Dragon Captives

by Lisa McMann

  She looked at Seth, wondering if he was to blame, but she didn’t think he would have eaten all the food and left none for the girls—he wasn’t a horrible person. Besides, he was lying in almost exactly the same position he’d been in when they went to sleep last night.

  It couldn’t have been Fifer. She was fond of food, no doubt, but she’d never do something like that. Thisbe scanned the mountainside, wondering if one of those strange animals they’d heard howling was responsible. But how could an animal open the rucksack without destroying it?

  And then she spotted him. Sitting on a small boulder several yards away was the boy from the market. He was eating a piece of fruit—their fruit—and he cradled several more pieces in a sling made from his ragged shirttails.

  “Hey!” Thisbe shouted, scrambling to her feet and stumbling over the uneven ground toward him. “Fifer, Seth, wake up! Let’s get him!”

  The boy whirled around and instinctively threw the core at her, hitting her in the shoulder. His eyes widened, almost like he couldn’t believe he’d done it. Then he took off running.

  “Stop!” yelled Thisbe again as Fifer and Seth roused to see what was happening. “Give us back our food, you thief!” She ran after him.

  The boy stopped and turned. “No, you are the thief,” he challenged, with an accent similar to the girl he’d been with the previous day. He started coming toward her, glaring, his face iron hard in the morning light.

  Thisbe began to protest, but she had to admit the boy was right. They’d stolen the food—even if it had been trampled and would never sell. “We’re both thieves, then,” she said amicably. Fifer and Seth caught up to her and stopped.

  The boy stared at Thisbe, surprised by her candor. The corner of his mouth tugged upward, but he forced the iron gaze back on his face and looked at the three who watched him. Then he frowned and tossed a loaf of smashed bread at Thisbe, who caught it. The boy turned and slipped lithely between the rocks, heading up the mountainside.

  “Wait,” said Thisbe. She shoved the bread at Fifer and ran after the boy. “Where are you going? What’s your name?”

  He kept walking, though he slowed a little. “Doesn’t matter.”

  Thisbe caught up to him. “I’m Thisbe.”

  The boy stared straight ahead. “Dev.”

  “Why doesn’t it matter? Your name? I think everyone’s name matters.”

  At this, Dev sighed and picked up his pace. “I have to go. You’d better stay hidden, magical thief Thisbe, or you’ll go right back to that jail. They’ll be looking hard for you today. And you’re not difficult to spot, if you know what I mean.”

  Thisbe frowned. “I don’t have a clue what you mean.”

  “You’re not from here.” Dev said it matter-of-factly. He started jogging.

  Thisbe ran after him. “Wait, please. I need to know if there’s more water up the mountain. We have to get to that castle.”

  “You don’t want to go up there.” Dev stopped short, and Thisbe bumped into him.

  “Sorry,” she muttered. She looked up at him, expecting him to say sorry too, but instead his face froze as he saw her up close and in the sunlight for the first time.

  His lips parted, and he emitted a soft gasp. “Oh,” he said. “Shanti was right.”

  “Oh, what?” Thisbe demanded. And then she noticed his eyes. They were black like hers.

  Friend or Foe

  Dev’s demeanor changed. “How did you escape?” he asked softly. “Are the others . . . like you?”

  Thisbe tilted her head in wonder, too consumed with her own thoughts to answer him. “You have black eyes,” she said. “I’ve never seen anybody with black eyes before, except Fifer. Well, my mom had them, but she’s dead, and besides, I don’t remember her.”

  “Not many people have them.” Dev dropped his gaze, confused. “But . . . I don’t understand.” He glanced at Fifer and Seth, who were coming toward them. “Who’s Fifer?”

  “My twin,” said Thisbe, shrugging a shoulder toward her. “That girl there.”

  “Is the other one your master?”

  Thisbe snorted. “Seth? Of course not. Why would he be?”

  Dev took a step back, keeping a wary distance between himself and the strangers as Fifer and Seth approached. He studied the newcomers, and then looked back at Thisbe, his face still a puzzle. “Who cut your hair? Someone in Grimere?”

  “What a strange question. Why does that matter?” Thisbe’s hand flew to her short wavy locks, which were sticking up a bit wildly from the night’s sleep on the ground. She smoothed them down, though normally she quite liked them to be a crazy mess. They sprang back as soon as she let go.

