“I can do that,” said Rohan, standing up straighter.

“And speaking of our combined army,” Florence said, “I’d like to hand over the leadership position to Maiven now that we are back in her land. Maiven, your word is law from this point forward.”

“Thank you,” said Maiven with a little bow of her head.

Florence shared her plan to do a flyover with Maiven and Drock. “It’s wise to use a ghost dragon,” Drock said. “I’d take you myself, but I’m not sure what the red dragons have been ordered to do. They might attack me or any other regular dragon. At least if they do attack, a ghost dragon won’t suffer from it.”

They dispersed to take care of their individual tasks: Maiven to address the people and give them an update, Drock to search the cavelands for Dev before heading to the castle, and Florence to prep for her trip and find a ghost dragon to take her to Ashguard’s palace. She wanted to get moving as quickly as possible to get an idea of what they were dealing with so they could start fixing things. Or, at least, that’s what she intended to do. But things weren’t going great for anyone lately.

On Equal Ground

Thisbe and her mind-controlled servant, named Zel, strolled the grounds outside the castle. Thisbe asked the woman a few random questions, but Zel only responded to direct orders that seemed appropriate for a personal servant. So Thisbe soon gave up trying to chat, and they went in silence. Two dragons circled overhead, staying suspiciously close, which told Thisbe that the Revinir didn’t trust her. But they were making progress.

That wasn’t on Thisbe’s mind right now, though. She needed to ditch Zel so she could send a message to Fifer without the Revinir finding out. And soon—she knew that Florence and the rest would be getting here anytime. They might even be here already. She didn’t want to put Fifer in a compromising position of having to explain to anyone else what an incoming send spell was all about.

Thisbe had thought about sending it from her room when Zel left to run errands, but she had no idea what route the magical item would take as it traveled through rooms and down hallways. And her balcony had potential, but she worried about being seen by dragons or other servants. It was safer to send it out here if Thisbe could find a remote place out of sight, but only if Zel didn’t witness the act, for if the Revinir asked her about seeing Thisbe do anything suspicious, Zel would be compelled to tell her.