyaaria and how it was currently imperiled.
"It is Ghosts-in-the-eyes," signified Wisdom. "They are a powerful maker and necromancer-a master of all the arts we hate. Our instrument will destroy the city"-Wisdom indicated a pattern in events they all under- stood-"but now unless we find a way to bring down the walls of Wuruyaaria more swiftly, our instrument may also destroy great swathes among our worshippers. This goes against our nature and cannot be accepted."
Other gods indicated agreement.
Death indicated chilly amusement: a laugh. "The werewolves will die," she signified. "Their city will die. Our worshippers will die. Our instrument will die. Everything that lives must die. When the last soul is severed, this world will collapse into its component elements and drift away in pieces, flotsam on the Sea of Worlds. All this will happen in time: let events take whatever course they will, this is their destination. If this goes against our nature, our nature is doomed."
Each of the other gods emanated anger that would have killed a material being. It was uncivil of Death to prate about these matters that were well known to every god. If Death felt any discomfort from their emanations, she didn't show it. Her next comment was more immediately helpful, though.