Mistress of the Night - Don Bassingthwaite [106]
Velsinore's breath hissed through her teeth. "Ridiculous! You lie!"
"Do I?" Feena touched her medallion. "Moonmaiden hear me," she prayed. "Sanctify my words. Let no falsehood be uttered here!"
A shimmer passed over the courtyard. Feena drew a breath and lowered her hand. When she spoke, her words rang in pure, bright tones off the encircling walls of Moonshadow Hall.
"By Selune's grace, I say that one of you, Mifano and Velsinore, betrayed a penitent soul to the darkness of Shar!"
"And by the Bright Lady of the Night," snarled Mifano, "I tell you that I am no traitor to Selune!" "Nor," spat Velsinore, "am I!" Their words rang just as brightly as Feena's.
–-‹§›-
"… but so great was Selune's weakness to the pleas of the world that she reached out and opened a passage to a distant place of flame. And Shar's peace was shattered." His voice trembling, Bolan lowered his raised arms and crossed them over his chest. "Thus was division made between the two sisters and so has Shar ever sought to heal the rift that Selune caused." The priest raised his smooth, white face to the darkness of the temple's rocky ceiling and called, "Lady of Loss, may we do your work in fighting Selune's followers wherever we find them! Mistress of the Night, we honor you!"
"We honor Shar!" chanted the assembled cultists.
"We honor Shar," Keph chanted along with them. The words left a bad taste in his mouth. The entire ceremony made his skin creep as if filth had been spread across his body.
Somewhere in the depths of the temple, Jarull moaned. Variance hadn't cast her cloak of shadow and silence back over him. Every peak in the cultists' chants brought fresh groans and wails of torment echoing through the tunnels. Some of the cultists had looked fearful at first, but soon they seemed to revel in his sounds of anguish.
Variance stepped up to stand at Shar's altar.
"In fighting Selune's followers," she said, "we bear remembrance for all that has been taken from us. We bear remembrance for Shar's loss. We fight the Selunites as Shar fights their weak and treacherous goddess. We meet their hatred with our hatred. We do honor to Cyrume, torn apart like an animal. We do honor to Keph, returned to us by Shar's blessing." Cold, razor-edged steel flashed in the dim light as she snatched a chakram from her belt and held it high. "Shall we visit Shar's blessing on Moonshadow Hall?"
"Yes!"
Fists and weapons punched the air. Shar's faithful had armed themselves with whatever they could: clubs, knives, swords… Bolan wore a harness festooned with pouches and flasks. When he moved, cold metallic odors drifted off of him.
From where he stood behind the altar, Keph could see all of the gathered cultists, their eyes bright and their faces flush with zeal. Between them, Bolan and Variance had worked the cult into a frenzy. Talisk, Starne, and Baret were there, lashing the air with swords and slapping at each other. They weren't the only ones caught up in the madness. An old man was shaking with murderous ecstasy. A woman in wealthy merchant's dress was tearing at her clothes. There was blood on her mouth-she had bitten herself. Someone else had begun screaming and beating on the wide metal rings Keph remembered from his initiation. The clashing sound filled the air, competing with Variance's urgent exhortations.
"Will we show the Selunites mercy?"
"No!"
"Will Moonshadow Hall stand at dawn?"
"No!"
Keph felt sick.
Variance spread her arms wide and shouted, "This night shall live in legend! May Shar grant us her divine favor!" She swept her chakram down. "It is time!"
The voices of the cultists rose in a howling chorus. Somewhere Jarull shrieked.
***
The courtyard was silent, the watching clergy shocked by the contradictory truths.
Julith's voice hissed when she asked, "Feena, how-?"
Feena