by Lisa McMann
“Drop the girls!” Alex called to Crow, knowing the boy was completely terrorized with the hook at his throat and unable to think clearly. “Crow! Drop them! They’ll be fine!” Alex stumbled again and fell to one knee, feeling about to faint and fighting it with everything he had.
Crow’s glassy eyes cleared for a moment, and he let the girls slide down to the ground. But they didn’t like what was happening and ran screaming after their favorite friend.
Captain Baldhead roared his displeasure at Crow and clutched him tighter, his hook digging deeper into Crow’s neck. Crow’s eyes bulged, and a trickle of blood rolled down to his collarbone. The captain switched directions, swatting at Fifer, who was closest. He reached her and yanked her up under his free arm.
“Mewmewmew!” Kitten howled, trying her best to assist Alex, but there was nothing she could do.
Fifer wailed. Thisbe screamed at the pirate. Crow’s eyes rolled back in his head and he went limp. Alex revived, pulled himself to his feet, and started running after the man again, but seconds later a Warbler enemy plowed into him, knocking him flat.
Thisbe, red faced and furious, pointed her finger at the captain. “Boom!” she shouted.
Captain Baldhead’s face turned gray. He shuddered and took an unexpected step back, his boot landing on top of Kitten and crushing her porcelain body to bits. Crow sank to the grass. Fifer tumbled to the ground. And with a loud boom, the captain’s body cracked from head to toe. His appendages separated, like broken pieces of a toy, and went flying in different directions.
Alex rolled and got to his hands and knees, then crawled over the dirt and grass to gather his sisters. He held them tightly, unable to believe what he’d just witnessed from Thisbe.
Scarlet, who’d seen everything from afar, came running. She saw Crow on the ground, knelt next to him, and helped him sit up.
“Are you okay, Crow?” she asked, her white-blond hair swishing close to his face.
Crow’s eyelids fluttered and opened. He stared at her, dazed.
Scarlet gently pressed her sleeve to the cut on Crow’s neck and wiped the blood away. “You’d better have that looked at,” she said.
“Hi,” said Crow.
Scarlet smiled. “Hi. I think you might be in shock. Come on, let’s help Alex and get you checked out.” She took Crow’s hand and helped him to his feet, then put his arm around her neck and led him to where Alex and the girls were. She picked up Thisbe and handed her to Crow.
“Can you hold her until we get inside?”
Crow nodded numbly and took the girl.
Scarlet picked up Fifer and gave Alex a hand so he could get to his feet. Together they limped and stumbled safely to the mansion.
Kitten’s crushed body lay still on the ground for a moment. Then all her porcelain pieces magically came back together. When she was in one perfect piece again, she jumped up and down, gingerly at first, and then less so, testing her body out. Everything felt as good as new.
“Mewmewmew,” she said before heading back into the fight. Seven lives left.
A Short Reprieve
What?” asked Henry as he stitched up the ugly gash in Alex’s side. “You’re saying Thisbe killed the pirate captain?”
“I’m not sure killed is the right word,” Alex said. “Dismantled. Scrambled and flung about, maybe.” He winced. “Ouch. Unless I’m delusional, which is entirely possible.”
“How did she do it, though? Here, drink some more juice.” Henry shoved Alex’s glass at him with his free hand and finished his stitching, then fetched some ointment to put on it. “You’ll feel good as new by tomorrow.”
“I have no idea how she did it,” said Alex. “She didn’t have a component or anything—not that we have a spell that does what she did anyway. She just got mad because the captain was running off with Fifer, and she yelled ‘Boom!’ at him and it just happened.”
“Yikes,” said Henry. “Can we get her to stop saying that word? If she starts saying it randomly to our people, I’m not sure I’ll know how to fix them.”
“That’s just it—she’s said the word lots of times, like when she’s knocking down sand castles and piles of stones and stuff like that. She never blew anyone to pieces before, though.”
“Maybe it was different this time because she was mad.” Henry reached for a roll of bandages and lifted Alex’s arms into the air, then wrapped his chest. “Try not to get hit in that same place, all right? Otherwise you’re good to go if you feel strong enough. Did you eat?”
