"The Rending Dark" by Emma Bull (1984)

Originally appeared in Sword & Sorceress (1984).

Plot: Kit the Songsmith and Marya the warrior with a mutant claw-hand come to a remote village to find something lurking outside the town, killing people at night. The duo encounter the monster, a black cloudy thing that absorbs heat. Digging further they find out that it is the mutant son of the innkeeper, Amali, once thought dead but back to feed upon the living. Hunting it down, the beast is trapped under an avalanche before Marya kills it with her claw hand. She fears for her own future, since the mutant's powers have awakened her own.

Monsters:

The Mutant Son - the shadowy form drips shadows but never loses mass. He tears open his victims to get at their heat.

History: Bull does so many things right in this tale which reminds me more of Fafhrd & Grey Mouser than anything else. I wish she'd have written a whole series of tales about these two. One of the highlights of this anthology.

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