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“Well, he doesn’t right now.” She drew him closer. “And I don’t blame him. That was a nasty attack. And I suppose it was unprovoked. I can’t imagine Old One or Orli inciting such furor.”

Bealomondore took his broom with him as he struggled up the steps to check on Old One again. He knelt beside his head and felt the pulse in his throat.

“The same.” He answered Ellie’s question before she asked. “I agree. I’d be more comfortable if we could summon the watch. Surely there was a system in place years ago.”

Ellie picked up his theory and continued. “And everyone’s forgotten how to use it or even what it was for.” She went on with her own train of thought. “I don’t think it’s useful for the dragons of the watch to do daily rounds of the city. Obviously nothing is out there to cause harm.”

“Perhaps these little black monsters attack the city.” Bealomondore sat on the step next to Old One’s shoulder. “I’ll ask Det and Laddin about the duties they need to perform and what they encounter on these tours.”

He eased himself down to the next step and swept away the crumpled creatures. “They’re disintegrating.”

Ellie tilted her head and furrowed her brow. She looked at his pile. “Oh, I see. Not so much substance anymore. They’re more like bits and pieces and dust.” She crinkled her nose. “When I picked them off of Old One, they broke in my hand, like a crumbly biscuit.”

Bealomondore didn’t want her to get suddenly remorseful over slaying an enemy. He knocked the mound of coarse black powder off the step. “It’s a good thing their bodies crushed on contact. There were way too many for us to defend ourselves if they’d been sturdier.”

He moved down to clean up the next level. “Has Orli calmed down?” At her nod, he went on. “See if you can communicate with our dragon friend and find out what happened. Where did these things come from? Does he know what they’re called?”

Bealomondore tidied two more steps before Ellie had the answers.

“Orli says that these are wusstbunters. They are thoughts from the wizard. Bad thoughts. They reflect his frustration.”

“They aren’t real?”

Ellie lifted one shoulder. “They are, just as the food is real, the real shoes never wear out, and the clothing’s real but does not fall apart even as old as it is. Orli says the wizard sustains it all, but sometimes he gets irritated at the urohms, and then these wusstbunters escape.”

He’d thought he had it all figured out, but this put a new page in the book of Rumbard City. “So Wulder is not our provider?”

“Indirectly. Wulder put the wizard in charge of the city’s maintenance. The wizard was charged with establishing the new generation of urohms as followers of Wulder. The children are to be educated in the Tomes and instilled with a commitment to stand for love, mercy, and honor.”

Bealomondore snorted. “Those children are to be like knights? That’s what he’s saying, you know. That those riotous, willful, unruly, wild, unmanageable horrors are to champion the innocent, protect the weak, right the wrongs inflicted on the lowly, and lift the humble to a better station.”

He paused for a moment, unable to imagine the little beggars turning from selfishness to selflessness. He lifted his arms and let them fall again. “No wonder the wizard gets frustrated. The task given to him is impossible.”

Ellie cuddled the dragon close to her neck, and he rubbed affectionately along her chin. “Orli says that we can do two things that will change the course of Rumbard City.”

“Us? You and me? We’re going to be pulled into this mess?”

She gave him a quizzical look. “I think you walked and I fell into this mess.”

Bealomondore stared at the ugly white dragon enjoying Ellie’s attention. He no longer looked quite so frightened and frail. Rather, he looked as if the delivery of this news had taken a lot off his mind. In fact, was he smug? relieved? pleased with himself? Bealomondore narrowed his eyes and studied the dragon. Orli gloated. That was an expression of pure gratification. The dragon had shed