"Who are you?" asked the Kagonesti warrior, squatting before the silver dragon's head.
"I am called Lectral among my people, and it would please me to be called that by you as well." The dragon dipped his head, formally polite. "And you are of the wild elves?"
"I'm Hammana, and this is Ashtaway, a mighty warrior!"
"A mighty warrior of the Kagonesti. I am indeed honored."
"My friend is overly kind," Ashtaway declared, shaking his head in embarrassment. "1 have only recently spi- raled my tatoos, and my prowess is far from legendary." In fact, while Ash had accompanied war parties against humans and House Elves, his only kills had occurred in a few fights against the scaly, lizardlike bakali-evil creatures that sometimes penetrated the Kagonesti woodlands and were slaughtered by the wild elves whenever they were encountered. While he had fought well, there were many other braves in the tribe who had earned higher battle honors.
"Perhaps not legendary yet, but you will be." The dragon said this with a shrug, as if it were a statement of fact, not conjecture. Ashtaway felt a shiver of apprehension tinged with profound wonder.
"Who hurt you?" the warrior asked protectively, as if he himself was ready to avenge the attack.
"Four red dragons fell upon me, just two days since. I killed two, but I'm afraid the other two got the best of the fight. They must have been in something of a hurry, though-they left me wounded, when they could have finished the job."
"Are you badly hurt? The cuts look deep," Hammana observed.
"It will be long before I fly again." The dragon wriggled his mangled right wing, but the leathery membrane barely twitched weakly. "And some of these bites, I fear, may begin to fester."
"Hammana is a healer of much skill," the warrior said hurriedly. He turned to the woman. "Can you help him?"
"I need mud, for poultices-and bring me strands from the inner bark of young pines. I saw some mushrooms beside the trail that I'll fetch, and I think I noticed the smell of lilyweal. I'll gather some of that as well."
Leaving the dragon, who seemed not the least bit concerned by his grievous wounds, the pair scoured the woods for a time, gathering the items Hammana needed. While he searched, Ash located a deep, dry cave in the base of the sheer obsidian cliff. He returned to Lectral, who was intrigued by this suggestion of shelter and limped after the warrior to the foot of the black stone wall.
"This will do quite nicely/' the silver dragon admitted.
Hammana, bearing an armful of herbs, roots, and tubers, found them at the cave. Ash built a small fire-for roasting some of the herbs-while the woman began applying poultices of mud and leaves to the worst of the dragon's hurts.
"That feels much better," Lectral allowed, stretching his neck around to let her swab a wound in his shoulder. "Now, if only you had a deer, perhaps, or a wild pig?"
Ashtaway shook his head, shameful. "This has been a hard time for hunting. 1 had stalked for three days when I heard your horn, and had not even seen the spoor of game."
"It is the war," Lectral said with a shrug. "With dragons in the air, the forest creatures must resort to extreme caution-those who survive, that is."
"Aye. And the dragons fly closer than ever," Ash noted. He described the encounter he had witnessed, carefully relating every detail of the red dragon attack and the heroic defense of the knights. "You told me of battling four, killing two. Perhaps they were the survivors." Lectral listened in silence until the tale was fully told.
"This is both bad and good," the great silver serpent declared sagely when Ash had concluded.
"I understand the bad-but how can it be good as well?" wondered the Kagonesti.
"The sending of her scouts this far to the south is a sign that the Dark Queen grows desperate. For too long her armies have been held in bloody stalemate on the Plain of Solamnia, at the brink of the Kharolis Mountains, and perhaps she begins to fear that victory may yet elude her. She must strike at the forces of Paladine in Palanthas, and until she breaches that range she cannot bring her army to bear."
"I have heard of these mountains-but they are terribly far away, beyond the broad plain of Vingaard," Ash said skeptically. "What importance can those battles have to these southern forests?"
"There has come a warrior, a knight called Huma. It is said that through him the forces of Paladine may yet find a way to defeat Takhisis, and to reclaim the plains they call Solamnia. The Queen of Darkness must have heard these tales as well-and she is frightened. Since her armies are held at bay, she no doubt seeks another way to strike at the knights in Palanthas."
"But surely she will not find such a route through these southern forests? Only Silvanesti lies beyond."
"Perhaps it is not attack, but defense, that is now on her mind," Lectral suggested.
"Defense from what? We Kagonesti? Or does she fear that the arrogant House Elves of Silvanesti will take notice of her war and march forth to do battle?" The scorn in Ashtaway's voice clearly showed his own estimation of that likelihood.
"1 doubt she fears the elves. Surely Takhisis knows that if she leaves them alone they will not interfere with her plans for the human realms. Still, as her armies and arms are depleted, she must take steps to guard her base of power and supply in Sanction."
"I have seen Sanction from the mountain heights. It is a smoky, miserable place-why must she guard it so carefully?"
The silver dragon was silent for several minutes, gathering his thoughts. Ash waited patiently until his companion once again spoke.
"For two reasons. Sanction holds the great forges where all of the dark army's steel is smelted, and is the place where weapons that carry the war forward are forged. Her losses have been heavy, and it is known that her slaves are driven hard to hammer new steel, to forge weapons to replace those broken and abandoned on the fields. Sanction is where all this labor occurs. Great mounds of coal are stored there, as well as fields of iron and nickel from which that steel is forged. If she were to lose Sanction, her armies would be left without the lifeline of their power-the materials that allow her to wage this war.
"And second, the city is the site of countless huge storage barns-the food that will keep her army in the field through the upcoming year. Were those to be destroyed, much of the evil strength would be dispersed by the need to forage."
"Cannot the knights attack the city and destroy these forges?" Ashtaway wondered.
"I am certain that they would like to, but the city is guarded by walls and armies against attack from the west. Any attacking force would have to penetrate many barriers in the face of much resistance. Though they might desire to do so, I doubt that even the bravest warriors could succeed."
"What does this have to do with dragons flying over the forest?"
"Just this, I suspect: As I stated, Sanction is secure against attack from the west. But as her situation grows more perilous, perhaps Takhisis worries about attack from some other quarter. True, Sanction is guarded by mountains to the north, east, and south, but the Dark Queen is fearful, and no doubt seeks to reassure herself that these avenues, too, are protected."
"This knight called Huma must be a great man," Ashtaway suggested, "for his presence to cause the Queen of Darkness such concern."
"I am told that he is," Lectral agreed. "And, no doubt, if there was any way through the mountains, the knights would make every effort to strike at Sanction. I suspect her fears on that score are groundless, but she will nevertheless make effort to patrol these forests, just to make sure."
"I wonder what it is that brought the knights into the woodland. The force was too small for a battle such as you describe. This is far from their domain, as well," the elven warrior mused.