“I’m not sure,” Healer answered. “I need the chance to bargain with Karkus to make sure we can kill whatever is attacking Fleece City.”
Boxer frowned. “You’re not wrong. He probably won’t listen to me anyway, but I’d rather make the attempt.”
“Alright, fine. But if that fails, I’m going to fight him like we planned. Ledger and the other students will keep everyone else from interfering.”
Boxer shook his head. “No. It’ll be me. I’ll challenge Pincher to a duel. The dogs were already calling for new leadership. He won’t have a choice. Listen, if I win, the guards will obey me instead of him. And I can win. He hasn’t fought me in a long time. He’s gotten complacent over the years. If I turn up the heat, I can beat him.”
“And if you lose?”
“Then your job is to run away and regroup with Ledger because it’s going to get ugly. Just stay close to me now, and let me do the talking.”
They drew close to the group of dogs. Many canine heads snapped around to see them. Boxer counted quickly. There must have been around thirty of them.
“General Pincher!” Boxer howled into the sky. The mass of dogs parted out of reflexive deference to Boxer, revealing their leader. Pincher stood on a raised wooden platform, flanked by two hideous bodyguards Boxer had never seen before.
Pincher eyed Boxer from five feet up. “Ah, my seditious ex-first officer. What brings you out so late at night?”
“That’s enough, Pincher. We know what you’re doing here.” The hair on Boxer’s back stood on end. “Open up all the gates and let these sheep out. Who knows how many are dying in there?”
“See, men? This is what happens when you get too attached to sheep and birds.” Pincher snickered and pointed. “You end up like him.” All the assembled dogs were laughing at Boxer now, but he was not fazed.
“I heard you were the one who was helped out by a sheep, Pincher,” Boxer replied. “Something about a broken back? How you wouldn’t be walking if a sheep hadn’t shown you a little kindness?”
Pincher’s eye twitched. The laughter died down.
“I’m not bringing that up to ridicule you, General. I’m only hoping you’ll see reason. Show these sheep a bit of mercy in return, why don’t you?”
The old wolf shook his head. “We’ll follow protocol is what we’ll do.”
Boxer sighed. “I didn’t want to do this. We were friends once. But if you won’t let them go, I have no choice but to issue a challenge.”
A tremor of excitement and intrigue ran through the assembled dogs. All eyes turned to Pincher. Some of the dogs began to move in Boxer’s direction.
The general waggled a paw. “Calm down, everyone. He wants to do this honorably, so be it. Here’s the problem for you, Boxer. There’s been an addition to the ranks.”
The two bodyguards stepped around Pincher and into full view. They were the size and coloration of Saint Bernards, but they were horrifically twisted. They roared through squashed, fanged snouts and staggered on misshapen legs.
“Personal clone gifts from Chugg himself after the imprisonment of my prized first officer,” Pincher said, “by way of Chugg Cybernetics. Pigs and dogs blended into killer beasts.”
“What’s attacking Fleece City?” Healer called out from beside Boxer. “Is it the Hogdogger?”
Pincher grinned. “I shouldn’t say, but I just can’t resist. I’m just too proud of it. A sprinkle of Mr. Chugg, a heaping scoop of your naïve friend Mauler, and a dash of yours truly.”
“How is it operating? Whose brain did they put in it?”
“That’s all I’m going to say to you. Now, these bodyguards of mine have not yet been tested, so it looks like it falls to you to take care of that for me. If you can get past them, I’ll be happy to fight Boxer one-on-one. But these odds are looking a little bit steep for you—” Pincher’s eyes went wide. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.”
Boxer realized that a third person had joined him and Healer.
Chapter 83
“I’m disappointed, Shiver,” Pincher called out. “You fought so valiantly under my command in the Great War. Now you betray me.”
“You betrayed my people first,” Shiver growled.
Undeterred, the two bodyguards jumped down off the platform and squared up with the three challengers.
“Keep them occupied,” Boxer said under his breath. “I can beat him.”
