“I know where she is.”
“How?”
I looked at Raolcan. He winked. I might as well tell the truth. What other option was there?
“Raolcan read Starie’s mind. She was part of the kidnapping, so she knows where they took Savette.”
Artis said, “Dragon’s don’t read minds.” At the same moment that Lenora said, “Where?”
“In Vanika.” I chose to answer Lenora’s question, but I was puzzled. Why was she so supportive when before she’d been openly hostile to me?
It was her turn to flush as Artis glared at her, too. Olla and Orra joined us, making hand signals to each other that I didn’t know – it wasn’t Dragon Rider sign. It must be their own hand signals.
“Castelan Deneris stands with Castelan Leedris,” Lenora said, twisting her flapping cloak in her hands.
“And that’s why you insisted that we follow her here,” Artis said, her expression turning sour. “It wasn’t just to save all our chances, was it? Maybe we would have been fine if we’d just confessed her disappearance wasn’t our fault, but you insisted we had to bring her back. Did you know what she was doing?”
“I suspected.”
So, she did have a greater reason to help me! Her family was loyal to Savette’s. I’d heard that there were alliances and honor ties between Castelan families, but this was the first time I’d seen one in action.
“And now what, Lenora? You don’t really think I’ll allow you to go with her to Vanika and Daedru Castel? We need to return to the Ruby Isles. Now.”
“We’re all in this together,” Lenora said, her hands twisting in her cloak so that it was one big knot around her. “Now that we’ve come this far, we need to finish what we started and only return with Savette Leedris. They’ll forgive us when they see why we left.”
“They won’t!” Artis looked desperate. “Maybe you think you’ll get off with a warning because you’re a Castelan, but the rest of us are commoners. There is no forgiveness for us. No connections. No pull. We have hard work and a strict adherence to the rules and that is it. You’ve ruined us.” She turned to me. “Both of you have.”
I swallowed, not sure what to say, but Lenora raised her chin and spoke with defiance. “I’m not going with you, Artis. I’m staying with Amel and we’ll rescue Savette together and if you don’t like it then you don’t need to come.”
Artis’s expression looked almost like a snarl, but she spun away from us, rounding on Olla and Orra. “Come on, you two. The adventure’s over.”
Olla shook her head as Orra spoke. “We’re staying with them. We didn’t know what was coming, but we won’t back down from a challenge and this seems like a real adventure, Artis. A damsel in distress? A group of brave friends? You can count us in.”
They shared a smile and Artis stormed away in the snow. She didn’t mount her dragon, though. She just stood there, her back to us, heaving like she was crying or cursing or something else that required every drip of emotion in her veins.
“Did you find the pass?” Lenora asked me.
“Not yet. And I ... I just want to say...” How did you say thank you for something this big?
“You’re thankful. We know. Now, let’s pitch a tent because the storm’s going to get worse before it gets better. We’ll station the dragons around it. Does yours need binding? The new ones usually do.” Lenora looked around her like she was trying to find a spot to tie Raolcan down physically.
“No! He’s fine.”
She nodded curtly and gestured to Olla and Orra. “Get the dragons circled up and we’ll bind yours. I’ll help Amel pitch a tent. It will be tight for five, but warmer that way.”
“Five?” I asked.
“Artis will get over herself and join us when her rage calms down. She’s just mad that you’re risking her life and future. Did you bring food?”
“Yes.” I felt a little lightheaded at the thought. Were they all risking that just to help me?
“Don’t look like that. Anything worth doing is worth risking for. Now, let’s get to work.”
I hobbled over to Raolcan and unsaddled him. Was he okay with this turn of events?
I knew other people would learn to trust you. Enjoy it. It’s well deserved.
I smiled as I worked, not sure what to make of this sudden support, but delighted to have help and the warmth of friendship. The encouragement was even enough to take some of the bite out of my chronic pain. By the time we were done, Artis joined us. She wouldn’t speak or make eye contact with us, but her actions spoke loudly enough. She was on our side.
Chapter Fourteen
We stopped at the edge of the sky city at the command of the guard dragons circling the vast city. I’d barely been able to take a full breath since it came into view. Who could have imagined such a city? Below it, swirling snow covered the ground. Lakes, farmland, and a wide road ran right underneath the sprawling city. Who could walk or ride under there without the terrible dread that the city would come crashing down? And yet, there it sat like a massive mushroom. A single pillar as wide as Dragon School rose up into the air – woven from cords or swirling dragonsteel and glowing with what I was certain was magic. The wide top was broad at the bottom and rose to a peak, tier upon tier like the gardens back on the Ruby Isles.
“It seems impractical,” I’d breathed. “Why build a city in the air?”
It’s the perfect defense. The Dominion is the only nation with dragons. An army can’t touch a city in the air.
It truly did look impregnable. With black dragons circling it constantly in a steady, measured pattern, no one could get through without being stopped and questioned. Did all the people and supplies come by dragon?
Look more carefully.
When I squinted I could see what he meant. Long cables extended to the ground, hauling up bundles of goods and even the occasional basket filled with passengers. My belly lurched at the thought of riding in one. Had Savette’s kidnappers arrived by dragon or had they hauled her up in a basket?
