Dev raised an eyebrow. “But then how will we know what’s going on? Do we sit here waiting and wondering? I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

“You could look for Drock and try to have him deliver a message to us,” said Fifer.

“That’s something,” said Dev, looking up. He wouldn’t mind seeing Drock again. He felt a special bond with him now that he’d had the dragon’s teeth implanted in his flesh… and they’d had a moment or two back in the cavelands when Drock had made him feel like he was really someone special.

“I promise I’ll let you know what’s up somehow. Maybe if you don’t hear from me in a certain amount of time… you can just send for Florence anyway. And then… someone can drop Kitten into the castle to look for me?”

Fifer frowned. It was way too convoluted. “This part of the plan needs work. Let’s figure it out later and move on for now.” She took a moment to reset her mind. “So, let’s recap. You get one of the dragons to take you to the Revinir in the night. You tell her that you decided to sneak away and do this thing because you didn’t trust me to go along with it. You ask for her to leave the seven islands alone in exchange for you joining up with her. After some amount of time we send for Florence. It’ll take them a few days to get here….” Fifer trailed off.

“Then what?” said Dev. “I think Thisbe is just going to have to play things by ear. We won’t be able to respond to her without the Revinir getting suspicious. She could easily intercept a magical message.”

“That’s scary, but I think Dev’s right,” said Thisbe. “I’m just going to have to move at whatever pace the Revinir wants to set. Meanwhile, you assemble the troops… where, exactly? Here? What about the red dragons?”

“Hmm,” said Fifer. “They let Dev in.”

“But they won’t let us out again, I’ll bet,” said Thisbe. “Unless we say we want to be taken to the Revinir. That’s the only way I can see them letting anyone go.”

“Florence and the rest could assemble in the cavelands,” Dev suggested. “There’s lots of room out there.”

“Okay, but if they’re not here in person, how do I tell them that Thisbe betrayed us?” asked Fifer. “I can’t possibly do that all by send components. It’s going to be a tricky conversation to have.”