Thatcher barely comprehended what had happened to him, and now his life continued flashing before his eyes as he dangled from a dizzying height. How many times had he nearly died on this rescue trip so far? It was becoming too many to count. He had more and more admiration for Henry and Lani and Alex and the others all the time. He glanced back at the soldiers. “Good riddance,” he muttered.
“Call out to the drrragons,” Simber ordered as they flew toward the tree line. “Seth, you do it. They know you best.”
“Drock!” shouted Seth, sitting up and looking behind them. “Arabis!” When he caught sight of the breathtaking castle and the grounds from this height, and the sun hitting the waterfall that plunged off the cliff to nowhere, he nearly sighed at its beauty. His panic subsided. One day, he thought, he’d write a play like Samheed was always doing. And it would be set in a castle just like this, with a reluctant princess and a servant boy and magic and twins . . . He blinked and came back. The twins were still missing.
As he called out to all the dragons, he spotted them perched on the castle ramparts near the cliff. “They’re sitting on top of that wall!” he told Simber, and pointed them out.
Simber glided around and headed toward them. And as he did so, Seth spotted two more familiar figures being dragged across the grounds toward the drawbridge by a large man in a black cloak. The tigers were being led behind them. Dev and Princess Shanti were arguing with the man, but it looked to Seth like the two of them were in big trouble.
“At least they got caught doing something,” Seth muttered to himself, feeling a smug sense of satisfaction.
Little did Seth know just how rebellious the princess and her servant were. They weren’t about to let this setback stand in their way. There were more ways out of the castle than on the backs of gilded tigers.
Together Again
Thisbe and Fifer found themselves jiggling in the back of a fast-moving buggy, sitting trapped among sacks and boxes of unknown items. Their wrists were tied down. Everything familiar to them in this strange world was quickly disappearing, and they could do nothing about it.
“Come on, Simber,” Fifer pleaded. She worked her wrists in the restraints.
Thisbe looked out the back, contemplating jumping if they could find a way to untie themselves. But they were moving downhill quickly, away from the castle.
Seeing her, and knowing instinctively what Thisbe was thinking, Fifer shook her head. “We’re going too fast. Besides, I twisted my knee when they dragged me out. I won’t make it far if we try to run, way out here in the middle of nowhere.”
“But how will Simber find us?” asked Thisbe. She rested her cheek against the cool back window and stared out behind them, wishing desperately for Simber to appear. But she could barely see the castle now. It was the size of a toy on the horizon, with the fortress wall stretching out behind it. The sinking feeling in her chest became a chasm of worry.
“He’ll find us,” said Fifer, sounding more sure than she felt. She tugged at the ropes again, but they only got tighter. “At least you and I are together now. What happened to you?”
Thisbe told Fifer about her experience in the dungeon and about her cellmate, and Thatcher and Carina. Then Fifer told Thisbe about everything that had happened with her and Seth and the dragons, expressing her worries about poor Drock not getting his wings finished. “I hope Seth understood what I yelled at him.” She shook her head, imagining the disaster that would follow if Drock couldn’t fly. “I don’t know if he can do it.”
“I just hope they find us, before . . .” Thisbe trailed off and turned, looking forward to where the cart was headed. She didn’t have a clue what they were about to face. “Those are horses, right?” She pointed at the creatures pulling the cart. None of the seven islands had horses, so the girls only knew of them from pictures in the books in Artimé’s library, many of which had been washed ashore or brought to the island by previous generations of people whose ships had been sucked into the Dragon’s Triangle.
“I think so.”
“They’re bigger than I thought they’d be.”
“Yes. Pretty, though.” It was hard to get a good look at them from the back of the buggy. Every now and then, as they journeyed farther and farther inland, they could catch a glimpse of a huge city in the valley below.
As they lapsed into silence, a thunderous booming sound filled the air.
“What was that?” asked Fifer, alarmed. She whirled around and saw a trail of black smoke rising to the sky far in front of them.
