Legends of the Dragonrealm, Vol. III

I

Silence filled the gray land, but despite that, the young, cloaked woman sensed that she was far from alone. At a glance, the murky, shadowy place only gave hints of dour hills and macabre trees with empty, clutching branches, but whenever she neared any of those landmarks, they seemed to fade away like dreams at waking. Peering over her shoulder, she would see a different background than the one she had walked and yet, if she tried to go back even a step, everything in the direction that she had originally been walking would also change.

Again, the hooded traveler sensed others around her. She focused her mind and what she saw in that brief moment caused her to utter a gasp that sounded like thunder in this still place.

Gray figures, countless grey figures, milled around her, moving with no purpose that she could see. They were young, old, human, drake, elven-even an armored Quel briefly made an appearance. All had the same hollow look.

And just like that, they were gone again-or rather, she could no longer focus on them.

Shaken, she paused to sip from the thinning water sack at her waist. The water had taken on a brackish taste since her arrival, no surprise to her. The young sorceress forced herself to swallow it, then took a bite of a biscuit that, like the water, now had all the consistency and flavor of clay.

As she retied the sack, she could not help but again look herself over. Her once-emerald travel outfit had, here, become a dull, faded green and the brown leather boots looked a dead black. Her skin, already pale, resembled that of a corpse and even her cascading rich, red hair had a coloring more akin to dried blood. Only the streak of silver running down the right remained as bright as ever. Everything else about her was a shadow of what it had been before her coming here, but while it disquieted her, it no longer surprised.

What would one expect in the realm of the dead?

She should not have come here alone. Her father and mother would have been horrified beyond belief that she had attempted this and they were not ones to shirk from danger. Cabe and Gwendolyn Bedlam were the most renowned of spellcasters, the former from a legendary line that had produced both heroes and villains. The two had become instrumental in transforming the collective lands called the Dragonrealm into a continent all but free of the once-sweeping tyranny of the drake lords. Humans now dominated, for good or ill, in most places. Her parents had faced dragons, warlocks, the avian Seekers, demons, and the incessant evil of the wolf raiders without hesitation, but here was one place that they and any sensible being avoided.

But Valea had set herself upon a mission from which she felt no obstacle could deter her. From the dead, a figure had emerged again in the Dragonrealm and the crimson-tressed young woman was certain that she had been marked as the one who had to deal with him. It had begun with dreams and ghosts haunting her own ancient home, a collection of events that tied her to that resurrected danger as none other.

Only she, Valea felt, could confront the warlock, Shade.

He had lived a thousand lifetimes, his curse alternating him between good and evil. He existed somewhere between reality and imagination, his hooded features ever blurred, indistinct. Shade had been friend and enemy to all, with each ‘death’ shifting from one end of the spectrum to the other. Valea found him a tragic figure, but she steeled herself with the knowledge that if he had returned, surely that meant danger to those she loved. Whatever sympathy the young sorceress felt-and whatever other emotions had arisen since her ghostly encounter with his past-they had to be kept in check. She had to stop whatever it was he intended.

That it had led to this place had stunned her, but Valea had persevered. She had fought her way to the realm of the Lords of the Dead and now she would cross their domain following Shade’s trail no matter what impediment rose before her.

But so far, Valea had come across nothing. The unearthly realm was filled with phantoms all but invisible to her and a landscape that, despite its changing shape and murkiness, had held no dire threats. She sensed that Shade had been this way, but that was all.

A buzzing in her ears made her swat at it. With some frustration, Valea kept her hand in check. Now and then the buzzing arose and when she had listened close once, she had heard the voices of the shadows, the whisperings of lives long past. They were, like everything around her, a disturbing distraction, but nothing to concern the spellcaster.

The buzzing, however, suddenly increased in intensity. The whisperers sounded upset, fearful. They almost seemed to be warning each other . . . or even her.

Something fluttered among the dead trees ahead of her, moving so swiftly out of sight that Valea could not be certain that she had actually seen anything.

The buzzing grew more insistent. Now it became words that she could make out with some ease.

Coming . . . coming . . . coming . . . they said over and over.

A form flew overhead.

