Baldur's gate II_ throne of Bhaal - Drew Karpyshyn [8]
She paused, her finely honed predator's senses picking up yet another indication of her targets' nearby presence. Illasera could smell her prey. The scent of musky sweat hung heavy on the still air trapped within the densely wooded Tethir Forest. It was more than that though, Illasera was one of the Five. She could feel them. The blood of the Bhaalspawn called out to her, like calling to like, urging her on. She set off again, quickening her pace with every eager step, slipping through the trees, silent as a shadow.
A flicker of movement caught the corner of her eye. She unleashed a single arrow, pinning the small bird that had just flown by to a tree. As she marched past, Illasera glanced down at the tiny feathered body impaled on the point, still twitching feebly in a hopeless effort to escape. The creature had been trying to warn her prey.
The Huntress brushed a strand of long hair back from her face and laughed softly to herself as she pressed on. One of the three she stalked could speak with the animals of the forest, commune with them in ways most people could not fathom. One of her prey was a child of the grove, a servant of nature, a druid.
They were foolish if they believed such feathered sentinels could protect them. Each of the Five was blessed with unholy power. The legacy of their tainted, immortal father manifested itself in them in different ways. Illasera's power linked her to the earth. Like the druid, Illasera could touch the creatures of the forest. She could use her power to influence the natural order. However, hers was not a symbiotic relationship. When Illasera used her power, nature was bent to serve her tainted will.
Illasera hesitated, considering the consequences of her actions. She could send out a call to the darker spirits that dwelt within the wood-a call that would surely be heard by the nearby druid. But if the Bhaalspawn were as close as Illasera suspected, as close as they felt, the advance warning of her presence would not be enough to allow them to escape.
Standing still, she tilted her head back and raised her arms to the black sky. Her eyes blazed with a dark fire. Overhead the leaves rustled and branches shook as Illasera gathered her power in a chill wind. The nearby animals fled in silent terror at the touch of the icy air or cowered in the cover of the forest undergrowth, paralyzed with fear.
The ground trembled with the mounting magic of the dark archer. A great flock of fowl burst from the shelter of the nearby branches, blotting out the moon as they arced toward the sky. The sound of a thousand beating wings couldn't hide the harsh screams of terror from their feathered throats. The Huntress echoed their cries with a scream of her own, unleashing a wave of malevolent magic that rumbled across the forest's floor as Illasera sent forth an unholy summons none could deny.
The denizens of the forest-fowl, beasts, even the trees themselves-were touched by the unholy call as the dark magic enveloped them. Leaves withered and died instantly, branches became twisted and gnarled, roots rotted and tangled, even the trunks of the great oaks warped and bent into an abomination of their natural form. The smaller creatures of the forest fell dead, their existence obliterated by Illasera's necromancy. Those that were stronger began to change-metamorphosing into mutated, diseased versions of their true form. Corrupted by the evil taint of one of the Five, the helpless creatures' minds were dominated and consumed by Illasera's own evil consciousness.
They gathered around Illasera's form. A pack of what had