That meant Baldewin needed to be with someone of similar stature. A leader among a mage’s clan. Someone who was incredibly smart and talented with magic and crafting new spells. And if dragon clans were in such desperate need of mages, then they definitely needed someone like that. Someone who could help the dragons recover and thrive into the future.
Tori was not an obvious choice for Baldewin. He might be learning that his magic wasn’t as worthless as he’d been led to believe, but he certainly didn’t have the kind of knowledge or skill that would make him a good match for Baldewin.
“You know, I’ve been thinking,” Cassie announced during a lull in the conversation.
“Oh god,” Warin moaned as he stretched his legs in front of him from his spot on the sofa.
“I thought we warned you against that, my precious heart,” Sasha murmured.
“Har, har,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “Now that we’ve got these amulets made, I was thinking we need to run a field test with them. Really give them a good workout.”
“I thought Alric had suggested you return directly to the castle with Sasha while we continued via train,” Baldewin said evenly. “There’s no reason to risk the lives of two mages unnecessarily.”
Cassie made a dismissive sound in the back of her throat and waved her hand at him. “What we need is more information on the Jaeggi if we’re ever going to beat them. They’re freaking slippery. Plus, three dragons can protect two mages, especially when one of the mages is as talented as Tori.”
“I appreciate your confidence, but my talents are very limited,” Tori countered.
“What are you thinking, my snowdrop blossom?” Sasha inquired.
Cassie clapped her hands together. “We continue this road trip. We’re obviously gonna have to rent something bigger than that cute little car you’ve got if we’re gonna fit all the dragons inside. I’d be happy to sit on Sasha’s lap the entire time, but my sweetie would be uncomfortable after eight hours like that.”
Tori pressed his fingers into his brow and rubbed. Maybe the translation spell was messing up, but he was having a devil of a time following her words. “Eight hours in a car? I thought the plan was to board a train here in Kaunas and take it to Munich.”
“It is,” Baldewin confirmed.
“No fun.” Cassie leaned forward, her wide, dark eyes pinning Tori. “This is your first trip across Europe, right? Mine, too. Let’s do this road trip up right. You didn’t really get to see Tallin and had only one night in Riga? Next stop has got to be Wroclaw, Poland, and it’s on the way.” By the time she finished speaking, her voice was several octaves higher, and she was bouncing where she sat.
“Wroclaw?” Tori repeated. He didn’t know much about Poland, and the only city he even knew a little about was Warsaw. Wroclaw escaped him completely.
“Yep. It’s eight hours away from Kaunas by car. That’s eight hours to see if the Jaeggi can track us down. From Wroclaw, we can snag a train that leaves in the evening. After one quick transfer, we’ll arrive in Sonthofen by early morning the next day. Easy as pie.”
“Why Wroclaw?” Warin asked. He was typing on his phone and frowning at it. “Eight hours seems too long to put ourselves out there for bait. The route you’re suggesting would take us right through Warsaw, and that’s only five hours away. We could board a train in Warsaw, and it would actually only take us an extra hour by train.”
Cassie made a little growling noise at Warin and narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re missing the point. This is a road trip. We gotta have some fun on a road trip. We need to see some sights. Tori has never been out of Finland before. I’ve never been to Europe. We’ve gotta go to Wroclaw.”
Tori chuckled. Her enthusiasm was infectious. “Okay. I give up. What’s so awesome in Wroclaw that we’ve got to see it?”
“Dwarves!” she squealed.
Now he knew the translation spell was breaking down. There was no way he heard that correctly. He looked over at Warin and Sasha, who were wearing the same confused expression. Tori even sat up and twisted around to look at Baldewin behind him. “Did she say dwarves?”
Baldewin nodded. “She did.”
He looked back at Cassie, and she was bouncing again. “Wroclaw is this old town with beautifully preserved architecture, but back in the eighties when communism was still a problem in the region, they had an anti-communism movement called the Orange Alternative. Their symbol”—squeak—“was a dwarf. Fast forward a bunch of years, and the city is now full of these little dwarf statues. Over three hundred of them!” Cassie held up her phone, and there was a picture of an adorable dwarf cast in what looked like bronze.