"Isn't she?" Lady Bedlam's eyes burned into those of the shadow steed. "What do you say, Darkhorse? Considering what she is, or at least is in part, wouldn't you say she might be a threat? I was a fool to let my daughter be alone with that creature . . . that abomination!"

She knows! It should not have surprised Darkhorse that Lady Bedlam had discerned Yssa's heritage. At one point in her young life, the Green Dragon had been Gwendolyn Bedlam's patron, a tutor of sorts. She had lived among drakes and possibly had even come across half-breeds such as Yssa. Still, Darkhorse guessed that Gwen only knew that Yssa was part drake. "She is no threat, Gwendolyn Bedlam. I will swear on that. Yssa, whatever her heritage, has worked only to aid us against the horse king!"

"What are the two of you talking about?" Cabe demanded.

Neither answered him, Lady Bedlam staring long and hard into the eternal's inhuman visage. At last, the sorceress tore her gaze away, instead focusing on the Manor. "Cabe, can you detect our daughter anywhere? Either her or . . . or Yssa?"

The sorcerer shut his eyes, but opened them a second later. His expression now matched that of his wife. "I can't find either of them . . . but . . . but I'm sensing Darkhorse."

"He's here with us! Of course you'll-"

"Not here, but in the Manor!"

Now she looked confused. "You must be mistaken, Cabe. How could he be in there, too?"

"Because it is not me, Lady Bedlam! Not me!" A horrible realization crossed Darkhorse's mind. The eternal immediately sent a probe of his own toward the ancient edifice.

The search was no search at all. The building, nay, the entire domain of the Bedlams reeked with the magical trace that only to Darkhorse differed at all from his own. How, though, could the unthinkable have happened? The barrier should have noticed, should have prevented access- No! Cabe had the right of it more than he realized! The barrier could not tell the difference! When Cabe allowed me access, Yureel, shielded by either his own sorcery or more likely that of Aurim, entered at the same time!

Yureel had succeeded in invading the protected domain of the Manor . . . and it was Darkhorse who had unwittingly provided him the key.

Chapter Fourteen.

Yureel had invaded the Manor while their attention had been focused elsewhere. Darkhorse's counterpart had planned well. Too well. Where, though, was the monster now? He would not have fled already.

"Aurim!" Darkhorse looked at his friends. "We must see to Aurim!"

Lady Bedlam took control, gathering the trio together and immediately sending them to the young sorcerer's chamber. However, they discovered only an empty bed. Cabe did a quick check of the area, but could not locate either his son or the two other women.

"What a fool I was!" the eternal roared. "Each way I turn, Yureel has already planned ahead! He no doubt saw a rich opportunity when Aurim confronted me and made it appear the boy had broken free of his hold just so I would help him gain access to the Manor! I never would have believed that Yureel would risk himself so! Your home is the one place of which he should have been wary."

"Never mind that," Cabe interrupted. "What we need to do now is find the children and Yssa." He blinked. "I think . . . I think that I sense the women downstairs . . . in my library."

Lady Bedlam looked confused. "But we both tried to locate them earlier! How could you be able to do it now?"

"There presence is faint, but I'm certain it's them, not a false trail."

That was enough. In the blink of an eye, they were downstairs. Instead of Cabe's library, though, they stood in the hall just beyond it. The door before them was shut and Darkhorse and the others knew immediately that it had not been shut by a human hand. The moment Gwendolyn Bedlam tried to touch it, the door glowed a bright green around the edges.

Darkhorse stepped up to the bespelled entrance. "Leave this to me! Yureel might have incorporated a few more surprises!"

He reared up and kicked, but the door was not his target. Instead, the shadow steed first struck the left side of the doorway, then the right. Each strike was accompanied by a flash of crimson and after the second a.s.sault, little remained of the green band. Darkhorse moved closer and nudged the door with his muzzle.

It swung open to reveal two anxious women, their backs pressed to the side wall and their gaze riveted to the eternal's huge form.

Valea was the first to move. She ran to her parents, hugging them both.

Yssa paused at the doorway. "Thank you, Darkhorse." "Yes, thank you," added Valea, coming over to hug him around the neck. "I didn't mean to pa.s.s you by."

"That is all right."

"We were sealed in," Yssa began. "We saw . . . we saw a distorted vision of Darkhorse . . ." She described what had happened.

"Yureel, yes . . ." Darkhorse snorted. "He is still near, too, I am certain of it!"

Cabe Bedlam's fists clenched. "He has Aurim. He has to have him. Valea, Gwen. Give me your hands."

Separating from the others, the Bedlams joined hands. Gwen and her daughter shut their eyes while Cabe stared toward the ceiling. Energy circulated between the three of them, so much that even the eternal was greatly impressed.

