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C
HAPTER

24

N
every didn't come. Neither did Captain Kerrn and a troop of Dawn Palace guards, or Rowan wielding her sword, or Embre and a pack of his men.

Neither did Crowe.

I sat in my corner and shivered, watching the swift Floss finish boarding up the window. When she was done, she pulled up a chair in front of my cage. Crowe must've given her orders to keep an eye on me. I heard muffled voices and people moving around downstairs. Something was happening.

I tried to stay awake, to see if the noise would give me a clue about what was going on, but after a while I fell asleep.

When I woke up, it was late afternoon and the chimney swift was gone and the house was quiet. I pushed my face up against the cage again and said Pip's true name:
“Tallennar.”

The seeing-and-hearing spell showed me that Pip was perched in the corner of a big room. Seeing the room like that, from high up and bright with the Pip-eyes flames, made me dizzy and I closed my own eyes for a moment, then cracked them open again.

Desk cluttered with papers, tall windows, a dusty tree in a pot, comfortable chairs with lace doilies on them. Oh, I'd been there before. It was Rowan's office in the Dawn Palace. Rowan herself, wearing her duchess uniform, a green velvet dress, with her red hair hanging in an fraying braid down her back, sat behind her desk. Nevery sat in one of the comfortable chairs, and Captain Kerrn leaned against a wall with her hand on the pommel of her sword. Next to the desk sat Embre in his wheeled chair. He was pale and had dark circles under his eyes, as if he hadn't slept.

“He did
what
?” Rowan was saying.

“You heard what he said, Ro,” Embre said sharply.

Rowan shot him a cross look.

“It should not be unexpected,” Kerrn said. “He is a thief.”

So Nevery had told them about me stealing his locus stone.

“Thief or not,” Embre said, “he must've had a reason.”

Yes, I'd had a reason. Not a good one, as it'd turned out.

“He must have,” Rowan agreed. She took a breath and folded her hands on her desk. Calming herself so she could be duchess-like. “Magister Nevery, did Conn say anything when he picked your pocket?”

Nevery opened his mouth to answer, but a knock at the door interrupted him.

Miss Dimity poked her head into the room. “Duchess Rowan, I'm
so
terribly sorry to—”

“—to interrupt,” Rowan said impatiently. “Yes, I know. What is it?”

Miss Dimity's mouth pinched with distaste. “There is a . . .
ahem
. . . a messenger here, and he
insists
on seeing Magister Nevery.”

Rowan raised her eyebrows and Nevery nodded. “Show him in,” he said.

Miss Dimity ushered the mudlark Den into the room, then stood behind him with her bony hand on Den's shoulder.

When I'd met him on the mudflats, Den had seemed big, like a minion-in-training, but in Rowan's office he looked grubby and hungry. He lowered his one eyebrow and glared around the room. His voice surly, he said, “I've got a message for a wizard named Never.”

Nevery nodded. “I am Nevery.”

Den shrugged Miss Dimity's hand off his shoulder. “Never
y
, right,” he said. “My message is from this piece of work gutterboy-wizard. Conn. D'you know him?”

Nevery leaned forward in his chair. “I do.”

Den cast a quick look around the room, at Rowan and Embre, catching sight of Pip up in the corner of the ceiling. “Conn said to go to Heartsease, right? But you weren't there, were you? So I came here.” He shrugged. “Couldn't get to you sooner. Had to get my lot settled first, and then
she
”—he nodded at Miss Dimity—“didn't want to let me in here.”

Nevery looked like a kettle about to boil over. “What,” he said, biting off the words, “is Conn's message?”

Den scowled at Nevery. “I'm getting to it.” He rubbed his nose. “Conn says Crowe's in the city.”

Nevery's eyes widened, then he nodded. “What else?”

Den shrugged. “He said to tell you it's Crowe that's been stealing the locus stones. And he said if you didn't hear from him that Crowe'd probably got him.”

Rowan gasped, and Nevery went pale. Embre couldn't go any paler than he already was.

Don't worry
, I wanted to tell them.
I'm all right.

“He said Crowe would take him to a house in the Sunrise,” Den went on. He pointed at Nevery. “And he said you should be careful.”

“Curse the boy,” Nevery muttered.

“
And
,” Den went on, “he said to use the 'striker spell to find him.”

“Would that work?” Rowan asked.

“I tried it last night,” Nevery said, shaking his head. “It didn't work. Clearly Crowe has figured out some way to hide from the spell, and to hide Conn from us.”

Ro leaped up from behind her desk and started to pace. “We must find Conn at once. We'll start by trying to find that house in the Sunrise where they're keeping him. Captain Kerrn?”

Kerrn stood alert and ready, her hand still on the pommel of her sword. “We will find him, Duchess.”

