The Black Wing (23 page)

was possible. After today, I begin to comprehend.“ Anger squeezed Khisanth in its enormous
grip. She tipped her head back, raised a bloodied claw to the skies, and howled,
”Takhisis, I've called you my queen! Can treachery be your plan?" The black dragon blasted
her fury and frustration into the sky, exhaling a cloud of acid that rocketed upward.
Spraying out, it rained back down in sizzling droplets and gobs. Ogres, men, even Jahet
and'Maldeev, scrambled out of the burning mist. Only Khisanth did not emerge, for she was
no longer on the Prime Material plane.

Khisanth stood among the burned and broken bodies.. Her raised and clenched claw was
extended toward the smoke-filled sky. Suddenly the dragon felt her bones contract and
expand simultaneously, as if she were being squashed and stretched. The pain was
excruciating. Khisanth wondered briefly if she hadn't suffered more grievously in the
fighting than she'd thought. Craning her neck, the dragon looked down the length of her
spine, but saw nothing that should cause such torment. Is this how it feels to die? Must
your soul be torn to incomprehensible bits or compressed into nothing, to leave no trace
behind? Khisanth didn't take a step, or even twitch a muscle, but the world around her
shifted, wavered, like summer's heat on pond water. As she peered through the haze, the
landscape around her altered dramatically. Battlements, even the mountains, were gone, and
the land stretched on forever, empty and flat against an eerily glowing red sky. The sky
itself seemed to merge with the sandy ground, leaving no horizon, showing no stars nor
moons nor sun. And yet, for all the radiant red, the area seemed as black as shadow. At
least, unlike in the plane of lightning, there was ground here. Khisanth dropped to all
fours and stepped warily, half suspecting the ground to drop away beneath her like
quicksand. Movement was slow, but there was nothing to walk to, no landmark for which to
head. Khisanth scanned the entire area, but still saw nothing. Until she looked forward
again. Misty vapors were slipping upward from the sand before her and coalescing into
vaguely human forms. Blobby, molten flesh ran more than rested on their amorphous frames.
They looked like anguished, twisted, mobile, melted candle wax. Only the occasional
suggestion of a face separated one from another. “Whatwho are you? Where am I?” she
demanded. Silence. Suddenly, like an unstoppable, soundless tidal wave, a row of the
hideous creatures surged forward. They raised molten claws from the depths of their blobby
forms and raked the air before the black dragon. Khisanth darted backwardinto an equally
dense row of the silent and bizarre creatures behind her. She saw more than felt claws
sinking into her scales from before and behind. Each did little enough damage, but
together the growing legions of nameless creatures were beginning to draw blood, and pain.

Like a sickle through tall grass, she swished her tail from side to side, sending the
creatures tumbling across the sandy landscape. Some snapped in half like cold and brittle
wax, then lay still, but more quickly rose from the sand behind her to replace them. The
ones in front of her tore relentlessly at her chest, forelegs, anything they could sink a
claw into. Khisanth kicked and lashed out and bucked around wildly like a horse, trying to
throw them off. Then she noticed that the

ones that had snapped in half had, like worms, formed into two new, tenacious creatures.
Desperate, she summoned the bile that waited in her stomach. It surged up her throat and
shot out between her jaws in a hot green stream. Khisanth pivoted, aiming her acid
downward, shaking gruesome creatures from her and into the corrosive acid. The creatures'
faces twisted into even greater anguish as they dissolved. Hope flickered in Khisanth's
breast. She shook and spewed with a fury, until every last creature was reduced to
smoldering gray patches.

To Khisanth's utter shock, the pieces not eaten by acid had begun to reform into many,
many more creatures. They seemed angered, even in their silence. The grotesque beings
suddenly darted back from her, though she had made no move, nor spoken a word. Then
Khisanth saw the reason.

