Island of Dragons (Unwanteds #7)(82)

“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 bringing 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.