The Jewel of Turmish - Mel Odom [73]
Staring at the woman in awe, Borran Kiosk noted that her features had undergone drastic changes as well. Instead of two wide, opal eyes, there were now several orbs, each of the same peculiar hue. The long hair had become short, stiff bristles. The triangular face rounded, and became an almost featureless ovoid. Only a lipless slash remained of her mouth.
"A werespider," Borran Kiosk said, staring up at the fantastic creature on the ceiling.
Allis clung to the ceiling and gazed down. Her new face betrayed no emotion.
"I've never seen a werespider before."
"I was sent here to find you," Allis said.
"Who sent you?"
"Those who follow the Beastlord's ways." Allis tilted her malformed head. "Your first sacrifice was not in vain, Borran Kiosk. Nor was your resurrection intended to be wasted by railing at the city watch and inciting a battle."
"Malar still has interests in Alaghфn?" Borran Kiosk asked.
"In all the Vilhon Reach," she said. "I was sent to guide you."
"Guide me where?"
"To a place," Allis said, "where you can raise an army of undead."
Allis's body shimmered again. She dropped from the ceiling, her legs shrinking back into her body. By the time she landed on her two feet, she resembled a human woman again.
"The Beastlord doesn't want you to wait to strike," she said. "The time is now."
More shouts came from the street. Allis peered through the window.
"The flames are dying," she said, "and it won't be long before reinforcements arrive. We need to go." "Where?"
"Into hiding for now," Allis said. "Tonight, Malar willing, we'll take a ship." "We?"
"You have allies here, Borran Kiosk, and you have more coming. Malar also caused the five you buried all those years ago in the swamplands around Morningstar Hollows to rise from their graves."
The name surprised Borran Kiosk. One of his final battles had been fought there, but no one living had known of the preparation he'd made with the five pieces of Taraketh's Hive. In fact, few had even known of the magical gem's existence before the mohrg had discovered it.
"The five have been raised?" he asked.
"They are on their way here now."
Borran Kiosk's thoughts spun.
"You crave vengeance," Allis stated. "Malar has guided you to Taraketh's Hive, and he has returned your freedom. Don't be so prideful that you have cause to regret the Beastlord's generosity."
Glaring at the woman with harsh intensity, Borran Kiosk said, "You have eluded me so far, woman, but rest assured that I can kill you, and I will should I deem that necessary."
"My life has been spent in the service of Malar," Allis said. "Kill me and another will take my place to guide you, unless the Beastlord withdraws his favorable consideration of you and has you destroyed."
Though Borran Kiosk wasn't too afraid of that instance, the possibility did give him pause. Only Malar's blessing had returned him to life as a mohrg after he'd been executed.
"Malar's benediction doesn't come without price," Allis said. More shouting sounded out in the street. "We need to go."
Leading him to the back of the tavern, Allis changed into her werespider shape again and leaped up to the ceiling. She used a knife from a sheath at her belt and cut through the ceiling. In less than a minute she was through to the rafters.
With some reluctance, feeling that such an exit from a fight was beneath him, Borran Kiosk climbed up after her.
Borran Kiosk stepped out through the opening and followed her across the rooftops. His mind whirled in fascination at all that had been set before him. As his gaze roamed over the storm-blasted city, taking in the new shape of the skyline and the much bigger harbor out toward the Sea of Fallen Stars, he felt the old hunger for vengeance against the living return to him.
***
Alaghфn Watch Sergeant Faholian Tahrass walked through the graveyard and gazed at the dead bodies that had been taken from the crypt by men in his command. One of the corpses lay naked under the misting rain.
"Who are these people?" Tahrass asked.