"Don't just stand there, brat!" Ponteroy snarled. "If we don't do something, the drake's attack will force our warriors back and his sorcery will scatter us all over the landscape, too!"

Yureel's conditioning seized hold. Unless contacted directly by the demon, Aurim had to obey the monster's primary dictate. He was to work to counter the enemy's spells, then lead the Magical Order in attempting to destroy the source of the spellwork.

Despite the dread that rose within him every time he joined with the others to spread havoc and death among the horse king's foes, the young spellcaster now felt a shred of hope. Occupied as he was with defending the legions of Zuu, he could not immediately turn and attack his old friend. Yureel would have to face Darkhorse alone, at least for the time being.

Unfortunately, Aurim also knew that the demon had already planned for his twin's inevitable return . . . and this time the puppet master would brook no escapes.

Chapter Nineteen.

There! She is there!

Darkhorse focused, opening a path to where Yssa was held prisoner. Despite the Dragon King's plan, he wanted to move in quick and be gone with the enchantress before Yureel even made his appearance. The stallion doubted he would succeed in doing so, but he had to try. He would be better able to concentrate on his foul twin if he did not also have to worry about his friend.

When he materialized a breath later, it was to the consternation of half a dozen guards and the sorceress Saress. The guards, much more used to the sudden shifts of battle, recovered before Saress. Three of them split away and tried to come around to the etemal's back. The others moved forward, spears in the hands of two, the third-a scarred woman-carrying a crimson rope. Darkhorse sensed sorcery present in all the weapons. As he had feared, Yureel had expected him to return.

"Away with all of you!" the shadow steed roared, trying to frighten them off. Beyond the three in front, Saress guarded the entrance to a tent wherein Darkhorse could sense her captive. Darkhorse contemplated leaping over the heads of the trio and charging Lanith's witch, but he suspected that Yureel had kept that notion in mind as well.

The three who had moved around him also carried spears, weapons that they seemed quite willing to use despite the reputation the shadow steed had for dealing with his adversaries. Darkhorse twisted around as no mortal horse could have and reared at the nearest guard. The man stood his ground and jabbed with the spear, managing to p.r.i.c.k the shadow steed's right foreleg. A shock briefly jolted Darkhorse, who immediately retreated a step.

He heard the swish of the rope, caught a brief glance of it as it circled his head, then felt the noose settle around his neck. Darkhorse started to retract his head, but the moment the noose tightened, he lost control of his shapeshifting abilities.

"I've got him!" cried the woman.

So she did, but roping Darkhorse and keeping him under control were two different things. He sensed the same spell that Aurim had cast on the saddle and bridle, but thanks to the sacrifice of the enchanted gra.s.s, the eternal now had the strength to defy it. He reared, something the guard had not expected him to be able to do, and pulled his would-be captor forward. The moment she was near enough, Darkhorse kicked her soundly, sending the stunned warrior flying back into one of her companions.

Seeing his two companions collapse was enough to make the remaining sentry before Darkhorse lose much of his confidence in his sorcerous weapon. He started to back toward the tent.

"Get back up there, you fool!" shouted Saress, but she made no move to back the guard up.

The other warriors were not so reluctant. Another shock coursed through Darkhorse as the trio attacked. Deciding to risk further pain, the shadow steed kicked with his rear legs. Another shock briefly a.s.sailed him, but the agony was worth it in the end, for Darkhorse managed to stun one guard and knock loose the weapon from another. The third met the shadow steed's gaze and, after staring into the inhuman orbs for but a moment, dropped his weapon and fled.

Darkhorse had no more time to waste on them. The shadow steed reared, then planted both front hooves hard in the soil. The earth cracked, the tremor nearly upsetting the balance of the warriors around him. At the same time, Darkhorse created around himself a bright green aura that crackled like lightning. "Flee before I devour you, you insignificant little worms!"

Dropping their weapons, the remaining guards fled, leaving only Saress.

Shrugging off the noose, Darkhorse confronted the sorceress. "Step aside, witch, and I may forget that you exist."

She hissed defiantly, but when the eternal took another step toward her, the sorceress quickly vanished. Darkhorse hesitated, then trotted into the tent.

