“Do you think she could be behind this now?” Lisabetasked, her voice so soft she was almost inaudible. Hayn shot her a pained look, and Anders slipped his hand into his friend’s and squeezed.
“I don’t know,” Tilda replied. “But I think that with or without the Fyrstulf, these dragons, wolves, and humans will find any excuse they can to start fighting one another.”
Hayn nodded. “Sigrid was a squad commander back at the time of the last great battle, and though she pushed the pack toward war, I don’t believe she was the cause of it. She was just a symptom of something much larger.”
Anders glanced across at Lisabet, who was studying her shoes with a miserable expression.
“That wolf will never settle for peace,” Tilda said with a sigh. “You mark my words. But Hayn’s right. The elementals—and now the humans too—don’t need Sigrid to find a way to fight. Perhaps we were wrong to hide up here in the mountains. Perhaps we should have done more.”
“You’ve done it now,” Anders said. “You’ve repaired the artifacts for us.”
“We’ve picked a side, all right,” Kaleb agreed. “Now make sure you win.”
Tilda was absentmindedly collecting their empty milk glasses as they all spoke, when she paused and leaned inover Kaleb’s shoulder to take a closer look at Anders.
“What’s that?” she asked, pointing. “What’s that around your neck?”
“They’re Drifa’s and Felix’s old augmenters,” said Hayn. “Both the children have one.”
But Tilda shook her head. “They’re more than that,” she said, gesturing to Anders. “Give it to me for a minute.”
Anders pulled his augmenter off over his head and passed it to her. He was surprised how urgently he wanted it back, though, like it had become a part of him. He was used to having it around his neck now.
“This is a key,” she said, turning it over in her hand and passing it to Kaleb, who nodded confirmation.
“A key to what?” Rayna asked.
“No idea,” said Kaleb. “Do you want anything else, or are you leaving now?”
“This has been a lot of company for one day,” Tilda said, pressing one hand over Kaleb’s mouth to silence him.
In the end, Tilda said that she would drop Hayn back near the town camp so the children could head straight to Cloudhaven. Not that she knew where they were going—she didn’t ask, and they didn’t mention it.
They were grateful for the extra time to fly, though. They had a lot of work to do on their final plans, and according to Leif and Hayn, they had to be ready bytomorrow. That urgency was bearing down on all of them, and Anders and Lisabet climbed up onto the girls’ backs in tense silence.
The flight was longer than it needed to be, because a direct line would have taken them far too close to New Drekhelm for anyone’s comfort. Instead, they dipped south to avoid it, flying over the Great Forest of Mists.
Glancing down over Rayna’s shoulder, Anders remembered the first time he had run through the forest, the time he had tumbled into the river, to be pulled out by Lisabet. It had been the moment that had cemented their friendship forever. He looked across at her where she was hunkered down on Ellukka’s back to stay out of the wind, and wished he knew the right thing to say, that he could take away her worries and her guilt over her mother.
Dusk arrived long before they reached Cloudhaven, turning the mist beneath them a golden pink. By the time they reached the rocky spire itself, night had long since fallen, and the sky above them was scattered with silver stars. They’d napped while the dragonsmiths and Hayn worked, and Anders was glad of it—no doubt most of their friends would be asleep by now.
Bryn and Det were sitting by the archway through to the entrance hall, talking quietly and keeping watch for the four of them, and Anders waved as he slid downRayna’s side. A tiny dark shadow—Kess the cat—jumped out of Det’s lap and came running over to greet them.
Anders leaned down to run one hand along her silky back, but Rayna twisted her head around, hitting him with a blast of hot dragon breath as she rumbled impatiently at him.
“Sorry, Kess,” he whispered. “Just a minute.”
No sooner had he pulled his sister’s harness away than she threw herself into human form, grabbing for his hand.
“Anders, I’ve got it!”
“Got what?” he asked, but she was already towing him toward the entrance, Lisabet and Ellukka hurrying to keep up.
“It’s a key!” Rayna crowed. “Bryn, just the dragon I need!”
“Welcome home?” said Bryn, her brows raised.
“Rayna, what’s going on?” Anders tried, as she pulled him through the arch.
