PRINCE OF THE WIND (22 page)

"If you had, you would not have fallen into Suzanna’s trap. You are a naïve boy, Riain Cree."

Closing her eyes, she let her mind drift back to the scrying mirror and the sight of Riain trudging across the Rysalian desert at the side of the Molong. She was tempted to rouse herself and fly to Dahrenia, but she was tired and the child in her womb took all her strength. Yet the young man should be told about the being with whom he was keeping company.

"I am of the People," she said, mimicking the sorcerer’s words. "Aye, you are that, Atramentous Takei." A moué of distaste twisted Rhiannon’s mouth. "But there are only a few of us who know why the Brotherhood cast you out!"

She turned to her side, smiling at the protest from the child inside her. Arching her back to relieve the pressure of the babe’s kicking, she stared at the wall, trying to decide the best way to deal with Atramentous and the threat he posed to the father of her child.

"You could lure him here," a Voice whispered in her ear.

"I could."

"There would no longer be a threat to the boy."

"True, but then I would be burdened with the sorcerer."

"There is plenty of room here. A man could get lost for centuries within these walls. I made it so."

Rhiannon frowned. "How much threat to Riain is there?"

There was a moment’s pause, then the Voice spoke, Its last words drifting away on an errant breeze. "An evil beyond knowing…"

Rhiannon tossed and turned, unable to find a comfortable position. She finally sat up, her mind going over the problem.

There had to be the kill. That had to happen. There was no way around it. Until Riain made his first kill, he was vulnerable. After the first kill, he would be invincible, as powerful a warrior as any who ever drew breath, and along with his immortality, he would be a force with which to reckon.

But once the bloodletting was done and the Molong was assured of Riain’s loyalty, what would happen?

"He’ll try to turn him into a Molong," Rhiannon hissed. "And I’ll not let that happen."

"You had best not," another Voice whispered.

"Go away!" Rhiannon warned.

"He is mine."

"I know that, you Morrigú witch!"

"Be careful, Rhiannon. Even I have my limits."

Rhiannon clenched her fists. As long as she was safe within the walls of World’s End, nothing could harm her. No one ventured past the doors save those she invited in. And once inside, no visitor was ever allowed to leave. Inside these walls, Rhiannon knew she was immortal, but…

"Leave these walls and you have me to reckon with," the Voice taunted. "Be careful how you tread."

"What would you have me do?" Rhiannon shouted and felt the child leap in her womb.

"Take the Molong out of the equation. Lest he be tempted to make my love one of his kind."

"I can not do that until
after
the first kill, Maeve!"

"No, you can not, but as soon as the bloodletting is done, snatch up the Molong and bring him here. Get him out of Riain’s life."

Rhiannon mumbled as she swung her legs over the bed and stomped to her scrying mirror. She waved her hand over the glassy ebon argentine surface and waves formed over the convex face. The waves parted, and there, walking behind the Molong, she found Riain, his black hair gleaming in the moonlight. Waving her hand across the mirror once more, the vision changed, and she saw a village with a few lighted windows and smoke rising from chimneys.

"His kill is among the villagers," the Voice told Rhiannon. "A child molester. An evil needing to be eradicated from this world."

"Does the Molong know who the victim will be?"

"His kind always do."

Rhiannon shivered. She did not want to deal with Atramentous Takei this night—or any other, for that matter—but Riain’s safety was of the utmost importance. He was her son’s sire and the sire was to be protected at all costs.

"Thieves pay the price for their thieving, Rhiannon. Taking care of the Molong is small payment for the great theft you committed," the Voice said harshly. "In some cultures, the thief’s hand is lopped from the wrist or her neck stretched in the noose. Be careful such punishments do not befall you."

"I’ll do what needs doing! And stop threatening me, Morrigú!"

"Did you think it was a threat, Rhiannon? ’Twas a promise!"

Riain sat on the hard ground and raised his knees. His belly cramped violently; his flesh felt as though he stood in the midst of a bale-fire. Swallowing convulsively, trying to bring some semblance of moisture to his mouth, he groaned, sicker than he had ever been.

"The Transition will come within the hour," the sorcerer advised. "All the signs are there."

Riain lifted his head and stared gloomily at Atramentous. "Will it hurt as badly as it did the first time?"