Yssa stood there, arms and legs stretched outward. Thin, silky strands circled her wrists and ankles, keeping her from moving, but otherwise she looked untouched. Even Yureel knew the value of a healthy captive, it seemed. Darkhorse probed the strands, which ended in midair, and found his twin's taint on them. Disgusted, he quickly disposed of the magical bonds.

"Come with me, quickly, Yssa! Before Yureel arrives!"

She tried to say something as she approached, but no sound escaped her. The eternal detected a spell similar to the one Aurim had used to keep him silent. Annoyed that he had not noticed it earlier, the shadow steed removed it, too.

"Darkhorse! You shouldn't have come here! He's expecting you to-"

The horribly familiar giggle floated through the tent, seeming to surround the pair. Darkhorse's eyes narrowed. Even now he could not sense Yureel. The malevolent puppet had worked hard to shield himself.

"Too late! Too late, my dear sweet sorceress!" Yureel coalesced in a far corner of the tent. The miniature figure drifted toward them. "I knew that you would eventually return to me no matter where the boy sent you! Ever the hero, my brother, my self? I'd think you'd learn a new game by this time!"

"And so I have!" Using his jaws, Darkhorse seized an unsuspecting Yssa by the arm, pulling her completely off the ground. Before Yureel could react, he had carried the enchantress out of the tent.

A tall, fearsome figure blocked their path from there. "Father!" Yssa gasped.

The drake thrust out one gauntleted hand at them. "Down, demon sssteed! Now!"

Darkhorse did not have to ask why. He could sense Yureel just behind him. Still gripping the Dragon King's daughter by the arm, he fell to the ground.

"No need to grovel, Darkhorse, it won't do you any-well, the lizard king! This is a surprise! My brother must've mentioned me to you, I see! Come to visit your offspring or come to surrender to the inevitable?"

"I've come to sssend you back where you belong, abomination!" The reptilian monarch flipped open the box.

Yureel giggled at the effrontery, no doubt thinking the Dragon King completely mad. The giggle died abruptly, though, as the floating demon's feet began stretching toward the open compartment. Snarling, the malevolent marionette tried to pull away, but his bottom half surged toward the box. Yureel began to look like an uncooked gingerbread man being stretched in two by some insane baker.

"Stop it! I command you to stop it!"

"Command all you like!" hissed the Green Dragon. "Welcome to your new home!"

With each pa.s.sing moment, Darkhorse expected his twin to pull free, yet the pull of the artifact would not be denied.

"Release me! Release me or I will destroy you!" Yureel twisted and turned, ice-blue eyes wide with growing comprehension of what fate awaited him if he did not free himself quickly. Unlike Darkhorse, Yureel had never faced the boxes before.

"In, demon!" The Dragon gasped; Yureel was clearly stronger than he had expected.

There was nothing Darkhorse could do to help. If he interfered, he might find himself caught in the very same trap along with his twin. Worse, he might even accidentally free Yureel instead of a.s.suring his imprisonment.

"You . . . will. . . stop!" Rocks burst from the ground and pelted the Green Dragon, but the attack was weak. Yureel dared not focus too much of his power on the drake; he needed everything to combat the tenacious pull of the Vraad box.

It was now only a matter of seconds.

The struggling figure stretched thinner and thinner as more of him seeped into the box. Yureel grew so sheer that it was possible to see through him. He grasped at the sky, as if trying to gain some handhold on the distant clouds.

Then, with one long howl of anger, the last of the shadow puppet vanished into the artifact.

The drake immediately shut the lid.

"Do you really have him, Father?"

"If you could feel how the box shakesss in my hand you wouldn't a.s.ssk such a question, my daughter."

Darkhorse glanced quickly around. Saress had to have warned King Lanith by now, and while by himself the lord of Zuu was little threat, he still had the power to command the sorcerers. Until the Dragon King disposed of the cursed box and its doubly cursed contents, Aurim remained a slave to Yureel. Their victory could still turn into disaster if Cabe's son gathered the Order and confronted them. "Dispose of the box, now, Dragon King! We do not have much time remaining to us."

"I . . . am. . . trying!" The Green Dragon clutched the artifact with both hands, as if trying to squeeze it out of existence. "It is . . . resisting my attempts to cast it out of our world."

