Just the day before, Anders had stood here believing those very equinox celebrations would include the sacrifice of his sister’s life. That she and the other kidnapping victims from Holbard were part of some terrible dragon ritual. Now he knew it was simply a party, and that the kidnappings were only to rescue those children who would die if they weren’t helped to make their transformation into dragons.
So, said the little voice in his head,that’s one problem out of about nine hundred and seventy-three solved, at this rate we’ll be safe in no time.He shushed the voice as Leif dismissed them.
Nobody spoke until they had closed the doors behind them and were out in the hallway.
“Well,” said Ellukka. “Not exiled or locked up. That went better than expected.”
“What?” Anders said, turning to face her. “You thought they were going to—”
“Never,” said Rayna. “I mean, they might have tried, but we’d have argued with them, don’t worry. And Leif’s right. Even the ones who don’t trust you will see that it’s better to have you where they can see you.”
“Great,” Anders muttered, letting Rayna start him moving down the hallway again with a gentle push.
“Overall, I think it went quite well,” Lisabet said. “As long as Leif’s protecting us, we’re safe, right?”
“You should be,” Ellukka agreed. “But I wouldn’t give anyone a reason to mistrust you, that’s for sure. Leif’s in charge, but he’s still only one vote out of twenty-five.”
The danger of their position hung over Anders’s head as they walked down the hallway, but at least they had a chance to stay here at Drekhelm. They’d bought themselves some time—or rather, Leif had bought it for them.
Perhaps they could yet find a way to prove themselves to the dragons while keeping their pack safe. Perhaps the answer did lie with his icefire. If he could figure out how to create it again, could the threat of using it keep both the dragons and wolves from attacking each other? Would that give Rayna and him a safe place to live? He tucked that thought away for future consideration.
“Where are we going now?” he asked as they turned a corner.
“Mikkel and our friend Theo will be in the gardens,” Ellukka said. “We’ll go find them.”
A question was nagging at Anders, but he wasn’t sure how to voice it.
“Ellukka,” he said, and she looked back over her shoulder without breaking her stride. “I didn’t expect—Thank you for standing up for us in there.” He could hear his voice tilting upward at the end, the question unspoken but clear enough—But why did you do it?
Ellukka shrugged, dismissing the thanks. “You’re Rayna’s brother,” she said. “If they sent you away or locked you up, she’d do something stupid, and then I’d have to get involved inthat, and I have better things to do than chase around after one of Rayna’s plans.”
Anders felt a faint smile tugging at the corner of his mouth, even as Rayna elbowed Ellukka in the side. He’d wondered for a moment the day before if Rayna had made friends as close as he had while they were apart.
But looking at the two of them side by side, he knew the answer. Outwardly, the two girls couldn’t be more different. Rayna had warm brown skin and curly black hair constantly trying to escape from her braids. Ellukka was a full head taller than the other girl, and she had pink-cheeked creamy skin and blond hair pulled into perfectly neat plaits that fell down in front of her broad shoulders. She was wider, heavier, and stronger than Anders’s sister. What they had in common was the same determined line to their mouths.
If Ellukka liked Rayna enough to know about all her harebrained schemes and still want to stand up for her, then the answer to his question was yes—Rayna had definitely found at least one friend here.
Perhaps he could too. He and Rayna had always found a way to live in Holbard, tucked into whatever attic or stable loft they could find, working together to keep themselves fed and warm. He’d managed at Ulfar, too, just as she had here. Now that they were together again, a team again, they could make another home.
He didn’t have time to dwell on that, though, because Rayna was opening the door ahead of him, and he was catching an impossible glimpse of greenery.
The sight before him made him think he must still be asleep back in the guest room, and that everything that had happened that morning had been a dream.
He was in a large cave, with an opening leading out of the mountain, and a view beyond the cave mouth of snowy crags and dark rock stretching into the distance. But that wasn’t what caught his attention.
Inside the cave there was lush green grass underfoot, and plants sprouted from every inch of the walls and ceiling. Long fern fronds swayed faintly in the breeze; thick bushes with shiny, dark-green leaves crowded together; small purple flowers peeked shyly from the gaps in between. The air was as warm against his skin as a summer’s day, and the whole cave was just as bright as one.
Mikkel stood over where the cave opened out onto the mountainside, his tousled copper head together with another boy’s—perhaps this was Theo. He had the same light-brown skin as Viktoria—Anders felt a pang at the memory of his friend—and the same silky black hair pulled back into a ponytail. He was thin, but his slender frame seemed to hold a kind of barely contained energy, and he was bouncing on the balls of his feet as the two boys talked.
“Isn’t this place incredible?” Rayna asked with a grin as Ellukka strode toward the others. “It’s half mechanical invention, half artifact. There are artifact pumps that bring up heat from deep inside the mountain, and tucked in behind the plants are little tubes that carry water around, and those mirrors by the entrance relay the light in. A famous dragon created it all.”
“Not all,” Lisabet said. “Not if there are artifacts here. A wolf must have helped as well.”
Rayna dismissed that with a shrug, and by then they’d reached the two boys.
“Made it through the Dragonmeet?” said Mikkel.
“Just,” Ellukka told him.
