He gestured at the shield. "It speaks for itself, doesn"t it? I"d rather go into battle against an army of Aramites than play with this infernal trap! I"ve no more tricks to pull, no more forces to throw into the situation. I"ve been defeated at every turn . . ." The Gryphon blinked. "No, not completely. I have established contact within. They"re still all right, although growing restless. Cabe thinks he knows something about how his son manipulated the field, but he still isn"t certain that he can alter it without Aurim"s a.s.sistance. I never dreamed that the boy was so powerful."
"So the only way to free them is to bring Aurim back."
"No, eventually Cabe will find a solution. I may still have some luck, too. The trouble is we don"t have the time. In the past week, the Green Dragon"s all but buckled under to the d.a.m.ned horse king-"
"The past week?" Darkhorse thought back over his long journey. "How long since last you heard of me, Lord Gryphon?"
"It must be nearly two weeks. That"s why I began to believe you dead. I didn"t think you"d let things in the west go unchecked for so long, not to mention abandoning your friends. You"ve never been a coward, Darkhorse."
Nearly two weeks. Not as lengthy an exile as it might have been but far too long for the good of the land. Considering what he had last learned while Yureel"s captive, he was amazed that things were not worse. "What was that you said about the lord of the Dagora Forest? The drake is not fighting back?"
"Delaying tactics and very weak ones. His forces nibble at the enemy but do not clamp down. As for sorcery, it"s as if he"s suddenly bereft of the art. I thought it might be because of Aurim Bedlam, that he might not wish to harm the boy, but I don"t think the drake"s that compa.s.sionate."
The Green Dragon might not be that compa.s.sionate when it came to Cabe and Gwen"s children, but there was another whose presence might make him hesitate. Saress had captured Yssa and there was no reason to believe that the latter had escaped. The drake cared deeply for his half-breed daughter. It would not surprise Darkhorse that the reason for the Green Dragon"s predicament was Yureel"s use of the young enchantress as a bargaining chip. The cursed creature knew that he could best prolong and increase the devastation he desired by having Lanith defeat the drake. That would bring the other Dragon Kings in at last, but at the same time the resources of Dagora, including the drake lord"s sorcerous collection, would be in Yureel"s hands.
More important, a victory by Lanith over a Dragon King would garner him support from others who despised the drake race or saw the opportunity for advancement. A victory over Dagora meant the possibility of bringing the entire continent to war. Everything that Cabe had worked for would collapse. Kyl could not possibly keep his people from resuming their own war against humans. His race was as pa.s.sionate about their beliefs and desires as Cabe"s race was. In the end, there could be only one victor in such a cataclysm.
Yureel.
"Is there no hope for Dagora, then?" The eternal could not believe things had deteriorated so much.
"I was able to send some support . . . not much because my spies report that my good neighbor the Black Dragon has managed to organize his human fanatics and his clans under his heir. They"re prepared to move at any moment and it"ll be toward Penacles if they think I"ve weakened myself enough. Kyl sent some aid, too, but without the Green Dragon to coordinate their efforts, they can"t do very much. More than half the forest has now been overrun by Zuu. I"d have never thought it possible, but it"s happened . . . with the aid of sorcery, of course."
It always came down to that. Regardless of the strength of his fighting force, Lanith"s true might lay in the vast reservoir of sorcery available to him through Yureel, Aurim, and the Order.
There is no other choice, then. Everything . . . the freedom of the Bedlams, the defeat of the horse king, the salvaging of Dagora, and the rescue of Aurim . . . it all demands I confront Yureel and end this. The Barren Lands had granted him as much strength as he dared command. It behooved him to see that he did not waste the gift.
Perceptive as always, the Gryphon noticed his shifting mood. "What is it, Darkhorse?"
"What will you do now, Your Majesty?"
"Return to Penacles for the time. Besides Dagora, I"ve got to keep an eye on Lochivar, Irillian, and Wenslis. Gordag-Ai, too, if the rumors I hear about the drake confederation are true."
