"How were you able to talk to him?"
The stallion considered this long before answering. "I cannot say for certain, Cabe. In the Void, it seemed much easier to touch the minds of others, especially those unshielded. I have not always found it so in the Dragonrealm. Regardless, we eventually did communicate and I found him so fascinating that I just wanted to listen and learn."
Something in his tone evidently made the sorcerer extremely uneasy. "What happened to him, Darkhorse? I can tell that something did." The human's eyes narrowed. "Yureel . he didn't really—"
"Yes, my friend, he did." Darkhorse kicked at the earth again. "He found me, not so difficult a task then, and was delighted with the new toy. Yureel seized him, wanting to play, and when I protested. . he grew angry and absorbed him."
"God!"
"I did not at first understand how terrible that was, but I did not think his actions right. You must understand; Yureel was not kind with his captives before he absorbed them . . . not kind at all. That was what drove me away more than anything."
Darkhorse paused to think, not wanting to say anything more that might hint at how he had been little better than Yureel. Best to move on to the end. The final fear that had sent him fleeing from his counterpart. "I will not bore you with the tale any longer. I will only say that there came a time when because of his cruel actions to the creatures he found, I did not want to remain near Yureel any longer. I started to drift farther and farther from him, but he caught up to me and demanded to know why I had left him behind. I told him that I wanted to be by myself, that I did not like his games." The shadow steed shuddered. "He said that I did not have to leave. He would simply reabsorb me and create a new playmate, a better one. Before I realized what was happening, Yureel was trying to envelop me!"
The sorcerer shifted uneasily on the bench. His face had grown pale with each successive revelation. "You don't have to go on, Darkhorse! Not if you—"
"I felt my mind, my self, dissipating!" the eternal cried, almost talking to himself now. "He tried to do with me what he had done with the others! I am sorry to say that at the time the realization of what they had suffered did not strike me; I only knew my own personal terror, that I was about to cease to be!" Darkhorse stomped the ground in an attempt to relieve himself of the remembered fear. "Yureel did not expect me to be able to resist. Nothing had ever been able to resist him! I left him stunned, no doubt also shocked, and fled through the Void until long past the time when I could sense his presence, much less see him in that empty place! I do not know how long I journeyed, for you yourself know how meaningless time can be in the Void, but ever I kept careful watch in case he had tracked me down. I feared him then, Cabe, just as I admit to fearing him now! After the Dragonrealm was revealed to me by a lost sorcerer, I believed that at last I was free of Yureel, but that assumption proved false. He had never ceased following me, so I later discovered. Once before he found his way into this world and only through luck did others succeed in banishing him, again, supposedly forever." The stallion shook his head. "But forever is a long time. He has finally returned . . . and although I fear for the Dragonrealm, I fear more for myself."
Cabe Bedlam rose from the bench. "Why didn't you ever tell me this before?"
"The spell the other sorcerers used to bind Yureel in the Void seemed perfect. I thought him gone forever, unable to harm even those unfortunates who drifted into his realm. I thought myself rid of him."
"How long ago did this happen?"
Darkhorse hung his head low. "Your grandfather's grandfather had not yet been born. I know that because I knew the man. Zerik Bedlam, by the way. Among the spellcasters who forced Yureel back to the empty realm was the woman who would be his mother. I only remember her as Lamaria of the Hidden Grove."
"Someday, you and I will have a long talk about just exactly how many of my ancestors you've met." The human reached out, putting a calming hand on the shadow steed's muzzle.
Although Darkhorse was no true equine, he appreciated his friend's gesture. Telling the story had filled him with shame, not only for his own weaknesses, but the excesses of his brother, his other self. Yureel was a monster in every sense of the word, the demon that mortals had always mistaken for. Some of the sinister legends that had made the ebony stallion so feared had their roots in the battles against Yureel.
