Mistress of the Night by Bassingthwaite Don & Gross Dave

Author:Bassingthwaite, Don & Gross, Dave [Bassingthwaite, Don & Gross, Dave]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780786933464
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
Published: 2004-09-01T04:00:00+00:00

* * *

Adrey moved across the rubble strewn floor like a serpent. As she moved, she reached across her body and drew her sword. It left its scabbard with a dry hiss. Keph gasped.

She was carrying Quick.

A dark smile flickered across her face as she saw his surprise.

"It seemed appropriate," she said. "You already have the knife you used to kill me."

Keph glanced down. Shar's sacrificial knife was in his hand. He jerked and flung it away.

"Adrey," he said, "I didn't kill you!"

"You might as well have." Her voice was as cold as a winter wind. She lifted Quick, holding the rapier in front of her face. "Storm's lash!"

The lightning that writhed around the blade, bitterly white, brought no light to the darkened hall. Fear trembled through Keph's belly. He raised his hand and the disk of Shar that dangled from it.

"Shar-" he gasped. "Shar-"

"Shar take me?" Adrey laughed. "Uncle Keph, she already has. Don't you know any other spells?"

Mistress of the Night, he prayed, guide me.

Keph didn't speak the words, but they echoed in the hall just the same. Keph's gut twisted. An orison. One orison. Shar's guidance had shown him nothing more than damnation.

Adrey sank into a dueling pose, and Keph stumbled back.

"Adrey, I didn't mean it!"

"False regret does not become Shar's chosen," she snarled.

"No!" Keph spat. "It's not false. I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

"Too late, Uncle Keph!"

She lunged and he twisted desperately. Quick slid past his belly, close enough that he could smell the lightning on her blade. Keph grabbed Adrey's extended arm and pulled her off balance, using the momentum to leap past her.

Through the open doors where she had entered, there was light—twilight, the hot glow of sunset, the only true light in the hall.

Keph glanced over his shoulder. Adrey was back on her feet and coming after him. He turned back to the doorway, but Jarull and Variance barred his path.

"It's too late to back out now," Jarull said.

"The cult," said Variance, "must be protected."

He gulped—and dived between them.

For a moment it seemed like it might work. The light drew closer. He was almost there, almost out of the hall.

Hands closed on his legs. He hit the ground screaming and kicked out. Hands fell away but grabbed again.

"Too late," Variance chanted, "Too late."

Keph glanced up at her. She wasn't human anymore—her legs vanished in writhing darkness, while a dozen arms sprouted from her shoulders to twine around his legs. Her eyes were black. When she spoke, shadows escaped from her tongue in wisps.

When she smiled, deepest night itself shone through.

"Shar embraces you, Keph. She has plans for you. She's not going to let you go so easily."

She began to pull on his legs, slowly, irresistibly, dragging him back toward the darkness where Adrey waited with Quick and Jarull with Shar's knife. Keph choked and thrashed hard—

—and sat up in his bed, sheets twisted around his legs. The light of sunset lanced through a gap in the curtains over his window. Somewhere a fly buzzed slowly, back and forth.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.