Fifer was quiet for a moment. “But here you are again.”
“Yes,” said Alex. “I suppose.” He slipped his hand inside his robe, pulled out a handful of spell components, and looked at them. “Here I am again,” he said softly.
“Do you feel good about it?” asked Fifer. “About deciding to retrain and go? And about fighting again after so long?”
Alex looked at her for a long moment, revealing vulnerability in his eyes. Then he nodded. “Yes, I do.” He replaced the components, then asked, “Do you?”
Fifer looked puzzled. “Do I feel good about myself fighting? Or about you?”
Alex gave her a crooked half smile. “Both.”
“Yes,” she said. “To both.”
“Good.”
They continued walking a few steps, and then Fifer stopped. “So . . . do you maybe want to throw scatterclips at each other?”
Alex frowned and looked like he was about to say no, which he would have automatically done in the past. But then he tilted his head and eyed her mischievously, one brow raised. “Yes. I do. Fifteen paces. Avoid the trees. Go.”
Fifer almost shouted in delight—she’d never expected him to say yes. They turned their backs on each other and counted their steps, then faced each other again. Fifer pulled out a handful of scatterclips from her vest, praying she’d get the spell right, because if she messed up now . . . Well, she didn’t want to think about the consequences.
Alex slipped his hand into his robe and took out a full set of scatterclips. He tossed them confidently in his right hand. “You’re sure you want to mess with me?” he said. “I’m the head mage of Artimé, you know. Somebody even wrote a book about me once.”
“I’m sure,” said Fifer, laughing nervously. Her stomach flipped. This was the first actual component spell she’d be doing. What if it didn’t work? Would Alex forbid her from fighting? Would he send her home?
“Wait,” said Alex, holding up his hand. “You don’t know the deadly verbal component to scatterclips, do you? I only ask because . . . well, talk to Aaron about that sometime.”
Fifer’s eyes widened. “I don’t know that verbal component,” she said.
“Okay, good,” said Alex. He dropped his hand. “Ready?” He took a quick glance at what was behind him and drew his arm back, poised to throw.
“Ready,” called Fifer, doing the same.
“Go!”
Alex and Fifer flung their scatterclips at each other. The two sets of components soared straight and true and had to dodge out of each other’s way in the center of the distance between them. Fifer closed her eyes and stood firm as Alex’s clips soared into her, grabbing her clothing and yanking her backward through the air until she slammed into a tree with a thump. The scatterclips hooked into the trunk, leaving Fifer hanging. She peeked out of one eye, cringing at the same time, hoping she hadn’t done anything wrong with her throw.
Alex was pinned as well and laughing. “You did it!” he called out. Fifer had nailed it. Just like with other spells, she’d picked up how to do it with hardly any effort.
“Release,” said Alex, and he and Fifer both fell to the ground. Alex got up and ran over to her. “That was really good,” he said, helping her up.
“Thank you,” said Fifer.
“I’m impressed. How many times have you done that?”
Fifer wanted to lie and tell him that she’d done it dozens of times so he’d have more confidence in her. But she told him the truth. “That was my first time.”
Alex shook his head, awed. “How did you get the throw right?”
“I watched you,” said Fifer. “And I practiced the movements a lot. I just haven’t done it with the components before.”
“Do you want to show me some more?” asked Alex.
“I do,” said Fifer, “but I don’t want to waste my components.”
“I’ll reimburse you from our stash,” said Alex. “Show me what else you can do. I really want to see.”
Fifer grinned. They spent the next little while going through Fifer’s vest pockets and having her try out each new component she pulled out. Fifer knew Alex needed to see her do them—and she was okay with that. She needed to see what she could do too. And it was nice that they were actually having a conversation without either of them arguing.
After Fifer had tried out everything successfully, the two walked back to the group, talking about magical strategy as if they’d been fighting together for years.
Kaylee watched them return and smiled as she saw them in animated conversation. “Looks like you two are seeing eye to eye,” she remarked.
