Oracle:

With the help of the temple priests, Soulcatcher set up a network of wards around Dome. Most who approached the valley would find themselves forgetting where they were going, and remembering some urgent business back the way they had come. Those who pressed on were likely to fall victim to spells with more physical and less psychological effects.

As she was working on the outer ring of wards, Soulcatcher was approached by a stooped figure in faded robes, her wrinkled features partly concealed beneath her hood. The stranger moved with surprising speed and agility.

"I believe you've been looking for me," the old woman said. "Soulcatcher, isn't it?"

"I've been thinking of changing my name," the black figured replied, in a deep baritone voice that seemed incongruous from the small, somewhat feminine shape. She went on, at first in the voice of a little girl, and then in a disturbing whisper. "Everybody else seems to have done so when they moved to this region. And having just one identity is boring, and a little dangerous. Your enemies know what to expect. I don't suppose you have any suggestions?"

"Perhaps, but there are other matters to discuss first," the old woman replied. "I see many things in my visions and dreams."

"I should hope so, or you would be badly misnamed. That is, assuming you are Oracle, but who else would you be?"

"The list of possibilities is long. Still, you have correctly identified me, perhaps because you have some of the same gifts that I do."

"That I do. If we are going to talk, let us do so more comfortably." Soulcatcher led Oracle back to the temple.

"Impressive," Oracle commented. "I didn't think there was any place this large and comfortable in the mountains."

"It serves," Soulcatcher replied. Painter brought them tea. "Now, you said you had matters to discuss?"

"Yes. I see that you have done great harm to my enemies, the shadowmasters, and that you may do yet greater harm in the future. I see that you are very powerful, and may become more powerful yet. And I see that you have been looking for me, hoping to bring me into your service."

"All that is true."

"I have been living simply for years now, trying to avoid attracting the attention of the shadowmasters. With three of them gone, and the remaining one quite distracted, it seemed like a good time to re-establish a more comfortable situation. But it might be even better to join up with a powerful ally, rather than trying to go it alone again. If you are willing to reward me as generously as I deserve, as you will surely be able to do, I am quite willing to serve you."

"Moonshadow thought you were probably the strongest of those who escaped his campaign of slaughter, but he really didn't know very much about you." Soulcatcher didn't bother to explain how she was so well informed about what Moonshadow had and hadn't known. "What abilities do you possess? No youth magic, apparently."

The hag laughed. "I find that people respect and fear me more when I look like this. And if I should ever feel the need to be young and pretty for some reason, I have sufficient skill with illusions. But I am not weak or frail. I am a gifted healer, enough to undo the more important degeneration age normally brings. I simply haven't bothered to correct the cosmetic damage. I hope my appearance does not offend you."

"Not at all. Do go on."

"I have already mentioned my visions and dreams. Those are my greatest strengths, divination and healing, though I am more than half your age, and in my long years I've picked up a great variety of tricks."

"Indeed, such talents may be of some use to me. I should warn you," Soulcatcher said, now in a feminine but very serious voice, "that just meeting me may mean that you have drawn the attention of some extremely dangerous beings."

"More dangerous than you? Yes, I suppose so," Oracle said. "Well, nothing to be done about it now. Indeed, that is part of why I have sought you out. I am glad that Moonshadow is dead by your hand, and would be happy to see Longshadow suffer the same fate. But in my divinations, I have seen greater threats than these self-styled shadowmasters. You know where their shadows come from?"

Soulcatcher nodded.

"Of course you do," Oracle said. "You know what Moonshadow knew, don't you? Did you catch his soul? But he didn't know everything. There are great powers on the plain of glittering stone, far greater than Longshadow or even you. Perhaps more comparable to that Dominator you people used to have in the north."

"How do you know of the Dominator?" Soulcatcher asked.

"I am called Oracle for a reason, you know."

"Of course. Go on, about these powers on the plain of glittering stone."

"I don't know how many of them are, or how they are related, or what all of their agendas are. I know the most about one who seems to identify herself with the goddess Kina of local legend, but I don't think that this Kina is the only power beyond the shadowgate. And the powers reach out into the world, exerting a subtle influence, troubling people's dreams and bending their thoughts and wills. I believe this is also something your Dominator used to do while he was imprisoned."

"That would explain much," Soulcatcher commented. "Many events since my arrival in the south have seemed to lack sense. Including, I am troubled to admit, some of my own actions."

