“I’m sorry to disappoint you.”
Anne was at a complete loss. She had been certain that Octo-Horse Pirate was really Oswald Grey. Hadn’t he used his blood to activate the castle along with hers? Didn’t he know all about her dreams and the creation of the world? What did this mean? Had it been some sort of trick on the part of Greystone all along?
She was finally able to gather her thoughts. “We need to stop this castle.”
“It’s restoring the world to its original form,” said Greystone. “Surely you don’t object to that.”
“If you let it bring down the barrier, the corruption will spread and infect everything. I can’t imagine even you would want that to happen.”
His expression became deadly serious. “On the contrary, that’s exactly what I want to happen.”
Anne couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “But why?”
“I have my reasons.”
Anne clenched her jaw. “I’m not going to let you do this.”
“But you already have. The wheels are in motion. All I have to do is wait here until the castle reaches its destination—which, incidentally, should be in just a few minutes. I think it’s safe to say I’ve won this time.”
“Don’t be so sure,” said Anne. “Your doppelganger army is nearly defeated, and I have another medallion. And any minute now the rest of my group is going to come running in here, and then we’ll see who wins.”
“Ah, yes, the master medallion,” said Greystone. “Thank you for reminding me.” He turned to the crow. “Neeva, a little assistance, if you please.”
The crow launched from his shoulder and dove straight at Anne. She tried to duck, but Neeva latched on to her gauntlet. Before Anne realized what was happening, the crow had ripped the black medallion out of its slot and flown back to Greystone.
Neeva landed on Greystone’s shoulder and dropped the black medallion into his hand.
Greystone shook his head. “Tsk, tsk. Some people never learn.”
“Give that back!” said Anne.
“A bit of trivia: Genuine quest medallions are nearly indestructible, which makes sense, given what they have to endure. Unfortunately, in order to remain adaptable, that’s the one quality a master medallion cannot duplicate.”
Greystone squeezed his gauntlet-hand into a fist.
“No!” yelled Anne.
When Greystone opened the gauntlet again, all that remained was a pile of black powder. He turned his palm over and let the particles scatter.
Brushing the dust from his hands, he looked back to Anne. “Now we’re back to just the one.”
Anne stretched out her gauntlet-hand. “Transfer gold medallion!”
Nothing happened.
Greystone chuckled. “Nice try. Our gauntlets might be twins, but mine has received a few upgrades. I’m afraid that little trick isn’t going to work.”
Anne couldn’t stop the castle without a medallion, and time was almost up. She needed to gain possession of the gold medallion quickly. Too bad it wouldn’t simply decide to fly to her gauntlet on its own as in the first two quests. But maybe that was it! A wild plan formed in her head. It was risky, but the time for caution was long past. Her gauntlet might not be powerful enough to beat Greystone’s, but perhaps the medallion itself was.
“I challenge you to a duel for leadership of the pirates,” said Anne in a clear, strong voice, hoping she sounded convincing. She had no hope of defeating Greystone with a sword, but if her plan worked she wouldn’t actually have to fight.
Greystone chuckled. “Sorry, but I’m afraid that only works if you’re a pirate under my command.”
Anne pulled her pirate token from her pocket and held it up for him to see. “But I am one. Marri had Penelope, Hiro, and me sign the contracts yesterday morning back at Saint Lupin’s. We were officially part of her crew, but then she surrendered her ship to you yesterday. Technically, that makes you its captain.”
Greystone stared at the pirate token. “And what exactly do you think winning a duel will gain you?”
“I’ll be the leader. Then you’ll have to follow my orders.”
Greystone laughed. He obviously thought the idea of a duel was ridiculous, which was exactly what Anne was hoping for.
“Well?” she pressed.
He shook his head. “I’m not dueling with you.”
Anne did her best to mask her excitement. “Does that mean you forfeit?”
“Call it whatever you want, I’m not—”
Greystone paused as realization dawned on him. He shook a finger at her. “Nice try.”
Anne swallowed. “What do you mean?”
