“And I know where I saw the other one,” he finished, triumphant. “It was at Ulfar, in Hayn’s workshop. Hayn showed it to us himself, Lisabet! He said that it used to be a big communication mirror, for speaking to Drekhelm. I can’t believe I didn’t remember!”
“I can’t believe you’re remembering now,” she said. “It was just a few words, and weeks ago. And he said itused to be, that it was broken, right?”
“Yes,” he admitted. “But what if he was wrong? What if the mirror on the other end wasn’t broken, it was just put away? On purpose or by mistake, maybe it’s in a dark, quiet room, and the wolves thought that meant it wasn’t working.”
She considered his words, nodding slowly. “If what you’re saying about the way they store their records and artifacts is right, that could be what happened,” she agreed slowly. “It might just have been stored somewhere, when they moved from Old Drekhelm. Or perhaps itwason purpose—they moved right after the battle, perhaps they didn’t want the wolves to be able to contact them.”
“We have to look for it,” he said. “If we can find it, if we can see Hayn’s office, perhaps we can find out something about what’s happening at Ulfar.”
“We can’t let him know we’re there,” she said. “He told us Drifa, the dragonsmith, killed his brother. He must think we’re traitors.”
They were both quiet in the wake of those words. Hayn probably wasn’t the only one who thought they were traitors. Their classmates—their friends—must all think the same. Were they wondering if Anders and Lisabet were all right? Did they hope they were, or they weren’t?
“If we can’t talk to him then we’ll spy,” said Anders. “Maybe enough will happen in his workshop that we can get some clue what the wolves are up to.”
“I bet you’re right,” she said. “At least it’ssomethingwe can do, instead of sitting around waiting for the Dragonmeet to finish discussing things. We’ll be old by the time they’re done, and my mother will attack before they ever decide anything. We’ll start looking tomorrow. It’s the only lead we have.”
Chapter Five
THOUGHANDERS HAD FALLEN ASLEEP FEELINGconfident about their plan, the next morning he had to admit that he didn’t have any real idea about how they were going to find the Drekhelm mirror. As they got ready for school, he and Lisabet talked through their options.
“If we’re going to use the mirror to spy on the wolves,” he said, “we need to be careful who we tell about it. If the Dragonmeet uses it, they could find out something that would help them attack Ulfar. We want to keep us and Rayna safe, but we don’t want to make things worse than they already are.”
“Agreed,” replied Lisabet. “It would be helpful if we could let Theo in on it, because he knows where all the records are. And he’s come so recently from Holbard, I don’t think he’d help the dragons attack it. His family is there. But Mikkel’s his best friend already, and they’re roomies, so we can’t count on him not to tell Mikkel.”
“And Mikkel’s completely for the dragons,” Anders replied. “I’m not sure about Rayna either. She’s a dragon, so she’s in danger from the Snowstone. And the wolves tried to kill her when she transformed. She has every reason to take anything we learn and use it against them. And she might tell Ellukka.”
“So it’s up to us,” Lisabet said with a sigh. “We’ll have to try and get into the archives.”
But it turned out that was easier said than done too. They got out of class simply enough that morning, telling a distracted Leif they were having trouble concentrating and wanted to find a quiet place to read. They took books with them and headed straight for the archive caverns Theo had shown Anders, following the twisting and turning passages inside the mountain by memory.
When they made their way through the final door, they found none other than Valerius standing outside the main entrance to the storage rooms, talking to two other dragons. Anders and Lisabet ducked back inside the passageway and stood in the shadows, waiting to see whether the adults would leave or go inside.
But while Valerius departed after a few final words to the others, the other two took up a stance that Anders and Lisabet recognized from seeing it thousands of times over back in Holbard, wherever the Wolf Guard went. The pair were standing watch, and they were in no mood for any trouble. Which meant that unauthorized wolf children had absolutely no chance of getting inside.
“Perhaps there’ll be something in the books Theo has in the classroom,” Anders suggested, not very hopefully, as they made their way back in defeat.
“Worth a try,” Lisabet replied.
But as soon as they came back to the classroom, Leif looked up, his gaze lighting on the pair of them. “Anders,” he said, rising from his seat. “Come with me, I want to talk to you. Rayna, you too.”
Lisabet headed silently for the long tables, and Anders knew she’d see if Theo had anything in his books. For his part, he followed Leif out of the classroom, suppressing a sudden shiver of nerves. What did the Drekleid want? Had the dragons changed their minds about letting the two wolves stay? But in that case, it would be Lisabet by his side to hear the news, not Rayna. Wouldn’t it?
Leif led them down the hallway and opened a stout door with his own name on it, engraved on a silver nameplate in curling script. Inside was a cozy office that in many ways reminded Anders of Hayn’s workshop at Ulfar. It was crammed top to bottom with shelves down the left-hand side, and they were stuffed with books, artifacts, a few plants with green leaves trailing down the piles below, a teapot, a bag of apples, and what looked like a forgotten loaf of bread down near the floor. Down the right-hand side ran Leif’s desk, equally crowded with his belongings. On the floor was a thick red rug to keep the cold of the stone away. At the other end of the narrow room was a floor-to-ceiling window like the one in the classroom, looking out toward the Icespire Mountains to the west. That was one way Hayn’s workshop was different—it didn’t have any windows, a fact that had forced Anders and Lisabet to pick the lock and break in only a few weeks before.
“Please, take a seat,” Leif said, sinking down into his large, comfortable chair, and pulling two smaller stools out from where they were tucked in underneath the desk. Anders carefully removed a tiny mechanical model of a cow from one and sat down.
Leif took down a small, embroidered purse from the shelf, using a handkerchief so it wouldn’t touch his skin. The fabric of the purse was red, and it was shot through with silver threads, which matched the silver clasp at the top. “This is an artifact,” Leif said, “which after some considerable searching, I have managed to retrieve from our archives.”
Anders was dying to hear what the purse had to do with Rayna and him, but he couldn’t pass up an opportunity to find out how Leif had managed to locate anything, let alone the thing he wanted, in the archive caverns.
“Theo showed me around in there,” he said, making his eyes wide. “It looks like everything’s all just piled up, one thing on top of another. How do you find what you want?”
“You probably shouldn’t go into the archives,” Leif said absently. “There are too many dragons still unhappy about your presence. Still, I suppose nobody told you not to yet. They certainly are disorganized, we need young Theo’s work very badly. As for how I found it, there was a fair bit of undignified crawling around, but I also know that artifacts that served similar purposes used to be stored together at Old Drekhelm, and when they were picked up and carried here, they tended to stay together. So one might not know where exactly something is, but looking for things like it makes it easier to spot the group, and then it’s just a matter of getting dusty.”
Anders nodded, wondering if the mirror would be stored with other mirrors or other communication devices.
Leif shook his head. “My, but I get sidetracked by questions easily,” he admitted.