"He must be destroyed, Cabe. Somehow, we must destroy Yureel. He will not listen to reason, and no earthly prison is secure enough. There can be no safety from him. Somewhere in the past, he developed a fondness for epics. I think more than one mortal tried to placate him with such stories. Yureel now sees worlds such as the Dragonrealm as the setting for his own tales, and those tales always revolve around destruction on a massive scale. I believe that it was he who saw the taste for conquest in Lanith's mind and then seduced the horse king with grand promises of an empire spanning the continent."
"But I can't imagine how Lanith thinks he'll win even with Yureel and the Order. All he'll do is maybe succeed in destroying the last vestiges of peace. The entire Dragonrealm could erupt as some kingdoms fight him while others try to take advantage of the chaos!" Cabe mentioned no names, but they both knew that two Dragon Kings, Storm and Black, were among those who would take such an advantage.
"Yureel does not care if Lanith is victorious! He wants only for the armies of Zuu to create such havoc that it takes years for peace to prevail! Yureel is anarchy, Cabe! That is all he strives for!"
The sorcerer looked shaken. "I can't believe that he's so terrible a monster. The way you talk about him . . . is he that much more powerful than you? I'd think the two of you would be equals, yet . . . you really fear him . . ."
"I do. Cabe, I have never been Yureel's equal. To be his equal, I would have to do as he does. That would give me but two choices. I could absorb power wholesale as he has always done . . . and spellcasters, of course, provide the greatest source of power . . ." Darkhorse gave thanks that Aurim had escaped the fate of so many others in the past. From Cabe's shifting expression, it was clear the elder Bedlam's thoughts ran a similar course.
"And . . . the other method?" the human finally managed.
"Yureel is a parasite in every sense of the word, Cabe! What he does not swallow whole, he often slowly sucks dry. I cannot be certain, but I suspect that he has been drawing strength from the sorcerers of Lanith's Magical Order. . . and was doing so from your son as well."
"He wouldn't!"
Darkhorse shook his head. "There is nothing Yureel would not do, friend! Nothing! If we do not destroy him, my foul twin will certainly destroy us . . . but only after we are nothing but empty husks. We must—"
His warning was interrupted by the sudden materialization of Lady Bedlam. The scarlet-tressed sorceress's expression was dark. The shadow steed found himself somewhat relieved to see her; her intrusion put a welcome end to his painful conversation. Rather would he deal with trying to free Aurim of the spell that bound him than speak more about the past he shared with Yureel.
"Darling, have you seen Valea and that woman?"
"I've not seen Yssa since the two of you took Aurim to his room. I expected Valea to join you there."
Gwendolyn Bedlam looked uncomfortable. "I found I didn't need help from either of them and so I asked Valea if she wouldn't mind showing that woman more of the Manor. Now I'm beginning to regret that decision."
The sorcerer shared a worried glance with Darkhorse. "Why?"
"Because I can't sense them anywhere. I wanted to ask Valea to look up something for me in the main library, but I couldn't locate her. I tried a stronger, more direct probe, but for all practical purposes, both she and that wood witch are missing."
"Valea wouldn't leave the Manor without telling us, dear, and you've got nothing to fear from Yssa. She's not a threat."
"Isn't she?" Lady Bedlam's eyes burned into those of the shadow steed. "What do you say, Darkhorse? Considering what she is, or at least is in part, wouldn't you say she might be a threa
t? I was a fool to let my daughter be alone with that creature . . . that abomination!"
She knows! It should not have surprised Darkhorse that Lady Bedlam had discerned Yssa's heritage. At one point in her young life, the Green Dragon had been Gwendolyn Bedlam's patron, a tutor of sorts. She had lived among drakes and possibly had even come across half-breeds such as Yssa. Still, Darkhorse guessed that Gwen only knew that Yssa was part drake. "She is no threat, Gwendolyn Bedlam. I will swear on that. Yssa, whatever her heritage, has worked only to aid us against the horse king!"
"What are the two of you talking about?" Cabe demanded.
Neither answered him, Lady Bedlam staring long and hard into the eternal's inhuman visage. At last, the sorceress tore her gaze away, instead focusing on the Manor. "Cabe, can you detect our daughter anywhere? Either her or . . . or Yssa?"
