Anders exchanged a long, long look with his sister. They couldn’t leave the boys here. The code of the street said that you helped each other. Anders would want Jerro’s brothers to help Rayna if she were the one who was hurt. And anyway, he simply couldn’t do it.
A small nod told him that she felt the same way. “We’ll need to make a stretcher,” she said with a sigh.
“Where are you going to take us?” Sam asked.
“To where we’re staying,” Anders replied. “It’s, uh... outside the city. We have a medic there, sort of.” He thought of Viktoria, who was at leasttrainingto be a medic among the wolves. She had to know more than they did about what to do with Pellarin’s leg.
Rayna gave him a meaningful look and cleared her throat.
“Oh,” said Anders. “Yes. I’m not going to lie, there are dragons where we’re hiding. But—”
He was immediately drowned out in a wave of protests from both Sam and Pellarin, who tried to prop himself up on his elbows, then collapsed back, wincing in pain.
“They’re on our side,” Anders said as soon as he could get a word in edgewise. “Trust me. I helped you get out of the fire, didn’t I? I’m not going to lead you into danger now.”
“And what else are you going to do?” Rayna asked. “Stay here?”
Sam studied them for a long moment, worried, and Anders knew he was asking himself what Jerro would do.
But then Pellarin shifted restlessly, wincing again, and the decision was made.
“All right,” he said. “Let’s make that stretcher. And if you’re lying about this, I’ll never forgive you.”
“If we’re lying, you’ll have been eaten by a dragon,” Rayna pointed out. “But you won’t be.”
“What about Jerro?” Pellarin asked. “He might come back, and he won’t know where to find us.”
“We’ll try to look for him,” Rayna assured him, her tone turning serious.
Anders wished things were different, and that she didn’t have to saytry.
“We should hurry,” is all he said, “or we’ll miss meeting the others at noon, and we’ll have to carry him all the way to the harnesses by ourselves.”
So while Rayna ran back to the market to finish gathering as much food as she could, promising to stuff the backpacks until they couldn’t take another ounce, Anders and Sam made up a stretcher. They took two brooms and then raided the stable, stringing sets of reins between them to support Pellarin and laying sacks on top of those.
When Rayna returned, she inspected their handiwork and nodded her approval.
“If only the horses themselves had stuck around,” she said. But she helped the boys transfer Pellarin onto the stretcher, and she and Anders took the first turn at carrying him. Sam trailed a few steps behind, clearly still not sure he was making the right decision.
As they turned for the west gate, Anders hoped that Lisabet and Mikkel had found what they needed in the library. Coming here had been a big risk—they couldn’t afford to come back too many times.
They were nearly at the west gate when a big man in a dirty black cloak stepped out to block their way. “What’sin those bags?” he asked roughly.
Behind them, Sam squeaked, and when Anders turned his head, he saw a blond woman with long, curling hair and a dark-blue coat and trousers standing behind them, blocking their way back. Her clothes were fancy—like she’d had money before the city had collapsed.
“It’s none of your business what’s in our bags,” Anders said, his words much braver than he felt. He only hoped his voice sounded steady. “It belongs to us.”
“Where are your parents?” asked the woman. But there was no kindness in her voice—she wasn’t wondering why the children were out alone, or if anyone was taking care of the boy who was so clearly hurt. Anders could tell that as far as she was concerned, the absence of their parents just presented an opportunity.
“They’re not far away,” Rayna replied immediately. “Do you know who this is?” She pointed at Pellarin, whose eyes widened.
“Why should we know who some brat is?” the man asked.
“I thought not,” Rayna said, “or you’d be out of our way already.”
Anders tried to give her a warning look. Rayna was always talking their way out of situations, and sometimesit worked, but sometimes you ended up on the dais in front of half of Holbard, grabbing the Staff of Hadda and turning into a wolf.
But there was no stopping her. “This is the mayor’s son,” she said, “and the mayor is not going to like it if you mess with us getting him to a doctor.”