Healer and Shiver surged ahead of him, horns lowered to attack the two grotesque guards. As they grappled with the clones, Boxer slipped between them and leapt onto the wooden platform, where Pincher met and countered his attack. The spectating dogs raised an uproar and forgot all about their assigned duties. As they exited the city, the sheep began to gather with the dogs around the fight to see what was going on.
The two top dogs circled each other, just within reach. They traded probing jabs of their paws and snaps of teeth. Boxer leaned out a little too far, left his head hanging out there a little too long, and Pincher stepped in to punish him.
Having successfully baited the general, Boxer caught the oncoming leg and drove his shoulder into Pincher’s chest. The larger dog backpedaled but did not fall.
Howling and hooting, the onlookers pounded on the ground and bared their teeth. It had been a long time since they had been witness to the spectacle of Pincher fighting Boxer for real. This would not be a contest of strength or size. These two were too experienced to be overcome by brute force. This battle would come down to superior technique.
The two combatants were locked together now, each standing on three legs, each gripping the back of the other’s neck with one paw, their shoulders braced together, still circling around looking for a decisive opening.
Boxer turned his head and tried to bite into Pincher’s neck. Pincher ducked his head, slipped loose from Boxer’s hold, and replied with a withering blow to the ribs. Boxer tried to shove away, but Pincher held on and hit the same spot multiple times. The attacks forced Boxer to release his grip to defend. Pincher instantly struck the now exposed point where Boxer’s jaw and neck met. Boxer collapsed and found himself pinned down.
Picher’s still got it, he realized. Time to change tactics.
“Stop this, Pincher!” Boxer thundered, trying to wrestle the general off of him. “You have always professed to me in private about how you were used and tossed aside by Karkus. What makes you think the pigs are any better as masters? You think they won’t get rid of you as soon as you’re no longer useful, like they did with Specter?”
“It’s Karkus who is no longer useful,” Pincher snapped. He went for another critical spot, the bundle of nerves at the juncture of Boxer’s neck and shoulder. “We have no need for the worship of some god, except as a convenient tool to motivate my men. The new god of our age is money, Boxer. Try to understand that.”
Boxer’s temporarily paralyzed foreleg dropped to his side, leaving him defenseless. “You have a choice here. Take up for these sheep and save them as well as your own people. Or doom them and us.”
Pincher stopped his assault. A thoughtful look crossed his face. He reached out his paw. “My choice is made, old friend,” he said.
Wary but hopeful, Boxer took the offered paw and stood.
Pincher slammed into him, sending them both off the edge of the viewing platform. They came down hard, the weight of both dogs landing on Boxer’s neck and back. There was a terrible cracking sound, and Boxer lay still on the grass.
Chapter 84
Pinned down by the bodyguard bearing down on him, Healer screamed. He fought with everything he had, but he could not move this creature’s massive weight.
Shiver, however, had not been caught. He leapt in circles around the clone, who grew tired of the game and reached out to bite him. The black ram slipped past the teeth and dipped his head. The sharp point of his horn sank into the meat of the foreleg.
With a roar, the clone fell onto its face. Shiver whipped his head again, driving his other horn throu
gh the side of its neck.
Healer was too focused on the sight of Boxer’s body to fight effectively. The clone on top of him pushed his head into the dirt and bared its teeth, but Shiver charged into its side, impaling it and throwing it off Healer. The younger ram scrambled to his feet and ran to Boxer’s side.
“Hang on, Boxer, I can fix this…” Healer said, stumbling over his words as he brought the green glow to his eyes. His power washed over Boxer’s body, flowing into the broken spine, doing nothing. Boxer did not wake.
Pincher turned to jump back up onto the platform, only to find his path blocked by Shiver, horns coated with blood. The old general looked from the black ram over to Healer, who glared at him through hot tears. Pincher then looked at his men and the sheep they had allowed to gather around the scene.
“Get these sheep moving immediately!” Pincher barked at his troops. “And while you’re at it, kill both of these rams.”
