“Harvest Island makes the most sense. It would be a shame to remove the protection from all the farms, orchards, and fisheries, but, thanks to the oft-smoldering volcano, it’s always been lightly populated when compared to the others. Fewer lives would be at stake.”
“We get our cantaloupes from there.” It was a silly thing to think of, but the melons were Syla’s favorite fruit, and she didn’t want to imagine hordes of Voriks descending upon the fields to harvest them while dragons denied the farmers access. No, Vorik had at least paid for what he’d taken. It was the other stormers she imagined being less fair. And what if they and their dragons wreaked havoc in addition to taking the crops? As they’d done to the capital and the castle?
“Fewerhumanlives would be at stake.” Tibby smiled faintly.
“Yes, of course. I only meant that it’s a shame we’d have to leave any of the other islands unprotected. I do agree that it’s for the best.”
“With a working shielder to study, I might have better luck repairing the first, so it’s possible it would be temporary.”
“Ah?” That was encouraging, and Syla nodded.
“Do you know how to find the shielder on Harvest Island?” Tibby asked.
“I know where they all are. My siblings and I visited several one summer, and memorized maps and instructions on how to reach the others. Mother made sure we could recite precise instructions, and I haven’t forgotten. We went to Harvest Island personally.”
“Good. None of the rest of us, those who weren’t direct heirs, were told the locations. I always thought it was foolish that so few people knew, since exactly what happened could happen—assassins could have taken out the entire family at any point. But… if what you were thinking is true, that Venia betrayed our people…”
“I don’t think it was on purpose,” Syla hurried to say.
She hadn’tsaidshe thought that might have happened, but Tibby must have seen it in her thoughts.
“Even so,” Tibby said, “it shows how dangerous it is for people to know the locations. Maybe it would have been better if the gods hadn’t shared that knowledge with your ancestors before they left. If nobody had ever known, there wouldn’t have been a secret to lose, and the shielders might have gone on working undisturbed for another thousand years.”
Syla could only spread her hand.
“All right.” Tibby pushed herself off a stack of drop cloths on which she’d been sitting. “We’ll have to get to the harbor and hope there are ships about—ships that haven’t been destroyed by dragons. We’ll need transport to Harvest Island.”
“I… think someone right outside might transport us.” Syla pointed in the direction they’d last seen Vorik. Specifically, the dragon. Agrevlari.
Tibby arched her eyebrows. “I was going to ask what your plan is to getridof them, not suggest we ask them to fly us to another island.”
“It would be a fast way to get there, whereas a ship…” What were the odds that they could evenfinda ship right now? From what Syla had seen, the dragons had targeted all the vesselsdocked there. “I saw the harbor. It’s not in good shape. The ships… The ships are in worse shape. I don’t think we’d find one capable of taking us over there.”
“Well, we’re not riding with your spy.” Tibby pointed toward the door. “Especially not when we’re planning to go to the secret location of a shielder. That’s probably why he’s lurking here. To learn where the other shielders are so that his people can destroy them.”
Syla opened her mouth, thinking to go into more detail on the faction and how many times Vorik had come to her rescue in less than a day, but didn’t she yet have reservations about him herself?
“How else would we get there then?” was what she asked. “Look, I don’t know if he’s lying to me or is what he claims to be, but… unless one of your tractors can float, we don’t have another way to reach Harvest Island.”
Tibby pushed her spectacles higher on her nose, lifted her chin, then crossed her arms over her chest. “The aquatic weed harvester is waterproof and can dredge the irrigation canal.”
“Sounds very seaworthy.”
“As long as the shielders are still protecting the other islands, a dragon wouldn’t be able to take us there anyway.”
“Not… all the way, but they can fly to within a mile of the shoreline. We’ve always seen them out here, fishing and keeping an eye on us.” Syla waved in the direction of the sea.
“So, a mile away, the dragon would dump us into the ocean and tell us to swim?”
Syla pulled up one of her mother’s maps in her mind. “The Savian Shallows on the west side of Harvest Island are somewhat protected. If we were dropped there, we could make it to shore without being pulled out to sea.”
Tibby dropped her arms to her sides. “You’re serious.”
“It’s my duty to protect our people. It always has been.” In the past, Syla had been able to do it as a healer, not an adventurer, butif this was what the kingdom needed to end the anarchy and return safety and hope to the people… so be it.
Tibby shook her head. “Come with me.”
She walked across the loft to the window she’d used earlier for firing her hand-cannon. Syla joined her, looking down at the road and the croplands beyond. Agrevlari lay on his belly in the grass, his tail curled around his body. Vorik sat, leaning his back against the dragon’s flank, his eyes closed, as if he were napping.
