As if the sound had released her, Lisabet let out another sob, and without a word, both the twins gently laid down their mother, then walked over to fold their friend up in their arms.
“We’ll come back,” Anders said softly. At first, he meant it as a promise to their mother. But somehow, after a moment, he knew it was a promise to Sigrid as well. “We’ll come back and get them both.”
He didn’t know where the right place would be tolay either a wolf or a dragon to rest. But someone would know. And it wasn’t here.
Their tears still flowing, the three of them turned, hand in hand, to find their way back to Cloudhaven once more. Ache though they might, they couldn’t let their friends down. There was work to do, and not much time to do it.
Beyond Sigrid’s makeshift bed they found a tunnel leading out to the mountains at the base of Cloudhaven. There, Rayna shifted to her dragon form, and Anders and Lisabet climbed up onto her back in silence. Anders wrapped his arms tightly around his best friend as his sister took off, launching herself up into the mist.
The dawn turned the world pink and gold as she beat her wings against the cool air, and Anders tried to let go of his sadness, at least for now, and focus on what the next few hours would hold. That was what Drifa had wanted him to do.
Sigrid would have wanted the war that might begin today, and if they didn’t do everything exactly right, it would still happen just as she’d hoped.
As he, Rayna, and Lisabet made their way in throughthe archway from the landing pad, they found their friends awake and debating what to do.
“Perhaps we should try to go after them,” Det was saying.
“But how?” Isabina asked. “We don’t have the keys.”
“No need,” Anders said, and though he was quiet, somehow they all heard him, swinging around and breaking out into exclamations of relief.
“Are you all right?” Ellukka asked, hurrying forward.
“What did you find?” Jerro asked.
“The answer to both of those is... complicated,” Anders said. “And we’ll tell you all of it later.”
“For now,” said Lisabet, her voice steady, “we have a war to prevent.”
Ellukka studied her, head tilted to one side, as if she sensed something had happened to Lisabet. But then she nodded, and didn’t press for details. “Let’s eat breakfast and make a plan. We don’t have much time.”
Jai hurried back to the fire to begin filling bowls, but when Anders took his and looked up, he realized everyone was watching him. Waiting forhimto make the plan. At least he’d had a little time to think on the way back from Tilda’s and Kaleb’s aerie.
“We can use the Staff of Reya to block their elementalpowers,” he said, a part of him noticing that he didn’t find it difficult to speak to the group anymore. He didn’t find it difficult to... lead.
“And the mirror will make sure they all see the person they trust the most,” Rayna said. “Themselves.”
Sakarias frowned. “The problem is getting them all in the same place, at the same time, without any of them killing anyone before we can use the artifacts,” he said. “That’s going to be tricky.”
“And dangerous,” Mikkel agreed. But his voice was quiet, and calm. He wasn’t refusing or backing away from the task. He was just stating a fact.
“It will be dangerous,” Anders agreed. “If any of us are caught, I don’t know what will happen. They’ll imprison us, at best. Exile us, maybe, I don’t know. The stakes for Vallen are even higher, though. If anyone doesn’t want to be a part of this, I understand. One of the dragons can take you somewhere safe, maybe to a village somewhere.”
Everyone around him was silent. Eventually it was Sam who spoke. “This needs all of us,” he said. “And we’re in.”
“That’s right,” Jerro agreed. “Sam and I can find a way to get the mayor to the meeting spot. It’ll need to be walking distance from the Holbard camp, though.”
“I have some ideas,” said Rayna, and Jerro shot her anervous look. Rayna’s escapades were famous among the street children of Holbard.
“We’ll need to be the ones who bring the Dragonmeet,” Theo said. “We’ll have to fly to Drekhelm.”
Ellukka grinned suddenly. “And when we get there, we’re going to offer them exactly what they want the most.”
“What’s that?” Anders asked.
She grinned wider. “You.”
Sakarias and Viktoria were talking quietly, and looked up. “We can lead the wolves to a meeting,” Viktoria said. “If they see us, they’ll follow.”
