Now they could see the lines of soldiers surrounding it. They wore dark green uniforms and carried swords like the ones that lined the walls in Artimé’s theater, as well as crossbows and a variety of other weapons the children had never seen before except in books. Seth eyed the soldiers nervously, and his fingers immediately went to his vest pockets, but his few components would be no match.
Thisbe saw him. “We won’t have to fight,” she said quietly in his ear, feeling nervous too. “They need us, remember?”
“Yeah,” said Seth, but the worry never left his face. He pulled his hand away and gripped the dragon tighter.
Once the soldiers spotted the dragon coming, they began lowering the drawbridge over the moat and raising the iron portcullis.
Hux was breathing hard, but he wasn’t slowing down. Whatever that mournful sound was that Arabis had made, it had scared Hux severely, and that put Seth, Fifer, and Thisbe even more on edge. Was Arabis okay?
Hux’s direct path finally intersected the winding road that led to the castle, and the ride became a little smoother. The dragon followed the road to the drawbridge, and when he saw the guards waving him down, he skidded to a halt. Several of their precious flower petals flew up in the wind. Fifer squeaked in protest, trying and failing to grab them, then regretfully watched them go. She glanced at the guards, who were staring at her, and quickly settled back down, a wave of fear passing through her. None of them appeared friendly.
The soldier who seemed to be in charge apparently recognized Hux, to no one’s surprise, but she scrutinized the children’s faces. “Who are these children with you?”
“They are the magicians from the Seven Islands,” said Hux.
“And me,” said Dev, straightening up. “I’m delivering them to the princess. The girls, I mean. Officially.”
Thisbe looked sidelong at him and whispered harshly, “What are you talking about?” Dev had been acting more and more sneaky lately. He was definitely up to something, but she couldn’t figure out what it was. She addressed the soldier. “We’re not here to see the princess, ma’am. We’re here to fix the dragons’ wings.”
“Right,” Dev mumbled. He slouched again.
The woman studied the girls, looking them in the eye for a long moment. But the expression on her face didn’t give away her thoughts. She raised a brow at Dev. “Hmm. Interesting.”
Fifer glanced at Dev too, her suspicion growing. “What’s going on?” she demanded.
Dev stared stonily ahead. “Nothing.”
Thisbe and Fifer exchanged a suspicious glance. But their worries were interrupted by Hux.
“We must hurry,” the dragon said sharply. “The orders came from the king.”
“Fine, then,” said the soldier, and she waved them in.
Hux wasted no time. He thudded over the drawbridge and headed straight inside.
“They let dragons inside the castle?” asked Seth in a low voice, which hitched as they bumped along. But it was clear they did, for the other guards stood aside and let Hux through.
As their eyes adjusted, Fifer’s lips parted in awe. The entryway was bigger than the entire mansion in Artimé. The ceiling rose up to a dizzying height, and jeweled light fixtures lined the walls, sparkling. The floor was made of vibrant green stone that had been polished smooth, making the dragon’s claws slip and clack as he moved along. The ivory walls contained intricate carvings that looked very old, yet were impeccably maintained. It must’ve taken skilled artists centuries to complete all that work. In spite of their trepidation, the three Artiméans marveled at it.
But the most unusual thing about the castle entrance was the pair of white-and-gray-striped tigers. They were adorned with rich-looking fabric that lay across their shoulders and backs like capes, and they wore delicate headpieces with pearls and diamonds that hung between their eyes. The tigers paced the back wall of the entryway, but they weren’t loose—they were secured around their necks by long, thin, flexible metal chains.
One of the tigers snarled at Hux as he went by. Hux roared back, but the tiger showed no fear. Hux continued toward them, making Fifer worry there’d be a confrontation, but then the dragon turned to the right at the back of the entryway and went through an enormous arch, leading to a wing of the castle. Just as they were about to enter through a similar-size doorway, a girl’s voice from behind halted Hux in his tracks. “Stop, dragon,” she said.
Hux stopped.