Atramentous shrugged. "How would I know? Do I feel such things?"

"You are a shapeshifter. Why would you
not
know?"

"All Molong can shapeshift, young one," Atramentous snapped, then cast his pupil a quick look. He seemed almost pleased at Riain’s confusion. "Know you not that term, either?"

"I’ve had no truck with your kind. I’ve never wanted to and wish to the gods I didn’t have to now! I didn’t even know I was capable of doing what you had me do atop Chantilon."

Atramentous chuckled. "You were a bit surprised, weren’t you, boy?"

Riain remembered…

"W…what are you doing?" he had gasped.

The sorcerer had climbed atop the battlement wall and spread his arms. "I am preparing to journey. Join me!"

Horror drained the blood from Riain’s face. He backed away from the crenulated walls. "Get down before you fall, Milord! The wind is brisk and—"

The sorcerer sprang into the void.

"Milord!" Riain ran to the wall, peering over the edge. When he did not see Atramentous plummeting to the hard rocks, he ran from one end of the battlement wall to the other, calling in fear the man’s name over and over.

"I am here, young one!"

"Merciful Alel!" Riain watched the huge bird soaring on the thermals above. He gawked in awe as the creature glided from one side of the keep to the other, swooping low over the treetops.

"Join me!" The creature laughed and flew close to Riain, who ducked. The laughter that followed was like the shriek of an eagle. "Join me!"

With his eyes wide and his mouth gaping, Riain could not seem to move as the creature landed on the battlement wall, perched and preened, its long neck swiveling under its wing.

"Damned nits," Atramentous complained as he pecked at his wing. "They are a nuisance."

Unable to speak, Riain stared at his teacher. Gathering his courage like a blanket, he sidled up to the creature and reached out a trembling hand to touch it.

"Boy, we do not have the live long day for you to decide if I am real," the sorcerer snapped. "Hop your ass up here and let’s be about our business!"

Riain jumped back as the creature rose on its long legs and flapped its wings. He could see the last vestiges of a human face along the beak and beady eyes, and shuddered. "When I change, do I look as you do?"

"No," Atramentous snorted. "When you change, you become a wolf, you stupid boy."

"Then how am I to join you in flight? Wolves don’t fly!"

"Bats do! And Reapers turn to bats when they wish to fly!"

"I’d rather be a raven!"

"Then be a raven. I care not what you change into. Just change!"

Riain’s eyebrows shot up. "I can be a raven?"

"Or an eagle like me, or a cardinal or a snow goose or anything else with wings. Just think it and you’ll be it!"

"H…how?" Riain asked as he climbed on the wall.

"Picture yourself soaring across the horizon in the form you wish to use. You can do it—if you believe."

Riain closed his eyes, leapt into the void—and dropped like a rock to the ground, landing with a hard impact.

"Let that be a lesson, brat," Atramentous called. "You need to think
before
you leap!"

Riain lay spreadeagle, hurting so badly he could not even blink. Every bone in his body ached and he wondered how he could feel anything, for surely the fall had killed him.

"You’re already dead!" Atramentous shouted. "Get up and try again!"

"Nooo." Riain finally began to accept the fact that he was no longer among the living. The pain in his heart was staggering.

The sorcerer drifted down to stand by his pupil. "She did this to you, and if you allow her to take the life of the McGregor boy because you are feeling sorry for yourself, you will be as bad as she."

"I
am
dead," Riain whispered.

"Aye, but he is still alive."

"You don’t know that he is."

"I do, and if you but use the gift the gods gave you at your birth, you’d know it, too!"

Another first took place for Riain. As he lay on the ground, pressed the back of his hands to his forehead, he opened his mind, seeking the whereabouts and the condition of Raven McGregor.

And saw the man in question sleeping peacefully.

"There is a reason you wanted to be a raven when you journeyed from here," Atramentous said. "You wish to save this boy’s life and you know only you can."

Riain could see McGregor as clearly as he could see the grains of sand beneath his chin. The Serenian was lying in the same bed Riain had awakened in at Vent du Nord.

"They both have corrupted him, young one, but you can still save him from their evil. But you must hurry, else when the Solstice arrives, he will be theirs forever."

Riain gained his feet, then stood, staring at the sand. "He blames me for Miyoshi’s death."

