by Susan Korman
Gupta shrugged, nervously keeping an eye on the captain. “I don’t know.”
Captain Gutt cracked his whip at the hyrax. “Now get this chunk of ice seaworthy by sundown, or I will keelhaul the lot of you!”
Diego had shown his friends the cove with the two channels that led out to the sea. “You’re right, Diego,” Manny said excitedly. “It’s the way home!”
“Yeah,” Sid chimed in. “Too bad we don’t have a ship.”
“Sure we do,” Manny said, gesturing at Captain Gutt’s new ship, which was nearly finished. “It’s right there.”
“Well, that’s a flawless plan,” Shira muttered sarcastically. “You want to pirate a pirate ship from pirates?”
“It pains me to say this,” Diego said. “But she has a point. It’s a crazy idea.”
“Yeah, well—” Manny started to argue, but Sid quickly hushed him.
“Guys! Shhh! The trees have ears!” he said, gesturing to dozens of little hyrax who were peeking out from behind trees, bushes, and rocks, watching them.
“Wait a minute . . .” Looking at the small creatures, Manny suddenly had an idea. “Maybe we can help one another!” He leaned down to talk to a few of the hyrax. “Hey, little fellas. Come on out.”
The hyrax stayed where they were, too afraid to move.
“It’s okay,” Manny coaxed them gently. “We’re not going to hurt you.”
The shy creatures stepped a little closer.
“How about you and us against the pirates, huh?” Manny went on. The hyrax stared at him blankly. Finally, Manny sighed. “You have no idea what I’m saying, do you?”
He tried another approach. “Uh . . . ship . . .” He pantomimed the words. “Me . . . want.”
Shira scoffed at him. “Nice try, Jungle Jim.”
“Go ahead, make fun,” Manny snapped. “He got it.”
Just then a hyrax named Fuzzy came forward and gave Manny a banana. “Thank you,” said Manny.
“May I try?” Sid came over.
“Knock yourself out,” Manny muttered.
“Okay, watch this!” Sid told his friends. “Ahem.” He cleared his throat and then began warming up his vocal cords. “Me me me me. Six sloths sip broth. . . . Six sloths sip broth. . . .”
When Sid was finally ready, he crouched down. Then he crossed his arms and grabbed his shoulders. “Wooga, wooga, wooga, wooga,” he said, speaking what sounded like gibberish, tapping his shoulders at the same time. “Yarg!” he went on, imitating a pirate, and then making some other strange sounds.
To Manny’s astonishment, the hyrax began to nod and cheer.
Diego looked at Manny. He couldn’t believe the scene in front of him either. “That they understood?” he said.
Fuzzy emerged from a huddle of hyrax, ready for battle.
“Yep! They’re in!” Sid announced.
“Great!” Manny declared. “We’ll free your buddies, and then we can all escape the pirates.”
Sid did a quick translation for his friends. Fuzzy nodded and turned back to Sid to give him a high five.
That night Diego approached Shira’s prison with some water, startling her. “Easy, kitty,” he said. “Here’s some water. You need it.” He slipped a coconut shell filled with water through the bars.
Shira shoved it back at him. “I don’t need anything from you!” she snapped.
“Fine.” Diego shrugged. “Die of thirst. That’ll really show me.” He pulled the water back out of the cage.
“Wait!” Shira abruptly changed her mind. “I’ll take it. . . . Thank you,” she added as he slid it back to her.
“You know,” Diego said, watching her lap up the water, “you have a way of saying ‘thank you’ that makes it sound like ‘drop dead.’”
“It’s a gift,” Shira replied. Diego turned to go. “You’re pretty soft for a saber,” she said softly.
He whirled around. “Excuse me, I am not soft, okay? I happen to be a remorseless assassin.”
“Diego-poo!” a voice called out.
They both turned to see Sid coming toward them. “Look,” the sloth said to Diego. “I made you another coral necklace.” He turned to Shira and explained with a giggle, “Diego keeps losing them.”
Humming happily, Sid left, and the two saber-toothed tigers were alone again.
“I think I’m starting to understand why you’re not in a pack,” Shira said.
“Listen,” Diego shot back. “I chose to leave my pack, alright?”
