The palace was in an uproar, and Wren, for the first time, really did not know what to do.

The dragons fighting in the desert had ended up inside the palace and there was a lot of hubbub and commotion and then some more fighting, and finally several dragons had flown away, but then a very short time later more dragons had arrived, and one of them was apparently the queen everyone had been waiting for, which made absolutely all the dragons FREAK OUT.

On the plus side, in all the chaos and commotion, everyone seemed to have forgotten about Sky, who was still chained up in General Sandstorm’s room. Sandstorm had been saving him to be a special gift from the general alone, so nobody else apparently remembered or cared that there was a weird little dragon waiting to be handed over.

For now … but Wren was sure someone would remember him eventually. That prince, perhaps, or one of the kitchen dragons who had been assigned to bring him food. Nobody showed up for the whole day after Queen Burn arrived, but at some point someone would go, “oh, right, wasn’t there a gift for the queen around here somewhere?” and maybe also, “hey, I can take credit for that present now!” And then they’d come for Sky, and her chance would be gone.

“His body is just lying out there!” Wren said, pacing back and forth on the windowsill.

“They’ll bring it inside the walls eventually, won’t they?” Sky asked.

“But when?” She picked up one of the general’s sparkly pebbles from his collection and threw it as hard as she could at the stupid endless sand. “What if they pick up his body, see the key, remember you, and come straight here? Or what if they decide to burn all the bodies out there and the key melts along with everything else?”

“Yeeeesh,” Sky said with a shiver.

“I don’t know what this tribe does with its corpses,” Wren said. She put her hands on her hips. “I have to get to it. I’ll have to climb over the wall or sneak through the gate.” But she was worried about leaving Sky alone for however long it would take for her to do that. If someone remembered him while she was gone, he could vanish into the tower, or somewhere else in the palace.

Or worse. Wren remembered what the general had said about killing and stuffing her friend. She wasn’t thinking about it; she couldn’t think about that.

“I wish I had fire,” Sky said disconsolately. “Maybe I could burn up these chains if I did.”

Wren climbed down from the window and went to hug him. Sky hadn’t said anything about wishing he had fire in years. She wished she could chop off the heads of every dragon who’d made him feel bad about it again.

“They wouldn’t have left you in chains that fire could melt if you had fire,” she pointed out reasonably. “So don’t even think about it.”

“Can we break them some other way?” Sky whacked his wrist cuff into the stone wall and winced.

They tried everything. Wren found a large knife in Sandstorm’s things and tried to pry one of the links open, but she only succeeded in nearly impaling herself. She jabbed several pointy things into the keyhole to see if she could pick the lock, but none of them worked.

By nightfall, the chain was still on, and the body of General Sandstorm was still out in the desert.

“Maybe that human could help you,” Sky said. “The one who lives here.”

Wren rubbed her eyes, thinking about that. She didn’t like the idea of asking a human for help — but then again, Rose wasn’t like other humans. Wren would have to tell her about Sky … but if anyone could understand being friends with a dragon, it was Rose.

“I’ll see if I can find her,” Wren said. “Good idea, Sky.” He looked so delighted with himself, she couldn’t resist hugging him again.

Of course, it wasn’t the easiest thing, finding another small human in a palace this size. Wren searched for part of the night, and then decided to at least try scaling the giant wall from one of the empty courtyards.

“Ow!” She leaped back with a hiss. Sharp spikes and glass were embedded in the wall all the way to the top. Its height wasn’t the only thing that was human-proof about it.

“Sorry, I should have warned you,” Rose said, appearing from the shadows. “It’s pretty awful, isn’t it? The new queen here — the one who took over after the one my brother killed — really hates humans. I can’t even climb these walls, and climbing was always my thing.”

She ripped a strip of cloth off the bottom of her pants and took one of Wren’s hands, wrapping the bandage around it with no particular skill or gentleness. She hasn’t taken care of another human in a long time, Wren thought. Something we have in common.

“I’m fine,” Wren said, pulling her hand back and rewrapping the bandage herself. “What were all those dragons fighting about earlier today?”

“Wasn’t it exciting?” Rose said. “I mean, I missed a lot of it because my dragon put me in a room and tried to make me stay there. But I eventually found a place to watch some of the action.”

“And?” Wren said. “Who was attacking?”

Rose lifted her hands, palms up. “Who knows? Other desert dragons, for some reason. I think they came to get this one prisoner, because they flew off with her.”

“The one in the tower?” Wren asked. “Who was always roaring about killing everyone?”

“No,” Rose said, squinting at her again. “The one who arrived two days ago, who was little and cute. I mean, for a dragon. She had sunshine-yellow scales, kind of golden, and she looked a little bit like a sand dragon, but with no tail barb. I kept her company in the tower for a night. Poor little thing, she was so scared. I’m glad she got away.”

“I don’t think I saw her,” Wren said. She realized she was walking back toward Sky without even thinking about it. It made her nervous to have left him alone for so long.

“The other prisoner left, too, though,” Rose said, falling into step beside her. “They’re both gone. Maybe the dragons who attacked wanted both of them? But they went in different directions. I don’t know, it was confusing, but the queen was absolutely FURIOUS.”

“What did she say?” Wren asked.

