The masked witches

Still, of late, there s simply been too much of it. The ghosts and revenants have been too powerful, and too intent on doing harm for harm s sake.

Dulsaer shook his head. Aren t they always intent on doing harm for harm s sake? he said.

Actually, no, said Aoth, not always. Although they may have vile hungers to satisfy, and an i

The hathran nodded. I am, she said. On our journey into the High Country, Vandar and I encountered an undead hag and some zombie goblins going to considerable trouble to break a Raumathari demon trap, for no discernible reason other than malice. There have been a number of similar incidents, including the recent outrage in the sacred grove, which was probably the most flagrant example of all.

Dai Shan cocked his head and placed his rather delicate-looking hands together, fingertip to fingertip. How so, wise priestess? he asked.

In the last century, Yhelbruna said, we Wychlaran had a falling out among ourselves. Some of our sisters, who came to be called the durthans, turned to commerce with wicked spirits and the fey, and formed their own secret sorority in our midst. And when we started to unmask them, they fled to strongholds in the wilderness, where they plotted to seize the control of the realm. When the opportunity presented itself as it did when our foes the Thayans started fighting among themselves we had no choice but to stamp them out.

Dulsaer nodded. I ve heard something about this

Witch War of Rashemen, he said.

Indeed, said Yhelbruna, although with a hint of distaste in her tone, as if she found the name vulgar. And I m bringing it up because we ve identified the creatures who attacked the grove.

Apparently restless, a transparent jay with a streaked crown fluttered up from a copper-masked hathran s shoulder. A misty adder coiled in its mistress s lap lifted its wedge-shaped head to track the other telthor s flight.

I take it, Vandar said, that they were durthans when they were alive.

Yes, Yhelbruna answered. A formidable coven that caused a great deal of misery working from a lair in the Erech Forest. When we finally found them, killed them, and buried them, we took considerable pains to ensure that they wouldn t rise again.

Jhesrhi made a little spitting sound. Incompetents, she whispered. They should have burned the corpses.

Or at least she thought she had whispered. But to her surprise and embarrassment, Yhelbruna replied to her. You re right, said the witch. But some of the women had been fine hathrans before they turned down the wrong path. So we chose to lay them to rest with the rites that are due a hathran, and the fact of the matter is, no one should ever have been able to find them, let alone reanimate them.

Yet apparently someone did, Cera said. Or else they came back because of some other influence.

And that s not the extent of the mystery, Yhelbruna said. We buried them in the Erech Forest, which is to say, in the northwest, on the other side of Lake Ashane. How, then, did they make their way to the outskirts of the Ashenwood without being detected?

Flying by night? Dulsaer suggested. Surely at least a few of you witches have mastered that particular magic.

Possibly, Yhelbruna said, although by day or night, we hathrans have watchers in the sky. Still, why come so far?

Because the oak spirit only lives a stone s throw from Immilmar, said Aoth. If I wanted to scare and demoralize the realm, I d strike in this area if I could manage it.

Interesting, said Yhelbruna. You outlanders all have your own ways of seeing and thinking, and perhaps that s what we need.

Scowling, Mangan Uruk rose. High Lady, no one respects your wisdom more than I do, he said. And I respect our guests. But I have to say one more time that I don t like this. Rashemen doesn t need sellswords.

Yet you yourself pressed Captain Bez s skyship into service, the hathran replied.

The Iron Lord hesitated. That was a special situation, he said. I saw a need to reach the grove faster than a horse could run.

And it s possible we need all of the outlanders capabilities, Yhelbruna said. All their insights, magic, and methods of making war. Believe me, I don t take any satisfaction in the thought. How could I? We Wychlaran are as proud of our skills as you warriors are of yours. But the truth of the matter is that our problem is growing worse, and neither of us has been able to solve it. We mustn t let pride keep us from obtaining help from those the spirits sent to give it.

So what you re saying, said Aoth, is that you want to hire us to put a stop to your infestation of undead, and the payment will be the griffons.

The Three have instructed the Wychlaran to proclaim a quest to benefit the realm, answered the hathran. They also provided a reward for those who fulfill it.

What if more than one group plays a part in solving your problem? asked Bez.

We ll turn the griffons over to all who do, and you can divide them as you see fit, she replied.

Or dice for the lot of them, or fight a duel, the skyship captain said. I suppose that will work.

High Lady, called Dulsaer, springing to his feet.

Surely you don t mean to ask a Thayan wizard for help when Rashemen is under attack by necromancy.

We ve been through this, Aoth replied.

In the first place, I m Szass Tam s enemy more than you ll ever be. In the second, I doubt Thayan agents are waking the dead this far north of the border. Especially if no one s spotted legions mustering on the far side of the Gorge of Gauros for an attack.

Cera gri

Dulsaer glared and opened his mouth for what he likely intended to be a savage retort. Yhelbruna cut him off: All of you are here by the will of the Three, she said.

Then that includes me and my lodge brothers, Vandar said, rising like the others. I m not an outlander with foreign insights, magic, and methods of making war. But you know better than anyone that I ve been in this from the start. I helped preserve the demon trap, I helped catch the griffons, I helped save the oak spirit

After making the job harder than it needed to be, Aoth murmured. and I demand the right to try to win the griffons.

Yhelbruna looked back at Vandar in silence for a moment. In fact, it seemed to Jhesrhi that everything had fallen silent, like the world was holding its breath.

If I recall correctly, the hathran said at length, the last male to demand anything of an assembly of the Wychlaran hopped away from this very amphitheater on four webbed feet.

The berserker took a breath. Still, I do demand it, he said.

Then it s just as well that we meant to include you anyway, Yhelbruna said, with perhaps the slightest hint of humor in her voice. This is chilly weather for frogs.

It appears, then, Dai Shan said, that we understand our task, and we know who else intends to strive for the greater glory of this noble land.

Please, said Dulsaer, sneering. The sellswords and berserkers are at least soldiers of a sort. You Theskians are merchants. What are you going to do? Bribe the undead to go away?

The small Shou in his long green coat rose. He turned to face Dulsaer and spread his hands. Shadows, hitherto scarcely noticeable in the afternoon sunlight, stretched and darkened, and gloom gathered in the air. Dai Shan leaped, or maybe simply vanished, and then he was standing on a patch of empty bench directly in front of Dulsaer. He snapped a punch at the griffonrider s face.

Startled, Dulsaer failed to react. The blow would surely have smashed his nose except that Dai Shan stopped it an inch short of the target. The murk in the air cleared, and the sunshine streamed back.