"Yes, I'm sure you are one of those they have been particularly keen to influence," Oracle said. "I do not know what agendas these powers pursue. I believe Kina is imprisoned, and of course one of her goals is to become free, but I'm sure she has other goals. And as I said I know there are others. Well, there is at least one more, as I am sure that the influence does not all come from Kina. Unless perhaps her imprisonment has made her mad; the influences often seem to work at cross-purposes."

"Long imprisonment can leave one troubled," Soulcatcher commented blandly.

"Assuming multiple powers, I do not know if it is simply Kina and a single enemy of Kina, or whether there are many different beings in the plain. I also don't know if any of the others are prisoners, like Kina, or unable to leave the plain for some other reason, or whether some just prefer to work indirectly without leaving the plain."

"So you don't know much; you seem to have covered most of the plausible possibilities."

"Indeed. I hope that if we work together, we can learn something more definite. I do think that there must be someone who wishes to rid the world of great wizards. I know your kind are hostile and suspicious by nature, but the recent slaughter is quite extraordinary. I believe that the death of Shapeshifter, Stormshadow, Moonshadow, and Shadowspinner was partly the result of a power or powers on the plain encouraging the great wizards to seek one another's deaths, though of course it didn't hurt that your lot never seem to need much encouragement."

"Whether it is your powers of the plain or not, I have to agree that the recent deaths have been a mystery."

"Perhaps you and Longshadow and Howler are still around because the powers on the plain have more use for you than for the ones who have died, but the signs I've seen suggest otherwise. I expect that your deaths are desired as well, but that the powers haven't been able to arrange them yet."

Soulcatcher was thoughtful throughout this speculation, and said "if that's right, then it seems that one of the goals of those of us who oppose their agenda should be to maintain or increase the number of great wizards on the playing field."

"Perhaps. But the other surviving great wizards are not friendly, and I don't know where you would find new ones."

"Nonetheless, we perhaps shouldn't be too hasty to eliminate the existing wizards, though it may be necessary in the case of Longshadow. But as for adding more great wizards, I have no source of new ones, but there are other possibilities. Moonshadow and Shadowspinner may really be dead, but as for Shapeshifter and Stormbringer, there's a reason that the White Rose buried them in warded tombs centuries ago instead of trying to destroy them. We of the Taken are infused with a fragment of the Dominator's power, and are nearly impossible to eliminate." Soulcatcher thought it might be a good idea to mention her own immortality to Oracle; it might discourage the hag from bothering with any tedious plans to overthrow her down the road.

"Do you mean that they may not really be dead? I have had some strange dreams about them, but not even my dreams are always meaningful, so I hadn't thought much of it."

"I suspect I could revive either or both of them. Indeed, they'll probably find a way to return on their own in a century or two, but that will surely be too late to make any difference to our plans."

"I take it then that you are considering doing this? To give the powers on the plain more distractions to keep track of? A thought worth pursuing, though they may be more trouble than they are worth," Oracle commented. "You should also try to be alert for any signs that the powers are influencing you. Perhaps you should keep some record of your activities, to make it easier to keep track of patterns? I don't think that manipulating me has been a top priority for anyone prior to this point, but I am concerned that working for you may change that, so do be alert for any strange behavior on my part."

Painter had been silent previously, but at this point he interrupted. "Mistress, you said you might want to have me use my illusions to impersonate you, to give orders when you can't be present. I could do better at that if I knew more about you, so if you were to help me write such a record, it could serve multiple purposes."

"I suppose. As far as observing suspicious behavior, both of you please do the same for me," Soulcatcher replied. "Our alliance should prove profitable, Oracle. Let us arrange some quarters for you, and then you can help me finish the wards."

Howler:

Since Longshadow wouldn't provide enough forces for a counter-attack on Jaicur, Mogaba and Howler worked on raising new armies, and building up fortifications in the towns south of Jaicur. Mogaba established himself at Tragavec, which the shadowmasters called Shadowlight and which had been Shadowspinner's capital. He focused on training up new troops.

Howler harassed the defenders of Jaicur, sending shadows against them and striking with his own magic when a chance presented itself. He carefully avoided any further encounters with the lance, and his efforts to avoid the standard-bearer somewhat reduced his effectiveness. As a result, Croaker gathered new recruits faster than Howler was killing them off, but still, Howler's efforts slowed the growth of Croaker's army.

Either because Croaker had spies keeping him informed of the shadowlander activities, or just because it was obvious, Croaker was apparently able to figure out that Mogaba and Howler were trying to hem him in with new fortifications. Thus, about halfway through the rainy season, he sent a force to try to create a gap in the fortified line.