Valea reacted immediately, casting a spell upward. A flash of light illuminated both her and her surroundings and she heard a monstrous shriek.

Something with batlike wings darted from her view. She spun in the direction it had gone, trying as best she could to make out its shape.

Instead, a tall structure that Valea knew she had not passed earlier perched atop a high, jagged hill overlooking her location.

It was a castle or, being this place, perhaps the ghost of one. Certainly it was no place that welcomed the weary traveler. Like monstrous claws, five towers rose above the outer wall, each one topped by sharp, toothy battlements. Flanked on each corner by four of the towers and using the fifth as its centerpiece, a broad, rounded building made up the bulk of the castle. Further details, Valea could not make out. In fact, there was little else of descriptive value where the castle was concerned. No banners flew from its heights and she could not make out any gates. The battlements were empty of movement.

And yet . . . Valea took a step forward, squinting. Was there a light of sorts in the main building? Something hinting of red flickered there.

Every nerve in her body taut, the sorceress reached out with her senses and sought the evidence she needed. Almost immediately, Valea received the answer she had expected.

Shade was there. She knew his magical signature as well as she knew her own. Since that fateful journey into the memories of the Manor, her home, Valea had come to recognize the traces of his spellwork. She suspected it was because the two of them shared a link that went beyond that one experience. Deep beneath the Manor, Valea had discovered the tomb of an elven maiden, Galani. She had been perfectly preserved, almost as if time itself had frozen. This was the same Galani who had been part of a ghostly vision seen more than once in the huge house above. This was the same Galani who had, in life, been cousin to the sorcerer Arak.

Arak had been friend to Shade.

Galani had fallen for the tragic figure, but, as was his curse, Shade had died without her knowing of it. When he had risen again, his mind twisted, he had used Arak and Galani to further his own evil goals. Only Galani’s sacrifice had saved her cousin and the Dragonrealm from the darker side of Shade. She had killed the warlock again before herself dying. Arak had sealed her body under the Manor and it had been Shade’s reappearance now that had stirred some part of the dead elf’s spirit to contact the only one who could understand and accept her message, her warning.

Valea, it seemed, was the reincarnation of the elf. With but a few subtle differences due to their respective races, the two had been identical of features and form.

Yes, it had to be Valea who finally put an end to the curse of Shade. Whatever his good aspects, the evil could not be allowed to return. Valea felt certain that she held the key, although whether that key would lead to her success, she could not say in the least.

The enchantress reached into her blouse, pulling out a chain she wore around her neck. At the end, an unprepossessing, brutally chiseled stone hung. It was barely the size of her smallest fingernail, but Valea treated it as if she carried the weight of the world.

“Let us hope this works . . .” she whispered to it. “Let us hope I’ve planned right, Galani . . .”

Then, undaunted by her tremendous doubts, Valea replaced the stone against her bosom and started for the castle. The whispering continued, the same word repeating over and over. The young spellcaster ignored the whispering, already wary of her surroundings. The winged thing that had almost fallen upon her had finally reminded Valea just what unnatural realm she walked. Every step meant danger. This was, after all, the kingdom of the Lords of the Dead.

And she doubted that they would long suffer a living soul in their midst.

He peered out the window as he did every moment of his existence. It was both his only salvation and his greatest torture. Out there, he sensed the countless shadows flittering about, existing only because the masters of the realm desired them to do so. The scene was always the same . . . the grayness, the lifelessness . . . the eternity.

And then something so extraordinary that it made him leap to his feet appeared in the distance, a shock of life and color such as he could only dredge up from his most ancient memories. It moved with purpose, moved with an animation so foreign to the still lands surrounding the castle. Pushing his hood back slightly, he pressed his face against the bars, trying to make out more detail. It was as if he had been given a glimpse of paradise, so wondrous was this unexpected vision.

But as the figure neared and he made out exactly what it was, his expression grew both dumbfounded and fearful . . . the latter not for himself. He shook his head, blinked, and stared again, disbelieving the sight. His tormentors had finally begun the new, sadistic game that they had promised . . .

“Sharissa . . .” he murmured. “Sharissa . . .”