Frowning, Khisanth watched with mixed feelings as the ranking dragon departed. She couldn't be angry with Jahet. The other black dragon had gone out on a limb to warn her. Khisanth suspected that Jahet was dangerously close to vio shy;lating the spirit of her union with Maldeev. No matter how friendly she was with Khisanth, she was bonded to Maldeev by the Dark Queen herself.

Khisanth knew only that she didn't want to leave the Black Wing-that had been an angry threat. It was her goal, and she believed it to be Takhisis's, that she rise through the ranks on her merits alone. Khisanth had managed to dodge

the question for a number of human years, because her supe shy;rior skills could not be denied. She had hoped-no, worked, hard-to prove that she needed no rider. The dragon couldn't see what had changed, what had prompted Maldeev to force a choice. But something definitely had.

"Flow with whatever happens, stay focused by accepting whatever is," Kadagan would tell her whenever she grew frustrated. Qhen had taught her that denying the existence of a truth would not change it; refusing to acknowledge the presence of a rock in the path would not negate it.

Khisanth was faced with the emotional whims of humans who had built the evil army on protocol they weren't eager to disregard. If Khisanth wanted to fight for her queen, she might have no choice but to trust a human on her back.

* * * * *

At that moment, one very highly placed human in the Dark Queen's army waited impatiently for his dragon. High-lord Maldeev stood in Shalimsha Tower's great hall, check shy;ing the time on his water clock. The massive machine was built and maintained by gnome slaves. Maldeev despised their flighty, constant gibbering. He kept them alive only because their mechanical artistry was unequalled. If they could build a device such as this clock, he expected he could find other uses for them in the upcoming campaign. Sud shy;denly Maldeev was struck with the obvious solution to the gnomes' chatter. He made a mental note to have the barber remove their tongues.

The bulky water clock was one of only two items of furni shy;ture in the long, rectangular hall, the other being an ornate, claw-foot chair for Maldeev's use only. The highlord's sec shy;ond renovation to the tower, after his apartments, was to remove the entire length of wall that divided the courtyard from the great hall. This allowed his dragon to enter the cav shy;ernous hall for private meetings, without Jahet resorting to spells whose use made the human highlord uncomfortable. The tower's original banquet hall was the only protected place in the castle large enough to accommodate Jahef s bulk.

Thick, irregular timber trusses stained dark with pitch arched overhead from one long length of wall to the opposite side, supporting the roof of the great hall. Maldeev had ordered the restoration of tapestries that had originally lined the plaster-covered stone walls, but had been used as blan shy;kets by previous occupants of the tower. The walls were pale, bare, and cool even in summer while workmen hastened to complete the refurbishment of the tapestries.

At the shorter eastern length of wall, adjoining the kitchen, was a deeply recessed fireplace, tall enough for a human to walk into. It burned constantly, even in summer. Maldeev's elaborate chair, twice his height, was set before it. Jahet's large entrance allowed light in the room by day. The fire, aided by beeswax tapers on rock corbels, lit it by night.

Maldeev considered the waning sunlight through nar shy;rowed eyes. Jahet was dangerously close to breaking for the first time a central element of their oath to each other. "Never keep your soul mate waiting." They'd made the vow during their union ceremony some five years earlier, agreeing that such a tenant showed respect for the value of each other's time. And now Jahet was wasting his.

Still, Maldeev had to conclude that his union with Jahet had proven satisfactory beyond even his lofty expectations. They had performed the ceremony just after he'd returned from the city of Neraka far across the mountains to the west, where the Dark Queen had raised her temple-the Temple of Istar reborn.

The idea to raise his own branch of the army rallying under the banner of Takhisis had not been Maldeev's. In fact, Takhisis herself, through a minion, had issued him the man shy;date to recruit evil black dragons and form what would henceforth be know as the Black Wing. As usual, the memory of his time in the dark temple brought both a cold trickle of fear and a rush of pride to Maldeev.

At the time of the mandate, Maldeev had been distinguish shy;ing himself as an excellent tactician in one of the first branches of Takhisis's army, the blue dragons under Highlord Bakaris himself. Maldeev was widely known to remain calm under fire; he was also a peerless horseman. He had risen quickly to the level of brigade commander of mercenary cavalry in the Blue Wing, headquartered in Sanction, the city made famous by its constantly erupting volcanoes.

Maldeev had been in the tent-city of Neraka, near Sanc shy;tion, on a clandestine intelligence mission to the combined evil forces. Neraka had sprung up at the base of Takhisis's Temple of Darkness. A discussion of troop numbers was heating up among some midlevel commanders of the White Dragon Wing when a messenger stepped into the unadorned tent and informed Maldeev that he was hereby summoned to the temple. Maldeev was stunned. Who but the very lowest of commanders knew he was in Neraka, let alone this tent?

Thinking he might very well be walking to his death, Mal shy;deev had little choice but to follow the messenger into the city. The young brigade commander had seen the twisted temple from the distance-who could miss it? He'd once read that "it clawed its way into the sky like a bird of prey, overshadowing the city below into perpetual night." That was certainly true, he'd thought as he walked behind the messenger through the northwest gate and into the crowded market square. Maldeev bumped elbows with black-robed mages, as well as the dark clerics who were numerous among the Dark Queen's personal troops.

He distrusted mages. They reminded Maldeev how easily his location could be known by anyone in authority. What he couldn't understand was why anyone important cared. Had he somehow been set up by soldiers in the Blue Wing whom he'd deliberately stepped on or otherwise betrayed to achieve his current rank?

Maldeev could well remember walking the twisting and tilting halls of the black tower. Though a skilled tracker, he quickly became confused by the route through countless anterooms and seemingly pointless chambers. Maldeev fol shy;lowed the messenger up a narrow, endlessly spiraling stair shy;case that eventually led to a door. The door opened onto a large, spoon-shaped platform of cold red marble. The messenger pushed him through the door and disappeared.

Maldeev stumbled forward into the darkness. There was no light at all. It took long seconds for Maldeev's eyes to adjust. Still he could see nothing beyond the slightly glowing marble at his feet. The air didn't move, as if Maldeev stood in the eye of a storm. The still atmosphere was oppressive.

"Step forward, Maldeev," a dark, muffled voice hissed suddenly, as if from behind a mask.

Maldeev shuffled toward the voice mechanically, seeing nothing beyond the vision of his feet at the ends of his legs.

"Stop."

Maldeev did as he was told, desperately squinting into the absolute darkness. He thought he spotted a shadowy hint of a horned mask, but then the image was gone.

"Why have I been summoned?" he managed to ask.

"Silence, or I will reconsider the choice!"

Maldeev could feel eyes studying him for many long min shy;utes. Finally, the muted voice said, "We have an empty plat shy;form in this hall, waiting for the highlord of her majesty's black dragons. You have been chosen to assemble that new wing in the name of Takhisis."