(no subject)

[governorkang]

Granak woke Kang, as promised.

“Anything to report?” Kang asked sleepily.

“No sir. All quiet,” Granak said.

Kang nodded and took his place in a chair by the closed door. Granak stretched out on the floor and was soon asleep, to judge by his dish-rattling snores. Kang’s sleep had been uneasy. He was glad to have a chance to sit and think in solitude, if not silence. He was running over the groupcommander’s words in his mind, reassuring himself that all was well, when he thought he heard, outside the door, the creak of a floor board.

The sound was soft, stealthy. He might have been mistaken. Hard to tell over Granak’s snores. He recalled Granak’s warning about no locks on the door and his own glib reply. Cursing himself for a fool, Kang eased himself out of his chair. Under the cover of Granak’s rumbling, he crab-walked sideways, taking up a position that would put him behind the door if and when it opened.

Another crack of the wooden floor board, this time accompanied by the creak of leather and the very soft jingle of harness. Outside, the rain was falling in torrents to judge by the drumming against the wall. A shove inward. Kang crouched. A human entered the room, moving quietly on the balls of the feet. The human approached the slumbering form of Granak.

“Kang?” the human said, reaching out a hand.

Kang jumped, enveloping the human in his strong arms and covering the human’s mouth with his hand to prevent him from yelling for help.

Granak was on his feet at the same instant, a knife in his hand, moving to the door.

Their captive struggled briefly, instinctively perhaps, and then relaxed in Kang’s hold. The human was wrapped in a cloak and soaking wet, as if he had just come from outdoors in the rain.

“Check the hall!” Kang whispered, holding fast to his prisoner.

Granak peered out the door. “Empty, sir,” he reported. Shutting the door, he put his back against it.

The human made some sounds, lips moving against Kang’s palm. He couldn’t tell for certain, but they sounded like, “Let me go, Kang! You bloody fool! It’s me!”

And then he knew her. Then he remembered.

“Huzzad!” He gasped, released her.

“Hush!” she said warningly, with a glance toward the door. Huzzad threw back the hood of her cloak and turned to face him. “You don’t know your own strength. I’ll be bruised for a week,” she added, rubbing her forearms and twisting her neck.

“Huzzad, I didn’t know—“ Kang protested.

“You weren’t meant to,” she said crisply, cutting his apology short. “No harm done. I should have realized you wouldn’t be caught napping. You were smart to set a watch.”

“Granak’s idea,” Kang said, nodding to the large sivak. “You two haven’t met. Granak, this s is Huzzad, Knight of Takhisis. Huzzad, Granak. Huzzad and I met during that brief time we worked for the Dark Knights.”

“I remember,” said Granak, growling. “Digging latrines.”

“If this is about our abrupt departure—“ Kang began uneasily.

Huzzad shook her head. “You had every right to leave the Knights. You were treated shabbily. Not the first time. And it wasn’t the last time, Kang.”

Huzzad eyed him intently. He could see her as a warm-blooded entity in the darkness, brought her to mind as he had known her during the summer of the Chaos War. He saw her again on the back of her red dragon, a proud warrior. The two had become friends during their brief time together as allies. They had come to trust and respect each other.

“This will have to be quick and short,” Huzzad said, speaking in a low voice. “I’ve just come from a Wing Commander’s Order Council and I don’t have much time. You’ve been betrayed, Kang. Groupcommander Zeck isn’t going to send the troops he promised.”

Kang felt his disappointment as a dull ache inside him. “He has rescinded the order? What was his reason?”


“He didn’t have to rescind the order, Kang. His officers knew he was lying to placate you so that you wouldn’t cause trouble.”

Huzzad leaned close, put her leather-gloved hand on Kang’s arm. “The reason he lied to you. Can’t you guess, Kang? Can’t you figure it out?”

