Dragon Slayers

by Lisa McMann

  Sometimes Thisbe got frustrated when all of the worries became too large in her head. She began to pull back from Fifer and Dev emotionally to protect herself. And she began acting in character as she prepared for the role of a lifetime. Some days she stayed in character all of the time, wanting to experience life as the one who betrayed her people. Wanting to know how it would feel to be the person who joined ranks with the evil Revinir. She needed to become that person in advance, so that she would know what to do and how to act when faced with unexpected circumstances. Because the Revinir was anything but predictable. She was bound to make Thisbe’s life difficult no matter what, even if she was delighted that Thisbe had decided to join her. Thisbe had to be ready for anything unexpected… and that was the hardest kind of character to play. That was why she needed to be the one to do unexpected things too—to keep the Revinir guessing.

  As Thisbe receded into her mission, spending more and more time alone in her thoughts and planning, Dev and Fifer grew closer together, taking care of the palace, providing food and water, and planning the best way to keep Dev hidden if the Revinir showed up. He told Fifer about the village and the little house with the closet he’d hidden in. And he told her about the alcove where he’d found the drawings but described how hard it was to access it.

  Together the two of them went to a lower floor and pried up some sturdy floorboards. They brought them up to the level where the alcove was and lined the perimeter of the floor to make it easier to access the space, for it could make a good emergency hiding place in case they ever got discovered and couldn’t escape the palace. They began to stockpile dried fish and extra water in the alcove, treating it as a storage room as well. They even stored the ropes there in case they needed to escape out the window—fire was always on Dev’s mind when it came to being surrounded by dragons. He never wanted to be trapped. It reminded him of all of the people in the dungeon, like Maiven had been for so many years.

  “Do you think any of the people in the dungeon escaped during the fire?” Dev asked randomly one day as he and Fifer were fishing.

  “We wanted to release them,” said Fifer, “but the smoke was too thick. We barely got out of there alive with Thisbe and Maiven and Rohan. I don’t know if any of the guards were generous enough to unchain them… or if they survived the smoke and are still down there.”

  Dev nodded and repositioned his chain-mail net, then scooped up a flopping fish and deposited it on the grass for Fifer to process. “I hope some of them got out,” said Dev. “There were some nice people down there. Some who were very old, who’d been there for decades. And people that shouldn’t have been there. Like Maiven. I’m really glad you went back for her.”

  “Did you know she was the queen?”

  “I suspected it. The guards rumored about it. I didn’t know her last name for sure, though, until Thisbe said it after the mind control was broken.”

  “She hardly looks the same as when we rescued her,” said Fifer. “She’s a powerful woman. Very strong and commanding. You should see her collection of weapons.”

  “I hope to someday. I want to… thank her.”

  Fifer looked up from the fish. “For what?”

  “For being kind to me. If I were her, stuck in a dungeon for all of those years, I wouldn’t be feeling very kind toward anyone. Especially not the guy with the disgusting slop.”

  “Aw, Dev,” said Fifer, feeling cheeky. “Who were you with? And you shouldn’t call yourself disgusting.”

  Dev’s mouth opened. “You are a horrible person.” He slapped the river, sending an arc of water at Fifer and dousing her.

  She ran off, laughing and wiping the water from her eyes. “I deserved that.” She came back to gut the fish as Dev turned back to the river, looking for one more fish so they could eat well that night. As she watched him work, she smiled to herself. He was such a lovely friend. She was really starting to enjoy spending time with him.

  Then she thought about kissing him. The idea made her gag. Nope. Not a chance.

  Waiting in the Castle

  The Revinir had been impatiently waiting inside the castle for the twins to break and either come to her or send one of the dragons to fetch her. And while the dragon-woman was confident in her plan, she questioned herself a few times. She’d even chided herself for taking Fifer along. This might have been easier if she’d only snatched up Thisbe and left her alone at Ashguard’s old palace. Then she could have used Fifer’s future safety as a bargaining chip. But having the twins right there in front of her had been too tempting. What a feat, getting them both. She hadn’t expected it, so when the opportunity presented itself, well… how could she pass it up? At the very least they were valuable. But she had no plans to put them on the auction block. At least not unless they failed her.

  But what were they doing all this time? Having a twin holiday at that rotten falling-apart monstrosity? The Revinir hadn’t made many mistakes along the way. But maybe she shouldn’t have let Thisbe have a companion while she was trying to break the girl down. It could potentially be much longer before Thisbe was ready to say good-bye to isolation and compromise with her.

  She felt confident in Thisbe’s ability to convince her sister of what needed to happen here, though. Fifer might be less evil than her sister, but she still had a wedge of it in her. And the Revinir could wager that Fifer was getting antsy to go back to her little magical world, since she was the head mage and all, which might provoke a concession just to make things happen.

  One unanswered question was whether Fifer’s people had come after them. When the Revinir had dropped the girls through the roof of the palace and returned to Grimere, she still hadn’t seen anyone. If the people of Grimere had come after the twins, they hadn’t gotten close enough to them yet to trigger the dragons to act or to send a message back to her.

