“Storm’s brewing. It’ll probably hit before the day is done,” Paco grunted the very next morning, over breakfast. The last breakfast, I realized sadly, that we’d ever have in Aycenia’s clearing. If the mission was successful, hopefully it’d lead to a way off of the island. If it was a failure, well, we’d eventually be breakfast. Either way, there was no coming back.
“Which direction?” Salim asked him.
“East to west.”
“Then we work with it,” Belkross grunted. He was in the process of packing up Lilian’s tent. “We approach the camp from the east. But we need to move before the storm proper hits, ruining the mist with rain.”
“My thoughts exactly,” the girl said approvingly. She then told Salim, “It’d help if you sent your pet shadow to scope ahead, give Belkross help getting in.”
He nodded and summoned the shadow in question. It immediately zipped away, into the jungle. “Can’t hurt to get a head start,” he answered with a wink, his eyes solid black.
I noticed Nakoda hugging Aycenia goodbye. I walked on over. The dryad kept a hand upon Nakoda’s shoulder as she stood up to her full height. She pressed the palm of her other hand against my face. “I will be with you, in spirit,” she promised us. “But if this is truly goodbye, and you depart from this island, know this: No one underestimates the pair of you more than yourselves. There is more power in you yet to be unlocked.” She tilted her head while smiling sadly. “And do not let the company you keep convince you that it is necessary to become monsters to defeat monsters.”
“Aycenia,” Nakoda sobbed, tears flowing down his round cheeks, “I-I just…I just love you so much!”
“And I you, Sir Nakoda Drake.” She leaned over to plant a quick kiss upon the top of his head. She then placed a hand across the bandana he wore. A flower appeared, intertwining its stem through the cloth. Its petals were midnight blue, matching the butterfly-marked pauldron he wore. “Now go, boys. Continue on with this strange, wonderful legend.”
#
There was a sense of finality as we ventured south through the jungle. To be able to use the breeze to our advantage, we were forced to head east and then circle back around. By then the sky was fully grey, and the wind rustled the trees leaves constantly. Thanks to Belkross’ new hat, the wildlife stayed far away, but I could still sense their fear. With the Flying Shadow dead, we’d taken its place in the grand food chain. What would happen after we left?
Not our problem, the donkey part of me thought. Surprisingly, my unicorn half agreed. But more out of indifference. This part of me knew that nature didn’t need our help to fix itself. With the Grey God destroyed, nature would rebalance itself. Ultimately, the only thing that could save Smuggler’s Shiv was Smuggler’s Shiv.
“We should be close enough to start,” Salim murmured. His eyes were still black. I made out the muffled sound of humans in conversation in the distance. He tilted his head towards Belkross. “We may have given them too much credit, to be honest. Other than the lighthouse, everything else is little more than wooden boards held together with rope. There is one larger building, though. A mess hall maybe? Regardless, there are four sentries guarding the nearest opening, the one leading directly towards the lighthouse. There are also two big lizards, each chained to a tree. They stir whenever a tribe member gets too close, sniff them. They may be trained to recognize a Thrunefang member by scent.”
“Will that be a problem?” Lilian asked. Despite the cannibals still being a fair distance away, she still spoke in a hushed whisper.
“The mist should mask Belkross’ scent long enough for him to get through if he’s quick enough and doesn’t stray too close to either lizard.”
Belkross scoffed, as he were offended by the mere insinuation that he wouldn’t be able to pull it off. Nonplussed, Salim brought up his hands and summoned the mist. It curled around the group. I was so sick of this particular scent of sea salt that it almost made me gag. Once all of us were practically drenched in it, we continued onward. We made it to the camp within the hour. By then the sky was a deep grey and thunder boomed off in the distance. Rain was on its way, coming sooner rather than later.
Salim motioned for everyone to stop. We were now at the jungle’s edge, hidden behind the tree line. True to Salim’s description, I spotted four guards. One of them was spinning his spear between his hands to stave off boredom, another was leaning against his spear, on the cusp of falling asleep, and the last two were in the middle of a conversation about how hungry they both were. Because of my position I could only see one of the lizards. Sure enough, it was chained to a tree and didn’t look particularly happy about it. And beyond them all, a straight shot ahead, I spotted the base of the lighthouse.
“Wait,” Paco said suddenly. “Let me try something.”
For one terrifying second I was dead sure that he was about to start shooting people. But instead he raised a hand out towards the nearest lizard, the one I could see. An aura of magic flowed from his fingertips. It was accompanied by a lullaby-like tune. It flowed into the lizard. The creature fell asleep without much of a fight. None of the guards seemed to notice.
“Better safe than sorry,” the gunslinger told an offended-looking Belkross.
