Page 89 of A Kingdom Restored

“How is Merletta going to get him back to her kingdom? I thought Reka couldn’t take her without tipping off the other dragons.”

“We’re still working on that,” said Heath. “But we won’t do anything that would risk him getting away. Don’t worry. You need to get going, Perce. Are you sure you can make it back in without rousing suspicion?”

“Of course I can.” Percival searched his brother’s face. “Take care, little brother. I expect to see you again soon, and in one piece.”

Heath gripped Percival’s offered arm, a slight smile on his face. “Don’t worry about me,” he said. “I’ll be all right. Just don’t get yourself into any trouble while I’m gone.”

“I’ll try,” Percival said ruefully.

He smiled at Merletta in farewell, and she returned the gesture. He was a far cry from the cocky young man she’d met the year before, and although she’d warmed to him even then, she found she liked this more sober version better.

Once Percival was out of sight, they made much slower progress through the trees. None of them were strong enough to carry the Record Master, and he could barely shuffle with his legs in chains.

“It makes me nervous that he’s not resisting more,” Sage muttered to Merletta.

Merletta shrugged. “He’s pretty injured. And I suppose he has nothing to lose at this point.”

“You underestimate me.” The Record Master’s quiet voice made her jump. She hadn’t thought he could hear. “You think you have the upper hand, but when we get back to our home, whom do you think the guards—and in fact the whole populace of the triple kingdoms—will rush to aid? The upstart slum-dweller, or the leader she’s kidnapped and chained up? There’s no path forward where you win over me, Merletta.”

“We’ll see about that,” she snapped, turning her shoulder on him. She wished she felt as confident as she was trying to sound. Her plan of showing everyone in the triple kingdoms the letters Heath had stolen was flimsier than she wanted to admit. It was possible they’d accept this evidence and believe that the Record Master had known the truth about drying out all along, and had been plotting against both Valoria and the triple kingdoms. But it was equally possible she’d never be given the chance to fully explain herself.

Her back up plan was a little more solid—surely if Rekavidur testified to the Record Master’s crimes, he would be believed. Who would doubt a dragon? But she was hoping it wouldn’t come to that, partly because she wasn’t entirely sure Reka would agree to do it, and partly because bringing another dragon into the triple kingdoms might just reignite the fear that Elddreki’s arrival had surely created.

The clanking of the Record Master’s chains seemed deafening in the chill quiet of the dark trees, but as yet they heard no shout of pursuing guards.

“So do you have a plan for how we will return to the triple kingdoms?” the Record Master asked Merletta after a minute’s silence. “Or do you imagine I can swim there like this?”

Merletta remained silent, refusing to engage with him.

“If you let me send word to Arinton, we could travel on my ship,” he said conversationally.

Merletta and Sage both stopped walking, exchanging a stunned look before staring at their captive.

“Yourship?” Sage demanded.

“Well, ship is perhaps generous,” acknowledged the Record Master, wincing a little as the chains dangling from his hands bumped against the wound on his thigh. “It is a small vessel, able to be manned by only two if necessary. But it covers the distance ten times as quickly as swimming.”

“That’s how you got here so quickly!” Merletta said. “You must have left straight after we did.”

“Did you expect me to do nothing when you were carried off by a dragon when I had you at the point of execution?” he asked dryly. “It didn’t take great intelligence to guess where you’d gone.”

“So you thought you’d pursue her here and murder her before she could mess up your despicable plans any further, did you?” Sage said bitterly. “And to think so many look to you as a wise and trusted leader.”

“No need to bring your mother into this,” the Record Master said in an oily voice that made Merletta want to slap him. He watched Sage vindictively, clearly pleased by the sudden flush that rose up her cheeks. It was no surprise he’d identified her main point of personal bitterness, and was ready for the faintest opportunity to prod at it.

“But where do you moor the ship?” Merletta asked, steering the conversation away from personal matters back to the practical. “And how do you pay for the supplies, and all the other costs you must incur on land?”

“I have my sources of wealth,” the Record Master said, sounding smug.

Unimpressed, Merletta raised an eyebrow. “You scavenge in shipwrecks, don’t you?” she guessed. “Or more likely others do it on your behalf. I know for a fact your guards were in the area of all those sunken ships near the maelstrom when I had my second year test, because they hung about to try to murder me when I emerged.” She shook her head. “I suppose if you’ve had your underlings hunting for years, you could have amassed quite a store of human wealth.”

Frowning, she added, “But that still doesn’t explain where you moor your vessel.”

“I don’t think you need quite so many details,” he said maddeningly. “But your island is not the only bit of rock in the ocean to which a vessel can be tied.” Merletta could barely see his face in the darkness, but there was a definite sneer accompanying the wordisland.

“What do you have against Vazula?” she demanded. “Why try to keep it such a secret?”

“You think you deserve to dictate the future of our kind just because you stumbled on one relic of our past,” he said, his tone dark. “But it is not you who has spent generations building toward a future for our civilization. A future which is stable and secure. Or would have been.”

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