Together, they sneaked out into the night and flew – along with Aestiva, who had been waiting outside – to the spot on a nearby hill Ference had chosen. There was a little forest, so the dragons had some camouflage. Their location gave them a good overview of the city, including the open plaza by the port, the place where their friends would soon face death if they couldn’t save them. But it wasn’t time yet. The execution was scheduled for dawn. For now, all they could do was wait. Wait and hope that Ference was able to do his part in breaking Zero free.
After a few hours, a giant bat glided through the sky and landed on the ground nearby, where, after Ference had gotten off its back, it turned into Zero. It could have been the light, but Griffin thought the shapeshifter’s skin looked slightly greyer than it should. Griffin would have liked to know what had happened, but this wasn’t the time. They would have time enough to tell stories if they survived all this and got away. The easy part was over. The hard part was yet to come. And it meant either freedom – or death.
Ference looked over to the group of dragons hiding between the trees. He frowned before nodding. He was already adding them to the attack plan.
Griffin didn’t feel scared. He was calmer than he had ever been before. The calm before the storm, he thought to himself. He wasn’t afraid of dying any longer. He wasn’t wondering what could happen if he didn’t do this. Because he knew he had to. This was his choice, his decision. There was no way he would choose anything but this: to give everything to save the people that were dear to him. If that meant to die trying, then so be it. The important thing was that it was his choice. And he would see it through to the end, no matter what. Those thoughts almost cheered him up.
After a little while, he turned to Ference and asked, “Okay, so tell me. How is this going to happen? How are we going to get the Bat out of the port without them shredding us all to bits first?”
Ference looked at him with a tinge of annoyance.
“Idiot,” he grumbled. “We’re not, of course!”
Griffin felt as if he had missed part of the conversation.
“But then how are we…?”
Ference sighed in exasperation. Reluctantly, he lifted his arm, pointing out to sea.
“They’re going to anchor the ship out there. Then shoot it with cannons while the pirates watch to symbolize to them that there’s no hope of escape. It usually makes them more docile for the execution. Less hassle or cheek. It’s been a tradition for decades.”
The calm tone of Ference’s voice shocked Griffin. How could he be so cavalier about that?
“But if the Bat is going to be destroyed, what will we do? Even if we get to her on time, they’ll still be able to fire at her and she’ll go down with us on board!”
Griffin’s thoughts jumped in triangles and hexagons. What was Ference thinking? The man even seemed to be bored having to explain this! What in the world was wrong with him?
“Seems what I said to your father was wrong. You’re daft, after all,” Ference said, giving Griffin a look of pity. “Do you really think I didn’t think of that?”
Ference walked to a tree and sat down, leaning against it. Did Griffin really have to pluck out all of the information from his mind with tweezers? He felt his aggravation rise.
“Well, what are we going to do about it?” he asked, forcing himself not to shout.
“Nothing. We’re waiting until they’re about to sink her.”
“What?!”
Griffin looked at Ayalon and Zero in bewilderment. Both of them had spoken, no, almost shouted, in unison. He could see rage in their eyes. The Bat was their home, even more than that, she was their friend. Griffin felt strongly about the ship and her fate, but he couldn’t even compare to these two. They had been with her so much longer, had experienced so many more things. Even so, Griffin had never seen either of them like this. Ayalon looked about to lunge at Ference. There were even slight streaks of smoke rising into the air from his nostrils. Zero was still in his human form, but he radiated fury nevertheless. This was one of the moments in which it didn’t take much imagination to see them killing ruthlessly. This could escalate.
“Whoa, okay, calm down everyone.” Griffin hurried to step in between them. “Let’s think this through. Ference! I suggest if you don’t want these two to tear you to pieces, you help us keep the Bat safe, alright?”
Ayalon growled, but he sat back and stopped smoking. Zero, too, relaxed a little.
Ference, on the other hand, didn’t seem bothered.
“As I said, don’t you think I haven’t already thought of that? It’s all taken care of,” Ference replied, relaxed.