It was as Darkhorse had guessed. The Gryphon had already overextended himself. Not only did he have to deal with the various kingdoms most affected by the war, but he also had to work to free his allies.
I can look to him for no aid. It would not be fair. "Darkhorse-"
The huge stallion stepped back. "My best wishes for your success in all matters, Your Majesty. My best wishes and dearest hopes."
"Darkhorse, what are you planning? I know you, eternal! Don"t do anything-"
He did not wait to hear the rest of the Gryphon"s warning, mostly because Darkhorse feared that he might end up agreeing with him. For everyone"s sake, he had to see this through.
However, the sight that greeted him when he materialized a moment later in Dagora nearly sent him fleeing back to the king of Penacles. Oh, the forest here still stood, but the trees were gray and leafless, clearly dead of some blight. Worse, the area was littered with dead. The Dragon King"s warriors had finally confronted Lanith"s horde. Most of the b.l.o.o.d.y, mangled remains were those of the defenders, but there were many blond corpses, not to mention those of dozens of horses. The half-skeletal remains of a good-sized dragon lay among several crushed trunks, testament to the futility of such might against the horse king"s linked sorcerers. Dragons made easy targets.
The battlefield was days old and the only life remaining consisted of rats, carrion crows, and other scavengers. Dark- horse kicked away one overly eager rat scurrying near his hooves. He loathed them not because of what they were but because of what they represented.
This is not far from the caverns of the Green Dragon. I wonder if this time the place will be abandoned in fact, not fantasy.
He abandoned the horror of the field, choosing a destination near the eastern caverns. The western entrances had to be held by the enemy. Zuu had conquered more than half the forest, that was clear now.
The forest here seemed undisturbed, but it was deathly silent, a sure sign that the war raged not far away. The Gryphon had indicated that the Green Dragon had not surrendered despite the threat against his daughter, but his hesitancy had cost the drake too much already. Even if he decided to throw everything wholeheartedly into the next battle, it was possible that he would lose badly.
Darkhorse tried to contact the Dragon King, but received no response. He was disappointed but not surprised. Still, the shadow steed hoped that the drake lord would soon notice him. The longer Darkhorse had to wander the forest, the more likely that Yureel would sense him.
Blast you, Dragon King! We must speak! What could he say, though, that he had not said earlier? In the Green Dragon"s eyes, Darkhorse likely appeared to be an unnecessary interruption.
A blink hole suddenly opened in front of him.
Stumbling back, the shadow steed awaited whatever threat lurked at the other end of the hole. However, instead of some new danger concocted by Yureel, a lone drake warrior stepped out. The newcomer held both hands open so that Darkhorse could see that he was unarmed.
"Plea.s.sse, demon sssteed! You mussst come thisss way! Quickly! Hisss Majesssty begsss you not to hesssitate!" The warrior"s crimson eyes nearly pleaded with the eternal to hurry.
So the Green Dragon would see him after all. Darkhorse trotted toward the hole. From the tone of the anxious drake, the war had the clan against the wall.
The armored figure suddenly drew a blade and hissed, but he was not looking at Darkhorse. Something darted past the shadow steed, burying itself in the throat of the hapless drake. Even as his companion collapsed, already dead, Darkhorse saw more than half a dozen warriors on horseback come charging toward him. Darkhorse paused before the entrance, greatly tempted to repay them for the drake"s death. Then he realized that he had detected no trace of the riders, which meant that there was at least one sorcerer nearby.
That proved to be more than correct. A trio of robed figures, one of them bearing the unmistakable stench of Yureel, materialized a short distance away. The lead sorcerer, a figure Darkhorse recognized as once having been a student in Penacles, pointed at the ebony stallion.
Darkhorse leaped through the hole, hoping that the Dragon King would be quick in sealing it behind him.
The other end of the blink hole opened into the inner sanctum of the drake lord. Darkhorse whirled around as soon as he was through, prepared now to block the way if the sorcerers" spell followed. Fortunately, the blink hole had already vanished.
