On Tenterhooks
Late that night Fifer applied another layer of the magical salve to Dev’s burns and gave him another capsule to swallow. Florence hadn’t responded, which left Fifer stressed out and worried about what was happening. She didn’t want them coming here—the red dragons would likely destroy them as they’d destroyed Fifer’s birds.
And she wasn’t sure what Florence was thinking. Was she buying Fifer’s story? Had Fifer and Thisbe misjudged how everyone would react to this plan? Feeling stressed out and unable to sleep, Fifer picked up one of Dev’s new weapons and a small chunk of the meteor they’d found in one of the tower stairwells. She brought them to the east window and used the stone to sand down the wood while she pondered and watched.
Not to mention Fifer was suddenly weary of this place. How long would she be stuck here, especially if her Artiméan people couldn’t approach or attempt to rescue her, and the dragons were being hostile? Had Thisbe made it to the castle safely? How were things going for her? Was there any way Thisbe could communicate with Fifer so she and Dev would know what was happening? Did the Revinir buy Thisbe’s story?
And now there was Dev, with his not-very-well-thought-out plan to penetrate the mind control and speak to the dragons… in their language. Which Dev didn’t know. What if Dev had said something really horrible or offensive in his roar? Sure, it got the red dragons to pay attention when they normally didn’t react to anything that was spoken to them by anyone other than the Revinir. But that was not the reaction Dev had been hoping for, nor expecting.
They’d both seen Thisbe mount the dragon and speak to him… somehow. Did she have some dragon communication ability that no one knew about? More likely it had to do with the specific instructions the Revinir had given the red dragons. After all, the dragons most certainly weren’t given any pointers on what to do with Dev, since the Revinir thought he was dead. But it was easy to see the Revinir instructing them to take Thisbe to the castle if she asked them to.
Fifer wondered if she would be able to get through to the dragons if she wanted to have them take her somewhere. Did they have instructions to listen to her, too? Was there any safe way out using that method?
She shook her head. What was she thinking? She’d just witnessed Dev getting flambéed! She was not about to have the same thing happen to her—at least not until she knew what rules the dragons were following.
Sitting down at the desk, Fifer took out a piece of paper and began to write down what she knew about the red dragons.
1. Paid no attention when Dev and I spoke to them by river
2. Totally listened when Thisbe roared at them, and did what she wanted them to do
3. Torched my birds and hammock with no warning
4. Burned Dev to a crisp when he tried to do what Thisbe did with the roaring
As Fifer looked up to think about what else to write, she caught sight of something moving outside the window in the darkness. She got up and went to look. It was the remaining front dragon going toward the river, presumably to eat and drink. The dragons did this at some point each day, but Fifer had rarely caught them in the act because they usually did it during the night when she was asleep. But because the other front dragon was away, this move left that entire side of the property unguarded!
Granted, if Fifer were to ever make a run for it, it would take about six gallops for a dragon to catch her. And there was no place to run to that would be safe. But knowing there was a tiny vulnerability here gave Fifer some hope. She had no idea what she might do with that information, but it seemed noteworthy. Perhaps it would allow for people to come in rather than for Fifer and Dev to escape. Which was also something they desperately needed, especially if the people coming in brought components. And maybe some food that wasn’t fish.
The thought reminded Fifer that Florence still hadn’t replied to her latest send spell telling them not to come. Was Florence still thinking about how to answer that? Or had something happened to them? Fifer thought about how much time had passed since Florence had told them they were on their way. They must be taking the volcano network in order to get here by morning.
A panicky thought struck Fifer. What if Fifer’s send spell had gone out when Florence was in the volcano system? Would the spell ever find her? That seemed like the one place Artimé’s spells wouldn’t be able to penetrate on their own. But wouldn’t it find her once she exited? Or would it just be confused and give up?
All the unanswered questions that flew around Fifer’s mind were making her weary. She checked on Dev again and found him resting as comfortably as possible. Fifer would give Florence until morning to reply, and if she didn’t, she’d have to use her last send component. Because the last thing Fifer wanted was to be responsible for the death of another Artiméan. And if there was any chance that Florence hadn’t received the instructions not to come here, and the whole team of them came barreling in to save their head mage and were attacked, Fifer would never be able to forgive herself.
She dozed for a few hours. When the sun streamed in and Dev stirred and sat up, Fifer startled awake. She applied one more dose of salve to Dev’s burns and moved to put away the healing kit in her robe pocket. When she slid it inside, it caught on something in its way. Fifer frowned and pulled the kit out, then reached inside to find out what was there. Her fingers found a small box wrapped in paper. She’d never seen it before. “What’s this?” she murmured.