Thisbe turned too. “I don’t know.” She was quiet for a moment, but the sound didn’t happen again. “The driver doesn’t seem worried about it.”
The smoke made a cloud, and it floated slowly with the wind. The girls watched it for a while, then turned back and forgot about it. They couldn’t see the castle at all anymore behind them. And they had plenty of other things to worry about.
Finally Thisbe said what both girls had been thinking. “I can’t believe Dev sold us out like that. Why would he do this to us?”
“Yeah.” Fifer looked down. “That was pretty mean.”
Thisbe felt worse about it than she wanted to admit. She was stupid for trusting Dev and being fooled. People didn’t behave like that in Artimé. In Quill they might. But the twins hadn’t experienced something like this before. It made Thisbe feel sick inside that Dev was the kind of person who would care so little about another person that he would lead them around for days just to get a reward. And now what? Would they ever see their brothers again? She couldn’t believe Dev wasn’t more bad than good. Maybe this would put him over the edge as far as the dragons were concerned. It was a shame because Thisbe had almost thought a couple of times that they could be friends. But it didn’t matter now. They’d probably never see him again either.
The city grew larger, and the traffic on the road became busier. There were other horse-drawn carts like the one the girls were in and some vehicles that moved on their own like the Quillitary vehicles back home.
As Thisbe’s stomach knotted tighter and tighter, she worked the restraints that held her down but couldn’t figure out how to untie or even loosen them. Abandoning all hope now of proving anything to Alex, Thisbe tried to get mad enough that her eyes sparked again—she’d been intrigued when she’d done it accidentally before. But she couldn’t get that to happen either. After a moment, Thisbe closed her eyes and sank back in defeat.
Fifer scanned the horizon behind them. “Where is Simber?” she fretted.
“I don’t know.”
They kept their fears to themselves, but both girls were growing more and more anxious about what would happen at Dragonsmarche. Why did people think it was okay to sell other people? What made black-eyed people so valuable?
The girls had no idea. Perhaps they’d never know.
By the time the buggy slowed, they were immersed in a busy city with vehicles and carts going every which way. The sounds around them were loud and unsettling—it was definitely not something the girls were used to. Perhaps under different circumstances, Thisbe might have found the big city at least a little bit exciting. But at the moment she would have greatly preferred to have been anywhere else but there.
Fifer didn’t like it. Even if she hadn’t been restrained, she was too scared of getting run over by a passing vehicle to consider jumping out and making a break for it. Neither of them had the first idea where they’d go. And there was something about being so terribly unsure about what was happening that froze their decision-making abilities.
The cart eased down narrow cobblestoned alleyways, sometimes bumping against the buildings that lined the roads. Soon they entered a city square where there were no buildings. It was similar to the market square in Glen Freer, only much bigger. People buzzed about in growing crowds as vendors in the marketplace set up their booths and unloaded their goods. Some vendors had fresh produce; others had bread and baked goods. Still others offered clothing, dried goods, or strange ani
mals the girls had never seen before. There was a huge aquarium in one section of the square with sea monsters inside.
Thisbe pointed out the aquarium to Fifer. “Maiven told me about that,” she said. But then their view was obstructed and their cart came to rest.
They found themselves next to an enormous carved-stone fountain, which had a basin that was embedded deep into the ground. There was a large platform stage nearby. Immediately ten or fifteen people surrounded the cart, pushing and shouting. Fifer and Thisbe shrank back.
“I want to see them!” said one.
“I don’t believe it,” muttered another.
“I thought they were extinct,” said a third, opening the hatch and reaching in.
“Don’t touch me!” Thisbe kicked at the woman’s hand, and she pulled away. The twins exchanged a fearful look and cowered as far as they could from the opening. Finally the green-uniformed soldier who’d driven them appeared at the back of the buggy. “Back off,” he said to the crowds that were forming. “We need room to move, or you’ll never have a chance to inspect them.”
