“About time you were all in class, isn’t it?” asked the senior of the two, a broad-shouldered woman with a slightly crooked nose, as if it had been broken sometime in the past.
“Just on our way,” said Jai brightly.
“It’s in the other direction,” the woman said, raising one eyebrow, and everyone hesitated.
“We just have to check the results of our science experiment first,” said Sakarias, as Anders silently urged him on, unable to speak himself for fear he’d draw their notice. “It’s really very interesting, we’re studying the moss on the northern wall, and whether it—”
The guard held up her hand, to save herself from the rambling science explanation that was clearly coming, and then she simply waved them on.
Anders didn’t speak again until they were safely past, but Sakarias’s words had jogged something in Anders’s mind. “Will you do one more thing for me?” he asked.
“What is it?” said Viktoria.
“It’s not a small thing,” he admitted. “Have you ever seen the puppet shows of the last great battle? They put them on in the streets sometimes, you pay a copper to watch.”
“Sure,” said Viktoria, her brows drawing together.
“They make fake dragonsfire in those,” he said. “It’s white and gold, like the real thing. I think they use salt to do it, and iron. Would you look it up, find out exactly how they do it?”
“You want us to make fake dragonsfire?” Mateo asked, blinking. “I thought we were trying to stop a war, not start one.”
“I don’t want you to make it,” Anders said. “I want you to see if it leaves any traces, the salt. And then check where the big fire at the port was, and see if you can find anything.”
The others gasped or slowly shook their heads.
“Anders,” said Jai, their voice a whisper. “You can’t possibly think...”
“I don’t think,” said Anders. “I just wonder. And it doesn’t hurt to know.”
They’d reached the wall then, and Mateo was preparing to boost Lisabet up, as Jai and Det looked over their shoulders to see if they were being observed.
“Be careful,” said Viktoria, suddenly slinging her arms around Lisabet and squeezing her old roommate tight.
Lisabet squeezed just as tight. “We promise,” she whispered. “And whatever we learn next, we won’t let it be used to hurt you.”
Mateo pushed Lisabet up the wall, and she disappeared over to the other side, to where Ellukka and Rayna were hopefully waiting to help with her landing.
Viktoria had the same hug for Anders, and then Sakarias was joining in, and then Jai. Det was keeping watch, but he reached back to rest a hand on Anders’s shoulder, and Mateo nearly squished everyone when he wrapped his arms around the whole group.
And then Anders was up and over the wall and lowering himself down to his sister and friends on the other side, before he could find the words to tell his friends what their trust meant. What it was worth, that they could set aside what had happened even a little—something generations of wolves and dragons had failed to do.
But he knew the best way to repay them was to keep them safe.
It was time to head for the Chelle Islands.
Chapter Thirteen
ANDERS ANDLISABET TOLD THE TWO DRAGONSwhat they’d learned as they made their way across the rooftops, hurrying toward the city wall. The morning crowds were still all abustle, which meant now would be the perfect time to get through the gate without the guards noticing them.
“Should we bring Kess?” Rayna asked, cuddling the cat close—Kess had her little black head sticking out of the top of Rayna’s jacket, and looked perfectly content.
“She got so thin while we were away,” Anders said. “It won’t be that safe with us, but I think it’s where she wants to be, and she might not be that safe here either.”
They climbed down from the rooftops and made it out through the gate without incident, letting the crowd on the road slowly carry them away from the city. Ellukka’s usually suntanned skin looked sallow, and even Rayna’s warm brown skin was dull, both the dragons clearly affected by the cold. Anders was so busy worrying about that, that when someone fell into step with him, he didn’t notice straight away.
“Anders.”
Anders nearly jumped out of his skin, whipping around, and then remembering an instant too late that he should have pretended he didn’t know who that was.Mikkelwas walking beside him, dressed in a coat and cloak as well—Mikkel, who they’d left to cover for them back at Drekhelm, along with Theo. An instant later, he realized Theo was on Mikkel’s other side.