“Tell us how,” growled Ayalon, gnashing his teeth.
“I sabotaged all the cannons before getting the shapeshifter out, of course.”
Griffin squinted his eyes. “Sabotaged how?”
“Well, instead of firing, they’re going to blow up, giving us the perfect chance to swoop in. I thought that was obvious.”
Griffin and his friends exchanged some looks. This plan could work. In a way it was… brilliant. None of them voiced those thoughts, though. None of them wanted to experience Ference getting more conceited than he already was.
So they waited again. None of them dared to shut their eyes. Not even Ference.
Griffin used the time to ponder their situation. He had heard of pirate executions approximately once a year. Rumors of a secret pirate society had been going around for years, but as Griffin had found out from Ryo, they were pure fabrication. The only code pirates held to other pirates was that they left each other alone. With the threat of the Marine breathing down their necks, who had the time or manpower to fight each other as well? Times had been more dangerous for them, especially since the Gryphon had been at sea hunting them.
Now he wondered if any of the other pirates who had been caught had ever been able to escape from Port Quienlav.
Griffin was torn from his pondering by activity in the city square. The others had noticed as well. Aestiva jumped onto Griffin’s shoulder, who in turn swung himself onto Ayalon’s back. Zero turned back into a giant bat ready to carry Ference. But not yet. It was too soon.
They watched the Bat being sailed away from the port. A little way out, she was anchored and small boats were rowed back to shore. There, a group of people was led onto the plaza and lined up, facing the sea. Their friends.
But it still wasn’t time. Griffin felt his throat close up as he saw the square fill with onlookers. So many people had come to see the slaughter. He felt sick. How could anyone find any enjoyment in watching something like this?
Admiral Philnys climbed onto a podium facing the pirates and the crowd. Griffin recognized him from his attire and his purposeful, bouncy step. From up here it looked as though he were giving a speech, but Griffin couldn’t hear a sound from this distance. He could only make out his hand gestures, and they spoke of many things. The young man was glad he didn’t have to listen to the words. Otherwise, he might have lunged at the admiral and tried to drown him in the bay. And likely would have gotten stabbed in the process.
What Griffin did hear was the cheer following the admiral’s speech. The crowd was delighted. They were hungry. They wanted blood. They didn’t care who died first or who was executed at all; they were here for the show. Something to see. A distraction from the mundane. Something that had nothing to do with them so they could just watch and turn off their brains for a while.
The admiral raised a hand and the crowd went silent, as the soldiers pointed the cannons toward the Bat. He paused, dragging out the moment, reveling in it.
Now!
CHAPTER 21
Ayalon and Zero lifted off the ground, soaring toward the square at high speeds as the cannons exploded on the quays. The other dragons followed swiftly. Griffin’s view of his friends was clouded by the black smoke. Panicked screams from the crowd rang in his ears. He hoped they could find the others in all this da
rkness and chaos. Before Ayalon even touched the ground, Griffin jumped down.
Frightened people were running all around him. He heard soldiers shouting, trying to restore order, but their efforts were in vain. He figured the first thing the Marine Corps would do in this situation would be to secure the pirates.
He hastened through the crowd, pushing past people, trying to reach where the soldiers’ voices were coming from. The smoke was already beginning to lift again. There wasn’t much time left.
There! He could see his friends kneeling on the ground, a few soldiers on guard around them. The soldiers weren’t much older than Griffin. And they were afraid. They didn’t know what had just happened or why. It scared them.
He drew his dagger, ready to use it to injure if he had to. Someone grabbed his arm.
“Griffin!”
His father. Griffin turned for just a moment, determination burning in his soul, to look his father in the eyes. For a split second, which felt like years to the two men, their gazes interlocked. Wordlessly, Griffin tried to get across all of his thoughts and love. At the same time, he could read Joshua’s pain, hopes, and, finally, resignation. His arm was released. His father understood. Maybe not quite the way Griffin wanted him to. Probably not the way his mother did, but he understood that this was what Griffin wanted to do. What he was going to do, no matter what. And he knew he couldn’t stop his son without physically injuring him, maybe even killing him.
