better.

But a Selunite to witness and stop the whole affair before Variance even had to dirty her hands, that was a gift from Shar herself.

That the well had not been poisoned was no great loss. A score of people had been spared death that night, but it would come for them eventually. The Selunite had seen and heard all that was necessary. Moonshadow Hall would have to respond.

Still, there seemed little point in wasting a corpse when it could be used to create even more havoc and confusion.

Variance knelt down and broke the cord around the dead man's neck, tugging it and the symbol of Shar away. She tucked both into a fold of her own mantle. The Selunites knew their enemy, but no one else needed to.

'Have no fear,' she told the corpse. 'The Lady of Loss will know your soul. There's just one more sacrifice for you to make.'

She rose and stepped back. Whispering a prayer to Shar, she crooked two fingers as if beckoning someone. Or something.

Shadows swirled and condensed into a massive black dog with a hide like night itself. Variance pointed at the cultist's body.

CHAPTER 4

What?' Feena asked, looking from Velsinore to Mifano in stupefied disbelief.

'There are no Sharrans in Yhaunn, Feena,' Mifano insisted. 'We'd know if there were.'

Sitting beside him, Velsinore nodded her agreement. Feena clenched her hands and her fingernails scraped across the polished top of the table around which the three of them sat. As soon as Moonshadow Hall had begun stirring that morning, she had commandeered one of its receiving rooms for the meeting. Her intention had been to keep unnecessary panic from spreading through the junior members of the temple. It was beginning to look increasingly like the privacy would serve instead to keep word from spreading of another clash with Mifano and Velsinore.

'But I told you what I saw,' Feena growled. She lifted one hand and pointed at the flask that stood in the center of the table. Getting it back to Moonshadow Hall had not been easy. Shifting into wolf form and carrying the flaskpoison lingering within itin her mouth had been out of the question, of course. Shifting to human form would have left her naked. She had been forced to duck through alleys and shadows in her monstrous hybrid shape all the way back to the temple and her waiting clothes. 'You can read the inscription on that yourself.'

'A badly-written label is hardly an inscription,' Mifano said as he picked up the flask again. 'Anyone could have written this and stuck it to the flask. Anyone could have gone to a less than ethical alchemist and bought the poison. Anyone can invoke Shar's name if they choose to.' He set the flask down. 'It's not a cult, Feena. I think you stumbled across a misguided madman working on his own.'

'But there could be a cult at work,' protested Feena. 'How do you know there isn't?'

Velsinore leaned forward. Her face was cross. 'Because we do,' she said. 'Honestly, do you think we don't take the threat of Shar's followers seriously? We monitor every tale and rumor that passes through Yhaunnand around it, too. We have faithful who aid us in watching. We're vigilant, Feena! You know the spoor of Malar's servants, don't you? You know when they come to Arch Wood. If there was any sign of a Sharran cult spreading in the city, we would have known.'

'This is a sign!' Feena banged the table.

'No, it isn't!'

'Sisters!' snapped Mifano.

Feena caught her tongue. Across the table, Velsinore stiffened into silence. Mifano sighed and set the flask down.

'Feena,' he said. 'I don't want you to think that we're belittling what you did last night. It's like the shack you mentioned by the docksby checking that disease now, we prevent a plague. You did the same thing. Shar's evil found a single servant, her toehold in the city. You broke that toehold. And how many people would have died if that well had been poisoned? You saved them, too.'

'But I… that wasn't…' Feena began. Words failed her. She pressed her hands over her face and groaned in frustration. 'Oh!'

'I'm glad you think so highly of your service to Selune,' said Velsinore as she rose from the table. 'Someone else probably would have let such praise go to her head!' She swept out of the room.

At least the bitterness and resentment in the tall priestess' voice was plain.

Mifano's cheer simply rang hollow as he stood and asked, 'What would you like done with the remaining poison, Feena? A victory toast for the heroine of the hour, Moonshadow Hall's shield against Shar? You didn't even have to lay a hand on that cultisthe killed himself just at the sight of you!'

Feena glared at him over the tops of her fingers and said, 'Get rid of it, Mifano.'

'As you wish,' he replied, scooping up the vial. 'I'll return the flask to you, though, shall I? It will make a wonderful souvenir.'

'Get out,' Feena snarled.

Mifano slid gracefully out the door, then leaned back in.

'By the way,' he said, 'Lady Monstaed has sent her regretsshe won't be able to meet with you today. Maybe she heard about what happened at Ladysluck Tower yesterday. Well done.'

He vanished again. Feena let him get a good long head start before standing and following.

What was I thinking last night? That Selune guided me to a problem I was capable of dealing with?

'Moonmaiden's grace,' Feena cursed under breath. 'Could I really have been that wrong?'

As much as she hated to admit it, Velsinore's argument made sensethe clergy of Moonshadow Hall probably would have already found a Sharran cult if one was operating in Yhaunn. They were attuned to the activities of

Selune's enemies. Mifano made sense too. Maybe she had stopped Shar's power before it could grow behind a single madman. Maybe that had been Selune's only intent, guiding her to prevent the deaths of innocent Yhauntans. Maybe she was a hero.

So why didn't she feel like one?

She needed advice. She needed to talk to Dhauna Myritar. Feena turned her path toward the cloisters and a short cut across the inner courtyard. First thing that morning, she had written a message, relating what had happened and what she intended to do, and dispatched a novice to deliver it while she met with Velsinore and Mifano. Feena blew out her breath in a long sigh. Having spoken with the pair of them, she felt like she needed the High Moonmistress more than ever!

Except Dhauna found her first. Feena was halfway across the courtyard when the high priestess stepped through the gate of the waning half moon and into the morning sunlight. She was swinging her canes stiffly, moving like a dwarf with vengeance in mind. Her face was grim. Feena hurried to her.

'Mother Dhauna'

Dhauna lashed out with a cane as soon as Feena came within reach. The blow had little force behind it, but Feena still gasped and stumbled back. Dhauna tottered after her, cane flailing.

'You stupid girl!' she screeched. 'What are you trying to do? What are you trying to do?'

A wild swing threw the old woman off balance. Feena stepped in and caught her, holding her upright. From around the courtyard and within the cloisters, an assortment of clergy, acolytes, novices, and visitors to the temple were staring at them.

'Dhauna,' she hissed. 'What's wrong?'

'You!' spat the high priestess. 'Running around the city in your wolf form! I read your messagewhat were you thinking? I promised your mother that so long as you were at Moonshadow Hall, I wouldn't let you out of the temple in anything but your human shape.'

Feena's eyes went wide. 'I'm… I'm sorry, Mother Dhauna,' she said. 'It won't happen again.'

An apology was the only thing Feena could think of. She swallowed and wrapped her arm around Dhauna's thin shoulders.

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