melee of blood, screams, and death. Cale took it hi, horrified.
Near him, the oak feast table and most of the dinner chairs lay overturned. Broken dishes lay scattered across the floor. Toppled candles and spilled oil lamps had started a few scattered fires. Cale watched Shamur's tablecloths burn and the plush velvet curtains smolder. Wispy clouds of black smoke filled the room and gave the whole scene the look of some surreal vision from a nightmare. From everywhere, a horrid cacophony of terrified screams, hungry growls, and angry shouts filled his ears. Smears of blood stained everything red.
A pack of at least ten ghouls rampaged freely amidst the chaos. They bounded haphazardly through the clutter, attacking anything that came within their reach. Many guests were already paralyzed. He winced when he saw the wounds torn hi their bodies. The ghouls had devoured hunks of their bodies while they stood helpless. His eyes moved frantically from victim to victim, looking for the members of his family. He didn't see them.
Corpses lay scattered about the floor amidst the dishes and dining furniture, their bodies desiccated and unrecognizable. Not ghoul work, Cale realized, but he had no time to give it further thought.
He saw that the ghouls had herded most of the surviving guests to the far side of the feasthall, away from the double doors. Away from any means of escape. Though a few guests had tried to break the large, leaded glass windows, the beautifully crafted metal veins that depicted dragons in flight and men in battle imprisoned the guests as effectively as a jailer's cell. Outside, the safety of the patio and gardens tantaliz-ingly beckoned, just out of reach. Inside, the slaughter continued.
Here and there about the feasthall, groups of cornered noblemen fought the ghouls as best they could. The men pushed the women behind them and used table knives or heavy platters as makeshift weapons and shields. Gale watched transfixed as a ghoul leaped past the feeble weapons wielded by one elderly nobleman, knocked him to the floor, and began to feed. The man's pathetic screams ended when the ghoul tore open his throat.
The three old women the elderly nobleman had beea trying to protect screamed in terror and tried to flee. Two other ghouls bounded after them, pulled them down from behind, and began to feast.
Cale pushed aside his nausea and fear and looked frantically through the smoke for his family. Where are they, dammit?
At last he spotted them, across the hall standing behind a protective screen of the surviving house guards. Jander Orvist and the rest of his blue uniformed men had backed the family and many of the guests against the back wall and formed a semi-circle of flesh and steel around them. Each house guard brandished along sword and stout buckler. They made no move to attack but lashed out at any ghouls that came near.
Through the smoke, Cale could make out Shamur and Thamalon. The pair were struggling to get free of the ring to return and protect the rest of their friends, but Jander personally held them back.
Good man, Cale thought. The only safe place on that side of the feasthall was right where they were, behind Jander's men.
He saw that Tamlin, too, stood within the ring near his parents. He looked pale from fear, but still held his ground near the perimeter of the ring shielding two young women. Vox, Tamlin's huge, hairy bodyguard, had somehow produced a wide-bladed short sword and now stood alongside the guards, a grim scowl on his face. Many of the house guards, their uniforms stained black with blood, had already fallen to the ghoub'^claw8.The ghouls now looked to be keeping their distance. Captain Orvist was waiting for an opportune moment to make a run for the double doors.
For now, the ghouls seemed content to attack only the groups of guests left outside the ring of Jander's men. Selgaunt's noblemen fought, shouted, and died by fang and claw. Ghouls devoured the soft skin of the city's noblewomen. The macabre feasting was within view of the horrified guests being protected by Uskevren house guards.
Despite the protests of Lord and Lady Uskevren, Jander Orvist let no one break from the ring. Cale searched the faces behind Jander's men-he saw Lord and Lady Foxmantle, and Lord and Lady Talendar, among others-but didn't see Thazienne.
Jander, in the midst of trying gently to restrain Thamalon, suddenly threw Lord Uskevren behind him, shouted something to his men, and pointed with his blade to the ceiling. Gale's eyes followed his pointed blade.
