Feena's breath hissed through her teeth, "Moonmaiden's grace, what have you done?" She raised her voice and called out, "Dhauna!"
Dhauna's ears flicked at the sound, but no more.
"Dhauna!" Feena repeated.
There was no reaction at all. Feena swallowed, then reached down and drew back the first of the bolts that secured the door.
At the sound of the screeching metal, Dhauna growled and crawled away from the door. At the sound of the second, she backed herself into a corner and crouched there, snarling. Feena waited a long momentthen opened the door, ducked swiftly into the room, and pushed the door closed behind her. Dhauna whined and crushed herself far back into the corner. Feena stood still, giving the wolf time to get used to her presence and time for her own eyes to adjust to the dimness.
The stench in the room was overwhelming. Feena choked against it, struggling to catch her breath. Then she held out her hand silently. Dhauna stared at it then cautiously unfolded, creeping out of the corner by slow degrees.
Every movement seemed painful, as if all the years of Dhauna's human form were suddenly catching up with her as a wolf. Feena bit her lips and tried her best to hold back tears.
When the old wolf had creeped a few feet out into the room, Feena let out a low, questioning growl. Coming from her human throat, it was weak, but it got Dhauna's attention. Her ears pricked up and she shrank back for a moment, then stretched forward. Feena sank down slowly, bringing herself to the wolfs level. She growled again, then whined.
Friends? Come.
Dhauna had only been a wolf for a few hours, but on some instinctive level she must have recognized Feena's invitation. She limped forward cautiously until she was only an armslength away. Up close, Feena could see the bloody paw prints that every step left on the ripped linens. A fast glance over her shoulder revealed fresh, deep scratches marring the ironbound wood of the door and on the stone of the room's walls. Dhauna had torn her claws and shredded her footpads in her rage and panic at being trapped.
"Dhauna?" Feena breathed. "Dhauna, let me heal you. Let me take away the pain."
One hand touched her medallion as the other reached slowly for Dhauna.
The wolfs eyes flared, and she snapped. Feena snatched her hand away, but Dhauna didn't retreat. Growling angrily, the wolf paced around the crouching woman.
Feena froze, whining lightly, trying to calm her again. She turned to keep her eyes on the wolf. Dhauna snarled and leaped.
Feena rolled back before the attack and caught Dhauna deftly, one hand on the wolfs chest, the other under her head where her jaw met her neck. The wolf was shockingly light. Feena held her back easily as she snapped and struggled, straining to reach her captor with teeth or claws. Her back legs kicked and scratched futilely. Saliva sprayed from her jaws. Growls rolled out of her chest.
The wolf within Feena understood them all too well.
Interloper! Intruder! Kill you! Kill you kill you killyoukillyoukillkiUkill…
Yellow eyes burned with rage and hate above foaming jaws. There was nothing human left in themexcept madness.
Feena's breath shuddered. Her heart wrenched inside her chest. There were ways to cure a werewolf even after the cursed individual had changed, like prayers spoken quickly by a priest of sufficient faith. But a cure required that the werewolf desire an end to her condition. When a werewolf had truly surrendered to the curse, had taken the beast into her heart
Dhauna's madness, her pursuit of the New Moon Pact, had taken her too far.
… killkiUkiUkill kill kill… kill…
The wolfs growls faded. Dhauna's struggles weakened. The aged priestess didn't have the strength her animal form demanded of her. Feena heaved against her weight. Dhauna twisted free and scrambled away. Feena rose to a Crouch.
Had she thought she would never cry again? She could feel tears on her face.
"Dhauna, please. Don't make me"
Dhauna's snarl was flat. Her torn claws scrabbled on shredded linens and she leaped again. Feena thrust forward and met her in midair, hooking an arm around her thin chest and sweeping down to slam her against the floor. Bones cracked and Dhauna yelped in pain.
The bones would knit fast if given the chance. Werewolves were hard to kill. Silver weapons or magic would do it. The claws and teeth of another werewolf could inflict damage, too, but Feena couldn't bring herself to do that to Dhauna. Her bite had been what brought on this curse.
She had been fighting lycanthropes most of her life, though. There were other ways to kill a werewolf.
Pinning Dhauna's forelegs with her body, she clamped a hand around her muzzle, forcing it shut. Her other hand snatched up a wadded piece of linen and pushed it down over the wolfs nostrils.
Dhauna began to thrash almost instantly. Feena leaned hard on her, a dead weight on her twisting body. Her hands clenched tight… tighter. Dhauna's snarls and growls became desperate, frightened whines. Feena's vision blurred with tears but she didn't let go. Even when Dhauna's whines and thrashing faltered and her body went limp, she didn't let go.
Finally, Dhauna's body shifted under hers, old wolf fading into elderly woman. Feena chokedand let go. Gathering Dhauna into her arms, she held the dead priestess close and sobbed.
The clerics of Moonshadow Hall caught them at dawn.
At first their pursuers had been nothing more than a glow of moonlight in the fields behind them. Then they had been a storm of hoofbeats. No matter what Keph and Julith tried, no matter where they fled, that storm followed. Every time Keph glanced over his shoulder, the Selunites had been a little bit closer, grim faces hunched low over their horses' shoulders. And Keph would crouch a little lower in his own saddle and urge the animal to greater speed.
They must have been halfway to Ordulin when his horse stumbled and went down. Keph landed on his side, facing east toward the rising sunand the approaching pursuers. His horse was somewhere close, staggering and groaning. Hooves rang and slid on the ground just out of his vision; Julith reining in her mount and coming around. Keph twisted and forced himself up onto his knees. His palms were scraped raw. Blinding pain shot through one ankle at the slightest pressure and almost sent him down again.
"Keep going!" he gasped at the priestess.
"There's no point," Julith said. She passed a hand over her face and her own features returned. "It's over. Feena's had all the time she's going to get."
Hooves thundered on the ground, and they were surrounded.
Keph didn't think he'd ever seen priests and priestess, not even Bolan and Variance, look as dangerous as the Selunites did. The silver-haired dandy and gray-robed storkMifano and Velsinore, Keph guessed from Feena's descriptionswho rode at their head seemed ready to spit fire. Especially when they realized who it was wearing Feena's clothes.
"Julith!" howled Mifano.
For a moment, the priest was a silhouette against the glare of dawn. Then he moved closer, staring at Keph, and the young man got a better look at his face. Keph's stomach dropped.
Beshaba's arms, he choked silently.
Mifano was the priest who had interrupted his attack on Lyraene. He should have guessed. How many silver-haired priests of Selune could there be in Yhaunn?
It looked like Mifano hadn't forgotten him either.
"Hold him!" the priest snapped. "Take his sword!"
Three of the larger Selunites jumped down and grabbed him while others crowded around, spells ready if he tried anything. All Keph could do, however, was yelp as the Selunites hauled him to his feet and pain flared in his ankle. It was broken or at the very least sprained. As he swooned, a priestess pulled Quick and his belt pouch away from him.
Velsinore urged her horse forward, stopping in front of Julith. Her eyes were narrow.
"Iraelathe's Escape?" she asked. Julith nodded, and Velsinore's face twisted in anger. "Where's Feena?"