Rising up behind the last row of creatures, silhouetted against the glowing red sky, were
much taller, winged beings. Perhaps half Khisanth's height, they were thin with wiry
muscles. They stepped closer, kicking the trembling blobs from their path. These new
creatures looked reptilian, with long, prehensile tailsthough eight feet tall, they
reminded Khisanth strongly of the much smaller stone gargoyles that were poised on the
corners and turrets of Shal-imsha Tower, meant by its builders to chase away evil spirits.
These were not made of stone, but leathery flesh, like her own underbelly. Six of them
were black as night, and two were vivid green. “Who are you?” Khisanth demanded, repeating
her last words to the newcomers. She pointed at the quivering creatures who had worked so
hard to tear her flesh from her bones. “And what are they?” Lemuresmindless spirits. They
can't answer. Khisanth looked around, startled. The voice had spoken inside her head. She
spotted a red reptilian creature staring closely at her and decided it was the one that
had answered her telepathically. “We're abishai, sentries on the Abyssal plane,” it said,
its tone very low-pitched and slow, like stone would sound if it could talk. “The Abyss?”
Khisanth squealed, a sound she'd never heard from her own throat. Without answering, the
creatures snapped into formation, boxing Khisanth in with two abishai on each side of the
dragon, save for the front. She began to walk forward, feeling a strange tug at her
thoughts. Dimly she realized she must be under a spell, to respond without complaint or
contest. Only after the spell faded was she able to resist. Khisanth dug in her heels. The
black and green creatures stopped in their tracks. Even eight creatures, large by any
other standards, could not hope to budge a dragon who did not wish to move. The red
abishai extended its tail toward her and revealed the small stinger at its tip. “Poison,”
it said. The creature looked around anxiously, as if something would emerge and slay it
for communicating with the dragon. Nothing did. The warning was enough for Khisanth. For
now. They started forward again. The sentries stopped marching abruptly, though their
destination looked not a whit different from their departure pointdark red, glowing sky,
like a fire the size of the world burned in the distance. The shifting sand made it
difficult to tell up from down. “Wait.” The small battalion of abishai disappeared into
the dark red sky as mysteriously as they had arrived.

Khisanth detested mystery of any sort. Where did they go? Did their absence mean the
lemures would return? The thought of those brainless creatures clawing at her relent-
lessly made her feel more trapped than the escort of abishai had. Every nerve tingled at
the tips of her scales.

But the lemures did not return. Nor did anyoneor anythingelse. She waited. And waited.
Khisanth thought it nearly possible that an entire cycle of seasons could have passed
while she waited, for what, she didn't know. Then, to Khisanth's utter amazement, a wall
of fire shot up out of the sand like a geyser. Through it stepped a creature

she would have mistaken for another abishai, if it hadn't corrected her thoughts.
“Cornugons are the Abyss's greater baatezu,” it said in a sepulchral tone. “The
distinctions between them and lesser baatezu like abishai are obvious.” Looking more
closely, Khisanth began to notice subtle differencesthe flesh-covered horns, the slightly
more human-looking face, deeply slanted eyes, and protruding tusks instead of rows of
equally jagged teeth, like the abishai. And this one gripped a large barbed whip in its
talons; the abishai were armed only with claws.

“I am instructed to take you to your meeting.” The cornu-gon nodded its horned head once
toward the wall of flame. “Meeting? With whom? Why was I brought to the Abyss?” The
cornugon simply stood, looking toward the blazing wall.

Khisanth felt something pulling at the corners of her confidence, until she noticed the
beginnings of a most unfamiliar sensationfear. Most oddly, she was developing an
irrational fear of staying where she was. Not that a trip to the Abyss shouldn't inspire
terror, she told herself. Still, fear was totally alien to Khisanth's nature. There was no
new reason for it to rise at that moment.

Except if it were magically inspired. Dragons were naturally resistant to magic. The
cornugon's magic must be powerful indeed for a fear spell to affect her so. The dragon
felt another unfamiliar twinge of fear. Before Khisanth could step toward it, the fire
wall came to her. She felt its flames tickle and lick at her hide, but the fire didn't
burn, wasn't even very warm. The white- orange flame slipped down her back and over her
tail and left her standing in a place that looked exactly the same. The sky and sand
glowed red as before.

Yet, it felt very different. The cornugon was gone, but Khisanth had the distinct and
unshakable impression that she wasn't alone. Cutting through the strange dimness of the
barren landscape was the long, spiny back of a dragon. Huge, and very close, but very dim.