Suddenly Rowan stopped pacing, and her face went very pale. “Oh. Oh, no,” she whispered to herself. “We're not thinking this through.
Crowe has returned.
” Rowan gnawed at a thumbnail. “All of the magisters' locus stones have been stolen and Conn has been kidnapped, so we have no wizards to help us.” She glanced at Embre. “It's quite clear, isn't it? Crowe is making a move to take over the city.”

Embre was gripping the arms of his chair, his thin hands like claws. “We have to stop him.” His face was white and fierce.

Rowan gave a brisk nod. “Yes, we do.” She clenched her right hand, and I knew she was thinking about gripping her sword. Then she turned a bleak look on Embre. When she spoke, her voice shook. “We can't send your men or the palace guards to search for Conn.”

“I know,” Embre said. “I care about him, too. But you're the duchess. And I'm the Underlord. We have to protect the city first.”

In my cage, Embre's words made me shiver as I realized something. I was the same as them. We were friends, me and Rowan and Embre, but the same way they had to put the city first, I had to put the magics first. It meant we could never be careful or safe; it meant we would always do what had to be done. If only I could talk to Rowan and Embre now, at this moment, I knew they would understand, and maybe Nevery would, too.

But I couldn't. Instead I squeezed my eyes tightly closed and watched what was happening in Rowan's office.

She and Embre both looked at Nevery, who'd gone to stand at the window. “I'm sorry,” Rowan said, her voice shaking. “We can see that you're worried about him.”

To Pip's eyes, Nevery burned less brightly, and his face looked lined and tired. He nodded, then said, “Leave finding Conn to me.” He pointed at Pip. “And to—”

Poke,
poke,
poke.

“Is he dead?” a sharp voice asked.

Poke.

“Dunno,” another voice answered.

I opened my eyes. A narrow finger reached through the wire mesh and poked my arm again.

“I'm not dead,” I said in a creaky voice. I lifted my head. My cheek was cold where it'd been pressed against the tourmalifine floor of the cage. Rubbing it, I sat up.

Outside the cage crouched Sootle. Seeing me awake, he got to his feet. “Brought your dinner and a blanket,” he said. “Don't give me any trouble.”

I climbed stiffly to my feet. Trouble? Me?

Sootle reached into his pocket and pulled out the keystone and used it to open the cage door. Then he put the stone back into his pocket.

As he turned to fetch the dinner tray off the table, I shoved the door wider open and flung myself out of the cage. I got two steps into the room, and Sootle came after me, dropping the tray with a crash. He grabbed me. I kicked and struggled as he wrestled me back into the cage and slammed the door behind me. I crouched on the cage floor, panting. He glared down at me, then pointed at the broken dinner dishes. “No dinner for you, then, charboy.” He kicked at the cage. “No blanket, neither.”

“Leave him,” said the swift by the door. “It's almost time.”

Time for what? From downstairs came more bumps and thumps and I heard Nimble's whiny voice shout something. As Rowan had said, Crowe was planning to take over the city, and he was making his move tonight.

“Right,” said Sootle, and after kicking my cage again, he left the room, followed by the other swift.

I waited until their footsteps clattered away down the stairs.

Stupid chimney swifts. They knew I was a wizard, but they'd already forgotten about my quick hands. When he'd been wrestling me back into the cage, I'd picked the keystone from Sootle's pocket.

C
HAPTER

25

T
he keystone fit through the wire mesh, so I pushed it through with my fingers and pressed it against the corner of the cage where the door opened. Nothing happened.

“Stupid stone,” I whispered.

I pulled the stone back through the wires and clenched it in my fist. Crowe was out in the city making his move, whatever it was. I needed to get
out
.

“
Tallennar!
” I shouted for the hundredth time. I'd tried the seeing-hearing spell and saw only darkness. Was the dragon sleeping? Wake up, Pip!

I turned to the cage to try the stone again. Steadying my fingers, I slid the keystone through the mesh. A noise from out in the hallway made my head jerk up. The stone slipped from my fingers and dropped to the floor. It bounced once and rolled away.

“Oh, curse it!” I kicked the side of the cage. Then I crouched and poked my fingers through the mesh, reaching for the stone. Too far.

The door to the attic opened. Nimble came in. I jumped to my feet and put my hands behind my back. Had he seen me trying to get the keystone?

Nimble crossed the room to stand before my cage; he was carrying a burlap sack with something in it.

I snuck a quick-look down. The keystone was just a finger length away from his foot. If he glanced at the floor, he would see it.

“Caught like a rat in a trap, aren't you, gutterboy?” Nimble said, giving me his smirk-smile.

Oh, so he'd come to gloat. I glared at him.

“Crowe and I have arranged it so that everything that happens to the city tonight will seem like your doing. All the work of one gutterboy turned wizard who we never should have trusted because he was plotting to take over the city for himself. In the chaos after the deaths of the girl duchess and that crippled boy Underlord, Crowe and I will step in and save the city by destroying the rogue wizard Connwaer. Clever, is it not?” Nimble said. “We—”

“How d'you figure they'll think it was me?” I interrupted.