  “I cut it,” said Fifer defensively. “And I think it looks very nice.”

  Dev studied the twins, and slowly the confusion left him. “I see,” he said quietly. “You’re identical.”

  “Obviously,” said Fifer. “Except for the hair.” They stood in awkward silence for a moment.

  “So is there water up the mountain or not?” prompted Thisbe. “It’s not a difficult question. You seem like a smart person.”

  “Of course there’s water,” Dev shot back. “How else would the villages up there survive? Don’t you have any common sense? The river snakes around that way,” he said, pointing away from the cliff toward the edge of the forest, then up the mountain. Slowly he brought his hand back down to his side, then narrowed his eyes and tapped his lips thoughtfully. After a moment he turned back to Thisbe, though he didn’t quite look her in the eye. He shifted, then said, “I can guide you to the castle if you want.”

  Fifer and Seth nodded profusely. “Yes, please,” said Fifer. “That would be great.”

  But Thisbe raised an eyebrow. “I thought you said we don’t want to go there.”

  “Alone, I meant,” Dev muttered. “Without a guide. Like me.”

  Thisbe dipped her head, but the boy refused to look squarely at her. “I’m not so sure that’s a good idea,” she said.

  Fifer sighed. “We need help, Thiz.”

  “No we don’t. We’re fine. All we have to do is walk. We can’t miss it.” Thisbe turned toward the castle. “Come on.”

  “But what about our food?” asked Seth. “He’s still got it.”

  “Forget the food.” Thisbe started up the mountain. “We’ll make do with the bread.” Reluctantly, Fifer and Seth followed her. Seth gave Fifer a silent, miserable glance. She patted his arm.

  “Wait,” Dev called after them. “It’s dangerous up there.” He ran nimbly past Seth and Fifer and caught up to Thisbe. “I . . . I insist on guiding you. You don’t have to pay me. I’ve got to go that way anyway. Shanti is expecting me.”

  Thisbe stopped and turned. “Is she the girl you were with yesterday?”

  “Yes.”

  Thisbe wasn’t sure why she was feeling uneasy. She looked up at the castle in the far-off distance. It didn’t seem quite as simple to get to as it had at first glance. There was no path, and the rocks seemed impassable in many places, with cliffs and steep climbs everywhere. She forced back her trepidation and studied the boy. This time Dev caught her gaze and held it. There was something about him that drew Thisbe in, despite her suspicion. Perhaps it was his black eyes that made her trust him.

  And the truth was they needed him. Badly. “All right,” said Thisbe finally. She smiled.

  Dev didn’t smile back. He turned his face away and didn’t waste any more time. He started up the mountain past her. “Come on, then,” he said gruffly, “before I change my mind.”

  Thisbe shook her head, more puzzled than ever. “Change your mind? You’ve already done that. First you wanted nothing to do with us but to steal our food, then you ran away, and then suddenly you wanted to lead us to the castle. And now you’re threatening to change your mind? Well, go ahead and do it, then. Like I said, we don’t need you.” They tromped farther. Thisbe went on. “I suppose next you’ll disappear and leave us stranded somewhere. And that would be complet
ely fine. But I guess we’ll let you walk with us for now. Though you’re being awfully sneaky.”

  The barefooted boy snorted but didn’t respond. If he was surprised that Thisbe was so perceptive, he didn’t let on. And Thisbe’s uneasy feeling pushed its way back to the forefront of her mind.

  It was frustrating. There was something totally intriguing about Dev, more than just his black eyes and the fact that he knew the way to the castle, that kept Thisbe at his heels. Her mind brimmed with questions. “Why did you call me a thief yesterday when we were in that prison? And why did you ask who cut my hair?”

  Dev plowed ahead. “Where are you from?”

  “Artimé. Answer my questions.”

  “Artimé? Where’s that?”

  “Over there,” Thisbe said, pointing her thumb east toward the mist on the other side of the bottomless cavern.

  Dev gave her a scrutinizing glance. “You mean the Seven Islands? Are you serious?”

  “Yes, of course I am. Now answer me.” Thisbe kicked a stone angrily. It hit Dev’s leg by accident.