“Congratulations, Warrior Princess,” said Shira. “So did I.”
“Really?” Diego was surprised to hear that. “I know how hard it is to walk away from everything you know,” he added softly.
“Oh great.” Shira rolled her eyes. “Are we going to start braiding each other’s fur now?”
“Funny,” muttered Diego. “Really funny. Can I tell you the difference between you and me?”
“Um . . .” Shira took a guess. “I wouldn’t still be wearing that necklace?”
Diego had forgotten that he was still wearing the necklace from Sid. He ripped it off his neck. “No,” he told Shira. “We both might have wanted to opt out of pack life, but at least I didn’t trade one pack for another. I got something more.”
“Oh yeah? What’s that?” she asked.
“A herd,” he replied.
“What’s the difference?” Shira wanted to know.
“We’re a family,” Diego told her. “We have each other’s backs.”
“Gutt has my back,” Shira retorted. “I’m his first mate.”
“Not this time,” Diego said. “I don’t see Gutt sending out any search parties for you.”
Shira didn’t say anything for a second. Then she spoke up. “You know you won’t beat him. Your big furry friend over there . . .” She gestured toward Manny. “He has no idea what he’s up against.”
“Yeah,” Diego admitted, looking over at his woolly mammoth friend, too. “But Gutt doesn’t know what he’s up against either.”
Chapter 11
The next day Manny brought everyone into a huddle. “Okay, let’s review our plan. Fuzzy?” he said to their new hyrax friend. “You’ve got your end covered, right?”
Fuzzy did an elaborate kung fu routine in response.
“I’m going to take that as a yes,” Manny said. “Diego? What about you?”
“I’ll free Fuzzy’s little friends.”
“Sid and Granny?” asked Manny.
“Sir!” Sid snapped off a salute. “Untie the ship, sir!”
“Right, unwind the vines, and don’t let go of them until we’re all on board,” Manny reminded him. “We’re all relying on you, Sid. You got that?”
“Yes, sir, totally focused, sir!”
“Don’t worry,” said Granny. “It will be easy since we don’t have to guard Shira anymore.”
Everyone looked over at Shira’s cage, which was empty now. Then Diego and Manny looked off in the distance, where they could see Shira racing toward the pirate camp.
“We need to move!” said Manny. “Now!”
Captain Gutt looked around his new pirate ship. “Batten down the hatches! Hoist the anchor and fly the colors! We’re setting sail for vengeance, lads!”
“Captain!” Shira yelled. She raced toward them, panting.
“Shira! What a relief!” the pirate captain called. “I thought we’d lost you.”
Shira eyed the captain doubtfully. He sounded concerned; did he really mean it? “The mammoth . . .” She panted, trying to catch her breath. “He washed ashore with me. He’s—”
“He’s here?” Captain Gutt cut her off, nearly drooling at the thought of Manny being so close by. “Did you sink your fangs in him?”
Shira looked away. “No. The saber took me down.”
“What?” Captain Gutt bellowed in anger. “You’re a failure!” He backed her up against a tree. “I need warriors! And all I have are kitty cats and bunny rabbits.”
“And a seal and a k
angaroo!” piped up Flynn helpfully.
Gutt closed his eyes in frustration. “You take the saber down, or you die trying,” he snarled at Shira. “Got that?” He pressed his claws under her chin. “No excuses!”
“Yes, Captain!” Shira promised.
The orangutan released her, smiling. Then he addressed the rabbit. “Mr. Squint, you’re first mate now.”
“Yo, ho, ho, and a bottle of cool with me, Captain!” Squint said in delight. Then he shoved Shira aside. “Out of my way, saber. You answer to me now.”
“Gutt, listen,” Shira started to explain. “He’s coming to—”
Dooo-doot-do-dooo!
Before she could finish, a high-pitched battle call rang out. Over at the nearby hillside rows and rows of hyrax stood, armed with tiny lances, ready for battle.
Captain Gutt burst out laughing at the tiny soldiers. But a second later, his expression changed completely. Another battle call rang out, and this time Gutt spotted Manny behind the army of hyrax.
The pirate’s eyes narrowed in anger. “Grab your weapons, mates!” he called to his crew. He looked at Flynn, who had picked up a spoon. “Not the spoon, Flynn! Follow me!”
