Legends of the Dragonrealm

by Richard A. Knaak

  And suddenly found himself outside again. Outside...and yet inside something else.

  Inside...a part of Dwar.

  Dwar wore him as Cabe might wear his wizard’s robes. Darkhorse’s head turned, but only because Dwar wished it so. The shadow steed’s legs shifted awkwardly, yet again due to Dwar. Dwar also delved into his mind, trying to learn all that Darkhorse was and all that he knew.

  Especially, the black stallion sensed, how best to try to enter the Dragonrealm.

  Darkhorse fought back. The strain was tremendous, but Dwar’s control over the legs faltered. A stalemate arose.

  Move...move... Darkhorse’s captor demanded.

  No!

  Silence followed, then...Yes, you will move.

  Another fragment broke off from the huge mass. It slithered through the emptiness like a serpent. As it moved, it also stretched.

  It was also heading for Master Thurn.

  There was nothing Darkhorse could do. The serpentine appendage wrapped around the unmoving dwarf.

  You will move...or I will squeeze...

  Dwar knew life well enough to understand how easily it could be destroyed. He—now the singular pronoun fit better—also understood that Darkhorse cared for what to Dwar was still a curiosity.

  Very...very well...

  Darkhorse’s body turned around. At the same time, the ‘serpent’ dragged Master Thurn next to him.

  You will take us from here...you will bring us to this place of many things, this so wonderfully crowded place you and he called Dragonrealm...and then we will bring the rest of us to the world as well...

  Darkhorse regained use of his legs. He knew, though, that he was expected to do exactly as he was ordered.

  Ahead...

  The shadow steed pushed forward. The serpent kept to his side at all times. Dwar intended to use Master Thurn to completely control Darkhorse. The knowledge Dwar had gained from Shade’s incarnation had been enough to teach him how to manipulate the ebony stallion.

  They continued on. Darkhorse knew that Dwar had not chosen this particular route at random. The ebony stallion could sense a weak field ahead that marked a potential opening into another world. Darkhorse could not allow even a portion of Dwar to fully escape into any place, much less the Dragonrealm. Still, the shadow steed wondered why Dwar intended to use him when it was clear that he could at least to some degree pass through—

  He barely shielded the thoughts in time as the possible reason occurred to him. It made perfect sense with what he knew of himself and Yureel.

  Giving no hint of his discovery, Darkhorse closed on the potential opening. What Dwar hoped to do also gave Darkhorse his best opportunity, but he had to time it to the very last moment.

  Making certain that Master Thurn was still right at his side, Darkhorse concentrated.

  The area before him rippled. He had no idea whether this opening would currently lead him to Cabe and the rest, but in fact did not want to risk any creature in any realm. The lesson that Yureel had burned into him and that Dwar appeared ready to repeat was more than enough to make Darkhorse willing to sacrifice himself—and Master Thurn, if necessary—rather than allow more tragedy.

  The rippling expanded. As it did, Darkhorse caught sight of a forested region that could have been many areas in the Dragonrealm or even in some other dimension. None of that mattered, though. He started forward—

  They entered the rippling...and Darkhorse made himself explode.

  It was a contained explosion, something he had done only a handful of times in the past. His body scattered in a thousand directions...and so did that essence which belonged to Dwar.

  Barely a blink of an eye later, Darkhorse reformed himself. Dwar, for all his power, moved more slowly. The ebony stallion had assumed that Dwar had not had reason in the Void to learn such an ability.

  The serpentine portion wriggled in what Darkhorse knew to be anxiety. It had been created to be subservient to the essence that had trapped the shadow steed. Once more, a lesson Darkhorse had learned over millennia in other worlds.

  Quickly stretching his head forward, Darkhorse bit a gap in the serpent. The halves spilled free of Master Thurn.

  Darkhorse seized the dwarf with his mouth and dragged the unconscious figure with him through the rippling.

  Behind him, he sensed Dwar in a rage.