Before he could work his magic on the second lizard, and maybe all of the guards after that, Salim sudden snapped in a excited whisper, “I see them!” He pointed at the lighthouse. “Both of them, the king and the witch! First floor!” He willed the mist forward, into the camp. “Go, Belkross! Go!”
Belkross dashed forward and disappeared, becoming a ghost in the mist. The guards looked around, spooked by the mist’s sudden appearance, but none seemed to notice the mercenary. More importantly, Belkross managed to get in without triggering the second, still-conscious guard lizard.
Minutes passed where everyone in the group held their breaths.
In that time the first drops of rain hit the ground-
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The blast rang through the air for several seconds, drowning out the guards’ cries of surprise and panic. It was then quickly followed by the piercing sound of splitting stone. The building was buckling under its own weight. Before it could collapse completely, the front door burst open.
A heavily injured and burned old woman scrambled out and collapsed to the ground, the front of her face little more than a mask of blackened, cracked flesh. Looking like a charred devil out of Hell, Belkross followed close after her, ignoring the monkey scratching and biting at his face. The same bug-eyed monkey that had been following us through the jungle not too long ago. Without paying the manic, tiny beast any mind, Belkross jumped onto the old woman’s back and drove his sword into her, right into her left shoulder blade, through her heart. Then, for good measure, he snapped her neck all the way around so that her ruined face was forced to look up at him.
Pop!
The monkey disappeared. Ignoring his injuries, Belkross yanked his sword out of the dead witch and forced himself back onto his feet. Behind him, the lighthouse lost its fight against gravity. By sheer luck, it collapsed sideways, missing him. It crashed atop another large building, this one made of wood, maybe made from the remains of wrecked ships. The mess hall that Salim had mentioned? It was only once my ears stopped ringing that I made out the screams, but not just the guards’.
My stomach lurched.
They were the screams of women and children.
Four more cannibals appeared from inside nearby shacks. They joined the four guards in sprinting towards Belkross, weapons raised, howling like enraged beasts. As good as Belkross was in a fight, he was now incredibly injured, likely on the brink of death. It was a miracle he’d survived at all! If we didn’t do something fast, the cannibals would have him completely surrounded.
Lilian snarled a word and suddenly gained an aura of red energy around herself. She stepped forward, catching the attention of the four guards. Beyond them, Belkross slashed at a cannibal, cutting his head off. Yet the effort made him stumble, leaving him open to attacks from the other three.
Except that they didn’t attack. Instead they flinched away.
I squinted. Belkross was also glowing, just like Lilian. The aura flowed in and out of his wounds. I glanced back at the girl. A deep cut had appeared across one of her cheeks and the left elbow of her coat was darkening. Was she healing Belkross at the expense of herself?
Paco shifted across Turtle’s back so that he was practically hanging off of the lizard’s shell. He was aiming at the cannibal directly behind Belkross. Because of the weird angle and him actively trying not to hit the mercenary, the bullet clipped the enemy’s side instead of taking him down. Though it still knocked the enemy a few feet back.
The original four guards were backpedaling towards Lilian. Alton rushed in to back her up. The blood-like energy flowed across his rapier as he prepared to attack. Only for him to get snapped at by the one lizard who was still awake. Alton cursed and slashed it across the face, taking out an eye. This slight delay gave the guards the time they needed to close the distance.
Unfortunately for them, Nakoda and I also used those precious seconds to get in on the action. I bolted forward while Nakoda declared, “Teamwork!” He finished off the lizard with his magic-infused lance before I jumped to intercept the guards, flailing wildly at them with my front hooves.
“Belkross!” Lilian screamed. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted him getting to his feet, still glowing. He took a spear to the arm. Purposely so. He used it to yank its owner in close. He then shoved his sword up through the cannibal’s mouth and out the back of his skull. I was vaguely aware of Lilian hissing in pain and clutching at her side, but I was too busy dodging four spears to really focus on her.
A bullet of darkness shot through the air. Like flying black fist, Salim’s shade hit one of the guards attacking me across the face, and then continued to pummel the enemy’s body. With him distracted, that just left one guard for Alton to deal with and two for me and Nakoda. But, unlike last time, these guys weren’t playing around.
Motivated by the screams of their women and children, the enemies were consumed to their very souls by rage. But because they weren’t thinking clearly, this allowed Nakoda to predict their attacks and block with his lance. The real issue came from the combination of their rage-enhanced strength and Nakoda’s lack of weight. Each parry nearly knocked Nakoda out of my saddle, forcing him to sacrifice crucial milliseconds to regain his balance in between each attack. I could support him by ducking and dodging back and forth, buying him time to steady himself and defend, but I couldn’t attack without getting the tip of a spear to my skull or belly for my troubles. In simpler terms, our defense was better than the guards’ offense, but keeping our defense solid left no room for us to make any offensive moves.