“Who are you?” Khisanth began, but the momentary relief she felt at the sight of something
familiar was knocked away, along with her breath. The area seemed to grow darker, though
it was more a darkness of the mind, since the sky's faint redness didn't change.
Struggling to breathe, Khisanth could see the dragon's long, unusually thick neck start to
swing around to the left. Like a tightly coiled spring, the neck unwound, and five heads
completed the turn, snaking and writhing and hissing softly. Khisanth dropped to her knees
in reverence and awe. She cringed before one of the three creators of the world. In the
Dark Queen's present form, the name She of Many Faces seemed most appropriate. Each head
represented a type of evil dragon: white, black, green, blue, and red. The colors ran the
length of each neck and into the forepart of the dragon's body. They blended into three
strips of gray, blue-green, and purple over her back and hindquarters, and merged into a
muddy brown tail. Takhisis's black head slithered closer to the trembling black dragon,
hissing softly. You have displeased me greatly, Khisanth.

Takhisis's lips didn't move, but Khisanth heard the queen's even, almost sensuous voice
directly in her head. “Then I am dead,” said the black dragon. Not yet. Five sets of
dragon eyes all bore into Khisanth's, their message unmistakable. It is my belief that you
are yet useful to me, especially now that you have slain three of the only five black
dragons worthy of being in my service.

“Worthy!” cried Khisanth. “But you don't under” Silence! the Dark Queen's voice cut in
sharply. You are clever enough to know that everything happens with my knowledge, if not
consent. Khisanth, for once, was struck speechless. Of course I knew of their betrayal
with the knights. Black dragons are the greediest and most solitary of the evil dragons
and must be watched accordingly. The tongue of Takhisis's black head darted out, as if to
acknowledge and accept the evaluation of its brethren. “They betrayed you and exposed your
entire Black Wing to decimation. Why didn't you strike them dead?” They were much more
useful to me alive. I would have appealed to their greed, offered them more than the
knightstheir very livesand turned their betrayal to my advantage. They would have feared
my eternal wrath forever after. Takhisis paused. Her blue head hissed wordlessly. As it
was, you helped them destroy the wing. Khisanth found her voice. “I saved the wing!” Only
vanity would make you view the devastation at Shalimsha as a victory, the same vanity that
has made you refuse to take a rider.... “But you don't” Khisanth stopped the thought. /
know of the betrayals that have forged your personalityand your pride. You have gleaned
less from them than you should. The five heads swayed to an unheard cadence. You need
consider only this one example: If you had taken a rider after your arrival at the wing,
you would have secured the rightful position of second dragon. You gave inferior dragons
like Khoal power over you. Had you been their superior, they could not have betrayed me.
“Maldeev could have made me second dragon without a rider!” It was not his rule to break,
the voice cut in sternly. / determined the policy regarding riders. Maldeev is simply an
agent whose function is to enforce my edicts. Again, only vanity would make you think
yourself worthy of his risking a god's retribution. You are right about one thing, though,
the voice said in a slightly conciliatory tone. Humans are an inferior race. That is the
crux of the whole, upcoming war. They currently control all of Krynn. Until I can return
in physical formwhich I am using them to help me accomplishthey are necessary annoyances.
Like lemures. That last comment, spoken with a hint of amusement, reassured Khisanth that
she was not beyond redemption. “I thought I was honoring my queen. Must I take a rider?”
Only if you do not wish to repeat your mistakes and risk my wrath a second time. “Humans
are so easily swayed by emotion. How will I find one who is both worthy and true?” You
will live to do much greatness in my name, Khisanth, but trust no one. What you seek is a
human worthy of your talents. Look in unexpected places. You will know him when the time
comes. The Dark Queen's five heads began to turn away. There is much work and little time
to rebuild the Black Wing. Commit my words to memory, Khisanth, for I fear a second
meeting would not go as well for you. “Thank” was all the humbled black dragon could
squeeze out before the majesty of the Queen of Darkness faded into the barren landscape.

Just as abruptly and with scarcely a puff of smoke, Khisanth left the Abyss. She landed
squarely in a scene nearly as bleak as the Infernal Realms. Around her, in the scant light
of dusk, soldiers with battle-blackened faces picked through the charred wreckage of
Shalimsha Tower.