by Lisa McMann
“What are you thinking?” Ishibashi asked Aaron. “I can see the determination in your eyes.”
“I think we can turn this around,” said Aaron. “I know this isn’t Thisbe’s path to the future. It can’t be! She still has a chance to redeem herself, if we can only get her to stop this nonsense before something terrible happens.”
“I believe in you to be there for Thisbe,” Ishibashi said quietly, giving Aaron a meaningful look. He turned to Maiven. “And you, Queen Maiven. What are your thoughts?”
“I have many,” said the woman, stabbing her swagger stick into the soft ground.
“Things arrre trrricky, though,” Simber said before she could begin to list them. “We’ve lost Rrrohan and Florrrence, two key playerrrs. And we’rrre camped out herrre in this desolate place, of no help to anyone.”
The others looked at him. “What are you suggesting?” Maiven asked him. “That we send ghost dragons to Artimé to pick up the rest of our warriors while we head to the palace to slay the two remaining dragons and rescue Fifer? And then we all take on the castle to free our loved ones and try to talk sense into them?”
Simber was rendered momentarily speechless, for that was exactly what he was thinking.
Ishibashi lowered his eyes and tried to hide the merriment on his face.
Simber gazed at the queen as if he’d underestimated her all this time, because, truth be told, he probably had. “Yes, Queen,” he said. When Maiven let a smile play at the corner of her lips, Simber bowed his head and continued. “I’ll… get rrright on that.”
Making Their Own Plans
Now that Dev had retrieved the sack of components, Fifer possessed all the send spells she needed. The first thing she did was call on Maiven Taveer to speak to the ghost dragons about how to respectfully remove the dead dragons from the front and back yards. Hopefully, they would know how to properly care for and dispose of the bodies, and had the strength to do it.
There was still no word from Thisbe, and Fifer and Dev were on hold and feeling skittish. They were both worried about her, but they didn’t talk about it much. And neither of them knew quite what to do next other than continue to wait for Thisbe’s instructions, as they’d agreed upon. Fifer would then call on Maiven and the others to bring in the whole army, saying she couldn’t allow it to go on any longer. Then they’d all go to the castle, and hopefully, one way or another, they’d be able to remove the Revinir from power.
It would be nice if Fifer could go along with them, but the way things were looking, she and Dev were going to be stuck here indefinitely unless they could figure out how to get rid of the remaining two red dragons. She hadn’t ever been taught how to use a bow and arrow, and Florence’s bow was almost too heavy for Fifer to lift, much less use properly. Dev offered to carve a bow and some arrows for her, but Fifer was pretty sure it was the magic in the arrows that had caused the fatal blows, not just the vulnerability of the nostril area.
Of course she’d also thought about bringing Florence back to life so that she could shoot down the remaining two. But it was too risky to bring her back now, especially since she would be without one of her legs and unable to position herself to shoot like she was accustomed to. And if Fifer stuck around to help attach Florence’s leg, she would be putting herself at great risk. No one could predict what the dragons would do if they saw the warrior trainer move even a little bit. Sure, they might not be able to hurt her if she stayed on the ground… but if they attacked her and grew frenzied, there was no longer any doubt that they would come after Dev and Fifer. There were a lot of factors, and Fifer wasn’t about to risk anybody’s life if she could help it. Besides, they were safe here for the moment.
And Dev was making things happen. He’d whittled two long spears so far and was working on a third. “If a well-placed magical arrow can kill a dragon,” he told Fifer, “maybe a long spear can come in handy. That’s what they used in that book you found. And if you somehow put some magic into it, it could be almost as powerful as Florence’s arrows.”
Fifer had ideas as well. She knew that the front dragon would go to the river in the middle of the night to eat and drink, and that would put her near the back dragon for a short time. She couldn’t tell how close the two got to each other without going outside and following them, which could trigger an attack—she wanted to be very careful not to assume anything after the catastrophes with Dev and Florence and the birds. But if she could get them close enough to each other, would she be able to get both dragons with one obliterate component?