The sorcerer shut his eyes, but opened them a second later. His expression now matched that of his wife. "I can't find either of them . . . but . . . but I'm sensing Darkhorse."
"He's here with us! Of course you'll—"
"Not here, but in the Manor!"
Now she looked confused. "You must be mistaken, Cabe. How could he be in there, too?"
"Because it is not me, Lady Bedlam! Not me!" A horrible realization crossed Darkhorse's mind. The eternal immediately sent a probe of his own toward the ancient edifice.
The search was no search at all. The building, nay, the entire domain of the Bedlams reeked with the magical trace that only to Darkhorse differed at all from his own. How, though, could the unthinkable have happened? The barrier should have noticed, should have prevented access—
No! Cabe had the right of it more than he realized! The barrier could not tell the difference! When Cabe allowed me access, Yureel, shielded by either his own sorcery or more likely that of Aurim, entered at the same time!
Yureel had succeeded in invading the protected domain of the Manor . . . and it was Darkhorse who had unwittingly provided him the key.
Chapter Fourteen
Yureel had invaded the Manor while their attention had been focused elsewhere. Darkhorse's counterpart had planned well. Too well. Where, though, was the monster now? He would not have fled already.
"Aurim!" Darkhorse looked at his friends. "We must see to Aurim!"
Lady Bedlam took control, gathering the trio together and immediately sending them to the young sorcerer's chamber. However, they discovered only an empty bed. Cabe did a quick check of the area, but could not locate either his son or the two other women.
"What a fool I was!" the eternal roared. "Each way I turn, Yureel has already planned ahead! He no doubt saw a rich opportunity when Aurim confronted me and made it appear the boy had broken free of his hold just so I would help him gain access to the Manor! I never would have believed that Yureel would risk himself so! Your home is the one place of which he should have been wary."
"Never mind that," Cabe interrupted. "What we need to do now is find the children and Yssa." He blinked. "I think . . . I think that I sense the women downstairs . . . in my library."
Lady Bedlam looked confused. "But we both tried to locate them earlier! How could you be able to do it now?"
"There presence is faint, but I'm certain it's them, not a false trail."
That was enough. In the blink of an eye, they were downstairs. Instead of Cabe's library, though, they stood in the hall just beyond it. The door before them was shut and Darkhorse and the others knew immediately that it had not been shut by a human hand. The moment Gwendolyn Bedlam tried to touch it, the door glowed a bright green around the edges.
Darkhorse stepped up to the bespelled entrance. "Leave this to me! Yureel might have incorporated a few more surprises!"
He reared up and kicked, but the door was not his target. Instead, the shadow steed first struck the left side of the doorway, then the right. Each strike was accompanied by a flash of crimson and after the second assault, little remained of the green band. Darkhorse moved closer and nudged the door with his muzzle.
It swung open to reveal two anxious women, their backs pressed to the side wall and their gaze riveted to the eternal's huge form.
Valea was the first to move. She ran to her parents, hugging them both.
Yssa paused at the doorway. "Thank you, Darkhorse." "Yes, thank you," added Valea, coming over to hug him around the neck. "I didn't mean to pass you by."
"That is all right."
"We were sealed in," Yssa began. "We saw . . . we saw a distorted vision of Darkhorse . . ." She described what had happened.
"Yureel, yes . . ." Darkhorse snorted. "He is still near, too, I am certain of it!"
Cabe Bedlam's fists clenched. "He has Aurim. He has to have him. Valea, Gwen. Give me your hands."
Separating from the others, the Bedlams joined hands. Gwen and her daughter shut their eyes while Cabe stared toward the ceiling. Energy circulated between the three of them, so much that even the eternal was greatly impressed.
"He's at the western edge of the barrier," the sorcerer announced. "I see only Aurim, but I feel something else nearby. Aurim is trying to open the barrier . . ." Cabe pulled his hands away from his family, breaking the link. "I've strengthened the barrier. They can't possibly exit now."
"Do not be so certain of that—" Darkhorse began, but Cabe paid him no mind. The sorcerer vanished, leaving the rest of the party stunned by his sudden action.