“Oh yeah!” Squint said eagerly. “Let’s do this!”
Captain Gutt bounded up the hill toward Manny, his crew right behind him.
In his hiding spot, Diego waited until Captain Gutt and the others rushed past. Then he raced over to the pens where Gutt had imprisoned the other hyrax, and knocked the locks off their cages. The grateful hyrax rushed over to Diego and hugged his legs.
“Guys, that’s not necessary,” Diego told them, embarrassed. “Really. I love you, too.”
Meanwhile Sid and Granny were unmooring the ship’s docking vines, one by one. Together they chanted, “Unwind the vines, don’t let go. Unwind the vines, don’t let go.”
“Unwind the— Hey! What’s that?” Sid yelled, suddenly spotting a bush filled with purple berries. “Ooh!” he cried. “Yummo!”
Diego headed toward Sid, the hyrax from the cages still clinging to him. Diego panicked when he saw the berry in his friend’s hand. “Sid! No!” he cried in alarm. “It’s a lotus berry! It will paralyze you!”
“Oh, please,” Sid scoffed. “I know my berries.” He popped the purple berry into his mouth. “See. I’m fine. If there’s one thing I know, ith’s behwees . . .” Sid looked at Diego. His tongue was already beginning to swell and his body was going numb. A moment later he collapsed in a heap.
As Captain Gutt and his crew continued charging toward Manny, the hyrax soldiers held out their lances. Just before the pirates reached them, the hyrax used their lances to spring into the air. The tiny creatures landed neatly on the hyrax-driven leaf planes flying above in tight formation.
Squint’s beady eyes were fixed on Manny. The rabbit pirate jumped onto a rock and then catapulted into the air, launching himself right at Manny’s head. “Yeah! Finally!” Squint screamed in triumph.
Squint slammed into Manny’s face—and the giant mammoth instantly collapsed!
Chapter 12
Captain Gutt stared down at his feet where the mammoth’s head lay. “No!” he bellowed as he realized what Manny and the others had done. The head at his feet wasn’t the mammoth—Manny and the hyrax had made a decoy out of sticks and leaves!
Manny was already bolting across the beach toward the ship. “Move fast!” he cried to his friends. “He bought it!”
“Come on,” Diego urged the freed hyrax as they all raced across the beach.
“No! No! No!” shouted Captain Gutt to his crew. “It’s a diversion!”
“I know,” Flynn said. “I’m having a blast!”
“No, pinhead!” Gutt swatted the seal in anger. “They’re stealing my ship!” he cried. “Shira! Get the saber!”
With a roar Gutt raced after Manny. The other pirates followed him while Shira ran to intercept Diego.
Manny groaned when he reached Sid and saw him lying on the ground. “One thing, Sid,” he muttered. “You couldn’t do one thing?”
He poked the sloth, who didn’t move. “Sid? Can you hear me? Say something, buddy!”
Still paralyzed from the lotus berries, Sid stared past Manny at something else. It was the last vine, the one holding the pirates’ new ship to the dock. It was unwinding, and the boat was starting to drift toward the channel! Sid gulped, but he couldn’t speak to warn his friends.
By now the pirates had almost reached them. “Let’s go!” Diego said urgently.
Manny scooped up Sid and turned to the ship. Now he realized what was happening, too. “Come on!” he cried. “We have to catch the ship before it hits open water!”
Carrying Sid, Manny frantically raced after the ship. Diego and Granny followed, the band of pirates at their heels.
Silas suddenly dive-bombed into Manny. “Say adieu, mammoth!” the bird squawked.
“Ow!” Manny used Sid’s limp body to slap the bird away. “Sorry, Sid!” he apologized.
At last, they neared the ship, and Manny managed to toss Sid aboard. But Sid slid right off the boat, landing on the ice below.
“I’m coming, Sid!” yelled Manny. He quickly knocked over a pillar of ice to make a bridge to get to Sid. But as the pillar struck the ice under Sid, the sloth flew high into the air.
“I’ve got you! I’ve got you!” Manny cried, standing below the sloth and bracing himself for the catch.
Meanwhile, on the shore, Captain Gutt blew a high-pitched whistle to summon a pod of narwhals.