“Yes, I ate. I’m fine now, thanks to you. How’s Liam, by the way?”
“He snuck out to fight after the whole bird incident. He was limping but feeling okay, last I saw him.”
“So you heard about the birds?”
“Yeah. Crazy.” Henry shook his head. “I’m sorry Spike and I didn’t get here sooner. After Florence and Pan left and Spike and I were getting ready to leave, Talon suggested we all go. I couldn’t turn the offer down. Are they helping?”
“Immensely. We’d be defeated by now without them. I’m just glad you’re not dead. When you didn’t show up, Florence and I feared the worst.”
“Spike and Issie and the giant squid all pulled Karkinos along,” said Henry, “so we made pretty good time. And we came into sight of Artimé at dawn, right when all the ships were emptying, so we just kept rolling in. We saw the black smoke.”
Crow piped up from a nearby bed. “That was Fifer,” he said. “She screamed and crushed a raven in her hand, and it turned them all to smoke.”
“So it was Fifer,” Alex said, shaking his head in wonder. “We could hear her scream. It about broke our eardrums.”
“Wow,” said Henry. “You’ve got your hands full with those two.”
“I’m suddenly worried for my own safety,” said Alex. “Thanks, Henry.”
“No problem. I’ve got to keep moving—good luck out there.” Henry turned to assist the next injured person.
Alex smiled and slid off the bed, then picked up a pile of sandwiches that the kitchen staff had made for him to take out to the others. He headed to the lawn, feeling re-energized.
“Oh good—you’re okay!” exclaimed Kaylee when she saw him coming. “Things are falling apart a bit out here. Can I have one of those? I’m starving.” She grabbed a sandwich and shoved half of it into her mouth.
“Sure,” said Alex. “What’s happening?”
“The Loch Ness Monster got stabbed,” she said, her mouth full. “She’s okay though.”
“The . . . what?”
“The Loch—” Kaylee began, then rolled her eyes. “Oh, forget it. Culture gap. The sea monster thing. Nessie.”
“You mean Issie?”
“Yeah, whatever you call her in this world. No wonder nobody in Scotland can find her. Anyway, thanks for the sandwich.” She grabbed two more and ran off toward Sky and Carina.
Alex was mystified by Kaylee’s words, but there wasn’t time for questions now. Half a dozen Artiméans were writhing on the battlefield. He tossed the remaining sandwiches at Samheed and Lani so they could pass them around, and ran to help the injured. Soon he was dragging people into the hospital ward.
The pirates rallied, and their size and experience began to get the best of Artimé yet again. And though they’d been strong for so long, Alex’s friends began to fall. Lani took an especially hard hit to the back that sent her flying into the air and landing hard, knocking her out cold, and she wouldn’t wake up. Carina got backed into a tree and took a shallow stab to the stomach. Thatcher had a deep slice across his forehead and cheek that wouldn’t stop bleeding, but he refused to quit fighting and eventually passed out on the lawn.
One by one, Alex carried them all in, his body and heart aching. Why couldn’t they just win and be done with this? Things were looking desperate again. Some of Alex’s best spell casters were forced into the hospital ward, leaving the Artiméans struggling to hold their own.
When Alex returned to the lawn after bringi
ng Thatcher inside, he saw a pirate leveling Claire Morning with his fist. From the ground, Claire kicked the pirate hard, and the pirate slammed his shield into Claire’s head, knocking her out. Alex gasped. The pirate lifted his sword up over her chest.
“Stop!” Alex yelled, and tore over the lawn toward Claire, but he was too far away to reach her in time. As the pirate prepared to stab his sword down, Liam came out of nowhere like a bull and slammed his head into the pirate’s gut, sending them both reeling back. They scrabbled on the ground, fistfighting. The pirate slipped from Liam’s clutches, grabbed his sword, and dove at Liam, pinning him to the ground. He lifted his body off Liam, and before the former governor could move, the pirate ran him through.