“Pirate law. If I refuse to duel, I forfeit all my possessions to you, including the medallion.”
“What would it matter?” said Anne. “It’s not like I could force you to give it to me.”
He patted his gauntlet. “True, but these medallions of yours seem to have a mind of their own. Was that your plan? Hope I would forfeit and then the medallion might jump back to its new owner?”
“It might not,” said Anne.
“That’s not a risk I can afford to take,” he said, clearly annoyed. “You’ve given me no choice, but let’s make this brief, shall we? I have more important matters to attend to.” Greystone raised his gauntlet-hand. “As the person challenged, I get to choose the weapons. And I choose gauntlets.”
The plan had backfired. Not only had Anne lost the opportunity for the medallion to return on its own, but if she lost to Greystone, he would win all her possessions, including her gauntlet.
She raised her gauntlet-hand and did her best to keep it from trembling. “Activate Three-Handed Sword of the Guardian.”
The Three-Handed Sword appeared above her gauntlet, and she grabbed it out of the air. As always, despite its immense size, she had no trouble wielding it. She didn’t know any fancy flourishes as Penelope did, but she hoped the sheer size of it might give her an edge. Unfortunately, Greystone didn’t seem overly surprised or concerned by the appearance of the sword. If anything, she got the sense he’d been expecting it. After a moment’s pause, he held out his own gauntlet-hand.
“Activate Three-Handed Sword of the Guardian,” he said.
Another Three-Handed Sword appeared in the air above his gauntlet, the exact twin of the one Anne was holding, complete with a dragon stone in its cross guard. Greystone reached up and grasped the hilt.
Anne’s jaw fell open. “Where did you get that?”
Greystone grinned. “This gauntlet is the twin of yours, remember? In fact, it’s more like its successor. Everything yours can do, mine can do better, and it even has a few extra features yours doesn’t. Also, if we’re going to play pirates—”
He spun in a blur once again and transformed back into Octo-Horse Pirate.
“—then I should probably dress the part.”
Lord Greystone was formidable enough in his human form. In his Octo-Horse Pirate form, in his armored power suit, he was well over seven feet tall. The metal was smooth and polished, and the dragon stone in the center of his chest plate shone brightly. His tentacles swished and slithered on the floor. He spun his sword around in a few arcs, leaving no doubt as to his own sword-fighting abilities.
The rift loomed large in the windows. The castle had almost arrived at its destination, and the entire tier shook as the storm intensified. Anne’s thoughts flitted briefly to the battle below, and she wondered how it was going. Were her friends winning? If she lost here, then it wouldn’t matter. She couldn’t let them down, and she gripped the hilt of her sword and took several steadying breaths.
Greystone advanced on her, and Neeva took to the air, still in crow form. For some reason, he hadn’t changed back into a parrot this time.
“What’s the matter?” said Greystone. “Change your mind? Bitten off more than you can chew? Well, I warned you numerous times that you had no idea what you were getting yourself into and that sooner or later your antics would get you killed.
It appears now is that time.”
Anne looked over to the ramp, but it was sealed. She couldn’t get out, but worse, it meant no one could get in to help her.
“It’s just the two of us, I’m afraid,” said Greystone.
He charged at her and swung his sword.
Anne ducked and rolled under the sweeping blade. The sword cut a wide gash into the wall exactly where her head would have been. Leaping to her feet, Anne aimed a swing at his torso, but Neeva came swooping in. Anne was forced to abandon her attack and dodged the crow’s talons instead. She shuffled sideways and moved toward the center of the room. Anne was no sword fighter at the best of times, and she definitely hadn’t anticipated having to deal with two opponents.
Greystone laughed. “Run all you want! You’re only wasting your own time.”
He charged at her a second time and swung wildly. Anne dodged again, even managing to deflect his blade slightly with her own. But Neeva dove at her and yet again cut off any possibility of a counterattack. She retreated behind the computer terminal, but Greystone’s tentacles carried him up and over the black column without breaking stride. Neeva circled above, ready to strike at any moment.