Gutt jumped on the backs of two narwhals. “I’m coming for you, mammoth!” he yelled at Manny.
Manny stomped the ice beneath his feet, flipping part of it up to use as a shield. The narwhals slammed into the shield like darts. Their force sent Manny, Sid, and Granny sliding over an embankment and onto the ship.
A moment later Manny, Sid, and Granny were on board the pirate ship. As the current pulled it rapidly toward the open bay, Diego sprinted to catch up.
“Come on, Diego!” Manny urged his friend.
Diego was about to leap aboard when Shira tackled him. He looked right into her eyes. “Why are you doing this?” he demanded.
“You don’t understand,” Shira said. “I don’t have a choice!”
Diego shook his head. “You don’t have to live this way, Shira!”
Shira stared at him, unsure of what to do.
“You’ll be safe with us. We take care of each other,” Diego told her.
Manny grabbed a tree onshore with his trunk, straining mightily to hold the ship in place for Diego.
“I can’t hold on much longer!” Manny called to his friend. A second later, he lost his grip, and the ship shot forward again. “Diego!” Manny cried helplessly.
“Shira, come with us,” Diego pleaded urgently. “Come with me!”
Shira nodded and the two of them took off, racing toward the ship. A second later Diego leaped aboard. But Shira hung back.
“Shira! What are you doing?” Diego cried.
“I’ve got your back,” she told him. She threw her shoulder into a wall, knocking debris in the way of Captain Gutt just as he lunged toward the ship. The pirate fell to the ice below.
Diego stood helplessly on deck, watching her. By staying back, Shira had given them the precious seconds they needed to escape. But as his eyes locked with hers, Diego knew that Shira would pay dearly—probably with her life.
Manny gave Captain Gutt a triumphant salute while Granny waved at the furious orangutan.
“So long, Banana Breath!” she yelled. “Thanks for the ship!” All around Manny and his friends, the hyrax landed safely on ice floes of their own. Back onshore, Captain Gutt stormed over to a glacier. Roaring with effort, he broke off a massive piece of ice and slammed it into the water. “Shore leave is over!” he snapped at this crew. “Get your sorry carcasses on board now.” The crew hurried aboard, then Gutt whistled for the narwhals to come and propel the iceberg out to sea.
Sh
ira gulped as the pirate captain whirled toward her. “Gutt, I can explain,” she began nervously. “He—”
But Captain Gutt didn’t let her finish. Instead he pulled her in very close to him. “When this ends, I’ll have a tiger skin hanging on my wall; I don’t care whose. That mammoth has taken my ship, my bounty, and”—he eyed Shira—“the loyalty of my crew. I will destroy him and everything he loves,” he vowed.
Chapter 13
Wait for it. . . . Wait for it!” said Crash.
The possums were perched at the tops of two tall trees. They were watching a section of earth roll toward them, as if they were surfers and it was a giant wave.
“Woo-hoo!” the possums cried, riding the wave of rock and debris. They landed hard on the ground but then popped up again, laughing.
“That was awesome!” cried Crash. He and Eddie hurried to catch up with Louis, who stared at them in wonder.
“Can I ask you guys something? Why are you both so happy? Don’t you get it—the world might be ending?”
Crash looked at Eddie. “Can I tell him our secret?” he asked.
Eddie nodded and then Crash waved Louis closer so he could whisper in his ear: “We’re very, very stupid.”
This wasn’t new information for Louis. “But still . . .” He prodded them. “Aren’t you just a little concerned about dying?”
The two possums stared at him blankly. Then Crash reached out to touch Louis’s nose. “Beep!” Crash said.
Louis just shook his head. He’d never understand the possums. “I’m going to find Peaches,” he said.
* * *
At that moment Peaches was walking with Ethan and some other teenage mammoths.
“Hey, guys!” Ethan called, spotting a canyon that had just been formed by the shifting land. “Over here. Come on. It’s a shortcut, and you’re going to love it.”
“Come on, girls,” the mammoth named Steffie said to her friends. “Let’s have some fun!”
Peaches followed the others into the narrow canyon. The sunlight bounced off the sandstone walls, creating an orange glow. The mammoths took turns calling out their names and then listening to their voices echo all around.
