The Black wing (d-2)

by Mary Kirchoff

  The men's hands fell upon the two-foot nyphid crouched under the net. Dela's mouth opened in a shriek, though the image in the maynus was silent. Two bolts of blue-edged lightning shot from Dela's body. The flashes slammed into the chests of the men who'd touched her, tearing a huge, black-rimmed hole in each and tossing them high into the air.

  Their comrades on horseback looked stunned but unafraid. One had vivid green eyes and shoulder-length brown hair. Lashed across the rump of his horse was another human, his hands and feet bound. The other horseman was small and wiry with slanted eyes. They pulled their horses back just slightly. The green-eyed one waved and pointed toward Dela. Abruptly, a number of oddly colored creatures, much taller than the humans, streamed into the maynus's field of vision for the first time and rushed the netted nyphid.

  "Ogres," said Kadagan.

  "Why doesn't she stand and use the lightning bolt again?" demanded Khisanth as Dela collapsed under the net.

  "Dela did not do it intentionally the first time. The electri shy;cal bolt is our involuntary response to contact with humans and others like them. Thou art not like them, which is why we sought thee. Humans cannot help but touch nyphids when they see us, and we cannot help but harm them when they do. The contact with them so drained Dela's energy that she fell unconscious herself."

  Khisanth remembered the tingling she felt whenever the nyphids touched her. Shuddering, she looked back into the maynus, where a large drawstring sack of rough weave was being lowered over Dela. The nyphid was carefully hauled up by the strings of the sack. With that, the green-eyed human put two fingers in his mouth, blew, and the entourage set off toward the south, horsemen in the lead. One ogre car shy;ried the sack at arm's length. Then the picture in the globe blurred to the usual yellow glow.

  Watching his daughter's kidnapping in her maynus globe had etched deep lines of worry into the elder nyphid's face, cold determination into Kadagan's eyes. "We had heard that humans, ogres, and even red dragons were rising up in the region, but we did not realize they had encroached so far into our forests." Kadagan sighed raggedly. "Had we known, we would not have left Dela even for the few moments it took to gather berries and water for the morning meal."

  "I don't get it," said Khisanth. "Why did the picture stop?"

  Kadagan shrugged. 'The maynus is not sentient. Dela was unconscious, and it had no direction. Nor did we. Joad and I searched for Dela all that day. Finally, when darkness fell, we sighted her maynus glowing across the field where she had been kidnapped. It was several more days before we realized it had recorded her capture."

  Kadagan could see that while the dragon found the globe's ability to project pictures fascinating, she had not been per shy;suaded to help them.

  "We do not ask thee to rescue Dela simply because she is Joad's daughter and my betrothed." Kadagan paused, as if he, too, were just fully understanding the impact of what he was about to say. "We are the last of our kind. Without Dela, nyphids will die off entirely."

  "Why don't you use the maynus to find out where she is and rescue her yourself?"

  Joad colored noticeably at the question, but remained silent as always.

  "We know where she is." Kadagan struggled with the words to explain. "Dela sends … feelings, for lack of a better word, to Joad. These feelings led us to a village in the south." His brow furrowed. "When I was sleeping, he slipped into the town to free her."

  "What went wrong?"

  Knowing the subject was painful to Joad, Kadagan searched for gentle words. "In his desperation to free his daughter, Joad walked into the human settlement unmasked. Thou canst guess, from seeing Dela's capture, the impact Joad's presence had on the humans there. When I realized where he'd gone, I covered myself with clothing I borrowed from a farmer's wash line. I managed to find him, but not before he, too, had been surrounded and rendered unconscious. That

  energy drain, as well as his sadness over losing Dela, has brought on his muteness."

  Kadagan saw the dragon's disgust at their ineffectual attempt at rescue. "We are neither warriors nor mages, nor are we physically strong. Thou art all of these things."

  Khisanth stood and stretched her muscles, then resettled into a comfortable position that resembled an enormous black ball with a head. "Let's assume that I'm interested in rescuing Dela," she mused. Her long snout was perched on her claw arms as she regarded the nyphids with heavy-lid shy;ded eyes and asked, "What could you possibly possess that I would value as payment?"

  "We can give thee something that will grant thee unparal shy;leled strength and wisdom."

