The Dragon of Despair (111 page)

Special thanks go to Leyton Cougar and Candy Kitchen Wolf Rescue. They took time out of a very busy weekend to give Yvonne Coats (the world’s most patient photographer) and me the opportunity to meet with Raven, their wolf ambassador. You can see some of the pictures from our meeting on my Web site,
janelindskold.com
, and also learn about the valuable work Candy Kitchen is doing to help save former “pet” wolves from being destroyed.

Extra special thanks go to Raven. Thanks to him, I know firsthand what it’s like to be greeted wolf-fashion. It’s a pretty extraordinary experience.

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this novel are either fictitious or are used fictitiously.

THE DRAGON OF DESPAIR

Copyright © 2003 by Jane Lindskold

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.

Map by Mark Stein based on an original drawing by James Moore

A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010

www.tor-forge.com

Tor
^®
is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lindskold, Jane M.

The dragon of despair / Jane Lindskold.—1st ed.

p. cm.

“A Tom Doherty Associates book.”

ISBN: 978-1-4299-1308-9

I. Title.

PS3562.I51248D73 2003
813'.54—dc21

2003040284

^1.
Characters are detailed under first name or best-known name. The initials B.B. (Bright Bay), H.H. (Hawk Haven), or N.K. (New Kelvin) in parenthesis following a character’s name indicate nationality. Titles are indicated in parenthesis.

^2.
Hawk Haven and Bright Bay noble houses both follow a naming system where the children take the surname of the higher ranking parent, with the exception that only the immediate royal family bear the name of that house. If the parents are of the same rank, then rank is designated from the birth house, great over lesser, lesser by seniority. The Great Houses are ranked in the following order: Eagle, Shield, Wellward, Trueheart, Redbriar, Stanbrook, Norwood.