Dev’s face lit up. He jumped down, while Thisbe, Fifer, and Seth turned around to look at the girl. Clearly a princess, she was dressed in shimmering clothes and wore a small beaded headpiece that dripped jewels across her forehead, similar to what the tigers wore. She walked casually to one of the tigers and petted its head, barely looking at it.
Dev ran over to her. “I’m back,” he said in a low voice.
“And I’m bored to death.” She looked at the dragon, who seemed to be waiting for permission to continue on. Her gaze moved to the three children on his back. She put a finger to her lips and studied them. “Are they the ones . . . ?”
Dev smiled. “Yes, Princess. And I’ll need you to inspect them, if you please.”
The princess looked puzzled. “What? Why? Was I right?”
“You’ll see.” Dev looked around nervously. “Please.”
“Of course.” She moved fluidly over the malachite floor, her gown sweeping along with her, and approached the dragon. “You made it just in time, Hux,” she said in a scolding tone. “You’ll thank me for holding off the execution.”
“Thank you,” said Hux meekly, about as undragonlike as Thisbe could imagine. Briefly Thisbe wondered why Hux didn’t just blow fire and burn up everyone who kept the dragons captive. But something else held Thisbe’s attention. It was the princess, but not her beautiful clothing or her elegant stance. It was her voice. Her face. They were familiar.
The princess looked curiously from one twin to the other, and now that they were in bright light, she saw something she hadn’t been sure of before. “Oh my,” she whispered. She turned toward Dev. “Well done.”
It was then that Thisbe finally figured out what was so familiar. The princess was the ragged girl who’d been with Dev in the village.
The Dungeon
Dev said the girl’s name earlier, thought Thisbe. Shawni? No. It was Shanti. But why had she been dressed like a servant? Like Dev? Did this mean that Dev was secretly a prince?
“Soldiers,” said the princess. She clapped her hands.
Immediately two men and two women in green uniforms appeared.
“Accompany the party to the dungeon so they can fix the dragon wings. When they are finished, make them . . . more comfortable.”
The four soldiers obeyed.
The princess looked at Hux and frowned. She called after the soldiers, “And get his muzzle on right away. There’s no reason for this carelessness.”
“Yes, Princess,” said the four in unison.
“Excuse me,” said Thisbe, trying to sound bold. “What’s happening?”
The princess eyed her with contempt, and Dev stepped forward. In a harsh voice he said, “Thieves do not address Princess Shanti.” But he wouldn’t look Thisbe in the eye.
“Look,” said Thisbe, feeling heat rising to her cheeks. “Where we come from, people cut their hair if they want to. Not because they’re thieves. Besides, you’re a thief yourself, Dev. Why isn’t your hair short?” She hesitated, waiting for the princess to apologize or at least appear to understand.
But the princess stared stonily. “Get them out of here.”
Before the visitors knew what was happening, the soldiers prodded Hux through a doorway and whisked Thisbe, Seth, and Fifer after him, down a winding stone ramp. As they descended, the air turned damp and chilly, and the lighting became sparse. Near the bottom, the beautiful green-stone flooring ended abruptly and turned to dirt. The ceiling was low enough that Hux had to stoop way down in order to fit. He kept moving with the soldiers. The chil
dren followed.
As they reached the bottom of the ramp, the area opened up into a huge, dimly lit dungeon. More soldiers appeared and roughly slapped a muzzle over Hux’s face. The dragon didn’t struggle at all, which left the children mystified. Perhaps his refusal to fight like a normal dragon had been in the terms of agreement to save Arabis’s life. Or maybe, after ten years of being enslaved, Hux didn’t have any fight left in him. The three friends observed, silent and cautious, not wanting to talk about anything until there weren’t any soldiers around to hear them.
There were a few small, high windows with bars over them. Blocks of sunlight streamed in. The children looked around the vast dungeon area, and it was only seconds before they realized they weren’t alone.
