“He’s not going to watch?” asked Dean.
Junter shook his head. “They’re afraid the creature might snap at them.”
Dean looked at the ceiling. He hadn’t expected that the snapdragon would be able to reach that high. “Captain Verrick said the snapdragon was small.”
“It is. For a sea serpent.”
Dean’s mouth went dry. The water stirred. Junter lifted his chin toward the shifting current, his eyes on full alert. “There. You see it?”
Dean’s eyes darted around the cave. “No. Where?”
Something swooped around the edge of the water, and the empty boat spun away from the ledge. It settled in the center of the pool. Junter spun his ball and chain in slow circles, getting ready to fight. The beast came around again, and followed the same path. This time, a row of sharp dorsal fins broke the surface of the water as it passed. The creature’s back was visible only for a moment before it dove out of sight. Junter shifted his weight to his toes and swung his ball and chain fast enough to make it hum.
“It’s coming.”
Dean’s heart sped up. The water in front of him swirled ominously, a thin veil that hid but would not hold back the creature below. He searched the cavern for defensive positions. More ledges like the one he was standing on lined the walls, high and low. Some were bigger than others, some longer, and some shorter. If Dean had to move, and he would most certainly have to move, he would use them to stay out of the water. The snapdragon was coming. Dean couldn’t see it yet, but he knew it was there. It circled the pool faster and faster, making the boat he had come in on spin like a carousel.
The snapdragon shot straight up out of the water and changed direction in the blink of an eye, bearing down on the rowboat and punching straight through it. Dean had hardly gotten a look at the beast before it vanished beneath the waves once again. Splintered wood floated around the pool, left behind like a vicious calling card. Dean looked at Junter with wide eyes, but the Ralian boy paid him no attention. His eyes were on the pool. “Here it comes!”
The snapdragon sprang up again and arched its neck like a cobra ready to strike. It stared down the two boys and growled. Dean froze at the sight of it. Its curving, snakelike body was long and thick like the trunk of a palm tree. Only a portion of it was out of the water, and Dean put the beast at ten feet long with another twenty feet below. It made a chittering, clicking sound as it bared three rows of sharp teeth and looked back and forth between Dean and Junter. No doubt it was trying to decide which one of them would make a tastier treat. Its eyes were a mix of gold and dark bronze. Thick white drool hung down from its jaws like clam chowder. Its tough blue-green hide shaded to lime on its belly, and its back was covered with sharp, irregular-shaped fins. They grew along its twisting spine like razors, clumped together in random patches with large gaps between their spiky clusters.
Junter swung the ball and chain around in a wide loop, putting some distance between himself and the snapdragon. “Hello again, ugly. Remember me?”
The creature hissed at Junter and craned its neck away, turning toward the other side of the ledge, where Dean was standing. Dean looked at the wooden sticks he had in one hand and the net he had in the other. He might as well have brought the snapdragon flowers. Dean swung the nunchakus back and forth, but he didn’t know how to use them. It was a good thing Junter was there.
That thought lasted Dean all of two seconds, as Junter swung the iron ball forward in a wide looping arc that the snapdragon dodged easily. The beast darted at Junter’s feet, and when he jumped back, the iron ball spun out, pounding Dean in the stomach. So much for Junter’s practiced hand.
All the air left Dean’s body in an instant. He thought he was going to throw up. Dean dropped to the ground as Junter ran and jumped onto another ledge along the cavern wall. The snapdragon nipped at his heels, then turned back toward Dean, who was still sprawled on his stomach. “Seaborne, move!” Dean heard Junter shouting, but the voice sounded miles away. Somehow, he found the strength to roll out of the path of the snapdragon’s diving teeth. The bite snagged his shoulder and tore his shirt, but not his flesh. The near miss gave Dean a shot of adrenaline that got him up as the sea serpent hit the waves and came back around for another attack. It reared its ugly head and paused again, this time focusing solely on Dean. Junter had the ball and chain spinning in front of him like a shield. Dean had nothing. One hand was clutching his stomach and the other was empty. His weapons were on the ground, five feet away. They might as well have been on the other side of the ocean. The nunchakus and net hadn’t proved very useful, but Dean was far from ready to give up on them. He felt naked without them. He ran forward and snatched his weapons as the snapdragon launched itself at him. He just barely got them off the ground and back out of range in time. Dean sprinted across the stone platform and jumped, landing on another ledge. The snapdragon was right behind him. Dean swung the nunchakus at its face, and the creature ripped them clean out of his hands. It crushed them in its jaws like toothpicks and shrieked out an earsplitting howl.
