He took a breath. “Alum’s missing. And Warken. Alum’s dragon keeps trumpeting for him, so we wonder if he is still alive somewhere. We’ve tried talking to Arbuc, but no one can make sense of him. It’s like trying to talk to a scared little child. He just keeps trumpeting and repeating that he wants Alum to come and take him out of the water. Warken’s red is silent; Baliper won’t speak to any of us. Veras, Jerd’s dragon, is also missing. Jerd hasn’t stopped weeping since she got here. She says she can’t ‘feel’ her dragon, so she thinks she drowned.”

“We saw Veras! She was alive and swimming strongly, but the current was carrying her downriver.”

“Well, I still think that’s good news. You should tell her.”

Something in his voice alerted Thymara that worse news was to come. She held her breath, waiting for it, but Alise asked immediately, “What about Tarman and Captain Leftrin?”

“Some of us saw the ship, right after the wave first hit. The water went over the top of him, but we saw him bob up again, with white water streaming out of his scuppers. So he was upright and afloat the last time we saw him, but that’s all we know. We haven’t seen anyone from the boat’s crews or any of the hunters, so we hope they were aboard and rode it out on Tarman.”

“If they did, they’ll come to find us. Captain Leftrin will come for us.” She spoke with such heartfelt confidence that Thymara almost felt sorry for her. If he didn’t come, she thought, Alise would be hard put to accept that she must rescue herself.

She looked flatly at Tats. “And what else?” she demanded.

“The silver dragon isn’t here. And neither is Relpda, the little copper queen.”

Thymara sighed. “I wondered if they would survive. Neither was very smart, and the copper was always sickly. Perhaps it was a mercy that they went so quickly.” She looked at Tats, wondering if he would agree with her. But he didn’t seem to hear her words. “Who else?” she asked flatly.

A small stillness followed her question, as if the world paused to prepare itself to grieve. “Heeby. And Rapskal. They aren’t here, and no one saw anything of either of them after the wave hit.”

“But I left him with you!” she protested, as if somehow that meant it were Tats’s fault. She saw him wince and knew he felt the same.

“I know. One moment we were standing there arguing. The next, the water slapped us down. I never saw him again.”