Khisanth remembered thinking as she passed it that morn shy;ing that the opening to Khoal's lair didn't show its usual signs of a protective spell, as if he'd left and forgotten to cast one. Engrossed in drilling, everyone in the camp heard shrill howls and saw flashes of ghostly blue light cut through the row of trees that hid the entrance to the lairs. Rushing inside, they'd found Neetra in his cave, missing a fang, his eyes red orbs in his soot-covered face. He nursed a claw that was blis shy;tered and cracked open. The cave wall opposite Khoal's den was blackened except for a vague outline at the center. Khi shy;santh and the others could only speculate on the exact nature of the spell Neetra suffered that morning. Neetra's hate-filled look and Khoal's smug expression left no question that they shared some bitter secret.
Hurrying now past the other lairs, Khisanth removed the protective wards from the archway that led to her own lair. She was momentarily annoyed that Dimitras had not yet delivered the live, large mammals for the dragons' usual feeding after the day's drill. Highlord Maldeev forbade the dragons to hunt for themselves, saying it drew too much attention to them. Even so, Khisanth had slipped away sev shy;eral times as a vulture. Flying far from Shalimsha, she'd changed back into a dragon and fed heartily, just for the sheer pleasure of it. Khisanth would have liked to gulp some shy;thing to tide herself over now, but her gnawing hunger would have to wait until after her secret meeting with Jahet.
Khisanth had many secrets. In addition to her ability to shapechange, she knew of a shortcut to Janet's secluded lair that ensured absolute secrecy-even from Jahet. At the back of Khisanth's chamber a fresh mountain stream cascaded in a steady, three-foot-wide waterfall through a vertical crevasse. Desiring to swim one day, but too large to fit into the flow as a dragon, Khisanth used the opportunity to keep her qhen skills honed. Shapechanging into the form of an alligator she'd once seen in the moors, she stepped into the falls and discovered a small, dry crevasse in the stone wall behind it.
Curious, she'd followed the narrow crack for some distance. To her great surprise, it led to a similar crack in the back of Jahet's lair. The other dragon seemed unaware of the crevasse, likely because it was concealed on her side by a curved rocky outcropping that ran from floor to ceiling; her size prevented her from seeing beyond it.
In a blink, Khisanth shapechanged into a small brown field mouse, darted behind the curtain of cold, falling water, and slipped through the crevasse. In this form, the distance to the back of Jahet's lair seemed miles, but soon her little mouse nose smelled fresh blood. Poking her pink nose and black eyes just beyond the stone curtain into Jahet's lair, the dragon-turned-mouse could see her friend feasting on a cow, its side torn and bloody, eyes open wide in death. The smell of fresh blood tickled Khisanth's hungry stomach. The rank shy;ing dragon had many privileges, concluded Khisanth, not the least of which was that Jahet got her meals delivered first.
Suddenly the dragon looked up. Her frenzied gaze fell upon the unexpected mouse at the back of her lair. Khisanth was glad that Jahet had already eaten, or she might have been a snack, and not allowed to skitter around the perimeter of Jahet's cave. Khisanth ran as fast as her mouse legs would carry her to the antechamber and reverted to dragon form beyond Jahef s vision.
The antechamber to Jahet's lair was large, with a very high ceiling that curved slightly away from the entrance. The stone walls were rough and glistened with moisture; the high humidity of summer made these quarters reasonably com shy;fortable for the swamp-loving dragons.
Displaying proper dragon etiquette, Khisanth waited until she heard Jahet finishing her meal before announcing her presence. "I'm at your disposal, Jahet."
Jahet's head swung around to face the opening between her lair and the antechamber. She pulled stringy pieces of raw meat from between two razor-sharp fangs before speaking.
"That's strange, I didn't sense your approach," said Jahet, looking a bit puzzled as she shuffled forward to enter the
chamber. The dragon's meal had made her slightly sleepy, so she circled slowly around and finally lowered her form to recline on the cool stone floor.
"I asked you here because you and I both know your skills are being wasted. You'll never rise beyond the fifth rank if you continue to refuse a union. It's a credit to the highlord's belief in your abilities that you've maintained your position without a rider."
"There you have it!" cut in Khisanth quickly. "Many thought Maldeev would send me away after the first month for declining to take a rider. But he hasn't. I've maintained my current position for nearly two years without a rider." Jahef s was a familiar lecture, as were Khisanth's answers.
"You used to be the third-ranked dragon, before two others joined." Jahef s eyes narrowed. "You and I both know you've maintained the fifth ranking simply because no other dragons have stepped forward in the last year. One inevitably will."
"I'll deal with that problem when it arises," Khisanth said a trifle defensively.
"But why should you have to, Khisanth? Think how far you could climb in status if you took a rider! I'm certain you'd overtake Khoal and be ranked second in no time."
Khisanth's thick-boned wings rose in a semblance of a human shrug. "I've learned the value of patience-a dragon's life is long. Someday I'll rise to the second rank without the hindrance of a human."
Jahet's brows raised, and she looked askance. "Do you think I bend more than my knees to Highlord Maldeev?"
Khisanth lowered her guard momentarily, one eye blink shy;ing rapidly at her own unintended slight. "I wouldn't pre shy;sume to interpret your relationship. I only know that I've yet to meet the human who's proven himself the equal of a dragon." To her annoyance, she remembered one who'd managed to break her nose, but she'd been a human then, too. That didn't count. "Perhaps you've found the only one in Maldeev," Khisanth suggested as a conciliatory afterthought.
"Flattery doesn't become you, Khisanth," Jahet said sourly. "I haven't summoned you to argue, but to warn you. I
risk much telling you this," she continued, dropping her voice to a whisper, though there was no one around to hear them. "That which you both want and fear may happen sooner than you think." Khisanth looked puzzled.
Jahet pressed on. "Maldeev has been watching your progress, and I sense his pleasure. The nature of his questions tell me that he's anxious to move you up in the ranks, but feels he can't unless you take a rider."
Khisanth shrugged noncommittally, but inwardly she felt a jolt of delight at the news. "Maldeev is highlord. He'll find a way to raise my rank if he truly believes it to be in the best interest of the wing to do so."
Jahet smirked at her. "Ah, but you're forgetting the other dragons…."
"I try to," Khisanth cut in wryly.
"You have made enemies among them," acknowledged Jahet, "partly because of your superior skills. They also feel you receive favored treatment."
"Don't I?" Khisanth asked with brutal honesty.
Jahet nodded. "It's true. Our friendship has not helped them accept you." It was impossible not to notice the other dragons' animosity for Khisanth, despite the fact that Jahet didn't interact with them off the drill field, since her lair did not adjoin theirs.
"Neither has your refusal to take a rider, nor Maldeev's tolerance of it."
"You've put your talon on it-they're jealous," said Khi shy;santh.
Jahet wagged a digit at her defensive friend. "Don't under shy;estimate the power of their envy." She locked eyes with Khi shy;santh. "Make no mistake, Maldeev and I allow you privileges for our own purposes, but neither he nor I can protect you from their spitefulness. Any blatant intervention on our parts would simply make matters worse."