“I’m sorry, Gerrod. I had to make certain that people grew used to Dark-horse as soon as possible, since he intends to remain for some time. The best way was to let him be seen in my company as I moved about the city. Whenever I needed to talk to somebody, I would introduce him to them.”
Excuse me, have you met Darkhorse yet? Gerrod found the scene in his mind almost too much for him to handle without laughing. “And how successful were you?”
Sharissa looked less pleased. “Too many of them are distrusting. They think my father will use him as a tool to reorganize the balance of power in our triumvirate.”
Her last words darkened the Tezerenee’s mood. “My father being one of the chief proponents of that fear?”
“Actually, he has not come to confront Darkhorse yet. Silesti has, however.”
What Silesti did was of no concern to Gerrod, but what the warlock’s father did was. You’ve remained in the background, have you, Father? What, I wonder, are you up to? The patriarch was not one to sit back during a potentially volatile situation.
“I find that interesting,” he finally responded. “Have any of my clan made the acquaintance of your friend here?”
“Only Lochivan. The rest of the Tezerenee don’t seem interested.”
What Lochivan knows, Father knows, Gerrod wanted to say. He knew that Sharissa enjoyed his brother’s company, but he also knew that Lochivan was an appendage of Lord Barakas. It would have been impossible to convince the younger Zeree of this fact, however. She saw Lochivan much as she saw Gerrod-Tezerenee by birth but with minds of their own. Not like Reegan or Logan or Esad or any of the others.
“If the rest of the clan shows no interest, it’s because my dear sire is very interested.” He shifted around them, forcing the two to turn in order to face him. Better and better. He nearly had the sun behind him now. Gerrod found himself able to relax a bit more. “Never trust a sleeping drake.”
His meaning was clear, but he saw that Sharissa did not take it to heart. “Lord Barakas can scheme all he wants. What could be possibly do to Dark-horse?”
Many things, Gerrod wanted to say, but the ebony stallion cut him off.
“Who is this Lord Barakas? Why should he wish me trouble?”
“Lord Barakas Tezerenee is my father,” the warlock explained, his eyes seeing memories. “He is cruel, ambitious, and as deadly as the monster that graces the clan banner.”
“This is your parent?” Darkhorse shook his head, sending his pitch-black mane flying back and forth. It looked like real hair… “You speak of him with disgust, possibly even hate! I do not understand!”
“Gerrod and his father have had differences,” Sharissa offered in a diplomatic manner. “Lord Barakas is ambitious, Darkhorse. It would be wise to be careful when you do meet him. I doubt that he can cause any true problem, however. Not one of his people has the skill to match you-or even come close, for that matter-in power.”
“I am amazing, am I not?”
“I would rather not speak of my father anymore, if you do not mind.” The subject had stirred the warlock’s insides. He could taste the bile. To Sharissa, he said, “I assume you have finally come to see my discovery. It’s hardly as magnificent as I first thought, but there are a few fascinating items you might be interested in studying. It is late to be starting, but we can still-”
The guilty look she flashed at him made Gerrod stop.
“I’m sorry, Gerrod. Actually, I mostly rode out to explain to you why I was gone and how I won’t be able to come here for a while.”
Anger and a sudden, unreasonable feeling of having been betrayed stirred the hooded Tezerenee’s baser instincts. He came within a breath of reaching out with his mind to a source of power she could not know he controlled, one that would allow him to strike out at random with sufficient results to assuage his bitterness.
“Too much is happening right now,” Sharissa went on, oblivious to his warring thoughts. “If Darkhorse is to stay among us, he has to be made a familiar sight to the others. There’s talk among many of Silesti’s faction that my father will use him to put an end to the triumvirate. They think he plans to rule from Sirvak Dragoth as some sort of despot, if you can believe that!”
“Your father?” The anger dissipated. How could anyone who knew Dru Zeree believe the sorcerer would ever desire to rule the Vraad? The elder Zeree was nearly as much a hermit as he was. He had only agreed to be part of the triumvirate in order to keep Silesti and Barakas from killing one another and the rest of the Vraad in the process.
“Would that be so bad?” the demonic steed asked, his voice booming. “Friend Dru is a remarkable creature! He would only do good for your kind!”
“It was toilsome enough to get them to live with one another, let alone follow another Vraad’s commands. Master Zeree is admired by many, but, in the eyes of our folk, the triumvirate guarantees that no one Vraad’s will can be law. We are a very suspicious, individualistic race.”
Darkhorse shook his head again, a habit, Gerrod realized, that signaled the beast’s confusion.
“I’ll try to explain later,” Sharissa said. She gave the warlock an apologetic smile. “I will be back… and you could come to see me once in a while.”
“Perhaps,” was all he said in reply. They both knew that he would never voluntarily return to the city. That would mean contact with his clan, possibly with his father.
Sighing, Sharissa stepped to the side of her inhuman companion. Darkhorse bent his legs in a manner that would have crippled a true steed and lowered himself so that she could mount. Gerrod saw the creature’s back ripple and shape itself to conform to the rider.
“It won’t be too long,” the sorceress added, trying to make the best of things. “Father can only do so much. He needs my help in all this.”
He said nothing, knowing that any words escaping his lips now would do nothing but weaken their friendship. That might make her decide never to return. Then he would be completely isolated from his kind.
“Good-bye, Gerrod.” Her smile was a bit feeble, possibly because she could not read his shadowed face and, therefore, did not know if he was angry or merely hurt. Sharissa knew how much he looked forward to her visits, and the warlock had assumed that she also looked forward to them. At the moment, he was not so certain anymore.
“Watch yourself,” the Tezerenee blurted. “Never trust a sleeping drake, remember?”
“She has nothing to fear while I am near!” roared Darkhorse. He laughed at his own unintentional rhyme.
“As you say.”
The ebony stallion turned toward the direction of the city, reared, and was already off before Gerrod could even raise a hand in farewell. Sharissa waved back at him for a brief time, but the lightning speed with which the astonishing creature ran forced her to soon abandon that act in favor of further securing her grip on his mane. Within moments, the duo were dwindling dots in the distance. Gerrod had wondered why she had ridden all the way out to him merely to tell him she would not be able to stay, but now he saw that, to Darkhorse, the distance separating the city from his habitat was little more than a short jaunt. Their much slower arrival had been planned; a speeding Darkhorse might have been mistaken for some dire threat.
“So understanding about some things, yet still so naive about others.” He hoped she was correct about his father. Barakas was hardly the type to sit calmly while a potential threat such as the ebony terror represented was allowed to roam among the Vraad at will.
Knowing he was now safe, Gerrod removed both the hood encompassing his head and the glamour masking his features. It was good that Sharissa was, to a point, predictable. She had the skill and power to teleport from the city to here, but she would not make use of that ability. Her uneasiness when it came to the spell was what kept his secrets safe from her. As long as Sharissa gave him the time, he could hide what he was becoming and what he had discovered.