"He's at the western edge of the barrier," the sorcerer announced. "I see only Aurim, but I feel something else nearby. Aurim is trying to open the barrier . . ." Cabe pulled his hands away from his family, breaking the link. "I've strengthened the barrier. They can't possibly exit now."

"Do not be so certain of that-" Darkhorse began, but Cabe paid him no mind. The sorcerer vanished, leaving the rest of the party stunned by his sudden action.

"d.a.m.n him!" Lady Bedlam gathered her power. "Always willing to sacrifice himself! Stay here, Valea!"

She, too, disappeared. Darkhorse did not wait to see what the two younger women would do. He followed Gwen's lead. They would need his aid against Yureel.

A disturbing sight greeted him. The elder spellcasters faced their son, whose expression was answer enough as to the depths of Yureel's control. Aurim looked ready to attack his parents. Worse, it looked like he might even be willing to kill them.

Aurim looked his way. "Darkhorse! You'd better stay back! I don't want to hurt you, but I will if I have to!"

He still sounded so much like the true Aurim that it was even difficult for the shadowy stallion to believe otherwise. Only the fact that he could detect Yureel's foul presence in the area kept Darkhorse from wondering.

Trotting forward despite the warning, Darkhorse looked not at the young sorcerer but the slight shadow he could barely detect above the human. "Ever playing with puppets, Yureel! Are you so fearful, so untrusting of your power that you cannot face your foes directly? Are you so great a coward, brother?"

Cabe Bedlam stepped toward the shadow steed. "Darkhorse! What're you doing?"

He knew that the human feared for his ensorcelled son, but Darkhorse believed that what he was doing was their only hope. If he could goad Yureel into forming, then they had a better chance of defeating their foe.

The now-familiar giggle floated toward them. Over Aurim, darkness coalesced into the tiny ebony form that had taunted Darkhorse in Zuu. Ice-blue eyes identical to his own stared down in mockery at the eternal and his allies. Darkhorse heard more than one gasp from the spellcasters. It was one thing to be told that there was indeed another creature like Darkhorse, but another to actually be confronted by him.

"The tale spins itself rather well," remarked the foot-high puppet, "and the actors play their roles to the hilt! Oh, I am indeed appreciative of your efforts, my brother, my self! You have added elements without which surely my epic would have seemed hollow!" Yureel giggled again.

"Epics, stories, tales . . ." Darkhorse chuckled, mocking Yureel's mockery. "Never a truly original thought in your mind, though! You cannot even fight your own battles; you must use deceit! Well here is your opportunity to create an epic of your own, brother." The stallion reared. "You and I have something to finish! Come to me! Let us at last end what should have ended long ago in the Void!"

The shadow puppet started to float forward, but halted before moving more than a couple feet from Aurim. "It was a brilliant notion to make you the mortal's steed, Darkhorse! He already desired you for that purpose! The thought of such humiliation and regret was delicious! A mortal would have commanded you and under his control, you would have destroyed these insignificant specks you claim to care for and wreaked havoc upon your beloved world!"

"Yet another of your plots that shall never come to fruition, Yureel! Yet another failure!"

"A failure? Oh, no! Hardly a failure! Short but so very enjoyable! Besides, I have many, many other chapters to add to my epic! If not as Lanith's ign.o.ble steed, then I shall find another place for you, my brother, my self!" He giggled again. "Your friends, however, will have to live with minor roles . . . while they live. Are they the patient kind, Darkhorse?"

"What does he mean?" whispered Valea.

Yureel bowed. "We must depart."

"You shall not!" Darkhorse unleashed his power, aiming not at the torso of the small, shadowy figure, but rather between the pupilless eyes. Unfortunately, a gleaming, transparent shield rose up between the etemal's attack and his adversary. The spell dissipated as it struck.

Aurim smiled. Had Yureel formed himself a mouth, the smile he would have worn would have been identical. The younger Bedlam was proving all too well just how proficient he now was in the use of his abilities.

"It might have been extremely interesting to see what he could do against all of you," Yureel commented blithely, "but I have far, far more interesting games to play and, thanks to you, Darkhorse, the one point of concern has now been dealt with!"

They waited for Yureel to say more, but the puppet suddenly vanished . . . no, vanished was not quite right, because Darkhorse, at least, could still slightly sense his presence. Yureel was a master at hiding himself.

Aurim turned from them, moving as if he no longer even knew that they were there. There was no time for the others to react. The golden-haired sorcerer crossed through the invisible barrier surrounding the Manor grounds.

"That's impossible!" Cabe cried, looking at his wife. "Even Aurim shouldn't have been able to cross without my permission!"

Darkhorse was not so concerned about what Aurim should or should not have been able to do as he was about what Yureel had done at the same time. The shadow puppet had drifted through the shield in perfect unison with the human. Worse, Darkhorse sensed a subtle shift in the barrier spell. A sudden thought filled him with dread.

