Legends of the Dragonrealm, Vol. III

were simply under an enchantment, this poor soul had been murdered most horribly. He forced himself to walk up to the figure, whose features were frozen in a scream, and touch it.

“Gods, Ssarekai . . .” he whispered. “You, too. . . .”

Perhaps this murder had been the beginning of the end of Toma’s patient waiting. The drake servitor had not simply been frozen or made to forget again; he had been turned into rock. Solid rock. There was no bringing him back to life, not from this particular spell. The spark that had been the stable master’s essence was gone.

General Toos, the real Benjin Traske-if he had ever existed-and now Ssarekai. More names to add to Toma’s list. More things to condemn the duke, already many times condemned.

Cabe did not like to kill, but he knew that it was up to him to see to it that Toma caused no more deaths.

Cabe? came a weak voice in his head.

Gwendolyn?

It was clear that she was still in no shape to help him. Is it . . . is she . . . what’s happening?

The warlock sighed and told her. She relayed nothing back to him as he quickly described what had happened, but Cabe could sense her growing despair.

When he was finished, she asked, Valea? He still has Valea and we don’t know where he is now?

Cabe started to shake his head, recalled that his wife would not be able to see him do so, then suddenly paused before answering her.

Perhaps he did know where Toma had gone. Considering the renegade’s past, considering his companions and his manner, it seemed to the warlock that there was only one place that the duke could go. Toma’s arrogance would permit him to go no place else.

“I know where he has to be,” he said out loud.

“Where is that?” asked Darkhorse, trotting into the room. The shadow steed’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully as he noticed what remained of poor Ssarekai. The stable master, after getting over the typical drake’s fear of the eternal, had pleased Darkhorse to no end with his constant compliments concerning the stallion’s magnificent appearance.

In his head, the enchantress echoed the eternal’s question.

Cabe’s hands balled up into fists as he thought of the place. It was appropriate, for it had been, in a sense, the birthplace of Cabe Bedlam, master sorcerer. From there, the harbingers of fate, in the form of Dragon Kings, had gone out to seek an unsuspecting young man.

“We have to go to Kivan Grath.”

XX

Although the wind and cold could not touch him, Cabe Bedlam nonetheless felt a chill as he stood on a ledge high atop one of the smaller peaks of the Tyber Mountains. In the distance, Kivan Grath stood above all else. Somewhere within, the warlock knew, Toma and the others waited. The spells that now enshrouded the citadel of the Dragon Emperor made it impossible to locate those inside. They also made it impossible for Cabe and Darkhorse to simply materialize there.

“We are not alone,” remarked Darkhorse. The shadow steed had insisted on joining him in this confrontation and, despite Cabe’s awareness of the fact that the eternal was not entirely well, the warlock had been unable to turn down his offer.

Cabe nodded. Besides the creatures who inhabited the Tybers, he could sense two other forms in the direction of Kivan Grath. Two monstrous forms. Dragons.

“Are you ready?” he asked the eternal.

Darkhorse chuckled and kicked the edge of the ledge. A portion of it broke off and tumbled down to the valley below. “Of course!”

“Then let’s see what Toma has waiting for us. You know what I want of you?”

The ice-blue orbs flashed. “I will watch for Valea; you may rest assured on that, Cabe. I will take her from this place and bring her safely back to the Manor. Grath, too?”

“Please. It’s not his fault Kyl is allied with Toma.”

“I wonder. The young drake is clever; I find it amazing that he could be so ignorant of his brother’s doings.”

Cabe tried to fix on the two hulking figures he could sense near the mouth of the Dragon Emperor’s sanctum. They were most definitely keeping guard. He sighed. “Follow my lead.”

“As you say.”

With a thought, the warlock sent the two of them forward. They materialized only a short distance from the very mouth of the cavern, but still far enough so that its two immense guardians were not on top of them.

Even still, the sight of the two dragons was an impressive one.

Green they were, but mixed within was a trace of gold that made them glitter a little even in the cloud- enshrouded Tybers. Their wings, presently folded, looked to have a span at least equal to the length of their bodies. They were a pair of the largest dragons that Cabe could recall encountering, and he had encountered some of the greatest. Each drake guarded one side of the massive doorway. The warlock glanced between them and noticed that someone had repaired the entrance but recently.

“Come no farther, Master Bedlam!” rumbled the dragon on his left.

“Faras?” the warlock asked, slightly disoriented. The two leviathans were almost identical in appearance, but something in the first one’s voice reminded him of the drake.

“You have not been given leave to enter,” hissed the other.

“Ssgayn.” Cabe nodded to each of them. He had never seen the two drakes in dragon form, not since they were hatchlings. In truth, it was almost as surprising that they could actually shift to such shapes, not having practiced it . . . or had they? “You know why I’m here.”

Faras dipped his huge head. His teeth were jagged spikes as long as the human’s arms. Ssgayn’s were no less impressive. Even for dragons, these two were giants. “Duke Toma hasss given us strict ordersss.”

“Duke Toma? Is he emperor now?”

The dragons snapped their heads back in discomfort. Faras hissed, “Duke Toma ssspeaks for the emperor!”

“Does he?” The warlock’s eyes darted over the forms of the two dragons. He had seen almost all he needed to see. Faras and Ssgayn were not as comfortable in their present shapes as they would have liked. Their movements were slightly awkward, as if they understood the functions of their bodies but had not had enough practice. Still, knowing dragons as well as he did, Cabe did not doubt that they would be swift and deadly foes.

“So Toma speaks for Kyl now. Does Kyl know that?”

Ssgayn hissed. “You would be wissse not to mock, Master Bedlam.”

“Let me through, Ssgayn. I want my daughter.”

“We cannot. We have been charged to protect thisss entrance from all intrudersss. We mussst obey.”

They would, too. It saddened Cabe, because, knowing the two as he did, the warlock understood that Faras and Ssgayn truly saw this as their duty.

“I’ll have to enter. I won’t be kept from Valea.”

The two dragons simultaneously raised their heads. Ssgayn opened wide his maw while Faras simply replied, “Then you mussst pass usss first, Massster Bedlam!” The dragon lowered his eyes. “I am sssorry.”

Cabe started to raise his hand toward Ssgayn when the green-and-gold leviathan called out, “Wait!”

The warlock paused, but did not lower his hand. “Why?”

Both guardians had distant looks in their eyes. Cabe Bedlam recognized that look; someone was speaking to