one chose a name.
It mean that the second Shade also knew whether he followed darkness or light.
“I have it . . .” The Shade on the wall spread his cloak wide. He literally stood on the onyx as if it were the floor. With a voice full of triumph and glee, he declared, “Call me Valac . . . this time . . .”
And without warning, without reason-but with only the flick of a finger-he created a ring of flame around Aurim’s mother.
With a cry, the wizard fell back. Smoke rose from his garments and his right hand stung. He saw a covering of moisture form over his mother and droplets of water fell to the floor.
“No!” Powered by his emotions, a fierce wind blew over the fire, dousing it completely. Aurim seized his mother before her slippery figure could topple over. He looked up at the Shade on the wall, prepared to deflect whatever barbaric attack this newly evil figure next cast.
But there stood another between them. The first Shade faced himself, the two reminding Aurim in some way like a pair of children bickering over who was most favored.
“We want your name! Give it to us!”
“No! It’s mine!” retorted the one above. “I’m whole now . . . I’m Shade!”
“No! We are! We deserve it! We make our choice . . . we’ll help them! Be their friends!”
“You’ve no name, though! I’ve a name! I’m Valac!”
Time was running out for Aurim’s mother, but he dared not focus on her. He watched his own Shade, who seemed to hesitate each time the other shouted his new name.
His name . . .
Aurim ran through his memory, picked the first name that came to mind. “I’ve got a better name for you!”
His Shade looked back at him. “A name? A better one?”
“Nathan.”
“Nathan . . .” For just a moment, the face almost-but not quite-came into focus as the hooded figure tasted Aurim’s choice. “Nathan . . .”
“You know the name. You know the strength of it.”
“We-I-remember Nathan . . .” Shade seemed to swell. He faced his other self, who now retreated back somewhat under the sudden change in his counterpart. “Call me Nathan,” he told the one on the wall. “This time . . .”
Well aware that the original Shade had known his great-grandfather, had even fought alongside him against the Dragon Kings during the Turning War, Aurim had gifted his Shade with the use of that name. He had counted on the hooded warlock to recall what Nathan had stood for and take that to heart.
Where one Shade had chosen evil, he hoped the latter would stay securely with good.
“No!” roared Valac. “I’m Shade! I’m the original! I chose first!”
Nathan stepped toward him. “I chose better . . . and I will protect my friends!”
Raw energy swirled around both cloaked forms. Aurim pulled his mother away from the pair. He delved back into the spell keeping her frozen and, perhaps because he now no longer had to concern himself with the Shades’ argument, found the key.
His own spell acted instantaneously. His mother’s body heated up and the layer of ice surrounding her melted in one quick rush that left a puddle on the stone floor. Gwen gasped and slumped in his arms, her hair clinging to her head.
She coughed twice, then managed to look up at him. “A-Aurim . . .”
“Easy, Mother! It’s all right . . .”
“No . . . Aurim . . . Yssa-”
He steeled himself. “I don’t know why she did this to you, but-”
“No!” Gwen shook her head. “Listen! The Storm Dragon is responsible! She couldn’t help herself!”
As relieved as Aurim was to hear that, he could not concern himself with it now. Despite her attempts to look stronger, Aurim could tell that she could barely stand, much less cast a spell. It would be up to him to lead them from this place.
Then . . . then he could come back for Yssa.
But his mother seemed to read his thoughts. “Forget me, Aurim! I’ll be fine! Go after Yssa! She’s with him . . . and . . . and Aurim . . . there’s something wrong . . . he’s hiding a secret, I think . . .”
Aurim swallowed, barely hearing the rest of what Gwen had said. The Storm Lord had Yssa. Aurim stood there, torn between two courses of action. His mother needed him-but so, clearly, did the woman he loved.
Just then, a fearsome burst of golden energy sent Aurim and his mother rolling away. The two Shades had finally attacked one another. They stood outlined within that terrible burst, neither seeming at all affected by the awesome forces unleashed.
“What’s happening?” Gwen managed, at last staring at the identical figures. “There are-there are
“I don’t know . . . hasn’t this happened?”
“Never! There’s only ever been one Shade . . . and that’s been more than enough . . .”
Whatever the cause for the creation of the two Shades, they clearly had an utter hatred of one another. They tore free pieces of the cavern and tossed them at will at each other. They summoned energy and transformed it into monstrous mouths or slashing blades flying through the air. They cast one vile attack after another, unleashing power that would have slain any other creature a hundred times over.
But not once did either manage so much as a scratch.
Their power was so equal, their minds so identical, that they knew how to defend against each assault before it could cause any harm. The duel took on an almost comic aspect as each fruitlessly sought to slay the other to prove that they were the one and original Shade.
The chamber shook with each successive attack. Aurim wondered how the Dragon King could have possibly not noticed what was happening within his very citadel-and then realized that he surely had.
Which meant that they were all in much, much more danger than they had imagined.
“Mother, do you think that you can cast any sort of spell to shield yourself from danger?”
“I faced the Dragon Kings with your great-grandfather, Aurim. He showed me many tricks. I’ll be fine. You go after her . . . but be careful!”
Aurim nodded. “He has to have been watching us. He must be letting everything play out.”
“I know, Aurim. I’ve been trying to sense him, but he’s kept himself shielded. Be wary, he’s very cunning . . . and . . . and I can’t explain it, but there’s definitely something different about him, almost as if he’s-” she shook her head. “Never mind. Just be careful.”
“Don’t worry, Mother. You just take care of yourself. I’ll hurry.”
“Stay linked to me this time, my son.”
“As you wish.” Aurim stepped away from her. Gwendolyn Bedlam drew a circle over her head. As she did, an emerald shield formed there. The enchantress pointed down with her finger and the shield followed, draping her from head to toe. Once the shield touched the floor, Gwen nodded to her son.
Aurim concentrated. The Dragon King might have shielded his presence, but had he done so for one that the wizard knew almost as good as his own family-and in some ways better?
At first Aurim felt nothing, but then, at the very edge of perception, he noticed a familiar trace. He clung to that trace, focusing his mind on it with all his will.
And then Aurim transported himself to its source. As he materialized, he immediately sensed the inhuman presence of the Dragon King in the shadows behind him. Without hesitation, the wizard cast a potent spell and hurtled it toward the direction he had noted the menace.
“No, Aurim, no!” called a feminine voice near him.
A tremendous force struck him hard. The wizard flew across the darkened chamber, smashing against what could only be one of the rocky walls. Tumbling to the floor, he rolled back to where he had first materialized, his entire body numb from pain.
Soft hands immediately touched his head, his face, and he heard Yssa speaking, but the words did not penetrate.
