temple. The slow rhythm of the girl's breathing didn't even shift.
There was a surprise waiting within the temple, however. The thick scent of roasting meat carried through the halls along with the sound of even more kitchen activity than usual. Idruth and her staff were especially busy, as if preparing for a feast… Feena's eyes widened as she remembered what day it was: the new moon.
In the face of everything that had happened, Velsinore was carrying on with the New Moon Beneficence. Unbelievable.
At least the activity was confined to the kitchen. The rest of Moonshadow Hall was quiet and empty. Feena creeped softly through the corridors, as silent as a novice sneaking in after curfew. The infirmary lay toward the back of the temple, on the side opposite the kitchens. She reached it without seeing another person and opened the tall doors silently.
The infirmary was a disaster. Beds had been overturned and cabinets smashed. Bandages and supplies were scattered everywhere. Shattered bottles spilled from one toppled cabinet. A mineral, metallic stink rose from them. Feena breathed through her mouth trying to block out the smell.
Up above all of the devastation, the entire ceiling shone with the bright, soft light of a full moon. Feena gazed at it in wonder. What magic had Dhauna called down to conjure such a thing?
She crossed under the shining ceiling to a door in one walla heavy door, crossed with iron bands and two, stout bolts on the outside. A door meant not for keeping people out, but for keeping something else in. She remembered all too well the cold grating of those bolts as they slid home.
'Mother Dhauna?' she called.
There was a little covered hatch in the center of the door, a window into the room beyond. Feena opened it carefully.
With a tremendous growl, a heavy weight crashed against the door. Narrow jaws and white teeth snapped together inches from Feena's peering eyes before falling away. She gasped and jerked back out of reflex.
She could hear the wolf as it paced back and forth on the other side of the door, and imagine it glaring up at the little window, waiting for another chance to strike. She set her jaw and stepped up once more.
The wolf leaped at the door again, but Feena didn't flinch back. When the wolf fell away, she peered through the window. The room beyond was small, barely big enough for a large animal to take three strides from wall to wall. When she had been at Moonshadow Hall, it had been dark and empty. Since then, it had been filled with shelves of clean linens. Under the light of the moonglow that extended inside, however, Feena could see that the shelves had been broken and the linens shredded. The foul pungency of urine wafted through the open window.
The wolf that was Dhauna Myritar circled through the torn, stinking cloth, then charged the door once more. Her body slammed into the wood and iron, her claws scratching as if she could climb it. She propped herself up against the door, and leaned there, snarling and snapping, the tip of her muzzle just below the window. Feena stood on her toes and looked down. The wolfs muzzle was heavily frosted with gray and white. Her teeth, when she bared them, were worn and dull. Feena waited. Eventually, Dhauna sagged down from the door and stalked away.
Her muzzle wasn't the only part of her that showed her age. Dhauna's gait was awkward, as if her back and hips were stiff. She was small as well, and her legs and chest were thin and frail. She limped badly, one foreleg clearly injured. Blood spotted her fur and stained some of the torn linens. Her tail dragged low behind her.
'With Selune's blessing,' the elderly high priestess had said, 'I will be stronger, more vitalthe Moonmaiden's arm!'
Feena tore her gaze away from the window. Dhauna's mad expectations of the transformation had failed her. Feena didn't think she had ever seen an older wolf.
Steeling herself, she peered through the window once more. The moonlight wasn't doing Dhauna any good. She touched her medallion.
'In Selune's name,' Feena prayed, 'let this magic be ended.'
Throughout the infirmary, the light flickered and faded, leaving only a few of the cool crystal lights that illuminated the corridors of Moonshadow Hall behind. Dhauna spun around in a circle, howling in alarm. Feena waited. On the night of a true full moon, it wouldn't be so easy to put an end to the transformation, but removing the magical light would be enough for the moment.
At least it should have been enough. Dhauna stopped howling and eased down into a crouch, staring at Feena with hot yellow eyes. But there was no change. The woman didn't emerge from the wolf.
Feena's breath hissed through her teeth, 'Moonmaiden's grace, what have you done?' She raised her voice and called out, 'Dhauna!'
Dhauna's ears flicked at the sound, but no more.
'Dhauna!' Feena repeated.
There was no reaction at all. Feena swallowed, then reached down and drew back the first of the bolts that secured the door.
At the sound of the screeching metal, Dhauna growled and crawled away from the door. At the sound of the second, she backed herself into a corner and crouched there, snarling. Feena waited a long momentthen opened the door, ducked swiftly into the room, and pushed the door closed behind her. Dhauna whined and crushed herself far back into the corner. Feena stood still, giving the wolf time to get used to her presence and time for her own eyes to adjust to the dimness.
The stench in the room was overwhelming. Feena choked against it, struggling to catch her breath. Then she held out her hand silently. Dhauna stared at it then cautiously unfolded, creeping out of the corner by slow degrees.
Every movement seemed painful, as if all the years of Dhauna's human form were suddenly catching up with her as a wolf. Feena bit her lips and tried her best to hold back tears.
When the old wolf had creeped a few feet out into the room, Feena let out a low, questioning growl. Coming from her human throat, it was weak, but it got Dhauna's attention. Her ears pricked up and she shrank back for a moment, then stretched forward. Feena sank down slowly, bringing herself to the wolfs level. She growled again, then whined.
Friends? Come.
Dhauna had only been a wolf for a few hours, but on some instinctive level she must have recognized Feena's invitation. She limped forward cautiously until she was only an armslength away. Up close, Feena could see the bloody paw prints that every step left on the ripped linens. A fast glance over her shoulder revealed fresh, deep scratches marring the ironbound wood of the door and on the stone of the room's walls. Dhauna had torn her claws and shredded her footpads in her rage and panic at being trapped.
'Dhauna?' Feena breathed. 'Dhauna, let me heal you. Let me take away the pain.'
One hand touched her medallion as the other reached slowly for Dhauna.
The wolfs eyes flared, and she snapped. Feena snatched her hand away, but Dhauna didn't retreat. Growling angrily, the wolf paced around the crouching woman.
Feena froze, whining lightly, trying to calm her again. She turned to keep her eyes on the wolf. Dhauna snarled and leaped.
Feena rolled back before the attack and caught Dhauna deftly, one hand on the wolfs chest, the other under her head where her jaw met her neck. The wolf was shockingly light. Feena held her back easily as she snapped and struggled, straining to reach her captor with teeth or claws. Her back legs kicked and scratched futilely. Saliva sprayed from her jaws. Growls rolled out of her chest.
The wolf within Feena understood them all too well.
Interloper! Intruder! Kill you! Kill you kill you killyoukillyoukillkiUkill…
Yellow eyes burned with rage and hate above foaming jaws. There was nothing human left in themexcept madness.
Feena's breath shuddered. Her heart wrenched inside her chest. There were ways to cure a werewolf even after the cursed individual had changed, like prayers spoken quickly by a priest of sufficient faith. But a cure required that the werewolf desire an end to her condition. When a werewolf had truly surrendered to the curse, had taken the beast into her heart
Dhauna's madness, her pursuit of the New Moon Pact, had taken her too far.
… killkiUkiUkill kill kill… kill…
