Chapter 11.

TEMPLE OF SHADOWS,

LENG PLATEAU, TIBET

(JUNE 15, 1955)

"It is said that yulan-jin can transfer their life force into inanimate objects, if need be. That even the obsidian sword, Stormbringer, was but the crystallized ashes of a yulan-jin! Hence, its ability to drain life force from others impaled with it. Do you know, whereof, I speak?"

The shade of Herpo the Foul looked at the young mortal standing before him. Dark hair; fair skin; twenty-nine or thirty years of age; wearing a cylindrical cap that appeared to be made from the wool of a black sheep; and with a matching-colored cloak that obscured most of the olive-green clothing he wore beneath it. "Aye! You refer to a vessel known as. . . a horcrux."

"Yes!" exclaimed the young wizard with mounting excitement. "Exactly!"

Herpo's shade shook his head in morbid amusement. "The last mortal to seek my counsel on achieving immortality, in that manner, was a nephandic mage named Koschei. And he did, indeed, successfully separate his life essence from his corporeal body. Safeguarding the storage of that essence in a most complicated fashion! Yet, despite all his safeguards, he still wound up being slain in the end."

"I am familiar with the legend of Koschei the Deathless," replied the self-proclaimed Lord Voldemort. "But, he made the mistake of storing it in _one_ horcrux! I believe _seven_ is a far luckier number."

Herpo now threw back his head and laughed.

"Ha! You wish to split your soul seven ways?! I will say this for you. You do not lack audacity!"

"Then, you will tell me what I wish to know?"

Herpo opened his mouth to respond. . .and then stopped.

"Someone spies upon our conversation."

Voldemort quick-drew his wand out of force of habit.

"They know we are here," said Fenris Greybeard.

"That I can see for myself," muttered Kantos, instinctively raising his sword over his head.

"Calm down, you fool!" his companion growled. "He can do nothing with his wand in this place. I told you. . . it drains a wizard's magic. At least, until they leave."

"Then, why do we tarry up here? Let's venture down to the floor of the arena and make the reason for our presence clear to them."

So, that was precisely what they did. Although, they made sure their descent down each of the dusty stone steps was as unhurried as possible. So as to doubly emphasize they were not there as any kind of threat to the other duo.

"Hail, O Mighty Herpo! I am Fenrir Greybeard of the Garou. This one beside me is Roland Kantos, formerly a mage of House Tytalus. And we come seeking your wisdom on the subject of. . .yulan-jin."

The shade of the infamous old necromancer laughed once again. The echoes of it reverberating in a way that even Kantos found unnatural.

"Ah! If only I were still alive. I could charge a small fortune from all those suddenly seeking my wisdom on this topic!"

Cassandra apparated, then transformed and loped. Apparated, then transformed and loped. Repeating the process, over and over, until she reached a point where she could not apparate anymore! It was then she knew that she was close to the Temple of Shadows. She had remotely conferred with the Green Lama (via astral projection), shortly after leaving Kala Pradesh, in order to ascertain what she could expect once she found the old temple.

"A sudden loss of everything but your power to transform," he had replied.

Thus, she now resumed her Hispo form. Loping along, on all fours, towards the front steps of

the old temple.

Upon reaching the top of the steps, however, she paused. For while there was no one directly ahead of her, she was still getting that premonitory tingling as when a fellow Immortal was in the vicinity. So, she proceeded at a much slower pace into the interior of the old temple. Following the scent trails of Kantos and Greybeard to an archway along the left-hand wall. There, she found a staircase carved out of solid rock. A staircase the scent trails descended! So, down Cassandra went as well.

Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, she heard voices from the opposite end of the tunnel she now saw before her. One of which she recognized as Kantos. So, she hurriedly reverted to her Krinos form, in order to better grasp the sword she might very well need in the next few minutes. And, when she found herself gazing upon what initially seemed like a replica of the Wizengamot arena back in England, she barely managed to refrain from gasping. A good thing, too. For her quarry was not alone!

And the parties with whom he and Greybeard were conversing were having a most interesting discussion. The one with the long white beard (who was dressed like an ancient Greek philosopher) at one point proclaiming. "As it happens, there is a yulan-jin not far from here. One that has transferred its life essence into a sword that has been known by many names over the centuries. Each of which translates as. . . The Gray Maiden!"

tbc

GLOSSARY

Hispo: one of the transitional states of a Garou changing from human to wolf or vice-versa. This particular state resembling the generic artistic depiction of the prehistoric dire wolf.

Krinos: the bipedal transitional state where a Garou resembles an incredibly hulking hybrid of man and wolf.

Gray Maiden: a cursed sword that served as the mystic McGuffin connecting a series of pulp magazine adventure stories, written by Arthur Howden Smith, from 1926-27.