Beyond the Knock Knock Door (22 page)

‘Not to mention the harlequins,' Luke added.

‘Maybe we can enlist the marines,' Michael suggested. ‘They could help.'

‘They're boys,' she pointed out. ‘Security guards at best. Besides, Cavalli warned us that some are working for the harlequins.'

The voices grew more heated, forcing the triplets to move further away.

‘Do you get the feeling that everything we do on this planet ends in disaster?' Luke asked.

‘Same as the last one,' she snorted.

‘Maybe we've failed,' Michael said. ‘Maybe Mr Goode Deed was wrong picking us.'

‘Or maybe we weren't sent here to fix it after all,' Luke said.

A war cry was followed by frantic activity. Mothers hurried away their children as the warriors grabbed weapons hidden among the trees. The triplets found
Tahoke testing the weight of his wooden clubs.

‘We raid the mines tomorrow night,' he said matter-of-factly, pushing past them. ‘We free our kin then attack Pacifico.'

‘You can't!' Michael said. ‘People will die.'

‘People always die in wars. We must defend ourselves by striking first.'

‘We can help. We can go back to Pacifico and –'

‘No,' he said, towering above them. ‘We've waited long enough for help. It's time for my people to reclaim these islands and remove the invaders. If you want to help, then stand by my warriors and fight.'

WHUMP!

A curved sword barely missed Samantha's head. It jabbed into the ground beside her ear and wobbled. Wide-eyed, she jumped from under her fur blankets and glanced around for attackers. Finding none, she shook Luke, who was still asleep among the other snoring islanders.

‘Wha –?'

‘Get up.'

‘No. It's too early.'

‘Get up!'

She strained to free her cutlass, but the magnetism held it tight. She needed a greater force to yank it away. Luke blinked at her and gradually pushed himself up. ‘Hey. How come your sword's here? I thought it was trapped in that –'

WHUMP!

His jetpack and visor hit him in the face.

She hushed him as other bodies stirred and stretched at the noise. He struggled into his gear against the strong pull of the island as they both looked at Michael's empty bedroll. Aurelio was also missing.

‘Here we go again,' she said. ‘Michael's gone off and done something stupid.'

Leeuwin, the blue whale, surged east with Michael and Aurelio on her back. Thin clouds crisscrossed the skies and the piper's melody filled their ears. The tune would have been fitting for such a glorious day, if not for their urgency. They needed to reach Pacifico and warn Oriana. Only she could stop this war.

‘Are you okay?' Michael asked, as the music paused.

‘Yes, I'm a little winded, that's all,' Aurelio hissed and gently kneaded his ribs.

Michael looked at the floating islands shrinking behind them. He felt uncomfortable leaving Samantha and Luke behind but he was riding towards danger. If he failed, he hoped his siblings would find the Knock-Knock Door and return home.

As they neared the whirlpool, the pilot fish scattered. Leeuwin slowed and Aurelio played louder. It didn't work. The blue whale began descending.

‘What's wrong?'

The giant eye of the whirlpool churned less than two hundred metres below.

‘The fish aren't responding. Something's scaring them.'

‘
Wark! Wark! Wark!
' a familiar voice crowed high above. ‘Experiencing engine problems, are you?'

The pair looked upwards as a skysled silently dropped from the clouds. It was little more than a winged flying platform with railings, a steering console, harpoon gun and a cargo of wooden crates. At the helm stood the black harlequin, his cape billowing behind him.

‘Now why would two young gentlemen such as yourselves be in such a rush to reach Pacifico?'

Before Michael and Aurelio drew their swords, a glass ball shattered beside them and leaked red knock-out gas.

‘Haul them up!' the black harlequin said.

Michael woke with a headache. His hands were tied behind his back and his shoulder was numb from leaning too long against a wooden crate. Next to him slumped Aurelio, still unconscious. They'd been stripped of their weapons by the blue harlequins, who stood cross-armed, scouting the horizon. The rest of the troupe lazed about, saying little and listening to the white harlequin strum her silver and pearl mandolin. The whirlpool twisted below them.

A crate creaked above Michael. He looked up to find a tangle of multicoloured feathers. ‘Hello, little
birdie,' the Vulture said, yanking back Michael's head with a wooden fighting staff. ‘Escape from your cage, did you?'

‘
Ow!
' Michael screamed.

‘
Vulture,
' the black harlequin said, holding his spyglass steady. ‘Play nice.'

‘Any sign?' the red harlequin asked, joining him.

‘Not yet. But our impatient buyers will be here shortly. I'm counting on it.'

‘Yes, counting gold.
Wark! Wark! Wark!
'

Sniggers broke the boredom.