Chapter 85
The smoke from the city rose and spread out across the plains, forming a sheet that blocked out the stars. Caper could not penetrate it and had to fly low to avoid choking. They passed so close to the tops of the pine trees at the base of the mountain range that Dreamer was surprised none of the branches smacked her in the face. There was not much firelight this far from the burning city, but Dreamer could see flashes of color among the pine limbs below them.
“Everyone is in the trees,” she commented.
“Yes, it looks like the whole village is watching Fleece City burn,” Caper answered.
“Isn’t there anything they can do to help us?”
“Birds stay away when there is fire, especially the smallest ones. Their tiny lungs are incredibly vulnerable to this smoke. It would be senseless for them to try to approach the city right now.”
Dreamer nodded to herself. “Put out the fire and the birds can help.”
Caper angled his wings to follow the upward slope of the mountainside. The waterfall roared beside them, giving off a shimmering glow in the firelight like the ocean at dawn. They were making good time. Dreamer had not realized Caper could fly this fast.
Peering down among the branches, she locked eyes with one bird that was looking right back at them. She recognized the blue, crested head of Wender, the mail carrier. The little blue jay’s head turned and his face became fearful. Dreamer shifted her gaze to look for whatever he was seeing. A dark, wraith-like figure flew around the mountain and dove toward Caper.
“Look out, Professor!” she called out as loud as she could.
Dreamer’s warning cry saved them. Caper ducked, and Specter’s claws grazed the feathers around his neck instead of finding flesh. The condor shrieked in anger, tilting to one side and gaining distance so he could wheel around for another assault.
Caper beat his wings frantically to gain height.
“He’s going to catch us!” Dreamer shouted. “Get back down among the trees!”
“No!” the old owl replied. “I told Healer I would get you to that shrine.”
Specter was approaching again. His pale eyes bulged out of his head in manic fury. He threw back his wings to lunge at them talons-first.
Caper turned his body to shield Dreamer, taking the claws in his back. Specter’s mass and momentum drove them forward in the air, right toward the mountainside. Caper’s talons shuddered with the effort of holding onto Dreamer in spite of the pain. But he was weakening.
Dreamer stared helplessly at the scene above her. Specter cawed with delight as he dug his talons into Caper’s body. Caper’s own weapons were occupied holding Dreamer—and if he lost his grip, she could do nothing to stop herself from falling.
A bird cried out—not Specter’s throaty screech or Caper’s high-pitched whistle. An angry chittering. Dreamer craned her head to see what was happening.
Wender darted up past them and flew at Specter’s face. He clung with his little claws onto the fleshy folds and struck at the priest’s eyes with his beak. Startled, Specter lost his grip on Caper and fell away from him.
Caper tumbled in the air before righting himself. Dreamer risked a glance back. The condor pulled his head away, then swung it around and struck the much smaller bird with his beak. The blue jay plummeted away from Specter.
Wender’s attack, seemingly futile, had achieved the desired result of delaying Specter long enough for Caper to reach the peak. The owl hovered near the precipice. Dreamer looked into a crevice below them and realized she hung directly over the open roof of the shrine. She could see the head of the Optera bust and the stone platform surrounded by water some thirty feet beneath her.
Caper was slowly lowering the two of them into the shrine when Specter collided with them again. The force of the attack broke Caper’s grasp on Dreamer. For a terrifying second, she was free-falling toward the stone surface below. Then she hit the edge of the open roof, and she grabbed hold with both forelegs and stopped her plunge.
The two birds of prey fell from Ptera Peak, rolling over and over one another as they seized and slashed with talons and beaks. Their enraged screams melded together into one dissonant hum that echoed through the mountain range and the forest at its feet. In the village, heads turned from the scene in the fields, looking up at what was going on above.
