Legends of the Dragonrealm, Vol II - By Richard A. Knaak Page 0,202

to strike back?

Somehow, Dru suspected that they could or would not. The only question remained—if it was a case of the latter, was there a point that he might cross that would unleash their strength?

“Ride forward, Darkhorse.”

“At our peculiar friend? Little Dru, you never cease to entertain me!” Laughing, the ebony steed pushed forward.

Wolves! Teeth that tear! Mangled bodies! Blood!

The words by themselves would not have bothered Dru, but each was accompanied by images of his corpse—what was left of it—scattered about on the rocky surface of the city. He saw the wolf grinding up his bones in its stony teeth. Despite his attempts, he could not help feeling more than a little uneasy as they drew nearer and nearer to the odd horror.

When they were within what the Vraad estimated was no more than twenty feet of the monster, it collapsed.

The ensuing storm of dust and rock caught Dru by surprise. He coughed for several seconds, trying to breathe in a cloud of dirt. Darkhorse froze where he was, evidently knowing that the sorcerer’s grip was nonexistent and a wrong step would send him falling. The ebony stallion’s grasp of human frailties was growing.

It took some time for the dust to settle, but when it had, Dru’s view left him puzzled. There was nothing before him that seemed to warrant such protection. Yet, this close he could feel the consternation of the unseen beings, the questioning sensation, as if they did not know what to do about the twosome. In Darkhorse they must have sensed incredible ability. Dru pictured servants, much like his darkdwellers, whose ultimate purpose was something other than fighting. The darkdwellers would attack his enemies if there was no one else to protect his sanctum, but they would do so haphazardly, lacking as they did any real knowledge of combat. The guardians of this place, he decided, were much the same.

Wisdom, a voice, different from the first, whispered in his mind. Understanding.

Aberration, came another. Not to be here.

Darkhorse roared at the unseen speakers, shouting sentiments that matched Dru’s quite closely. “Enough voices in my mind! Speak to us or be gone! Come! Are you so afraid of us?”

That was the truth of it, the sorcerer knew. The guardians did fear them. Not just because the two of them had come this far, either. It was because they knew the two to be different, to be outsiders.

Remove them! That was the first voice, the one that had taken the thought of wolves from the Vraad’s mind and attempted to use it as a means of scaring them off. Remove them!

No, the one who had commented on wisdom said calmly. Each of the guardians seemed to have a separate personality or perhaps a separate characteristic. There were more than the three who had spoken, but Dru took these as the more dominant of the guardians.

No interference, the one who had called them aberrations said, almost as if reminding the others of something. All must proceed.

Darkhorse kicked at the rubble, frustrated that the beings would not speak directly to them. The sorcerer put a warning hand against the shadow steed’s side. In his ear, Dru whispered, “Calm yourself. I think they may leave.”

“Why should they leave?” Darkhorse asked much too loudly. The tired Vraad winced, knowing that the guardians must have heard his companion. For that matter, they probably knew what the sorcerer himself had said, so easily did they touch the mind.

No interference, a multitude of ghostly voices echoed suddenly in Dru’s head. With that, the entities withdrew from both his mind and the vicinity. One breath they were there, the next they were gone. Dru could sense no trace of them.

“They have departed,” Darkhorse announced needlessly. “Good! They were hardly entertaining company after the one dropped the fascinating form!”

Somehow, the ebony stallion’s almost humorous attitude eased the tension that Dru was suffering. He leaned forward and stared at the visibly unprepossessing area they had been protecting. He could still see nothing of value and there seemed only the slightest touch of power.

“Do you know where they went?” he finally asked Darkhorse.

“I cannot feel them,” the steed replied.

“What about the region before us? Do you sense anything there?”

“Only what I felt before.”

The tall sorcerer straightened and rubbed his chin, which had developed stubble, he noted belatedly. “We may as well go and see what they thought was so worth protecting.”

“Of course! Did you actually consider otherwise?” Still sounding amazed that his companion had even thought of turning away,