Kass sat atop the highest tower in the Darigan Citadel, looking down at the floating fortress. Clouds crept across her streets, while lightning crashed among the parapets. Those who moved among the streets did so in dour synchronicity, operating like the innards of a large, perfect clock.

Exactly as he intended.

An Eyrie guard entered his presence, stopping at the required distance to bow low and take a knee. "My Lord," he said, his voice low, somber and respectful.

Kass did not turn. "You may recover and make your report."

The guard stood, his wings folding behind him. "My Lord, your master spy wishes an audience."

Kass chuckled. "Very well. Send her up."

The guard bowed again, then left the tiny chamber. A moment later, another figure entered the room. This one was sheathed in shadows.

"My Lord Kass," the shadow said, her voice sweet and bitter all at once. Its slender figure made a kind of curtsey, more in mocking respect to the gesture than anything else. "I come with disturbing news."

Kass turned only slightly, his brow arching. "Yes?"

The figure extended her hand, showing an opened envelope. "A traitor," she said.

Kass's claw snatched the envelope from the shadow's hand. It retreated quickly from his quick movement, as if the speed of the motion alone could wound her. He tore pages from the opened envelope. Reading through the letter, Kass tossed the pages to the ground as he finished, his anger growing by the moment. His breath built in his breast like a thunderstorm as each page fell, a little faster than the last.

When he reached the final page, it remained in his clutches for a long moment. His eyes glared at the words there, his scowl growing wider and wilder.

The shadow stepped back a single step. "What shall be done with him, my Lord?" she asked.

The final page fell to the floor, and Kass reached for his sword. "Leave him to me," he said. "If that Mynci thinks he can send messages to Meridell without my knowing� let's see how he plays his little game with no eyes!"

Kass drew his sword from its sheath. "Bring me Master Vex!" he shouted at the shadow. It paused only long enough for another curtsey.

"NOW!!!" Kass shouted, his voice breaking in his throat.

The shadow disappeared, leaving Kass alone in his tower. Turning back to the window, he looked down at the orderly streets, his breath and heart still quick in his chest.

"He has betrayed you," a voice behind him said.

"Do not betray us," a second voice said.

"Or what happened to Darigan will seem merciful," a third voice said.

Then, all three voices spoke together. "Merciful compared to what we do to you."

Kass nodded, his eyes still fixed out the window. "I won't fail," he said, his left hand clutching something under his mail shirt.

The three voices laughed, quietly at first. Then, their howls grew louder, until even those far below the tower could hear them, and they shuddered from the sound.

Since Darigan's disappearance, his chief lieutenant, an Eyrie named Kass, has taken charge of the Citadel. Under his iron rule, the city's inhabitants have become obedient, hard-working drones.

In the bowels of the Citadel, Kass's engineers are hard at work, pounding out the steel and iron that go into making their instruments of war and destruction. His spies work every hour of every day, reporting from each corner of Neopia, gathering information for their dark lord.

As Kass slowly re-builds the Darigan Citadel in his own vision, far below the walls and towers of the floating city, Meridell heals its own wounds. However, that iron citadel always hovers above the green fields and hills of the countryside. These days, black smoke billows out as its forges work day after day after day, and the citizens work until their fingers blister, all in the name of their new ruler. Kass, the Lord of Darigan Citadel.