  The horns on Khisanth's head shifted as her eyebrows rose with undisguised interest. Kadagan had to be talking about a very powerful artifact. The maynus globe, perhaps? Its pow shy;ers were certainly impressive enough for it to be the first item in her dragon hoard. At the thought, the salivary glands in the pink folds of flesh next to her second row of teeth sprang into action.

  "We can teach thee the discipline of qhen."

  Khisanth blinked in disbelief, and her images of a dragon hoard vanished. "You think a tiny creature made extinct by humans," she spat the word in distaste, "has anything to teach a member of the mightiest race ever to exist on Krynn?"

  "It is true that nyphids are on the brink of extinction because of humans. They kill us or display us as possessions because what they do not understand frightens and intrigues them. Yet those are also the reasons that dragons have nearly perished."

  Khisanth pushed herself up to her haunches and gave Kadagan an indignant poke in the chest that sent him reeling. "We haven't. .. .'nearly perished'! We were ordered to go underground and sleep until . . ." Her voice trailed off weakly, and Khisanth felt foolish as she realized how slim the dividing line was between extinction and the eternal dor shy;mancy the Sleep might have become if the nyphids had not awakened her. The notion made her feel foolish, and black dragons did not like to feel foolish.

  Through her angry musings Khisanth became aware of the nyphid's innocent, expectant stare; it did nothing to pacify her. "What has any of that to do with payment for retrieving this lost female of yours?" Khisanth snapped peevishly. Leer shy;ing down at the slight fellow, she enjoyed the feeling of power her size alone bestowed.

  Kadagan, however, was not intimidated. "Nothing-and everything-when thou art truly qhen." But the nyphid could see that he was losing the dragon's attention to wounded pride and mounting frustration. "Thou cpuldst use qhen to assume different body shapes."

  This time Khisanth's horns shifted with cynical curiosity. She had been learning her first spells, those that extinguish light and create thick fog, before the geetna put her to sleep. But shapechanging, that was a difficult and highly unusual skill.

  Khisanth donned a mask of indifference, but the fact that she sat down again indicated her interest. "What makes you certain I don't already know how to shapechange?"

  Kadagan's slight shoulders lifted in a shrug. "Thou wouldst have done so to escape the pit."

  Khisanth inwardly cursed the nyphid's faultless logic. Still, she gave the young creature a skeptical glance. "Give me some proof of your own ability to shapechange," she challenged. "Change into a-" She looked around the field and spotted a creature even smaller than the nyphids on a distant cottonwood. "Change into a sparrow."

  "I cannot," said Kadagan simply.

  "You propose to instruct me in something you don't know yourself?" Khisanth stood again and looked about for the best direction in which to depart. "Obviously you've wasted my time, so I'll be go-"

  "Male nyphids are the teachers of the race. We are not magical beings, like thee," Kadagan cut in, his voice still com shy;posed. "Only the females of our race are magical. Only Dela."

  Khisanth did not take a step, but her gaze remained on the forest across the field. "But what about the maynus? You use that."

  "Only on a rudimentary level," Kadagan admitted. "It is like having a sword capable of slaying an entire clan of fire giants with one stroke, yet only havin
g the strength of arm to peel apples with it."

  Khisanth was satisfied with the explanation. If the nyphid spoke truly and could give her the skills to alter shape, her power would be unequalled. Besides, she reasoned, if the lessons proved to be a bore or a ruse, she could leave at any time.

  Still, she had questions. Keeping her broad back to Kada shy;gan, she asked, "If Dela's so magical and you've taught her to shapechange, then why doesn't she do so and free herself?"

  Joad hung his head sadly. Kadagan's lips pressed together into a pale, thin line. "She cannot employ her skills to escape because the maynus is the source of her magic, and she does not possess it. I fear that even if she had it, she no longer has the physical or spiritual energy to use it. Her captors have kept her covered to prevent the compulsion to touch her. Dela has not felt sunlight for too long. She is despondent___"

  "This qhen thing," Khisanth mumbled, turning around at last, "will it take long to learn?"

  Kadagan and Joad exchanged hopeful glances. "That is entirely dependent upon thine ability to learn."

