The two remaining sorcerers retreated to Saress, who still watched Lanith nervously. Her own fear that he would realize what she was kept her paralyzed.
Not so Yureel. "Naughty boy! Behave yourself or I"ll just have to strike you from my epic!"
Aurim"s expression instantly slackened. He started back to the other spellcasters.
"Fight it, lad!" Darkhorse roared. Belatedly he realized that Aurim had dropped the spell holding him prisoner, probably at the same time the sorcerer had turned on his foul master. Now nothing prevented him from using his power. The ebony stallion immediately focused on Yureel, trying to strike between the eyes. If he could distract his murderous brother- Yureel easily deflected his spell, but as Darkhorse had hoped, the attack gave Aurim the reprieve he needed to recover control of himself. The young sorcerer gritted his teeth and stared at his former master. Aurim was frightened, but doing his best to face the source of his fears.
Two of the spears dropped by the sentries rose into the air and darted past Aurim. Behind him, the king of Zuu, sword drawn, tried to protect himself from the unexpected attack. Lanith had clearly intended on stabbing the spellcaster from behind, realizing, perhaps, that without Yureel, his own dreams of victory would remain just that. If it meant sacrificing even so valuable a p.a.w.n as Aurim had been, so be it.
The treacherous monarch managed to deflect the first missile with his sword, but the second came too fast. Lanith tried but failed to raise his weapon in time. The head of the spear buried itself in his shoulder. Grunting, the horse king dropped his weapon and stumbled back.
Hissing, Saress went to his side. She pulled the weapon free, pa.s.sed her hand over the wound, then signaled the other spellcasters to come to her aid. "I"ve stopped the bleeding, but more needs doing! Get him away from here and see that he"s healed completely or you"ll face me later! Go now!"
The two immediately took hold of the king and carried him away. Saress stood and glared at the source of his agony, the Dragon King"s daughter. Yssa, though, had already forgotten the murderous king, her concern once again for her injured father. She did not even notice the other woman start toward her.
Knowing that the drake lord"s daughter was too distracted to be of good use, anyway, Darkhorse called out, "Take him away from here, Yssa! Somewhere safe! Do it now!"
Looking relieved yet guilty, Yssa carefully scooped up her father. The drake"s hand was a burnt ruin, probably unsalvageable even through high sorcery. The Dragon King breathed in short gasps. Yssa hurriedly opened a path of escape, clearly aware of how weak the drake had already become.
With an inhuman roar, Saress flung herself after her disappearing rival. Occupied with Yureel, Darkhorse could do nothing to stop the furious sorceress. Saress vanished only seconds after Yssa and her father did.
Yureel continued to prove more resilient than the stallion had hoped. The dread knight had so far fought Darkhorse and his companion to a standstill, something that should not have been possible. True, Yureel had always maintained greater reserves of strength due to his horrific habit of eventually devouring any source of power he came across, but Darkhorse was at his peak and Aurim was possibly the greatest spell- caster in generations. Even Yureel with his parasitic link to the other spellcasters of the Order should not have been able to stand against the pair, unless. . . Aurim was unconsciously holding back because his confidence had begun to erode again.
"We have him, lad! Keep at him!" He hoped he sounded encouraging. Aurim needed to believe in himself.
The human did not respond and his face was horribly pale. He still worked alongside the shadow steed, but it was clear that he recalled too much of his enslavement. Fear made him hesitant, something that threatened to be fatal for both of them.
Aurim! He cannot harm you anymore! You have proven your will superior to his! Darkhorse repeated himself, uncertain as to whether the boy paid any attention to his plea.
He made me . . . I couldn"t do a thing, Darkhorse . . . he made me kill for him! I thought I was strong enough, but now I don"t know . . .
But you saved Yssa and the drake! You broke free, Aurim! You broke free!
At first Darkhorse believed that his words had had no impact on Cabe"s son, but then he sensed a new onrush of power behind the spell that Aurim cast next. Yureel certainly felt something, too, for although the spellwork itself was invisible, the shadow knight"s reaction was anything but. Yureel"s form glowed crimson and he stumbled back, crushing the tent.
"You are ours, Yureel!" Darkhorse meant his cry not only for his twin but for Aurim, too. The young mage needed more encouragement if the pair of them had any hope of victory. Aurim had finally freed himself of Yureel"s control and now had the insidious demon at the disadvantage, but events had a habit of changing quickly in such dire situations. "Your epic will have to remain incomplete!"
The monstrous creature regained his footing. "I"m very disappointed in both of you, brother! You"ve misbehaved! I will just have to absorb you . . . but not before I teach you your place."
"Your power is not enough to withstand both of us, Yureel. That should be obvious even to you!"
He expected Yureel to retort again, but instead the shadow knight did something that caught both Darkhorse and Aurim completely off-guard. He flung himself into the air and flew off toward the east, his speed so great that he was little more than a speck by the time either of his adversaries realized what had happened.
