Anders saw the Wily Wolf in the distance—the tavern that stood at the highest point in Holbard. He and Rayna had slept there more than anywhere else, tucked into the space under a little hatch beneath the grass, curled up with Kess the cat. He’d told Lisabet about the hiding place, and Lisabet had told Sigrid—which had been the subject of Anders and Lisabet’s first and only fight—and though he wished they could hide there now, Professor Ennar had told them that the wolves were now using it as a lookout point. Guards were no doubt scanning the skies for dragons right this very moment, not knowing that two of them were walking across the rooftops not far away.
“I know we just had some really big revelations,” said Lisabet, “but I’m starving. And it’s going to be a long day.”
“Me too,” Rayna said. “We should buy something to eat.”
“What she said,” added Ellukka, who had taken her cloak back from Lisabet now that they were on the rooftops again, and had it wrapped tightly around herself, shoulders hunched against the cold.
“I agree,” said Anders, looking across at Rayna. “I don’t suppose while we were walking into town, or across the square... ?”
Rayna pulled out the little red-and-silver purse once again, and when she shook it, coins jingled inside. Anders had a pretty good idea where his pickpocket sister had gotten them, but for once he wasn’t in the mood to worry about it. He and the others were trying to save the world, and he figured the world owed them lunch.
Once upon a time he would have felt bad that Rayna had thought to find them some money when the thought hadn’t crossed his mind. He didn’t now. He was contributing, and he knew it. Just in different ways.
“It would be better if Ellukka went down,” he suggested. “Nobody knows her face.” He knew as he said it that everyone was thinking of the dragon they’d just seen fleeing from the port, but Ellukka simply nodded.
“I’ve never been here before,” she said. “I won’t be recognized.”
They made their way across to Dreibaum Square, one of their favorite haunts, and lowered her down into a nearby alleyway with clear instructions on how much to pay for what she wanted.
“I wish I had my fishing line,” said Rayna wistfully, as they watched her go. “I really feel like a sausage.”
“A what?” said Lisabet, confused. But Anders shook his head—it would sound ridiculous if he tried to explain what the two things had to do with each other. That was a story from their time out here on the streets of Holbard.
They sat in silence for a little, waiting for Ellukka, a gentle breeze blowing across the rooftops. “So,” Rayna said eventually. “We have an uncle.”
“He’s a great choice,” Lisabet said. “He’s one of the nicest people I know. And he’s smart too.”
“You know much about him?” Rayna asked, instantly curious.
“He’s friends with my mother,” Lisabet settled on. “Anders has met him too.”
“He’s the one who found me, the day we transformed,” Anders said. “And I met him after, at Ulfar. He was always kind to me. I think if I could have chosen any of the adults I met at Ulfar, I’d have chosen Hayn.”
It wasn’t long before Ellukka arrived, bearing a bag full of hot pastries with fish and creamy sauce inside, and a bottle of milk with a cork stopper in the top for all of them to share. “There are so manypeopledown there,” she said, her eyes wide. “And so much noise, and they’re selling—you should see all the things they’re selling!”
“We know,” Rayna pointed out, but that didn’t stop Ellukka. She kept on, as they ate their pastries, and made their way across the rooftop meadows to the meeting point. She listed all the things for sale at the stalls, talked about the colored doors on the houses, the horse-drawn wagons, and the musicians she’d seen on one corner. Through Ellukka’s eyes, everything that was normal to Anders was new again. It was strange that she was so accustomed to extraordinary things like the dragonsmith Flic gardens up at Drekhelm, but so amazed by something as simple as a shop selling candles and imported bales of cloth.
But there was something else about the city that Anders was noticing through Ellukka’s eyes, and he was sure Rayna and Lisabet had noticed it too.
Everywhere he looked, he saw the Wolf Guard. He’d grown up with patrols, and even a couple of months ago, in the weeks before his transformation, he’d gotten used to seeing more guards on the street than usual. But now there seemed to be a pair on every corner, some in their gray uniforms, some in wolf form. They were out in force, looking for spies, for dragons, and for Anders, Rayna, and Lisabet.
The Wolf Guard stepped in front of anyone they wanted to question, looming over them, pushing for answers from humans wrapped up in coats and cloaks against the cold. He wanted to insist that this wasn’t who the wolves were—that they were loyal, protective, that they cared about the people of Holbard. But it was hard to sound convincing just now, and he stayed silent.
They found a good spot to pass the rest of their time in the lee of a rooftop, settling in amid the flowers to wait, talking through the earlier meeting at the port square. Anders and Rayna kept coming back to the little details, trying to accustom themselves to the idea that they finally had another member of their family, after spending all their lives thinking they’d never know who their parents were, let alone discover a living uncle.
But eventually they had a different question to worry about. With a little more than an hour left before sunset, they started keeping watch for Hayn, taking turns sitting at the edge of the roof in pairs and watching the swirling crowd for the distinctive figure of the big wolf.
But the appointed time came and went, and the sun sank down until it kissed the horizon, and still he was nowhere to be seen. Eventually the city grew dark and still, and Hayn had not come.
“What do we do?” Lisabet asked quietly. “Do we give up?”
“Well, we know it wasn’t a trap,” Rayna said. “If it had been, he wouldn’t have shown, but instead there’d be a dozen of the Wolf Guard up here to grab us. He heard Ellukka say we were heading for the rooftops. Something must have delayed him.”
“Still, we can’t wait all night,” said Ellukka. “Perhaps we should try and come back tomorrow. It’ll be hard to convince Leif a second day in a row, though. He’s going to be mad we’re back so late.”
“We have to hold on a little longer,” said Anders, desperately watching the street. “He’ll come, I know it.”
Chapter Seven
