The Queen of stone

CHAPTER THIRTY — TWO

The Ossuary Droaam Eyre 20, 998 YK

Chew these," Harryn said, handing her a few leaves. Though he was eager for battle, Harryn was no fool. He sought to treat their wounds before challenging whatever enemy lay ahead. The knight had some skill with the healing arts and a few salves in his bag; his work did not draw from magic, but he was likely a match for the gnoll Fharg.

The leaves were sharp and bitter, and Thorn grimaced. Harryn was bandaging the rat bite on her shoulder, which was the worst of her injuries.

"What is this?" she said.

"Wolfsbane."

She spat it out. Time to go back to Fharg, she thought. "That's poisonous!"

Harryn looked at the leaves. "Don't worry. It's a small risk, but it's better than the alternative."

"He speaks the truth," Sheshka said.

Harryn returned to his work, examining the scratches on Thorn's leg. "The rats, the wolves. You've been bitten, and that means the curse was likely passed to you. The wolfsbane should drive it out of your blood."

"So I could turn into a rat?"

Sheshka said "No," just as Stormblade said "Yes."

Thorn looked at Sheshka. "You first."

"Only a few of the Children of Zaeurl have the power to pass on their 'blessing,' and even then, it needs time to take root. Even if you were infected, you would not change until tomorrow, if then."

Thorn glanced at Harryn. "Now you, poisoner."

"What she says would be true, any other time. But not beneath these six moons. If the Wild Heart truly stirs-and if the moons are in the sky-the curse is stronger than it has been in over a century. Any of the cursed can pass on their affliction with a bite, and only those with tremendous will can resist its power. Those who fall to the curse will become subjects of the Feral Master, driven to spill the blood of those they once loved. Under the light of these moons, the change could occur within moments." He had finished his work, and he slung his pack across his back and picked up his sword. "I have done all that I can. Battle calls."

Thorn was troubled. As they made their way to the surface, she moved closer to Sheshka. "Do you believe what Stormblade says?"

A few serpents turned to regard her. "I do. I told you of the skinchangers who came to this land before Zaeurl and her children. They were a dangerous breed, and those they touched turned on their own kind. The greater horrors came after the Stormblade left us. Perhaps, if I'd remained at his side… things would have been different."

"But it doesn't make sense," Thorn murmured. "You said that Zaeurl wasn't like those others… and that she was loyal to the Daughters of Sora Kell. Why would they want their people to become subjects of the Wild Heart?"

"I do not know. But Zaeurl cannot be acting alone. The skullcrushers and the war ogres are the troops of the Great Crag."

Thorn shook her head. "Perhaps. But it still doesn't feel right."

The moonlight was dazzling as they emerged from the mouth of the Ossuary. All around them, stone hobgoblins stood ready for battle, waiting for a war that ended thousands of years before. Ahead of them, they could still hear the shouts, drums, and howls of the revelers. Drul Kantar had told the truth; the welcoming feast was nothing next to the excitement of the Midnight Dawn.

"Stormblade, tell me more about the Moonlord," Thorn said as they climbed over the ruined walls of the fortress. "Do you suppose someone's taken his place this time? You said he was a tiger-could this be a woman with the soul of a wolf?"

"I know little about the Moonlord," Stormblade replied. "He claimed to be chosen by the Feral Master himself. He had power over those who were touched by the wild. He could drive them to madness or force them to do his bidding. But I don't know if these were gifts of his own, or tied to the orbs."

"Orbs?"

"The lunar orbs. Crystal spheres, relics of the first age. I know even less about them than I do about Drukan. I know only that there was one for each moon, and that Drukan sought them all."

"Silence upon you," Sheshka whispered. "We approach the city."

"This time I know where we're going," Thorn said. "I'll take the lead."

After the battle in the Ossuary and the rats in the tower, Thorn was expecting resistance. But it seemed that the Aundairian and her troops were all that the mysterious Moonlord deemed necessary to deal with the medusa queen. Goblin children chased one another through the outer ruins, and once Thorn was disturbed to meet the gaze of a rat in the shadows. The rodent appeared ordinary, but a stroke of Steel made it a moot point.

They reached the strange pool of darkness, and she stepped into it. It was as she'd remembered-a massive patch of gloom that defied the light of the moons above. Looking at it with Harryn's tale in mind, she could see it for what it was-the shadow of a vast, strange building, a structure that could not be seen. She studied it more closely, tracing the walls down to where its foundation should be. But there was a large plot of open ground, dark and wet, a patch of mire in the midst of the city-poor ground to build on, certainly. Ironweed and chunks of sharp stone rose up from the muddy surface. The swampy soil was reason enough for it to be left barren, but Thorn guessed there was another reason.

