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WHEN THE SHADOWS CAME TO THE LIGHT

Danica and Cadderly rushed through the hallways of Spirit Soaring to see what the coh a bevy of whispering wizards and priests to squeeze their way out the door, and the grand front porch of the structure was no less crowded

"Stay up here!" a h and jumped down the steps to the cobblestones "Cadderly, don’t let her "

The man eased up on his protests as Cadderly lifted a hand to silence him The priest trusted in Danica, and reminded the others to do the same Still, Cadderly was ht before hied across the lawn of Spirit Soaring, in full flight

"There was a bear," an older priest explained

"A bear is scaring them like this?" Cadderly asked with obvious skepticishtened," the priest clarified, and as Cadderly frowned in disbelief, several others nodded, confir bear Has to be a fire"

But Cadderly looked to the south, fro the late afternoon sky He sniffed repeatedly, but found no scent of s her way to the southern tree line Somewhere beyond her careat cat

Cadderly pushed his way to the front steps and cautiously descended A deer bounded out of the trees, leaping frantically across the lawn Cadderly clapped his hands, figuring to frighten the creature enough to make it veer to the side, but it never see hie cried at him "There’s no sensibility in theain, more powerfully, more insistently "Danica!" Cadderly called

The bear was roaring out in protest and in pain, its threatening growls interspersed with higher-pitched squeals

"Danica!" Cadderly cried again, more insistently, and he started toward the trees He stopped abruptly as Danica burst out of the brush

"Inside! Inside!" she yelled to thely, then his eyes widened in surprise and horror as a horde of crawling beasts, long ared out of the trees behind her

The priest had studied the catalogs of Faerun’s many and varied ani quite like these In that instant of identification, Cadderly got the i, powerful arht did not hold under closer scrutiny Wide, hunched shoulders surmounted squat torsos, and the dark-skinned creatures used their ar feet at the end of their stubby legs, like a sea ma Had they stood straight up, they would nearly ial feet and their compressed heads, a sort of half-sphere set on their shoulders

Their faces were far from human in appearance, with no forehead to speak of, a flat nose, nostrils open forward, and shining yellow eyes - nant eyes But their mouths, all toothy and vicious,at the beasts They stretched aled bottoht froer underbite

Danica was ahead of the monstrosities, and a fast runner, but one of thele

Cadderly started to call out to her with horror, but bit it off as she dropped her weight to her heels and skidded to a stop, threw herself around in a circle, and leaped into the air, tucking her legs up high as the creature ca up, but Danica’s legs were faster and they drove down hard against the board and leaped away The ht of the blow

Danica put her head down and ran with all speed, sparing a heartbeat to wave Cadderly back into the cathedral, to rerave danger

As the priest turned, he saw just how grave that danger was Co beasts, many more That unseen but oft-heard bear lu, covered with the shadowy creatures

His heart pounding, Cadderly leaped to the stairs, but on the porch, the ainst the door with few actually getting inside To both sides of the double doors, s flew open, those inside beckoning their companions to dive in fro to lanced back at Danica Hoished he had his hand crossbow, or even his walking stick! But he had co was seriously out of sorts Physically, he was unarmed

But he still had Deneir

Cadderly turned on the top step and closed his eyes, falling into prayer, praying for so before he even realized what he was atte

He opened his eyes and threw his ar up past hiht behind her

A blast of energy rolled out froreat, rolling wave, lifting the cobblestones and grass, and many of the creatures

More waves ca semicircles, like a ripple of waves froht past it, but inevitably lost ground, washing farther and farther backward

"What is that?" a wizard asked in obvious awe, and despite his concentration, Cadderly heard the woman

He had no answer

None, that is, except that his spell had bought the they all went, Danica and Cadderly co her stunned husband in behind her

Danica was relieved to hear other people calling out couard the s and doors, because Cadderly could do little at that moment, and he needed her She looked around only briefly, suddenly realizing that soe place of many, many rooms, so she hadn’t noticed the absence before But in thatfamily was incomplete

Where was Ivan Bouldershoulder?

Danica glanced around again, trying to recall when last she had seen the boisterous dwarf But Cadderly’s gasp brought her back to the situation at hand

"What did you do out there?" Danica asked him "I have never seen - "

"I know not at all," he ad a solution"

"And he answered!"

Cadderly looked at her with a blank expression for ahis head with concern "The Metatext, the Weave " he whispered "He is part of it now"

Danica stared at him, puzzled

"As if the two - perhaps the three of theer separate," Cadderly tried to explain

"But save for Mystra, the gods were never a part of - "

"No,his headit with nulass, followed by shouts, followed by screams, broke short the conversation

"They co Cadderly behind her

They found their first battle in the rooroup of priestsaith their maces, and mostly armored, the priests had the situation well in hand

Cadderly took the lead, running fast to the central stairwell and sprinting up three steps at a tiet up to the fourth floor and his private quarters Just inside the doorway, he grabbed his belt, a wide leather girdle with a holster on either side for his hand crossbows He looped a bandolier of specially crafted bolts around his neck and sprinted back to join Danica, loading the crossbows as he went

They started for the stairs, but then discovered an unwelco beasts: they were expert climbers Down the hall ashattered, and they heard thuh

Danica moved in front of Cadderly as he dashed that way, but as they reached the room and kicked the door wide, he pushed her aside and lifted his ar the crossbow

A beast was in the room, a second in theframe, and both opened wide their mouths in vicious snarls

Cadderly fired, the bolt flashing across the room to strike the chest of the beast in theThe dart’s side supports folded inward, collapsing on the the sical oil in an explosive burst that blew a huge hole in the monster’s black flesh The force blew the crawler back out the