by Lisa McMann
“Beyond Aaron, stationed on the top of the hill at the west point, is Liam and his team. Rounding the island in the northwest curve is Gunnar Haluki and his team.”
“That’s it? No one on the north side?” asked Florence.
“No—I didn’t see a need.”
“And where are Sean and Carina?”
“They’re on the ship with Ms. Octavia, Ahab, Fox, and a team of twenty or so,” said Alex. “I’ve instructed them to stay closer inland than where I expect the ships to anchor. I want our ship to act as a barrier to the mansion. They’ll attack anyone coming in straight on, or force the enemy to go around them.
“And Claire—is that her in the white boat roaming in the shallow water?” asked Florence.
“Yes, with a team of six, plus Charlie. She’s covering the shoreline and will help out wherever needed.”
“Good idea to have a mobile team,” Florence said. “What about the Warbler children—are they fighting against their own people?”
“Many of them are,” said Alex. “I’ve split them up evenly, just a few in each group so their teams can help protect them in case the attackers come ashore and try to capture them.”
Florence nodded thoughtfully as she looked over the chart. “Hmm,” she said. “Not bad work for a kid. You don’t even need old Florence anymore.”
Alex grinned. “Oh, yes we do. I’m extremely glad you’re back,” he said. “I did my best with the assignments, but if you want to change strategies, please do. You’re the expert.”
“You put a lot of thought into it,” said Florence, growing serious, “and you did well. This is very close to what I would have done, except for one thing.”
“What?” asked Alex.
“Well, from the looks of the line of ships as they draw closer around the island, and from the directions the outermost ships are heading in, I don’t think they’ll only stick to the south and west sides of our island.”
“You don’t?” asked Alex.
“No. Look how a few ships are fanning out as if they plan to continue past our island. I think they’ll land on the north side, too. Once they reach the shore, it’s not that far overland to reach the mansion.”
“So we’ll be surrrounded,” said Simber. He began to pace.
“Time will tell,” said Florence, looking at Alex’s chart. “But I’m going to rearrange things a little to cover our vulnerable spots.” She looked up. “And that means I need some more team leaders. Let’s pull Carina off the ship and Sky and Kaylee off the mansion and have them take teams to the north side of the island.”
“Whatever you think is best,” said Alex.
Sky, standing nearby guarding the door, overheard. “But I’m not magical,” she reminded Florence.
“You don’t need to be magical to stop pirates,” said Florence. “You thought about that, right, Alex? Pirates fight with swords and knives—close-range weapons. So even our best mages should be armed with some type of weapon.”
Alex froze, then glanced at Simber. “Crud. We didn’t think about that,” he said. “I’m sorry.”
Florence barked an order to three squirrelicorns on the roof to go into the mansion and find whatever swords they had and deliver them to Samheed’s and Lani’s teams, since they were the shortest on nonmagical weapons.
Then Florence turned back to Sky, who still appeared uncertain about being a team leader. “Okay, look. You fought off saber-toothed gorillas, didn’t you?”
“Well, yes,” said Sky.
“These attackers are much smaller,” said Florence. “And they won’t try to eat you. So this will be easy for you, especially with that sword you wield so well. I wish we had more close-range weapons for this enemy, but we can only make do with what we have. I’ll be sure you have spell casters on your team as well. I think you’ll make an excellent leader, because you’re smart and you think well on your feet. Sound okay?”
Sky nodded. “I guess you’ve convinced me.”
“Good.” Florence went to get Kaylee, and Simber flew off to collect Carina, and by the time he was back, Florence had the three new teams identified. She instructed the squirrelicorns to fly out to each of the other teams and send a few members to one of three locations on the north side of the island. “Their team leaders will meet them there,” she told them. The squirrelicorns were off.
With another glance at the ships, it appeared certain that the enemy was going exactly where Florence said they would. “They’ll avoid the east side of the island because of the jungle,” Florence said wisely to Carina, Kaylee, and Sky, “so we don’t have to worry about that.” She showed them the chart and the map, pointing out where she wanted each of them to go.
