Mistress of the Night - Don Bassingthwaite [32]
"There's more, Moonmistress," Manas added. "A man's body was found just before dawn near Stonecutters Well "in the Stiltways, the area where most of the reports were made. He had been mauled by some kind of animal."
"Mauled?" Feena swung around to him. A body found by a well in the Stiltways? It sounded like it could be the Sharran-but she hadn't touched the man. "You think I…?"
Manas shook his head. "No, Moonmistress. Not necessarily. But the coincidence is remarkable-a man mauled, a werewolf sighted…" His hands shifted on his belt. "Your recent arrival in Yhaunn…"
What was going on? Feena thought. The Sharran had been dead practically before she reached him, and she would never mutilate a corpse-let alone one with poison coursing through it. Someone or something else must have mauled the corpse after she left. But why?
For a moment, she considered relating what she'd learned the night before. A Sharran cult was a danger to everyone. Except that there was no cult, was there? Velsinore, Mifano, and even Dhauna had made that clear. She looked at Manas and Colle. The faces of both men were hard, Colle's with unbecoming glee, Manas's with professional distance. Something else occurred to Feena as well-she'd left Shar's disk clutched in the corpse's hand. If the disk had been found, surely they would have mentioned it.
Even if she could convince them that the man had been a Sharran cultist and a follower of the immortal enemy of Selune, could any dispute justify the ravaged body that had been found? If she confessed to what had happened, Feena realized, she'd be forced to defend what hadn't.
She must have been silent too long. Manas and Colle exchanged another glance. The guard captain pulled his thumbs from his belt.
"Moonmistress," he said, "can you answer some questions for us?"
Feena's tongue felt as if it were stuck to the roof of her mouth.
"Such as?" she asked. "Where were you last night?"
"She was with me," called Julith. The dark-haired priestess stepped out from the depths of the temple. She walked with grace and her voice was steady, but her face was flushed. She must have run all the way back down to the gate from Dhauna's quarters, Feena realized. Julith stopped just on the other side of the guard captain and the High Luck, forcing them to divide their attention between her and Feena. "We were here, at Moonshadow Hall."
"All night?" Manas asked her.
Julith nodded and said, "We were holding vigil for the health of the High Moonmistress." She inclined her head toward Colle. "I'm sure the High Luck has told you Dhauna Myritar's health has failed her of late? It's most gratifying to see the concern that the high clergy of Yhaunn share for each other."
There wasn't a trace of irony in her voice-she could have been offering Colle genuine praise-yet the statement pushed the weight of the visit smoothly onto the high priest and left him red-faced and sputtering. Manas looked back to Feena.
"Were you holding vigil here last night?" he asked.
Feena swallowed. Did Julith have a plan? She hoped so.
"Yes," she lied.
Manas raised an eyebrow. Colle's sputtering ground down into indignation and he snapped, "An invocation to Tymora would enforce the truth, Manas!"
Feena's heart lurched, but Julith's response was swift and calm. "High Luck," she asked, "are you questioning the honesty of Selune's priestesses within her own temple? Would you ask the same of Dhauna Myritar if she were here?"
Colle's mouth opened, then closed as he struggled for words in the face of Julith's serene challenge. "I would never question the High. Moonmistress-" he managed finally, but Julith cut him off again.
"Then why do you question the Moonmistress-Designate? She is the High Moonmistress's voice and her chosen successor at Moonshadow Hall." Julith caught Feena's eye as she spoke. "Challenging her is the same as challenging Dhauna Myritar herself!"
Moonmaiden's grace, Feena cursed silently as she caught the priestess's meaning, do you know what you're asking, Julith? Selune give charm to my lying tongue!
The priestess