The last thing Fifer wanted was to lose out on a chance to help Thisbe. So she and Dev needed to make a move on the red dragons to give themselves every opportunity to help when the time came. Maybe tonight would bring their dragon-slaying moment.
When Dev finished the long swords, he brought them to Fifer. Fifer stared at the sharp points, concentrating, trying her best to figure out how to instill magic in them. It wasn’t the last time that the young head mage would be trying out magic she’d never done before.
Making a Deal
The thing the Revinir wanted most was to have the people and dragons of Grimere obey her without being under any sort of mind control. And if she became the true dragon ruler, in harmony with the black-eyed humans, all of that would fall into place. She just wanted to be an adored leader. Like Marcus had been. Even Justine, early in her reign. Marcus hadn’t had to force his people to love him. They still loved him long after he was gone. And he’d done some pretty rotten things before he turned it all around.
Back when she’d been Queen Eagala of Warbler, the Revinir had few adoring fans, if any. She’d forced everyone there to obey her by keeping them silent with the golden thorn necklaces. And she’d put her orange-eye brand on them so they’d be easily identifiable in case any of them escaped, because they definitely wanted to. The dragon-woman realized that nothing much had changed since then except the methods the Revinir was using to keep her people, and now her dragons, in line. It was all force and had been since day one. It was enough to make a dragon-woman weary.
So much of the joy of being the ruler had slipped away from her over the years. And ruling over these zombies was getting tiresome. It almost felt like… cheating. Not that the Revinir was against cheating. She admired a good cheat, which was why she had almost liked Dev before she threw him out the window to his death. She felt a twinge of regret over that, truth be told.
But ruling over people she’d forced into obedience just wasn’t bringing much joy anymore. She’d come to that stark realization in a striking way last evening. Having Thisbe here for the past few days, not under any kind of spell, had been… lovely. It had been the nicest time the Revinir had ever experienced since she’d been a child.
She remembered her previous best day when she was young. She’d been regularly spying on Marcus and Justine and Eva Fathom and Gondoleery Rattrapp, all of them trying to do magic in their own ways. One summer day they’d relented and let her join them. The sun was shining on the rocks and stream where they often met up. Gondoleery had managed to make a tiny pool of water freeze, despite the heat. There had been a minnow trapped in that cupped area of the stone, and when Gondoleery had frozen the water without a thought for the minnow’s well-being, it had given young Emma a chill of horror and wonder. It had opened up her eyes to all the possibilities in the world that went beyond her usual way of thinking. She’d realized that people had more opportunities to do so many things—good or evil—than they actually took. That she had choices she’d never considered because they were outside the realm of what her normal day-to-day activities had consisted of. It was a breathtaking realization, and Emma would recall that revelation again, many times.
Remembering it now made the Revinir think hard about what she was doing. The two best memories of her life were spent with people who weren’t being coerced or controlled. Thisbe had wanted to be there with her last evening, and they’d laughed multiple times together. She’d enjoyed it so mu
ch that she’d taken a risk and had given Rohan to Thisbe, sort of as a gift—a thank-you, in a way—for liking her for who she was.
The Revinir had regretted it almost immediately, but she’d realized there was nothing Thisbe could do now that Rohan was under the mind-control spell. She’d had all the remaining ancestor broth destroyed after Dev had spilled that important information in the tower. And she had plenty of dragon-bone broth stashed around the castle to feed him just in case.
But the truth was that the Revinir didn’t think she’d need the dragon-bone broth for much longer, because she was just about ready to agree to Thisbe’s demands. She’d thought about it—leaving the seven islands alone. And she’d realized that all she really had to do to get what she wanted was to tell Thisbe she wasn’t going to touch her precious islands—even though Warbler was already technically hers. And they could do the agreement thing and become the true leaders and release all the mind-controlled dragons and people and let the pesky ghost dragons die, and then the Revinir would be adored by all because she’d restored the land after forty years under the control of that dumb king and his usurpers.