Even without the use of a probe, Darkhorse could sense the tremendous force with which Yureel sought to free himself of the Vraad device. For the first time, the eternal wondered if the ancient box would hold out against the might of his vile counterpart. Perhaps time had taken a toll on the Vraad artifact after all.

"Darkhorssse, I think it may require both of usss-"

Whatever else the Dragon King said, the eternal did not hear. Sorcery was at play around them, familiar sorcery.

"I think you've got something that belongs to me, lizard."

The horse king suddenly confronted them, but he was hardly alone. Not only did a now-smiling Saress lean on his shoulder, but Aurim, the oily Ponteroy, and two other sorcerers flanked the pair. The younger Bedlam still stared at Darkhorse as if recognizing him only as an enemy of his master.

"Keep back, va.s.ssal, unless you'd care to lossse your precious ally!"

Lanith's expression shifted to mild confusion. "I'm talking about your dear, sweet daughter, lizard. She's my special guest and I'm here to see that she'll stay that way. Come here, woman."

Before the Dragon King could retort, Aurim Bedlam interjected, "He has Yureel in that box, Your Majesty. That's what he meant."

"Does he? That box?" Fascination and indignation clashed as the horse king squinted at the artifact. "Now that's clever." He extended a hand. "Give it to me and I'll at least let your half-breed child live, lizard. Oh . . . and your death'll be relatively quick and painless, I suppose."

"Are you not leaving your warriors and your remaining spellcasters to face a storm of death, Your Majesty?" Darkhorse asked, trying to shake King Lanith's confidence a little. "They might be wondering where you are even now."

"My people are dedicated to me. They're warriors of Zuu, horse. The finest in the land and willing to prove it to any who disbelieve. If it costs some of them their lives, so be it. In the end, Dagora will be mine. After that, Gordag-Ai, then probably Talak."

"You fool!" The drake lord hissed, struggling more and more with the box. "Even with your spellcastersss you will eventually lossse! Can't you sssee that the demon isss playing you like a puppet?"

It was the wrong thing to say. The horse king pointed at the box. "Take it from him, Aurim. Feel free to hurt him while you do it."

But at that moment the Vraad artifact suddenly blazed with light. The Green Dragon snapped one gauntleted hand away, the palm already a fiery red. However, he refused to release the box, though his other hand must be suffering terrible pain.

Yssa started toward her father, but Darkhorse used his power to drag her back, knowing it was already too late to help the Dragon King. There was nothing either of them could do.

The box exploded.

The explosion hurtled the Green Dragon back toward the tent, whether dead or not, Darkhorse had no time to discover. A pitch-black cloud rose above the cracked remnants of the foul device, a cloud with icy blue eyes. It surveyed those a.s.sembled, at last fixing its murderous glare on the scorched form of the drake.

"I'll burn him, I'll tear his limbs off one at a time, I'll spread his body across every land in the continent!" Yureel reshaped himself, but now he was larger, less cohesive. "I'll kill him, then kill him again!"

Focused as he was on Yureel's horrific return, Darkhorse forgot about Yssa until it was too late. The blond enchantress suddenly darted away from her companion, trying to reach her father.

"Yes, yes, yes!" Yureel ranted, eyes glittering in swelling antic.i.p.ation. "You'll do even better, dear one! I hope your father survives long enough to hear your cries!"

"You'll do nothing!" roared Darkhorse, but as he moved to intercept his twin's spells, he found something holding him back.

"You won't do anything, Darkhorse," Aurim stared blankly at him.

"Very good," commended the horse king. "Hold him there." Lanith took a step toward his shadowy ally. "Don't harm her, imp! She's got too much potential. We can use her to strengthen the Order, make her help conquer her father's own land! Just do with her as you did with Bedlam here."

"Her mind's all wrong, you fool!" Yureel seemed to no longer care about pretending he was servant to Lanith. "Just like that witch of yours!"

Lanith clearly did not understand, but Darkhorse thought he did. Yureel could not control either half-breed the way he could humans. Something in the half-breeds' minds must differ from the minds of true humans. He wished he had the time to discover just what. Any advantage was welcome.

A brief, low moan escaped the Green Dragon. Yureel turned toward him again, his interest in his former captor renewed.

"Leave him be, d.a.m.n you!" The Dragon King's daughter seemed not to care that Yureel had the power to tear her limb from limb.