Rose looked at her sideways. “Um … ROOOOOOOOAR, and by the way ROAR and oh, wait, she also said, ROOOAR ROOAR ROOAR.”

Wren couldn’t help laughing. She didn’t know how Rose had lived with dragons all this time and not picked up some of their language, but that was still pretty hilarious.

“So what are you up to?” Rose asked. “Did you slay your dragon? And now it’s time to go?”

“Sort of. Yes and no,” Wren said. They walked for a moment, and then Wren realized from the expectant look on Rose’s face that she was waiting for more of an answer. “Yes, he’s dead,” she clarified. “But I need the key he’s wearing, and his body is out in the desert.”

“Oh!” Rose said. “You should have told me that in the first place! I know where there are a lot of keys. My dragon keeps copies of all the keys in the castle around his neck.”

Wren stopped and faced her. “He does?” Her mind was racing. Rose must be talking about Prince Smolder — he did have a lot of keys clanking around his neck.

“Sure.” Rose pushed her hair back. “What does it look like?”

“I can get it, if you tell me where to find him,” Wren said.

“But I can get it way more easily!” Rose said. “Come on, I haven’t had a quest in years. I can be so helpful!”

Wren was surprised to realize that she believed her. Rose could be helpful.

What is this weird feeling? she thought. Like … being able to rely on someone else? Believing they will not betray you? Someone other than Sky?

First Murderbasket, now Rose. Am I making … friends?

She kind of wanted to laugh at herself, and she kind of wanted to go build a snail shell of her own to hide in for a while.

“Sure … but maybe you don’t have to,” Wren said. “Would you say Prince Smolder is a pretty reasonable dragon?” They stepped back into the kitchens, where only a pair of older dragons were still awake, preparing breakfast for tomorrow at the far end of the room. The dragons didn’t look up at the small patter of feet scurrying along the walls.

Sky had said the prince was less hostile than the other dragons in the palace. And Wren herself thought Smolder seemed different from Sandstorm — not amused by the loudmouth dragon either. Perhaps she could bargain with him. Or wave her sword at him, if all else failed.

“Who?” Rose asked.

“Prince Smolder, your dragon,” Wren said impatiently. “Unless there’s some other dragon around here with lots of keys around his neck.”

Rose pulled her to a stop and dragged her behind one of the baskets of lemons. “You did not just guess a name like that!” she cried. “Is that real? Is his name really Prince Smolder?”

“How can he be your dragon if you don’t even know his name?” Wren demanded.

“I’ve been calling him Ember all this time!” Rose said. “We sort of traded names at the beginning. He pointed to a picture of coals burning low in a fireplace … I guess he could have meant Smolder. I thought it was Ember!”

“It’s Smolder,” Wren said. She’d confirmed that with Sky, and also learned a few new dragon words like weirdling and general. Sky had picked up a lot more Dragon while he was with the SandWing soldiers, although some of it was language that Wren did not care for.

“You do understand the dragons!” Rose said. “How is that possible? I’ve lived with them for twenty years and I’ve only figured out a few words! How old are you, fourteen? Where did you learn it?”

Do I trust her, or don’t I? Wren asked herself. She’d always always kept Sky a secret — but if she wanted Rose’s help, she had to take a chance.

“I have a dragon of my own, too,” Wren confessed. “His name is Sky, and he’s chained up in Sandstorm’s room. I’m trying to set him free before someone gives him to the queen. Sandstorm said she might kill him and stuff him.”

“Oh!” Rose said, her hands flying to her face. “Poor little dragon! She really might, she’s so scary. But we’ll save him, Wren. Don’t worry. You have me now.”

“Could you take me to Smolder?” Wren asked. “Do you think he’d give the key to me if I ask nicely?”

“Ask him?” Rose said, clutching her head. “You can speak it, too?”

“I mean,” Wren said, “not well. I always mix up my grrroars and my grrawrs.”

“Good heavens,” Rose said. “You do sound like them. Smolder would probably have a heart attack if you suddenly appeared speaking his language. He doesn’t exactly love surprises. Or change. Listen, I’ll get you that key right now, I promise. But can you please please stay and teach me Dragon?”

“Oh, no, I can’t,” Wren said, alarmed. “That would take forever! We need to escape in a hurry as soon as we possibly can. Sky is in danger every moment he’s in this palace.”

“Teach me anything,” Rose pleaded. “I can help you both hide for an extra day — even one day would be so helpful! Just teach me how to say ‘Smolder, stop putting me in places I can’t get out of.’ Or ‘Smolder, I want a tangerine today, not another boiled fish.’ Ooh, or ‘Smolder, it is unreasonable that any creature should snore quite as loudly as you do.’”

“I could try to teach you a little,” Wren said, rubbing her forehead. “If I knew that Sky was safe.”

“I’ll get the key,” Rose promised. “Describe it to me and I’ll go get it right now, and then we’ll hide and you can teach me for however long you can stay.”

Wren’s instinct was still to try to get the key herself. But if Rose could get the key as easily as she thought she could, it would be the fastest way to save Sky … and meanwhile Wren could stay with him to keep him safe.

I could teach her a little bit before we go.

One human. I just have to trust this one.

“All right,” Wren said. “Let’s do it.”