  “Ow!” said Dev. “All right, all right. If a thief gets caught in one of the villages of Grimere, the townspeople cut his hair short as part of the punishment. That makes thieves easy to spot so the villagers can beware in the marketplace.”

  “Oh. Well, that’s not why mine is short.” Thisbe hesitated, unsure what to think about that strange practice, and realized that must’ve been why all the men and women she’d seen there wore their hair to their shoulders or longer. “Who is Shanti?”

  Dev hesitated. “She’s my . . . friend.” He darted up a steep part of the mountainside and around a boulder, then stopped and waited so the others could catch up. “If you’re from the Seven Islands, how did you get here?”

  Thisbe opened her mouth to answer, but then her suspicions kicked in again. If the dragons were in trouble here in their own land of Grimere, did she want to mention them? She closed her lips and thought it through. Perhaps if she told him, he might know where Hux had gone. “We flew,” she said cautiously. “Somebody gave us a ride. How big is Grimere?”

  Dev narrowed his eyes at her. “It’s all the land you see. Why?”

  Thisbe didn’t bother to answer as Seth, panting, reached them. Dramatically he flopped over a waist-high rock and lay there, sweaty face pressed against it, gasping for breath.

  Fifer joined Thisbe and Dev. “How long will it take us to get there?”

  “Depends,” said Dev, eyeing Seth. “A couple days if this keeps up.”

  “It’s very steep,” panted Seth. “And don’t forget I twisted my ankle.”

  Thisbe had forgotten all about that. “I’m sorry, Seth. We can slow down if you need us to.”

  “Where’s Hux, anyway?” Fifer lamented. “He could get us there in an hour.”

  Thisbe gave her a sharp look as Dev raised an eyebrow.

  “Hux?” he asked, an odd expression on his face.

  “Never mind,” said Thisbe. “Let’s keep going.”

  Dev led them higher and higher through the day. The landscape grew more desertlike, but lush valleys could be seen not far away. Nobody spoke much. They wanted to conserve their energy and water. Every now and then Dev called out “Watch your step here!” or “Be on the lookout for . . .” Whether it was sidewinders, tarantulas, or poisonous centipedes didn’t really matter to the Artiméans. They’d never seen any of those creatures before, and they were extremely wary of anything that moved.

  Finally, in the heat of the day, they reached a spot where a river curved toward them and they could stop to rest under a scraggly tree. Dev crouched a distance away from the others and, once he drank from the river, pulled the pieces of fruit he’d taken from Thisbe’s rucksack and laid them gently in his lap. He began eating the first one without a word.

  “That is so rude,” exclaimed Fifer, wiping the sweat from her face and leaving a dirty streak in its place. Seth was too exhausted and thirsty to register Dev’s actions.

  Thisbe glared at Dev, not bothering to hide her contempt. She thought about attacking him to get their food back, but instead she divided up the remains of the stale, crushed bread and passed the pieces to Fifer and Seth, careful not to spill any crumbs on the ground. They probably wouldn’t have found this bend in the river without Dev. Thisbe supposed he deserved some food since they weren’t paying him for guiding them. The three Artiméans ate and drank in silence as they rested under the tree, all of them continuing to wonder where Hux could have gone, and why he’d leave them.

  After a time, Fifer looked up. “Remember that story that Alex and Sky tell sometimes about how they left the Island of Shipwrecks in the hurricane?”

  “Yeah,” said Thisbe. “Why?”

  “How did they get to the ship?”

  Thisbe thought for a moment. “Magic carpet components, wasn’t it? Sky weaved them from seaweed, and Alex and Lani and Samheed instilled them with magic—or something like that.”

  “Yes! That’s right—I remember now.” Fifer turned to Seth. “Do you have any of those components?”

  Seth shook his head. His blond hair was streaked with sweat and his face was red from sunburn and exertion. “Florence hasn’t taught us that one yet. Besides, I think it’s only a temporary spell. I wouldn’t trust them to get us across the gorge, much less beyond that to the nearest island.”

  “Crud,” said Thisbe. Fifer’s face fell. The three watched Dev finish off his second piece of fruit, and their mouths watered as they imagined its juicy goodness. After a minute Thisbe turned away and went to fill the canteens. As she knelt on the bank, she heard a commotion from Seth and Fifer behind her.