Still a little wobbly, Michael stood, attracting the attention of the blue harlequins, who growled and squared their shoulders. He advanced towards the black harlequin. ‘Don't you care that people will die in your selfish war?'

‘Why should I?' the black harlequin answered, collapsing his spyglass and meeting him halfway. ‘I use people or push them out of my way.' He did just that by jabbing his walking cane into Michael's chestplate, sending him sprawling.

‘Knock me down and I'll just keep standing up again.'

The black harlequin hummed as Michael stubbornly returned to his feet. ‘Brave words, but words still the same.'

He nodded to the Vulture, who whirled his fighting staff and tripped Michael to the deck, much to the amusement of the others. ‘Ooooh!' they catcalled when he stood again. Finally, some fun.

‘Untie me! Or are you afraid I'll beat you in a fair fight?'

The black harlequin turned. ‘May I remind you, you might be dressed like the Gold Knight, but you're still a boy in a costume. This silly bravado will only end in pain.'

‘Coward! But hey, you're so gutless you kidnap people when they're asleep.'

The black harlequin sparked with a fistful of blue electricity. ‘Child, respect your elders.'

A lightning bolt threw Michael against the crates. His whole body spasmed as sharp pain sizzled through his bones and along his jaw.

‘Still eager, Sir Michael of Earth?'

The black harlequin leered at him, and when Michael turned his face away it was clear who was in charge.

The white harlequin returned to strumming as boredom settled across the skysled. Michael grimaced as he rolled forward and tried sitting. Every joint ached. He wasn't complaining. The black harlequin had spared his life. No doubt he had enough power in his hands to kill.

Sweat ran down Michael's cheek. Instinctively, he tried mopping it with his shoulder. As he flexed his arms, the ropes tying his hands gently ripped. He stopped. He glanced around and checked no one else had heard. He flexed his arms again and felt superhuman strength surge through his armour. The fibres tore like cobwebs and dropped to the deck.
When the blue harlequin turned, Michael looked away, keeping his wrists behind him.

That was it! His armour's special power. If it received a blow, it absorbed that energy and stored it. The more blows it took, the stronger Michael became. So when he crash-landed among all these crates, his armour had recharged with enough strength to break the ropes.

The mandolin's strings caterwauled. ‘Gentlemen!' the white harlequin yelled. ‘The boy!'

The nearest blue harlequin reacted first. He ran forward to tackle him, but Michael spun away and clambered over the crates. He desperately sought his sword until a lightning bolt pulsed past his ear and nearly fried him. Helplessly exposed, he crouched as several harlequins advanced, readying their lethal tricks. The Lady of Hearts rolled another glass ball on her fingertips; the Fireflies breathed flames; the green harlequin unfurled his shark-tamer's whip; while the purple one switched on an illusion generator and multiplied himself with three duplicates.

‘My lady – finish this!'

The red harlequin twisted her globe, which smoked with orange gas. As she readied to throw it at Michael, she vanished!

‘WAHOO!' Luke yelled as he hurtled across the twisting sea, holding the Lady of Hearts. By the time she realised she'd been kidnapped at high speed, she stood on a coral cay, marooned.

Her globe of orange gas had still fallen to the deck, however. Instead of smashing at Michael's feet,
it cracked open among a cluster of nearby harlequins. They hacked inside the smoke cloud until silence overcame them. When the air cleared, each one stood paralysed.

The rest discovered they were under attack. An armada of dolphins and whales darted towards the skysled, carrying fifteen Scorned warriors. At the front rode Tahoke and Samantha.

‘Stop them!' the black harlequin yelled.

Michael dropped down the starboard side to reach Aurelio, but the two big blue harlequins blocked his way. He also stood firm. The two lugs exchanged glances, smiled and closed in. Perfect. Michael used his super-strength to launch a crate at the nearest one and smacked him squarely in the chest.

The second blue harlequin roared in anger as his twin collapsed unconscious on the metal deck. He picked up the same crate and launched it back at Michael, who ducked and watched it disappear straight down the dark, deep middle of the whirlpool.

Another crate splintered near Michael's head, and he backed away from the bullish man. Tahoke came to his rescue, leaping off his dolphin and tackling the blue harlequin to the ground. They wrestled and fought each other with brutal punches until the chieftain yelled, ‘Get control of the ship!'

Battle cries rang out as the Scorned boarded the skysled and clashed with the remaining harlequins. Michael retrieved his sword then cut Aurelio free, only to be set upon by the white harlequin armed with
a blowpipe. She breathed in and fired a poison dart, only to have it swatted away by the piper's glowing red magnetic broach. She readied to shoot a second, but a cutlass chopped her weapon in half. Shocked, she turned to face a snarling Samantha, who yelled, ‘Am I allowed to be a pirate now?'

‘Yes!' Michael shouted back.

