Page 65 of Ava's Love of the Dragons
Chapter 29
Magg was an excellent guide, as they snuck out of the building without being seen. Once outside, they crept past the officers on duty and reached the section of the wall where Draco was waiting for them.
He wanted to simply trample down the stone wall with his great foot, but Magg raised her hands to stop him.
"We can't draw attention to ourselves."
Lynn pointed to an inconspicuous door in the wall. "We'll just go out through there." She immediately started working on the lock.
The cadet rolled her eyes. "We'll never get out that way, it's definitely?—"
Click.
Ava laughed quietly. "Did Lilly teach you a few tricks?"
Lynn just giggled softly before they hurried outside and headed straight for the forest. Draco remained in place, even though he wanted to accompany them. But he was too conspicuous, and, with his gigantic body and broad wings, he also shielded them from the view of the guards regularly patrolling the walls.
As soon as they reached the forest, they looked around for the girl.
"Lilly? Lilly?"
She didn't make a sound.
Shivering, Lynn rubbed her arms. "Hopefully she hasn't run too far away. Lilly?"
While Magg searched for her trail, which was difficult on the dry ground, Ava remained lost in thought. Lilly's behavior made no sense. Why wasn't she coming out of her hiding place? Why was she staying away for so long? With her brow furrowed, she looked at the others. "Why is she risking her absence being noticed?"
"What do you mean by that?" Lynn shook her head uncomprehendingly, still rubbing her hands over her arms. She must have been miserably cold in her thin blouse. Ava took off the cloak she had grabbed before going out and handed it to her. Absentmindedly, she pushed up the sleeves of her tunic. Although the cool evening breeze brushed over her arms, she felt none of the cold, caught up as she was in her troubled thoughts.
"Lilly is smart and clever. She wouldn't just leave us, but she also doesn't want to attend school. It would be more logical if she ran away during school hours and sat inconspicuously in her place during meal times. So we wouldn't suspect anything, you know? Especially since she would never voluntarily miss a meal!"
Lynn wrapped herself in the cloak, her eyes wide. "You're right. That's not like her. Lilly always thinks two steps ahead."
Ruffling her hair, Ava paced back and forth until she suddenly stopped and put her hands on her hips. A terrible thought occurred to her. "The king knows we're here."
"Yes, and?"
"You said Elora has her spies everywhere. How high is the probability that she has also learned of our presence?"
Magg emerged from behind a bush, her blue eyes flashing dangerously. "Very high! Look at this!" She waved them over and pointed to the churned-up earth. "A fight took place here."
"A fight?" Alarmed, Ava looked around, but she found nothing but twigs, leaves, and earth.
"Look, you can see it clearly there, and there." Magg pointed to the tracks that showed one pair of small and three large footprints. They led two, three meters on before they blurred and vanished as if by magic. When Magg looked up, there was terror in her eyes. She didn't need to say anything, Ava understood.
"The mages have Lilly."
The cadet nodded silently. Lynn ran her hands through her hair and Ava searched the ground for more prints. "Where did they take her? Can you find any clues? They can't have vanished without a trace!"
"Stop. Take two steps back, or you'll smudge everything!"
"I'm three steps away from all the tracks, and now stop with the power games and answer this one question: Where did the mages take her?"
Magg crouched down and scanned the ground. Although Ava could barely stand the uncertainty, she stood still and waited. Lynn wrapped her arms around her body and shook her head. "This can't be true. How terrible!"
"Where did they take her?" Ava repeated impatiently.
Eventually, Magg stood up and looked at her with a blank expression. "I have no idea."