The town of Tonk was nestled in a bend of the Naghir River, and its natural situation made it more easily defended than any of the other places Mogaba was having strengthened. As a result, Mogaba had tried to make the best of his overstretched troops by leaving a skeletal garrison. Howler's shadows detected Croaker's troops making their way southward to attempt to capture the weakly defended town.

There was no time to bring in more troops before Croaker's force arrived in Tonk, but with his carpets Howler had no trouble making it there himself, bringing along a handful of shadowweavers. He didn't have nearly enough of the minor wizards, but if there was going to be a big fight at Tonk, that was where they would be likely to be the most useful.

Howler saw that the land approach to the village had a trench filled with spikes, backed by a wall on which significant progress had been made; one of the towers that was to flank the gatehouse was finished, though the gatehouse itself was still under construction. The Naghir river wasn't particularly large or fast at this point, so work was underway on walls facing the river, but that work was much less advanced. Still, even if troops could attack across the river, it would hinder and slow them enough that defending archers could do a lot of damage. Even with the ditch and the higher wall, the land approach was the more vulnerable point.

While awaiting the approach of the Black Company, Howler had his shadowweavers use their pets to thoroughly scout the surrounding territory, looking for places to lay ambushes and traps. Howler himself set a few magical traps in the fields in front of the main city approach, but he didn't have time to do very much before Croaker's forces arrived.

Croaker immediately divided his force into three parts, sending forces to cross the river both upstream and downstream while positioning his main force just out of bowshot of the walls. Howler wished Mogaba was there, but the little wizard was many centuries old, and had seen plenty of warfare; he wasn't totally incapable of directing a battle himself. He knew that he didn't have enough troops to attempt a counter-attack on even Croaker's smaller forces.

The forces that had crossed the river didn't seem to be preparing an attack. It looked like they were probably there to cut the town off from reinforcements or supplies. They were starting to set up fortified camps. Croaker's main force began building siege engines.

When the siege engines were built close to one of Howler's pre-established traps, he set them off, and the explosions and other deadly spells killed off a number of the artillery crew and destroyed some of the engines. But there weren't enough of the traps, and soon several ballistas and catapults had been set up.

Howler positioned himself atop the one finished tower, and put up such magical defenses as he could to strengthen the structure. From that high point, he sent out sorcerous strikes against the siege engines. Croaker tried to focus his artillery fire on the tower, but Howler's defenses mostly held. On the other hand, the concentration required to keep up the defenses was taxing, reducing Howler's ability to counter-attack, so he wasn't able to destroy the ballistas faster than Croaker could build them. Still, Croaker would eventually run out of materials.

More importantly, he would run out of daylight. The inconclusive artillery vs. sorcery battle continued until sundown, at which point the shadows went forth to support Howler's efforts to take out the artillery. This proved enough to silence the attack on the tower.

The moon was full, no doubt because Croaker had planned it that way. But the first night was also cloudy; Croaker couldn't plan the weather, and it was rainy season, after all. Howler decided to risk leaving Tonk during the night. He used his carpet to ferry in a handful of extra troops from nearby bases, as well as some additional supplies in case the siege dragged out. He considered going to Shadowlight to ask for a relief army, but Mogaba really needed to train up a larger force. Marching during the rainy season would mean heavy attrition, exactly the opposite of what was required. Best was for Howler to find a way to hold Tonk with the resources he had until the weather improved.

Returning to Tonk from his last shuttle run, Howler found that a small number of Black Company men had snuck into the town, probably under cover of One-Eye's illusions. Howler screamed at his shadowweavers for their incompetence in allowing such a thing, and they went to work with their shadows to hunt down the infiltrators. By dawn, they were assuring him that the infiltrators were all dead.

The next day, the artillery attack resumed, but as Howler hoped it was slowing down a bit as the attackers had to range further to find good materials for building new engines. Mantlets were easier, so on the second day Croaker had forces advancing behind mantlet cover to try to start filling in the ditch. Fortunately for Howler, that meant they had to get close, which made it quite easy for him to do a lot of damage with his sorcery.

After a few more days of Howler turning back whatever the Black Company sent at the town, the attackers settled down into a siege mode, strengthening their fortified camps all around the town. The small garrison and fortunately also small town population wasn't going through supplies very quickly, so with Howler's occasional resupply flights, his forces weren't going to be starved out. Ultimately, the main adverse effect of the siege was that no further work was getting done on the walls, since it was impossible to bring in more building materials.