"Damn him!" Lady Bedlam gathered her power. "Always willing to sacrifice himself! Stay here, Valea!"
She, too, disappeared. Darkhorse did not wait to see what the two younger women would do. He followed Gwen's lead. They would need his aid against Yureel.
A disturbing sight greeted him. The elder spellcasters faced their son, whose expression was answer enough as to the depths of Yureel's control. Aurim looked ready to attack his parents. Worse, it looked like he might even be willing to kill them.
Aurim looked his way. "Darkhorse! You'd better stay back! I don't want to hurt you, but I will if I have to!"
He still sounded so much like the true Aurim that it was even difficult for the shadowy stallion to believe otherwise. Only the fact that he could detect Yureel's foul presence in the area kept Darkhorse from wondering.
Trotting forward despite the warning, Darkhorse looked not at the young sorcerer but the slight shadow he could barely detect above the human. "Ever playing with puppets, Yureel! Are you so fearful, so untrusting of your power that you cannot face your foes directly? Are you so great a coward, brother?"
Cabe Bedlam stepped toward the shadow steed. "Darkhorse! What're you doing?"
He knew that the human feared for his ensorcelled son, but Darkhorse believed that what he was doing was their only hope. If he could goad Yureel into forming, then they had a better chance of defeating their foe.
The now-familiar giggle floated toward them. Over Aurim, darkness coalesced into the tiny ebony form that had taunted Darkhorse in Zuu. Ice-blue eyes identical to his own stared down in mockery at the eternal and his allies. Darkhorse heard more than one gasp from the spellcasters. It was one thing to be told that there was indeed another creature like Darkhorse, but another to actually be confronted by him.
"The tale spins itself rather well," remarked the foot-high puppet, "and the actors play their roles to the hilt! Oh, I am indeed appreciative of your efforts, my brother, my self! You have added elements without which surely my epic would have seemed hollow!" Yureel giggled again.
"Epics, stories, tales . . ." Darkhorse chuckled, mocking Yureel's mockery. "Never a truly original thought in your mind, though! You cannot even fight your own battles; you must use deceit! Well here is your opportunity to create an epic of your own, brother." The stallion reared. "You and I have something to finish! Come to me! Let us at last end what should have ended long ago in the Void!"
The shadow puppet started to float forward, but halted before moving more than a couple feet from Aurim. "It was a brilliant notion to make you the mortal's steed, Dar
khorse! He already desired you for that purpose! The thought of such humiliation and regret was delicious! A mortal would have commanded you and under his control, you would have destroyed these insignificant specks you claim to care for and wreaked havoc upon your beloved world!"
"Yet another of your plots that shall never come to fruition, Yureel! Yet another failure!"
"A failure? Oh, no! Hardly a failure! Short but so very enjoyable! Besides, I have many, many other chapters to add to my epic! If not as Lanith's ignoble steed, then I shall find another place for you, my brother, my self!" He giggled again. "Your friends, however, will have to live with minor roles . . . while they live. Are they the patient kind, Darkhorse?"
"What does he mean?" whispered Valea.
Yureel bowed. "We must depart."
"You shall not!" Darkhorse unleashed his power, aiming not at the torso of the small, shadowy figure, but rather between the pupilless eyes. Unfortunately, a gleaming, transparent shield rose up between the etemal's attack and his adversary. The spell dissipated as it struck.
Aurim smiled. Had Yureel formed himself a mouth, the smile he would have worn would have been identical. The younger Bedlam was proving all too well just how proficient he now was in the use of his abilities.
"It might have been extremely interesting to see what he could do against all of you," Yureel commented blithely, "but I have far, far more interesting games to play and, thanks to you, Darkhorse, the one point of concern has now been dealt with!"
They waited for Yureel to say more, but the puppet suddenly vanished . . . no, vanished was not quite right, because Darkhorse, at least, could still slightly sense his presence. Yureel was a master at hiding himself.
Aurim turned from them, moving as if he no longer even knew that they were there. There was no time for the others to react. The golden-haired sorcerer crossed through the invisible barrier surrounding the Manor grounds.
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