She made her way to Sheshka and Stormblade. The two had paused near a crumbling wall covered in goblin graffiti-scrawled words that might have been written in dried blood.

"I've found our shadow," she said.

Neither of them responded. They were breathing, but aside from that, neither one had moved since she returned. Even Sheshka's snakes were frozen in place. As this registered in her mind, Thorn caught a familiar scent in the air. She turned, placing her back against the ancient wall.

"What are you doing?" she said.

"I think your answer to that question must be more interesting than mine, Lady Tam. I'm pursuing the interests of my people. You appear to be working with a medusa warlord. And a changeling with a disturbing fixation on Harryn Stormblade."

The voice was as familiar as the scent-Drego Sarhain.

"You don't know what's going on here, Drego." "So tell me. You know how much I enjoy our moonlit talks."

"They're not nearly as pleasant when I'm talking to the air."

"True," he said, and then he was beside her.

If he'd truly been there all along, his skills with concealment had improved considerably. Scent and sound told Thorn he was nearby, but she hadn't been able to pinpoint his location. Yet everything else about him seemed the same. He was dressed in black and silver, his hair shone in the moonlight, and there was laughter in his eyes. But something about him was different. Like his scent, it had always been there, but she hadn't been aware of it until then.

Familiarity.

It was something in his eyes, the way he spoke, his laughter… she'd seen him before Droaam. Spoken with him. But she couldn't remember where; the more she thought about it, the more it seemed like a dream. But she felt as if she knew him… and he seemed to feel the same way about her.

He smiled at her. "So what is this, Nyrielle?"

"The warlord Zaeurl is about to unleash chaos on the Five Nations. Zaeurl was the traitor all along."

Drego laughed. "That's ridiculous."

"I know it seems that way, but it's the truth. She's a werewolf, Drego-"

He placed his hand over hers, gently brushing his fingers across her skin. "I know."

Then she saw it all. Toli. The Aundairian. Steel flashed into her hand, and she let the point dig in just below his chin. "You're one of them."

He smiled and slowly raised his chin, just enough so he could open his mouth. "You're wrong. And you should know."

"And how's that?"

"You have a stone at the base of your spine, a crystal shard."

Thorn let the dagger touch his throat again. "How do you know that?"

He ignored the threat and the question. "When we were in the woods that night and the wolves approached-did you feel something in the stone? A chill, perhaps?"

She said nothing.

"And when you saw Zaeurl at the Great Crag?"

"I felt that same chill all day yesterday," she said.

"Yes… when you were with your comrade Toli, I suspect. But do you feel it now?"

He was right. Thinking about it, she'd only felt that chill in the presence of Toli, and later at the Ossuary. Now, the stone was calm. "If the pain means something-if it reveals werewolves-I think I'd have noticed during the week I spent in the wagon with Toli."

"Or, perhaps, he wasn't a werewolf then."

Thorn lowered the dagger and Drego smiled. It was a lovely smile… though it froze when she set the point against his heart. "I'm still listening. For someone who's not a werewolf, you know a great deal about them."

"Silver Flame," he said. "It comes with the church. As for Toli, I think it would be obvious. He was taken after the welcoming feast, along with some of the other delegates. It's a good thing you had an early night-otherwise you might be howling at the moon yourself."

"But you said Zaeurl wasn't behind this."

"She's not. She's a werewolf-she doesn't have a choice in the matter. She needs to obey when her master calls."

Master. Then it came to her. He had power over those who were touched by the wild; he could drive them to madness or force them to do his bidding. "The Moonlord."

"Yes."

"You knew about him?"

"Yes, I did." Drego's voice was calm.

"And you're here to stop him?"

"No. I'm afraid that's where we have a little problem."

"What are you talking about? He's trying to spread a plague across the Five Nations! The same plague your people fought so hard to stop!"

"Exactly." Drego seemed, if anything, pleased-as if she'd just solved the puzzle.

"What do you mean, 'exactly'?"

"The same plague we fought so hard to stop. And did stop. Don't you see, Nyrielle? This is exactly what the world needs. I didn't come here to stop it from happening. I came to make sure it did happen."

Thorn pressed the blade against his skin. "Give me one good reason to let you live."

"The end of war." He smiled at her surprise. "Don't you see? This is exactly what we need. A common enemy, a threat that compels us to join forces. The first crusade against lycanthropy brought hundreds of thousands to the Church of the Silver Flame. The second will reunite Galifar, as people remember what saved them before."

"Convenient that it's Breland and Aundair that stand on the front line of this new threat, and Thrane that holds the seat of the Silver Flame."