Dean kept moving. He ran and jumped up, climbing onto another platform on the wall. This is insane! he thought. What am I doing? No way is this worth it. He looked around. There was nowhere to go. His back was literally against the wall. Dean had no idea how much time had passed so far, but he knew it wasn’t enough. The snapdragon gnashed its teeth and dove at him again. He dodged to the left, and the creature’s face hit the wall behind him. Dean lost his balance and fell, landing on a wider ledge below, closer to the water. The snapdragon was entirely focused on him. Junter had his iron ball spinning in a wide orbit, pinning Dean and the sea serpent on the opposite side of the cave.
“What are you doing, Junter? Help me!”
Junter swung the ball and chain at the snapdragon and missed. It hit the ledge above Dean. Rock fragments rained down on his head and neck.
“Watch it!”
“Sorry! I’m not used to being in here with anyone else.”
“Well, you ARE here with someone else! Me! Be careful with that thing!”
The snapdragon spun around on Junter to strike him, but he used the ball and chain to fend off its attack. Once again, the creature shifted its focus to Dean.
“You need to come around to this side,” Junter said. “Get behind me!”
It was a nice idea. Junter had been very effective in using his weapon to keep the snapdragon at bay, but he wasn’t giving Dean any opening to get in behind its protective rotation. “How am I supposed to do that if you won’t let me pass?”
“If I stop swinging the ball, that thing will tear me apart before I get it going again. You have to time your jump just right. You can do it!”
Dean gritted his teeth. Some help this guy turned out to be. He put his head down and ran along the wall toward Junter’s side of the chamber. The snapdragon dove headfirst into the water and threw its tail out, swatting Dean like an insect. He went flying and nearly fell into the water, but he held on, got up, and timed a perfect leap across the cave to get past Junter’s swirling weapon.
Dean stood up and felt the breeze from the spinning ball and chain’s vortex cool his back. He had made it to the protected side of the cave, and that wasn’t all he’d done. The conch shell horn blew again, and the stone slab hatch on the roof opened up. The trial judge threw a line down. Dean had made it! It had been the worst three minutes of his life, but all things considered, the time passed quickly. He had made it through. Dean smiled up at Junter, even though his oversize comrade had proved to be more of a hindrance than anything else. “Time to go?”
Junter nodded. “It’s time, all right.” He gave the iron ball one last good swing to push the snapdragon back, and let go of the chain as it looped back around toward Dean. The ball hit the wall well above Dean’s head, but as it fell, the chain flew out and wrapped itself around his left foot. Dean was hooked. The iron ball bounced off the wall and into the water. The snapdragon pounced on it, and the pull of the chain t
ook Dean right off his feet. Before he even knew what was happening, he was under the waves—in the water with the snapdragon. Dean swam furiously for the surface with the iron ball weighing him down. He got a breath of air, and one last look at Junter as he jumped off the ledge and grabbed the trial judge’s rope.
The weight of the chain dragged Dean under again, and from his squiggly, undulating point of view, he watched as his bulky second left the cave first. The light from the world outside vanished as they closed him in. Just like that, they had given up on him. He was trapped. Dead in the water with a chain around his leg and a hungry sea serpent ready to eat him. He looked around, frantic. The water was clear, but he didn’t see anything. He reached for the chain on his leg, desperate to unhook it, when a pack of bony thorn spikes opened up his side. The sea serpent had brushed by him, using its razor-sharp fins to cut his ribs. It hurt like the devil, and the cuts were numerous, but not deep. The snapdragon was toying with him.
