Leaf couldn’t believe he’d finally found it. Valor, home of the Dragonslayer! It was real, and he was here at last.

Somehow, he’d never pictured it underground. The name Valor made him think of a towering city on a hill, facing down the dragons with no fear. But the citizens of Valor lived like moles. He supposed it was safer that way, but it was still unexpected.

His heart beat nervously as he followed his rescuers through the tunnels. He’d never been to another human village beyond Talisman. A traveling family had given him directions to Valor and a message for the Dragonslayer, and he’d only stayed with them for a night. He’d never been surrounded by this many strangers before.

Leaf, you daft blueberry, Wren scolded him in his head. You survived a giant palace full of dragons. I think you can handle a bunch of strange humans. I mean, at least they probably won’t try to eat you.

Well, if any of them did, it would most likely be Violet — she was the tall one with the short hair and the assessing look. She kept studying him from head to toe like she was taking notes for a test, except he’d be the one who had to take it.

Next to her was Daffodil, who kept jumping up to touch the ceiling tunnel, making her ponytail bounce. She stayed close to the other two, especially Violet, and her hands were constantly moving as she talked, which she did a lot.

And then there was Ivy, the one who’d distracted the dragon and brought him into Valor. She had a friendly smile and long dark hair, which had been tied up when he first saw her but had fallen loose while they were running. She also had an interesting way of keeping an eye on her friends all the time, as if she was waiting for them to bump off course so she could steer them straight.

She fell back to walk beside him and started pointing out the sights and geography of Valor. They went through a giant central hall where “announcements and banishments happen,” Ivy said, but he didn’t register the word banishment until much later. He was too distracted by all the people who strolled the tunnels as though this were any ordinary village. In fact, the biggest difference between here and Talisman was the fact that the villagers didn’t keep glancing up at the sky, shivering with fear at every sound that might be a wingbeat or a dragon roar or a warning bell. Everyone here seemed so calm.

See, there is an advantage to living underground, he thought, and the Wren in his head made a scoffing noise.

“Why isn’t anyone else wearing green like you guys?” Leaf asked Ivy.

“We’re Wingwatchers,” Ivy said happily. “This is our uniform. But we’re not the only ones — see, there’s Moth, he’s another.” She waved to a boy walking by with a basket of yarn.

“What do Wingwatchers do?” Leaf noticed a beam of sunlight coming into one of the caves through a small hole near the ceiling. Another Wingwatcher was crouched on a ledge, looking out at the sky.

“We study dragons,” she said, “and we watch for them when people are outside, and we guard the entrances to make sure no one leads them to us.”

His stomach plummeted. “Are you like dragonmancers?” he asked nervously.

“I don’t know what that is,” she said, tilting her head at him.

“They have visions about what the dragons want and how to appease them,” he said. “At least, they say they do. But they’re liars.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Um, no, that’s not what Wingwatchers are like at all.”

“Sorry,” he said. “I’m sure you’re not.”

“Why do you want to kill a dragon so much?” she asked.

He looked down at his feet and kicked a rock out of their path. “My sister was eaten by dragons seven years ago,” he said. “I tried to avenge her, but it turns out slaying dragons is actually really hard.”

“Oh,” she said. “I’m so sorry. That sounds awful.”

“Yeah,” he said. “You know, it’s weird. I always say it that way, but I know more about it now and I still haven’t said the worst part out loud.” He took a deep breath. “She wasn’t accidentally eaten. The dragonmancers sacrificed her.”

“What?” Ivy cried. “Leaf, that’s terrible!”

He nodded. “And now I don’t know what to do. I feel like, all I’ve wanted for so long is justice for Wren, but am I even doing it the right way anymore? Would she want me to go after the dragonmancers instead?”

Yes, the Wren in his head said snippily. Obviously.

“But how would I even do that?” he asked. “They run Talisman. Everyone listens to them. And I’m not going to stab them with a sword.”

Maybe you should, Wren muttered.

I could never do that, he told her again. I’m not a murderer, even if they deserve it.

“So, I guess for now I’m trying to stick with my original plan,” he said to Ivy. “Go after the dragons and protect future kids like Wren. If I can learn how.”

“Hmmm,” she said, winding a lock of hair around her finger. “Have you ever thought … maybe going after the dragons would make things more dangerous for future kids?”