By now Alex was even more relieved that Florence had returned. He watched the planning over Sky’s shoulder.
“The north side of the island is rocky, and there are only a few places to come ashore. I want the three of you to stay within sight of each other,” Florence said. “Once the attackers make their move you’ll be able to tell if you need to spread out to cover a wide area or concentrate in one place. Send a squirrelicorn to find me if you run into trouble.”
“Why don’t you think they’ll land on the jungle side?” asked Alex.
“Too easy to get lost,” said Florence, “and too thick to run through. They wouldn’t be able to get here very handily. And even if they did, why—let them! It’s a lot easier to fight them once they break through to the lawn than trying to throw spell components through brush and trees. I doubt they’ll land there—pirates are seasoned fighters. They’ll know better.”
“But what about the mansion?” asked Kaylee. “Who’s going to keep the people inside safe?”
Florence frowned. “Simber and I and the teams here will have to take care of it.” She looked up. “Siggy?”
Mr. Appleblossom poked his head over the side of the mansion roof.
“If you see pirates getting past us and breaking in,” said Florence, “strike them down.”
Mr. Appleblossom nodded and went back to his observation area.
“Any more questions?” asked Florence.
Carina, Kaylee, and Sky said no, so Florence sent them and a few members of Alex’s, Simber’s, and Mr. Appleblossom’s teams north. Sky glanced over her shoulder at Alex as she set out with the others toward Quill.
Alex held her gaze. He couldn’t bear to think of this as their last moment together, but with the dire situation at hand, the thought wouldn’t leave him. He wanted to run after her. He wanted to kiss her and tell her to be careful and tell her to come back to him and a hundred other things. But there was no time to waste. He lifted his hand, willing her to promise him all the unspoken things.
She smiled as if she understood and lifted her hand in return. Then she faced forward and didn’t look back again.
With the new teams organized and on their way across the island to the north side, there was nothing to do but wait to see what would happen.
Alex returned to the shore, looking at the huge ships looming closer. Each one must be able to hold hundreds of people. And each of Alex’s teams numbered fewer than fifty. He began to doubt again. Was it wrong to even attempt to fight? His people barely stood a chance against such force. The casualties would be immense. With an anxious heart, Alex went back to Simber’s side and lay a hand on his neck. “Simber,” he said, “I want to talk to them and see what they want. I have to try and stop this.”
“Pirrrates don’t comprrromise,” Simber said.
Alex stood firm. “Please. I need to.”
Simber regarded Alex for a long moment, and then wearily he nodded, knowing the mage wouldn’t be satisfied until he had at least tried. “Let’s fly out therrre, then.”
Alex nodded. He let Florence know what he was about to do, and she agreed it couldn’t hurt, though she, too, doubted anything could come of it.
The head mage of Artimé climbed onto Simber’s back. Simber bounded along the shore and leaped into the air,
flapping his mighty wings. They flew high over the ships, Simber using his keen sight to search for signs of Queen Eagala on the vessels.
They found her on a pirate ship straight out from the mansion, standing with a male pirate on deck.
Simber lowered himself slowly over the ship. Alex leaned to one side and looked down at them. “Queen Eagala!” he called out. “Will you speak with me?”
Queen Eagala rose to her full height, reminding Alex so much of Eagala’s sister, the late high priest Justine. “Captain Baldhead and I warn you that there is no stopping this without full reparations for the wrongs you have done to our islands,” she replied.
“What is it that you want?” asked Alex.
“The Island of Warbler demands the return of all Warblerans.”
“Including the ones you so foolishly catapulted onto our shores?” asked Alex. “I thought they were a gift.”
Eagala’s face burned with rage. The golden Warbler pin on her garment flashed as it caught the sunlight. “Every last one of our children and our escapees, plus the two intruders, Lani and Samheed, whom you kidnapped.”
Alex held his voice steady. “And the pirates? What do they want?”
The pirate captain growled in a deep voice, “We want our underwater glass cage fully repaired and all the sea creatures returned to us, plus ten million pieces of gold for the two eels you murdered.”
