“Rook!” Heath’s sharp voice cut through their antagonistic little dance. “Behave.”
Rook stopped dragging Tamri around the courtyard and shot a petulant look at Heath. Tamri was surprised he wasn’t sticking out his tongue. Heath made a signal Tamri didn’t know, and Rook hunkered down with an insolent huff.
As soon he settled onto his belly, Tamri scrambled onto his back as fast as she could, accidently pulling a few feathers loose in the process. Rook squawked and shook his wings, sending water droplets flying into Tamri’s eyes.
“It’s your own fault,” she hissed. “Now hold still.”
When she was finally astride behind his wings, she hooked one hand tightly around the harness and pulled off her boots to empty out the muck. Instead of putting the boots back on, she wedged them under her travel pack and tied them to the harness by the laces. She could get a better grip on Rook with bare feet anyway. She was going to need it.
She curled her toes, getting the eerie sensation that she was reverting back to the barefoot, grubby urchin she’d been when she left Pendark. But Tamri was not the same girl anymore. She’d faced deadly challenges and learned a lot in the world beyond her birth city. She intended to use every bit of that experience to save Gramma Teall.
“Are you and Rook okay?” Heath asked. “If this isn’t going to work—”
“We’re fine.” Tamri wouldn’t let this big red bully get the better of her. She hated being pushed around. “Let’s get going.”
Heath frowned, but he went to mount Boru without questioning her further. Boru bowed his head regally for his rider, looking especially dignified with his silky white wings and not a speck of mud in sight. Rook made a rude gurgling sound in his direction.
“Wait! Don’t leave yet!”
Princess Selivia darted into the courtyard. She wore long, flowing trousers, which she hiked up out of the mud, and her hair was pulled into a knot on her head. Lord Latch followed more slowly behind her, still a little unsteady on his feet.
“We have a gift to help you on your journey,” Selivia said, skidding to a halt between the two dragons.
“You don’t need to give me anything,” Tamri said. “You’ve already—”
“I insist,” Selivia said. “It’s the least we can do after you saved Latch.”
Lord Latch caught up with her, slightly out of breath. A silvery glow showed beneath his fingernails, and silver-white film covered his brown eyes. He was carrying Watermight—quite a lot judging by the thrumming of Tamri’s senses.
Selivia gave a triumphant flourish. “Here’s your gift, Tamri.”
Latch raised his hands as if offering a blessing, and Watermight spooled out of his palms in a thick current. The magical substance flowed like starlight, cold and brilliant and ethereal, casting shadows on Latch’s hollow cheeks and making Selivia’s eyes dance.
Tamri’s mouth dropped open. The stream of magic just kept coming. That must be all the Watermight Latch could hold at one time. A stunningly expensive quantity.
Latch guided the twin streams toward the dragons, and Boru and Rook lapped it up, accustomed to transporting the liquid power. It wasn’t enough Watermight to slow the large creatures, but it would help immeasurably in Pendark. Watermight was currency and weapon in one there. Tamri wasn’t sure which she’d need more.
“It’s too much,” she said when the dragons swallowed the last of the power. “Thank you, Sel.”
“Don’t thank me!” Selivia said. “This was Latch’s idea.”
The Soolen lord approached Rook’s side and looked up at Tamri gravely. Despite his obvious fatigue, he seemed healthier than he had yesterday, less gaunt.
“I owe you my thanks, Tamri of Pendark.” Latch patted Rook’s neck. The red dragon didn’t seem to mind him. “This isn’t enough to repay you fully for my life and freedom, but please know you’ll always have a friend in House Brach.” He glanced at Selivia, who’d gone over to speak to Heath, and smiled. “Two friends.”
Tamri raked her fingers through her hair, embarrassed at the praise. “Thank you, uh, my lord.”
“Take care with King Khrillin,” Latch said. “He doesn’t let go easily. Don’t let him learn of the strength you’ve developed. He will try to use it for his own ends.” Latch grimaced. “I have personal experience in the matter. It’s best if he thinks you’re less skilled and knowledgeable than you are.”
“I’ll remember that,” Tamri said.
“Good.”
Selivia skipped over to join them, tucking a letter Heath had given her into her pocket. “Farewell, Tamri. And hurry back! I’m excited to meet Gramma Teall.”
“She’ll love that.” Tamri smiled at the princess, but worry twanged in her chest. She’d told Gramma Teall all about Princess Selivia the day they met. Would she remember any of it?
Tamri would find out soon enough. First, she had to reach Pendark. There was a decent chance Rook would drop her into the sea before they made it five miles.
The red dragon snorted, as if he could read her thoughts, and twisted his head to look at her. She bared her teeth. She may be afraid, but she wasn’t going to admit it to him.
Heath raised his Fire cudgel, and Selivia and Latch stepped back to give them room. Then Boru took three graceful leaps and soared into the air. He glided once around the pale stone walls overlooking the courtyard, the sweep of his wings sending ripples across the puddles, then he rose into the steely clouds.
Not waiting for Tamri’s command, Rook gathered his muscular legs beneath him, raised his scarlet wings, and bounded into the air after Boru with much less grace. The rush of flight swooped through Tamri’s body, and her senses reeled. Stomach sinking, blood racing, heart throbbing in exhilaration. Rook’s wings pulsed around her, carrying her higher.
The wind blew harder as they ascended, the electric feeling of a storm filling the air. The courtyard below was a clouded mirror, more water than earth. Tamri got one last glimpse of Selivia and Latch’s upturned faces before Rook soared over the palace roof and circled the high white-stone walls. The palace guards pointed and stared, still awed by the magnificent creatures no matter how many dragons they’d seen.
As Rook and Tamri completed their circuit, Boru and Heath fell in beside them. Heath waved his cudgel in the signal that meant “stay low,” then he and Boru started across the city, which sprawled down a gradual slope toward the sea.
Rook followed eagerly, skimming over the peaked roof of the Royal Archive almost close enough for Tamri to touch the red tiles. She thought of the book she hadn’t managed to swipe for Gramma Teall and the workroom where Dara and the scholars were tackling the Lightning problem. Hopefully they would figure out how to keep it from ensnaring anyone else by the time Tamri returned. She’d miss being part of the solution, but it was a relief to be flying away from the Lightning’s eerie pull. It couldn’t get to her in Pendark.
They soared over the rooftops of Sharoth and headed down toward the circular harbor, the buildings becoming denser as they got farther from the palace. They passed a row of watchtowers with flat stone tops that appeared at regular intervals along the waterfront like tall, blunt teeth. Tamri glimpsed faces at their windows and waved farewell, happy to be leaving the unfriendly Soolens behind.