  Perhaps the hints the Revinir had seen in Artimé of something bigger happening there pointed toward some severe trauma, enough to keep the key players at home even though their head mage had been abducted. She’d been waiting in Artimé for a full day, hiding behind the jungle, far enough away so the ghost dragons and Simber couldn’t detect her. Did they really not care enough to go after the twins? Maybe they were just tired of having to rescue the incompetent teenagers after being forced to do it so many times.

  Whatever was happening, the Revinir had received no word from her team of four reds about anything suspicious or dangerous going on… and they knew what kind of threats their boss wanted them to put an end to.

  If something didn’t happen soon, perhaps it would be time for the Revinir to pay a little visit.

  Time to Go

  Finally the day came when Thisbe felt like she couldn’t take it anymore. She either had to set this plan in motion or abandon it forever. She and Fifer and Dev had prepared all they could. And they were increasingly worried about someone else making a move and wrecking everything. They needed to control the situation as much as possible, and that meant they didn’t want the people of Artimé coming or the Revinir returning.

  Fifer and Thisbe had figured out most of the parameters of their new telepathic ability. They couldn’t be at odds with each other. And they could only send short thoughts or else the words would get jumbled. They’d tested out how physically close they had to be and discovered that for perfect accuracy they had to be in the same room or within speaking distance. And being across the property from one another, each of them at the boundaries set by the dragons, was a little more difficult, and sometimes not all the words transmitted from one mind to the other, but it worked for the most part. They hoped there was some way to communicate between Ashguard’s palace and the Revinir’s castle. That would keep them from having to use any sort of magic with a visible component… which could also save their lives. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t be able to test it until it was too late for Thisbe to turn back.

  The three of them spent their last evening together going over the details of their plan and talking thr
ough all of the what-if scenarios they could come up with. When Dev and Fifer went to the river to catch dinner, Thisbe sat down at the desk. She laid out all of her components in front of her alongside her wooden dagger and looked at them, then slowly repacked her pockets so that she’d know exactly where everything was in case she needed them.

  She left the three obliterate components for last and stared at them for a long time as she remembered Florence’s instructions. She tried to picture a scenario in which she’d actually use one. Perhaps she and the Revinir would stroll down the road together and Thisbe could get far enough away to attack her with one. She slipped the first one inside her interior pocket and picked up the second, then turned the little box over in her fingers. She hesitated, then put it inside the pocket as well. The third one she studied for a longer moment. There was no way she could imagine needing three. If she messed up with the first one, she was probably never going to have a chance to use the second, much less the third.

  Thisbe glanced out the east window, seeing the dragons in their corners. She knew Fifer and Dev had no defense against them. Thisbe heard Florence’s voice in her head, telling her that the obliterate components were for her use, and her use only. And that she trusted Thisbe. Thisbe had promised to keep them safe and use them strictly when appropriate.

  But things had changed, and the threats around them were growing. So, despite that promise to Florence, Thisbe pulled a sheet of paper and a pen from the desk. In great detail she wrote out the instructions, range, and effects of the spell, making sure to emphasize just how deadly and dangerous it could be. Then she wrapped the instructions around the component box and slipped it inside one of the pockets of Fifer’s robe, which the head mage had left draped over the railing while going out to fish. Hopefully, Fifer would find the component sometime after Thisbe left so they wouldn’t have to have an argument about it and risk messing with their current state of oneness.

  Fifer and Dev returned. Dev cooked dinner, and the three ate in strained silence. Reality was hitting them in the face, and they wondered if they could really pull this off. As night fell, they gathered by the stairs to say good-bye.

  “Remember,” said Fifer, who felt responsibility for things going wrong because it was her plan, “the Revinir wants this to happen. And her ego is big enough that she’ll buy into it more easily than we expect—she’ll give herself the credit for succeeding at another one of her ventures.”

  “The only way she’ll hurt you is if she thinks you aren’t useful anymore,” said Dev. “Or if she thinks no one cares about you.” He frowned. “That’s why she threw me out the window. If you can prove that others will listen to you, she’ll keep you around.”

  “I hope that’s the case,” said Thisbe. “But I want to say once more that I’m doing this willingly, Fifer. If something happens to me, it’s not your fault. I am in control of this. Okay?”

  Fifer wanted to shout, “Nothing’s going to happen to you!” But she knew that wasn’t the kind of comfort Thisbe needed to hear right now. “Okay,” Fifer said. Deep down the understanding remained that if anything happened to Thisbe, she would feel responsible for it. This had been her plan, and she’d talked the other two into it. She bore the weight of it.

  But Fifer still felt like it was right. They hugged all together, then two and two. They turned out the lights so the dragons would think they were sleeping. In the darkness, Dev slipped away to give the girls a moment.

  “What if I fail?” Thisbe whispered.

  “You won’t,” said Fifer. “I believe in you.”

  “But what if I actually do fail?” Thisbe said. Her voice was worried.

  “Then we’re no worse off. We’ll figure it out. We always do. Have confidence.”

  That was the answer Thisbe needed. They whispered their last good-byes.