  Khisanth smirked. "If thafs true," she said, "then we'll be on our way before two moons rise." With that, she circled the fire twice and settled down for a night's sleep under twin shy;kling stars, her first in centuries.

  The nyphids sealed themselves up in their green pods to protect against predators. In their silent, moonlightless berths, they, too, looked forward to a good night's sleep, their first since Dela's disappearance.

  Chapter 3

  Sultry summer rain came dowm in a slanted curtain on the rocks and brown pine needles outside Khisanth's lair. The damp feeling should have been as tranquilizing to the dragon's dark soul as a warm-blooded meal. But today, there was little that would soothe her hot temper.

  Khisanth was seriously contemplating reneging on her deal with Kadagan and Joad. The nyphids had already vio shy;lated their agreement as far as she was concerned. The yellow sun had risen and set countless times, and still they'd taught her nothing, not one single incantation. They'd kept her so busy doing pointless things that she hadn't even had time to work toward recalling those few minor spells she'd known before the Sleep.

  Counting the petals of a wild rose, she fumed, viciously plucking out the stamen of the fuchsia-colored one she held in her left claw. Inanity! A thorn found its way to the tender flesh between two scales, and she flung the denuded flower from her angrily.

  Kadagan had left her the prickly pile of blooms with instructions to contemplate the essence of a rose.

  "What in the Abyss does that mean?" she'd ground out.

  "Thou must discover what makes a rose a rose."'

  "Thaf s obvious. It looks like one."

  Kadagan had smiled indulgently and said as he left, "That would be the conclusion of one who is not qhen."

  At first, Khisanth had swallowed her annoyance and risen to the challenge Kadagan had flung at her. Her immense claws were clumsy tools for plucking fragile, pale pink petals, as futile an exercise as using a broadsword to find the wishbone in a tiny sparrow. Yet Khisanth was determined to prove to Kadagan that she had as much patience as he, and so she'd concentrated on separating the velvet-soft petals with the pointed tips of her claws. She held handfuls of petals to her flared nostrils and inhaled until the spicy fragrance was as familiar to her as rats or moist earth. Her long crimson tongue sampled both petals and stems until they no longer tasted bitter. But as time passed, measured by the number of petals Khisanth had plucked, her forced patience waned, then died.

  Khisanth slowly paced the confines of the small cave Joad had found for her. It was not what the black dragon would have chosen for a lair. Her horns scraped the arched ceiling when she stood up straight in the regal, threatening pose she liked best; thus, when not asleep, she was forced to either stand with her long neck hunkered over, or sit on her haunches like some eager giant hound. She wouldn't be able to stretch and flex her wings here when the nyphids removed the annoying splint on her right wing.

  Bats and small birds had called the cave home before Khi shy;santh had arrived, but she had already consumed those she had not frightened away. A large, stagnant puddle of water in the farthest corner of the cave was the only source of plea shy;sure for Khisanth in the lair. After meals on hot summer days and nights, the dragon liked to splash the fetid water up to her neck with her tail, then lie on the cool, dark stone-and-dirt floor.

  At least it was dim inside the cave. Khisanth pondered the nyphid's adoration of light. They needed sunshine; she sought the solitude of darkness. Why had she agreed to fol shy;low the training of creatures so opposite to her own nature and needs? Greed, of course. The answer didn't shame her. Instead, it supported her decision to force them to teach her as promised.

  Just then Khisanth froze and cocked her head to the side. Someone or something was approaching her lair. The under shy;side of her long tail made a soft scraping sound as she scut shy;tled to within twenty feet of the opening, where the shadows would still conceal her. She pressed her bulk up against the left wall. The burning green acid that constantly roiled in her stomach stood waiting in the back of her throat.

  Kadagan bounded through the opening to the lair. Shak shy;ing rain droplets from his luxurious hair, the nyphid took one look at the scattered remains of roses. "Thou hast been busy," he said, oblivious to Khisanth's threatening posture.

  The dragon stepped from the shadows in the foulest of moods, one eye half-closed in a furious squint. "Don't you know better than to approach a dragon's lair unannounced? I nearly boiled you in acid."

  The nyphid looked neither concerned nor surprised. "I was aware of thee. Besides, I do not fear my own death."

