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Leesil. He had done this once, one long night on the road, or had it been
twice? Had it really happened at all?
Magiere stepped forward and was rewarded with a grateful smile.
"Tell me everything," Teesha whispered. "I will care for you. I will take
your sorrows and drain them away."
Her fingers brushed Magiere's chin and moved up to stroke her temple.
Chap growled from the open doorway.
Teesha's attention flickered briefly toward the dog.
The nymph faded from Magiere's visions. There was only the woman, the
creature. Teesha. Magiere backstepped once as her sword arm pulled up and
swung level.
Teesha's focus shifted instantly back to Magiere.
Realization didn't dawn on Magiere until she found herself looking down at
the red-clad body lying limp across her bed. The head still rocked on the
floor where it had fallen, neck stump dripping dark fluid onto the floor and
into its disheveled hair. The eyes were locked wide, but the pale face was
blank of expression.
Instead of triumph, loss and regret hit Magiere. Two single tears slipped
out, not at the death of this creature so much as the death of the illusion
Teesha had painted in her mind.
Chap sniffed at the head, then barked low and soft.
"Take Rose back to the stable and protect the children," she ordered him.
He looked up at her with a low whine of obvious disagreement.
"Do it!" she said.
Chap hesitated briefly, then left the room.
Magiere stood there for a long time. Finally, she picked up Teesha's head by
its hair and walked back downstairs.
Chapter Twenty
Leesil waited tensely inside the shack with no idea the battle had already
begun. The dwelling he crouched inside was not a home; Barely large enough for
Karlin and himself to hide in, it must have once been a kind of toolshed. Now
only spiders and a broken rake inhabited the place.
"It's well past sundown," Karlin whispered. "Shouldn't something have
happened?"
"I don't know," Leesil answered honestly. "If they've discovered we're
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prepared, they may wait a long time."
"People will already be shaking from fear. Much longer, and they'll be
exhausted."
"Exactly. Hence, the waiting if they know something is happening."
Leesil peered out a crack in the door, hoping to see something, anything,
when he heard Rose scream. The sound shot through him like an arrow, and he
burst out into the street without thinking.
"Rose?" he called and started for the stable up the street.
Another scream rang out, and in confusion, he turned toward the tavern.
Karlin now stood beside him.
More screams echoed through the town around him.
Turning, he saw two dockworkers run from their hiding places in panic. Snarls
and growls followed frightened cries, and Leesil stood dumbfounded, not
knowing what he should do.
Wolves.
Long-legged, enraged animals were running in the streets and attacking
Miiska's citizens. Some were even jumping through windows. Geoffry, Karlin's
son, was holding off an enormous black beast with a makeshift spear. Leesil
dropped his ax, grabbed Karlin's crossbow out of the man's hands, and fired,
catching the wolf through the throat. "Get off the ground!" he yelled. The
streets turned to chaos. His simple but well-laid plan shattered into pieces
as more canine creatures appeared from around side streets to savagely rout
his people from their hiding places. Thoughts of undeads disappeared as
weapons and terror shifted toward new targets.
The wolves were not starving, mangy beasts. They appeared to be healthy
timber wolves, except they had gone mad and were attacking anything human that
moved. He and Magiere had some experience with wolves on the open road in
Stravina, but he'd never known one to attack a person, unless famine or
disease drove it to desperate action. Wolves avoided areas where people
settled. But now, these tall, gray-and-black furred creatures ran down and
savaged random citizens. Screams and snarls filled the night air. "Leesil!"
Karlin shouted. 'The tavern's on fire."
Rashed sent the wolves ahead, following rapidly through the trees toward
Miiska. This time it would be the hunter who was caught off guard, distracted
by carnage, and he would be the one with well-prepared forces. While he did
not consider wolves to be complex creatures, they became quite single-minded
when he set them to a task for which they were suited. With one thought image,
he showed them that task, ordering them to attack and kill anything that
moved. They obeyed.
Reaching the edge of town, he strode in without hesitation, carrying a
burning torch in one hand and his sword in the other. There was no time or
need to hide in shadows now.
He felt no satisfaction when the screaming began. Random violence was
distasteful and lacked honor. Even killing to feed was a foolish act that
raised suspicion and depleted the local food supply. But the hunter had
retreated to hide among the townspeople, so the town itself must be otherwise
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occupied for him to pull her into the open and finish this conflict. The
hunter had forced him to this slaughter.
The closer he drew to the tavern, the more people ran out of nearby
buildings, and this puzzled him. Few mortals made their homes near the docks
or as far south in the town as The Sea Lion. He saw armed men jumping off
roofs to either save those on the ground or escape from a wolf that had found
its way up.
Magiere, the spineless hunter, had set a trap, hiding behind simple townsfolk
and laborers. The thought angered him.
No one noticed him as he strode purposefully toward the tavern. In fact, only
when the dwelling was directly in his sight did one person even try to stop
him. A young town guard was aiming a crossbow at a wolf across the street when
he saw Rashed and started slightly. Instead of shooting at the wolf, he aimed
at Rashed and fired.
At full strength and concentration, the Noble Dead simply caught the quarrel
in mid-air and tossed it aside.
The young guard's eyes widened, and he ran away.
Rashed did not follow. Instead, he walked up to The Sea Lion, kicked a few
boards at its base loose, and thrust the torch's head in among them. The
tavern's wood was old and dry, and burst into flames. He quickly repeated this
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