Legends of the Dragonrealm, Vol II - By Richard A. Knaak Page 0,163

to you!”

“Where?” the sorcerer managed to choke out. His arm was on fire now; at least, that was how it felt.

“You do talk! Patience, patience! This is one is not far!”

Dru screamed once more, but not because of pain. He screamed now because the emptiness to his right had suddenly burst into a huge, ever-shifting field of darkness. His first thought was that it was the point of intersection and he had somehow been drawn back to it. Then it shifted form, as if an inky liquid. It was no liquid, however; Dru, staring at it, felt himself seem to fall toward the thing, as if it were a bottomless pit and he had been thrown into it. Fear battled with pain.

The massive blot changed form again, solidifying a bit. The falling sensation passed.

“There! That is better!”

“What—what’s better?” He could still see no sign of the newcomer. Was the blot his method of travel? Is that why Dru had felt he could fall into it? Hope for an escape from the Void stimulated him. “Where are you?”

“Here! Where else is there, little voice?”

“But…” The sorcerer’s gaze narrowed on the inky darkness through which he had expected the other to enter. “Are you… is that…”

This time, he saw the darkness quiver. “You are a funny thing! I will not have you join with me yet!”

The blot was no path, save perhaps to death. It was, despite Dru’s inner protest, a living thing. It was the voice he had heard in his head.

“What do you mean about ‘joining with you’?”

The sensation of falling into the darkness overwhelmed him once more. It lasted only a moment, however. That was far and away more than enough for Dru. It was all he could do to keep from passing out.

“I have not taken from you, have I? You seem to be less than whole.” The thing sounded annoyed, as if it had underestimated itself.

“My arm… this”—he indicated the broken appendage—“I injured it badly.”

“Injured?”

Did this monstrosity not comprehend pain? the sorcerer wondered. Perhaps not. How could one harm a blot?

“It does not work properly.”

“Silly little voice! Take it in and make another!”

Now it was Dru who did not comprehend again. “Take it in?”

“As I.” A crude limb formed, little more than a narrow bit of darkness. It stretched forth for nearly a yard, then slowly sank back into the primary mass of the blot. “How else?”

Dru shook his head, partly in response and partly because it kept him conscious. “I cannot do what you do and the way I heal does not work here.”

“Too bad! Would you prefer I take you now? You will no longer know pain.”

“No!”

“Your voice grows! I must try that!” The blot commenced with a variety of sounds, some higher and some lower than what so far had passed for its voice. Dru did not interrupt; if such entertainment took the creature’s mind from the prospect of devouring him, then so much the better. As it was, the agony continually raking through his system was making it impossible to think of any other way to save himself.

The ever-shifting creature’s interest in the noises it was making soon waned. “Not so much fun after all! Tell me, one of many voices, why you cannot do like I do?”

It took Dru a moment to realize his unnerving companion was speaking of the broken arm again. “I am a man. A Vraad. We can shift our forms, but not like you and not without sorcery.”

“What is sorcery?”

This creature did not know what sorcery was? The Vraad was astonished. Based on what little he had already seen, Dru was certain that the entity was part inherent magic itself. How else to explain its existence and its method of travel?

If he could somehow get it to take him back to Nimth…

“It’s…” Pain made him grimace. “It’s an ability that allows one to change things about them.”

“What is there to change? With the exception of curious little entertainments—like you—all is as it always is.”

Dru shook his head. “Not where I come from. If I was there, for instance, I could make this arm work properly again. I could make the hair on my head”—he indicated each part of his body that he spoke of in case the creature did not understand—“so long that it would go down to my knees.”

“Is that all? I know this ‘sorcery’!”

“So I thought. Tell me—do you have a name?”

“Name?”

“I am Dru. Dru is my name. If we had a third voice with us