“Yes. Who you look for?” she asked.
“I’m looking for a Capitan in the Rollo Navy. She’s dark and has thick hair. She’s a fierce warrior and her crew holds her in high regard. Her name is Britt. Do you know her?”
The girl’s face lit up as she heard him say Britt’s name. “I know, I know! She friend.” The girls face soured once more, “But she no here.”
Anders felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. “What happened to her?”
“Mother talk of her. She say, Britt and chief no like.” The girl made a smashing motion with her fist into her palm. “Chief tell us, Britt no respect and leave.”
“What?”
“He say Britt stay. Mainland, she stay.”
“So, they made it to Grandwood, but Britt stayed there?” Anders asked hopeful.
The girl nodded, “Yes.”
“Did any of her crew come back?”
The girl seemed to think hard about it, then she shrugged, making it obvious that she didn’t know for certain.
“Do any of your friends know?”
The girl spoke to the group. Most of the kids shook their heads as she had, but two boys responded excitedly. When they’d gone quiet again Anders looked to the girl, his eyes wide and eager to hear what they had said. “He say father take her ship. Many new men. They sail far.”
“Can they show me to their father’s crew?” he asked.
The girl relayed the question. “He gone, sail far. No back soon.”
Anders cursed under his breath so the girl wouldn’t hear him. There isn’t enough time for me to track them down, he thought.
“Ride dragon?” the girl asked, smiling brightly.
Anders turned to face Zahara. He could tell she was reluctant to let the little Rolloans onto her back.
As she knelt forward so the small humans could climb onto her, she said, You owe me a huge favor.
Sorry, Anders shrugged.
The things I do for you.
Anders looked to the girl again and said, “Who’s first?”
Once the last of the children had scrambled down from Zahara’s back, she shook herself like a dog ridding itself of water.
Don’t ever make me do that again, Zahara said.
I’m sorry. I needed to know if Britt’s ship went down or if they made it safely to Grandwood.
I know, but there are other ways of gathering that information.
Are you suggesting I read their minds?
Perhaps, Zahara said.
That’s not very ethical, Anders protested.
Neither is me eating a bunch of small humans, but I might be tempted to if you ever make me go through that again.
Come on. Was it that bad?
She snorted a puff of smoke in response.
So what do we do now? Anders asked.
We need to make Red see reason.
It sounded like at least some of the people know that Red might be hiding something from them about what happened to Britt. I don’t see her crew leaving her willingly. I think it’s possible she tried to force Red out of leadership and he left her in Westland with no ship or crew, Anders suggested.
That does sound like something he would do. And if he timed it with the drop off of Max and your cousins, he may have been able to convince the other warriors that she opted to stay with them.
Do you think if we exposed that information to the warriors, they might oppose his decision to stay here and come with us? Anders asked.
It’s risky, but it might work, Zahara said. It’s possible that the other leaders agreed with Red’s decision to leave Britt. If that’s what happened, it’s doubtful that any of them would hear our cause. They might agree with Red about the elves.
We have to try something, Anders said. If Red doesn’t see reason, perhaps the others will. It’s our only play that could work. We’ll just have to assume that Red is hiding the truth about Britt’s leaving with everyone. Maybe if they learn the truth about it some of the ships will sail with us.
How will we make this information available to the warriors? They’re scattered across the islands; it would take days to tell them all, she said.