By dragon. They are in the merchant district not far from the dragon cotes.
There were dragon cotes here?
Everything is here if you look hard enough.
My eyes were still wide when Lenora spoke to the guards. I felt tense as their eyes examined each of us and wrote our “names” in their book. What would they have done if I’d followed my original plan and flown here alone?
“They’d arrest you and take you into custody if you appeared in Dragon School grey and brown leathers with no Grandis or Dragon Rider,” Lenora had said just before we settled down by a village nearby. When she returned she had shoe black and silk scarves – enough to disguise ourselves as full Dragon Riders.
“This is worse!” Artis had moaned. “We’ll never get away with it.”
“I’m Castelan Lenora Deneris. If I say I’m a full Dragon Rider, then I am.” Lenora hadn’t paused for a moment as she blackened her brown leathers and tied her scarves on. “The rest of you will need to braid your hair and wear it loose in the traditional way. Don’t talk unless you have to. I’ll do all the negotiating.”
Her negotiation skills were turning out to be as important as the money she’d brought. After a few moments of conversing with a pair of guards mounted on fierce black dragons, she was signaling the rest of us forward. The guards gave us the Dragon Rider salute as we crossed their circle and into the sky city. I returned mine shakily. Both the lie and the excitement of my first sky city were making me feel as skittish as a songbird.
We flew in an arc around the perimeter of the city until we reached the south side where dragon cotes speckled the edge of the city and rose up in tiered heights. Lenora planned to rent spaces for all our dragons and then we would find an inn for the night. I swallowed hard. I wasn’t ready to be away from Raolcan – especially in such a strange place.
We’ll both be fine. They might even have molten honey.
We followed Lenora in formation and waited as she spoke to
an attendant on a round platform that extended on a long arm from the cotes. The attendant waved to the cotes and handed Lenora some sort of scrip and then she was signaling for us to follow and pointing to the correct cotes. Mine was right beside hers and Raolcan leapt into it as easily as if we were back on Dragon School.
Steam filled his alcove – piped in from some heat source - and fresh water, hay bedding, and a dinner of raw meat greeted us.
Perfection. Let’s hope they treat you half as well.
He was in good spirits for a dragon on the run.
On the wing.
Ha. Ha.
Remember – merchant district. Look for a blue sign with weigh-scales on it. You will find Savette within.
I dismounted, removed his saddle, rubbed him down with oil, retrieved my things, and bent to kiss his forehead.
“Thank you, Raolcan,” I whispered. “This wouldn’t be happening without you.”
Happy flight, spider.
It was time to find my friend.
Chapter Fifteen
We pushed through the busy streets, Lenora leading the way with a determined look on her face and an aggressive pair of elbows that granted her a passage through the press of bodies. We followed in her wake. I’d never expected to see a Castelan push through crowds like that, but Lenora surprised me in so many ways. I was beginning to realize that her dislike of me wasn’t personal. She didn’t have compassion for anyone. She barely noticed the beggars squatting just outside the busy dragon alcoves. Their ragged clothing and gaunt faces pierced my heart. How did they survive in this strange city? I wished I had coins, so I could give them away.
She might not have compassion, but she does have the intelligence and drive we need to help you find Savette. Stick close to her. Besides, I can tell she’s starting to like you.
He would know better than I would. Dragons were amazing at reading people.
Purple dragons are. Don’t give the rest so much credit.
Not for the first time, I wondered why he hadn’t been snatched up when we were picking dragons.
Lots of reasons. First, we do the choosing and I chose you. I didn’t want to have to live in any of those other minds. I warded them off. Second, not everyone finds us as charming as you do. We don’t listen, can’t be trained, and only fly where we want to fly. You’re just lucky that we always want to go to the same place. Third, there’s no glamour in being Purple. We are messengers, not battle leaders, or the kings of keeps. We don’t lead politics or run hospitals. We are concerned with truth and the declaration of that truth. No one likes that kind of thing.
I did. I needed to concentrate on walking, though, and not be distracted by the inner workings of dragon culture. The walkway was a lace of dragonsteel, which was probably convenient when it rained, since the water would wash right through, and the holes were too small to put a foot through, but you could easily lose a coin or a button through the gaps and I had to take care with my crutch that it didn’t get stuck in one of the holes.
“Hurry,” Artis whispered from in front of me. She seemed nervous in the city and even more uncertain now that Lenora had taken her usual role of leader. I hurried as much as I could while watching every placement of my crutch.
Olla and Orra brought up the rear, their bright eyes everywhere but where they were walking, and who could blame them? The crowded streets were filled with people of every color and costume that I could imagine a human in. They juggled for coins, sold cloth from large stalls, hawked hot pastries or shoe cleaning, or little glass bottles of unknown potions. People talked and argued, pushed through crowds and leaned against buildings, entered taverns and were promptly thrown back out. Above us, sign after sign proclaimed an inn, a tavern or a shop of some kind. I peered into one that had open windows and billows of hot steam coming out. Within, blacksmiths worked. I wondered with horror what might drop through their floor and who in the world would work with hot metal in a city with a webbed-steel floor.