Anne kept moving back until she reached the outer wall and found herself pressed directly against one of the windows. Greystone towered over her, his sword raised above his head, poised to strike.
“Well, shiver me timbers, it looks like you lose,” he said.
Anne formulated a quick plan, but the timing would have to be perfect. She held her sword in front, as though bracing for the blow. Just as Greystone swung, however, she ducked low and rolled in the other direction. Greystone’s blade struck the window, and it exploded in a shower of glass. The shards flew in all directions, and a great gust of wind from the storm sent him stumbling back.
As soon as Anne was back on her feet, she raised her gauntlet-hand. “Activate GPS!”
Jeffery appeared in a burst of light. He was still a bit faded, but at least he was there.
Anne nearly collapsed with relief.
“You’re cutting it close, you know,” said Jeffery. “Although I do like a dramatic entrance.”
As if to emphasize the point, a bolt of lightning lit up the sky.
“Well, now that you’re here, I could use some help dealing with that crow,” Anne yelled over the crash of thunder.
Jeffery stared at Neeva circling above them. “I’ll handle him. But two things first. One, I need to transfer the Construct to a computer terminal now or we’re going to lose her.”
Anne pointed to the terminal in the middle of the room. “Can you use that one?”
Jeffery nodded.
An arc of energy shot out from the gauntlet and connected with the terminal. The Construct appeared next to it on the floor. She was almost completely transparent and lay unmoving. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything they could do to help her right at that moment.
“And the other thing?” asked Anne, fully aware that Greystone had recovered.
“I brought you a present. Hold it in your gauntlet-hand and activate it.” He opened his claw and a small object dropped into Anne’s hand. It was one of the glass cubes the wizards had used to control the iron knights.
With that, Jeffery shot straight into the air. Neeva banked away and flew to the other end of the room, and Jeffery gave chase. They swooped and rolled and dove with such speed that they looked like two blurs, one black and one rainbow colored, ricocheting around the room.
Greystone was advancing on her once again.
What exactly had Jeffery meant by “activate it”? Anne could only think of one thing.
“Activate iron knight,” she said.
Her feet were lifted from the floor as a holographic iron knight formed around her. She took control and swept up the Three-Handed Sword using the hand of the knight.
She turned to face Greystone.
“I believe we have a duel to finish,” she said.
Anne launched the iron knight at him in a full charge. He barely raised his own sword in time. The blades came together in an explosion of sparks. Anne twirled and immediately attacked again from a different angle. Greystone’s tentacles twisted him around to meet her. They crossed swords again in a quick series of blows, sending out arcs of energy.
Greystone launched a counterattack. Anne retreated several steps and ducked an especially vicious blow, but then she launched another attack of her own. She put the weight of the iron knight into her blows, and she soon had the upper hand again.
After several more exchanges, Greystone leapt back, clearly winded, but Anne wasn’t going to give him time to catch his breath. She continued forward, swinging left and right in great sweeping arcs. Greystone managed to parry the blows, but his movements had slowed considerably. He stumbled into the computer terminal and nearly fell over, dropping his guard. Anne pressed her advantage. She crashed her sword into his armor again and again.
Finally, she kicked out with the iron knight and caught Greystone in the chest. He went crashing to the floor and his sword disappeared. The light from his dragon stone flickered. The blow had cracked it down the middle. As he struggled to regain his feet, Anne knew what she had to do. She raised her sword over her head.
“This is for everything,” she said.
And she swung.
The blade struck the dragon stone dead center, and there was a blinding eruption of light as the stone shattered into a million pieces. Greystone collapsed in a heap and lay unmoving. With the dragon stone destroyed, his armor was without power.
Anne didn’t waste any time. She knelt beside him and slid the gauntlet from his hand. As soon as it was free, it transformed in front of her eyes, becoming smooth and metallic. She recognized it immediately: It was the Matron’s metal hand! Greystone’s suit must have disguised its true form as well.
She bent to remove the gold medallion, but before she touched it, a black streak swooped out of the air and snatched the medallion out of the metal arm.