Fifer grinned. “Alex let me try out my new components on him.”
“And she didn’t even kill me,” Alex quipped.
Crow flashed a thumbs-up at Fifer. It was heartwarming for all of them to see the two Stowe siblings getting along for once. Things were looking up, and the team was growing anxious to move.
“When do you think Kitten will reach the exit?” Alex asked Arabis, who was holding her mouth open in the river and scooping up fish.
The dragon swallowed them down and lifted her head. “She probably won’t make it there until sometime after midnight. It’s a lengthy journey on foot.”
“I think we should be cautious and wait until morning to send the seek spell, then,” said Alex. “So Kitten will certainly be in the right place.”
“But if we’re to be stealthy, we don’t want a lot of people roaming about in the square,” Thatcher pointed out.
“We’ll go before dawn,” said Alex. “Before the townspeople start their day. How does that sound?”
Everyone agreed it was the best option.
“Also, after dark this evening,” said Lani, “I was thinking some of us could check out the area and maybe see if we can find the exact location of the cylinder. Perhaps there’s an outline visible in the stone.”
“That’s a great idea,” said Seth.
“I agree,” said Thatcher. “I’m not positive I can find the exact location, especially if the stage they put the girls on isn’t a permanent fixture in the square. Everything is such a blur.”
“I could find it,” said Simber, “but I don’t think I should rrrisk being seen.”
“I can show you all exactly where it is,” said Fifer. “I stood there long enough.”
Kaylee smiled. “It’s good we have you here, then, isn’t it?”
Fifer grinned. She glanced at Alex, and he shrugged, then grinned back. It felt good not to be so frustrated and angry all the time for once. Now if they could just get Thisbe back without anybody getting hurt or captured, that would be truly amazing.
A Shocking Turn
The rescue team shared a late-afternoon lunch in the cover of the forest while a small group of them made plans to venture out, hoping to find the Revinir’s cylinder entrance to the catacombs in the square.
In her packing and planning, Fifer had been thinking ahead, and she’d brought along clothing and accessories that would disguise her black eyes. She dug through her travel bag and pulled out a scarf and some stage glasses with tinted lenses that Thisbe had worn in a recent play. Samheed glanced twice at her when she put them on, then smiled when he realized what she was doing. “Incognito,” he said. “Very nice.”
“I don’t want anybody to notice me. I was up for auction out there once—I don’t want to be again!”
Before they left, Arabis bade them good-bye and good luck. As soon as darkness fell, she’d be on her way to warn the dragons in the land beyond the forest. “I’ll be swift,” she promised them.
Simber and Talon chose to stay in the forest so they wouldn’t draw attention. “Maybe I should stay back too,” said Lani, looking down at her contraption. “Does this look too magical? Will people suspect?”
“I’ve never seen any wheels that look that advanced in my world,” said Kaylee, skeptical. “If this world isn’t magical at all, you might want to wear a long jacket that will hide some of it.”
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“Stay toward the middle of our group,” Fifer suggested. “We’ll cover you.”
Lani agreed. Soon the humans were heading toward the road that led into the square. They went up the road in two groups. Fifer, in disguise, led the way with Alex and Kaylee. Seth, Carina, Thatcher, Samheed, and Lani went behind them. It was a lengthy walk, but when they got close, Fifer filled in the others on some details.
“The soldiers in green are the king’s soldiers. They’re from the big castle. If you see any soldiers in blue uniforms, those are the Revinir’s. They sort of seemed to work together when Thiz and I were on the auction stage—though I’m not positive if they are friendly or not. The green ones let the blue ones come in and surround the stage. So I think that means the Revinir and the king aren’t enemies, but I don’t think they’re friends, either.”
“Maybe they just warily tolerate each other,” said Lani.
Alex nodded. “Arabis mentioned that the Revinir would be furious at the king for allowing the dragons to escape and she’d demand something in return. That could create a problem.”