"Cabe! You must cancel the spell that protects your domain! Do it immediately!"

It was a sign of the master sorcerer's faith in his friend that Cabe Bedlam obeyed immediately. Darkhorse, however, did not wait to see the results of his companion's work, but rather leaped toward the barrier. It was a risky chance he took, considering the many things Yureel might have done to the protective spell, but the shadow steed knew that he had the most hope of catching the escaping pair.

The speed at which he reached the barrier was enough that if he was wrong, the backlash would possibly do him great damage. Darkhorse did not care. He was his friends' only hope to rescue the lad.

To his surprise, whatever Yureel had done did not affect the shadow steed. Darkhorse flew through the spell, only slightly slowed by it. He landed on the gra.s.s beyond and looked around. Aurim could no longer be seen, but his magical trace was still evident. The shadow puppet had not bothered to hide the trail, which was disturbing. However, Darkhorse had no intention of stopping the chase simply because of the possibility of a trap. He dared not.

"Darkhorse! Wait!"

Yssa had materialized before him. The eternal came within a hair's breadth of overrunning the enchantress, but turned at the last moment. Despite the danger of losing track of Aurim, Darkhorse paused to glare at the woman. "Do you realize just how close you came to possible disaster, mortal? Do you realize that a collision between us would have been more than simply two bodies striking one another? I am exactly like Yureel! A simple touch could have meant your death if I had been caught off-guard!"

"It was the only way to get you to stop!" she countered. "I couldn't let you go running off and getting recaptured, especially with the others being prisoners!"

"The others-?" Darkhorse blinked. "You stand before me as free as a bird!" He twisted his head around in the direction of the Manor. "I would a.s.sume that the others were-"

His voice died abruptly. A ma.s.sive silver dome covered the Manor grounds for as far as he could see. Judging by the way it extended beyond the trees, it covered not only the Manor and the garden area, but also the homes of the many humans and drakes who lived under the protection of the Bedlams. Yureel had turned the barrier spell into a glittering, reflective prison. Darkhorse could not see Cabe and his family even though they surely had to be where he had just left them.

"I followed after you," the enchantress explained. "I didn't even think about what you'd said to Cabe Bedlam about trying to cancel the barrier spell until I reached it." She shivered. "It felt like forcing my way through hardening clay even with the aid of my powers. There was even a moment when I thought that I might become trapped halfway through."

"What about the others?"

"I don't know. I just know that when I turned around, no one had followed and this was in place. I think it's the barrier spell . . . but different."

"It is!" Despite the need to track Aurim, Darkhorse trotted back to the opaque shield. Even up close, he could not sense the spellcasters within. A mental probe proved futile; the barrier was impervious to his sorcery. Out of mounting frustration, the shadow steed rose up and struck it with his hooves. Bright sparks flew, but otherwise the silver sh.e.l.l was unaffected.

Yssa put a hand on the shield. "I can't sense anything. It deflects every attempt I make to contact them."

"Aurim had a hand in the making of this, albeit an unwilling one. The lad is possibly the most powerful spellcaster I have come across since. . since perhaps even the warlock Shade! When he and Yureel departed, I feared that this might be what my foul brother intended."

"Is there nothing we can do for them?" The enchantress was pale, in part because she was still recovering from her effort, but also because she, like the eternal, knew what it meant if the Bedlams remained imprisoned. Cabe and his family represented the greatest threat to Yureel's plots. Even against Aurim, the Order, and Lanith's legions, the Bedlams were powerful enough to counter the shadow puppet's dreams of mayhem. Yureel had his limits; he could not control all of his foes. Probably he had not dared an attempt on their lives for fear that it would be enough to destroy his hold over Aurim. At least, Darkhorse hoped that was the reason. Whatever the reason, sealing the others inside this prison had been Yureel's best opportunity to be rid of them without endangering himself.

Once more I have been too slow to realize! Once more he has made me a fool! To Yssa, he said, "There is nothing I can do. Aurim is the one best suited to return the spell to its original form."

"But he's-" Yssa hesitated, frowning. "I'm . . . I think I'm hearing something . . . it's Cabe Bedlam."

"I hear nothing!"

She quickly quieted him. "I hear him, but he's very faint! I think-" Her voice suddenly shifted, growing deeper, masculine. It was, in fact, Cabe Bedlam's voice. " . . . do anything now. Tell Darkhorse that he needs to alert the Gryphon! He's our best hope now. We're all right here and the air seems unimpeded. I'm pretty certain that given time and the resources of the Manor library, we'll be able to escape. If the Gryphon can organize some alliance between drakes and humans in the east, they can keep Lanith and Yureel from pushing forward!" Yssa paused, then in Cabe's voice, added, "Don't go after them, Darkhorse! Please! Contact the Gryphon . . . Kyl . . . and the Green Dragon! Don't go charging off!"