"Darkhorse-"
"Aurim! Mount quickly!" Darkhorse waited only long enough for the sorcerer to obey, then leaped into the air after their foe. Yureel had already flown halfway to the battlefield, a destination dangerous even for so deadly a creature. What he planned, Darkhorse could only guess.
Still behind the Zuu lines, Yureel began to descend. The shadow steed could not readily detect who or what Yureel flew toward, but he thought he sensed sorcery there. A sudden suspicion started to gnaw at him.
"Hold tight, Aurim! We must reach him before it is too late!"
The sorcerer had already wrapped his arms around his friend"s throat, but he tightened his grip. Sorcery was in play all over the battlefield despite the fact that both armed forces had come together, and it was likely difficult for the spellcasters to separate friend from foe. Even one stray spell might be enough to slow Darkhorse and possibly brutally injure the human astride him.
Yureel disappeared from sight, but Darkhorse still sensed his presence below. He now also sensed the presence of several sorcerers: the remnants of the Magical Order. Without Aurim, Saress, and Ponteroy, the Order was severely weakened, but the potential for danger still existed. If anyone knew best how to exploit that potential, it was Yureel.
"Be ready, Aurim. I fear the worst."
They were suddenly buffeted by earsplitting shrieks from every direction. Aurim screamed, and it was all the eternal could do to keep from following suit. The shadow steed spiraled toward the ground, just barely able to maintain control. In the distance, he caught sight of at least half a dozen figures positioned in a recognizable geometric pattern.
In the center stood the huge, shadowy figure of Yureel. Darkhorse touched the earth still facing the group. A quick probe verified his fear; Yureel had taken Aurim"s place as the Order"s focus. Worse, he had thrown off the mask of independence under which they had operated. Now he controlled each and every one of them.
"Darkhorse! He"s made them like me!"
"I know that, Aurim! We cannot allow that to dissuade us, though."
"You don"t understand, Darkhorse." The sorcerer gripped his companion"s mane tight. "In a link of that complexity, they become so much more than a group of low-level mages."
Darkhorse understood that also, but before he could say so, Yureel and the Order struck again. Tremendous pressure threatened to flatten the eternal to the ground. Next to him, Aurim fell first to his knees, then on his face.
"We-must-work together! Give me your mind!" The moment he said the words, the eternal realized his grave mistake. Animal fear overwhelmed his friend, fear based deeply in the human"s recent captivity. Aurim saw Darkhorse as too much like his twin.
The pressure continued to build, but now the ground changed, liquefying. Sorcerer and shadow steed quickly sank. It was all either of them could do just to keep their heads above the surface.
"Aurim! I am not Yureel! I will not seize control of your mind and body! We will work together. It is the one weapon we have that he can never understand well enough to use himself. We must link and become one together, not one held by the will of the other!"
The spellcaster shook his head. "I can"t! Not again!"
"If you do not, then we have no hope. I must intertwine our powers so well that whatever Yureel attempts, he will be unable to separate them. Divided we are two against many. Together . . . we have the power to see to it that he will never cause such devastation and terror again."
Aurim nodded. His mind opened up to Darkhorse and although the eternal still sensed some lingering fear, he also noted building resolve. This time, Aurim Bedlam would not falter.
It was nearly too late. Darkhorse bound his power with that of the sorcerer just as Aurim"s mouth sank below the surface. The human"s eyes widened, but he did not give in to panic.
It is done! We are one in our strength now. The binding briefly gave Darkhorse a sense of double thought, but he immediately sorted out his own mind from that of his young companion. With the stallion to guide them along, the pair lifted themselves from the earth.
Yureel forced his thralls to attack again, but this time the pair shrugged off the spell. With Aurim once more atop him, Darkhorse closed in on his counterpart. Neither he nor his companion attacked in turn; the spells they cast simply acted to deflect those of the Order toward the forces of Zuu. Each time Yureel attacked, he dealt damage to his own cause.
At last, only a few yards separated Darkhorse and his brother. Yureel looked slightly smaller and less fierce; controlling so many during so relentless a struggle had taken a toll even on him. The spellcasters looked even more bedraggled, but they had no choice.
"You are wasting your weapons, Yureel," taunted the shadow steed. "You can never make use of their full power while their spirits are trapped. Your very desire to control means that full control can never be yours."
"Still you preach, my brother, my self. Still you preach and no one listens!"
"Look around you! The power you threw against us has instead fallen upon the warriors of your supposed ally! Do you call that control? In the past few minutes, you have probably done more damage to the legions of Zuu than the Dragon King"s own forces have."
