Page 31 of Kingdom of Locks

Amell blinked in amazement as he took in the creature’s bright purple scales. The sight of the two dragons together triggered his memory, and he blurted out his thoughts before he could stop himself.

“I recognize you. You were both at Basil’s wedding.”

Both dragons fixed unblinking yellow orbs on him, and he found himself fidgeting again.

“I mean, Greetings, Mighty Beasts,” he said, inclining his upper half in as good a bow as he could manage from horseback. “I am Prince Amell of Fernedell, and I believe I have been honored to see you before now.”

The dragons unbent slightly, the purple one tilting its head to the side as it examined him. “I am Dannsair, and my companion is Rekavidur.”

Amell bowed again, noting that the voice identified the dragon as a female.

“I recognize you as well, Prince Amell of Fernedell,” Dannsair went on. “You are a friend of King Basil’s?”

Amell nodded, his eyes passing to the other dragon. Their names were vaguely familiar. He remembered Basil mentioning that the two of them were friendly with the Entolian princesses, and that they’d taken some kind of interest in Basil and Wren’s situation. Amell didn’t know how he hadn’t recognized the yellow dragon immediately. He’d spent most of the wedding watching the two of them, and he’d formed the distinct impression that they were a pair, to use the dragons’ own terminology for mates.

“And you’re a prince, you say,” the other dragon, Rekavidur, commented. “Your father’s heir.”

It didn’t seem like a question, but Amell nodded anyway, sitting a little taller in his saddle. “I am.”

The dragons exchanged a silent look, which Amell couldn’t read.

“He might know,” Dannsair commented thoughtfully.

“If he’s in his father’s confidence,” Rekavidur mused, just as if Amell wasn’t there. “Which I wouldn’t count as certain. Humans are often reluctant to trust their young, and he seems particularly young for a fully grown man.”

“I know what you mean,” Dannsair agreed, nodding wisely. “But his very youth makes it unlikely he will take questions amiss.”

“True,” Rekavidur said brightly. “It is decided, then.” Both dragons turned back to Amell, studying him with undisguised curiosity.

Trained to show dragons the utmost respect, Amell had listened to this somewhat startling exchange in unresponsive silence. But under their combined and somber gaze, he found himself overcome with a sudden desire to laugh. Coughing into his hand in an attempt to cover it, he made his tone as polite as he knew how.

“Is it possible that you wish to ask me a question?”

“Precisely,” Rekavidur said, his gravelly voice calm. “Your arrival,” his gaze flicked to the empty forest behind Amell, “unaccompanied, may prove to be fortuitous to our inquiries.”

“Inquiries?” Amell repeated, a little startled. “Is the dragon colony conducting its own investigation into the prison break?”

“I did not say so,” Rekavidur responded, his placid voice sounding a little too careful.

Amell narrowed his eyes, thinking of Dannsair’s stealthy movements, and Rekavidur’s evident surprise at his arrival. His thoughts flew to the elders’ visit to the prison, from which this younger pair had been conspicuously absent. Suddenly it all fell into place. The dragons were sneaking around as surely as he was. The thought was so bizarre, he once again had to fight the urge to laugh.

“What’s your question?” he asked, warming to his fellow rebels.

“Are you aware of what enchantments have been put in place by the humans around this site since the break out?” Dannsair interjected.

“Since the break out?” Amell frowned slightly as he thought back over the briefing he’d sat in on the day before, when exactly this matter had been covered. “The protective enchantments on the prison itself have been reignited. Apparently they weren’t destroyed by the explosion, just temporarily rendered ineffective. And the fencing magic around the site has been put back in place, although weaker than it was before. They’ll need reinforcements from the other kingdoms’ Enchanters’ Guilds in order to return them to full strength.” He paused, thinking it over. “Plus a basic perimeter was put in place around the area, designed to prevent anyone with magic from crossing out of it.”

The dragons exchanged an amused glance, and Amell amended hastily, “To prevent anyhumanwith magic from crossing out of it, I should say.”

Two reptilian heads bobbed slowly on snakelike necks. “All that we have detected,” Dannsair confirmed. Her gaze turned searching as it settled on Amell’s face. “You made no mention of a concealment enchantment. Has the crown not ordered any such magic to be placed over the area?”

Amell frowned. “Concealment magic? Not that I’m aware of. Why would we do that? We want to reveal what’s hidden, not hide anything. The location of the prison isn’t a secret.”

The dragons were silent for a long moment, their gazes locked on one another, and their expressions unreadable.

“He’s telling the truth,” Dannsair commented.

Rekavidur gave a rippling shrug that caused his scales to tinkle. “As far as he knows it, anyway.”

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