Cresting the near side of a hillock, Joad turned left and fol shy;lowed a narrow, twisting gully downhill. Rounding a sharp corner, the gully joined with a trickle of water, scarcely a stream since it came only to where the fur on Khisanth's bad shy;ger legs gave way to paws. As she splashed in the cool water behind the mysterious nyphid, Khisanth's curiosity grew with each step.
Joad stopped so suddenly, Khisanth's pointed snout met with the back of his legs. He jumped to one side of the gully and gave her a clear view of an abrupt drop, the small stream of water forming a narrow waterfall. Joad leaned over and looked down, waving Khisanth to do the same.
Creeping forward cautiously on the opposite bank, the badger peered over the edge and was amazed. The drop was short, perhaps one and a half times the nyphid's height. But that was not what amazed Khisanth. Like a furry blanket, lush green moss covered every dead branch and rock below in a six-by-six-foot swatch. Somehow it had sustained its rich emerald color long after the underbrush around it had turned brown. The forest seemed to be holding its breath; a damp green scent filled the air.
"It remains green year-round," said Joad.
"How? The stream?"
Joad bobbed his head toward the center of the collection of mossy rocks. "Their energy," he said mysteriously. "Look, they know we're here."
Squinting, Khisanth saw thousands of the yellow-tailed glowbugs that often hovered near the nyphids at night. The insects crawled through the green cracks between the rocks. She could hear the faint sound of tiny, fluttering wings. "Why are they all gathered here?"
"They always return here to pass the daylight hours. Each spends its lifetime gathering energy. They give it back to us by illuminating the night." Joad paused, then gave a happy sigh. "That is a life well spent, I think."
With that, the nyphid led the way back up the ravine. Khi shy;santh was silent, pondering the great wisdom she was certain she'd just witnessed. But like most of the nyphids' lessons in qhen, Khisanth did not immediately understand the mes shy;sage.
The difference now was that she was content to wait, for Khisanth knew that one day Joad's message would be clear to her.
Chapter 5
Autumn had given way to an early and unseasonably cold winter in the Khalkist Mountains, bringing snow to the higher eleva shy;tions, which Khisanth was now approaching by wing. A shadowy form against the night sky, the black dragon sliced through the pearly flakes, silent, steadfast.
Khisanth could scarcely remember her first stumbling attempts at flight, just a few months past. The activity was now as much a part of her spirit, as important to her vitality, as eating. Where once she had to concentrate to counter the effects of even the smallest air currents, her body now utilized them without conscious thought. Khisanth remem shy;bered hearing before the Sleep stories of dragons who'd been permanently grounded by wing damage. She knew she would commit keptu, ritual dragon suicide, before she would live without flying.
Solinari, the white moon, had made two full revolutions around Krynn since Khisanth had last flown this route to Styx. The days since the encounter with the band of ogres had been overfilled with silent study, deprivation to promote patience, deep breathing to foster concentration and strength. Each day Khisanth grew closer to achieving the heightened sense of awareness, of qhen, that Kadagan taught in his mys shy;terious, sometimes nonsensical, way. She suffered occasional feelings of foolishness and humiliation because she had seen the positive effect of every single exercise, no matter how odious. She felt less the ignorant child, more the admiring student. Best of all, whenever she was able to demonstrate true patience or unique observations, Kadagan rewarded her with time to develop her natural spellcasting abilities.
Khisanth knew from the pace they set, never Kadagan's composure, that the nyphids were increasingly anxious to complete her training. Whenever she inquired about Dela's health, Kadagan calmly informed her to focus on her studies.
Until this morning. Waiting for Kadagan to arrive for the daily lessons, Khisanth had been on her haunches in the tiny cave, tinkering with the effects of a simple cantrip. She could create and hold a healthy spark on the tip of her claw, but had difficulty turning it to flame. Summoning her energy, she'd channeled it down her right claw arm and focused it on the index talon, banishing all other thoughts. A tiny, flicker shy;ing yellow flame leaped to life. Khisanth's lips drew back in a smile of triumph.
Suddenly the usually serene and nimble nyphid stormed into her lair. Startled, Khisanth's concentration wavered, and the flame extinguished. The dragon glared at Kadagan through a thin trail of smoke.
"It is time," the nyphid had said, out of breath. His glow shy;ing golden hair was disheveled, his green tunic twisted, his soft skin flushed. "Get ready to depart before the sun climbs to midday."
Khisanth stood up, bumping her horns on the ceiling. "Whaf s happened?"
"Dela's signal to Joad has been weakening," the nyphid explained hastily. "It has become erratic. Joad thinks they are moving her … or something worse." Kadagan's expression became sadder than Khisanth had ever seen. "I had hoped to give thee more time for study, but we dare not wait another moment. We may lose her if we do…."
One way or another, Khisanth had thought inwardly. "I'm ready," was the reply she voiced.
"Perhaps," the nyphid said before departing again to make his own preparations.
Khisanth had only one thing to prepare; a way to transport her small treasure hoard. She was determined not to return to the tiny cave, no matter the outcome in Styx. The sling Kadagan had fashioned before had been utilitarian, but too cumbersome to carry as a human. She needed something that would free her hands and be unobtrusive, if ever a dozen swords could be. She'd settled on stringing the hilts of the weapons through a length of soft vine and tying the unusual necklace tightly around her throat. She could use a spell to shrink the choker later.
Now, many hours after leaving her lair, Kadagan's finger was aimed ahead of them in the twilight sky, toward the dull glow rising up from the lantern-lit village. "There it is," he said from behind her head.
Both nyphids, wearing furry vests over their usual green tunics, rode between Khisanth's wings and neck. Joad sat behind Kadagan, clutching the younger nyphid. Slung over the elder nyphid's shoulder was a sack of dried curative herbs.
Joad's spirits had picked up considerably in the past month, as Khisanth's qhen skills increased. The elder nyphid had begun to believe that the dragon might be able to rescue his daughter. After the trip to the moss garden, when he'd first spoken, she found she pushed herself even harder, seek shy;ing the silent wise one's praise.
As he peered toward the village where his daughter was held, however, concern filled Joad's eyes. He alone knew the depth of Dela's despair, how little time was left.
Khisanth would have recognized the village without the nyphid's help. Under her now, the rolling farmlands on the north edge of Styx were tilled and dotted with snow-covered hayricks, harvested since her last trip. Just ahead, trails of smoke rose from the chimneys that poked through the thatch roofs on the buildings clustered around Miremier Bay. One street followed the curve of the bay, its dirt turned to slushy mud by the snow. At regular intervals, impossibly narrow cobblestone walkways passed between the closely placed buildings, like the spokes of half a wheel.
Wasting no time, Khisanth tipped her wings and spiraled earthward. She lowered her hind feet, clutched in flight to her belly, and landed gracefully on a snowy path. Kadagan and Joad slipped off her back, their soft booted feet dropping silently into the frigid powder. The three stood where the tree line met the mountains, just beyond the light from the covered lanterns on the town wall.