“We have to keep it away from the dragons,” Lisabet said. “They’ll use it to warm up the whole of Vallen, to attack the wolves.”
“So do we hide it somewhere?” Theo asked, looking out into the fog, in the direction Mikkel and Ellukka must have seen the dragons coming from. “If they’re going to catch us, we can’t have it with us.”
“We—” Mikkel got no further—a sudden wave of cold swept over the wide landing platform, so strong that even the natural power of Cloudhaven’s deep-rooted lava was overwhelmed. His knees sagged, and Theo cried out, and in their dragon form, Ellukka and Rayna groaned.
“No,” Anders said. “We have to use it as quickly as we can. If they catch us, they’ll make us prisoners and take it for themselves. We can’t risk that happening.”
“But how?” Theo cried, frantic. “We still don’t know what it does, apart from make things warmer. Or how to use it, or where we should use it, or—”
“I can use it,” Anders said, cutting him off. “And we’re taking it to Holbard.”
“Holbard?” Lisabet’s eyes went wide. “If you think those dragons chasing us are mad, just wait until we fly right over the capital city! The wolves will bring a whole new meaning to the wordmad!”
“It’s the most likely place for Sigrid to have the Snowstone,” said Anders. “If she’d left the city to hide it, someone would know, and there’s no way she’d want it where she couldn’t control it.”
“So either the wolves are going to catch us, or the dragons will,” Mikkel said, buckling the final piece of Ellukka’s harness into place.
“And we don’t even know which is worse,” Theo concluded, as the two boys ran back to find room to transform.
“We have to use it,” Anders said. “Whatever it costs. Or there’ll be war. And we have to keep it away from the dragons...”
“... or there’ll be a war,” Lisabet finished for him.
Rayna stamped one foot on the ground impatiently, with a noise that wanted to be a roar, but only dared be a whisper.
“What she said,” Anders agreed. “Let’s go.”
A few seconds later, Mikkel and Theo were dragons, and Anders and Lisabet were scrambling up onto Rayna’s and Ellukka’s backs, Anders jamming the scepter through the straps for safekeeping, Lisabet tucking Kess inside her jacket.
One after another, the four dragons launched, tipping out into the endless fog and turning for Holbard.
Chapter Fifteen
RAYNA BURST OUT OF THECLOUDHAVEN MISTS,hurtling toward Holbard as fast as her wings could carry her.
But the Drekhelm dragons were south of Anders and his friends, and now they lay between them and the city. Their only hope was surprise.
Anders couldn’t identify any of the adult dragons—he’d never seen them transformed—but he had an inkling that most of the Dragonmeet, if not all of it, was in the air right now. They were all at least twice as big as the four Finskólar dragons, and they weren’t exhausted either.
Anders heard a bellow of defiance off to one side, and he saw Mikkel peeling away to their left, heading into the Icespire Mountains. An answering roar came from the right, and Theo tore off toward the rivers and lakes. Ellukka was hot on Rayna’s tail, calling out encouragement.
For a moment Anders had no idea why his friends were abandoning him—and then as their pursuers split, it came to him. Mikkel had seen a chance to lead away some of the Dragonmeet, and Theo had understood his bellowed instructions, though Anders had not. The dragons chasing them had no way of knowing what the foursome were doing, or who might be the threat, so they had to chase all of them.
Now there were only ten or so dragons pursuing Anders, Rayna, Ellukka, and Lisabet, fewer than half those in the air. It would still be a race, but their friends had just improved their odds.
Ellukka was making use of her extra strength, weaving around Rayna, no doubt certain that her father would stop the Dragonmeet harming the twins when there was a chance his daughter might be hit.
Anders hoped she was right.
Did the dragons think the children wanted to betray them to the wolves? Or had they somehow guessed they had the Sun Scepter, or something like it, and wanted to take it for themselves?
Another wave of cold hit them, rippling through the air like a gust of wind, and every dragon he could see dipped for a moment, fighting against its weakening force.
Somewhere ahead, there was no doubt that Sigrid had found the augmenter she needed. And whether or not she knew there were dragons on the way to Holbard, she was using the Snowstone to generate as much cold as she could.
The cold seemed to hit the adult dragons even harder than the children, and as minutes stretched to an hour, and then two, somehow Ellukka and Rayna stayed just ahead of them. Anders could hear the dragons roaring in pursuit, and he knew Rayna and Ellukka must be understanding the terrible threats coming from behind them, but neither of the girls faltered. The waves of cold told them they had no choice but to get to Holbard and use the Sun Scepter—and everything Torsten and the others had said and done told them that they couldn’t let the adult dragons be the ones to do it.
They’d flown over the Great Forest of Mists now, and crossed the Sudrain River, and the walls of Holbard were in sight. They’d been flying since morning, first from the Chelle Islands all the way to Cloudhaven, and now down to the city itself. The sun was starting to dip toward the horizon, and Anders could sense Rayna’s exhaustion.
