Astinus the Chronicler dipped his pen and his words flowed on the parchment…
Deep beneath the ruins of Pey, Draaddis Vulter and his god, Takhisis, watched the activity in Orander's laboratory. At least he supposed the Queen of Darkness still watched. By the power of the viewing disk on the mirror, he could not see the globe to know if she was still giving her attention to the activities of the kender, the gully dwarves, and the little wizard.
It was enough to know she had not turned her attention and her frustration back on him. Still, he doubted it would be long before she did. His god was his greatest joy and his greatest terror. For years he had been paying a price for having taken her gifts and misusing them.
Ambition had been his trap. In his youth he worked and studied until he became proficient enough to take his Test in the Tower of High Sorcery. His examination had been easier than he'd expected. His joy was short lived; he was sneeringly told he had nothing to brag about. All the orders needed minor wizards, those who could serve but would not have the talent to advance to the point where they challenged master wizards and the leadership of the order. For them the Test was not as strenuous.
His triumph had turned to dust. He chafed as he served Grenoten, one of the master wizards in the High Tower. Draaddis was a wizard and he refused to be held back, limited to spells that were good for nothing more than housekeeping chores. He studied, but he found he lacked the memory for the greater spells. He had to face the scorn of Grenoten as well as his own disappointment. Draaddis suffered his servitude and his thwarted ambition for two years before he turned to Takhisis.
He begged to be given the memory and the talent to grow beyond his natural gifts, and promised in return to serve the Dark Queen faithfully. Possessing a good mind and a quick tongue, his arguments and promises were convincing and she gave him the gifts he requested. The next day he found himself able to read and memorize spells with a speed and precision he had not dreamed possible.
For a year he made no show of his new talents. He continued to serve Grenoten, to study diligently, and to put up with the master wizard's sneers. Knowing he was learning faster every day robbed the scorn of its power to sting. Draaddis had a plan of his own and when he was ready, he put it into action.
Using a polymorph spell, he reduced three of the master wizard's minions, and then Grenoten himself, to two inches height. When he finished torturing them, he crushed them with his heel.
His revenge had been sweet, but he had not reckoned on the anger of his goddess. Grenoten and the more learned of his minions had been studying and searching for a portal that would allow the Dark Queen to return to the world of Ansalon. In her rage she had subjected Draaddis to two years of torture before she put him to work finishing Grenoten's work.
She had even increased his talents, but instead of the glory he craved, he had lived in the ruins of Pey for thirty years, struggling to find a way for his mistress to return to Krynn.
Only when he was studying was he free of her torture. He could walk the underground passages of his quarters unimpeded as long as he was traveling in the direction of the laboratory. When hunger and fatigue drove him to leave his work, vile arms and tentacles reached out of the walls, clutching at him, tearing his flesh.
The arms and the rending of flesh was an illusion, but his mind added pain to the tortures of his queen. She had promised his suffering would end when she returned to Ansalon. She could not want access to the stones any more than Draaddis.
The clutter of Orander's laboratory disappeared. Draaddis was again aware of his own, neater, but far more sinister workroom and his experiments. Around his viewing disk, still lying on the round mirror, a small black cloud hovered, indicating the magic of its mate was blocked on all sides.
"The little thief took the other viewing disk!" Draaddis was outraged. "He put it in his pouch!"
"Shame on them and their evil natures," Takhisis laughed. To the wizard's ears the sound was feminine, alluring, like the tinkling of bells. Still, the influence of her anger at being thwarted shriveled a basket of freshly picked hen's bane until it dried and crumbled to dust. The little winged rat squealed and retreated into a dark corner.
Draaddis was aware she had been mocking him. At least she had not used her powers of illusion to torture him again.
"We saw enough to know the stones worked," Takhisis said, unconcerned about not being able to see more of the action in Orander Marlbenit's laboratory.
"But what good will that do if he took the gate stones to the Plane of Vasmarg…" He turned to look directly at the orb. "Unless you can travel there."
"I cannot, but the journey is unnecessary. Apparently you did not see the action clearly," the Queen of Darkness replied. "Orander dropped one of the stones before he was pulled through the portal. The male kender picked up the viewing disk, the female kender has the gate stone."
Draaddis took care to keep his expression blank. If he had understood the knowledge of the young wizard who had died giving him the information, both stones would be required to open a portal to another world. Apparently his queen had seen something he had missed. He remained silent, wondering if she would enlighten him.
Takhisis had drawn back slightly, and he could see part of her face as she looked beyond him, deep in thought. Then she turned her head and fastened her gaze on him.
"You don't see the possibilities, do you Draaddis?"
"I confess, my queen, my mind could never match yours."
"The second gate stone will come back to Krynn, my faithful servant. It will come and it will bring an ally. A silly kender has given us the opportunity we seek." Her smile widened when she realized he did not understand. "Death and destruction, war and pestilence, and the opening of the portal."
Draaddis didn't answer at once and Takhisis, correctly divining his problem, gave a soft laugh.
"Don't struggle to understand, Draaddis. I will explain when I am ready. For now, I will tell you how to provide a servant who will not fail to locate the kender. He will bring you the gate stone and the merchesti, as well as the miserable little thieves."
"You want the little fiend as well?" Draaddis asked, puzzled.
"The little fiend, my faithful servant, is crucial to my plan," she smiled. "Through him I will accomplish my every desire, but this too you will wait to learn. I tire of explanations."
"To fulfill your wishes is the purpose of my life, my lady queen," Draaddis bowed.
"True," Takhisis gave him an evil smile. "But we must find the kender quickly, before the young fiend decides he has a taste for kender as well as rocks and wood."
"They are in danger from him?" Draaddis asked. From what he had seen, the young fiend seemed harmless enough.
"Merchesti eat and can digest anything," the Dark Queen said. "Perhaps even the gate stone, so we must get it before the infant merchesti makes a meal of its new friends and crunches up the stone in the process."