By the time they reached the port, Ellukka was wearing yellow-and-white flameflowers and red fentills tucked into her hair, and Lisabet was mumbling something about researching the historical use of the rooftop highways. Anders and Rayna were strategizing.
“The port is a smart place to meet us,” Anders said, even though he hated the place. “There are more visitors to the city there than anywhere else, and the guards are less likely to be keeping a lookout for us that far into town.”
“Agreed,” said Rayna. “Still, we need a better disguise than we’ve got. Now that we’re past the entrance, it would be best if we looked like we weren’t from Holbard at all.”
So they found an inn where visiting sailors and merchants stayed, and climbed down into the courtyard, liberating clothes from Mositala and Halotan from the washing line. “Sorry, visitors,” Rayna whispered. “Welcome to Holbard. It’s not personal.”
Ellukka was well-disguised just by being herself, since nobody knew her face, but Lisabet borrowed the dragon’s cloak, which was bigger than her own, and concealed her face when she kept the hood up. “It looks a little suspicious,” Rayna conceded, “but you might just be shy.”
Rayna and Anders added the stolen clothing to their own—he carried his cloak and wore a bright pink-and-gold vest from Halotan, letting his jacket hang open to show it off. She tied a green-and-gold Mositalan shawl on over her skirts, twirling so it shimmered in the light.
“People will think we’re traders’ children,” Anders explained to the others. “If they notice one thing about you, like how bright your clothes are, most of the time they don’t notice anything else.”
Rayna shot a quick glance at him, brows lifted. When they’d both lived in Holbard—which felt like a lifetime ago, even though it had only been weeks—she’d been the one to say things like that. He thought perhaps she was surprised to hear he knew it too. Then she grinned, and he realized she wasn’t surprised—she was just impressed.
The twins adjusted their outfits, and finally, they were ready to make their way out into the port square to meet Hayn.
Rayna, Lisabet, and Ellukka hadn’t seen the place where the fire had been set—Ellukka hadn’t even seen the port square, of course—and the three of them sucked in quick breaths when they saw the aftermath. Even Anders was taken aback, and he’d seen it at full blaze. The bottom stories of the homes along the port’s edge were gutted, and the scorch marks reached all the way up to the roof, where he’d rescued Jerro and the others. If he hadn’t, it was clear they’d have been scorched too, or worse.
“They’re saying this was dragons?” Ellukka whispered, her cheeks pink. “We’d never! And in the middle of Holbard? Nobody could keep that kind of thing quiet even if they did do it.”
“It would beveryhard to transform into a dragon, light a fire, and transform back again without anyone seeing,” Rayna said, dubious.
“They’re saying it was definitely dragonsfire,” Lisabet said, sounding almost apologetic. “Pure white, gold sparks. It’s very distinctive. You never see that kind of flame anywhere else.”
A sudden thought jolted Anders at her words. Hehadseen the fire somewhere else. Just the day before the Trial of the Staff and his first transformation, in fact. He and Rayna had watched a puppet show, and when the tiny dragons had appeared, the puppeteers had created a tiny dragon’s flame. He’d even talked about it with Rayna—they’d used a kind of salt to make the flame white, and iron filings for the gold sparks.
But it was one thing to produce a handful of flame for a puppet show, and quite another to change enough of it to burn down whole buildings. Surely that was impossible? He tucked the question away for later, because they were reaching the southeast corner and the water’s edge, and it was time to look for Hayn.
They were very near the easternmost pier, ships pulled up on either side of it, mooring ropes strung between them and the wooden structure like intricate spiders’ webs, sailors jumping from ship to pier and back again with the nimble agility of long practice. Near the end of the pier was a series of makeshift food stalls, with tables made of half-barrels and chairs from packing crates.
And there, sitting on the edge of it, was Hayn. He was so big he practically dwarfed the packing crate he was sitting on, his knees up around his ribs, and he was watching the square anxiously. He started to rise to his feet when he saw Anders and the others, and then sank back down again, lest he draw attention.
They hurried over, and Anders and Lisabet took the packing crates nearest him. Rayna and Ellukka exchanged a glance, and then Ellukka settled down on her packing crate facing out toward the square. Her face was the least recognizable, and she would keep watch as the others spoke to the big wolf.
Hayn’s face lit up as they joined him. “You’re here,” he said, relief all over his features.
“This is Rayna,” Anders said, resting his hand on his twin’s.
“Yes,” Hayn said. “Yes, your sister.”
There was no dismissal in his tone, and Anders was surprised to hear the big wolf speak as though he had no doubt Rayna was his sister. “Yes,” he agreed. “And this is—”
“Someone else,” Ellukka said, without turning her head, cutting him off before he could give her name or explain who she was.
“Pleased to meet you,” Hayn said diplomatically.
“Hayn,” Lisabet said, breaking in. “What’s been happening at Ulfar?”
The designer pushed his glasses up his nose, taking a deep breath. “They believe the dragons are preparing to attack,” he said. “Suspicions are running at fever pitch.”
“But the wolves are the ones who have the Snowstone!” Anders said, spluttering. “They’re the ones about to attack.”
“I know,” Hayn said. “But most don’t. Most wolves don’t know about the Snowstone, and they don’t know what happened to you and Lisabet. There are rumors you were kidnapped, and some that you betrayed us.” He looked at Lisabet. “Your—”
“Leader,” she said, cutting him off before he could say “mother” in front of Rayna and Ellukka. “The Fyrstulf, what is she doing?”
Hayn inclined his head, accepting the warning not to mention the connection. “Everything she can to make sure the wolves and people of Holbard understand she thinks an attack is necessary.”