Fifer dug her fingernails into Thisbe’s hand. “What’s happening?” she whispered.
Thisbe shook her head, mystified as more people came crowding around them.
“What time is the auction?” asked a stranger.
“Noon,” said a different soldier. “Now move out of the way.”
The people shrank back as the soldiers reached in. They untethered the girls and grabbed them, holding their arms and legs down so they couldn’t move.
Fifer struggled, twisting and bending, but the men and women only held her tighter. Thisbe fought to free her hands, but the soldiers held her fast. It was no use. “Fifer,” whispered Thisbe. “Do something! Call the birds!”
“What good will that do?” Fifer gave one more attempt at freeing herself, but the captors were too strong. Finally, as the soldiers were delivering them to the display area, she let out a little scream.
A flock of birds came flying to her and fluttered about uselessly, more annoying than terrifying. The soldiers waved them off and shackled the girls to two wooden posts.
Thisbe’s face grew hot as more onlookers gathered to stare at them.
“Open your eyes wide!” barked a soldier at her. “Or I’ll force them open with sticks.”
Thisbe reared back as much as she could with her limited movements. What a horrible thing to say! She could feel her anger rising up, and briefly she considered the boom spell, but the thought of killing any human still turned her stomach. She couldn’t do it. It didn’t matter whether she was able to or not. Plus, they were surrounded. It wouldn’t help anything.
The streets grew busier, and the square filled up with vendors and goods and shoppers. The smell of baking bread was soured by the odor of fuel and exhaust from the passing vehicles. As the hour of noon approached, the crowd around Thisbe and Fifer’s platform grew larger, so much that people were pushing and shoving to have a chance to see what was going on.
Fifer and Thisbe stood tied to the posts, their shoulders turned in, heads down, trying to shrink away. Their hope of Simber finding them was fading fast. They’d gone away too quickly and too far, it seemed. Even the enormous cheetah couldn’t do everything perfectly. Besides, he had the others to rescue.
“He’s not coming, is he,” said Fifer, a lump stuck fast in her throat.
“He doesn’t seem to be,” said Thisbe. “Can you think of anything we can do to stop this?” Angrily she wrenched her arms, but the action only hurt her.
“You could start sending out boom spells,” Fifer said, like she actually wished Thisbe would do it.
“I . . . I just can’t.”
“I know.” Fifer quickly became empathetic. “I’m sorry I said it. I wouldn’t be able to either.”
“I can put glass spells up to protect us.”
“Yes,” said Fifer. “That’ll help for a while. At least until they beat their way through them to get at us.”
“Still, it might buy us a little time. In case . . .” Thisbe trailed off. In case Simber was still coming. She didn’t want to say it for fear of jinxing it.
“Do it,” said Fifer. “If you can manage without being able to move your wrists.”
Thisbe tugged against her wrist wraps, trying to see if she could rotate her hands enough to fling a glass spell. She gave it a try. “Glass,” she whispered, and flicked her fingers. A sheet of glass planted itself inches away from Fifer’s face.
“Yikes,” said Thisbe. “Sorry.”
“It’s fine. You missed me.”
Murmurs rippled through the crowd at the sight of magic. “Price just went up,” one onlooker said. The audience tittered.
Thisbe threw a few more wild glass spells, trying to at least partially encase her and Fifer so people would be forced to keep their distance, but she didn’t have enough movement in her hands to do it properly. She managed three panes, shielding the front of them from the crowd, but didn’t dare risk any more for fear of planting one too close to Fifer or herself. These would have to do.
Their fears began to worsen the higher the sun rose in the sky. Noon was fast approaching, and Simber still hadn’t shown up. Men and women with stern faces and commanding presences walked up to the girls and moved around the glass to examine them. They spoke quietly to one another as if the twins couldn’t hear them, talking about money and how much they thought the black-eyed girls would be worth. Thisbe wondered if they might be pirates. She narrowed her eyes.