He tilted his head at her. “What? How? Surely fewer dragons equals less danger.”

“Unless the survivors get really mad and vengeful,” Ivy pointed out. “They don’t particularly like their family members getting killed either. Right?”

Leaf tried to imagine angrier, more vengeful dragons. A dragon like him, who was heartbroken over losing someone to the humans. Could dragons be heartbroken? Did they love their families? Not like humans did, surely.

But maybe some did … like the brown dragon who’d helped him … or the baby and its caretaker in the kitchen. What if he accidentally killed a dragon like that? How would he know?

Maybe the Dragonslayer would know. He’d be able to tell Leaf how to slay the right dragons the right way.

“Well, here we are,” Ivy said. “Where the famous Dragonslayer lives.” Violet and Daffodil were waiting by a door in the tunnel; Ivy unlocked it, and they all went inside.

Leaf was startled by how enormous the Dragonslayer’s caves were. They were almost as big as a room in the dragon palace, and furnished with beautiful things. Of course, Leaf remembered. He’s probably the richest man in the world. That was something else he’d never thought about — the treasure the Dragonslayer had stolen from the queen.

But he wasn’t like Rowan and Thyme and Cranberry, Leaf told himself. He was fighting to save his people.

Wasn’t he?

Or … is that just how Rowan told me the story, so I’d want to be like him?

He felt uneasy for the first time since entering Valor.

“Dad!” Ivy called. “There’s someone here to see you!”

Leaf blinked at her. “Dad?”

“Oh, yeah,” Daffodil said. “The Dragonslayer is Ivy’s father.” She threw herself down on one of the large green-and-gold pillows along the walls of the living room. Leaf saw something in a glass box on a pedestal in the center of the room, but it was misshapen and ugly, out of place among the rest of the beautiful décor. He wanted to take a closer look, but he didn’t want the Dragonslayer to find him poking around in his things. He decided to stay where he was, standing with his hands behind him, ready for inspection.

“Is it my new hat?” a voice called from the next cave. “Tell him to leave it on the table!”

“No, Dad, it’s not a new hat!” Ivy called back.

There was a pause, and then some grumbling and shuffling noises. After a moment, a man appeared in the doorway and squinted across the room at Leaf.

That’s him. The Dragonslayer! The only living man to ever kill a dragon! The mighty hero of the stories!

Bit shorter than I expected, imaginary Wren commented.

The Dragonslayer was barefoot and looked as though he’d been asleep. He had a tangled black beard and sleepy eyes and a gold earring shaped like a sword dangling from each ear. He looked like he ate more than Master Trout and moved as rarely as possible; he wasn’t big, but all his limbs looked like bread dough.

“Who’s this?” the Dragonslayer asked, scratching one of his feet.

“Dad, this is Leaf,” Ivy said. “We found him in the woods. He’s come a really long way to see you.”

“It’s a great honor to meet you, sir,” Leaf said.

The Dragonslayer cleared his throat and shot a look at Ivy’s friends. “Official Dragonslayer audiences are held in the main hall once a month,” he said. “You just missed one, I’m afraid. Ivy, you know better than to bring him here.”

Violet and Daffodil exchanged significant glances.

“Sorry, Dad,” Ivy said carefully. “He has a kind of unusual request, so I thought it might be all right.”

“Well, it isn’t,” he said. “Find a place to put him, and I’ll hear him at the next audience.”

“Wait, sir!” Leaf said, grasping at one straw that might catch his attention. “I have a message for you from the Indestructible City!”

He sensed immediately that this was the wrong thing to say. Ivy blanched, and the Dragonslayer’s eyebrows drew together like a lowering storm front.

“You’re from the Indestructible City?” the Dragonslayer growled. “Another one? Is your lord deaf?”

“N-no,” Leaf stammered. “I’ve never been there. I just met someone who said — they said to tell you the Invincible Lord is expecting you before the next crescent moons.”

The Dragonslayer crossed the room in three large steps, seized Leaf by his shirt, and lifted him into the air. “Are you threatening me now?” he snarled.

“I’m not! I’m not!” Leaf instinctively did one of Rowan’s twist moves to slip free and jumped away from the Dragonslayer. “That’s what they told me! I don’t know what it means — I thought it was just a friendly greeting between lords!”