Seeing his blank look, Huzzad smiled sadly. “No, it would never occur to you. You—the ‘monster,’ the ‘lizard-man,’ the ‘perversion.’ We—the so-called ‘civilized humans.’ Surely you must have asked yourself who is arming and training these goblins, Kang. Paying them—and paying them well—feeding them, supplying them.”

Huzzad sighed, her tone was bitter. “Now you have the answer. The Knighthood, Kang. Not the Solamnic Knighthood. The honorable Knighthood of her late Majesty, Queen Takhisis.”

Kang took the blow in the gut. Her words drove the breath from his body. “I don’t understand,” he said bleakly. “Why? Because we refused to dig latrines for them?”

“The females, Kang,” Huzzad said. “They know about the females. One of those dwarves, the runty one who gave the map…”

“Selquist,” said Kang.

He remembered the scrawny runt of a dwarf thief. An outcast from dwarven society, Selquist had been the one to find the map that led to the draconian females. The slimy dwarf had no idea what the treasure was, but it looked valuable and so he set out to claim and Kang and his draconians had set out to reach the treasure first. The escapade had nearly gotten them all killed, but all’s well that had ended well. Apparently, he’d been wrong.

“Yes, that’s it. Selquist. He sold you out. He went to the Knights and told them everything in return for a rich reward. The Knights are scared. Now that you have females, you can propagate. Male draconians are strong and powerful, certainly, but you revered us. You were content to obey our orders, to live by our rules. And if there were rebels among you”—she shrugged—“they would be few and they could easily be removed. But now that you have the ability to reproduce, the Knighthood fears that you and your people will seek to determine your own destiny. And that makes you a threat.”

Determine our own destiny. The words shot across the darkness of Kang’s despair like a blazing star. Suddenly, all his thoughts, his dreams and plans were illuminated. He could see them clearly, give them a name. Destiny. His own destiny. The destiny of his people. He was enchanted, so enthralled and so moved that he lost track of what Huzzad was saying.

“Why are you telling us this now?” Granak was asking. He sounded suspicious.

Huzzad lifted her head proudly. “When I joined the Knighthood, I was given the Vision by our Queen. I believed in the Vision. I have led an honorable life, and have been promoted and decorated for it. I am true to the oath of loyalty I took, both to my fellow Knights, to our Queen, and to those who fought with us as allies. I have ensured that those under my command do the same. But times are different now. I think I am the only talon commander in this entire Knighthood who still believes in the Vision.

“As for Groupcommander Zeck and the rest”—Huzzad sneered—“they are nothing more than thieves and bullies. They fight amongst themselves. They wrestle for power. They terrorize the populace. And for what? Not for glory. Where is the glory in slaughtering peasants? In betraying our allies? They are in it for themselves. For power, for wealth. The only Vision they see is one made of shining steel.

“Leave first thing tomorrow, Kang, and don’t take the main road. Keep to the woods, until you reach Endrikseen Pass Bridge. Zeck won’t murder you inside the keep. There are still powerful draconians in the world, some serving Malystrx and the other new dragon Overlords. This place is rife with their spies. Zeck would be forced to answer for your deaths if you were killed here. But if you’re waylaid on the road…” She shrugged.

“I understand. Thank you, Huzzad,” Kang said quietly. “You are an honorable ally and a true friend. If you ever need help, you can call on me and my regiment. That’s a promise.”

She drew the hood of sopping wet cloak up over her head. “I have to leave now. I’ll be missed.”

She started for the door. Granak, at a nod from Kang, stood aside to let her pass. Pausing, her hand on the handle, she turned to him. “You don’t think I’m going soft and weak like some sugar-coated Solamnic, do you, Kang?”

“Do you dream of growing old by the fire, Huzzad?” Kang asked. “Old and wrinkled, white-haired? Bouncing grandchildren on your knee?”

“No, I don’t,” she said. “But you do, Kang.” She reached out her hand to him. “Good-bye. Good luck.”

He grasped her hand, squeezed it warmly. “Thank you, Huzzad. More than I can say.”

She was gone, shutting the door behind her.