“So tomorrow,” Thatcher clarified, “we’re most likely going to end up fighting the blue-uniformed soldiers. Leave the green ones alone unless they attack.”
Dragonsmarche, the weekly market in the center of Grimere, was teeming with shoppers. The Artiméans looked on curiously as people traded gold nuggets for other goods. Kaylee explained to those who were puzzled by the exchange that the gold nuggets were the currency and they were worth something—at some point someone had decided gold was valuable, and people began to seek it and collect it, and they could use it to get other things.
“Why doesn’t everybody just share everything like we do?” asked Seth. “If they need something, get someone to make it for them, or do it themselves.”
“It’s easier to do that in magical worlds, I suppose,” Alex mused. “We have everything we need. But when Artimé’s magic was broken and we were starting to starve, people began fighting and stealing from each other. It was ugly.”
“Dev stole our fruit on the mountainside,” said Seth, remembering his severe hunger.
Fifer glanced back at him and nodded. They’d had their eyes opened to a different world with Dev. “I wonder how he’s doing,” she said. “Princess Shanti was so mean to him.”
“Yeah,” said Seth. “I hope he’s . . . okay.” They both had ambivalent feelings about Dev, but he’d helped them at least as much as he’d hurt them. He was intriguing, at a minimum.
As they neared the center of the square, an explosion in the distance rocked the ground. Most of the people of Grimere ignored it, but the Artiméans startled. Fifer and Seth remembered they’d heard it before, and they looked to the west. “Look that way,” said Seth, “beyond that hill. There’ll be smoke rising up.” Sure enough a plume of gray smoke rose.
Alex narrowed his eyes, puzzling over it. “It sounded like . . . like . . .” He shook his head as if he couldn’t quite figure it out.
They meandered and weaved through the crowds, trying not to look like foreigners, though their clothes were quite different from everyone else’s. Fortunately it was crowded enough that not many seemed to take note. Fifer led the others toward the center of the square. The stage wasn’t there now, so it was hard to figure out exactly where the girls had been. Fifer looked around, trying to remember if there were any other landmarks she could recall. Then she spied the huge aquarium in the far corner of the square. It looked like the glass had been broken and repaired, and there were fewer sea creatures inside than before. Once Fifer found that, she could remember how the stage had been set in relation to it and about how far away from it she’d been. She moved toward the area where she thought the stage had been.
“It was here,” she said in a low voice. “We faced this way, right, Thatcher?”
“Yes, from what I can remember. Simber and I circled and flew in from that direction.” He pointed toward the aquarium.
Fifer envisioned the auction and the way the crowd had grown and spread out. “It’s got to be somewhere nearby.”
The group, attempting to not appear suspect, milled around the area looking at the ground and tried to detect any sign of cracks that would indicate a break in the mortar. But the uneven cobblestone was covered in cracks, and there was no apparent pattern.
As Fifer and Seth worked their way around a stand where someone was selling tiny bottles of liquid, a blue-uniformed soldier stepped out and nearly knocked Fifer over. She stumbled and caught her balance on the edge of the table. The bottles shook and threatened to spill off.
“Watch it!” snarled the boy behind the table.
“Sorry,” said Fifer, pulling her hand back. She glanced at him and nearly gasped. “Dev?” she said before she remembered her disguise.
The boy behind the table looked startled but didn’t seem to recognize her.
Seth came up behind Fifer. “Are you all right?”
Dev froze in fear. “Seth,” he said, then glanced at the blue-uniformed soldiers behind him, who were talking quietly together. He leaned forward and squinted, taking in Fifer’s scarf and glasses. “Fifer? Is that you? You’re okay?”
A musical fanfare began at the mouth of Dragonsmarche, and the three moved closer so they could hear one another.
“What are you doing here?” Dev said sharply. “It’s dangerous!”
“Have you seen Thisbe?”
“I—I—” Dev seemed frozen in his ability to tell them everything that had happened. “Yes!” he sputtered. “She’s down there! In the catacombs. Same hallway as the elevator.”