"You have a habit of demanding . . . my attention . . . at the worssst of times, demon sssteed."
The Dragon King slumped on a chair near the viewing artifact, his eyes fixed on the scene floating above it but his mind clearly many other places. His words were distant.
"My apologies! I have been away for quite some time and this was the first opportunity I had to contact you."
"Away?" The Green Dragon finally stared at him. "Until you materialized in the foressst, I had become certain that you had perished at the . . . handsss, isss it?. . . of your brother." He rose slowly from the chair. "He ha.s.ss my daughter, demon. He ha.s.ss my daughter, and like my foressst she isss hisss to do with a.s.ss he pleasesss!"
Darkhorse trotted up to the drake, forcing the tall figure to stare up at him. "I know that all too well! I was there when she was taken. Strange, though, I never took you or your brethren to be so fearful for the safety of your females. They were there for breeding purposes only."
The reptilian lord looked ready to strike him, but apparently thought about the consequences. Instead, he turned away and walked slowly toward one of the shelves housing his collection of artifacts. Darkhorse noted that many of the shelves were now empty.
"You do not know usss as well a.s.ss you think. In the pa.s.sst I"ve been forced to deal with rebellious children, but that doesss not mean that I did not mourn them in quiet." He hissed. "I will admit that Yssa isss a ssspecial ca.s.sse. I cannot explain why."
Having known her for a time, Darkhorse thought he already understood. Yssa brought a sense of life to her surroundings that not all the foliage decorating the caverns could have matched. She was one of the most determined mortals he had met.
"It may-"
"I"ve changed my mind," the drake commented, reaching for a small box high on one shelf. "Your coming here might be the key to sssalvaging my kingdom and my daughter."
His tone did nothing to encourage the eternal. The Dragon King sounded as if he were willing to do anything. He had already threatened Aurim"s life. "I will not help you kill Cabe"s son, drake!"
"That isss an option I find beyond me. To attack the lad isss to attack the entire Order. The oddsss against ssssuccessfully completing that operation are great. No, I propossse inssstead a multip.r.o.nged a.s.ssault that will have a.s.ss its culmination the exile of thisss monstrosity Yureel and the ressscue of my daughter."
He was mad. Darkhorse was certain of it. "You say that attacking Aurirn is a futile gesture but trying to save your daughter while at the same time exiling Yureel is not?"
"Not with thisss!" The Green Dragon turned and held forth the artifact. It was a box, aged beyond belief, but still st.u.r.dy. There was a pattern on the lid, but time had worn away so much of it that only a wing was still identifiable. "Not with this . . ."
"Get that away from me!" Darkhorse reared, nearly causing the drake to back into the shelves. Fear swept over the eternal. He knew what the box was. He had seen its like before. Once, he had even been a prisoner of one.
Being trapped within the box had been worse than being lost in the Void. At least in the latter one could move. In the box, there was nothing put pain.
"Yesss, it isss of Vraad make," the Dragon King remarked, referring to the ancient race of sorcerers who were the ancestors of the humans.
"I know it is of Vraad make! I know what the cursed box is! By the Void, how many of the monstrous things did they create? Must they all survive the centuries?"
It had been the Vraad Dru Zeree who had led him to the Dragonrealm, but it had been another Vraad, the militaristic clan leader Barakas Tezerenee, who had taught him fear as only his twin had before. Lord Tezerenee had used one of the boxes to break him. The box was a prison, one in which Dark- horse had been trapped, helpless. He had been forced to obey the edicts of the ruthless Vraad leader until rescued. The memory was countless centuries old but as fresh in his mind as ever.
"Destroy it! Destroy it!" The eternal backed farther away, nearly upsetting some of the shelves behind him.
Cradling the box in his hands, the Dragon King stared defiantly at him. "I will not! Thisss isss the only one I have left! Thisss is the only thing I have left that I believe will deal with the creature . . . and you will help me, demon sssteed!"
Darkhorse fought his fears down. "Help you with what?"
