Snared: Voyage on the Eversteel Sea

by Adam Jay Epstein

  “Bring it back faster!” Kestrel shouted.

  Wily tugged again as the jaws of the horsetrap plant were launched into the air. This time, the jaws overshot the butterfly. Instead of chomping down on the machine itself, it snapped the strings and reeds that were attached to it, severing them instantly. The butterfly dropped to the jungle floor in a lifeless heap.

  “You fool!” Kestrel screamed. “That was our best and only chance at getting off the island!”

  Wily wanted to scream back at his father, but at this very moment, all he cared about was getting the bundle of pollen. He wanted to get off the island even more than his father did.

  “I’ll get it,” Wily said.

  “No,” Roveeka called out. “Did you see those teeth? Super sharp!”

  Pryvyd grabbed Wily by the shoulder before he could move for it.

  “You’re not going in there,” Pryvyd said. “No one is. We’ll find another way.”

  While Pryvyd was speaking, Righteous took off. It flew toward the downed butterfly with its ghostly hand outstretched.

  “Won’t anyone listen to me?” Pryvyd shouted.

  Righteous was swift. Its hand grabbed the wooden kite in its pale fingers as arm and elbow spun around. Before Righteous got far, though, one of the horsetrap’s vines whipped around its wrist. The arm was tugged backward toward the now open mouth of the killer plant.

  “We need to get out of here,” Kestrel said. “Before a whole jungle of vines surround us.”

  “And leave my arm behind?” Pryvyd said, now furious.

  “Well, it’s not attached to your body anyway,” Kestrel retorted. “Is it really such a loss?”

  “You’re lucky I don’t feed you to the plant,” Pryvyd said. He turned to Roveeka. “I need to borrow Mum!” he said, and she tossed him the knife without hesitation.

  As Pryvyd ran for the mouth of the plant, he punched and kicked away the slithering vines that were surrounding him from all sides.

  “I’m coming for you, Righteous,” the Knight of the Golden Sun called to his arm.

  Wily looked at the mechanical butterfly lying on the jungle floor. It was not too far away. With just a few steps, he could snatch it up himself. He hesitated, wondering what he should do. As he was lost in thought, a vine shot out from the underbrush and wrapped around his ankle. With a powerful pull, it tugged him toward the open mouth of the horsetrap.

  “Wily!” Roveeka shouted.

  Wily’s hands scrabbled to find something to grab hold of, a root or rock wedged into the ground. As he turned around, he saw Kestrel moving in his direction. His father reached out. Wily stretched his arm toward him. His father grabbed—the mechanical butterfly off the ground.

  The two, father and son, made eye contact. Then Kestrel quickly looked away, and Wily was pulled farther toward the mouth, the prickly jaws of which were wide open, ready for a meal.

  WHOOSH. Mum sliced past Wily’s ear. Pryvyd, holding the knife, slashed the vine that was tugging Wily into the mouth, cutting it clean in half. Righteous tugged Wily off the ground and pulled him away from the mouth, which snapped out as far as its roots could stretch. One of the thorny teeth snagged onto Wily’s trapsmith belt, but he would not let himself be caught a second time. He pulled himself free and heard the leather band snap in two. Righteous grabbed the precious belt before it hit the ground, and the three of them ran and flew out of range of the plant.

  As soon as they were safely away from the horsetrap plant, Wily turned to Kestrel, rage in his eyes.

  “You saved the pollen,” he shouted, “but didn’t bother to reach for your own son?”

  “I could see that Pryvyd was going to save you,” Kestrel said without a hint of malice in his voice. “Just like he did.”

  “You would have rather let me be swallowed whole by the plant,” Wily spat, “than lose the gunk that is going to get you off the island.”

  “I can tell you’re very upset,” Kestrel said. “And rightfully so. You have just been through a very traumatic experience. But you are completely misreading the situation.”

  “That’s not how I see it. Tie his wrists up again.”

  Without argument, Kestrel held his hands out for Pryvyd to bind him.