Yureel hesitated, icy orbs shifting momentarily in the direction of the two battling armies. Like Darkhorse, he could sense that the horse king"s warriors no longer had the advantage; the deadly spells the shadow steed and Aurim had redirected had struck Lanith"s army at its most vulnerable points. The power that the dark knight had thrown at his foes had caused such damage that in some places the defenders were now pushing westward.
"My epic . . ." Yureel glared at the duo. "All my lovely work . . ."
"Worry not about your epic so much as yourself, Yureel. The box might not have been able to hold you, but there are other cages. The Void awaits your return."
"I will not go back there! I will not! I will not! Never again!" Arms burst from the shadowy giant"s body, enough arms with which to seize the defenseless sorcerers around him. The arms retracted the moment each had hold of its prey. Darkhorse tried to sever the limbs as Aurim had earlier, but Yureel was too swift. The unmoving mages disappeared into the recesses of the knight"s monstrous torso without so much as the slightest scream.
"G.o.d!" Aurim nearly slipped from his back. Darkhorse could not help shivering. He never ceased to be amazed at Yureel"s complete lack of respect for life. The sorcerers had meant no more to him than a blade of gra.s.s or a fly.
Yureel no longer seemed weary, pushed to the edge of defeat. He looked stronger now, stronger and larger. The ebony knight had threatened to absorb his twin and make all that Darkhorse had been a part of him. He had done exactly that with the mages. Their lives and especially their power were his.
By themselves, they had not been spellcasters of great ability. As part of the Order, their combined might had made them strong, but not impossibly so. As a part of Yureel, though, a part of his very essence . . . Darkhorse feared that once more his brother had s.n.a.t.c.hed victory from him.
Only the two original arms remained, and now the shadow knight held a pitch-black mace. Yureel, already more than twice the height of his brother, raised the sorcerous weapon high. He moved as if fully revitalized.
"I"ve enjoyed our game so very much, my brother!" the murky t.i.tan bellowed. "But now the game ends, Darkhorse . . ."
Chapter Twenty.
Yssa propped her father against the tree. Her guilt at leaving Darkhorse and Aurim behind had been countered by the Dragon King"s serious condition. She hoped that she had the time and power left to stabilize him before it was too late.
Darkhorse Aurim . . . forgive me for not being there to help you.
She already knew that healing the drake"s hand was beyond the scope of her capabilities. Had it occurred because of a normal fire, she might have been able to repair it. Unfortunately, the potent energy wielded by Yureel had caused the damage and true to the monster"s parasitic nature, it continued to ravage the limb even now. As much as she hated to think it, the enchantress knew that a good part of the arm would have to be removed in order to save her father. Taking a deep breath, Yssa knelt on the gra.s.s and prepared herself for the inevitable.
A shadow fell across her.
"You hurt my Lanith, you little hedge witch!" A strong blow against Yssa"s cheek sent the blond woman falling against her patient. Through teary eyes she looked up at her attacker.
"I think I"ll give him your head a.s.ss a presssent," Saress hissed, expression anything but human. "After I"m through with it . . ."
General Belfour noticed the two sorcerers first, then the weary form between them. His brow, already furrowed in worry from the way the battle had suddenly turned, formed deeper valleys when he recognized the somewhat bedraggled figure. The general turned the reins of battle over to his second in command, then urged his mount toward the newcomers.
"Your Majesty!" Lanith"s eyes flashed open at the sound of his voice, searching the area around him as if expecting something. Belfour, who had seen that look before, nearly clamped his mouth shut, but his curiosity got the better of him. "Your Majesty, what happened to you?"
The monarch looked down at the wound near his shoulder. Belfour had never seen a wound so-blue-but when he started to repeat his question, King Lanith cut him off with a wave of his hand.
"Your Highness," one of the sorcerers began, trying desperately to keep the wound covered at the same time. "We"ve only just begun. Neither of us is as powerful as Saress-"
"Saress . . ." Lanith looked up at his general. His tone seemed almost clinical. "She"s a half-breed, drake abomination, Belfour. Kill her when she returns."
While removing the influence of the enchantress from his king had always been high on the veteran warrior"s list of goals, the revelation of her origins nearly left him speechless. "A . . . drake, my lord?"
Lanith ignored him, eyes on Belfour"s mount. "Give me your horse, General." He reached out to touch the bow and quiver hanging on the saddle. "Leave everything."
"My horse?" Meridian had been the warrior"s favored battle mount for years, trained to obey a variety of signals and defend his master at all costs. There were times when he was fonder of the animal than he was some of his family.
"Your horse, General."
"Majesty, your wounds-" the same spellcaster began, cutting off Belfour before he could lodge a protest.
With speed that belied his injuries, Lanith drew a knife from his belt and thrust the blade into the sorcerer"s stomach. Gasping, the man collapsed as his life quickly fled. The lord of Zuu pulled the blade free, wiping it off on the dead man"s robes, then glanced at the remaining spellcaster. The other mage blanched, then scurried off in full panic.
