Masques (Sianim #1)(5)

The little slime-coated mouse leapt. The air blurred and a white, domestic goose flapped awkwardly over the water, one wing dripping goo from the moat. Hampered by the wet wing, Aralorn was unable to gain any altitude and came to a flapping halt in front of the bushes that signaled the beginning of the woodland surrounding the castle several hundred yards beyond the moat. She straightened her feathers and started to waddle into - the woods, carefully leaving the ooze-covered wing stretched away from the rest of her body.

From the shadows, a black form emerged growling, its ivory fangs catching the light of the moon as it landed directly in Aralorn's path. The goose squawked and dodged backward, resuming a human form just in time for Aralorn to fall on her rump rather than her tail. Instead of the tall, slender beauty she had been in the cage, she was a bit shorter than average, brown-haired, and plain-faced - only the sea-storm eyes remained the same. At this moment they glittered with unsuppressed fury.

"Allyn's toadflax! Wolf, what are you trying to do to me?'" Mindful of the proximity of the castle, she lowered her voice to a soft tone that didn't carry, but did not lack for force either. "I could have died of shock." She put her hand theatrically over her pounding heart. "I still might. Why didn't you warn me you were here?"

The Wolf stood over her, fey and feral, with the stillness of a wild thing. The deep, macabre voice was calm and passionless when he spoke without replying to her question. "You should have told me that you intended to spy on the ae'Magi - if I had known that you were contemplating suicide I would have killed you myself. At least it would be a cleaner death than any he would bestow." Fathomless golden eyes gazed at her without emotion.

She looked at him for a moment, giving him the dominant position by remaining on the ground. "Do you know," she said softly, "that you are the only person that I have ever talked to who had anything unpleasant to say about him? As far as I could determine he was the perfect gentleman. I even asked why I was being sent to spy there."

She nodded her head at the dark shape of the castle, its silhouette almost blacking out the sky to the east. "I was told that there were rumors of an assassination plot and I was to investigate it and warn the Master Magician if necessary." Her customary grin restored itself. "If there is such a plot, I can only wish them luck in their endeavors."

"It has always amazed me how well he can blind people, even without the use of magic," replied the Wolf. He looked at the castle with the stillness that was so much a part of him. His yellow eyes glistened, glowing with a light that might not all have been a reflection of the moon. A growl rose low in his lupine throat, and the hair on his neck and back stiffened with rage.

Aralorn cautiously set a hand on his back. In all the time she'd known him he'd always been slow to warm from his customary passionlessness, and although she'd seen him kill several times she'd never seen him quite this upset. "What's wrong?"

The Wolf quieted and lowered his head for a moment. Then he shook himself as dogs will and said softly, "Nothing. It must be the moon. I find that it sometimes has this effect on me."

"Right. Uh-huh. The moon." She nodded solemnly, then she caught his gaze and raised one eyebrow, the Wolf staring silently back at her. She gave up the contest immediately, knowing that he was perfectly capable of continuing the stare-down all night. "Shall we go, or do you want to wait for the Magician so we can destroy him and win the world back for goodness and light?"

The Wolf grinned ferally and snorted. "If we killed the Magician, the world would be more likely to draw and quarter us than praise us as saviors. So by all means, let us make haste so as not to be forced to destroy the ae'Magi." He turned and made his way back through the brush with Aralorn following.

Several hundred yards from the edge of the woods a grey war stallion was tied to the trees, and at their approach he whickered a greeting. Aralorn laughed as the animal lipped the plain tunic she wore and then drew back in obvious disgust at the taste.

"Where did you come from, Sheen?" She slanted a look at the Wolf and said to him, "Thanks. I wasn't looking forward to walking back."

Over the years she'd learned not to question him too closely. If he wanted to be a Wolf, who was she of all people to question it? But the knot that attached the colorful cloth reins to the tree would have been difficult to tie for someone with no fingers.

Aralorn untied the reins and mounted, only to dismount and shorten the stirrups. She sighed loudly as she untied the leather strings. Someone with much longer legs than hers had ridden the horse last. She'd known for a long time that Wolf wasn't really a wolf, or at least not an ordinary one. The first time he spoke to her removed the last of the doubts that she had. She might not question him out loud, but she liked to make it obvious that it was cooperation and not stupidity.

"Sheen, how many times have I told you not to give strangers a ride? You never know where they might take you."

The Wolf tilted his head to one side, and there was a hint of amusement in his eyes. He woofed softly in acknowledgement of her restraint. She laughed and continued to unweave the strings.

* * *

WOLF WAS AN ENIGMA. EVEN THOUGH HE'D BEEN DRIFTING IN and out of her life for nearly four years, she wasn't sure if she actually knew anything about him at all. Every time she decided that she had him figured out, he baffled her again. She had been relieved when she'd decided that he wasn't really a wolf. Her feelings for him, although still confusing, had been plaguing worrisome when she felt them toward an animal.