Cloak of Shadows - Ed Greenwood [86]
"I don't think I want to see a guard's face at the bridge in Shadowdale when he looks at this"-Itharr thrust his arm forward, and Shar saw that the barbs had become a row of curling, questing tentacles-"especially not a guard I know."
Sharantyr grimaced. "Does it… hurt?" she asked, looking from one man to the other and wondering if she'd soon have to strike one or both of them down. As if reading her thoughts, the blade in her hands lifted a little.
Shar shivered and took a pace away, to get out from between the two Harpers. They gave her hurt looks. "Sylune's not doing this to you, is she?" she asked Belkram. This isn't some sort of disguise."
"No," he said grimly, shuffling forward. "It's this place, working on our bodies. I guess this is how the Malaugrym became shapeshifters."
"Can you… manage?"
Belkram gave her a rueful smile. "Have to," he said briefly.
"I'm trying to tell my body what to shift into," Itharr said quietly, "but it doesn't seem to be working. Am I turning blue?"
Shar peered at him. "Not any part of you I can see," she observed carefully, "but-"
"Trying to get her to disrobe you again?" Belkram asked, rolling his eyes. "Haven't you given up on that yet?"
The laughter they shared then was a little wild, but the smiles that ended it were real ones that remained as Shar took a few tentative steps across the chamber. "We might as well start looking around," she said.
"Do we have to find this place again, to gate back home?" Itharr asked. Shar shrugged. "I… don't know. I guess so." She raised the blade, and they saw the air behind them wavering in confusion. After a moment she lowered it. "It will show me gates, I think… even here."
"So why isn't there a clear door, or oval, or whatever?" Belkram asked, waving at the spot where they'd appeared.
Shar frowned. "I don't think that gate is there anymore," she said reluctantly. The two men traded glances.
Then we'd better go exploring," Itharr said, "or we'll never find a way out of here. If we just stand here, either someone'll find us-and no doubt offer violence-or we'll die of starvation!"
"You may not want to wait for that," Belkram told him. "Have you looked at yourself?"
Itharr regarded him sourly. "Now how could I do that?" Belkram shrugged. "If your eyestalks grow a little longer, you should be able to swivel one around and get a good look at yourself."
"I'd refrain from such talk if I were you," Itharr responded. "You may have started out more handsome than me, but I doubt Shar's going to be overly thrilled with a man whose back is growing a row of breasts, a moving row of breasts…"
Belkram tried to twist around to look at his back, but couldn't. He shot a look at Shar. "Tell me he's bluffing," he demanded. The lady ranger could only shake her head sadly.
"Why hasn't it affected you?" Itharr asked, frowning. As he did so, his eyes flickered a deep mauve and began to slide slowly toward red in hue. "Could it be linked to sex?" Then he added quickly, "No jokes, Belk."
Belkram turned to him as the line along his back moved slowly up his neck and onto his scalp, lifting his hair in an odd-looking crest. "I wasn't planning any," he grunted, "but I think it's more likely the sword. Without the shadow weaving being done around it, it'd be standing in a little gap in the mists, a place these shadows don't care to go."
"They're alive, aren't they?" Itharr murmured.
"Yes," Shar agreed briskly, "and so are we." She strode away into the curling mists, raising the blade like a prow before her.
"Well, for now, yes," Belkram agreed mildly. He and Itharr looked at each other, shrugged, and moved tentatively after her. A slithering sound made them both freeze, until Itharr realized it was coming from the tail he'd begun to grow, whispering along the stone behind him. They traded grimmer glances and went on.
* * * * *
Elminster's Safehold, then the Castle