Legends of the Dragonrealm, Vol II - By Richard A. Knaak Page 0,196

attention wandering as he finally got a good look at the ancient wonders around him.

“How did you… how did you come to take that form?”

Darkness snorted, recalling what he had been speaking of. “This magnificent creature strode up to me as I unfolded, altered but still at a loss as to a final form. I thought of shaping myself into something akin to you, but the creature was so fascinating that I could not help but wonder what it would be like to move as it did, to live as it did.” The ebony stallion laughed low. “It was a most prepossessing being! Once it saw what I wanted, it allowed me to examine it. Then, when I was at last complete, it showed me the path you had taken. What do you call such a remarkable creature?”

The Vraad had grown colder with each passing word. “A horse. My kind calls such a creature a horse.” No horse was so knowing, however, at least none that Dru had ever raised. He was certain that the animal Darkness had met was the very same horse that he had once ridden. Yet, its actions had not been that of the true beast, but that of an intelligent mind. “Where is it now?”

“Hmm?” Darkness seemed distracted in his thoughts. He shook his head, sending his mane whipping back and forth. It took him another moment to answer. “It departed! I do not know where. ‘Horse’! I like it, but it lacks something!”

Dru puzzled over the last. “What about it?”

The ghostly stallion gazed at his tiny companion as if he could not comprehend the latter’s confusion. “I have a brand-new form! I need a new name!”

This was hardly the time for such things and Dru tried to tell the entity so, but the shadow steed was already tossing words about, seeking a combination that would please himself. “Mighty… black… amazing… majestic…”

“Dark—” The tired spellcaster rose, trying again to cut into the creature’s musings, but luck was not with him.

“Dark? Hmmm. Frightening… shadow… wondrous…” The ice-blue eyes focused on the human. “What say you to Darkhorse? I like the old name, but Darknesshorse runs too long.”

“It’s… descriptive of your nature.” Dru refused to even mention some of the meanings the name brought to mind. No one would jest about the appropriateness, not to such a being as this.

“Darkhorse it is, then!” The huge stallion shouted his name so that it echoed and echoed through the ruins. “Darkhorse! Darkhorse!”

Cursing, the sorcerer tried desperately to get his companion to quiet down but it was already too late. If there was anyone else in the city—and he knew that the Seekers, at least, would still be lurking about, waiting their chance—then they knew exactly where the twosome were.

Darkness—Darkhorse, the Vraad thought, correcting himself—seemed willing to listen now that he had found himself a new name. Hopefully, it would be more permanent than the last.

With the magic of the Seekers no longer dampening his own abilities and senses, Dru was becoming more and more aware of the aura surrounding—overwhelming—the ancient citadel. The building he stood in was especially awash in the sorceries of the long-dead race. It had the same feel as the natural forces of the shrouded realm itself, save that it was far more concentrated, as if the inhabitants of this place had filled their home with raw power drawn from the world. It would not have surprised him; the Vraad were capable of such, but not on the grand scale he suspected these ancients had.

“Those things that captured me—the Seekers—were looking for something in these ruins. Do you feel anything at all?”

Darkhorse sniffed the air, an act which put Dru off for a moment. Then the stallion replied, “There is a great concentration of power nearby, several such, actually. They tend to be moving, however.”

“The power moves of its own accord?” Dru had never come across anything like that on Nimth. Wandering concentrations of sorcerous energy?

“That is how it appears. What is this place, little Dru? This is the most magnificent sight you have shown me so far! So much solidity, in some ways so random and some ways so orderly!” Coming from a place where matter was nearly as rare as a clear sky was in Nimth, Darkhorse did not know what ruins were.

The Vraad did his best to explain to him his theory about the ruins. Darkhorse became so interested that he interrupted only twice, curious both instances about the passage of time, a