Legends of the Dragonrealm, Vol. III

that, but he had time to search this place thoroughly, I think.”

The sorceress released him. Her hands, Cabe saw for the first time, were shaking. “It has to be an illusion! How could he have succeeded in passing the barriers? Only we can let anyone in or out!”

The warlock looked at his family. “I don’t know.”

“What should we do?” asked Valea. Duke Toma had always been something of a nightmare monster to her, like the creatures children thought lived under their beds. To find out now that the nightmare had invaded their very sanctuary . . .

The master warlock thought it out. “We have to search this place using our power. We have to carefully go over everything and every place. We-” He blinked. “Where’s Darkhorse?”

The shadow steed had been with his family when last he had left them, and that had not been very long ago. Darkhorse was the only one other than his wife and offspring that Cabe would have trusted with all of this.

“He asked permission to depart only a few minutes ago.” Gwen was perturbed. She, too, realized how useful the eternal’s skills would have been for this deadly matter. “He was anxious, as if he had somewhere urgent to be. It was fairly sudden.”

Was there a possible connection? Cabe was not certain. He hoped that Darkhorse would have informed him if there was some danger to them. The shadow steed was generally not that carefree with the lives of his friends. Maybe it had something to do with the traps . . . and maybe there is a connection! Darkhorse, however, had departed before the warlock’s encounter with Toma’s specter. “We’ll have to do without him, then. He could be anywhere. The search will be our responsibility and ours alone.”

“What are we looking for?” asked Valea.

He wished it was possible to leave her out of this, but Valea’s power was needed. Even with the four of them working in concert, it would take the rest of the day to scour the Manor grounds. “Quite frankly, I don’t know.”

“We have to search, though,” Gwendolyn impressed upon their daughter. “Toma was . . . is . . . a vicious, cunning creature, the epitome of every terrible tale ever spoken about the Dragon Kings! You know what we have told the two of you about him. Toma was so treacherous, so dangerous, that he became a renegade even among his own kind! He has never forgiven the fact that, had he received the birth markings Kyl was born with, he would have been Dragon Emperor.”

The young witch’s mouth opened and her face grew pale. “Do you think . . . do you think that he might try to hurt Kyl?”

Cabe disliked the intensity of her emotions. She had not only not forgotten her infatuation with the drake, but it seemed that somehow it had even grown in their brief absence. That, however, was a matter for another time. All that mattered now was discovering whether Toma had left behind a legacy of his visit.

It bothered him that the drake had been so bold as to wander the Manor as freely as the image seemed to indicate. Toma was arrogant, yes, but to go stomping around in his full glory? What was the drake plotting? Had it been madness that had made him so daring?

He also could not help but wonder why the Manor had happened to reveal the image to him at this particular time. Toma would be interested in the coronation; there was no doubt about that. Perhaps Kyl was in danger. Immediate danger.

Or is he maybe in league with that demon? Should I confront him about it? There was no proof, however, and it would have been unfair to condemn the young drake without such proof. If anything, Kyl was probably in danger. Still, until they knew otherwise, the affair would have to be handled with caution.

His wife had come to the same conclusion. “Kyl may be in danger. All of us may be in danger. This is Toma we are talking about.” She paused, paying particular attention to Valea’s reactions. Cabe knew that she, too, was thinking of their daughter’s interest in the handsome heir. “Which means that we must keep this to ourselves for now.”

“To ourselves?” Clearly, Valea did not like that.

“The more that know, the worse the danger. Toma may have some allies among the drakes here. I hate to think that way, but it could be true. The four of us need to do this on our own.”

“I still don’t know what we’re looking for!”

“Neither do we,” Cabe reminded her. “The only thing I can say is to look for anything out of the ordinary . . . as far as the Manor goes.” He raised a hand in warning. “If you do notice anything, though, I want you-and that goes for both of you-to find us. Whatever Toma might have left behind would be very deadly. I have faith in your skills, but believe me when I say that even the Dragon Kings fear him.”

“Do we start now?”

Cabe and Gwen considered their daughter’s question. The enchantress finally nodded. “We do not seem to have any choice. It might be that there is nothing to fear, but I, for one, will not be able to relax until I know that we are safe.”

After a moment, Valea nodded her agreement.

Throughout the conversation, Aurim had remained quiet. Cabe had paid scant attention to that fact until now, originally believing that his son had simply been mulling over the possible threat they faced. Now, however, he noticed the peculiar expression on the younger Bedlam’s countenance, as if his son were trying to recall something of import. “Is something wrong, Aurim?”

The expression faded. Aurim briefly looked annoyed with himself, but then even that expression faded as determination took over. “Nothing, Father. I’m ready to begin whenever you like.”

Cabe wanted to sigh, but held back. He most certainly was not ready. Nonetheless, they had no choice. He tried to sound confident as he began, “Then this is how we start. . . .”

X

Valea doubted that Toma had bothered with the stables, but her father had insisted that she search them regardless of that doubt. In truth, she was certain that it was because Toma would not have come here that her parents had chosen her to be the one to investigate the stables. Her mother and father had chosen to search all of the more likely spots. Aurim, too, had been relegated to probing areas of the Manor grounds where the drake had most likely never set foot. On the one hand, the young enchantress appreciated her parents’ protectiveness, but on the other hand, she also resented it. After all, she was a grown woman now, was she not?

Standing to one side of the nearest stable so as not to draw so much attention, Valea began her search. Tendrils of magic visible only to her own senses snaked over and around the building next to her. Unimpeded, they began to sink into the walls and ceiling, hunting. If there was anything unusual in the stable, she was confident that she would find it. Of course, since it was highly unlikely that there was anything to find, the novice sorceress found it impossible to become very excited about her work.

As she had expected, her initial search brought nothing significant to light. The horses used by the Bedlams were stabled here. It had seemed as likely a target for Toma as any of the other structures here, and the fact that she found no trace of the renegade’s passing only served to strengthen her belief that this entire location was a waste of her efforts. Still, the witch knew that if she failed to search the stables thoroughly, it would be on her head if Toma had left something behind, something that might later endanger her family.

“Ssseeking a place of sssolitude, Valea?”

She gasped in surprise, then silently reprimanded herself for her reaction. Her probes faded as her concentration broke, but Valea hardly cared.