Dean ignored the pain in his side and reached for his leg again. He got himself free, and managed to hang on to the net Junter had given him, not that he expected it to do him any good. The snapdragon swam by again, and the current shoved Dean aside. He was off balance and disoriented, but he grabbed hold of Junter’s ball and chain as he flailed about in the water. The sea serpent came at him once more, and Dean had just enough time to stuff the chain into its mouth before it bit him. He crammed a handful of iron links into the creature’s gaping maw and pushed himself away. The snapdragon shook its head back and forth as it choked on the chain, but it spit out the links and whipped its tail into Dean’s midsection. This time, there would be no ignoring the pain. Dean coughed out all the air he was holding in. It was over. He needed to breathe immediately, but he wouldn’t live long enough to die from a lack of oxygen. The creature was coming back. As it closed in on him, only one thought came to mind. Something an old sea dog had once told him. It hadn’t been much help the last time he tried it, but anything was worth a shot.
As the snapdragon swam up to eat him, Dean punched it square in the nose. It was his drop-dead last chance, and he got in a good shot, right above the snapdragon’s top row of teeth. Miraculously, the creature’s whole body quivered, and it stopped dead in place. A shiver ran through the serpent’s body from head to toe, and its eyes rolled around in its head like cannonballs on the deck of a ship.
Dean blinked twice at the motionless beast. Glory be, it worked!
He didn’t know how long it would last, but the odds were, not long. He had just a few seconds left to follow Junter’s only worthwhile piece of advice. “Stay away from its mouth. Don’t die.” Dean figured the best way to do that was to get somewhere the creature’s teeth couldn’t reach, like the back of its neck. He still had the net in his hand. He wrapped it around the creature’s back and hooked it over a crooked dorsal fin. He gave the net a tug. It was secure. He climbed onto the snapdragon’s back and held on tight. This better work.
A few seconds later, the snapdragon bucked. It was no longer paralyzed. It was able to move again, and move it did. It shot up out of the water and tried to flip Dean off its back. It roared. It howled. And when it couldn’t shake Dean, it dove back under the water and tried to throw him off. The snapdragon spun around under the water, trying to rid itself of its pesky rider. Dean’s lungs were fit to burst, but he didn’t let go. The snapdragon tried to bite him, but it couldn’t reach him where he was. No matter how hard it tried, it couldn’t lose him. Failing in those attempts, it swam rapidly at the wall of the cave. Dean thought it meant to throw him hard against the stones and crush him under its weight, but just as he braced for impact, they passed through the wall. Dean opened his eyes. They had gone through the cave’s other opening. The one Junter had said was under the water somewhere.
The creature surfaced in the water outside the cave, with Dean riding its back like a bucking bronco. The light outside was intense, but Dean had never been so happy to see the sun. He breathed deep and held on tight. Images of the outside world raced in and out of his vision as he held on to the rampaging sea serpent. He saw the people who had come to watch his trial. They were all leaving. A dejected procession of Zenhalans who had understandably assumed the snapdragon had eaten Dean for breakfast. The beast shrieked with righteous fury as it snapped at Dean and tried to shake him off. The people heard and came running back. Once again, they cheered for Dean. He paid them no attention. He had to focus on the task at hand. If he let go, the snapdragon would surely devour him. Dean held on. Up and down the snapdragon went, taking him on a mad ride. It was furious. It was wild. It was … beaten.
Just when Dean thought he could take no more, the snapdragon settled into the water, breathed deeply, and swam gently along the surface. Dean unclenched his body and rode its back as if it were an old sea turtle. He was astonished as the snapdragon turned around and looked at him. It was tired, and submitted to Dean for all the world to see. Dean nudged it with his knee and pointed to a chain of rocks he could follow back to shore. “How about over there,” he said. Miraculously, the snapdragon did as he commanded. There was now an understanding of sorts between Dean and the snakelike beast. It swam on, taking Dean exactly where he wanted to go. After Dean had dismounted, the snapdragon paused a moment with him before it left. Dean reached down and patted its head.
