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, Darkhorse worked his way across the rubble.
Dru turned his head this way and that as the phantom steed moved. He fully expected the guardians to return, this time with more than just bluffs as weapons. What sort of beings were they? Certainly not the builders of this city. If they were akin to familiars, as Dru thought they were, why did they remain so long after their masters had turned to memories?
The air shimmered before them, slowly peeling away. It took the sorcerer time to recognize what lay before them and Darkhorse, ever curious, had picked up his pace at first sign of this latest phenomenon.
“Darkhorse! No! Stop!”
The demon horse backstepped quickly, coming to a stop only a few feet from the shimmering gap, a tear in reality.
“What is the matter? I find nothing dangerous about this! Do you fear it?”
“It… it’s like the thing I investigated just before I was cast adrift in the Void.”
“Ah! Then perhaps this will get you to the home you keep complaining I have not brought you to! Shall we enter, then?”
Dru had not considered the idea that this might be exactly what he had been looking for. Whatever lay within the tear was not yet visible. Likely, they would have to literally be standing in it to see their destination. It was still a hope, however, and one that Dru was willing to cling to if it meant reuniting himself with Sharissa.
“Go in.” He tightened his grip and prayed to some of his less repugnant ancestors that he was not making the final mistake of his existence.
Darkhorse stepped into the tear, which seemed to widen so as to admit him more easily.
At first, Dru was aware of nothing but bright illumination, as if he were staring into the sun of the shroud realm. Then, while his eyes were still recuperating, sound returned. The sorcerer had not even been aware of the fact that there had been no sounds until they had returned. With them also came touch and smell. Dru felt the cool breeze and smelled the flowers. He heard the small birds singing where there had been none in the abandoned city.
His eyes finally focused. Before Dru could speak, a voice from below him boomed, “Worlds within worlds! I shall never tire of your fantastic home, little Dru!”
The Vraad, on the other hand, was growing tired of being shocked all the time, though he was no less astonished this time than he had been when he had met his companion, been delivered to the shrouded realm, and discovered the city-was there nothing simple and straightforward in this domain? It was as if someone had designed everything as in a game or a vast experiment.
Where the two of them had once stood in the midst of an ancient, ruined citadel, they now stood at the bottom of a grassy hill on which was perched a beautiful and not at all ruined castle. Banners still fluttered in the wind, crisp and new, not tattered and torn. The castle consisted of spiral towers and a great wall, at least as far as Dru could see, with more buildings likely hidden. The grassy field that covered the rest of the hill was neat and orderly. Someone might have trimmed it only yesterday, so immaculate it was.
Dru did not even hesitate. Things had gone on too long for his strained nerves. He wanted answers, not to mention food, drink, and rest. “We go inside. Now.”
The ebony stallion said nothing, but his laughter cut across the hillside as he reared and charged up toward the castle. They were at the gates before Dru even blinked. Regaining his breath, the startled mage wondered exactly how swift his companion was. If the time came, he would question Darkhorse thoroughly. Now, however, this new castle was priority.
The gate was open. Dru could sense nothing, but as usual did not trust himself. Darkhorse seemed disinclined to hold back. They were through the gate and into the courtyard in the next breath. As with the outside, the courtyard was in perfect condition. The inhabitants might have stepped out only this very morning. For all the sorcerer knew, they had.
Sculpted bushes and vast, colorful flower beds added to the feeling of walking into someone’s home while they were away for a moment. Dru admired the marble benches and a tiny bit of his mind noted the style for later
