Page 53 of Scales ’N’ Spells: Volume Two

“Likely because the bomb was part magic,” Ravi muttered.

“That’s the exact problem,” Ada practically growled at him. “The bomb was different enough that our normal detection devices and procedures won’t work. We need to be sure that we can identify such a bomb, to keep humans as well as mages and dragons safe in the future.”

Ravi watched Alric out of the corner of his eyes, noticing some of the angry tension drain out of his stiff shoulders and clenched jaw. Ada had a good point. While the Jaeggi were focused entirely on dragons and mages, there was nothing to indicate that they cared whether an innocent human got caught up in their schemes. The dragons would do what they could to keep the humans safe, but they couldn’t be everywhere.

Alric looked over at Dieter, his head tilted slightly. “Lisette?”

Dieter immediately nodded. “Yes, she could have some interesting insight into this predicament. I’ll reach out to her.”

The advisor pulled his cellphone out of his pocket and immediately started tapping out a message while Alric turned his attention back to the humans.

“He is informing our head mage about this problem. She may have some insight that will help you, or at least have a solution for potentially detecting these bombs.”

“A mage?” Ada asked skeptically.

“Of course. How else would you detect magic?” Gunter shot back.

Alric spoke for a few more minutes with Chief Maier about the influx of reporters and visitors to Sonthofen. The head of the local police was happy to say that things were relatively quiet in town from a crime perspective, but every hotel, hostel, and inn was fully booked. The local shops were buzzing with activity, and every resident of Sonthofen was proud to say they lived near dragons.

It was some small relief that at least the locals weren’t pulling out the torches and pitchforks. Ravi loved the little town of Sonthofen and didn’t want to think it wasn’t going to be safe for him to visit. At least for more reasons than just the Jaeggi.

But it wasn’t surprising to hear the residents were excited. Jana had said that all the shops that sold Burkhard’s health and beauty goods were completely sold out. Their online shop was also getting deluged with orders. The mages were working nearly around the clock to keep up with orders and pulling in any dragon they could lay their hands on to help. People wanted anything they could grab that was related to dragons and mages.

A brisk knock on the door was their only warning before Lisette breezed in with a swirl of long skirts. The pleasant smile on her face was nearly overshadowed by the determined look in her eyes. Her husband Dieter quickly made introductions before she was herding Kristopher and Ada back toward the door. They were going to explore the problem with a couple of other mages.

Ada stopped as she neared the door and looked back toward Alric. Her eyes moved slowly over each and every one of them, causing Ravi to raise one eyebrow at her.

“You’re all dragons?” she finally asked.

“Lisette is a mage, but yes, we’re all dragons,” Alric replied.

“And you’ve always been here?”

“Yep,” Ravi answered, flashing her a wide grin.

Inwardly, he tensed, waiting for some dark comment. She’d been the most standoffish since entering the room. He fully expected her to say something about dragons needing to bow to the human laws and how they weren’t welcome in her world, but she surprised him.

One corner of her mouth tilted up, and she nodded. “You’ve been missed.”

She turned and followed Lisette out of Alric’s office, closing the door behind her.

“Well, that was strange,” Baldewin declared when they were alone again.

“And not the least bit helpful,” Alric snarled.

Ravi stepped back as their king shoved to his feet. He started to walk toward the gathering of sofa and chairs but stopped and turned in a different direction. Ravi knew this Alric all too well. There were times when their king was too agitated to remain still. He needed to pace.

Not that Ravi could blame him. They were being more cautious about screening the people gathered outside the castle gates, but there was still a chance another Jaeggi might try to sneak inside.

And what if another bomber was out there? What if they were discovered before they could get inside? Would they ignite the bomb, killing innocent humans, just to get to one or two dragons? It was an ugly thought that made him sick to his stomach. They needed to find the Jaeggi now.

“It’s been five days, and we have almost nothing,” Alric snarled.

“We know that a group of them is likely hiding in Czechia,” Gunter reminded him, which only earned him a dark look from Alric. “It’s logical. You can drive from Prague to Sonthofen in a day. It’s less than six hours.”

“Ugh,” Ravi groaned.

He did not like being trapped in a boring car for more than two hours. He preferred to fly, but then that wasn’t an option for the Jaeggi.