"Does that matter?"

"I suppose not." He lifted his head and stared at the sorcerer. "Tell me again what I need to do to…" He pointed skyward. "To join you up there."

Atramentous extended a long wing and gently folded it around Riain’s shoulders. "Just this once I’ll take you aloft. When I let you go, think, boy! Think of what you are, then fly!"

"I—" Riain began, but before he could finish, the sorcerer lifted him.

And before Riain’s scream of surprise ended, the two of them were miles above the roofline of Chantilon keep, soaring eastward…

Now, Riain whimpered. "I don’t feel good."

"You need Sustenance and the Transition is coming." Atramentous turned, then pointed to a cottage about a hundred feet away. "Inside there is your Sustenance. His name is Urtie Wellmeyer and he is an evil man."

"I will not kill a human being!" Riain snapped, his eyes beginning to glow red in the darkness.

Atramentous backed up a few steps when Riain’s forehead began to slope downward and his ears grow upward.

"That one," Atramentous lectured, "has killed many a child after debauching the innocent waif. His life is as useless as a tick on a hound!"

"I’ll
not
kill a human being!" Riain shouted, hearing the growl in his speech.

"Feel the need throbbing in your belly, young one. You must feel, else go mad with the hunger."

Shaggy fur sprouted like tendrils from Riain’s shoulders, arms, and back. He looked at his paws, saw claws extending, and threw back his head and howled.

Atramentous sprang into the air even as the Reaper leapt at him, swiping his long arms toward the sorcerer but encountering only empty space as those lethal appendages crossed over the spot where Atramentous had stood.

Riain dropped to all fours, his body rippling as it continued to Transition. The crimson glow of his eyes lit a path to the doorway of the cottage, and for one brief, indecisive moment, Riain wavered.

But then a child’s whimper of fear reached Riain’s lupine hearing. He lifted his muzzle, his lips stretched back over his fangs, and a warning growl came from deep within his thickly pelted throat. As another piteous cry of terror touched his soul, Riain sprang off his haunches, throwing himself at the cottage door.

The portal splintered, the frame canting inward. Riain skidded across the rush-strewn floor, scrambling to gain his paws before he crashed into the hearth.

Stunned by the intrusion and the sight of a wolf facing him, Urtie Wellmeyer stood frozen by his bed. Behind him, a naked little girl lay trembling on the mattress.

"Pervert!" Riain snarled.

Wellmeyer had time for one mindless shriek before Riain pounced, burying his fangs in the woodcutter’s throat.

In human form, Atramentous entered the cottage as Riain slurped blood from the woodcutter. Riain glared at him, snarled a warning to keep away from his prey. The sorcerer nodded, continued to the bed, and put a hand on the girl’s forehead.

"Sleep, child," the sorcerer said. "Sleep and forget."

As Riain sucked the last drops of crimson into his mouth, he latched his fiery stare on the sorcerer, now untying the child. Licking his muzzle, Riain sat on his haunches, then lifted a paw to clean the torn flesh from his claws.

"Go home now and remember none of this," Atramentous instructed the child, helping her dress. He patted her on the back and urged her through the shattered doorway.

Riain twisted his neck and lapped at the sprayed blood on his shoulders, then felt the metamorphosis taking him back to human form. He had some pain and felt fevered, his flesh searing hot, but the hunger had been assuaged and the guilt he thought he would feel was not there.

"There are many like that," Atramentous said, nudging his chin toward the lifeless husk at Riain’s feet. "Useless as a tick on a hound’s back."

Riain scratched at his chest. "Or a wolf’s."

* * *

It was a quarter of an hour to sunrise when Riain knocked on the door of Abbadon Keep. Lord Amardad, himself, answered. The giant looked him up and down, then smiled. Without a word, he swept his arms wide in welcome, and allowed Riain and his teacher inside the infamous Gates of Hell.

Her name was Amira and she was the leader of the Ardat-Lile. She was tall for a woman and had thick, red-gold hair that hung to her ankles. Shapely and beautiful, her startling white flesh seemed to glow in the torchlight. Her diaphanous gown hid none of her luscious attributes. As she reclined on a gilt couch covered in soft white bearskin, she kept her violet eyes on the young man who joined them.