53. How to destroy a secret
53
HOW TO DESTROY A SECRET
Anahrod thought she knew what it was like to fly with Peralon—hell, to fly as Peralon. But she’d never experienced Peralon in a hurry before.
She had thought nothing could fly that fast.
Anahrod suspected it was only possible because Ris was using her magic to protect them. Even then, it would take hours to reach the Deep and she worried that they’d arrive too late.
[I’d go faster,] Peralon confided, [but it is difficult to breathe. Not to mention what happens if we fly faster than sound travels.]
Anahrod blinked. “What happens if you fly faster than sound travels?” She knew sound took time to move. Anyone who’d ever listened to an echo shouted from a mountain understood that. But she’d given little thought to what that meant .
“It’s your own personal thunderclap,” Ris said. “Not in a good way.”
“What are we talking about?” Claw asked.
“Something we’re not going to do,” Anahrod answered.
Claw gave her a narrowed-eyed look, nodded, and returned to napping. Naeron still slept and would likely continue until their destination. They only had a few hours until sunrise. It came early in the Deep, with no mountains to block the way. She should take the opportunity while she could.
Anahrod couldn’t. Somewhere out there, Gwydinion wasn’t sleeping either. When they’d first started flying, Naeron had collected a small bit of blood from Anahrod’s arm and used it on the map Belsaor had given them.
Now there were three stained areas on the map. Crystalspire had the largest concentration, including two larger blots that represented her biological parents. The second mark was herself, moving across the map in time with Peralon’s flight.
Then there was that last mark, her brother Gwydinion, moving erratically but fast.
“Where’s he going?” Anahrod muttered as she watched the stain. “It’s random.”
She’d held on to the hope that Sicaryon had already rescued her brother, but the fact that Gwydinion’s mark was still moving at this hour in the morning was not a good sign.
[There are dragons circling ahead,] Peralon informed them. [I would guess Gwydinion’s avoiding capture, although I’m unsure how he’s traveled so quickly.]
“He might not be by himself,” Anahrod murmured. “Will this tell us if he’s on the ground or in the air?” She gave Naeron’s parchment a dubious look.
“Not until we’re closer,” Ris said. “At least we know he’s not in a flyer anymore. If he was, the dragons would’ve caught him by now.”
That was not as comforting a thought as Anahrod would’ve liked.
Was it possible that the dragons had already captured him? Her mind threw horrible scenarios at her, suggesting that Gwydinion didn’t need to be alive to show up on the map. What if it was tracking his blood in a dragon’s stomach?
Anahrod made herself stop, reminded herself that if the dragons had recovered the Rampant Stone, they wouldn’t still be circling the jungle like they were blood crows circling a dying yengkal.
She watched as the mark changed direction again, this time heading west. The blot traveled in a nearly a straight line. If he kept going that direction, he’d hit the Bay of Bones…
“If he stops once he reaches the bay, we know he’s not on a dragon. And if he is…”
If the dragons had him, Anahrod had no idea what they’d do. “We can avoid the dragons ourselves, right?”
[Easily. They’re flying so far up that we’ll be impossible to see if we fly low.] He added, [The situation will change come dawn.]
The morning sun would hit Peralon’s scales like a beacon, which would make stealth just a tad inconvenient.
“Any sign of Neveranimas among the circling flock?”
The moon was full, although she logically knew it was already waning, starting the five-day cycle over again. The sky was brighter for it, the world full of gray. Occasionally, the silhouette of a dragon crossed over the moon, but nothing she could identify as Neveranimas.
[I don’t see her,] Peralon grumbled with concern. [I don’t see her anywhere.]
Anahrod reached out to eavesdrop on every dragon she could find, but none of them were Neveranimas.
“They’re waiting for orders,” Anahrod said. “That’s why they’re just circling.”
“Lovely,” Ris said. “Just what I needed to hear. But where is Neveranimas?”
Anahrod put a hand to her mouth to stop the laughter from bubbling forth. “She can’t tell them, can she? She must keep it a secret. She must lie and say I can control dragons—”
“To be fair, you sort of can—” Ris said.
“She can order them to attack places, people. What she can’t do—what she constitutionally cannot do—is give away her secrets. She can’t tell the other dragons about the Rampant Stone, or what it does, or why she needs it back. She can’t risk the possibility that she’ll have a dozen dragons with her when she recovers the stone or that they might wonder why she cares so much about a book.”
[Ah yes, I see what you mean. I wonder how many times she might have made her life easier by explaining all she knew. But that would mean destroying a secret.]
Anahrod sighed. “She’s somewhere out here, grazing the treetops just like we are, hunting my little brother.”