The white harlequin screamed and plucked a poisoned dart from her belt. She lunged at Samantha, who sidestepped at the last moment. The dart sank into the shoulder of the yellow harlequin, who shook violently then buckled.

The white harlequin shrieked again and lashed out. The punch missed Samantha but not the railing. The harlequin screamed and crumpled, nursing her right hand.

‘Watch out!' Luke yelled, tackling his sister as blue lightning exploded next to her. They sheltered behind the crates, as the black harlequin gained the upper hand.

Any Scorned hunter that charged his way was easily dispensed with a blue bolt of energy. It also gave his troupe time to coordinate their tactics. The sun harlequin dropped blinding flash grenades. The purple harlequin and his holographic triplets befuddled their attackers. The green harlequin called sharks to the battle and scattered the dolphins. And the Vulture cartwheeled, leapt and knocked out any remaining opponents with his wooden fighting staff.

‘This ends now!' the black harlequin said, firing a
warning shot over the steering wheel. Michael backed away. The mutiny was quashed. ‘I'm the captain of this ship. Surrender your weapons.'

Samantha and Michael's swords clanged on the deck, but Tahoke charged forward, swinging his club. The black harlequin easily blasted him into unconsciousness.

‘Pathetic,' he said, stepping over the bodies of the fallen warriors. ‘You!' he growled at the white harlequin. ‘Radio our friends. Find out why they haven't arrived yet, then tell them we've got extra cargo for pick-up. Premium dollar.'

She glared at him but heeded his orders.

Snapping his cloak around him, the black harlequin strolled forward and slammed down his walking cane. ‘Your little rebellion is finished. The last Great Chief of the Thirteen Tribes is captured. His islands will now fall just as fast. Well done, children. You've secured our final victory.'

‘You're forgetting one small problem,' Michael said.

‘Oh yes? And what would that be?'

Their swords magnetically flew back into their hands with the help of a pied piper.

‘A blue whale playing ten pin bowls.'

The remaining harlequins whipped round to see Leeuwin soar straight at them with Aurelio on her back. She skittled the Fireflies, the Vulture, the green and purple harlequins – and just missed their leader. The white harlequin straddled a dolphin and fled as the blue whale curved upwards then circled for another strafe.

The black harlequin rushed to the harpoon gun and aimed. Michael charged at him but –

BOOM!

‘Aurelio!'

The piper looked at his friends one last time before he and the big blue whale, mortally wounded, plummeted into the whirlpool. To the sound of horrified cries, the enormous hole swallowed them both.

‘NO!'

Luke grabbed a spear and rushed at the black harlequin, who swivelled, parried and sent the boy tumbling across the deck. Samantha attacked next. Her sword connected with his cane, and, with a jerk, he disarmed and dispatched her with a kick.

Nimbly, he toed her cutlass into his hand and spun to block Michael's blade. They separated then slashed, chopped and hacked in a deadly duel. Metal rang against metal as neither gave any quarter. Michael boiled with the anger of his friend's death. Finally, Michael feigned a clumsy counterattack, let the black harlequin lunge, then at the last moment changed direction and knocked away his cutlass. He punched the harlequin in the chin and sent him spinning.

Michael booted the cutlass back to his sister then circled the black harlequin, who knelt on all fours to pick up his mask. It had been dislodged, along with his three-cornered hat. As Michael tried to see the man's face, the black harlequin urgently secured it in place and plugged the electricity leaking from inside.

‘Enough!' the black harlequin hissed, his blue eyes no longer human but raging sparks.

Lightning hit Michael square in the chest and threw him across the deck. His body jolted and burned against the railings. Luke pushed his sister aside and cannoned straight for the black harlequin, but was also shot down.

He then spun on Samantha and said, ‘Want another go, princess?'

Prickled by fear and anger, she ground her teeth and asked, ‘Did you just call me “princess”?' She threw aside her hat, swapped her cutlass for the Vulture's staff then twirled it to gauge its weight. She chose a middle-guard kendo stance, stood with her right foot forward, slightly lifted her left heel and relaxed her shoulders, just as her sensei had taught her. ‘Victory means survival, defeat means death,' she whispered.

He unsnapped his cloak, scooped up a spear and, amused at fighting a twelve-year-old girl, lashed out. Swiftly, she blocked each deadly strike with ease and kept her cool. He, on the other hand, soon grew frustrated. He jabbed the spear at her several times before swinging it like a baseball bat. She caught another blow next to her cheek, smiled, then retaliated with precision. She crunched his wrist, hip and stomach; smacked his elbows; and numbed his shoulders. Soon, his spear spilt across the deck and she pushed him back with every hammering, steering him towards a gap in the railings. Three more steps and he'd tumble from the skysled into the whirlpool.