  “Whoa!” hollered Seth. “What the—is that a sidewinder?” He jumped to his feet in record time. A long snake slithered sideways toward him. He shrieked and leaped into the scraggly tree, making the brittle branches crack under his weight. The snake continued on the ground past him, heading toward Dev.

  “Look out!” shouted Fifer.

  Dev hopped up. “Get back!” he cried. The snake approached and struck out, narrowly missing him. He staggered to one side, off balance, trying to dodge the thing.

  Thisbe stared, frozen. And then, without thinking, she ran straight toward the snake. It darted out, this time elevating its front end to strike at Dev’s thigh. Thisbe pointed at it. “Boom!” she cried.

  As Dev twisted and spun around, trying to get away, the snake’s head froze in midair. For a split second it hung there. Everyone held their breath. And then the snake exploded into dozens of pieces that went flying far and wide.

  From the ground, Dev watched in horror and disbelief.

  Thisbe’s face wore a stricken look. The boom spell. She’d done it on a living thing for the second time in her life. After a moment, she began to breathe again.

  When the others understood what had just happened, Fifer caught her sister’s eye and went over to her. “Nice one,” she said gently. “You did good. You okay?”

  “It just happened,” Thisbe muttered. “I didn’t think about it.” The memory of Panther came flooding back, and she turned toward the river to hide her emotion. She didn’t like to hurt any living creature, but she’d done it again. She’d used her magic destructively. Maybe she just wasn’t capable of doing what Alex wanted her to do. But at least she had good instincts, and that was worth something, wasn’t it? As much as Dev annoyed her sometimes, she didn’t exactly want to see him die. So Thisbe’s destructive spell had actually managed to save someone this time. She stared at the water, perplexed.

  Dev slowly pushed himself to a sitting position, his face betraying his fear. He looked all around, as if he thought the magic was an illusion and he was still trying to figure out where the snake had truly gone. But only the little pieces remained, scattered across the area.

  Fifer watched Dev as he began to comprehend what had happened. After a moment, he glanced guiltily at Thisbe, but she wouldn’t look at him.

  “Thisbe saved your lif
e,” said Seth, stating the obvious with contempt as he eased his way out of the tree. “The least you could do is thank her. And give her that last piece of stupid fruit.”

  Dev, still dazed, got up and staggered over to Thisbe. He stood there for a second, then cleared his throat. “Thanks,” he said quietly. “I didn’t see that one coming.”

  “You’re welcome,” Thisbe said, a bit stiffly. She put the caps on the filled canteens and loaded them into the rucksack.

  “You want me to, um, carry that for you?” asked Dev.

  Thisbe laughed contemptuously. “Are you kidding me? No thanks. You’d probably run off with it.” She picked it up to swing it on her back, but Fifer took it from her and slipped it on.

  “My turn,” she said.

  Dev looked at the piece of fruit in his hand. Slowly he held it out to Thisbe.

  She grabbed it from him without hesitation, took a big bite out of it, and began chewing. Then she handed it to Fifer. “’et’s go,” she said, her mouth full.

  Dev stared at her for a long moment as if she completely mystified him, and then he turned toward the castle and they all began walking again.

  A world away, Simber, Thatcher, and Carina passed over the Island of Fire, all of them eager to see if they could detect any changes that Sky and Scarlet had made to the exterior of the island. Simber dropped lower as Carina pointed to one of the skylights, thinking she saw something through it.

  Without warning, the volcano belched out a fireball of lava, striking the great cat’s wing. Simber began spinning out of control, making a nosedive for the water. His passengers flew off, and one of his wings slammed into Thatcher before they all plunged wildly into the sea.

  A Temporary Setback

  Simber hit the sea at top speed, and, luckily, the water helped slow him down. He righted himself, feeling a bit dizzy, and managed to angle his body and wings toward the surface before he lost momentum, keeping him from sinking all the way to the bottom. He began to flap mightily, struggling to get out of the disgusting liquid that he had such fierce hatred for. Once he broke through, he flew up and shook his body hard, trying to get the drops of water off him. He quickly examined the wing that had been hit, finding it no worse for wear. The burning orange lava hadn’t been hot enough to destroy him—only the hottest blue and white flames could do that.