"To trap him with thisss, of courssse! I"d wondered if you, with your knowledge of Vraad waysss, would recognize it. You do, ssso you alssso know how it worksss . . . and it ssstill doesss. With it, we shall capture the monster, ressscue my daughter . . . and perhapsss Aurim Bedlam as well."
"Exactly what do you have in mind?" Darkhorse was certain that the strain had unbalanced the drake, but his plan did have a remote possibility of success, which was more than the stallion could say for his own idea.
Seeing that he had his companion"s undivided attention at last, the Green Dragon smiled. The image made Darkhorse wonder just what Yssa"s mother could have seen in him. He was exotic, yes, but he was a drake. Darkhorse doubted he would ever understand love.
"There isss little time remaining." The reptilian monarch visibly forced himself to calm down. "I must now defend not only the west but the south a.s.ss . . . as well. The land lost to the horse king and his familiar resembles a jawbone now with the sharpest fangs just to the south of my cavernsss. Men, drakes, elves, even Ssseekers have perished by the scores, and but for the sorcery Lanith has at hisss beck and call, I could end this insufferable war in a few hours. As brave and ready as they are, the warriors of Zuu are alssso pragmatic. They"d know better than to continue if the Order wa.s.ss eliminated."
Darkhorse was not so certain about that, but he did not comment. "You said we would also try to rescue Aurim, not kill him."
"Yes, yesss. Hear me, then. It isss you who bear much of the responsibility for success. You will locate my daughter, who isss, I believe, far behind the lines accompanied by Lanith"s witch. You must take her from the witch-"
The eternal let loose with a short, bitter laugh. "Yureel is certain to notice me!"
"So much the better. His attention will be divided. When he comes to deal with you, I will come and deal with him."
He was proposing to leap behind the lines of the enemy and face Yureel head on. The Green Dragon appeared to have a great death wish. Even if he succeeded in trapping Dark- horse"s twin, the Order would make short work of him. Either Aurim or one of the other sorcerers under Yureel"s spell would then release the insidious monster.
At that point, they would all turn on Darkhorse.
When he informed the Dragon King of this, the helmed drake disagreed. "The Order will not be a problem. In fact, they will be the caussse of even greater distraction for the demon."
"How so?"
The smile that now spread across the Green Dragon"s half- hidden features was as grim as any Darkhorse had seen in years. "The Order-including Aurim, I hope-will be hard-pressed to aid Lanith"sss horde, much less their true master. I intend to throw everything I have at Lanith"s army. Everything. Once the box and its contentsss are sssent far, far away, the hold the demon had on the young Bedlam will surely fade. That, then, will weaken the Order to the point where they will fall from exhaustion quite quickly. Their ssstrength without Cabe"sss son is not so great a danger."
The shadow steed nearly turned him down there and then. It was a risky plan at best. Even supposing the impossible happened and they were able to exile Yureel again, how long could the drake"s defenses hold out? Lanith still had Ponteroy and the other sorcerers, and their combined powers were not so weak as the Green Dragon might think.
"I will do thisss with or without you, Darkhorssse. You"ll have to admit the oddsss are better with both of usss working together. What other hope isss there?"
"The Gryphon-"
"Ha.s.ss too many concerns of hisss own! It isss either this or defeat."
It went against his better judgment to agree, but Darkhorse had found enough fault in his own judgment recently to make him uncertain. The Green Dragon had fought in wars past; he was certainly a better strategist than the eternal could claim. Besides, what other plan did they have?
"Very well. I agree."
The drake hissed in obvious relief. "Good. I had little hope for sssuccess on my own, being unable to both rescue Yssa and confront the demon. I have officers who can deal with the battle itself, but no one I could trust to aid me on this mission."
Unspoken was the fact that although the Dragon King had a male heir to his throne, he dared not risk him even for Yssa. Drakes with the markings designating them future Dragon Kings were rare and so each of the monarchs kept careful watch over their successors. The Green Dragon"s heir would be helping to coordinate defensive efforts from somewhere deep within the cavern system, well away from the battle. It was a curious arrangement at times, especially considering that many Dragon Kings came into power by eliminating their progenitors.
