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 concept he was still having trouble comprehending. After the second interruption, he angrily dropped his queries and went back to the enjoyment of what, to him, was an exciting story.
When the tale was finished, Dru sighed. Even if Darkhorse only saw the theory as a great story, at least he understood most of what had been said.
“I have told you again and again, friend Dru, that this is your world! It may not be the location you desired, but this is where you asked to be taken!”
Dru gave in, knowing the futility of arguing. Perhaps later he would broach the subject again.
“And now,” Darkhorse was continuing, “where do we find this ‘goal’ of theirs?”
“Find it?” The sorcerer had not had time to consider that. His mind was only now becoming organized enough to plan the future… and an important aspect of that future was finding a way back to Nimth, Darkhorse or no Darkhorse. Still, if the avians believed that what they sought was so important, then it might hold some key, for certainly, if anyone had ever known about the veil and Nimth, it would have been the builders of this edifice. Straightening, Dru smiled grimly. “Yes, let’s find it. They thought it was in here, but I don’t think that’s the way to go about it.”
The shadow steed had an eager gleam in his unsettling eyes. He was all ready for another game of discovery. “And how shall we go about it?”
“I can’t sense the distinctive areas of power that you can and I doubt if the Seekers can, either. Tell me, are they in a pattern-a circle or something?”
Darkhorse shook his head after a moment. “They have no pattern. Their movements show judgment, but not a regular path.”
The Vraad did not like the way his companion spoke of the power as something with intelligence. Darkhorse himself was difficult enough to accept. Dru was still getting used to the entity.
He considered further. “Is there any one area they tend to avoid or congregate near?”
When the wraithlike stallion answered, Dru’s hopes rose dramatically. “There is a place they move near and then away from. There is no place they seem to avoid completely. They…” The blue orbs dulled a touch.
“They what?”
“I do not know. It escapes me for now.”
Curious but also cautious, Dru asked, “Have any of those… concentrations… shifted near us?”
“They have all crossed this place since I arrived. Some have even passed through this very chamber while we spoke.”
“What?” The sorcerer’s mouth fell open and remained that way until he was able to force his next question to the surface. “Why didn’t you-?” Dru clamped his mouth shut and berated himself. Darkhorse was an innocent in many ways; the manner with which he had dispatched the two avians had made the human forget that. “Forget it. You didn’t tell me because I didn’t ask and you felt it was nothing dangerous, correct?”
“On the contrary! I only recalled when you asked me. For reasons I cannot fathom, my recollection of many things has become faulty. Is this what you termed ‘exhaustion’?”
“Possibly.” The worried spellcaster doubted such was actually the reason. From what he had seen, his companion from beyond did not suffer exhaustion as others did. Once again, the shrouded realm itself was acting against the outsiders.
“Shall we go to this place, then?”
“This-” Dru had forgotten about the location the black horse had mentioned, the one that the sorcerer suspected might house whatever it was the Seekers had wanted so desperately. “You know where it is?”
“Little Dru! I can find it easily! It has an aura of its own, one far different from that which surrounds this place.”
“Does it?” That interested Dru. He started to move again, eager suddenly to be on the trail, but his body protested. “I need to rest a little. I don’t think that I have the strength to go climbing over more wreckage just yet.”
“There is no need for you to do so if it wearies you! Simply climb atop my back and I will carry you to our destination.”
“Your back?” Memories of the two Seekers swallowed whole were enough to make Dru reject such a mad plan without further thought. “That would-”
Darkhorse laughed. “Poor, simple Dru! Of course my backside will be solid! You are too good of an entertainment for me to take you as I did those others! You are my friend!”
Mounting the shadow steed proved a bit difficult for the tired sorcerer, partly because Darkhorse had no bridle or saddle. There were those, like Sharissa, who could ride a horse bareback if the whim was upon them. Dru preferred his comforts. Once he was aboard, however, things changed. Darkhorse was not built exactly like the animal he had so boldly copied. Despite his muscular appearance, the ebony stallion’s back was soft, almost padded. It was, in fact, better than a saddle. Dru wished all horses had been designed like his companion and decided that any he raised from now on would have a few minor magical alterations made.
He found it easy to accept Darkhorse as some fantastic steed. Thinking of him as such was easier than trying to cope with the concept of an intelligent black hole… not that Dru was going to truly forget what the entity was. It was just more comfortable thinking of Darkhorse as a physical being, especially now that he was riding the creature.
The fearsome stallion picked his way through the rubble to the doorway leading out of the ancient structure. Dru worried about some trap laid by the Seekers, but Darkhorse sensed nothing. The spellcaster wished his own senses were so infallible. He was lucky to even sense the aura of raw power that covered most of the city. Dru wondered if at one time a shield of such power had enveloped the entire citadel. The sorcerer who cast it could have literally made for himself a world of his own, for no one would be able to enter-or exit, if that was his desire-