None of the money numbers meant anything to the twins, for they didn’t use currency at all in Artimé—they had no need for it and didn’t really understand it. But hearing the word “thousands” in relationship to anything seemed like an awful lot.
Finally the green-coated soldiers came up and stood at the corners of the platform. A slick-looking man in an ill-fitting suit approached and looked at the girls like they were a selection of cheeses, or a rack of garments. He bumped into one of the sheets of glass and stepped back, startled, then realized where the other ones were as well.
“All right,” he said to the girls with a sneer in his voice. “We’re about to get started. Look your best now, so that the kingdom of Grimere gets a fine price for you.”
Dragons Away
Simber reached the dragons on the top of the wall. He set Thatcher down safely and landed, then called them together. Carina hopped off Simber’s back to inspect the dragons’ wings and make sure they were all secure.
“Do you know wherrre they’ve taken the twins?” the cheetah asked Arabis.
“Yes, where?” asked Seth. He was getting extremely worried.
“There is only one place,” Arabis replied solemnly. “It is not a place we dragons can go, or surely we’ll be shot down and captured. It’s called Dragonsmarche—it’s the Dragon Market, where dragons and other creatures and goods are bought and sold.”
“Isn’t this world called the land of the dragons?” said Thatcher. “How is it possible that you are so oppressed?”
Arabis lowered her head. “Many years ago the dragons lived free. That is what our mother believed to be true when she sent us here. She thought she was saving us from the pirates. In the centuries after the great split, which left our world separated from the seven islands, humans spread out to the cliffs of our land and began to capture dragons and use them as slaves.”
“That’s terrible,” said Carina.
Arabis went on. “Only the two families of black-eyed rulers fought against the others to try to keep the dragons free. But the black-eyed rulers were shunned for their actions. They too became hunted.” Her words turned bitter. “Now they are a prize. A status symbol. As are the dragons.”
“Wait,” said Seth. “The people with black eyes are . . . were . . . rulers?”
“They ruled in tandem and harmony with the dragons,” said Arabis. “But that ended. We knew nothing of these drastic changes when we arrived here. Things only got worse when the Rev
inir took control of the kingdom around the time we arrived. We were young and innocent, and we were immediately captured. We’ve been slaves ever since. And now . . . now you and the twins have freed us. Unfortunately, the soldiers have the girls. You must go quickly to rescue them before it’s too late. It’s some distance into the valley to get to the city.” She pointed in the direction of the market.
Simber growled in frustration. “And you must go back to the seven islands, forrr the pirrrates have been eliminated frrrom therrre. You’ll be safe.” He wished the dragons could stay and help, but he knew it was too risky for them. “Yourrr motherrr will be glad to see you all . . . even if you’rrre a little worrrse forrr wearrr.” He nodded at their makeshift wings. “Carrrina, will they make it home safely?”
“I’m surprised, really,” murmured Carina, now that she had looked at each wing carefully. “The kids did a very good job considering the circumstances and the supplies they had to work with. But I think the dragons should head home directly and have Alex redo their wings to make sure they will hold up for the long term. They’re a little ragged and loose, and the extensions could rip off eventually. But they’re safe to cross the chasm.”
“We did the best we could,” said Seth.
Carina smiled at her son. “I’m so proud. Alex will be very impressed. You got them out of the dungeon—you freed them. And gave them functional wings. You and Thisbe and Fifer did some excellent magic here today. That’s more than any of us can say.”
Simber looked at Carina. “I think you and Seth should go with the drrragons. It’ll be easierrr for me to carrry only Thatcherrr and the girrrls on the rrride home.”
“Oh,” said Carina, growing concerned, “but I promised Alex I’d find the girls.”
“We know wherrre they arrre,” said Simber. “Besides, the soonerrr you get worrrd back to Alex that we’ve found them, the less he’ll worrry. And he worrries too much these days.”