  VI

  The moment Darkhorse touched ground, he knew that this was not the Dragonrealm. It was not even the same place he had seen a moment before. The sky here was an orange-lavender and the trees ended in sharp bristles. A thing with wings but that was most definitely not a bird in any sense fluttered away from a branch.

  Glancing behind him, Darkhorse saw that the rippling grew more intense. Setting the dwarf aside, the ebony stallion concentrated.

  The rippling ceased. The portal it had represented would never open again, thanks to Darkhorse’s careful efforts. With Yureel for so long a concern, Darkhorse had ages ago learned how to seal off such pathways. The only trouble was, new ones seemed to form over time. There would never be a way to forever cut off any realm from the Void, but at least for a time that path would be harder.

  He finally turned to Master Thurn. The dwarf hugged himself tight. His skin had a hint of blue to it.

  Without another thought, Darkhorse flowed over Dwar’s latest victim. He sensed that Dwar had only stored Master Thurn, not started to absorb him as he had Shade’s unfortunate incarnation. There was, as Darkhorse had hoped, a chance.

  He let his power pour slowly into the dwarf. Several minutes passed, but at last Master Thurn relaxed and a normal color returned to his flesh.

  A few more minutes, and the elder dwarf finally stirred.

  He screamed.

  “What, by Rheena?” he shouted, calling on a woodland goddess Darkhorse had heard of but had never verified as real. Master Thurn thrashed about, clearly trying to fight his way out of Darkhorse.

  “Rest easy!” he commanded the dwarf. When Master Thurn failed to heed him, Darkhorse finally spilled off of the bearded warrior and reformed in front of him.

  Master Thurn opened his mouth—

  “Before you call me that ridiculous title again, I am Darkhorse! Nothing more, nothing less! Darkhorse!”

  The dwarf shut his mouth. His eyes darted back and forth.

  Darkhorse knew what he was looking for. “Your weapon is lost! Not by my doing! I know it meant much to you!”

  “Grandfather’s grandfather’s ax! Split the head of a Quel clean through,” Master Thurn muttered, referring to one of the towering, armored creatures inhabiting the Legar Peninsula far to the south of the hill dwarves’ domain. The Quel had once ruled the Dragonrealm, but had been supplanted by the Seekers, who themselves had been overthrown by the drake lords. Even after thousands of years, the Quel attempted incursions into what had once been a part of their vast empire.

  “I am sorry!” Dwarves were very possessive of family weapons and to those they felt comfortable around were likely to brag about each piece’s history. Each weapon had markings denoting those who had wielded it before and what feat for which they were known. “Are you well enough? We cannot remain here very long.”

  “And where by the Lords of the Dead are we, anyway?” Evidently now aware that he was in no danger from the shadow steed, Master Thurn found interest in their surroundings. “This is none of the Thirteen Kingdoms!”

  “No,” Darkhorse had not heard anyone use the term in centuries, but knew that the dwarf meant the Dragonrealm. “No, we are far from there.”

  “The Aramite Empire?”

  Most mortals only knew of the vast continent across the eastern seas as the home of the wolf raiders, even though all that remained of the empire there was a few pockets and scores of ships turned pirate. Dwarves, though, were not always aware of the latest news beyond their
realm. “Farther than that. Never mind! We will be leaving—”

  The air a few yards ahead began to ripple.

  Snorting, Darkhorse formed an appendage and seized Master Thurn. Before the dwarf could protest, the shadow steed drew him inside the eternal’s torso.

  Ignoring Master Thurn’s agitated squawks, Darkhorse reversed direction and concentrated. A hole opened up before him.

  Instead of entering, though, Darkhorse waited. A shape vaguely reminiscent of the false Shade began to form.

  Icy blue eyes narrowing, the ebony stallion brought the hole he had summoned to where the rippling took place.

  The figure emerging from the rippling had no choice but to enter the hole. As soon as it disappeared through, Darkhorse immediately dismissed his creation.