Dreamer pulled herself up to safety and took in the scene around her. Caper and Specter grappled in midair a few hundred feet below her. A cold wind made her look north, and she froze. A massive storm cloud was blowing in from the other side of the mountains. She steeled herself and took a long look down into the shrine. From her perch to the stone platform in front of the bust of Optera was not a safe drop. Falling onto the top of the statue’s head, however, looked feasible.
She took a deep breath and stepped off the edge of the roof. Six or seven feet later she landed on top of Optera’s head. From there, she was able to drop into the pool around the edges of the shrine and climb up onto the central platform.
“Optera!” she cried out, shaking water from her coat. “I saw the storm cloud to the north. Is that your doing?”
The crystal eyes of the statue did not move. There was no indication that the goddess was listening to Dreamer’s words.
“You’re indecisive, aren’t you?” she shouted. “Consumed with petty vindictiveness, as always. You know you have the capacity to help stop Toxid, but you’re sitting on it and letting death and destruction happen just because you didn’t get what you wanted. Just because your champion doesn’t want to be controlled like a puppet, you’re questioning if any of us are worth saving. Well, you have to get over that. You, Optera, more than anyone else, can stop this. Toxid is attacking the sheep so that he can freely exterminate your birds. If you ever really wanted to take action to help the birds, now is the time.”
A flash of lightning and a deafening crack filled the shrine. Dreamer winced. Rain began to fall through the ceiling, defeating her efforts to dry herself off.
“Is that an answer?” she yelled. “Are you going to help us? Will you put out the fire so your people can help save mine?”
The next thunderbolt lit up the sky so that she could see the hunched bird standing at the edge of the roof. She took a step back, suddenly afraid. Specter’s beak and claws were spattered with blood, and his smile was feverish and cruel.
“Where’s Caper?” Dreamer demanded.
“Do not fret over him, for you will soon share his fate,” the condor said, crawling down the stone wall toward her.
Chapter 86
Dreamer backed away slowly, eyeing the talons squeezing the rock wall with anticipation.
“You robbed me of my Prophet, you embarrassed me in front of all of my followers, and I have lost favor in the eyes of the Goddess because of you,” Specter rasped. “I cannot allow you to appeal to Optera to save these people. They have turned away from me and they deserve the fate our pig masters have designed for them.”
“You did all those things to yourself!” Dreamer snapped. “You took money from the pi
gs to mislead the birds and you say it was in the name of Optera!” It occurred to her that the Goddess had been no better than Specter in terms of honesty, but she chose to keep that sentiment to herself for now. “You have an opportunity here! You know the pigs’ plan, you can warn all these birds and redeem yourself!”
Specter shook his head as he reached the stone platform. He slunk toward Dreamer, brandishing his hooked beak. “You fooled me with your crafted words once, sheep. That’s not going to happen again. Optera deserves to lose this war, and she will.”
Dreamer stopped walking, her violet eyes aglow. “Do what you will. I’m no match for you in a fight. But it’s not up to me. I’m not the one who has to make a choice here.”
The condor realized she was not looking at him, but past him. He risked a glance back and saw that she had drawn him right in front of the Optera statue. The eyes of the bust shone to match Dreamer’s. The rain doubled in intensity; the sky roared once more. The flash pierced into the cavern itself this time, bringing a wave of heat that forced Dreamer to turn away. The lightning bolt killed Specter where he stood.
When Dreamer opened her seared eyes and shook off the ringing in her ears, the glow from the statue had faded away. She stepped around the blackened, smoking corpse and approached the bust.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “If you’re there, help us. We can work together on this. You can still be back on top. You don’t have to lie and kill and enslave people. Don’t be like Toxid. These birds want to serve the mother of the world, not a tyrant. What do you say?”
Optera never answered. Dreamer stared at the statue for a long minute until she saw movement out of the corner of her eye.
Wender had appeared at the edge of the roof. He grimaced at the sight of Specter’s body, then turned his attention to Dreamer.
“How are you doing down there?” he called out.
“I’m fine. How are you doing?”
“Oh, I’m alright. Specter hit like a parakeet. You look like you’re stuck.”
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