The Warden

Chapter 33

Fire seared through Masis' veins. Agony radiated out from his hand, coursing through every limb and muscle. He had not fallen unconscious when he had collapsed. That would have been a blessing. No. The pain had buckled his knees, locking his mouth shut as every tendon seized with shock. From the tips of his hair to his toenails, his body cried out as sharp, scorching lances of pain attacked every nerve in his body simultaneously. Lady Kyla's voice made it through the curtain of agony, though the meaning of the words barely registered with each new surge and sting.

"What you're feeling," said Kyla, "is the venom working its way into every part of you. Every nook and cranny of your innards. Nothing will be spared."

Writhing about, trying to position his body so that the pain would subside, Masis grunted with every movement, the slightest bump or uneven patch of ground bit into his skin like a thousand wasps' stings. Every twitch and wriggle had a keen bite. Time distorted. Hours could have passed. Coherent thought became garbled and barely lucid.

It ended.

No fading away. No gradual drop-off. One moment every segment of his body twinged with anguish and the next it was gone. Masis laid there, sticky with sweat, panting, every breath shuddering into his lungs.

"You'd best get to work, Lord Domrae," said Kyla, glaring down at him. "Those wighties can't be more than a few moments off."

Rolling to his stomach, a frazzled moan slipping from his lips, Masis lay face down on the pine-needle carpet. The strong, clean scent settled him as he pushed himself from off the ground, some of the needles clinging to his palm. He creaked up to his feet, checking himself over but finding nothing changed.

"I don't feel any different," he said, turning to Kyla, his arms out, so he could take in his whole frame.

Still leaning where Masis had propped her, glowering at him, Kyla crossed her arms, her crusty shirt crinkling under the motion. "Just wait."

Something tugged on Masis.

He spun around, seeking out the cause. What by Werold...

Another tug, but not physical. His very lifelight was yanked upward by an unseen force.

Another tug followed.

And another.

Then another.

Masis' eyes followed the direction of the pull upward and came to rest on Manu's rubicund complexion. Turning his mindeye inward he found a new aspect added to his inner-workings. A layer, thick and claylike followed the contours of his body, enwrapping his lifelight. Pushing outward, he found it malleable, yielding to his mental probing, but only so far. It snapped back into place as the mesmer had, confining his lifelight within. Thin, dark cracks marbled this new layer, ruining its wholeness, somehow wrong.

Mesmer. Its wispy, shadowy filament more than familiar.

"What is this..." Masis began to ask before his words strangled off.

The sinews in his neck popped. His jaw clenched. Manu seized the mesmer, forcing the new layer to morph into new dimensions, torturing Masis' body into the same shape. Falling to his knees, hands splayed out, Masis' fingers pressed into the dry soil. Before his eyes his fingers began to grow and thicken, doubling in size as fur, dark and mottled, burst from his skin. Every bit of his body stretched and expanded. Muscles swelled as his bones shifted and creaked to greater and greater lengths. Pain, not sharp and burning as with the venom, a deep and gnawing ache, radiated from every portion of his body. Wave upon wave of it, ebbing for a moment then surging again. His mouth, clenched up to this point, sagged open with a moan that elongated into a howl as his face grew out into a snout. His teeth sharpened. Ears migrated to the top of his head, elongating.