“Thanks for not killing me.”
The snapdragon let out a weary warble, and swam away. Dean watched it disappear from sight, then stood up and looked at the crowd of people all around him. It took him a second to realize they were waiting for him to say something. Too tired for that, he raised his arms high in the air, victorious in battle. That was statement enough. The people shook the island with their cheers. They lauded him like a conquering warrior, which wasn’t far from the truth. All he’d had to do was survive the snapdragon, but he’d done a sight more than that. He’d done the impossible, and bent it to his will. He’d tamed the beast. Across the water, Dean saw Junter standing with the trial judge, looking sour. His brothers were laughing at him. Waverly, for her part, seemed to be stunned by what he’d accomplished. Dean smiled. Maybe this stunt had been worth it after all. It was too early to tell. Dean only knew one thing for sure. Ronan and Rook had to find the orchard fast. He couldn’t take much more of this.
CHAPTER 19
ALL THAT GLITTERS
What do you mean you didn’t find anything?” Dean said. “You had all day!”
“Ease off a point there, Seaborne.” Ronan took a bite out of a piece of fruit that looked like an apple except its skin was a bold shade of purple and its insides bright yellow. “It takes time to look for something without looking like you’re looking. What’d you expect? You said yourself these things take time.”
Dean stared out the royal apartment window into the setting sun. He could hardly stand to look at Ronan and Rook. “That doesn’t mean we have time to waste. I turn every head on this island for an entire day, nearly losing my own in the process, and you two come back here empty-handed. What’d you expect? That I’d be happy?”
Ronan patted a sack filled with more of the same fruit he was eating. “I wouldn’t say we came back empty-handed exactly. I found a grove filled with these purple lovelies, and Rook”—Ronan motioned toward the tub in the next room, where Rook was nursing dozens of scratches and bite marks all over his body—“Rook found out the local wildlife is a touch aggressive.” He made no effort to hide his delight at Rook’s discomfort.
“Hardy-har-har,” Rook said, no doubt taking his first bath in a year. “Next time, maybe you’ll take the jungle and I’ll search the fields. Mark me, those red monkeys wasn’t just aggressive. They was pure evil!”
“Don’t speak to me of monkeys,” Dean snapped. “I wrestled a sea serpent today.”
“Oh, go on.”
“It’s true!”
“I heard it was a small sea serpent,” Ronan said, unimpressed.
“If you ever have the opportunity to see for yourself, yo
u’ll find a small sea serpent is still plenty big. Not that the pair of you could find anything. You didn’t turn up so much as a clue.”
Ronan took another bite of the fruit he’d been enjoying. “Ask me, you’re the one who’s clueless. Dining with the lord regent tonight? You’ve got it bad, haven’t you, Seaborne?”
“What are you talking about?”
Ronan looked at Rook. “What am I talking about, he says. As if it isn’t plain as day.”
“Aye,” Rook said as he got out of the tub and covered himself with a robe. “She’s a fair lass, Seaborne. She ain’t worth dyin’ over.”
Dean left the window. “I’m not going to dinner because of her. And if Lord Kray wants to poison my food, he can do it any time. He doesn’t have to wait until I’m sharing his table.”
Ronan tossed Dean a shiny purple apple. “He can’t poison you at all if you stick to eating what I fresh-picked.”
Dean caught the fruit and threw it back at Ronan. “If he wants to kill me, he doesn’t have to lift a finger. The way these trials are going, I’ll be dead by tomorrow night.”
“And who set you on that path but Kray? You’re crazy to take up another invite from him. You don’t belong at some fancy dinner. You’re out of your depth.”
Dean checked his appearance in the mirror and combed his hair with his hand. “You’re probably right. But you haven’t left me much choice, have you? Someone has to get the information you two failed to come up with today.”
“I’m telling you, don’t go,” Ronan said. “Come up with some excuse, tell him you’re tired from your trial, but don’t do this.”
Dean went to the door. “Not only am I going, but I’m coming back with a lead on the orchard, and no bones about it. Try to stay out of trouble while I’m gone, will you?”
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