Drego shrugged. "I did say I was pursuing the interests of my people. They just happen to coincide with yours. Be reasonable, Nyri. Tens of thousands died in the Silver Crusade. Perhaps more will be lost this time. But how many died in the Mourning? This is a chance to force reunification without war. The people will demand it."

He could be right. Steel was in her hand and his voice was in her head. The most zealous followers of the Silver Flame are Aundairians, as a direct result of the crusade. The battle against the shapechangers is one of the fundamental things people know about the church. If there's a new plague of lycanthropy, people may turn to the Flame.

"You don't know that," Thorn said. "People might band together to face the common threat. Or they might turn on each other. And the Church may not be strong enough to face this challenge again. You're gambling with the fate of the world."

"I like the odds. And we shatter Droaam in the process. The Moonlord is no friend to the Daughters of Sora Kell. He'll tear their forces away and turn these beasts against each other. Come on, Nyrielle. Don't you want to change the world?" He smiled, and a part of her wanted to work with him, wanted to turn her back on everything she'd done before. But that was a tiny spark that flickered and died.

She thought about Beren's tales of fighting on the Droaamish front. She remembered Sheshka's tales about the dark times of her youth-the infection that turned its victims against their loved ones. And she imagined the trollbear smashing through a Brelish village, how many common soldiers-men like her father-would fall fighting such a beast.

"Not like this," she said.

One moment, her knife was against his chest. The next, he was six paces away from her. Magic was at work, and his spell was still active. He was standing right in front of her, but he was flickering, wavering. With her enhanced senses, she could feel him slipping in and out of existence.

He's shifting between planes, Steel whispered. Any attack or spell may pass through him, and if he needs to, he can slip away through solid matter… walking through a wall while he's on another plane.

"I don't want to kill you, Nyrielle," Drego said, and his voice was warped by the spell, rising and falling. "When the sun rises, this will be inevitable, and we'll be able to fight on the same side. But I can't let you stop it."

"It's not up to you." Thorn charged forward, spinning on her heel and aiming a kick for Drego's temple. By the time the sun came up, it would be over, one way or the other. Though they came from different nations, relied on different skills… she felt a bond to Drego. Somehow, whatever it was, she didn't want to kill him.

He blinked out of existence just before she struck him, and her foot passed through empty air. He reappeared a few feet away, holding his hand toward her. The air rippled as a field of energy took shape in the form of a giant hand. By the time she knew what it was, it was already wrapped around her, pinning her limbs with iron strength.

"It's over," Drego said. "I'll have to bind you, I'm afraid. As for your companions, the medusa is supposed to be dead already. And as for Stormblade-if he is truly who he appears to be, I'm sure that Thrane could use another champion."

"My sword belongs to Galifar." Perhaps Thorn had distracted Drego; perhaps it was an indomitable will finally breaking its bonds. Harryn Stormblade was striding toward Drego Sarhain, and lightning crackled around his greatsword.

Drego grinned. "If that's true, shouldn't it be broken?" His next word struck Thorn's ears with physical force. She felt a moment's pain, but the impact on Stormblade was far more severe. His armor rattled, but his sword was the target of Drego's spell. The metal shivered and shook, and for a moment it seemed like it would shatter. And then the moment passed.

"That's quite a sword," Drego said. The blade flashed in Harryn's hands, but once again, Sarhain vanished just before the blow landed. He returned a few feet away. "Let's try again. I've got time."

All the while, Thorn was struggling against her bonds, but to no avail. The ghostly hand might as well have been made of stone. Her muscles simply couldn't match the magic. All she could do was watch the battle between Drego and Harryn, the sorcerer and the knight.

Then, as she watched, she saw another battle. Another knight. An armored warrior with Drego's face. How will history remember you, I wonder?

With that thought, power flooded through her, fire blazing through every tendon. She flexed, and the silver hand holding her shattered into a thousand pieces and was gone. Steel was already in her hand as she charged forward. Drego flickered back and forth, slipping away from Stormblade's blows. But Thorn could sense the motion of the air. She could feel the currents shifting away from where Drego had been and the place he was going to be. She tried not to think; she let her instincts guide her, and the spy appeared just before the point of her blade. He was looking away from her when the blade passed along a rib and into his heart. But she heard his voice, faint and bloody.

"Well done… Sarm…"

He never finished the last word. Thorn had barely pulled Steel free when she felt his flesh harden beneath her touch. His doublet of black silk became black marble. Thorn knew what had happened even before she heard the hiss of Sheshka's serpents.

It had to be done. Thorn knew it was necessary. Her mission was to retrieve Harryn Stormblade and to protect Breland. But as she turned toward the long shadow, she saw a pair of laughing, familiar eyes in her mind, and for one moment, she hated her job.