And after that, she could go take over the seven islands anyway.
* * *
As she and Thisbe sat down to breakfast, the Revinir peered at the young woman. “How did you sleep?” she asked, because she supposed that was something friends might ask each other.
“Great,” said Thisbe. “You?”
“Fine.” The Revinir thought Thisbe seemed slightly preoccupied. Was she having second thoughts about their partnership? “I wanted to see you this morning because I wished to talk more about our agreement,” the dragon-woman said.
“Oh,” said Thisbe, perking up. “Good. I’d like that as well. I’ve been thinking a lot about it, actually. And like I’ve told you, I’m ready to join you in going forward with it.”
“On your condition, of course,” the Revinir said dryly.
“Well,” said Thisbe, “yes, obviously. But I wonder if you’ve really taken in how very large the land of the dragons is. There’s so much to explore and expand here. There’s that other village down the mountain. The forest, which is huge. The cavelands, which will be empty once the ghost dragons are gone. And the whole palace and village where Ashguard’s property is that could be restored and repopulated. Plus the crater lake and the entire city of Grimere, of course. That’s a lot of land to rule over. And…” She hesitated, looking into the Revinir’s eyes. “It seems like it might be just the right size for a dragon and a black-eyed ruler to enjoy together without having to always keep an eye on things that are so far away. The traveling is so tedious, isn’t it?”
The Revinir almost smiled. Thisbe was growing very sneaky, and she liked that about her. This girl was someone who could keep up with her. And this partnership was actually going to work—the Revinir could feel in her dragon scales that things were moving in the right direction. It didn’t take much for her to see that all she had to do was agree to the terms and renegotiate them later, once things here were running smoothly. She made it appear like she was thinking very hard about this and wrestling with it.
“All right,” the Revinir said finally. “You’ve worn me down on this, and I can see you aren’t wavering. I want to enter into this agreement with you, and I’ll give you what you want. I’ll leave the seven islands alone.” For now.
Surprisingly, Thisbe’s expression didn’t change. But that was one more thing the Revinir liked about her—that she didn’t show her emotions easily. She was a shrewd negotiator.
“Very well,” said Thisbe. “Shall we designate a time and place to make our announcement to the people of Grimere? Perhaps outside the castle on the drawbridge? I’ve always pictured us standing together with the castle behind us and having the people gather all around.” She made it sound dreamy.
“Dragonsmarche seems more appropriate, doesn’t it?” said the Revinir with a gleam in her eye. “It’s where we first met.”
This time a flicker crossed Thisbe’s expression. The Revinir knew it was horrible, but she had to have something to retain the upper hand after giving up all the seven islands.
“You forgot our meeting when I was two years old—I killed your pirate-captain friend,” she said coolly. “But Dragonsmarche is also the spot where I set all of the black-eyed children free from the catacombs. Sounds perfect. Tomorrow? Next week?”
The Revinir gave a delighted snort. “Well played. It shall be so. But let’s not wait. Let’s go today.” She didn’t wait for Thisbe to object. “Guards! Sound the trumpets and call everyone to the Dragonsmarche Square. We have a major announcement to make to all the people and dragons.”
With the servants scrambling to make things happen, the Revinir turned to Thisbe. “When this is through, I’m afraid I might have to ask you to make some more ancestor broth to wake everyone up. I hope you don’t mind.”
This time Thisbe snorted, and not just because she knew this probably wouldn’t work—she was banking on that happening once the Revinir was dead. But she played along. “Bring the proper bones to the kitchen, and I’ll teach the staff what to do with them.”
The Revinir smiled. “I will indeed.” This was the most spirited, fun conversation she might have ever had. She was more excited for the future than she’d ever been before. And for the first time, it was only partially because of the power that went with it.
