The warlock’s mate, who had remained silent during this part of the exchange, turned to Darkhorse. “I worry about Talak. It sounds like a volatile situation. Do we dare let it continue that way?”
Darkhorse saw what she feared. Now would be a perfect time for the drakes to strike at Talak. “I would go back there now, since I owe the Princess Erini for my freedom, but I lack the strength and will to form a proper portal.”
“Let me see.” Gwen reached out with her hands, standing as if she were trying to ward off the stallion. Darkhorse could feel her probe as it danced over his essence, stopping here and there as she sought the cause of his weakness. When she was through with her examination, the Lady Bedlam lowered her arms and nodded to herself.
“There is a thin link between you and… someone else.”
Incredulous, he searched for himself. His own probe was less efficient than hers, suffering as it did the way all of his abilities suffered, but he eventually found what she had located. Darkhorse laughed at the thin, magical strand, invisible and insubstantial, but virtually impossible to sever.
“Drayfitt’s link! That’s twice! Curse the mage! Am I never to be free of him?”
“Is it the same?” Lady Gwen asked. “Most links are forged in the same manner, but not this one.”
Darkhorse inspected it again. “No… and it explains my weakness. I have become-a source-of strength for Drayfitt. The link is draining me slowly, but… this is too haphazard. I think the Princess Erini did this to me unintentionally.”
“Sever it now,” Cabe suggested.
“He cannot. If he does, he loses what Drayfitt has already.” Gwen made a face. “You might say that the old sorcerer is stealing Darkhorse’s essence, his being.”
“I am being devoured alive, is what you’re saying!”
“Essentially.”
Cabe looked disgusted. “How can we stop it?”
“Killing Drayfitt is one way. With the link, all that he stole will return to its original place. Darkhorse might even gain something.”
“I want nothing of Drayfitt’s! I am not a ghoul-or a murderer!”
Lady Bedlam paced. “Nathan never taught me anything like this; I think he was as disgusted with the concept as you are, Cabe. Yet…”
“Yet what?” Darkhorse grew anxious. He enjoyed existence and planned to continue to enjoy it, despite the increasing odds against doing so.
“If you can persuade him to break the link from his end-”
“Why should he be able to do that when I cannot?”
“He forged the original.” She looked at Darkhorse as he thought she must look at her children when they asked an obvious question.
“Forgive me, Lady of the Amber! I have not suffered so many calamities in centuries! I fear I am not taking them well! The frustration of being kept in check while Shade-”
Gwen cut him off. “Forget your apologies, eternal. Perhaps you’re not quite the demon I cannot help thinking you are, but you always seem to be the harbinger of disaster. For the sake of my family and the peace of the lands, I want Shade stopped-even if that means dealing with you. I don’t say that I’m right, but I’d feel the children especially safer with you far from here.”
Darkhorse tilted his head to one side and looked at the two spellcasters, finishing up with Gwen. “Humans are a strange, convoluted people, and you, Lady Bedlam, are a prime example. There is a part of you that would accept friendship with me, but there is a part of you… I need not go on. When this is over-if it ever is-we must talk again.”
More to turn the conversation to a safer course than because it was necessary to say, Cabe interjected, “If you need Drayfitt to break the link, then that means you’ll have to go to him.”
“I am aware of that. The thought does not stir joy within me. Drayfitt is not in Talak, I believe. That leaves the city virtually under Mal Quorin’s control.”
“We’ll take care of that. It might be time for the master warlock Cabe Bedlam and his lovely bride, the powerful enchantress-enchantress of my heart! — Lady Gwen, to visit the city-state in typical sorcerous style.”
His wife gave him a coy look. “Materialize on the steps of the palace?”
“Probably not a good idea. If it was that easy, the Dragon Kings would have done it long ago. I was thinking more at the city gates with a great fanfare and fireworks-all illusion, of course.”
“What reason do we give, husband?”
“An offer of peace. Melicard was always good enough to hear such things out. There is still a good man beneath that horrible face.”
“Princess Erini has brought much of that man out to the surface,” Darkhorse added. “She would make a good ally, providing they do marry. Very well. I will leave now, then, since you seem to have things in hand! My relief is beyond measure-but what of the children while you two are gone?”
“Even Shade needed permission to enter this place. The children will be safe here.”
Darkhorse did not ask the other question. But can you trust the children? he had wondered, thinking of the taller of the two hatchlings. What would this Kyl be like when he was mature? Already, he seemed too much a reflection of his sire.
There will be time to worry about that only if we succeed in solving the present crisis! Through habit, Darkhorse reared, intending to summon a portal for his journey to the north. Only when nothing materialized did he remember the extent of his plight.
Cabe was the first to understand what was wrong. “You don’t have the strength or the will to summon a gate, do you?”
“I fear not.”
The warlock thought about it, then, with some hesitation, said, “Neither of us have been in that region for years; most of our portals would depend upon blind luck, except…”
“Except?”
Cabe looked at Gwen. “I think there’s one place I could never forget. Azran’s citadel.”
“There is little more than wreckage there. The spell protecting it from the violence of the Hell Plains and the ravages of time has long fled from it.”
“You’ve been there?”
“Yes.” Darkhorse decided it was better not to go into his encounter with the emissary from the Lords of the Dead.
“Still, I think I remember well enough to get you there safely. What do you say?”
“Since I have little to fear even if you should land me in molten earth or during some great tremor, I suppose so.”
Cabe gave him a sour grin. “Thanks for your confidence.”
The gate was there even as Cabe finished speaking, a sign of how accustomed he had become to his abilities since they had last met. Darkhorse inspected it briefly, more because of his own recent lack of success than because he did not trust the warlock’s skill. When he was satisfied, he turned to bid the two farewell.
“Thank you for your aid, Cabe Bedlam-and yours, too, Lady of the Amber.”
“Please don’t call me that.”
“My apologies! I was warned and I forgot.”
She slowly shook her head. “I apologize. This is not the time for trivialities.”
“Good luck, Darkhorse.” Cabe waved a hand. “We’ll leave on our journey as soon as possible.”
“Do that. Things may be calm, but best not to take chances, eh?” The ebony stallion reared. “Beware, dear friends! Shade may strike at any time and in any way! Be vigilant!”
He heard Cabe call, “We will!” and then the world shifted as he crossed through the portal. Ahead of him, the fury of the Hell Plains exploded in a mocking salute to his return. The gate vanished as the shadow steed emerged. Darkhorse, wasting no time, immediately reached out through the link itself and noted that his quarry was somewhere south of him.
Darkhorse prayed that he would have some idea of how to convince the sorcerer to break the link before the two of them came face-to-face again. He was uncomfortably aware that he stood a good chance of becoming, for the third time, Drayfitt’s prisoner.
The last thought might have been humorous… if not for the fact that he knew there would be no escape this time. Drayfitt would surely see to that.