  “Then we can agree to disagree,” Kestrel said as he headed back off through the jungle, clutching the mechanical butterfly in his tied hands. Wily could feel his blood boiling over like lava pouring down the sides of a volcano.

  11

  NIGHT WATCHING

  “There you are,” Odette called to Wily, who was following Kestrel back to the campfire. “You left us here with all the hard work while you were off picking flowers.”

  “Something like that,” Wily said. He certainly didn’t want to tell Odette what had actually happened. It had been hard enough convincing her to use Kestrel’s assistance. He could only imagine what she would think if she learned how his father had nearly gotten Wily eaten.

  Moshul and Odette sat on the soft sand splitting the trunks of the rubber trees into long, flat slices. The moss golem peeled them apart with ease, like pulling the stringy bits out of a piece of cooked celery. Odette was arranging them flat on the sand to bake them in the sun. Wily’s father stopped before the stretch of wood slices laid out on the ground.

  “They need to be even,” he said. “And much thinner. We will need them to be pliable enough to bend. Keep them in the shade.”

  “Since you know how to do it right and we clearly don’t, why don’t you do it yourself?” Odette suggested petulantly.

  “I’m afraid this will make that tough,” Kestrel retorted, lifting his hands. “Golem, we need to soak these planks in salt water. Follow me. Hurry up!”

  As Moshul dragged a dozen boards down to the sea, Wily sat next to Odette to help her finish peeling the bark off a wood slice.

  “No wonder he built an army of mechanical people,” Wily said. “Regular folk would never tolerate being treated like mindless workers.”

  “He’s worse than just bossy,” Odette said. “I fear for our own safety.”

  “You don’t need to convince me.”

  Over the next six hours, Wily didn’t let his father out of his sight, even if he was being watched by someone else. When Kestrel went to the stream in the jungle for a drink of water, Wily was thirsty too. When his father needed more shale to sand the insides of the planks, Wily volunteered to go with him. Kestrel always put on a good face, claiming he was happy for the help or company, but as he turned away, Wily often thought he noticed a sneer or an eye roll of exasperation from his father. Wily’s caution ensured that there was never a moment when his father had a chance to sabotage Wily’s friends’ safety.

  By midnight, the small sailboat was three-quarters finished. Kestrel had bossed everyone around as if he still were the Infernal King, telling them how to properly use the sealing wax and where to apply it for maximum effect. He instructed Pryvyd and Righteous on how to weave a small sail out of palm leaves. Wily had examined the sail upon completion. He concluded that although it was not as agile and impressive as one made from cloth, it would at least help the ship to travel slowly across the sea. Wily’s eyes were getting tired as the night continued, but he fought sleep with every droop of his lids. It was hard for him to tell if he’d nodded off occasionally, but by the extreme exhaustion he was feeling by dawn, he had a strong hunch that he had managed to stay awake. Moshul and Righteous had never stopped building the boat, even when everyone else had dozed off under the stars.

  As the sun came up over the jungle trees, Wily looked to see what progress had been made. To his surprise, he realized that all that was left to do was to push the boat into the sea. Kestrel placed his few belongings into it.

  “Are you sure the boat will float?” Pryvyd asked Kestrel as he inspected the sides of the vessel.

  “What I build never fails,” Kestrel said without a lick of doubt. “Everyone get aboard.”

  Pryvyd did not seem so keen on heading out to sea again.


  “Try to keep your food in your belly,” Odette said.

  “What food?” Pryvyd asked. “We’ve barely eaten in days.”

  “That might be a good thing after how green you turned on the Coal Fox.” Odette snickered with her typical morning-elf spunk.

  Kestrel was the first to climb in. All but Moshul followed, taking seats on the benches built into the boat. The moss golem pushed the craft down the beach into the water. To everyone’s delight, especially Pryvyd’s, the boat floated gently without a single leak. Moshul pulled himself aboard as Righteous raised the leaf sail.

  “If we head around to the north,” Pryvyd said, “we can circle the island and sail back to Panthasos.”

  “Or we could go west from here,” Kestrel replied.

  “What are you talking about?” Odette asked. “That’s the opposite direction of Panthasos.”

