Mistress of the Night - Don Bassingthwaite [109]
"Turn my back on Selune?" Velsinore's voice came from somewhere to the right. Feena began to creep that way as the tall priestess spoke. "I'm no traitor, Feena."
"How can you say that?" Feena asked. She kept moving. A rack of pots drew her attention. Was that a shape crouched behind it?
"Because it's the truth. Don't you remember the evidence of your own prayer?"
Feena clenched her jaw and said, "When I came back to Moonshadow Hall with the poison from the Stiltways, you couldn't deny the presence of Sharrans in Yhaunn quickly enough."
"The Sharrans were as surprised as you to learn that I knew about them," said Velsinore. Her voice was quiet and Feena heard her shift slightly. The shape behind the rack of pots didn't move-it was just a big cauldron. Feena froze and looked around as Velsinore continued, "You were right-whoever Variance is, I didn't speak to her. The Sharrans in Yhaunn are led by-"
"-Bolan," Feena supplied. "You told Bolan and Bolan told Variance."
A tall cupboard stood strangely ajar. She slid toward it.
Velsinore was silent for a moment, then hissed, "You know more than it seems."
"Keph told me. Bolan's an alchemist as well as a Sharran priest." Her eyes narrowed as she closed on the cupboard. "The medicines in the infirmary…"
"Purchased from Bolan," confirmed Velsinore. "Until I contacted him with news of Keph's capture, he thought I was nothing more than a simple devotee who liked to gossip." Her voice turned scornful. "It sounds like I played him just as Variance played Mifano. I've been drawing information about Sharran beliefs out of him ever since I stumbled across him a year ago."
Velsinore's voice was close. Definitely close. Feena moved up to the cupboard from the side.
"Why reveal yourself now, then?" asked Feena. "And why keep what you learned about the Sharrans a secret from Dhauna and Mifano?"
"Turning over Keph seemed like an advantageous way to introduce myself. And why keep what I learned a secret?" She paused for a moment. "Let's say I was biding my time. If Dhauna hadn't lost her mind and brought you to Moonshadow Hall, I would have become the Moonmistress-Designate."
"What about Mifano?" Feena asked.
Velsinore laughed and said, "He was never really a contender. I had Mother Dhauna's ear."
"And when you were finally High Moonmistress, what then? What would you have done with all the information you had collected on the Sharrans? Wiped them out in one big raid and taken all the glory?"
"Not exactly." Velsinore's voice dropped. "I would have invited them into Moonshadow Hall."
Feena froze, and Velsinore laughed again.
"Let me put it in terms you'll understand," the traitor priestess said. "When you fight the servants of Malar-evil lycanthropes-what is it that sets you apart from them? You all become animals, don't you? What is it that sets Sharrans apart from Selunites? Their darkness to our light? Do you know that we share many of the same legends?" Velsinore drew a slow breath and said, "I'm no traitor to Selune, Feena. I've just realized that there's more to the relationship between the Moonmaiden and the Mistress of the Night than our faith wants to admit."
It felt then as if Feena was back in her dream, with an ancient, whispering darkness pursuing her. Her stomach lurched in horror. Selune had been trying to warn them of heresy within Moonshadow Hall-the very heresy Dhauna had dismissed as nothing more than lies. The New Moon Pact might have been framed for the heresy that had brought them low, but Velsinore had fallen straight into that twisted belief.
Feena had rediscovered the New Moon Pact. Velsinore had rediscovered the New Moon Heresy.
"Stop it!" Feena snarled.
She lunged for the open door of the cupboard and ripped it wide. It was empty.
Gray robes flashed in the corner of her eye. Feena spun around as Velsinore rose from behind the cauldron she had dismissed earlier. She took a step toward the tall priestess.
"You're wrong," Feena spat. "Selune and Shar are enemies!"
"Maybe we only think they are."
Feena's breath hissed