Griffin gave his father one last crooked smile before charging toward the guards, leaving him standing in the smoke. Encountering his first soldier, he ducked under a punch, shot up and struck him in the side of the head with the hilt of his dagger, knocking the man out cold. He was about to turn to the next, but he was already occupied. Aestiva had jumped into his face, clawing at his head. The poor man screamed and ran around in hysterics. He tripped, and Aestiva jumped away, satisfied. The other guards had already been taken care of by Ference, Ayalon and Zero. Quickly, they got to work untying their friends. Within seconds, they were done, but there was no time to waste talking. They had to get out.
But before they could climb onto Ayalon’s and Zero’s backs, more soldiers – who had caught on to the situation in the chaos and fleeting smoke – were closing in from all sides.
Griffin thought quickly, licking his lips. They were surrounded. They were outnumbered, at a tactical disadvantage since his friends were not at the peak of their strength. The Bat was a long way away, out in the bay. But they could do this. His friends had the same thought. Everyone adopted fighting stances.
Sweat dripped down Griffin’s forehead. Unlike his friends, he had no fighting experience. All he could hope for was luck. Pure, unadulterated luck.
The soldiers advanced cautiously, their swords pointed directly at the pirates’ faces. The pirates stood in a small circle with their backs to each other, the dragons circling above them.
And then, Ayalon roared. Everyone charged. The dragons began picking soldiers off the ground before dropping them again from the air, and sometimes simply enveloping them in fire.
A boy attacked Griffin. He couldn’t have been older than fifteen or sixteen, but he swung his sword viciously. All Griffin could see as he kept evading the blade by a hair’s width was the boy’s expression. It was marked by terror, pride, and the look of someone who knew he was going to die, but at least it would be to save others, and he wouldn’t stop until his head lay in the gutter, severed from his body. Griffin couldn’t bear to use his dagger against this boy. He was too young, too unexperienced. So he kept evading the attacks, until, finally, the sword scraped his cheek.
Griffin could feel the sudden sharp sting and then the warmth as blood rushed to the wound. It didn’t hurt. But if he let things continue this way, he might get a worse injury than this. Griffin ducked under a swing of the blade and kicked the boy in the stomach as hard as he could, causing him to stumble back several feet before tripping and falling on his behind. Griffin jumped on him and once again knocked him out with the hilt.
As Griffin lifted himself up, he saw another soldier charging at him, sword raised in front of him. Before he could reach him, the soldier tripped and fell. He landed on the blade, cutting across his throat. Ryo stepped in to take a brief look at the damage he had done. He shook his head sadly, before giving Griffin a grim nod. Without further ceremony, he turned toward new enemies.
The fight was nearing its end. More soldiers had arrived over time, but not enough to keep up with their falling numbers. Some people were still trying to extinguish the fires by the quays. The smoke was fading. Two of the dragons had gone down. Others were heavily injured. They had to make a break for it now while there were fewer enemies around. Selene had realized it as well. Her golden hair darkened by blood, she gave a high-pitched whistle that told them all what to do.
As Griffin and Ryo turned to make their way to Ayalon, who was closest to them, an arrow whistled past Griffin’s face. Next to him, Ryo screamed and fell. Griffin didn’t waste any time, helping his friend lean on him, bringing him toward the dragon. While doing so, he assessed the issue. Ryo’s right leg had been impaled by an arrow. If the smoke had lifted enough to let marksmen choose their targets without fear of hitting their own men, then they had less time than Griffin had anticipated.
