The Demon Soul (44 page)

The bloody tentacle stretched out as it flew at the trio, turning into a sinewy noose that snared all three around the waist. The bestial warriors tumbled forward, ending in a pile of limbs.

Even as the tentacle left his hand, the rider glanced at the felbeast coming from his right. The demon suddenly howled and burst into flames. It dropped several yards short, its burning corpse quickly adding to the thick odor permeating the area.

The second monster collided against his mount. The new felbeast’s tentacles adhered to the chest and side of the rider and the creature began to feast.

Rather than devour the hooded figure’s magic, however, the felbeast instead found itself feeding its prey. It frantically tried to remove its suckers from his body, but he would not permit it to do so. The felbeast began to shrivel, its skin sagging on its very bones. A creature of magic, it was almost entirely composed of energy that the rider now absorbed.

In but a matter of seconds, the deed was done. With a mournful cry, the tattered felbeast collapsed in a mangled heap. The rider plucked the still-adhered tentacles from his torso, then urged his frightened mount on without another glance at either the dead hounds or the struggling Fel Guard.

He sensed others near, but no one else had the audacity to bar his way. With the path clear, it did not take long to reach his goal—a tall, gated wall upon which dour night elven soldiers glared down at him.

Reaching up, the rider removed his hood.

“I come to offer my services to my queen!” Illidan shouted, not to the guards but rather to those well within the palace itself. “I come to offer my services to my queen…and to the lord of the Legion!”

He waited, expression unchanging. After almost a minute, the gates began to open. Their creaking echoed through Zin-Azshari, the sound almost like that of the ghostly moans of the city’s dead.

When the gates had ceased moving, Illidan calmly rode inside.

The gates closed quickly behind him.

Richard A. Knaak is The New York Times bestselling fantasy author of 27 novels and over a dozen short pieces, including The Legend Of Huma and Night Of Blood for Dragonlance and THE WELL OF ETERNITY for WarCraft. He has also written the popular Dragonrealm series and several independent pieces. His works have been published in several languages, most recently Russian, Turkish, Bulgarian, Chinese, Czech, German, and Spanish. He has also adapted the Korean Manga, Ragnarok, published by Tokyopop. In addition to the third volume of the WAR OF THE ANCIENTS trilogy, THE SUNDERING, the author is also at work on EMPIRE OF BLOOD, the final book in his epic Dragonlance trilogy, The Minotaur Wars.