Horrified, Alex drew his sword and came up behind the pirate, but before he could attack, Kaylee rushed over and brought her blade down over the enemy’s head as hard as she could. The pirate wobbled and crashed to the ground in a heap. Alex and Kaylee pushed him aside and knelt next to Liam, then pulled the sword from his body. But Liam was already dead.
Feeling sick, Alex turned away. He went to check Claire for a pulse and found she was still alive. “Keep fighting!” Alex said to Kaylee as she ran off to do just that. Alex lifted Claire into his aching arms and slogged with her back to the mansion, hoping there was something Henry could do to help her pull through.
With the tide turning sharply in the pirates’ favor, Alex needed more than a miracle to get through the rest of the day.
To the Rescue
Aaron limped into the mansion on Ms. Octavia’s orders because he was bleeding everywhere. Since he couldn’t explain that he’d be fine soon enough, he went. Sky was looking battered and bruised too. Samheed’s shirt was in tatters, with cuts all over his chest. The pirates had heard about their captain’s death, and they reared up stronger than ever, determined to finish the fight.
Alex began thinking about surrendering again. His people were falling left and right, and the pirates were still standing. If Simber could just finish them off, they could end this. But the fighting was so close that if Simber tried to plow into a group, he’d certainly hit just as many Artiméans as pirates. So the cheetah was forced to pluck them up one by one whenever he had a chance—whenever he wasn’t helping Alex bring the injured to the mansion. Artimé was losing fighters twice as often as the pirates.
The day was waning, and so was everyone’s spirits. But when the battle seemed endless, pointless, and senseless, and Alex was ready to give up, Simber swooped down and landed next to him.
“Alex,” he said.
“Please don’t tell me someone’s dead,” said Alex. “I can’t take any more.”
“All rrright,” said Simber. “I won’t. Just look up.”
Alex frowned. “What?”
“Look up. And out towarrrd the lagoon. And then up again.”
Alex obeyed. In the sky he saw five dots growing bigger. And just beyond the lagoon, he saw something black and shimmering, coming toward them at top speed. “No!” he cried in disbelief. “It’s Pan!”
“And herrr childrrren,” said Simber. “They’rrre flying.”
“Are they . . . are they flying here? To help us?” Alex looked at Simber, his weary eyes bright. “Maybe we can win this after all,” he said.
“Believe it,” said Simber. And with that, he was thundering off to grab another pirate.
Alex ran back into the mansion and went inside the hospital ward. “Attention!” he called. “If any of you are able to return to the lawn, we need you now more than ever. And with any luck,” he said fervently, “this war will be over soon. Reinforcements of the grandest nature are on their way. Join me if you are able.”
Alex didn’t wait to see if anyone would follow. He ran back out to the lawn, picked up a sword, and began fighting with everything he had in him. Aaron joined him immediately, and other Artiméans trickled out of the mansion, limping and bandaged, ready to make a final go of it for Alex’s sake.
Minutes later, Pan reached the shore. Alex and Aaron ran toward her, fighting off pirates as they went. Pan saw them coming and curled her tail around them, lifting them up in the air, out of reach of the enemy. With a flaming roar, she got everyone’s attention.
The fighting halted abruptly, and the pirates began to grow frightened. A small band of them drew their swords, and in a concerted effort they ran at the dragon, trying to get to Artimé’s leader. They swung and connected with Pan’s chest, and she watched them in their attempt to hurt her.
When she did nothing in response, more pirates came running to attack. They surrounded the dragon, and some even climbed on her tail and ran up it, trying to fight Alex and Aaron. The brothers fought back, knocking the pirates down, and all the while Pan just glowered at the ones trying to hurt her.
“What’s happening?” whispered the Artiméans to one another. “Why isn’t she fighting them?”
No one knew the answer, but they were grateful for the chance to rest and watch in awe as the young dragons flew in and circled above their mother’s head.
“I hope this isn’t a trick,” murmured Sean to some others. “Are we sure the dragons are on our side?”
“They’d better be,” said Samheed under his breath. He’d done plenty to make them stronger.