The Dragonslayer glared at his hands, then at Leaf, as if considering whether to grab him again, but not wanting to look foolish if Leaf escaped once more. “The presumptuous, pompous, self-styled ‘invincible’ Lord Jackanapes is not my friend. You can get out of my city now.”

“But that’s not why he’s here!” Ivy said. “I swear, Dad, he just wants to learn from you —”

The Dragonslayer had turned to eye Daffodil and Violet with suspicion. “You brought him into the city?” he demanded.

“We found him,” Ivy said, trying to draw his attention to her. “Dad, really, he’s just another guy looking for a hero. He’s not working for the lord. I promise.”

“We’ll see,” the Dragonslayer muttered, tugging on his beard. “Everyone get out.” He stalked off into the other cave as Daffodil and Violet leaped to their feet.

“I’m so sorry, Leaf,” Ivy said. She pushed up her sleeves and rubbed her face. “I did that all wrong.”

He couldn’t see anything that she’d done wrong; it was the Dragonslayer who’d acted strange and unfriendly (and a little bit like a dragonmancer, Wren whispered ominously). And it was Leaf’s own fault, for being such an idiot. “I’m the one who’s sorry,” he said. “I had no idea the Invincible Lord was his enemy. I should — I should go apologize —”

“No, don’t,” she said, jumping in his way. “That’s not a good idea. Not right now.”

“But he’s a man of honor and courage,” Leaf said. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Violet making a face at Daffodil, but he wasn’t sure what it meant — maybe she was mocking his sincerity, but he didn’t care. “He’ll understand if I —”

“Trust me,” Ivy said, putting her hands on his arms and walking him backward to the front door. “We need to get out now and wait for a better time.” She looked truly sorry, as though she’d failed him. And so worried. He didn’t want to make anyone feel as unhappy as she looked.

He put his own hands over hers and stopped her momentum. “I do trust you,” he said. “Don’t be sad. I’m sure everything will be all right after I talk to him. In a month, I mean,” he clarified quickly. “At the next audience.”

She gave him a relieved smile. “I think I know somewhere you can stay.”

He wanted to say, Can’t I stay with you? but it was pretty clear he wasn’t welcome in the Dragonslayer’s cave. So he followed her without arguing to the cave of a man she called “Uncle Stone,” who looked like a taller, sadder, slightly less hairy version of the Dragonslayer.

“Yes, fine,” Stone said glumly. “I have room, if he’s not too loud.”

“I imagine he sings in his sleep,” Ivy said, “but apart from that, the strong, silent type.”

“Thank you, sir,” Leaf said.

“I have to go give Foxglove my notes on the dragons and what happened out there,” Ivy said. “But I’ll come check on you after that.” Her smile almost made up for her leaving, except then Leaf was alone with her morose uncle. Stone looked him up and down, pointed at an extra straw pallet, and went into a corner of the cave to mash some vegetables.

Leaf set down his pack and unbuckled his sword, wondering what he’d gotten himself into.

“Nice sword,” Stone commented.

“Useless sword,” Leaf said. “Against dragons anyway.”

Stone gave him a wry smile. “Yeah, I wouldn’t recommend trying that.”

“I already did,” Leaf admitted. “It really didn’t work. That’s why I’m here — I’m hoping the Dragonslayer will tell me how he did it.”

Stone let out a snort. “Heath? Got lucky, that’s what he did. Unlike some of us.”

“Have you tried to kill a dragon?” Leaf asked. He was slightly unnerved by the way Stone talked about the Dragonslayer.

“I was there when it happened. Don’t they tell that part of the story in faraway villages?” Stone asked.

Leaf suddenly, for the first time in years, remembered what his father had said when Rowan first told the Dragonslayer story. Something about a partner who’d been left behind. But that couldn’t be Stone — he was right here.

“You were?” he said. “What was it like? What did he do? I want to know everything!”

Stone’s face hardened. “Well, if you want worshipful stories of the great Dragonslayer, you’ve come to the right place,” he said. “This place is full of zealots who’d love to tell you the great saga. But I’m not one of them.” He dropped his masher, smacked his hands together, and moved toward the exit.

“Wait, no. That’s not why I’m here,” Leaf said. “I promise, I want to know the truth. What really happened.”

Stone paused with his hand on the door and looked at Leaf for a long moment.

“No, you don’t,” he said, and disappeared into the tunnels.