  “We could go to Drakesmith Island,” Kestrel said. “And find the Eversteel Forge.”

  “Nobody knows if it even exists,” Pryvyd replied, “let alone where on the island it is hidden.”

  “I’ve been collecting clues for years,” Kestrel said. “I am certain that once we explore the island we will be able to make sense of them. If we follow those stars to the west, we could reach Drakesmith by dawn.”

  “The reason we built the ship,” Pryvyd clarified, “was to go back and aid Lumina in defending the royal palace.”

  “I’ve seen the enchanted gearfolk,” Kestrel said. “Lumina and her ferrets won’t stand a chance against them. So unless you plan on trying to recruit Palojax again, you’re—or rather—we’re going to need another solution. I say we find the forge and build the new ubergearfolk I designed to fight against Stalag rather than for him.”

  “This wasn’t part of the deal,” Pryvyd said. He turned to Wily. “What do you think?”

  “We go back to Panthasos,” Wily said. “That’s not going to change.”

  “Suit yourself,” Kestrel said with more than a hint of disapproval.

  * * *

  HOURS OF THE boat rocking with each small wave made resisting taking a nap extremely challenging for the very weary Wily. Yet he knew it was far more important to keep his eyes trained on Kestrel. Wily tried to find small patches of shade to keep his skin from crisping, but besides Moshul’s towering body and the triangle of palm leaves attached to the mast, there were few places to hide from the sun’s blistering rays.

  As the sun set to the west, the temptation to sleep grew even more difficult to resist. He watched as Righteous gently glided the rudder, making small shifts in the boat’s direction. He could hear Roveeka snoring beside him. On his other side, Odette was running in her sleep, just the way a baby scorpion would try to sting imaginary prey while it was dozing.

  Plop. Wily heard a soft splash. He turned just in time to see Kestrel pull his hand away from the water. What was that about?

  “Did you just drop something into the water?” Wily asked, looking his father straight in the eye.

  “I have no idea what you are talking about,” Kestrel replied as Pryvyd peeked his eyes open.

  “Yes, you do,” Wily said. “Just now, I heard a—”

  CRAAACK. Everyone in the boat lurched forward as the boat made contact with something hard. Then came the sound of rushing water. Wily turned to the front of the boat. Between Roveeka and Pryvyd a sharp rock was jutting out through the cracked hull. Seawater was rapidly flooding the bottom of the vessel.

  “We’ve run aground!” Kestrel shouted.

  “You did something to cause it,” Wily screamed as he leaped to his feet.

  “Why would I damage a ship I was sitting in? That makes no sense.”

  “I’m sure you have a reason.”

  “You’re looking for reasons not to trust me,” Kestrel said. “How could I make a giant rock appear in the middle of the ocean?”

  “None of this arguing will stop the water from pouring in!” Pryvyd screamed as he began scooping seawater out of the boat with his hand.

  “Untie me,” Kestrel said. “Let me help.”

  “No!” Wily, Odette, and Pryvyd screamed in unison.

  “I don’t want to be stranded on a rock in the middle of the ocean,” Roveeka said. “We’ve already done it once and it wasn’t particularly fun.”

  Moshul was signing and pointing into the distance.

  “There’s an island over there,” Odette translated for Moshul.

  “Good spotting, Moshul,” Pryvyd said. “If we can push off the rock, we may be able to make it to shore. Give me some help over here.”

  Righteous, Odette, and the moss golem joined Pryvyd at the front of the boat. All four leaned over and started pushing with all their might. It seemed as if they were struggling.

  “Everyone get on the right side of the boat,” Odette shouted back to Wily, Roveeka, and Kestrel. “We might be able to shake it loose.”

  Wily slid over so he was pressed up against Roveeka. Kestrel did the same as they tried to tip the ship.

  “This is cozy,” Roveeka said, squished against the side of the boat. She looked into the water and brightened. “We’re moving!”

  Surprised, Wily peered over to see that Roveeka was dipping her fingers into the water. Sure enough, a trail of water followed the path of her fingers. The boat seemed to be moving.