Nimble's smirk widened. “I thought of it myself. It is well known that you are interested in pyrotechnics, and that you are the only wizard in the city who can touch a locus magicalicus and survive. Thus I have created pyrotechnic devices that are set off with locus magicalicus stones.” He raised the bag he was carrying and shook it. I heard the rattling sound of stones on metal—he had the stolen locus stones in a little tourmalifine cage. Sure as sure he had tourmalifine tongs in there, too, so he could handle the stones without actually touching them. “Crowe's men put the devices in place yesterday,” Nimble went on. “Tonight he and I will set the locus stone fuses. The devices will destroy the Dawn Palace and Dusk House and various other strategic sites when they explode.”

Wait. Explosions?
Pyrotechnics?

My stomach lurched. “You can't do that,” I said.

“Oh, and who is going to stop us?” Nimble said, scoffing at me in my cage.

I gripped the wires, their cold burning into my fingers. “No, I mean you really can't. I just settled the magics. Pyrotechnic explosions will set them off again.” The magics were so huge and so different from us that they didn't even notice most of what we people did, unless a wizard got their attention with a locus stone and said a spell in the magic language. But, maybe because they'd once been fire-breathing dragons, the magics noticed pyrotechnics. With huge explosions going off all around, the magics might be unsettled enough to clash and roil again the way they had when Arhionvar had first come to Wellmet, when fire and rocks had rained down on the city, and winds had ravaged along every street. Crowe and Nimble were taking a huge risk with their pyrotechnic devices.

“Oh, you and your nonsense about magical beings,” Nimble scoffed. “The magic is simply a resource to be used.” Turning to leave, his foot nudged the keystone, pushing it closer to the cage. He stalked off.

“Nimble, you can't use pyrotechnics!” I shouted after him. My heart pounded. “You could destroy the city!”

At the doorway, Nimble paused. “Truly, I am glad we did not hang you when we had the chance. You've been so much more useful to us alive. But not for long.” His smirk-smile turned even nastier. “Soon you will be more useful to us dead.” Then he went out of the attic and I heard his footsteps as he trotted down the stairs.

Off he went, to set his pyrotechnic devices. This was way worse than I'd thought. I
had
to get out.

Quickly I crouched down and poked my fingers through the wires, reaching for the keystone. Nimble had kicked it closer, but not close enough. “Drats, drats, drats!” I stood up. “Pip!” I shouted again.

This time, Pip answered. I heard a scrabbling at one of the low windows, and then one of the glass panes shattered and Pip poked its snout in and looked around, checking for chimney swifts, I guessed. Then it squeezed in the window and crawled down the wall and across the floor toward me.

“Pip!” I gasped. “I need you to get me out of here.” The dragon could pick up the keystone and use it to open the cage.

Pip stopped next to the stone and fixed me with one of its red glare-stares.

“The stone,” I said, crouching down and poking my fingers through the wires, pointing at the stone. “See the keystone right there?”

Pip blinked.

I said it again in the dragon language so it could understand better.
Tallennar take keystone, open cage?
I asked it. To anyone listening, it would've sounded like I'd just said a magical spell.

Pip leaned over and picked up the keystone in its mouth.

“Oh, please don't swallow it,” I whispered.

Holding the stone, Pip edged closer to the cage. It put a claw-paw on the tourmalifine wires. Sparks flared up, snap-crackling, and Pip flinched away, dropping the stone.

Oh, no. I'd forgotten. Pip's scales were made of slowsilver, so when the dragon touched the tourmalifine wires, it got hurt.

I gulped down a knot of desperation. “You don't have to do it, Pip.”

Ignoring me, Pip picked up the stone again and, with sparks dash-flashing all around it, scrambled up the side of the cage and held the keystone against the corner. As the cage cracked open, Pip dropped the stone and fell to the floor in a shower of sparks, panting.

I shoved open the cage door and went to crouch next to Pip. “You all right?” I asked.

As an answer, Pip spat out a glimmering glob of light that charred the wooden floorboards it touched, then climbed up my arm to cling to my shoulder. I turned my head and lay my face against Pip's warm scales. “Thanks for coming back,” I whispered.

Deep in its chest, the little dragon purred.

All right, then.

I got to my feet. Now that I was out of the tourmalifine cage, I could feel all around me the strong, stony Arhionvar magic and the softer, old Wellmet magic. They were still settled from the talking-to I'd given them, Arhionvar over the Sunrise, the old magic over the Twilight, meeting here on the wizards' islands in the middle of the river. But the magics felt as if the slightest push would set them roiling and swirling against each other. Pyrotechnic devices exploding all over the city—that wouldn't be a slight push, it'd be disaster. I raced down the stairs, looking for Nimble.

The house was empty.