“She’s alive?” Fifer exclaimed, and Dev nodded.
“Elevator?” asked Seth. “You mean that cylinder thing?”
“Yes,” said Dev.
The blue-uniformed soldiers stepped toward the group, suspicious. “If you’re not purchasing any dragon-bone broth, be on your way!” shouted one over the noise of the band. He moved closer, looking menacingly at them, and Fifer and Seth turned and rushed away.
Dev watched them stiffly as another soldier came and stood behind him with a dagger pointed at his back. He was helpless to do anything. But he consoled himself with the news he could share with Thisbe later—that her people had finally come back for her. She’d be so happy.
It almost made Dev feel emptier inside. Part of him wanted Thisbe to be with her family, but that meant he’d have no one again. He closed his eyes as pain washed through him, and then took a deep breath and opened them, ready to sell the dragon-bone broth. The sooner he could move everything, the faster he could get back inside to tell Thisbe.
Seth and Fifer found Alex and the others again and hurried to tell them what they’d found out—Thisbe was alive! They exclaimed their relief at the news as the marching band got closer and louder. And then the crowd parted and the band pushed through. Behind the band was a small chariot that was drawn by two jewel-adorned tigers.
Sitting in the front, wearing a petite crown that sparkled in the waning light, was Princess Shanti. All around her chariot were soldiers with green uniforms who looked about uneasily, almost as if they were assessing the number of the Revinir’s soldiers in the area.
Shanti was looking around too, but not at the soldiers. Finally she spied Dev and halted the tigers, then ordered the band to be quiet. When the band ceased playing, the townspeople looked over to see what was happening.
“There he is,” Shanti announced loudly to her soldiers. She pointed at Dev. “I want him back. Now! Seize him!”
On the Run
Fifer and Seth hid behind the others so the princess wouldn’t recognize them. But Shanti was focused on Dev. “Bring him to me now!” she ordered. The soldiers in green marched over to Dev, who was beginning to quake with the dagger point pressed in his back. He quickly grabbed something off the table and slipped it into the money belt around his waist, then put his hands in the air. “Shanti, no!” he said. “What are you doing?” One of the Revinir’s
soldiers whistled for help, and more in blue came running. They pushed Dev around the table and out into the open.
The princess’s soldiers drew their swords, prompting the blue-uniformed soldiers to do the same. “Help!” cried Dev, caught between them. “Princess, please!” he pleaded. “Does the king know what you’re doing? The Revinir will be furious. Don’t make this mistake.”
Shanti jumped out of the chariot and stormed toward Dev, unafraid. “Stop this nonsense,” she said to him, then chided the soldiers on both sides. “Put these swords away. I want my servant back. I am the princess. Therefore, you must give him to me.”
The soldiers in blue stood firm around Dev—they took their orders from the Revinir. “Stay back,” one of them ordered her. “This slave was given as restitution and belongs to the Revinir.”
“Perhaps we should take the princess as the final payment,” jeered another of the Revinir’s soldiers.
Shanti’s eyes burned. She continued forward, acting like she couldn’t imagine anything bad ever happening to her. Her soldiers followed her, staring down the ones in blue.
“Shanti, stop!” shouted Dev, his eyes wide and fearful. “I mean it! Just go back to the palace before you start a war!”
“Don’t speak, Dev,” said Shanti coldly. She stood between the two groups of soldiers and began telling them what to do like they were five-year-olds.
The Artiméans shifted uneasily. “What should we do?” asked Fifer, peering between Alex and Kaylee.
“I didn’t bring my sword,” Kaylee muttered.
“I’ve got components, but we can’t do anything,” said Alex. “It’ll jeopardize our chances of rescuing Thisbe. Besides, I’m not sure whose side we’re supposed to be on. Are you?”
Fifer and Seth looked at each other. “I guess Dev’s,” said Fifer, “but why is he being guarded by the Revinir’s soldiers? It sounds like the Revinir took him after what happened with the dragons.”