A brave and impetuous young woman . . . and one about to die horribly because of those traits. Darkhorse struggled to help her, but Aurim held him at bay. The shadow steed stared at his young friend. Aurim stared back, expression still indifferent.

Gathering his will, Darkhorse tried to contact the mind held prisoner within the sorcerer's body. He knew that some part of Aurim had to be there; it had revealed itself in time to save him before. Perhaps there was a chance Darkhorse could stir the true Aurim to action.

In his mind, he called the human's name over and over. The sorcerer's expression tightened, as if he was not at all at peace with himself. Darkhorse took the change as a sign and pushed harder to reach his friend. Aurim Bedlam! This is not you! You have the power to shift the balance here! You must!

As the ebony stallion fought to reach the sorcerer's mind, Yureel looked down upon the drake's defiant offspring. "Yes, you're absolutely right! I should leave him alone . . . at least for now! I should play with you first! I'll make your death an epic in itself!"

Standing her ground, Yssa cast a spell. A cloud formed around reel, but the shadowy figure shrugged it off with scarcely any effort. He moved nearer, reshaping and solidifying into a ma.s.sive, dark figure very reminiscent in outline of an armored warrior, a drake to be precise. Even the eyes seemed half-hidden now by a pitch-black helm. The dark knight stood at least a full foot taller than Darkhorse.

"Kapio's Charger!" gasped the horse king. Darkhorse suspected he had never seen his ally in anything but the most minute of forms. "Imp-"

"Why don't you change, too, little witch?" Yureel taunted the defiant woman. "She can do it"-Saress blanched and quickly retreated a few steps behind Lanith- "you can certainly do it, too."

Yssa's response came in the form of another spell, this one a score of bright flashes that burst into and out of existence accompanied by a loud explosion. Briefly startled, the shadow knight backed up a step . . . and walked into a cage formed from the earth. As the entrance of the cage sealed itself, the enchantress fell to one knee, gasping.

"The box could not hold me," Yureel casually remarked, putting one ma.s.sive hand against the front of his cage, "and it was your only hope, dragonsp.a.w.n." The cage shattered, pelting all of them with bits of earth. He stalked toward Yssa, each step leaving small craters. "Now, how shall we begin with you?"

As he reached for her, his hand swelled, growing all out of proportion to the rest of his form. Yssa tried to vanish, but Darkhorse sensed Yureel counter her attempt. She was still trying to transport herself away when the fearsome knight lifted her up by the waist.

"Perhaps I'll squeeze you apart first, then absorb the leftovers . . . "

Try as he might, Darkhorse could do nothing to free her. Aurim kept his powers in check. He stared again at the young sorcerer. Aurim! Do not let this happen!

Yureel tightened his grip. The enchantress first gasped, then moaned as the shadowy knight started to squeeze the life out of her.

A silver scythe formed between Yureel and Yssa and without pause sliced clean the hand that held her.

Hand and enchantress dropped the short distance to the ground. The severed appendage immediately released her and scurried back to its master, who absorbed it and formed a new hand to take the original's place.

Aurim stepped in front of the king, eyeing the monstrous shadow with new and growing defiance. "I've . . . killed for you. I've ravaged . . . a land . . . for you. I've seen more . . . death . . . than is right for. . . any one person. . . to want or have to witness!"

"Return to your place!" commanded Lanith, reaching for him.

The younger Bedlam glared at the horse king, who suddenly thought better of touching a powerful spellcaster in anger. "I am."

"You little whining traitor!" Ponteroy raised his staff, but Aurim blinked and the staff suddenly burst into flames. Gasping, the other sorcerer dropped his fiery weapon and kicked it away. A slight wave of Aurim's hand sent the burning staff flying in the direction of Lanith's advancing warriors. A breath later, they heard it explode.

"Go home, Ponteroy," Aurim added. "I know your former liege in Gordag-Ai will be pleased to see you. You've told me that often enough."

"No-" was all the arrogant spellcaster managed to spout before vanishing. If Aurim had sent him back to Gordag-Ai, it was doubtful he would be returning soon, if at all. The kingdom's spies likely knew every traitorous action the overdressed sorcerer had been involved with since his arrival in Zuu and without his staff, Ponteroy was not as much a threat.