Lined along one wall, inside enormous stables, were the other four dragons that the children hadn’t seen since they were very young. Nearest them was Drock the deep purple, then an empty stall that was presumably Hux’s. Then Ivis the green, Yarbeck the purple and gold, and at the far end by the outer wall with the windows, Arabis the orange. All of the dragons were stuck so tightly in their stables that they could hardly move, and their snouts were constrained by similar muzzles to the one Hux wore.
The soldiers forced the children to one side, taking their supplies for the wings and throwing them to the ground. Then they whipped poor Hux until he backed into the empty stall, and they continued whipping him even though he was doing exactly what they told him to do.
“Stop!” cried Fifer. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Leave him alone!” shouted Thisbe. “Can’t you see he’s doing what you’re telling him to do?”
“Besides,” Fifer continued, “we need the dragons outside of their stables. How else are we supposed to work on them?”
Seth ran over to the other dragons. “Are you all right?” he asked them. “Arabis! Do you remember me?”
But Arabis didn’t answer because she couldn’t. None of them could. Their mouths were locked shut by the muzzles, which Seth could now see were also attached to the walls of each stable. The dragons could only emit strange yowls through their clenched jaws, and they could hardly move their heads.
“Fix the wings!” barked one of the soldiers, making Seth scramble back to Fifer and Thisbe, who cowered near the supplies. The man turned to the other three soldiers, who were attaching Hux’s muzzle to the chains in his stable. “Go stand guard at the ramp.”
The three finished the job and moved out of sight to the end of the ramp as they were told. The first soldier stood over the children, looking at their strange organic supplies. “What is this junk?” he muttered. “This better not be a trick.”
“We’re going to need more supplies,” said Fifer, trying to appear unfazed. She clenched her fists in front of her to show that she wasn’t messing around, though she knew there was no way she’d win in a fight—not with three other guards nearby.
“Tough luck,” said the man. “Make do with what you have.”
“No, seriously,” Fifer said, starting to panic. “We can’t do it without more sticks and petals. And we need some cloth, too.”
“You are not to leave the dungeon.”
Fifer looked at the man, knowing that however difficult the soldiers were going to be, the twins had to figure out how to do this or they were all done for. “Okay, well,” she said in a measured tone, “that servant boy Dev knows what we need. You could send him out to get it.”
The soldier frowned.
Thisbe stepped in. “Can’t you at least ask whoever’s in charge, please?”
The soldier slammed his thumb against his chest and snarled, “I’m in charge. And I do not negotiate with thieves.”
Boiling mad, Thisbe shoved her hands in her pockets to keep them from doing any unintended magic. “Enough about the hair thing! I. Am not. A thief.” She stepped toward him and tried to look threatening, even though the top of her head barely came up past his shoulder. “Do you want us to help you or not?”
Immediately the soldier pushed Thisbe against the wall. He pulled a dagger from his belt and pressed the point to Thisbe’s chest. “Don’t move,” he said menacingly. Without turning, he called to his fellow soldiers, “Take the thief away.”
Thisbe’s eyes widened as two soldiers rushed in and grabbed her. “What are you doing? Stop!” More soldiers came rushing in.
“Let go of her!” shouted Seth, running at them.
Fifer rushed to her twin’s side and tried to pull her free. “You leave her alone!”
The soldiers yanked harder. Thisbe’s eyes sparked dangerously. “Get away from me!”
The other soldiers grabbed Fifer and Seth and pulled them back while the two holding Thisbe dragged her to the ramp and began to ascend it. “Help!” Thisbe screamed. “Stop!” Little jets of fire burst from her eyes and hit the wall, leaving two smoldering divots behind. Thisbe screamed. She’d never done anything like that with her eyes before. Abandoning her quest to do good with her magic, she attempted to replicate that spell, aiming her eyes at the soldiers. But try as she might, she couldn’t do it again.
In desperation, Fifer screeched. Birds flew in through the tiny dungeon windows, but as usual, all they did was flutter about. The soldiers batted them away and kept dragging Thisbe, who dug in her heels to no avail.
