Island of Dragons (30 page)

Aaron led the group toward Gunnar Haluki's post with Liam hobbling along behind, slowing them down. A short time later, Haluki came out from behind a section of houses. Seven women and men followed him sporting various injuries. Their faces were grim, and they barely spoke.

Gunnar flashed Aaron a defeated glance, and soon the group of twenty was moving along together, growing more fearful of what they would find with the teams on the north shore of the island.

Liam continued to lag, and finally Aaron sent him back to Artimé with one of Gunnar's injured team members, telling them to go to the hospital ward. That left eighteen. They began jogging eastward along the north shore of Quill, looking for signs of Artiméans, but for a long stretch they saw no one and feared the worst for Sky and her team.

“Perhaps Sky's team has already joined the others in Artimé,” said Gunnar.

“I hope that's it,” said Aaron. Neither of them believed it. They ran faster.

Finally they heard shouts and clangs of metal in the distance behind the Ancients Sector. Aaron and Gunnar's squirrelicorns rose up, spotted something, and pointed out the direction. The leaders pressed doggedly onward with their teams struggling to keep up.

When they emerged from behind the new building that housed the Ancients, they stopped to rest and take in the scene. Pirates and Artiméans lay lifeless on the ground, but unlike at the other posts, there were more dead pirates and fewer dead Artiméans here.

A small band of pirates was waging a full attack on Sky's team, with Sky keeping four of them at bay on her own. Carina was there too, with her team in the trees, as was Kaylee with hers. Kaylee had four or five pirates trying to best her, and she held them off, though it wasn't clear how long she'd be able to keep it up. Claire and her team were close in on the white boat, and as Aaron and his group looked on, Claire's team eased their way off the white boat and came creeping up through the shallow water toward the shore.

“Stay quiet,” Aaron whispered to his group, and pointed to Claire. “Let's take our cue from Ms. Morning. When her team attacks, and the pirates turn to see what's happening, we'll come in from behind them and strike where they are most defenseless. I think we've got a chance here to do some damage. Stay strong!”

Ms. Morning spotted them and lifted her chin, looking straight at Aaron between the attackers. Aaron lifted his as well, and pointed at her to tell her that he was going to follow her lead.

Aaron's team members crouched behind rocks and buildings, and when Ms. Morning signaled to her team to move, Aaron did the same to his.

Together they ran toward the melee from opposite sides, components drawn, and when the pirates turned to see Claire's team emerging from the sea, Aaron raised his dagger in the air. “Now!” he cried. With his other hand he flung three heart attack components at the biggest pirate near Kaylee. Wings sprouted from the heart-shaped components and they flew straight and true, and struck the pirate in the back. His body jerked, and then his sword fell from his hands, and he hit the ground.

Everyone in Aaron's and Claire's teams dove into the fray. Aaron sent off another round of heart attack spells, hitting the next pirate near Kaylee, and then he did it once more, striking a third, his pockets emptying rapidly. Kaylee, realizing what was happening, focused on the fourth pirate. She kicked the woman's shield aside and stabbed her sword into the pirate's ample girth. Aaron saw it happen, and sent a single scatterclip flying at the pirate to finish her off, crying, “Die a thousand deaths!”

The woman fell, and all of Kaylee's opponents were down. Kaylee wiped the sweat from her forehead and took a breath or two before continuing on. Aaron pivoted and began to work on the next group of pirates. Soon out of heart attack components, Aaron switched to scatterclips.

The other Artiméans were quickly running out of their strongest components as well. The battle raged on, though the numbers grew to be much more even than they had been. With few components left, the Artiméans made use of the swords and shields strewn about, with varying degrees of success—some had never touched a sword until that moment, while others had taken several classes with Mr. Appleblossom. Still they struggled to fend off the remaining pirates, with Kaylee and Sky taking point and Claire consistently firing noncomponent spells until her concentration was shattered by lack of sleep and the intensity of the battle. But their efforts paid off, and the pirates dropped one by one.

Out of components, but armed with his immortality and swift healing, Aaron valiantly threw himself in front of several of his comrades in danger, taking the brunt of many swords and saving a few lives in the process. He cringed and fought off the pain, and checked to make sure the wounds were shedding little blood and closing up as swiftly as the first one had. They were.

Momentum grew on the side of Artimé, and finally the last of the pirates dropped. The north-side Artiméan teams had prevailed, but barely. There was little celebration. Everyone was exhausted, and no one noticed that Charlie the gargoyle had been waving from the boat for the past thirty minutes to try to get the attention of anyone who could understand him.

Finally, as Sky limped to the sea to wash the blood off her hands and face, she saw the gargoyle and signed back to him.

Charlie went on a tear, signing desperately, but Sky knew the language well and followed it all. After a quick response, she turned to the ragged crew of Artiméans.

“Everyone!” Sky shouted, her voice crackling with dust and fear. “We have to hurry! The head pirate, Captain Baldhead, is attempting to take over the mansion. He has hundreds of pirates still coming ashore!”

T
he remaining members of the teams of Aaron, Liam, Gunnar, Sky, Kaylee, Carina, and Claire counted off. There were fewer than fifty of them in good enough shape to continue fighting. Several squirrelicorns circled above them, waiting for instructions.