"Cabe! Can you hear me? I-"

The enchantress let out a gasp. "He broke the connection! Thank Rheena! I don't think I could've kept that up much longer!"

Darkhorse was hardly so relieved. He turned to the opaque wall. "Cabe!"

"He can't hear you. It took a lot to get through. I don't think it would've even worked . . . except that I'm more receptive than many spellcasters."

"So it would appear!" The ebony stallion kicked at the earth. "There is still hope of catching up to Aurim before Yureel can get him back to Lanith's armies. The spellwork will have weakened him enough to force him to travel by short leaps, not one long, direct jump! I cannot pa.s.s that chance up! The boy is our best bet to quickly freeing his family, not to mention severely weakening the horse king's Magical Order!"

"But what your friend said is true; we really need to speak to the Gryphon! I've heard much about him, Darkhorse. That's why I sent the messages to him, so that both he and Cabe Bedlam would be informed about what was going on. If anyone can help us, it's the Gryphon." Yssa bit her lip. "Cabe Bedlam mentioned my father. I should've returned to him by now. Maybe I can convince him to talk to the king of Penacies."

As much as it pained him, Darkhorse finally gave in to Cabe's suggestions. Chasing after Aurim and Yureel was indeed folly, no matter how much the shadow steed wanted to rescue the young sorcerer. Darkhorse still felt guilty about Aurim's kidnapping; he should have kept a more careful eye on the lad.

The Gryphon. He was the best chance. With the magical libraries his to use, the lord of Penacles might be able to solve the problem of the altered barrier spell in short order. Cabe might have confidence in his eventual success, but Darkhorse had his doubts that such success would come soon enough. Yureel would have Lanith moving swiftly now that the Bed- lams were not a concern, and it would take some doing to get Black and Storm to agree to aid their rival Dragon King. Blue might be willing, but his might was concentrated on the eastern coast of the continent, which meant that by the time his forces reached Dagora, the armies of Zuu might have already overrun it.

"Very well!" The eternal tried to sound as confident as possible. He was all too aware of his missteps. "A suggestion, though. I would rather you speak with the Gryphon while I confront your sire. You have much knowledge concerning Zuu and its situation that would be valuable to him. You would also be more likely to convince him of working not only with your sire, but also the other drakes."

His companion did not sound at all convinced. "And what will you talk about with my father?"

"Matters which are too lengthy to discuss now. Cabe has done right to set our course." Darkhorse subtly summoned power. He had to do this carefully and quickly before Yssa could react. "If there is anyone who can help me deal with Yureel, it is one who has made a study of the techniques of sorcery utilized by past races. I have some questions to which he might have answers."

It was clear that she still was not convinced about his choices. "I think it would be better-"

Now. The eternal's eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

The protesting enchantress vanished in midsentence.

The Gryphon would understand her sudden appearance. It was not the first time guests had literally dropped in at the palace. Besides, Darkhorse had also taken the precaution of sending a magical missive to the inhuman king.

Now that Yssa was on her way, Darkhorse turned toward the west. Although he had spoken with the Green Dragon but recently, the shadow steed was not at all certain what greeting he would receive. Helping the drake lord's daughter trick her father was reason enough for the Green Dragon to shun him. With the war raging to the west, it was possible that would not even be able to get within more than a few miles of the drake's sanctum.

But I will because I have to! Readying himself, the eternal concentrated on the region of the Dagora Forest where he knew one of the entrances to the Green Dragon's caverns was hidden.

To his amazement, Darkhorse was not hindered by any defensive spell. With the forces of Zuu already so near, he would have expected the drake to have installed stronger measures to protect his domain. Was the situation already that desperate? Did Yureel and his puppet king already have the master of the Dagora Forest trapped against a wall?

Carefully, he trotted in the direction of the entrance. Hidden by both camouflage and sorcery, it was impossible for any except the most accomplished spellcasters to locate. Darkhorse, though, had made use of it once or twice in the past. He and the Dragon King might not get along that well, but circ.u.mstances occasionally demanded they meet. It would have been simpler to materialize in the caverns, but that method was surely now not open to him.

When Darkhorse did locate the entrance, he was somewhat disturbed. It was still hidden by camouflage, but there was no trace of any spell protecting it. Darkhorse paused before entering. The drake lord had never been a careless sort. This should not have happened.

Even knowing that something was definitely wrong, he finally entered. The cavern entrance was large enough to admit him; not surprising since it had originally been created with dragons in mind. Darkhorse picked up his pace as he descended, his eyes adjusting to the increasing darkness at the same time. Some natural illumination kept the tunnel from growing completely dark, but any human would have been hard-pressed to see more than a few yards at a time. The eternal could see ten times that distance.