Light Dragons 03 - Sparks Fly

come with me.”
    “I’ll be there just as soon as I locate the sepulcher for Ysolde,” he promised. “I’ll take the first portal out to you and help you beat the daylights out of the dragons holding your mum.”
    “Are you sure you’re going to be able to handle all the dragons by yourself?” I asked her, worried that our plan wasn’t as well thought out as it should be.
    “They’re the least of my concerns,” she said with a little smile. “One of the dragons at the castillo told me there were only two guards at the aerie simply because it’s so impossible to get to ... and get out of.”
    “I hope Aisling’s directions were enough to get you there in time.”
    “Actually, I’m using her wyvern’s directions. Evidently when Aisling went to the aerie, she took a longer route. It should take me only two hours of climbing, which leaves me enough time to disable the guards and get Mum out of there before Thala can call and order them to hurt her.”
    “I’d be happy to send Pavel with you,” I offered for a second time.
    She shook her head. “I’ll be fine on my own. You need everyone to capture Thala. She won’t have time to order anyone to harm my mother if she’s fighting off an attack.”
    I said nothing but worried nonetheless.
    “I’ll help her find some packing for the bottle,” Savian said, following Maura out of the room. He winked as he passed me.
    “I just bet you will,” I murmured to myself, then rang up Aisling, apologizing for the second call within ten minutes.
    “That’s fine. The twins don’t want to go down for the night, so we’re trying to wear them out. Iarliath and I are having a rousing game of ‘fling the toys against the wall and laugh hysterically when they bounce.’ What’s up? Need more info about the aerie?”
    “No, I think that’s fine. I forgot to tell you earlier that I have Drake’s reward, and I wanted to reassure him that it’ll be waiting for him when he has the sword.”
    “I’m so glad it’s finally happening,” Aisling said in a confidential tone. “Drake has been itching to do this job ever since we got home. He’s trying to teach Ilona how to use a Wii controller, but she’s teething and insists on sucking on it rather than pressing buttons as he insists she should. This will give him something more constructive to do.”
    I heard the masculine rumble of a voice in the background.
    “She’s six months old, Drake. She’s not going to benefit from the honed-to-razor-sharpness hand-eye coordination that you get from playing Super Mario Brothers,” Aisling said. “Sorry, Ysolde. You said you were going to leave shortly, yes? We’ll meet you in St. Petersburg in ... How long will it take us to get there, sweetie? Drake says it will take two hours to get the plane ready and fly out there, Ysolde, so expect us around one a.m. You’re absolutely certain Dr. Kostich will take a portal at that time of night? He doesn’t seem to me to be the sort of guy to do rash things like take red-eye flights.”
    “He has only a few hours to save his daughter, so yes, I think he will. We’ll meet you outside the portal place, then.”
    “We? You’re not bringing Baltic, are you?” She sounded appalled. “You didn’t say you were bringing him.”
    “I was a bit rushed then, but yes, we’re all going. But ... er ... Aisling, Baltic thinks I’ve arranged for Drake to steal the blade so that I can give it to him.”
    “Ah. Well, you will be, in a roundabout way.”
    “Yes. It’s just the route it takes to get to him that will no doubt annoy him. So if you and Drake could keep mum about that, I’d appreciate it.”
    “Our lips are zipped. And by that I mean I’ll leave Jim at home, so it can’t spill the beans to Baltic, which we both know it would do in a heartbeat.”
    “Thanks. Nico will continue on with Brom to Moscow, if your offer of a pickup at the portal office is still open.”
    “Of course it is. We’ll be delighted to have him stay with us for a couple of days. The babies love to play with Brom!”
    I giggled to myself as I hung up, and made a mental note to give Brom a bonus to his weekly allowance to compensate for all the baby drool he would be encountering.
    Less than an hour later, I grilled the employee at the St. Petersburg portal station about whether Dr. Kostich had arrived.
    “No one’s come through for two days,” the man said in a mild Yorkshire accent, eyeing the money I held just out of his reach.