“Stop!” she cried out, her voice ragged. Part of her desperately wanted to shout the word “boom” and kill these creeps. But she couldn’t make herself do it. The results of that spell had been traumatic enough when she’d killed the venomous snake, much less Captain Baldhead back when she was two. She couldn’t bear to kill these soldiers no matter how much she hated what they were doing to her. Besides, more soldiers came rushing in, and she wouldn’t be able to kill them all. If she managed to destroy one or more of them, what would they do to her then? She’d be a thief and a murderer. Alex wouldn’t be the only one wanting to lock her up if that happened. Surely they wouldn’t let her go free, and right now, all she wanted to do was make it home somehow. She wrenched her arms, but the soldiers held her fast. “Back off!” she shouted desperately, flicking her fingers the best she could, hoping something else would happen. Fiery sparks flew out of them, hitting the soldiers in the face.
The men and women dropped Thisbe and began pawing at their stinging faces. Thisbe tried to run, but the next group of soldiers grabbed her and picked her up.
“We need Thisbe to stay here so she can do the magic!” Fifer was shouting from the dragon dungeon. “Bring her back this instant!” The head soldier held her, kicking and screaming. Next to her, Seth landed a well-placed kick and managed to break loose from his captor. He rushed after the larger group, searching desperately inside his vest pockets as he ran. He pulled out a few scatterclips and sent them flying. They snagged one soldier, dragging him backward and stacking another behind the first, and pinned them to the wall. But it wasn’t enough. There were too many soldiers. Soon he was recaptured and held tightly.
“Just fix the wings, Fifer! You have to!” Thisbe yelled out as the soldiers dragged her higher up the ramp. “Then we can all get out of here!”
Fifer stared after her. She felt like she was being torn down the middle, half of her body being wrenched away, and she was helpless to do anything about it. How could she function without Thisbe? They’d never been apart before.
Fifer thought about her life stories. How their mother had died saving her and Thisbe when they were only one year old. The townspeople of Quill had brought them to Aaron at the palace, but Aaron had been abducted by the pirates. Gondoleery Rattrapp had taken over and ordered them to the Ancients Sector. Then Liam Healey had risked his life and stolen the girls away, and they’d been on the run in the freezing cold for days with no food or water. He’d brought them to Artimé.
She thought about how the girls had been together inside the giant rock during the final battle. How Fifer had stopped Queen Eagala’s evil birds, and Thisbe had killed the pirate captain because he was k
idnapping Fifer.
They’d lived peacefully in the mansion since then. And through all of it, they’d been together. Through every traumatic event, the twins had been side by side. And now, horribly, everything was changing.
Fifer barely noticed when the soldier let her go. Magical Warrior Training, her component vest—neither of those held any place in her thoughts anymore. She sank to the ground, then looked at Seth, who looked back at her solemnly and didn’t say a word. They both lowered their heads. Thisbe was gone. And Fifer couldn’t do this job without her.
Seth and Fifer Improvise
But Fifer didn’t have a choice. She blinked back the tears, sucked in a sharp breath, and stood up. Then she very deliberately straightened her clothes and gave the soldier one last look of hatred as he moved back to join the others at the bottom of the ramp. Inside, Fifer was scared to death. What were the soldiers doing to her sister? Where were they taking her? But she knew she had to step up and make this happen . . . without the supplies they needed.
“What are we going to do?” Seth asked in a low voice.
“I don’t know.” Fifer turned and knelt on the cold floor. She straightened the sticks and started to gather up the flower petals that hadn’t been damaged in the scuffle. She sniffed once and shivered in the damp room. “Let’s look around, I guess. Maybe we can find something down here to use for the cloth covering.”
Seth and Fifer began looking in the shadowy corners of the low-lit dungeon and discovered a narrow hallway that led to many more open dungeon rooms—some of which had actual prisoners chained to the walls by their wrists. The children didn’t get far before they saw at least ten soldiers patrolling the maze of hallways and yelling at the prisoners.
“At least they didn’t put Thisbe in here,” murmured Fifer. “Whoa, look out—soldiers coming this way.” The two turned around quickly and went back to the section where the dragons were.