The shadows reported from the other fortified towns that construction was going well, and Mogaba's reports about his army in Tragavec were becoming more optimistic. There was the danger that when the rainy season ended, Lady might lead a new army to press the attack on Tonk harder, but Howler thought it more likely that Croaker would give up the siege and pull back before then. The shadows whittled away at Croaker's army every night, and the rainy season weather wasn't being kind to the encamped besiegers either.

Shadowcat:

Soulcatcher's crows reported all the developments in the war, minor as they were during the off season. She decided against intervening, as the apparent stalemate still seemed to her to be for the best, in the short term at least.

Painter was learning to impersonate her fairly well, so she decided it was now safe to leave Dome for a while; Painter could probably keep the priests in line. Soulcatcher decided she wanted to track down Shapeshifter's apprentice. Even a minor magical talent could prove useful, and it certainly didn't seem desirable to have the woman join up with a hostile faction.

The woman had apparently been trapped in the shape of a forvalaka, a giant magical cat beast, since Shapeshifter's fall. Some sort of trap he'd left on her to ensure she wouldn't betray him; a curse that would prevent her from returning to human shape without his help. The last reports had her wandering to the northeast, no doubt to get away from the war. Soulcatcher couldn't really watch everywhere at once, and hadn't been that interested in the apprentice, so she had subsequently lost track. But the woman, even as a beast now, was a witch. She was also powerfully connected to Shapeshifter's magic. With Oracle's help, and with Shapeshifter's staff, Soulcatcher established a connection to the forvalaka.

"If you ever want to return to human form, go to Ruderal." Soulcatcher didn't want to direct the woman to Dome until she knew for sure she could be enlisted.

The forvalaka had some trouble organizing her thoughts; one of the side effects of spending too long in an animal form. But she eventually asked "where's that?" Soulcatcher conveyed some images and directions, and when the connection broke she thought the poor creature was on her way.

Soulcatcher's crows confirmed sighting the giant cat, so Soulcatcher and Oracle went out to meet her. It occurred to Soulcatcher that she could really use one of Howler's carpets at some point; having only one Charm horse was not really sufficient, and the carpets were faster than the Charm horses anyway. But Ruderal was not all that far from Dome, so even with Oracle on a normal horse they could get there by the time the forvalaka would be expected to arrive.

When they found the cat beast in Ruderal canyon, Soulcatcher immediately set about undoing the transformation spell. It took a lot of effort, but not very much time; soon, a very attractive young woman stood before Oracle and Soulcatcher.

"Thank you," the woman said, and then she said it again as Oracle offered her a robe.

"It's only temporary, I'm afraid," Soulcatcher said. "The curse Shapeshifter put on you is very powerful. It will take a very long time to remove, if I even can. But I can manage to return you to human form for a few hours at a time."

"I see."

"What should we call you?"

"Well, as long as I'm cursed with this form, I should call myself something appropriate. Call me Shadowcat."

"Really? Too many shadow names in the south, I think. Though I suppose it fits a giant black cat. I am Soulcatcher. Your master may have mentioned me."

The name seemed to make the woman nervous. "He did."

Soulcatcher laughed. "Oh come now. The stories can't have been that bad. Unless he exaggerated greatly. Which I suppose I wouldn't put past him."

"So, what do you want from me?"

"Well, you have some magical talent, and you're a dangerous fighter in your forvalaka form. Either could prove very useful under the right circumstances. Work for me, and you can have a comfortable place to stay, and I'll enable you to spend at least some of your time being human. I'm sure it will be better than wandering around in the wilderness."

"I suppose it will," Shadowcat replied. "Since I've heard Shapeshifter's tales about you, it seems only fair that I should hear your stories about Shapeshifter."

"Indeed. I suppose you miss him?"

"Though I'm very angry with him about the curse, yes, I do miss him a bit." The two women talked for a while about the fallen wizard, and when Shadowcat returned to forvalaka shape, the whole party returned to Dome.

[A/N] I wonder if I should do more going back and editing previous chapters. I definitely plan on subjecting them to revision over time. In particular, while working on this chapter, I noticed that previous chapters had said almost nothing about Shapeshifter's apprentice. There was usually not much reason to mention her (she was of more interest to the Black Company than to Soulcatcher), but for purposes of this chapter it would have been nice if I'd previously established that she was trapped in forvalaka form, so people unfamiliar with canon would already know about that development. I need to eventually go back and fix that, and there are surely other things I need to expand on as well.