Claire took everyone's canteens to the boat just offshore to refill them from the fountain. “I can take ten of you with me,” said Claire, handing the full ones to one of her team members to distribute. “We'll go east around the jungle side of the island to the lagoon so we won't be seen, and then we can attack from that end of the lawn. The rest of you will have to cross the island on foot. We're exactly straight across the island from the mansion right now—it shouldn't take you too long to get there. Then, if our timing is right, we can do the same thing we did here and attack from multiple directions.”

Aaron frowned. “We need more components.” He called out to a squirrelicorn. “Can you find a way to get us some spell components? I know Alex has sacks of them in his living quarters. Maybe you can figure out a way to get up there and bring them to us.”

“Yes, sir!” said the squirrelicorn. “There's a hole in the side of the mansion that leads right into Alex's living quarters. Two of us can go. We'll deliver the ammunition to you before you arrive there.”

“A hole in the mansion?” said Sky, eyes wide. “I'm afraid to know what else has happened.”

Carina gave the squirrelicorn a grim smile. “That's perfect. Thank you,” she said. “Scout out the situation and let us know if we should take a different approach.”

“Yes, ma'am!” said the squirrelicorn. She called to one of the other squirrelicorns, and the two of them set off through the air to Artimé.

Aaron approached Ms. Morning. “How would you like to divide us up?”

Claire pressed her lips together. “I'll take Gunnar and Sky,” she said, and picked eight others who would give her a variety of skills, both in close combat and in spell casting. “Everybody grab swords and shields. Take extras if you can carry them. Let's move.”

Claire, Gunnar, Sky, and the rest of her team wasted no time and struck out for the boat, while Aaron, Kaylee, and the remaining warriors looked to Carina as their leader.

Carina shoved a sword in her belt and grabbed a shield. “All right. Let's go. We need to move fast if we're going to time this right and get it done before nightfall.”

Carina set the pace at a jog. Aaron caught up with her and matched her stride, and soon Kaylee made her way to the front and moved in place next to Aaron.

Aaron was curious to know the details of the original north-shore attack. “How did you all end up together?” he asked Carina and Kaylee.

“We stayed in sight of each other,” said Carina. “But there were really only a couple of natural places for the boats to reach land because of the rocks. So once we anticipated that the pirates would probably take smaller boats to shore, we talked through our plan. When the squirrelicorn delivered the news about the shields being magically protected, we decided the best option was to attack from multiple sides.”

“It was going pretty well,” said Kaylee, “especially at first, but then the pirates figured us out. We were in a pinch there for a while when you showed up.” She poked Aaron with her elbow, startling him. “Thanks for helping me out. I'm glad you came back with Alex.”

“Oh,” said Aaron. “Sure. I didn't have a choice, really—I couldn't stay there wondering what was going on. It would have driven me crazy.”

Kaylee looked sidelong at him. “I'm still glad,” she said.

Aaron wasn't sure if the run was making him sweat or if it was Kaylee.

Kaylee looked closer at Aaron's various injuries. His clothing was mostly free of bloodstains, unlike most of the others. “You sure don't bleed much,” she said.

Aaron shrugged. “Fast healer, I guess,” he said. Feeling parched and winded, sore from his many healing wounds, and a bit bewildered by Kaylee's continued deep interest in him, he slowed a little, pulled his canteen from his belt and drank from it. Kaylee and Carina were moving along very briskly. It was painfully clear that Aaron was not nearly in the shape they were in. His lungs burned, and he checked on his wounds. They had all closed by now, but were by no means gone. He struggled to catch up.

“We've lost a lot of people,” Carina said gravely. “I can't even think about it now. I'm scared to see what Artimé looks like. Who's at the mansion with Alex? Sean's in the ship with Ms. Octavia, I know.”

“Simber's there with a team,” said Kaylee. “And Florence, and a couple of the Warbler children. Mr. Appleblossom too. And a bunch of others.”

“I'm glad Florence is back,” said Carina.

“Lani's team is next to Simber's,” said Aaron. “And Samheed is beyond her. Hopefully they'll be able to help protect the mansion.”

“Yeah, if they haven't been totally demolished,” said Kaylee, breathing hard. She shook her head. “I honestly think I was safer on the Island of Graves.”

“All I know,” said Carina as they ran across the desolate area of Quill and approached the road that led to Artimé, “is that we have to prevail. I don't care if we need to pull every human, statue, and creature out of the mansion to help us—if we fail, we may as well be dead. Because if the pirates and Warblerans take over, you know we'll be their slaves. We'll never be free again.”

They ran without talking for the remaining stretch, and as a squirrelicorn approached with a small bag of spell components hanging from her mouth, all Aaron could think about was winning at all costs, because he and all of Quill were finally free of serving dictators. And while his future was uncertain, Aaron knew that there were only two possible options he wanted to pursue. Living out his quiet, peaceful life on the Island of Shipwrecks . . . or taking control of this island.

He couldn't decide which he wanted more.

A
rtimé was in chaos. The mansion windows were all broken, tar balls and rubble littered the shore, and hundreds of pirates stormed across the lawn fighting every human, creature, and statue they could find. The ostrich statue lay on its side by a tree, missing its legs. The tiki statue was now three individual heads. The girrinos were battered and bruised, and Jim the winged tortoise could only hobble slowly through Quill as he returned from his post, his wing broken.