Estelle nodded vigorous agreement. “Yeah, that must be it. He’s definitely in the bathroom. What else would he be doing?”
Well, that’s not at all ominous.
Conleth briefly reached out with his pegasus sense, but he couldn’t spare the concentration to locate Archie amongst allthe strangers crowding the camp. He’d just have to trust that whatever the kids had cooked up between them, Paige would be able to deal with it for now.
“Nancy,” he said in an undertone. “I know you’re trying to delay me. And I also know you’re not really scared. But your parents are panicking. Come here right now.”
“Uh oh.” Nancy raised her voice. “He’s on to us, guys!”
“Oops.” Estelle looked at Beth. “Now what?”
Worry flashed across Beth’s face, quickly followed by relief. “It’s all right, he’s nearly here. Nancy! You can stop stalling for time!”
“Who’s nearly—” Conleth started, but Nancy was already in motion. Without the slightest hesitation, she hopped from branch to branch, joining him at the top of the ladder.
“Sorry about that.” Nancy dusted pine needles from her t-shirt. “We can go back down now, if you want.”
Her dad’s jaw dropped. “Did she just…rescue herself?”
Nancy’s mom was staring up in astonishment as well. “But she gets vertigo!”
“Not anymore,” Nancy said cheerfully. “Conleth’s been giving me climbing lessons! Look, I’ll show you!”
Conleth shot out an arm, barely managing to snag her before she launched herself off the branch. “As confident as I am in your skills, I think we’d best take the ladder.”
He went first, keeping a wary eye on Nancy in case she got into difficulty (or, more likely, got bored and opted for a more direct descent). The moment he set foot on the ground, he found himself accosted on all sides.
“Hooray for Conleth!” Estelle flung her arms around his waist. “Group hug, everyone!”
Before Conleth could protest, campers attached themselves to his every limb. As a display of affection, this was very sweet, and also deeply suspicious.
He attempted to extricate his left leg from Rufus’s determined grip. “Why are you all so determined to stop me from going anywhere?”
Finley hung from his right arm. “We’re not doing that.”
Estelle tightened her hold on his torso. “We just looooooooove you.”
“ALL BEAR WITNESS!”
Oh please God, no.
God apparently had other things to do today. Proving that things could always get worse, Ragvald descended on them with all the subtlety of a landslide.
“HEAR MY WORDS!” the wyrm roared. “I CHALLENGE CONLETH TO A TEST OF HONOR!”
“Ragvald!” Too late, Moira sprinted up, out of breath. A small crowd of curious parents and campers straggled behind her like the tail of a comet. “Ragvald, no!”
“Forgive me, Princess, but I have already issued the challenge,” Ragvald replied. “To call it back now would be a most grievous stain upon my honor. Friend Conleth! How do you answer?”
“He accepts!” Beth declared, which was diametrically opposite to how Conleth had beenaboutto respond. “Of course he accepts. Don’t you, Uncle Conleth?”
He gave his niece a long, level look. “That depends on what Archie is doing right now.”
“Nothing bad, I swear.” Beth lowered her voice, expression painfully earnest. “Don’t worry about Lord Golden seeing Ragvald. Ignatius promised to keep him busy at the other end of camp, and I’ll tell you if they start heading this way.Please, Uncle Conleth. Just go along with it. For me?”
Nancy fixed him with wide, innocent eyes. “For all of us.”
“And try your very, very best to win,” Hetta added. “We can’t explain why, but it’s really important you don’t concede defeat. Please?”