Scrambling
Thisbe’s appetite for breakfast left her. Now? This was all happening now? Obviously she wanted to get moving on this, but where was Rohan? And had he eaten or drunk anything? Was he okay? They’d been in the midst of a crucial talk when the Revinir had shown up, and Thisbe had tossed all the ancestor broth under the bed. Now, with his orders to go to the kitchen, Rohan couldn’t get to it. And if he’d eaten or drunk anything that the Revinir had spiked, he wouldn’t know he’d be in need of it. If everyone was suddenly heading to Dragonsmarche, neither of them would be able to retrieve the broth anytime soon.
It would probably be okay, Thisbe reasoned. The Revinir wasn’t nearly as focused on him today as she’d been last night. And now she had a lot of other things to keep her busy, like organizing this big announcement, which would lead to… absolutely nothing.
Ugh. That was another problem. How would the Revinir react when she found out that the agreement didn’t magically just make everything become perfect, the way she expected it would? Thisbe would have to act like she was just as surprised. Unless there was a way to take out the dragon-woman before the announcement even happened.
“Why so troubled?” the Revinir said. “Having second thoughts?”
Thisbe looked up and mellowed her expression. “I was just thinking about how fun it was to have Rohan as my mind-controlled servant. I’ll miss that when we bring everyone back to their right minds.” She shrugged. “But I can’t have everything.”
“I think you’ll find the mind control becomes boring over time,” the Revinir confided.
“Really? Interesting,” said Thisbe. “Well, I imagine he’ll be annoyed once we bring him out of it, but he’ll get used to it over time. Like the others.” She turned sharply. “By the way, did you really kill Dev? Or did you just say that for effect?”
The Revinir twitched. “I really killed him,” she admitted. “I wish I hadn’t acted quite so rashly. I was beginning to appreciate him.”
“Oh well,” said Thisbe, dabbing her mouth with a napkin. “It’s regrettable. But there’s nothing you can do now, I suppose.” She set the napkin down and got up from the table. “I’ll run to my living quarters to see if I can find something more royal-looking to wear for the occasion. I noticed several things hanging in the closet—whoever stayed in my room before must have left in a hurry. Shall we meet in the grand entryway in an hour?”
The Revinir nodded. “I will find you there.”
Impulsively Thisbe reached out and touched the Revinir’s claws. “I’m glad we’re doing this.”
&nb
sp; “As am I,” said the dragon-woman. And she actually meant it.
* * *
In the privacy of her room, Thisbe took a moment to sort her thoughts. There was one thing she absolutely had to take a chance on before she did anything else. She went out to the balcony and climbed up on top of the lounge chair. Then she reached for the overhanging roof, pulled herself up onto that, and scrambled to her feet. From there she could see clear skies to the west, which was the direction her send spell to Fifer would need to go. If the direct path it took was over the castle rather than through its hallways or around its outsides, there was a better chance it wouldn’t be noticed, especially with all of the excitement that was happening in preparation for a procession to Dragonsmarche.
Thisbe took the component out of her pocket and reread it. Then she added We’re heading to Dragonsmarche today to announce our partnership. Don’t reply. And then, with a moment of concentration, she sent it off and watched it soar between two towers and fly through the air, just as she’d hoped. In two seconds it was out of sight. “Whew,” she muttered.
Thisbe inched down the roof. She eased over the edge, dangled there for a moment, trying to ignore her fear of heights, then dropped onto her balcony. The drop made her old ankle injury flare up, and she couldn’t walk for a second. When she could put weight on it, she went back inside her room and gave a little shriek. Rohan was standing there.
His eyes were glazed over.
“Ugh, Rohan!” Thisbe exclaimed. “Are you kidding me? We don’t have time for this. Be smarter, please. Sheesh.” She limped over to the bed, reached under it, and pulled Rohan’s rucksack out. She took out several vials of ancestor broth and opened the first one. “Here you go, Rohan,” said Thisbe. “Drink this.”