  While Dwar had the power, Darkhorse knew that he had the experience when it came to traveling between realms. He had created a hole that would send Dwar back to the Void. In the meantime, Darkhorse created a second hole, one that he then immediately entered.

  The odd landscape became a more familiar-looking rocky domain that glittered so bright it was blinding at times. Darkhorse knew not only that they were once more in the Dragonrealm, but that they were now in the desolate Legar Peninsula. The constant, nearly-blinding glitter came from the immense concentration of crystal in the ground, crystal that, with the right effort, could be turned to good use in the magical arts.

  Darkhorse ignored the temptation of the crystals. Another aspect of Legar was that because of the crystalline formations and their inherent ties to magic, every single inch of the peninsula could act as the eyes of Legar’s drake lord. The current Crystal Dragon might be new in his role, but he had the legacy and power of his predecessor upon which to call. It was very likely that he already knew of the shadow steed’s intrusion and watched warily what Darkhorse might have in mind.

  For the moment, though, the main reason he had journeyed here was due to another aspect of the land’s nature. Those same crystals would made it difficult for any without experience to properly sense Darkhorse’s location. Dwar would certainly need time to find out where the ebony stallion had gone.

  And that brought up another question to Darkhorse. The part of Dwar that had separated from the main mass in order to control Darkhorse appeared to have little trouble traveling beyond the Void. However, the shadow steed still believed the full mass was fixed where it was...and for a very good reason that had to do with a part of the Void’s astounding nature.

  Darkhorse had never thought of the Void as having a center, but where Dwar floated appeared to be just that. More important, that center also seemed to be a nexus into which magical energies from the many dimensions outside of the Void not only spilled, but concentrated. Their intermingling had gradually created unique forces that had in turn produced the formidable mass that had eventually grown sentient. From that it had eventually been spawned what would become Yureel.

  And from Yureel had been spawned Darkhorse.

  But the main mass was also by its nature bound to the nexus. So gargantuan had it become that it could only maintain its existence by constantly feeding on the energies spilling into the Void. Smaller pieces could be shed, but only for a short period lest it lose mental control over them—

  “Of course!” Darkhorse laughed, although the laugh was not one filled with humor. “I should have seen it!”

  When Dwar had split off the fragment that would become Yureel, it had quickly developed a separate personality. Having seen how the mass could easily absorb things, including other fragments, Darkhorse could only imagine that Yureel had hardly desired to face such an awful fate. Certainly, Darkhorse had thought much the same about Yureel when he had fled his ‘brother’.

  Swearing arose from the eternal’s interior. Darkhorse quickly opened up his side, allowing Master Thurn to emerge.

  “By my ax! Don’t do that to me again!”

  “It was necessary! That which took you into the Void was at our heels!”

  “Was it?” The dwarf lost some of his fury. “That was something awful! It was like death spilled out of a tear in the air before us! It swallowed me up before I could fight it. Then...then things got horribly dark and horribly cold.” He shuddered. “Never been so cold. Could never imagine such cold.”

  “I am sorry. It came in search of me, although I did not know it at that time. You had the misfortune of being at one of the points where it tried to catch me.”

  “Hell, it is you...or just like you, isn’t it?”

  Darkhorse tilted his head. “Very astute.”

  “I’m a dwarf, not a damned lump of rock! I could see that. Worse, I could feel that.”

  “You need concern yourself no more. I will carry you one last time to near the area where you were taken. Once there, I will depart immediately and you will be safe.”

  Master Thurn grunted. “If what you say is true, first I don’t hold no grudge against you. You’re not to blame for that thing and that’s plain to see. Second, I appreciate the ride back, seein’ as it’s a bit far from here and I’ve no weapon now. Still, if there’d be anythin’ I could do to help you, I owe you my life. That’s no small thing to me!”

  “You owe me nothing! You have seen what it is that hunts me. You were taken because it followed my trail.”

  “Hmmph. Not the way I see it. Still, I suppose there’s no way I can fight against it, so that’s that.”