Griffin helped Ryo to get onto Ayalon’s back. The man’s face had gone white and his eyes were wide open, Griffin noticed worriedly. He feared the arrow might have been poisoned. Around him, the rest of his friends banded together as well. Aestiva had fought for herself while Griffin had been busy with the soldier boy, but she returned to his shoulder now. Balthasar and Joe were climbing onto the back of one of the freed dragons and Maco followed Ference toward Zero while Skip made his way toward Ayalon and Griffin. Selene swung herself onto the largest of the dragons. Griffin remained by Ayalon’s side. He reached out his hand to Skip. Just a little bit more! You’re almost here! We’re almost free!
Then, time seemed to slow down as something caught Griffin’s eye. Something sparkling in the air headed toward him with tremendous speed. Something sharp. Aimed at his heart. He couldn’t move. Was that it? And he had almost made it. All sound was gone from his ears. He was going to die. His mind raced, his blood pumping furiously. Would it be like they said, that the moment he died, the Veil would be lifted from his eyes and he would see the entire world as he floated to the green moon and into cloudland? He closed his eyes and thought of the people he loved. He wanted to see something happy when he died.
Somehow, a sound came through after all.
“Griffin!” Skip shouted. Then, a nasty sound of ripping flesh and shattering bones, for a split second. Something slammed into Griffin.
He tore open his eyes. Skip looked up at him with a strange, glassy expression.
“Thank the sea,” Skip forced out, his mouth shining red. “You’re gonna–”
He coughed. In Griffin’s arms, he let out his last breath before his dark eyes glazed over, staring into eternal void. Griffin couldn’t move. The heartbeat he could feel in his fingers just a second ago was gone. His friend suddenly felt heavier. Someone else screamed his name. They were grabbed, lifted off the ground and into the sky. An arrow was stuck in Skip’s chest. An arrow meant for Griffin. In his arms, Skip’s body grew colder.
Then there was ground beneath them again. Griffin still couldn’t stop staring into his friend’s face. Someone pushed him aside. Selene. She leaned over Skip, shouting his name. Balthasar ordered the rest of the crew to get the ship ready to sail. The Klabautermann came and pulled Griffin to his feet while Maco began to howl.
“We don’t have time for thisss right now,” he hissed. “We need to get to sssafety firssst, got it? Now come on and help!”
The little blue man pulled Griffin after him. Griffin saw Joe looking after Ryo’s leg. The Klabautermann was right. They were currently four people down. Griffin had to do whatever he could. Performing the actions without thinking,
Griffin set the sails to catch the winds. Within moments, the Bat was on course. And not a second too soon. Behind them, the Gryphon, alongside several more ships, left the port to give chase. If the bigger ship got much closer, it would be able to hit them with their cannons. The remaining dragons attacked the Marine ships, allowing the Bat to get some distance.
Ayalon and Zero helped to pull her like they had done in the Rock-vortex fields. But soon, the wind freshened up and the ship was sailing faster than they could fly, so they returned on board. The Bat was a fast ship. She increased the distance between herself and the Gryphon at a steady pace. When the Marine soldiers realized they couldn’t catch up, they fired a salvo, but every shot missed. The dragons had flown away to ensure their continued freedom. For the moment, they were safe.
When evening came, everyone was silent. They had no food on board, but none of them could have eaten anything either way. None of their possessions had been left on board, either. Even the library had been ransacked. But there was only one thing any of them could think about. They had lost a comrade. A friend. Someone who had spent so many years with them was now gone.
Erased from existence.
Skip left a hole. Maco, Selene and Griffin were hit the worst. Skip had been the first friend Griffin had ever had. If it hadn’t been for him, he would never have even had the chance to meet everyone else. Skip had trusted in him for no reason whatsoever. And he had been one of the best friends Griffin could have ever wished for. But now he was gone. Selene sat at a table saying nothing. She stared into the empty space in front of her with a pale face. Maco sat in a corner, whimpering.
Ryo and Joe weren’t there. That was another thing. Joe had said he needed to operate. Ryo had already lost a lot of blood. Joe believed that the arrow had indeed been poisoned, complicating matters. Griffin kept praying to the sea to save his friend. He couldn’t lose two of them in one day. Skip was already dead. But Ryo was still here, he could be saved!
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