Island of Dragons (25 page)

“Including the ones you so foolishly catapulted onto our shores?” asked Alex. “I thought they were a gift.”

Eagala's face burned with rage. The golden Warbler pin on her garment flashed as it caught the sunlight. “Every last one of our children and our escapees, plus the two intruders, Lani and Samheed, whom you kidnapped.”

Alex held his voice steady. “And the pirates? What do they want?”

The pirate captain growled in a deep voice, “We want our underwater glass cage fully repaired and all the sea creatures returned to us, plus ten million pieces of gold for the two eels you murdered.”

Alex almost laughed at the impossible demands. There was no way Alex would send anyone back to live under the rule of the evil queen, and there was no way Alex would give the pirates the sea creatures that had been free and lived peacefully on the Island of Legends. As for gold, he didn't have a single piece to offer, much less ten million of them. “Anything else while you've got me here?” he asked sarcastically.

The pirate continued. “We want the hurricane restored to the Island of Shipwrecks, or we'll have to take control of it and find a new home for your little friends on the Island of Graves.”

Alex's heart dropped at the threat of harming the scientists, and then his temper flared. “What else?” he barked at them through gritted teeth.

Queen Eagala snarled. “We want you.”

“That's right,” said the pirate captain, pulling a sword from his belt and brandishing it. “We want you. Dead.” He turned to look over his shoulder. “First Mate Twitch, prepare the fleet.”

The young man named Twitch pulled on a rope, which raised a black flag high in the air.

“What do you say, child?” asked Queen Eagala, her voice mocking.

“I don't agree to any of your demands,” said Alex. “And you'll regret all of your decisions by the end of the day.” Alex pressed his fingers hard against Simber's neck. “Simber,” he said, pulling heart attack spells from his robe. “Attack!”

C
aptain Baldhead signaled the first mate, and suddenly the air was filled with the thwapping echo of catapults releasing all around the perimeter of the island.

“Heart attack!” Alex cried amid the din, pulling back his arm to fling a handful of spell components at the captain and Eagala. But just as he released the components, an orange flaming ball of tar came flying at them from close range, hitting Simber in the right flank, knocking the cheetah sideways in the air, and throwing Alex off balance. His legs jarred loose from Simber's sides, and Alex slipped off the statue's back and crashed to Eagala's ship below. One of his heart attack spells hit a random pirate, dropping her, and the others went flying into the sea.

Alex lay on the deck for a moment, stunned, as Eagala barked out orders and silent Warbler men and women rushed over to capture him. But Simber dove down, plowing into the people and scattering them far and wide. He snatched Alex up in his jaws, with one orange-eyed woman grabbing on to Simber's open mouth and hanging by her fingertips as Simber soared out of reach. They rose higher and higher.

Alex lifted his head and looked over the edge of Simber's mouth. The woman's eyes were wide and frightened. Alex stared at her for a long moment, knowing she'd drown if she fell into the water, and then he grabbed her wrists and hung on as Simber carried them the short distance to land.

Facing the island, Alex discovered several tiny plumes of smoke rising from various places. From the front of the mansion, Florence was shouting out orders.

Simber landed, setting the woman down a bit roughly. Alex climbed shakily out of the cheetah's mouth as Florence grabbed the Warbler woman by the shirt and pulled her to her feet.

“That went well,” Alex muttered to Florence.

“Clearly,” said Florence. The Warbler woman began signing furiously, and Alex watched her, trying to understand what she was saying. “Stay . . . ,” he interpreted. “Fight. You want to fight with us?”

The woman nodded profusely. She signed a bit more slowly.

Alex watched carefully, and then he looked at Florence. “She has a child here. She says she wants to fight and become an Artiméan. What should we do?”

Another round of thwaps punched the air.

“Look out, Siggy!” yelled Florence as a flaming ball of tar blasted through the mansion roof, just missing the theater instructor, and disappeared inside. Matilda dashed into the mansion to put out the fire it left in the upstairs girls' hallway.

Florence eyed the woman. “Who is your child?”

The woman spelled out a name.

“It's Scarlet,” said Alex. “The blond girl. You know her?”

Florence nodded. “She's one of the best young warriors I have. Does she get that from you?”

The woman nodded profusely.

Florence thought for a second as the giant catapult arms wound back a third time. “Okay, fine. We can use all the help we can get. Scarlet is on Lani's team. Just follow the shore that way to the next team beyond Simber's.” She looked up and called a squirrelicorn down to accompany the woman. “Make sure she doesn't try anything.”

The woman's face was filled with gratitude.

“She won't try anything,” Alex said as the woman left.

“I'm pretty sure you're right,” said Florence. “Look out—incoming!”

Alex ducked, then jumped on Simber's back. “Come on, Sim,” said Alex. “We need to figure out what's happening. Fly low to the water to stay out of the flaming fireballs. Are you okay, by the way? You got hit pretty hard.”

“I'm fine,” said Simber. “The orrrange flames arrren't hot enough to hurrrt me.” Simber took off, and Alex instructed him to fly to their ship, where Captain Ahab was maneuvering it to a safe spot under the arches of the flaming tar balls, but also keeping it within spell-casting distance of one of the enemy ships.