  "Not fearing it and walking foolishly into it are two differ shy;ent things," growled the dragon.

  "Come, Khisanth," said Kadagan as if she'd not spoken. He stepped from the cave. "The rain has stopped." Still grumbling under her breath, the dragon followed the nyphid to the ridge of trees downhill from the lair, where Joad waited cross-legged on the ground. "Let us see what thou hast learned."

  "I've learned that I'm sick and tired of your games." Khi shy;santh impulsively snatched Kadagan up by the front of his green tunic and raised him a dozen feet from the ground.

  "Either you teach me to shapechange right this minute, as we agreed, or you can pull some other hapless creature from the bowels of the earth to smell flowers."

  "Does a rose look like a badger?" Kadagan rasped from the pressure on his chest. His expression was strangely serene. Joad had not moved.

  "Of course not!" snorted Khisanth at the improbable ques shy;tion.

  "So, it is not a badger. Does it have the flavor of a moose?"

  "No, it tastes like a rose!"

  "And how is that?"

  Drawn into the line of questioning despite herself, Khi shy;santh set the nyphid down on the still-damp pine needles. "The wooden stem is acrid, and the center is sweet, com shy;pared to the rest."

  "Wouldst that not describe an orange or an apple?"

  "No-" The dragon paused and thought for a moment. "Yes, it would." She grew frustrated at this realization. "Whaf s the point of all this?"

  Kadagan looked at her straight-faced and said, "I think thou knowest, even if thou dost not yet understand it com shy;pletely."

  Khisanth's eyes narrowed. "Are you trying to say that there is a commonality between all things, and that the differ shy;ences are but nuance?"

  Kadagan looked impressed. "Thou hast learned more than expected. All I hoped for was recognition of the distinctions." Adjusting his tunic back into place, the nyphid settled onto a rotted tree stump and wrapped his slender arms around his knees.

  "Any magical creature can learn the rudiments of shape-changing," he continued. "But a master of the skill brings all of his other…. 'essences' to his new shape, combines it with complete understanding of the creature whose shape he would take." Kadagan paused. "The result is a magical crea shy;ture superior to the natural one. Anything less is s
imply a magically animated shell, no better than a golem." He nod shy;ded solemnly. "Thou art becoming qhen, Khisanth."

  Khisanth was moved to silence. She could feel an almost physical transformation overtaking her body as she began to understand. The dragon shivered in the oppressive heat of the rain-dampened forest.

  "I believe thou art ready to try thy wings."

  Surprised, Khisanth looked back over her shoulder eagerly. Joad was unleashing the vines and slipping the splint from her damaged limb. "It's all right, Joad?" she asked, not wait shy;ing for an answer as she gingerly flexed her wing. "I've thought for several days that it was healed." The joint felt stiff, but not sore. She stretched it farther, opening the wing to full extension. The pearl-white, razor-sharp claw at the tip pierced the treetops.

  Khisanth tucked the wing back to her right side. Her heart pounded wildly with anticipation. Raising up on her hind legs she stretched both wings in unison toward the sky, furl shy;ing and unfurling them with a rhythmic snapping.

  Kadagan's soft, even voice said, "Canst thou launch thy shy;self here?" His gaze traveled up to consider the tall canopy of trees that grew dense some distance before them and afforded protection for Khisanth's lair in the hillside.

  "I'm … not sure," muttered the dragon.

  Frowning, Khisanth searched her mind for memories of flight. All she could unlock was the still image of a tightly packed herd of extremely young dragons, barely distinguish shy;able among the clouds of red dust they kicked up as they pushed their way toward a distant precipice. She wasn't even certain she'd been among the wyrmlings-turned-dragons, or if she'd just heard about them."

  "I think I need a ledge," she mumbled at last.

  "Is the one above thy lair of sufficient size?"

  Khisanth looked over her shoulder at the shelf of rocks that formed a hood over the opening to her lair. It was not overly high, perhaps twenty-five feet above the ground, but it might be adequate. The rocky shelf continued up the face of the steep hillside, interrupted only by the occasional low shrub. Below her lair, the ground dropped away sharply; the line of trees under which they now stood lay at least one length of the dragon's thirty-foot body from the cave.