“Let me talk with our passengers and tell them what’s happening,” he said to the Druid. “Then we’ll come with you.”

He took Rue’s hand and led her over to where the six who had hired them were standing in the shadow of Swift Sure. Quickly, he told them a version of the truth—that an emergency had arisen that required them to leave immediately for home, that another airship with another Captain and crew familiar with expedition work would come to allow them to complete their outing. There were a few disappointed looks, but everyone took it well. None of them asked for their money back. They shook hands and wished one another well.

After giving a wave of reassurance to Traunt Rowan, Bek walked over to the crates of supplies stacked on the ground at the airship’s stern and began checking through them. Rue, who had hesitated before following him over, bent close. “What are you doing?”

“Pretending that I’m doing something useful,” he said. “Gaining us a little space and time so that we can think.”

She joined him in poking through the crates, her eyes never leaving his face. “You don’t trust him, either.”

He glanced back at the Druid, who was leading their passengers over to the Athabasca in preparation for boarding. “Why do you think Tagwen felt the need to seek out Ahren Elessedil when there are more than a hundred other Druids at Paranor whom he could have turned to? Why would he choose to seek help outside Paranor’s walls? That doesn’t feel right.”

“No,” she agreed, “it doesn’t.”

“But let’s assume he had a good reason for traveling all the way to Emberen to find Ahren. Why did Traunt Rowan and the other Druids suddenly feel a need to follow him? If they were worried about our family, why wouldn’t they go straight to Patch Run to warn us? They’ve thrown Pen into the mix as a reason for their search, but they didn’t know anything about a connection to us before they started looking for the other two.”

Rue’s mouth tightened. “He said Pen might be in danger, that we all might. But he never said from whom, did he?”

“I take your point. Whatever the case, I don’t think we are being told the truth.”

She straightened abruptly. “Then why are we going back to Paranor? If this is some sort of a trap, we shouldn’t be so quick to step into it.”

He shook his head. “They want something from us. If they didn’t, they would have taken a different approach. Besides, if we don’t go to Paranor, we lose our best chance of finding out what is really going on.”

She brushed back loose strands of her long red hair and looked off into the distance. “I could make him tell us everything in about ten minutes if you left me alone with him.”

Bek smiled in spite of himself. “He’s a Druid, Rue. He’s too powerful to play games with. Anyway, if we scare him, he won’t be so eager to tell us anything. Even when he lies, he gives us small glimpses of the truth. Let’s make use of that for now. We can skin him and hang him out to dry later.”