He saw nothing but black smokeSudden motion among the ceiling rafters drew his eye. Quick as an arrow shot, a huge, bat-winged shadow with long, clawed arms swooped down from the smoky ceiling toward the house guard perimeter.
'Look out!' Gale shouted, but knew they could not hear him through the noise.
The crowd of guests had also followed Jander's pointed blade. They backed up and cowered as the shadow dived toward them. Jander stood over Tha-malon and brandished his long sword Two other guards flanked Shamur. Vox edged toward Tamtin.
Difficult to distinguish from the smoke, the shadow darted over the flashing steel of Jander's men. A few quick-thinking house guards had readied crossbows and fired on the creature, but the bolts passed through its body without effect. It swooped into the crowd like a kingfisher and scooped up a young nobleman. The nobleman dangled and squirmed from the shadow's clawed grip. Gale did not know the young man's name. The creature hovered over the terrified crowd of guests. Its eyes flared yellow in the black oval of its face. Several of the women fainted. Many of the men cowered in fear, even some among the house guard. Meantime, the young man in the shadow's clutches screamed and kicked frenetically but his blows passed harmlessly through the creature.
Gale watched in fascination as the shadow, hovering only two armspans above the crowd, placed a claw on the scrabbling man's chest and slowly tore open a hole in his torso. Inch by inch the man's body split open. He screamed, convulsed, and died.
Gale expected a rain of entrails to shower the terrified crowd below, but nothing spilled from the wound but a whitish vapor streaked with swirls of gray. The mist flowed toward the shadow's mouth like iron shav ings to a lodestone. The creature drank it in greedily. As it did, the nobleman's body began to collapse in on itself as though sucked empty-eyeballs shrunk and fell back into the collapsing sockets. The jawbone fell open in a soundless scream.
When only a dried husk remained, the creature threw the body into the cowering crowd below and began to scan the hall below for its next victim.
Gale's gaze swept the feasthall near him and took in the many desicated corpses that Uttered the ground. The shadow had already fed well. No wonder Jander had been forced into a corner. How could the house guard hope to fight off such a creature? He had to find Thazienne!
He searched the hall, but through the smoke Gale couldn't see her anywhere. With one eye, he kept a watch on the shadow. It continued to lazily circle near the ceiling. Gale searched for Thazienne. Where was she, godsdammit?
Thazienne!' he shouted from the doorway, heedless now of whether ghouls noticed him or not. Tazi!'
Through the smoke, he spotted her across the feast-hall. She stood opposite from him, near the musicians' dais, fighting a ghoul. It toyed with her the way the one in the parlor had toyed with him.
She had torn her jade gown off at the thighs and now skillfully brandished a softly glowing dagger. Gale thanked the gods she had defied her father and worn the dagger under her dress. Her short hair hung wildly about her face and her eyes glowed with the fire of combat. Behind her, tiny Meena Foxmantle cowered against the wall, wide-eyed with fright.
The ghoul backed off, circled wide, then suddenly bounded over a toppled chair to try to get at Meena. Thazienne jumped in front of it and slashed open its forearm with her dagger. The gray-skinned beast recoiled with a growl, blood from previous victims still dripping from its daws. It backed off and again circled, less playfully now, then rushed in to attack her with a flurry of claw rakes. Despite his concern, Gale picked his way toward her cautiously, trying to avoid the attention of the rest of the ghoul pack.
Thazienne leaped backward and nimbly dodged a claw attack. She ducked low and lashed out with the dagger, this time to the ghoul's abdomen. The creature staggered backward. She shouted something, reversed her stroke, and slashed it backhand across the throat. Purple blood sprayed from the wound. The ghoul clutched at its neck and fell writhing to the floor. Without hesitation, she pounced on it and drove her dagger through its chest.
Thazienne!' Cale shouted, to get her attention. Thazienne!'
She didn't hear him. There was too much shouting. Several ghouls did hear him though, and eyed him hungrily..
After making sure the ghoul was dead, Thazienne grabbed Meena by the hand and began to lead her across
