Legends of the Dragonrealm, Vol. III

almost felt as if the web Toma had spread over his mind had weakened a little more. It felt different.

“Are you all right, Aurim?”

“Yes.” He dared not answer further. At the moment, the tiny magical probe he was guiding was slipping past one of the multiple safeguards Toma had planted. This was his first major triumph over the spell. The warlock felt the pressure in his head ease just a bit more as he removed the safeguard and weakened the spell further.

Images flashed in his mind. Ssarekai, a look of shock on his face that even the dim light of night illuminated all too well. A figure halfway between two forms, and although neither had been recognizable, he had known that one of them was Toma.

There was something more, but it remained just out of his mental reach.

“I’ve broken through,” he whispered, glancing up briefly at Ursa. His throat felt astonishingly dry. “Just a little, but I’ve made more progress than they did the other day.”

She clapped her hands together. “How wonderful!”

“It gets harder here, though. I think that I might need for you to-” Aurim was interrupted by a knock on the door. The sound shattered his concentration, which, in turn, shattered his probe. The warlock was frustrated, but at least he had forged further than anyone else. Once he dealt with the interruption, Aurim intended to try a stronger probe in an area near the location he had just freed. If the safeguard Toma had planted there also fell to him, Aurim suspected that he stood a good chance of completely dismantling the spell before it was time for dinner.

“I’ll see who it is,” offered Ursa.

Aurim was glad to let her. The moment he tried to rise, the room began to whirl.

The drake opened the door. “Yes? Scholar Traske!”

Aurim glanced toward the door to see the huge tutor waiting in the hallway. A shiver went down his spine as he met the eyes of the man.

Now why-he started to think, but then Benjin Traske spoke, interrupting Aurim’s train of thought.

“My apologies. I expected to find you alone, Master Aurim.”

“Ursa was just helping me with something.” He hoped that the scholar would not ask what it was with which she had been assisting. Aurim was fairly certain that Traske would not have approved. Likely the tutor would have reprimanded him and then informed his parents.

“I see.” Benjin Traske took a step closer. “May I enter?”

Ursa quickly darted aside. Aurim slid over to the edge of the bed, lowered his legs, and started to stand, but Traske raised a hand to stop him. “Sit, please. There’s no need to stand, boy.”

Ursa started to move for the open door. “I should leave you two alone. If you will excussse me, Scholar Traske, then I-”

“No, I think it’s best at this point that you stay also. Yes, that would be for the best, indeed. Why don’t you close the door and sit down next to Aurim. That will make everything much easier for me.”

Puzzled, she nonetheless obeyed his suggestion, closing the door, then settling down beside the curious warlock.

It seemed to Aurim that Benjin Traske was apprehensive about something. There was just the slightest hesitation in his movements and his breathing was a bit fast. “Are you all right, Scholar Traske?”

“Sssome decisions had to be made at the proverbial spur of the moment, Master Aurim. They are not decisions that I am comfortable with, but there really is no other choice that I can see at this time.”

“What do you mean?”

The tutor advanced so that he was within arm’s reach of both of them. He looked down at the two with what Aurim believed almost fatherly concern. Why not? Benjin Traske had watched all of them grow up. Surely he must sometimes think of them as his own children?

Putting a hand on each of their shoulders, the tutor sighed, a sound that was almost a hiss. A slight smile peered out from within the beard. “I mean that I can take no chancesss.”

Aurim felt the power swelling within Benjin Traske, but the comprehension was too late in coming. A thick malaise suddenly enveloped his mind. Somewhere distant, he heard Ursa gasp. Traske himself seemed to shift, becoming something else briefly, something that stirred memories.

The warlock remembered. It did him no good to do so, but nonetheless, he remembered. He remembered seeking out with his power and, through it, discovering something terrible happening. Ssarekai, his mind pleading, had been put under some spell. The other mind, that of the caster of the spell, had been two minds. On the surface, it had been Benjin Traske. Below, it had been a creature most vile.

Toma. Aurim had discovered that Benjin Traske was Toma.

He managed to rise to his feet, but that was all. Even that made the false Traske hiss in surprise. Then, however, the golden-haired warlock’s strength gave out and he fell back onto the bed.

Consciousness fled.

Although she had no control over her movements, Valea found that she could still shed a tear. Her world was in tatters. Benjin Traske was-possibly had always been-Duke Toma, the deadly renegade. He had listened to her as she had revealed all her deepest secrets to him. He had betrayed the trust her entire family had placed in him. Now, evidently in part because of her, Traske/Toma was going to seize control of the Manor by making one last use of his false identity. The drake intended to use the face of Benjin Traske to get close enough to each member of the family, whereupon he would catch them unaware with his power.

She had no idea why he did not kill them all outright. She did not even have any idea as to why he had left her frozen like a statue in Kyl’s room, her mind still very much functioning.

None of that completely explained the tears. Valea was well aware that much of the reason for her crying concerned Kyl. Kyl and his betrayal of her.

The other drakes remained in the room, awaiting Duke Toma’s return. They were all highly anxious, especially the traitorous heir himself. Valea hoped that Kyl was feeling pain. She hoped all of the drakes, Grath, Faras, and Ssgayn included, were feeling pain and remorse, but most of all she hoped that Kyl did. The enchanted witch wanted him to feel so much pain that it would make his heart burst.

“Where isss he?” muttered Kyl as he paced.

“You know very well where he is,” responded Grath, looking up from a book. The younger drake sat in one of the chairs, hands steepled, eyes keeping track of his brother’s movements. “If the spell on Ssarekai has failed, then it stands that Aurim, too, is near recalling. That hasss to be the first thing that is dealt with and the duke must do that on his own. It would look too suspicious for all of us to go with him.”

“I want them handled with care, that isss all.” Kyl glanced rather guiltily at Valea. “They dessserve that much.”

“I know that. Our brother only does what he has to do. They would kill him instantly if they knew he was here, Kyl. Do you think that’s fair? Toma will fight to preserve his life, that is all. Look how long he has lived among us, yet never has he tried to harm anyone. That more than anything else, isss proof of his intentions.”

He’s killed no one here because that would mean chancing discovery. It was enough just risking the spell on Aurim and Ssarekai. Toma wants Kyl to give him a place at his side, one where the Dragon Kings can’t touch him! She wondered how long Kyl’s reign would last once the renegade had a secure power base again. With the confederacy of the dragon clan survivors to back him, the duke would have enough influence to perhaps alter the law that said he could not be emperor himself.

Despite her bitterness over Kyl and all else, Valea could not help but admire Duke Toma’s incredible patience. All those years of masquerading so that he could be an influence on the life of the young emperor-to-be. He had helped mold Kyl-and Grath, too-had learned the innermost secrets about his greatest enemies, and prepared the way for his return to power.

She tried to speak, but, as before, Valea might as well have not even made the attempt. There was no