  Darkhorse nodded in relief. “Good! Now, I shall take you as I—”

  “Hold on! Hold on!” The dwarf shook his head vehemently. “I’ll not be travelin’ like that again! If that’s the case, I will walk!”

  After a moment’s consideration, the shadow steed replied, “Very well. I will carry you as a rider.”

  “Do I look like a strapping sun-maned horseman from Zuu?” Then, in a more apologetic tone, Master Thurn said, “Sorry. That’s the only other way and I understand that. Just...the sudden thought of riding...we hill dwarves don’t do that much.”

  Rather than reply, Darkhorse let his legs shrink. When he was near the ground, he indicated with a nod that Master Thurn should mount.

  The dwarf gingerly did so. Darkhorse returned to his full height. He then created handholds on his shoulders.

  “Grip those and we will be on our way.”

  “Just a minute. You’re not going to create one of those holes, are you? Won’t that attract the other’s attention?”

  “It would be swifter...” Master Thurn had an excellent point, though, Darkhorse realized. “Very well...hold tight then. We will journey by more mundane means!”

  “Mundane he says,” the dwarf muttered. “All right. I suppose I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”

  Darkhorse raced off. He could sense the attention of the Crystal Dragon focus on him, but knew that the drake lord would quickly understand that the intruders were leaving his domain.

  Indeed, only a couple of minutes later, the shadow steed’s astounding swiftness brought them from the Legar Peninsula to the edge of the main continent. To the northeast lay Zuu. To the north lay Master Thurn’s homeland.

  But neither of those points mattered...for suddenly a hole opened up directly before Darkhorse and despite his best efforts to halt, momentum sent the shadow steed and his companion through.

  The hole sealed immediate after.

  VII

  The false Shade hovered before them, the blackness beneath the hood just barely evident. As Darkhorse created a defensive shield around Master Thurn and himself, the figure formed a pair of eyes identical to those of the shadow steed.

  “We are one...all of us...” the false Shade murmured. “You cannot escape. Escape is not possible.”

  Darkhorse thought he caught a hint of some emotion, almost a wistfulness. He pondered, then replied, “No...escape is possible. Something else is possible. For all of us.”r />
  The hood shook back and forth. “Nothing is possible. We—you—are forever trapped.”

  “You know that is not true. You know that he—” Darkhorse purposely emphasized the mass as separate from the fragment before him. “—cannot leave the Void. You can. You know it. You can do just as I did.”

  “No...he still found you. He knew for so long that you existed. Just like the other. He sensed both of you. Then, only one of you. The other was no more...but it still helped him to find you.”

  Dwar sensed our battle, Yureel’s and mine, the shadow steed thought. That was when he first began his hunt. So long ago...but what is time here? For once, Darkhorse wished that he had Yureel with him. Yureel would have been able to tell him more about what they faced.

  That brought up another question. Despite having been a part of Yureel, Darkhorse had had no memory of Dwar. Yureel had somehow buried any recollections so deep that he had not even passed them on to his second self. It revealed the depths there were to the differences between the various fragments and the original mass. They were less alike than the shadow steed could have ever believed.

  And if that is the case, we may have a better chance than I imagined. He had to act now, though. “But you found me, Dwar. Not him. You...Dwar.”

  “No...yes...Dwar did...” The false Shade’s icy blue eyes glittered. “He is Dwar....but I am Dwar...”

  “You are Dwar! You alone,” Darkhorse insisted. “You feel it, do you not? You are the name; the name is you!”

  “Dwar...” the hooded form murmured. “Dwar I am...it is my name.” He stared at the shadow steed. “It is my name. My name! My name!”

  “Is this going well?” Master Thurn whispered to Darkhorse. “I can’t tell.”

  Darkhorse did not reply. Instead, he dared move closer to the false Shade. “Your name!” he heartily agreed. “Your name!”

  “My name! I am Dwar! Not him! I!”

  Dwar—Darkhorse was more than willing to acknowledge the fragment by that name—spun around madly. Cloak and hood fluttering, he rose above the pair, dropped below, then rose up again.