Stop worrying about the magic. It’s not our concern. Look for the sign!
Lenora had stopped up ahead at a stall, fingering fabric and arguing with the woman who sold it. Both of them wore grim expressions, as if they were out to skin the other one and sell her hide instead of the cloth in the stall. Were those cloth dresses? What was she buying dresses for?
I took the moment to catch my breath and take in more of the city. We stood in a square, six roads branching out from it and each of them just as packed and busy as ours. I could hardly make out the signs for all the people, even those that were almost as large as the building they swung from. Whoever made signs here must have a good business. There wasn’t a door in the whole place without a carved wooden sign suspended from chains on a pole above the door. People here took pride in who they were.
Coins finally exchanged hands and Lenora shoved her way through the crowd with a large paper package under one arm. Combined with the bags we all carried from our dragons, it was a sizeable load and it was only her ever-jabbing elbows that carved a path to a door located right in the corner of a building between two of the roads that entered the square. Above the door, a large and slightly aged white sign swayed on its chains with the words, “Proud Rooster” and a picture of the same animal decorating it.
We followed Lenora into what appeared to be a prosperous inn. The common room was clean, large windows looked out over the square, and aside from a few patrons eating at the tables, it was mercifully quiet. An apple-cheeked woman wearing a large white apron bustled out from behind the counter.
“Rooms?” she asked. “I can only spare two.”
“I’d like three, at the very least,” Lenora said with a frown.
“Well, you won’t be getting them. Not here and maybe not anywhere. There is a meeting of Castelans here this fortnight and with all their retainers, guards, and riders there isn’t a room to be spared. These last two are my smallest and poorest and they’ll be gone by seventh bell. But you must know that, being Dragon Riders.”
“How much?” Lenora asked as I looked out the window. I could see another group of Dragon Riders moving toward the inn. If we were taking these rooms, we needed to get upstairs before they arrived and questioned us. We might pass as Dragon Riders to the average person or a harried guard, but we wouldn’t stand up to much scrutiny.
“Two silver. Each.”
Lenora’s mouth opened, but I put a hand hurriedly on her arm. “I think it’s a lovely inn.”
She scowled at me but her scowl disappeared when she looked behind me. She could see the Dragon Riders, too.
“Done.” Her words were almost too fast as she shoved the coins into the surprised innkeeper’s hand. “And we value your silence. We would prefer to keep a low profile while we are here.”
“Of course,” the innkeeper said, reaching for two keys from the hooks behind the counter and giving them to Lenora. “Stew’s included in the price.”
I felt my belly rumble at her words. The stew smelled amazing.
“Thank you, but we need to freshen up first,” Lenora said.
“Of course.”
The innkeeper led us up the stairs to a long narrow corridor and to the doors of a pair of cramped rooms and then bustled off.
“You could be more polite,” Artis said. “Why buy dresses and then hustle us up here?”
“Shhh.” Lenora made the Dragon Rider sign – a circle made with a single forefinger - to follow and then pushed into the first room. We followed her, cramming into the tiny space. With our bags, and even standing, we barely were able to close the door. Lenora checked that the window was shut and then gathered us in to whisper. “If we are discovered by real Dragon Riders or a Castelan, then this is over for us. We need to get out of these clothes and stop drawing so much attention. I bought us plain dresses so that we’ll blend in. Well change and start searching. What are we looking for, Amel?”
“A blue sign with a balanced scale on it. And thank you for the dresses and the inn.”
&n
bsp; She shrugged like it didn’t matter. Was she so well-off that she could just buy expensive things without a care?
“We’ll divide up the rooms, dress and then break into two groups to search. Artis, you go with Amel and I’ll take the twins.”
“Fine by me. This is an exciting city,” Olla said, but Artis frowned.
“No. I think this is crazy and we’re all risking too much, but Lenora and Amel, you two got us into this mess. You bunk together and search together or I don’t search at all.”
Lenora sighed dramatically, but she opened the large package, threw three dresses almost at random on the bed and then picked up her other bags and the last two and led the way out into the hall and then into the smaller of the two rooms. I followed, feeling anxious. We’d gotten this far and now we were going to have to prove we’d made the right choice.
Lenora handed me a plain black dress as she shut the door behind me. It was cut in a simple style, but it would be easy to move in. There was a woolen cloak that went with it. Her own dress and cloak were almost an exact match.
“With our similar coloring, we can say we are sisters,” she said.
I stared at her with wide eyes. She certainly seemed at home with this subterfuge.
“Oh, stop looking so surprised.” She almost looked irritated at me. “Why do you think I joined the Dragon Riders in the first place? I like adventure. I don’t like sitting and rotting in the same place forever. Just because I find ignorance frustrating and babysitting an irritating chore doesn’t mean that I won’t help you when you finally have something interesting to contribute. Now, get dressed. We have a city to search and we can’t be caught doing it.”
Chapter Sixteen
“Now what?” I asked as we stared down the street. We’d come to a quieter street – at least by Vanika standards. It was still busy, but if you stopped for too long then people noticed. Along the street, there were seven blue signs. Every one of them had a set of weigh scales drawn on them.
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