Richard Lee Byers - The Masked Witches

Power blazed through Vandar like a thunderbolt. It was as overwhelming as the shriek had been, full of strength and joy, but most of all fury, a lust to kill.

He screamed his own battle cry, an imitation of a griffons screech, and sprang to meet the undead goblins. He saw their weapons at lasta scimitar and a spearas they struck at him, and he smashed them both out of line with a single sweeping parry. He riposted at the zombie on his right, and his broadsword split its skull. The yellow gleam guttered out in its eyes, and its knees buckled.

Grinning, Vandar tried to jerk his sword free. But it stuck in the wound. Meanwhile, the other goblins scimitar flashed at him. He leaped back and avoided the stroke, but had to let go of the hilt of his own weapon to do it.

The second zombie advanced and made another cut, pushing Vandar farther and farther away from his own blade. He rushed his foe before it could poise the scimitar for a fourth attack, bulled the reeking creature over, and dumped it on its back. He dropped to his knees on top of its chest and hammered both fists down into its face. Bone crunched, the piss-colored glimmer went out of the creatures eyes, and it stopped moving. A small part of Vandar, the bit not yet transported by the fury, recognized that he, too, might have just hurt himself. He might even have broken a finger bone or two. But, for the moment, he couldnt feel it.

He was free to retake his own familiar sword, but his rage begrudged the moment it would take to scramble around and pull on the weapon. Instead, the zombies scimitar was ready to hand. Vandar grabbed it, leaped to his feet, and whirled toward the cloaked figure.

ALSO BY RICHARD LEE BYERS

BROTHERHOOD OF THE GRIFFON

Book I
The Captive Flame

Book II
Whisper of Venom

Book III
The Spectral Blaze

Book IV
The Masked Witches

THE HAUNTED LANDS

Book I
Unclean

Book II
Undead

Book III
Unholy

Anthology
Realms of the Dead
Realms of War
The Haunted Lands

(February 2012)

R.A. SALVATORES
WAR OF THE SPIDER QUEEN

Book I
Dissolution

THE YEAR OF ROGUE DRAGONS

Book I
The Rage

Book II
The Rite

Book III
The Ruin

SEMBIA:
GATEWAY TO THE REALMS

The Halls of Stormweather
Shattered Mask

THE PRIESTS

Queen of the Depths

THE ROGUES

The Black Bouquet

Brotherhood of the Griffon
Book IV
THE MASKED WITCHES

2012 Wizards of the Coast LLC

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Cover art by: Kekai Kotaki

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www.DungeonsandDragons.com

v3.1

Thanks to Liz Mills, Nina Hess, Susan Morris, and Phil
Athans for all their help and support.

W elcome to Faern, a land of magic and intrigue, brutal violence and divine compassion, where gods have ascended and died, and mighty heroes have risen to fight terrifying monsters. Here, millennia of warfare and conquest have shaped dozens of unique cultures, raised and leveled shining kingdoms and tyrannical empires alike, and left long forgotten, horror-infested ruins in their wake.

A LAND OF MAGIC

When the goddess of magic was murdered, a magical plague of blue firethe Spellplagueswept across the face of Faern, killing some, mutilating many, and imbuing a rare few with amazing supernatural abilities. The Spellplague forever changed the nature of magic itself, and seeded the land with hidden wonders and bloodcurdling monstrosities.

A LAND OF DARKNESS

The threats Faern faces are legion. Armies of undead mass in Thay under the brilliant but mad lich king Szass Tam. Treacherous dark elves plot in the Underdark in the service of their cruel and fickle goddess, Lolth. The Abolethic Sovereignty, a terrifying hive of inhuman slave masters, floats above the Sea of Fallen Stars, spreading chaos and destruction. And the Empire of Netheril, armed with magic of unimaginable power, prowls Faern in flying fortresses, sowing discord to their own incalculable ends.

A LAND OF HEROES

But Faern is not without hope. Heroes have emerged to fight the growing tide of darkness. Battle-scarred rangers bring their notched blades to bear against marauding hordes of orcs. Lowly street rats match wits with demons for the fate of cities. Inscrutable tiefling warlocks unite with fierce elf warriors to rain fire and steel upon monstrous enemies. And valiant servants of merciful gods forever struggle against the darkness.

A LAND OF
UNTOLD ADVENTURE

V andar Cherlinka hefted the straw-wrapped earthenware bottle. The lack of weight made it plain that only a few swallows of jhuild remained inside, and he wished he could keep all the tart red firewine for himself.

Only for an instant, though, and then he pushed the thought firmly out of his mind. For no man rose to lead a berserker lodge without training himself to be as generous as he was valorous. He told himself that he never would have felt the selfish urge at all if his traveling companion werent so uncompanionable.

The problem wasnt that Lady Yhelbrunareputedly the oldest hathran in all Rashemennever removed her brown leather mask and gloves or even pushed back the cowl of her robe in Vandars view. As curious as the next fellow, hed wondered if at some point during the trek, he might discover if the witch was a magically preserved beauty or a hideously wrinkled cronethe only possibilities that gossip and rumor entertainedbut he hadnt really expected it. No, what rankled was her cheerless taciturnity for mile after hard, clambering mile, the silence broken only by her incomprehensible murmurs to herself and the occasional terse command.