Pan looked up at her young, signaling them to pay attention as more pirates grew brave enough to join their comrades and help attack her.
“Watch,” said Ms. Octavia to Sean and Samheed and the Artiméans around them. “She’s teaching her children.”
When fifty or so pirates had gathered to beat on her with their swords, Pan took a deep breath, then flamed them with the heat of a thousand suns, burning them to a crisp in an instant.
Stunned silence was followed by an uproar from the enemy, and new vigor in their attacks. But the pirates were smart. They left the dragon alone and turned once more against the ones they knew they could beat—the people of Artimé.
With the pirates changing focus, Pan began moving Alex and Aaron around over the lawn with her tail, wherever they were needed the most, while at the same time fighting off pirate and Warbleran attackers with her jaws and her fiery breath.
The Artiméans dug in with renewed strength but kept their distance from the dragon for their own safety. Pan’s children soared overhead, spreading out, then each found a spot on the lawn to land. Pan called to them in the language of the dragons, and they began sniffing the people, determining which of them contained more evil than good, and going after them one at a time.
Some of the pirates tried to capture the young dragons and drag them away, their greed taking over their senses. Others tried to fight the creatures. But their swords wouldn’t cut them, nor would they penetrate their scaly skin, for the dragons’ new wings had been protected by preserve spells, which covered them all the way to their extremities.
Pan let Alex and Aaron down so she could use her tail to protect her young. The brothers didn’t falter. Instead they herded the pirates toward Pan so she could finish them off.
Arabis the orange and the ice-blue dragon played tug-of-war with one pirate, while the two purples teamed up against a small band of pirates and practiced using their ropelike tails to lasso them. When they reined in a pirate, they tried out their fire-breathing skills. And Ivis the green took to the trees, flushing out the pirates who had gone into hiding.
Pan moved toward another group of pirates and began picking them up with her tail and flinging them like torpedoes onto the ship where Ol’ Tater was stomping around. And if the pirates were lucky enough to avoid being stomped on and dove overboard, Spike was there to bat them back on board so Ol’ Tater could try again.
The pirate ranks thinned, and one by one the exhausted Artiméans dropped back, both to get out of the way as the dragons had fun playing with the pirates before putting an end to them, and to give themselves a chance to rest. Soon Alex had no other pirates or enemy Warblerans facing him, and he actually had to search to find some. He looked
around, determined to fight to the very end, but then dove out of the way of Pan, who was coming farther and farther on land. Some of the pirates gave up and started to run away, but Pan’s tail brought them back in. She wasn’t about to let any of them escape.
The young dragons began to chase the pirates around the lawn.
Pan spoke sharply to her children, and then the six of them began herding the enemies to one central location, gently pushing the fighting Artiméans out of the way. Soon they moved to make a tight circle around the remaining enemies.
Alex backed off and saw that many of his friends had stopped fighting as well. They moved slowly toward the mansion, watching what was happening, almost unable to believe that the dragons had arrived to help them.
And then Alex remembered. “Has anyone seen Eagala?” he asked.
Samheed looked up wearily. “Lani took her out early on with a transport spell.” He looked around. “Where is Lani, anyway?”
“She’s hurt,” Alex told him. “Pretty badly, I think. Henry’s working on her.”
Samheed’s face filled with concern. He glanced at the enemies, and then back at Alex.
“Go,” Alex said. “See how she’s doing.”
Samheed didn’t hesitate. He jogged to the mansion.
Alex looked around for Sky, his heart leaping into his throat. He hadn’t seen her in a long time. Finally he spied her, still alive, and his throat tightened. She limped to the mansion, her exhaustion clear, but she lifted a hand at Alex to let him know she was okay. She went inside to the hospital ward.
The rest of the Artiméans and their Quill and Warbler friends backed away from the battle, awestruck by the size of Pan and the beauty of the young dragons, and thrilled not to have to be fighting against them.
They watched as the young dragons gently pushed the more-good-than-evil Warblerans and pirate slaves to the outskirts of the lawn, and corralled the more-evil-than-good pirates, herding them with their fiery bursts of breath toward the center of the lawn.
