Free The Familiars #4: Palace of Dreams by Adam Jay Epstein, Andrew Jacobson Page B

water once more. Gilbert already had his webbed hands wrapped around the tethered knot above him and Skylar was perched on the boat’s railing, looking down at them in relief.
    But they weren’t home free yet. Arrows were raining down from the bridge, striking the water and the back of the fishing boat with their sharp tips. Aldwyn and Gilbert dodged the attack as they frantically climbed aboard the deck. A pointed bolt came flying at Gilbert, nearly impaling his neck but instead just clipping the now soaked cloth map slung over his shoulder.
    Aldwyn glanced up at the four soldiers atop the bridge. One took a silver arrow from his quiver and placed it in his bow. But rather than firing it at the escaping familiars, he turned and shot it off into the northeast sky. It flew impossibly high into the clouds and disappeared.
    “A messenger arrow,” Skylar said. “The Nightfall Battalion will soon know which way we’re headed.”
    “We’ve survived the Kailasa mountains once before,” Aldwyn said. “I’m not sure those warriors can say the same thing.”
    Suddenly Aldwyn’s nostrils began to tingle. He spun around and discovered a giant pile of river flounder. For the first time in two days, he smiled.

7
KETTLE FALLS
    A ldwyn tore the last bits of tender meat from a tailbone before tossing the flounder into a growing heap of fish bones. Gilbert had eaten his fill, too, and the three familiars were taking full advantage of their midday respite, knowing they had a perilous climb ahead of them. There was only a small crew of fishermen aboard, but none of them had noticed the animals sitting in the back of the boat.
    Gilbert hopped over to a pool of water that had collected by the storage chests. “Guys, over here,” he said.
    Aldwyn walked over to the tree frog’s side and saw that Gilbert was having a puddle viewing. Skylar flew above them for a look as well. There on the shimmering surface of the pool they could see Commander Warden addressing the head instructors inside one of the conference rooms at Turnbuckle Academy, identifiable from the giant symbol on the wall.
    “No messenger arrows go in or out until those three animals are found,” the commander said. “Jack, Marianne, and Dalton can know nothing of what’s transpired. That way, if their familiars try to contact them, they won’t know to warn them. It must remain business as usual.”
    “Surely the news will get out eventually,” a woman with icy gray hair said.
    “Not if I can help it, Instructor Snieg,” Warden replied. “There will be queens’ guardsmen keeping twenty-four-hour watch on the three young wizards. If that cat, bird, or frog comes within a mile of them, we’ll know it.”
    The puddle clouded over, and Aldwyn, Skylar, and Gilbert turned to one another.
    “I can’t believe they don’t know about the queen,” Gilbert said. “Or us.”
    “It’s better that way,” Skylar replied. “The less they know, the less likely they’ll put themselves in danger.”
    The boat was heading for an inlet where fish were practically leaping out of the water. Ahead, Aldwyn could see a path leading up the mountain.
    “That should take us right to the Bridge of Betrayal,” he said, remembering the route they had taken on their previous trip to the Alchemist.
    “I fear the bridge we just crossed won’t be the only one with guards on the lookout for us,” Skylar replied. “Which means we’ll need to avoid the Bridge of Betrayal and find another way around the Abyssmal Canyon.”
    “We were going to cross the Bridge of Betrayal?” Gilbert croaked. “I don’t remember agreeing to that.”
    “No matter,” Skylar said. “We won’t be now.”
    “Gilbert, see if you can locavate a safe, alternate route to the Mountain Alchemist,” Skylar said.
    “I can try,” Gilbert said.
    Gilbert pulled the dripping map from his back. He unfolded it and carefully laid it flat on the deck floor in front of them. Gilbert then removed the orienteering