"Worthless trash. When this is over, I"ll rebuild the Order anew." The king stared at Belfour, who immediately dismounted and handed the reins to him. Lanith climbed up and, without another word, rode off.
The general watched Lanith vanish into the distance, then belatedly noticed that something was happening far ahead of the king. It seemed to be some sort of panic, as if they did not have enough trouble with the chaos spreading from the middle of their lines. The entire tenor of the war had shifted, just as General Belfour had feared from the start. Deep inside, he had known that this entire campaign had been madness, but as an officer of Zuu, he had been bound by his post to obey his monarch.
What would happen now, when it could no longer be denied that the king had not only led them to ruin but was insane as well?
Frowning at his own thoughts on the subject, the aging warrior quickly began searching for a new mount.
The mace struck the ground, causing tremors and opening a crevice wide enough to swallow a man. Sorcerous energy from the monstrous weapon scattered over the area, most of it in the direction of Darkhorse and his companion.
Yureel obviously did not care that they had moved closer to the battle. If some of Lanith"s warriors were too slow-witted to get out of his way, he simply crushed them. All the gargantuan shadow desired was the destruction of his foes. He gave them no time to think, striking again and again without pause. The pair could do nothing but back away and defend.
This is madness! Darkhorse knew that at the rate they were retreating, he and Aurim would very soon be in the midst of the Zuu army. Already Yureel had scattered several riders, killing two in the process, and while that benefited the Green Dragon"s defenders, it did nothing for the shadow steed. It was not that the link between Darkhorse and his human friend had grown any weaker, just that Yureel"s vicious, rapid attacks kept the eternal and his companion at constant bay. Worse, the memories of his imprisonment in Zuu and the fate he had nearly suffered there had begun to return each time Yureel neared him. Yureel had almost swallowed him and still would again if given the opportunity. The deaths of the sorcerers had reminded him too much of the probability of that. Try as he might, the shadowy stallion could not forget.
"Darkhorse! We have to take the offensive!"
He heard Aurim and agreed with him, but the mace, as much a part of Yureel as the hand that wielded it, crashed into the ground only a few yards away. Darkhorse felt a slight pull from it, as if it sought to draw him into it. He knew then that if Yureel struck him even lightly, he would be absorbed.
The shadow knight giggled again, icy blue eyes bright beneath the helm. "You were always the lesser of the two of us, my brother, my self! Let me end your miserable existence so that you can live on in my own glory! I"ll even preserve a little place in my story for you, Aurim Bedlam, perhaps a little tale of a boy who sought but never found his full potential . . ."
The mace came down again. Darkhorse moved almost too late. Yureel missed him by less than a yard, but energy released by the strike threw stallion and rider several feet into the air. Aurim slipped from the shadow steed"s back, falling some distance away.
"I"m tempted to take you first as you"ve slipped from me far too many times, brother, but I think I"ll start with your little mage friend first as an appetizer and savor you as the main dish! Since you two are linked, I know you"ll fully enjoy his agony."
Yureel kept the mace pointed toward Darkhorse as he reached for Aurim. Darkhorse eyed the ebony weapon, then Cabe"s son.
Rearing, he charged the huge figure. Yureel reacted, but too slowly. Darkhorse ducked below the mace, not that he would have cared at this moment if it had hit him. All he intended to do was grant the sorcerer time to escape. Even with the power bequeathed to him from the Barren Lands, Darkhorse knew that Yureel had the advantage. The shadow steed"s own deeply rooted fear, a fear as great as that which Aurim had suffered earlier, worked against him. He did not want to be engulfed by Yureel.
The shadow knight fell back as they collided, but recovered quickly. Seizing Darkhorse by the throat, he shook the shadow steed hard. "So eager to rejoin me as all that? Very well, I"ll be happy to grant your desire."
Darkhorse! The link! Our power together, remember?
Aurim"s words made perfect sense, mirroring as they did his own earlier ones, but for some reason he could not take them to heart. This was YureeL Darkhorse of all creatures knew his twin best. Yureel had been first. Yureel had always been stronger.
You said that together we could beat him, Aurim reminded him, sounding more like Cabe Bedlam. Together. One. Aurim- Let me take over. I"ll do it. You said I could.
He felt Aurim take control of the link between them. The shadow steed wanted to warn him about the dangers, but to his surprise, the human manipulated it as if he had done so all his life.
With a shriek, Yureel dropped him. Darkhorse fell to his knees, then stared up at his twin. The shadow knight held his head in his hands and howled. His form became less defined and he seemed to shrivel a bit.
Aurim Bedlam, eyes closed and back straight, pointed one hand at their adversary. His control of their combined might was flawless; Darkhorse could not have done better. Yureel had only himself to blame; in the process of utilizing the lad as a p.a.w.n, he had shown Aurim what he could do. The boy remembered everything, it seemed.