Alex almost laughed at the impossible demands. There was no way Alex would send anyone back to live under the rule of the evil queen, and there was no way Alex would give the pirates the sea creatures that had been free and lived peacefully on the Island of Legends. As for gold, he didn’t have a single piece to offer, much less ten million of them. “Anything else while you’ve got me here?” he asked sarcastically.
The pirate continued. “We want the hurricane restored to the Island of Shipwrecks, or we’ll have to take control of it and find a new home for your little friends on the Island of Graves.”
Alex’s heart dropped at the threat of harming the scientists, and then his temper flared. “What else?” he barked at them through gritted teeth.
Queen Eagala snarled. “We want you.”
“That’s right,” said the pirate captain, pulling a sword from his belt and brandishing it. “We want you. Dead.” He turned to look over his shoulder. “First Mate Twitch, prepare the fleet.”
The young man named Twitch pulled on a rope, which raised a black flag high in the air.
“What do you say, child?” asked Queen Eagala, her voice mocking.
“I don’t agree to any of your demands,” said Alex. “And you’ll regret all of your decisions by the end of the day.” Alex pressed his fingers hard against Simber’s neck. “Simber,” he said, pulling heart attack spells from his robe. “Attack!”
The Return of the Catapults
Captain Baldhead signaled the first mate, and suddenly the air was filled with the thwapping echo of catapults releasing all around the perimeter of the island.
“Heart attack!” Alex cried amid the din, pulling back his arm to fling a handful of spell components at the captain and Eagala. But just as he released the components, an orange flaming ball of tar came flying at them from close range, hitting Simber in the right flank, knocking the cheetah sideways in the air, and throwing Alex off balance. His legs jarred loose from Simber’s sides, and Alex slipped off the statue’s back and crashed to Eagala’s ship below. One of his heart attack spells hit a random pirate, dropping her, and the others went flying into the sea.
Alex lay on the deck for a moment, stunned, as Eagala barked out orders and silent Warbler men and women rushed over to capture him. But Simber dove down, plowing into the people and scattering them far and wide. He snatched Alex up in his jaws, with one orange-eyed woman grabbing on to Simber’s open mouth and hanging by her fingertips as Simber soared out of reach. They rose higher and higher.
Alex lifted his head and looked over the edge of Simber’s mouth. The woman’s eyes were wide and frightened. Alex stared at her for a long moment, knowing she’d drown if she fell into the water, and then he grabbed her wrists and hung on as Simber carried them the short distance to land.
Facing the island, Alex discovered several tiny plumes of smoke rising from various places. From the front of the mansion, Florence was shouting out orders.
Simber landed, setting the woman down a bit roughly. Alex climbed shakily out of the cheetah’s mouth as Florence grabbed the Warbler woman by the shirt and pulled her to her feet.
“That went well,” Alex muttered to Florence.
“Clearly,” said Florence. The Warbler woman began signing furiously, and Alex watched her, trying to understand what she was saying. “Stay . . . ,” he interpreted. “Fight. You want to fight with us?”
The woman nodded profusely. She signed a bit more slowly.
Alex watched carefully, and then he looked at Florence. “She has a child here. She says she wants to fight and become an Artiméan. What should we do?”
Another round of thwaps punched the air.
“Look out, Siggy!” yelled Florence as a flaming ball of tar blasted through the mansion roof, just missing the theater instructor, and disappeared inside. Matilda dashed into the mansion to put out the fire it left in the upstairs girls’ hallway.
Florence eyed the woman. “Who is your child?”
The woman spelled out a name.
“It’s Scarlet,” said Alex. “The blond girl. You know her?”
Florence nodded. “She’s one of the best young warriors I have. Does she get that from you?”
The woman nodded profusely.
Florence thought for a second as the giant catapult arms wound back a third time. “Okay, fine. We can use all the help we can get. Scarlet is on Lani’s team. Just follow the shore that way to the next team beyond Simber’s.” She looked up and called a squirrelicorn down to accompany the woman. “Make sure she doesn’t try anything.”
