This place held so many artifacts and secrets. If anywhere had the answer to this mess, it was Cloudhaven.
Other places could hide them, but only Cloudhaven couldhelpthem.
They had no choice but to stay. But as he eventually fell asleep, staring at the embers of the fire, he felt more and more uncomfortable about their choice.
Chapter Two
THE NEXT MORNING AT DAWN, THEY ALL ROSEwith hungry bellies, and sore muscles from sleeping on the rock around the campfire. It was decided that Anders, Rayna, Lisabet, and Mikkel would go to Holbard together.
Anders and Rayna were going because they knew parts of Holbard nobody else did, and were used to acting as a team. After all, they had spent their lives growing up in every part of the city’s streets, and frequently across her rooftops as well. Lisabet was going because she had a better chance than anyone else of successfully digging through the ruins of the library, and Mikkel was there in the hope they’d have extra supplies to carry home. All the wolves were worried about friends and family in Holbard, but they knew that the more of them there were, the better the odds someone would be spotted, so the rest ofthe pack loaded the research party up with questions and things to keep an eye out for if they could.
Ellukka and Theo were readying themselves for the attempt to sneak into Drekhelm. Ellukka had grown up among the dragons and knew its layout better than anyone, every crack and crevice of the mountain. Theo had a list of books he wanted to steal, and he knew his way around the archives best—their plan was to try to creep in and out without anybody knowing they’d been there.
Everyone was keen to get underway. A few items of clothing were swapped so Mikkel and Rayna weren’t wearing any red—the traditional color of the dragons, and unusual in Holbard—and then they began their preparations in earnest.
“How do I look?” Rayna asked, smoothing down Theo’s green tunic, which she had switched for her rust-colored one. After the battle of the day before, she needed to look as far from a dragon as possible.
As the four heading for Holbard readied themselves, the others were adjusting Ellukka’s harness so it would fit onto Mikkel, and tying together the broken pieces of Rayna’s harness—it had been badly burned by the Sun Scepter the afternoon before.
Once Anders had finished explaining to Kess that Holbard was no place for cats right now, Det quietly pulledhim to one side. Det was Mositalan—he had grown up there, only coming to Vallen the year before for his transformation, and had the same dark-brown skin and musical accent as the Mositalan sailors who often came into Holbard’s harbor. As well as being the most relaxed of Anders’s pack, he also often thought a little differently. He hadn’t grown up with stories of the evils of dragons, and that changed the way he saw them.
“Anders,” he said softly, “are yousureyou’re all coming back from Holbard?”
Anders blinked at him, but kept his voice low as well. “Of course I’m sure,” he said. “What do you mean?”
Det hesitated. “When you all go, it will only be wolves left here. Ellukka and Mikkel could send dragons for us, to attack. They—”
“They won’t.” Anders cut him off.
“Can you be sure of that?”
“Yes,” Anders said firmly. “Ellukka and Theo gave up everything to help us try and stop the war. They deserve our trust.”
Frustration welled up in him, though he tried to keep his voice calm. He had thought at least Det would give the dragons a chance, but it seemed their lessons at Ulfar had made that impossible.
“We’re all there is to stop a battle even worse than theone we saw yesterday,” he said to his friend. “Believe me, I wish an adult were here to take charge, or there were more of us, or... something. But we’re it. And if we can’t work together, we have no hope at all.”
Det inclined his head gracefully, accepting Anders’s words, and for a few minutes, Anders thought he had solved at least one problem.
But then Ellukka left those adjusting the straps on Mikkel, to catch at Anders’s arm and draw him aside. “Is it safe to leave the wolves here?” she asked quietly.
“What?” Anders said. “Yes, of course it’s safe.”
“You trust them?” she pressed.
Anders groaned. “Yes, I trust them,” he said. “They stood up to the Fyrstulf for us. Ellukka, wolves are apack. You can’t imagine what it took for them to do that.”
“Probably not,” she admitted. “But they’ve had a whole night to think over what they did. Do they still feel the same way?”
“I trust them,” Anders said. “And if you trust me, then you should as well.”
She was quiet for a long moment, and then she nodded. But Anders wasn’t completely sure he’d convinced her.
Finally the harnesses were ready. Anders stepped back out of the way as Rayna shot him a grin, dropping toa three-point crouch, resting one hand on the floor. An instant later she was growing too fast for the eye to follow, shifting her shape as her skin changed to a rich crimson, with highlights of darker bronze and glittering copper darting across her scales. Her wings unfurled and her tail lengthened and gave one cheerful flick, and she was her dragon self, looming above him.
She dipped her head as Anders pulled on her harness, and held still as he tugged at the weak spots they’d mended until he was satisfied they wouldn’t snap in midair, sending him tumbling toward the ground below. But she was clearly impatient to be aloft and spread her wings properly, and after a minute she snaked her neck around so she could nudge at him with her nose. She might as well have spoken out loud—she was saying, “Let’s go, hurry up!”
So he planted one foot on her forearm and grabbed hold of the leather straps, pulling himself up until he could take his place just above her shoulders, fastening himself in. As soon as he reached down to pat Rayna’s neck and signal he was ready, she launched, wings spread, letting an updraft carry her away from their temporary home.