“Fire at will!” shouted Sean, and he sent a handful of Lani's newest creation, smoke bomb spells, into the neighboring ship. Next he grabbed a bunch of heart attack spells and sent them soaring. Ms. Octavia and the other spell casters on board the ship and Alex, from Simber's back, did the same with the heart attack spells, and together they took down five pirates. Fox cowered on deck near Captain Ahab.

“Thanks for the help, Al,” said Sean. “We're doing well here. Under control so far, anyway.” He reloaded.

“Hopefully they don't all come after you,” said Alex.

“Something tells me they don't really need to take over our patched-up ship,” said Sean. “They've got bigger goals in mind. I think we're safe. We'll just annoy the heck out of them as much as we can.”

“That's the plan, then,” said Alex. He looked at Fox. “Are you ready to do your special job for me, Fox?” he asked.

Fox lifted his head. “Is it time?” he asked.

“Absolutely. Go on anytime,” said Alex. “It's that one, right next door.” He pointed out the lead pirate ship, where Queen Eagala and Captain Baldhead were stationed.

Fox got up and shook himself, then tripped across the deck, hopped onto the railing, and fearlessly jumped over the side and into the water. He swam for the neighboring ship.

“Where did you send him?” asked Ms. Octavia.

“To eavesdrop on Eagala.”

“Good idea.” Ms. Octavia flung six tentacles full of heart attack spells at the neighboring ship, shouting “Heart attack!”

It was hard to tell with the smoke how many she took down.

Alex and Simber left the ship team to continue their attack, and flew to the white boat. Simber hovered over it while Alex checked in with Claire.

“I'm heading around the island to see where all the ships ended up,” Claire said. “I saw you fall and hit the deck—are you hurt?”

“Just a little shaken up. I'm fine now. We're going to drop by all the teams and see what sort of damage these flaming tar balls are doing.”

“At least Quill isn't made of desert-dry timber anymore,” said Claire. “We don't need another fire.”

“Agreed,” said Alex. “The weather barrier is in place over the entire island now, but that can't stop the tar balls from getting through. It's definitely a concern.”

A thwapping sound echoed around the island and everyone instinctively looked up and then ducked as flaming tar balls soared overhead and pelted Artimé and Quill. “Let me know if you need anything!” Alex shouted to Claire as he and Simber continued around the island to check on others.

“I will,” replied Claire. She guided the boat and hit the throttle, speeding over the waves.

Simber flew to Lani's team next and found them stomping out a fire in the tree-lined area where the Quillitary yard once stood. “Get us some buckets, will you?” called Lani. “Then we can fill them from the sea and be ready for the next round of attacks.”

“Great idea,” Alex said. He directed Lani's squirrelicorns to follow him and Simber back to the mansion, where Mr. Appleblossom was anxiously trying to put out a fire from another flaming tar ball that had hit the roof. One of the main-floor mansion windows was smashed, and a tar ball smoked in the entryway.

Alex hurried to douse it with water from the kitchen and found a couple of chefs putting out another fire in the dining room. He grabbed as many buckets as he could stack and carry, and brought them outside, giving three to each squirrelicorn to take back to Lani, and then commissioning his own team's squirrelicorns to take two each and fill them with water to help Mr. Appleblossom put the roof fires out.

He went inside the mansion for more. Once outside again, he balanced them on Simber's back and hopped on behind so he could deliver them to the rest of the teams.

» » « «

By the time Alex and Simber were off to make the rounds, Fox reached the ship that held Queen Eagala and Captain Baldhead. He scrabbled up the anchor chain so his ears were above the water, and hung on, listening carefully to the conversations on board like Alex had trusted him to do. It was a very important job, Fox knew, and he wasn't going to mess it up.

He strained his ears like a smart, sensitive cat would do, and tried to understand what the people on board were talking about. Tar balls? Melee? Fox didn't know what those things were, but they sounded like food and made Fox's stomach growl. But then he heard the voice of the scary woman from Warbler, which Fox remembered well, and she said the most horrifying words that Fox had ever known. “The giant eel.”

Fox shuddered as the cool seawater dripped off his nose. He had seen the giant eel before, and he never wanted to see it again. He had to report back to Alex right away! All of Artimé depended on him!

With a tiny splash, Fox slipped into the water and began swimming toward Artimé's pirate ship. But he didn't make it very far before a slithering tail wrapped around his whole body. By the time Fox figured out what was happening, he was jerked underwater, his screams for help muffled by the waves and the thwaps of the catapults. When Fox's eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw the sinister face of the eel staring at him from just inches away.

O
ver the course of the afternoon, Alex distributed water buckets to everyone and checked on the teams. There was only one injury so far—a Necessary on Aaron's team who'd been a little too close to an incoming flaming tar ball had gotten burned. Alex and Simber shuttled the injured Necessary to the hospital ward, and then continued on to check on Liam and Haluki.

One house in the quadrant nearest Haluki had suffered extensive damage, but no one inside was seriously hurt. On the north side of the island, the Ancients Sector took the brunt of the damage. Even the group of crotchety Wanteds, who lived crabbily on their little piece of sooty land, ran for cover. Carina's, Sky's, and Kaylee's teams kept the Ancients Sector from burning to the ground and helped the Ancients find safer places to stay farther inland. The teams were tired and hungry, but for the most part everything was under control.