It was Neeva.
“Hey!” shouted Anne.
The crow soared back into the air and hovered near the ceiling.
“Who are you?” asked Anne.
Jeffery landed on her gauntlet. “He’s the GPS from the other gauntlet.”
“That’s GPC, thank you very much,” said Neeva. “General Pathfinder Crow. Much superior to those ridiculous sparrows.”
Anne gasped. “You can talk?”
“Of course I can talk!” said Neeva, sounding offended.
“I’ll show you who’s superior,” said Jeffery, and he launched himself at the crow.
Twin beams of light shot from Neeva’s eyes and slammed into Jeffery. He dropped like a stone and crashed to the floor. Anne rushed over. His feathers were ruffled, their edges singed.
“Are you okay?” asked Anne.
“Never better,” he croaked. “But I think I’m going to need an upgrade.”
Jeffery hopped onto Anne’s gauntlet and plucked the glass control cube from her gauntlet-hand. “I just need to borrow this for a minute.”
He flew into the air.
“Activate iron knight!” he yelled, and the holographic iron knight formed around him.
“Ha-ha! Now that’s more like it!” Jeffery exclaimed. “This upgrade is the best thing ever!”
Neeva took off again, bobbing and weaving all over the room. Despite the acrobatics, however, Jeffery managed to stay with him. The iron knight jumped and lunged and even cartwheeled. The knight’s sword was a constant blur, cutting off Neeva’s every path of escape, especially keeping him away from the broken window. Finally, the sword caught the crow broadside and sent him spinning into the wall. The gold medallion fell from his talons and clattered across the floor.
“Score one for the good guys!” said Jeffery.
His iron knight picked up the medallion. He started toward Anne, but a whistle brought him up short. Neeva was perched atop the metal arm.
“Remember Greystone�
��s warning,” he said. “‘Anything yours can do, mine can do better.’ Activate iron knight!”
A holographic knight formed around the crow. It was bigger and more heavily armored then Jeffery’s. Neeva charged at him. Jeffery tried to block him, but his iron knight was much too slow. The larger iron knight barreled into his and knocked it to the ground. Then it straddled Jeffery’s knight and rained blows down upon it, smashing through the armor and tearing it to pieces. With a final blow, Jeffery’s iron knight exploded in a blast of light.
Jeffery lay on the floor, unmoving. Anne watched in horror as Neeva’s knight lifted its foot and brought it down heavily on the tiny sparrow: once, twice, thrice.
“Stop it!” screamed Anne.
Anne tried to reach Jeffery, but Neeva’s iron knight stood in her way. It towered over her with its sword raised above its head.
She looked up.
“Just so you know,” said Neeva, “this is completely personal.”
But it didn’t swing at her. Instead, the iron knight turned and swung at something on the floor. The gold medallion. There was nothing Anne could do. The sword struck the medallion dead center.
And the medallion exploded.
This time for real.
Anne was unsure how much time had passed. When she finally uncurled her aching body, she discovered that she had been thrown back several yards. Her head was throbbing, and her eyes were playing tricks on her. In the distance, the blurry outline of a bird seemed to transform itself into the blurry outline of a man. She blinked several times, but when she looked again the outline was gone.
Both Greystone and the Construct were still unmoving.
As Anne sat up, her arm brushed against something on the floor. It was the other gauntlet, the Matron’s metal hand. Its surface had been singed from the explosion, but it seemed otherwise undamaged. She looked down at her own gauntlet then. It too had been hit by the explosion, but it hadn’t fared nearly as well. Many of the metal strips had been torn clean off, and there was a gaping tear along the seam of the leather glove. The inset on the cuff was dangling from a single wire.
Jeffery still lay unmoving on the floor. Anne crawled over and scooped him up in her hands. His body hung lifeless. She lightly stroked his feathers, but there was no response. Then, slowly, in a rainbow of glittering color, he crumbled to dust and sifted through her fingers.
The Adventurer's Guide to Treasure (and How to Steal It) Page 22