The woman’s face was filled with gratitude.
“She won’t try anything,” Alex said as the woman left.
“I’m pretty sure you’re right,” said Florence. “Look out—incoming!”
Alex ducked, then jumped on Simber’s back. “Come on, Sim,” said Alex. “We need to figure out what’s happening. Fly low to the water to stay out of the flaming fireballs. Are you okay, by the way? You got hit pretty hard.”
“I’m fine,” said Simber. “The orrrange flames arrren’t hot enough to hurrrt me.” Simber took off, and Alex instructed him to fly to their ship, where Captain Ahab was maneuvering it to a safe spot under the arches of the flaming tar balls, but also keeping it within spell-casting distance of one of the enemy ships.
“Fire at will!” shouted Sean, and he sent a handful of Lani’s newest creation, smoke bomb spells, into the neighboring ship. Next he grabbed a bunch of heart attack spells and sent them soaring. Ms. Octavia and the other spell casters on board the ship and Alex, from Simber’s back, did the same with the heart attack spells, and together they took down five pirates. Fox cowered on deck near Captain Ahab.
“Thanks for the help, Al,” said Sean. “We’re doing well here. Under control so far, anyway.” He reloaded.
“Hopefully they don’t all come after you,” said Alex.
“Something tells me they don’t really need to take over our patched-up ship,” said Sean. “They’ve got bigger goals in mind. I think we’re safe. We’ll just annoy the heck out of them as much as we can.”
“That’s the plan, then,” said Alex. He looked at Fox. “Are you ready to do your special job for me, Fox?” he asked.
Fox lifted his head. “Is it time?” he asked.
“Absolutely. Go on anytime,” said Alex. “It’s that one, right next door.” He pointed out the lead pirate ship, where Queen Eagala and Captain Baldhead were stationed.
Fox got up and shook himself, then tripped across the deck, hopped onto the railing, and fearlessly jumped over the side and into the water. He
swam for the neighboring ship.
“Where did you send him?” asked Ms. Octavia.
“To eavesdrop on Eagala.”
“Good idea.” Ms. Octavia flung six tentacles full of heart attack spells at the neighboring ship, shouting “Heart attack!”
It was hard to tell with the smoke how many she took down.
Alex and Simber left the ship team to continue their attack, and flew to the white boat. Simber hovered over it while Alex checked in with Claire.
“I’m heading around the island to see where all the ships ended up,” Claire said. “I saw you fall and hit the deck—are you hurt?”
“Just a little shaken up. I’m fine now. We’re going to drop by all the teams and see what sort of damage these flaming tar balls are doing.”
“At least Quill isn’t made of desert-dry timber anymore,” said Claire. “We don’t need another fire.”
“Agreed,” said Alex. “The weather barrier is in place over the entire island now, but that can’t stop the tar balls from getting through. It’s definitely a concern.”
A thwapping sound echoed around the island and everyone instinctively looked up and then ducked as flaming tar balls soared overhead and pelted Artimé and Quill. “Let me know if you need anything!” Alex shouted to Claire as he and Simber continued around the island to check on others.
“I will,” replied Claire. She guided the boat and hit the throttle, speeding over the waves.
Simber flew to Lani’s team next and found them stomping out a fire in the tree-lined area where the Quillitary yard once stood. “Get us some buckets, will you?” called Lani. “Then we can fill them from the sea and be ready for the next round of attacks.”
“Great idea,” Alex said. He directed Lani’s squirrelicorns to follow him and Simber back to the mansion, where Mr. Appleblossom was anxiously trying to put out a fire from another flaming tar ball that had hit the roof. One of the main-floor mansion windows was smashed, and a tar ball smoked in the entryway.
Alex hurried to douse it with water from the kitchen and found a couple of chefs putting out another fire in the dining room. He grabbed as many buckets as he could stack and carry, and brought them outside, giving three to each squirrelicorn to take back to Lani, and then commissioning his own team’s squirrelicorns to take two each and fill them with water to help Mr. Appleblossom put the roof fires out.