  Thisbe descended the stairs with her rucksack, canteen, hidden dagger carved from wood, and her two obliterate components tucked away in her pocket, plus a few other components. As she walked out into the fog toward one of the front-corner dragons, her heart began to pound. Confidence, she repeated to herself over and over. She had to show the dragon that she was in charge. She was black-eyed ruler Thisbe Stowe, co-equal to the Revinir. And she wasn’t going to be disrespected by anybody. Not even an enormous red dragon.

  As she drew close, she let out a dragon roar like she’d done early on in her stay here. Showing her dominance… or something. She kept walking as the dragon stood up and faced her, making the ground shiver. The dragon approached.

  Thisbe roared again, and the dragon dipped his head.

  Fifer and Dev watched breathlessly from the window. “He’s bowing to her,” Dev whispered. “She roared, and he’s trying to decide if she’s in charge of him.” His mind began to whir, but he kept quiet.

  Thisbe stopped walking a few feet from the dragon’s enormous face. She stared into his eyes, finding them dead-looking even in the cover of darkness. “Take me to the Revinir,” she ordered in her most commanding voice.

  Everyone held their breath. Fifer gripped the windowpane. Dev could barely stand to watch. And Thisbe stood there, ready to ride or be attacked. The dragon’s hot breath made her skin hurt. He narrowed his eyes and sniffed her.

  Thisbe’s eyes flared and sparked. She let out another roar, with fire this time. The dragon reared back as the flames touched his tender nostrils. He swung his neck around, then turned his massive body and let down a wing for Thisbe to climb up.

  She boarded the dragon. As they lifted off the ground, Thisbe heard a whisper in her ears. I am with you.

  Thisbe turned to look back at the palace. She couldn’t see Fifer and Dev, but she tapped her chest twice and sent the same words back to Fifer, hoping she wasn’t out of range. Then she faced forward, scrutinizing the path before her and wondering where this most risky choice would lead.

  The Summons

  As Thisbe disappeared into the darkness on the dragon’s back, Fifer kept sending short mind messages to her, and Thisbe sent some in return. They came through fairly well at first. But the farther away Thisbe got, the more words were missing. When Thisbe sent “I can see the castle,” Fifer only heard “I… see… castle.” Usually Fifer could figure out the missing words and guess what Thisbe was saying. In this instance, she assumed Thisbe was saying “I can see the castle,” instead of “I cannot see the castle” because of all the other clues that went with it: Thisbe had left on a dragon after commanding him to take her to the castle. Dev and Fifer had watched as the dragon flew off in its direction. And they both knew that was where Thisbe intended to go. But what would happen when they no longer knew what Thisbe was doing?

  It made Fifer uneasy. She stayed by the window as time ticked by, questioning the plan. Were they doing the right thing?

  Long after the dragon was out of sight, Dev came up beside Fifer. “We should get some rest,” he said.

  Fifer nodded. She sent another telepathic message to Thisbe, but this time she didn’t get a response. “I think she’s out of range.” Fifer sighed and turned away from the window. After finally having been so close with Thisbe again, Fifer was emptied out. She looked at Dev and felt a sudden surge of warmth and appreciation for him. “I’m really glad you’re here. I’d be very lonely without you.”

  Dev’s mouth twitched and he almost smiled, but he was feeling something strange inside of him too. He was worried about Thisbe, but it was more than that. Like the three of them had become a family in the time they’d spent here in this dilapidated palace. It was something Dev had never had before. And now that Thisbe was gone, he experienced a loneliness that was unlike what he’d felt in the past. Worse than when Shanti had died. This was much sharper. Deeper. More personal. He was as glad to have Fifer by his side as she was to have him. He was aware of a new level of emotion that he’d never encountered before, and he wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. It threatened to bubble out and spill all over the library if he wasn’t careful to rein it in.


  Back at the castle, if he’d ever let his emotions out, he’d have been punished or ridiculed. But Thisbe and Fifer carried no judgment about such things. They cried freely when they felt like crying. And when Dev had lost it in the catacombs, Thisbe had accepted it as if it were normal. It felt liberating and somehow stifling all at once. Like, now that it was okay to cry or shout or be angry, he had some burden to do it. Yet he still felt the urge to batten it down.

  He turned away without saying anything and went over to his sofa, leaving Fifer puzzled as she watched him go. She knew Dev had been raised differently than she had been. But she’d expected some sort of a response. After all, she’d just said something quite kind to him. It made her wonder if maybe he didn’t want to be here with her… or maybe, after all he’d been through, he was just afraid of getting close to anyone ever again.

  * * *

  In the morning Fifer went to the desk according to the plan they’d finally decided on. She removed one of the send spell components from her vest, took out the pencil that accompanied it, and wrote:

  Dear Florence,

  I only have two send components and didn’t want to use one until it was absolutely necessary. Unfortunately, that time has come. I am sickened to have to tell you that Thisbe has joined the Revinir’s side—she stole away during the night. Please come if you can. I’m trapped at Ashguard’s palace surrounded by dragons. Maiven will know how to find it. Just… please. Come.

  Your friend,

  Fifer