Free Dragonfire by Karleen Bradford Page B

embodiment of your own terrors and fears, perhaps, Dahl. The voice—could it have been the voice of one you fear, Catryn?”
    The color drained from Catryn’s cheeks. Before she could answer, however, Dahl broke in.
    “The Protector said it was the forces of evil that could attack us here,” he cried.
    “And are you not evil then? Is there no evil inyou at all? When that force which is greater finds a lesser host waiting for it, can it not combine and twist it to its own purpose?”
    “You don’t understand. I am not evil! It is the Usurper of Taun, he who now rules the city of Daunus—my city—who is the enemy. It is I who am to find and fight him. To conquer him!” All caution forgotten, the words were out of Dahl’s mouth before he could stop them.
    “It is you who still do not understand, Dahl,” Sele the Parent said. “You have already found him, and he has already found you. But enough. Your horse needs urgent attention. And you, as well. You have not escaped from this encounter unmarked, I see.”
    Dahl’s hand rose to touch his cheek. As he did so, the branded face, the mirror image of his own, flashed into his mind again.
    The Sele turned to Catryn. “Lead the horse, Mistress, if you will. We will show you the way.”
    “But it is my…” Dahl burst out.
    The Sele regarded him quietly. “ Your horse, I believe you were going to say? Because it took you to battle? A horse that carries dragonfire within it belongs to no one, Dahl. It belongs to itself, and it goes with whomsoever it chooses. With you to wage war, perhaps, but with the maid to wage peace, I think.”
    The way seemed lighter, following the Sele. The multitude of other beings that had shown themselves disappeared back into the forest, but the continuous rustling of the bushes along their path told Dahl they were accompanied. This time, however, he felt no menace in it. There was something about the Sele that comforted him. He did not, now, even regret his outburst. The Sele were to be trusted. He knew it somehow, without understanding how he knew.
    The horse faltered from time to time, but plodded resolutely on. It continued to bleed and grew obviously weaker. Catryn urged it forward and pressed wads of grasses to the wound to try to stanch the blood, but her efforts were to no avail. She had not spoken since they had begun to follow the Sele.
    Dahl thought back on the Sele’s explanation of the horrors that had attacked Catryn and himself. Almost, he could believe that the obscene black beasts were his own terrors given shape. If his terrors could take form, that was exactly how he would have imagined them. But what about Catryn’s voice? Of whom was she so afraid? He would have asked, but watching her, seeing her face so white and pinched, he did not dare.
    The sun was low in the sky, and the narrow trail had grown almost as dark as the forest around it, when they finally rounded a bend and the trees abruptly ended. Ahead of them stretched a meadow of tall, swaying grasses. Sele the Parent strode confidently into it and was immediately lost to sight, but Dahl could follow the creature by the moving path it made through the grass. By the time they reached the other side of the meadow, the horse was stumbling with every step and seemed to be on the point of dropping. Dahl was numb with fatigue and shock. Catryn, walking beside him, seemed too weary for speech. Dahl felt nothing more than relief when the Sele finally stopped at a clearing; he was beyond incredulity. The clearing was dotted, apparently at random, with small grass houses.
    Sele the Parent reappeared. “You are so big,” it said. “We must build you a shelter of your own. You will not fit into one of ours. Sit here and rest while we do it. We will tend to the horse, as well.”
    The Sele emerged from all sides. Two of them brought baskets filled with ointments and began cleaning the horse’s wound and rubbing medications into it. The blood stopped flowing almost