  “We can’t be moving!” Pryvyd called back. “We’re still stuck on the rock.”

  Wily spun forward to see that Pryvyd was correct too.

  “That’s impossible,” Wily said. “Unless the rock is moving too.”

  “Or unless we’re not stuck to a rock,” Odette said.

  Moshul let a swarm of fireflies take flight from his palm. They swooped down and lit the small portion of ocean in front of the boat. Wily could now see that the spike that pierced the front of the boat was actually just one of many spikes attached to a giant shell three times larger than the boat. Wily looked to the front of the shell, where an elongated head with red eyes and a pointed nose stared back at him.

  “It’s a turtle dragon,” Odette said in a hushed scream. “The largest one I’ve ever seen.”

  “I told you I didn’t crash into it on purpose,” Kestrel whispered to Wily. “How could I have known where a turtle dragon would be?”

  “You lured it using some kind of bait,” Wily said. “That’s what you were dropping in the ocean.”

  Kestrel gave Wily a withering stare. “How would that help me? Remember, I’m in the same boat as you.”

  “Save the arguing for later!” Pryvyd called back to the father and son.

  The turtle dragon lifted its mouth to the sky and let out an angry croak that shook the air. It turned its neck so it could bite at the unwelcome visitors. Fortunately, unable to reach the boat at the very back of its shell, the dragon let out another loud grunt.

  “I’m sorry to be pointing out the obvious,” Odette said, panic rising in her voice, “but if the turtle dragon decides to dive and the boat is still stuck on its spikes, we’re all going to drown.”

  Before there was a time to come up with a plan, Moshul leaped off the boat and onto the shell of the turtle dragon. This seemed to both confuse and surprise the creature, which started snapping at Moshul. The moss golem punched the turtle in the nose, stunning it for a moment. There was little time. Moshul turned back to the boat and used his massive strength to lift it off the spike. With a heaving toss, he threw the boat back into the water, setting it on a course for the island in the distance. The turtle dragon snapped at Moshul again, biting a clump of mud from his shoulder. Moshul then took a running dive off the turtle dragon’s shell. With a huge splash, the golem went underwater and surfaced right behind the boat.

  Wily watched as the turtle dragon gave a puzzled look before paddling off toward deeper waters, seemingly happy to be rid of the pesky land dwellers. Moshul wrapped his hands over the back edge of the boat and began kicking it toward the island.

  “Keep kicking,” Roveeka said to
Moshul with an encouraging smile.

  Odette eyed the hole in the boat, which was taking on water even faster now that it wasn’t partially plugged by the turtle dragon’s spike.

  “And kick fast!”

  12

  PAINFUL BITES

  The group dragged the leaky boat up onto the sandy beach of the island they had made landfall on. Even in the dark of night, Wily could see that this island was quite different from the one they had previously been stranded on. The beach was made of black sand dotted with amethyst boulders. There were no trees (screaming or otherwise) to be seen, only tall grass that was higher than Wily’s head. Even the small crabs that scurried across the sand looked nothing like the ones that had tried to make a home in Wily’s locks. The small crustaceans each had one giant claw and one that was tiny. The island smelled different too. The scent of sweet fruit mixed with dried kelp sat heavy in the air.

  “This doesn’t look promising,” Kestrel said, examining the damage to the boat.

  “We have plenty of extra sealing wax,” Odette said, holding up a shell full of the sticky substance.

  “But we will need new planks to patch this up,” Kestrel pointed out, “and I don’t see any trees to get wood from.”

  Wily looked back at the island and realized he was right.

  “Maybe there’s some on the far side of the island,” Roveeka said hopefully.

  “We’ll be able to see better when the sun comes up in a few hours,” Kestrel said.

  He took a seat in the sand, pressed his back up against the wooden hull of the boat, and closed his eyes. The rest of the group found spots to rest as well. Wily was certainly not going to sleep at all. He had already caught his father doing strange things while others were sleeping. He couldn’t let him get away with doing anything else. But despite watching Kestrel until the break of dawn, or perhaps because of it, his father didn’t do anything else suspicious.