"When do we begin this?"
Again the drake smiled grimly. "a.s.ss they say, "there"sss no time like the presssent," is there?"
Death. More death. More and more death and not a thing that Aurim could do to stave off the flow. If anything, he was responsible for the rising casualties. The spells that the Order focused through him laid waste to acres of forest and hundreds of defenders. Lanith"s warriors suffered losses as they pushed for the Dragon King"s stronghold, but that made the matter worse, not better. The defenders had done their utmost to rout the invaders, but against sorcery that left the Green Dragon"s own spells wanting, they were helpless.
Another day and we"ll be pounding at the lizard"s door. His head"ll decorate a lance soon after- Aurim mentally cringed at the thought. Of late, he had found himself thinking such things. Yureel"s control had crept deeper into his mind, threatening to soon turn the sorcerer into a loyal, very willing servant to the monster"s evil.
General Belfour rode up to him. "Any spellwork?"
"Only the protective shield," Aurim"s mouth responded.
"I don"t like it. Why the sudden lull? The drake"s troops withdrew, too. If it wasn"t for the fact that our own need the rest, we"d be after them all the way to the Dragon King"s lair. This doesn"t bode well."
Thankful for any respite, Aurim Bedlam hardly wanted to question the retreat, but that part of him controlled by Yureel had to ask, "Does the king want us to stir them up? We could create another fire wall."
"The king"s in conference," the veteran snapped. To the sorcerer, by now familiar with the older warrior"s personality, that meant that Belfour had noticed his monarch talking to himself. None of Lanith"s warriors were privy to his relationship with the demon, so to them the horse king had to seem mad. Still, no one dared talk of removing him from the throne. Not only were the warriors of Zuu trapped by their own sense of tradition, but Lanith had proven he wielded great power. "We"ll probably have an answer before long."
Aurim snapped to attention, his eyes suddenly darting skyward. The reaction was a combination of both parts of him in response to the sudden sensing of a familiar presence. A study of the clouds revealed nothing, though.
"What is it, spellcaster?"
He struggled with himself, trying not to reveal what he had sensed. Belfour noticed his hesitation and urged his animal nearer. The general looked ready to slap Aurim on the cheek.
Fortunately, or rather unfortunately in Aurim"s eyes, the sorcerer lost his struggle to keep his secret. "Darkhorse. He"s near . . . or getting near."
"Darkhorse? That beast is back?" Envy and distrust vied within Belfour. He had not made it a secret that he would have dearly loved a steed such as his king had briefly owned. "I"d better alert His Majesty to-"
The earth rumbled nearby, the sudden quake sending the three spellcasters presently on monitoring duty to their knees. Belfour"s horse reared in surprise, forcing the general to concentrate his full effort on retaining control. Aurim maintained his footing, but before he could gather his wits, a heavy wind threatened to push him back into the general"s anxious mount.
Ahead, a horn abruptly blared, immediately followed by several more.
"They"re attacking!" Ponteroy called needlessly from nearby. The other sorcerer had been drinking some of the sickly sweet wine he transported daily from Gordag-Ai. Now he stood, a purple stain spreading across the chest of his otherwise immaculate jacket, and hurriedly began organizing the rest of the Order.
The rumble increased in intensity, spreading both to the north and the south. The magical wind matched it, blowing so hard that some of the weaker sorcerers had to be aided by their fellows. Slowly, they formed a ragged pattern, an empty spot in the middle left for Aurim.
In the midst of it all, he sensed the swiftly approaching presence of Darkhorse. The stallion was heading to the south, beyond the rear of Zuu"s lines. Aurim was happy that Dark- horse had survived his haphazard exile, but bitter that now he would have to try to capture the shadow steed again.
Yssa. It was the only answer. Darkhorse had to be heading toward Yssa.