“Not so fast!” Alton suddenly declared. He threw out a hand. Not sure if it was magic, or if the guard he was fighting just so happened to slip through a puddle right then and there, but the end result was the same: the spear fell from his hand. Looking smug, Alton chose to punch the guard in the face instead of striking with his sword. “There’s a new king in town now, freaks!”
As if on cue, that’s when more cannibals arrived, three appearing from the jungle on either side of us, and two from the camp. The latter two threw their spears. Lilian managed to flinch back, avoiding the one meant for her. Because he was stuck atop Turtle, Paco wasn’t so lucky. The spear struck the gunslinger. Luckily, Paco managed to turn with the blow. The weapon tore through flesh but kept on going instead of lodging itself inside his body. Regardless, blood immediately began to stream down his arm and across his rifle.
Belkross lopped off the arms of his remaining opponents and abandoned them to die screaming in joining puddles of their own blood. His eyes were deadest on Lilian. Looking pained, she still readied her bow and arrow and shot down the cannibal who had thrown his spear at her. Feeling similarly vengeful, Paco aimed his bloody rifle and shot at the enemy who’d hurt him. He brought the enemy down to one knee but didn’t manage to kill him, making the gunslinger swear loudly.
No longer feeling playful, Alton killed the guard he’d punched with a single stab to the throat. Maybe it was my adrenaline-infused imagination, but his pupils seemed to become slits. Like those of some fish…
Again, too busy trying not to die to give everything my full attention, though. All of this couldn’t have been going on for more than a few minutes, but my stamina was already running low. I had to call upon my magic to reinvigorate myself, and by extension Nakoda. Disregarding grunts of effort, my brother was eerily quiet as he fended off our enemies. Almost as if he were waiting for something-
Both of the guards lunged in unison.
Nakoda’s lanced exploded with magic.
CLANG!
With one mighty stroke, the little Rider knocked their weapons to the side, leaving them wide open. “HELL YEAH!” I cried out. “TEAMWORK!”
I rushed in and drove my horn into the nearest guard’s chest. I felt his ribs break and blood spilled across my face. The second guard jumped to the side and prepared to attack me from behind. Instinct took over then. Not the unicorn’s, but the donkey’s. I donkey kicked him with my back hooves, sending him crashing backwards into a tree. Both enemies dropped to the ground, lifeless.
Nakoda and I were distracted from our small victory by the sight of Salim screaming at the sleeping lizard. The creature jerked awake, eyes glowing green. It leapt at the nearest cannibal, the guard still being attacked by Salim’s shade.
So he lied! He does have domination magic!
The guard screamed as the lizard tore into his leg. The shade took this opportunity to fly into his mouth. His eyes bulged and then popped with bursts of black vapor. The shade exited the corpse’s mouth as it toppled over and returned to its master’s shoulder.
Looking annoyed, Paco finally finished off the cannibal who’d speared him. Alton cut off the upper half of another’s skull within seconds. All of this gave Belkross the time he needed to get in between Lilian and the remaining enemies. By now, thanks to her magic, the mercenary was more than functional. Maybe not pretty, but functional. Enough to finish off the last of the man-eaters with near-casual swings of his blade. Without missing a beat, he turned to Lilian. “An opportunity presents itself.”
Her brow was slick with sweat and blood as she replied with a curt nod. “I’ll summon scouts.” Just as she had warned Turtle and I, three dog-like creatures appeared. Their bodies were flayed. and their eyes were burning coals of fire. They inclined their heads towards Lilian before bolting past everyone else, into the camp.
So much for new friends, I thought sarcastically.
Thanks to the lull in combat, the screams from the camp were louder than ever. The rain was now pouring, drenching us all, and creating puddles of rainwater mixed with blood. Salim’s shade abruptly flew away, towards the lighthouse’s broken base. Teeth bared in anticipation, Salim followed after it. “Alton!” he shouted back. “Our treasure!”
“Oh. Uh. Yeah.” Alton raced after him.
Nakoda and I exchanged looked with Paco and Turtle. We all shrugged and hurried towards the lighthouse. I had to heal the gunslinger on our way over, though. “Know what?” Paco grunted up at me. “Glad I didn’t eat you after all.”
“Guys!” Alton called over. “You gotta see this!”
He and Salim were standing alongside each other, staring downward. We joined them. A giant hole rimmed with rubble was all that remained of the lighthouse’s base. White glass-like stones grew close together into a makeshift spiral staircase, leading down into darkness. Face warped by hunger, Salim hunkered down by the edge and mused aloud, “There’s always another secret.”