Mistress of the Night - Don Bassingthwaite [92]
Shadows.
Keph's breath caught. "No!" he choked.
The shadows deepened abruptly, as if a cloud had passed over the new-risen sun outside. The sense of being watched changed, became more intense.
The darkness folded and gathered in on itself. When it parted again, Variance was in the shed with them, a thick cloak shrouding her dusky pale form. Her hand darted out toward Julith, amethyst ring flashing as it caught a stray beam of sunlight.
"In Shar's name, be still!"
Julith stiffened, a look of surprise caught on her face. Keph gasped and drew breath, a shout of alarm already on his lips. Variance whirled and spoke a low word, flicking her fingers at him. Shadows spun out from her gesture, and coalesced into a solid form. Keph's shout died as a chakram, the razor-edged throwing disk that was Shar's own legendary weapon, materialized out of the darkness. The weapon stopped less than an inch from his throat and hung there.
"Be silent, Keph," ordered Variance. "Did you really think you could run from us?"
Sweat broke out on Keph's forehead. He could feel it trickling from his face, down his outstretched neck. He sat back slowly. The floating chakram moved with him, maintaining its position.
"How did you find me?" he breathed. "How did you even know I'd gone?"
"Selune's clergy aren't all so faithful as the moon goddess might think," Variance said in a low voice. "Now hold your tongue!"
Her fingers twitched. The chakram slid forward and its cold edge kissed Keph's throat. Variance turned away to stand over Julith.
"Priestess of Selune," she murmured. Her voice took on a strange timbre, a haunting, seductive quality. The pupils of Julith's eyes grew wide, seeming to consume all the color of her irises. "Priestess of Selune, hear me. What you remember now is false. Let it pass from your memory. This is the truth that you will recall: that Keph Thingoleir broke free from his bonds, and that he mocked you and your faith and your foolish confidence that there could be no Sharrans in Yhaunn!"
The lie stabbed into Keph, more painful than he could have thought. He moaned against the edge of the shadowy chakram. The power flowing off Variance raised the hairs on his skin. The dark priestess had said that Shar granted her certain powers over the minds of the weak, that Lyraene didn't recall the full truth of their duel-was this what she had done to the half-elf?
"Don't listen, Julith!" he hissed "Fight her! I wouldn't mock you!"
But Variance's murmur was relentless. And cruel.
"He fooled you, priestess! Keph Thingoleir is more than he seems. He enspeUed you! Beloved of Shar, he commands the darkest of forces. He tore open the shadows themselves to make his escape. And before he fled, he swore his vengeance against Moonshadow Hall. At the moment of Selune's weakness, Shar will lay your temple waste-he promises it! Know fear, priestess, for Shar shall come!"
Her hands floated through the air, fingertips settling briefly against Julith's forehead. The pitch of her voice turned harsh and commanding.
"By the power of the Mistress of Night, this is the memory I make for you!"
A shadow slid across Julith's eyes.
Keph's heart felt as if it had stopped. Variance drew a slow breath and lifted her hands away from the priestess, then turned back to him.
"So," she said, her gaze as cold and as hard as her voice. "You disappoint me."
"Variance…" Keph gulped.
"Be silent!" Variance snarled again.
She reached down and clenched his hair in one fist. Keph gasped, then gasped again as a cold force wrenched him into swirling shadows.
"Julith!" he shrieked. The priestess's gaze didn't even flicker. "Jul-"
Darkness closed around him, choking his scream into silence.
CHAPTER 13
It was time to go. The sun would be rising. Moonshadow Hall would be stirring. Did