Champion of the Titan Games, Page 3

  “They have courage,” Knox said. “And know-how. And when they were handing them out, I stuck around for seconds.”

  “How many seconds?”

  “No, a second helping. A double portion.”

  Tess rolled her eyes. “How will you kill the next demon? With that stick?”

  “A new problem will need a new solution,” Knox said. “I might use some of the moves I’m practicing. Or maybe some other technique. At least I’m not wasting my time with sandcastles.”

  “Kendra saved us from the spider eels with a sandcastle,” Tess said.

  “Not one like you’re making,” Knox scoffed.

  “I like it,” Tess said. “And the fairies like it. Having fairy friends can be useful too.”

  As Knox gave the sandcastle a closer look, he had to quietly admit it was impressive. The highest tower was as tall as his waist, sculpted with details like bricks, shingles, crenellations, and windows. Flashes of light signaled fairy magic as the tiny winged women smoothed surfaces and bound sand particles into fanciful shapes.

  “I’d rather have friends who know how to fight,” Knox said.

  “I like friends who play with me,” Tess said.

  “Hey, Knox,” Warren called, exiting the jungle from the direction of the sprawling tree house called the Monkey Maze. “Hi, Tess. Good to see you.”

  His tone was an odd mix of purposeful and friendly, almost like a bad actor in a community play putting too much expression into his line.

  “Is something wrong?” Knox asked.

  “Everything is super great,” Warren said, again with too much expression. His eyes darted up and down the beach as he strolled toward them.

  Now Knox knew something was off. Tess watched Warren curiously as well.

  As Warren drew near, he lowered his voice and spoke with urgency. “A pair of sand dullions just attacked Savani. We suspect there are more. You two need to get off the sand, but look casual. Hopefully this is just a precaution.”

  The fairies started pointing down the beach and chattering over one another. Tess gazed in the direction they indicated.

  “Don’t look toward—” Warren began as, twenty yards away, a thick figure erupted out of the beach in a gritty geyser. The monster was at least eight feet tall and made of tightly packed sand, with lumpy shoulders and big, three-fingered hands.

  “Run!” Warren shouted, motioning the kids toward the trees.

  Fairies scattered as Tess dashed for the jungle, bare feet kicking up sand. Knox followed, stout stick held ready. Warren charged the dullion, sword raised. He ducked when the dullion swung a long arm at him, then rose to slash the creature across the torso, sending a spray of sand into the air but otherwise having little effect. The creature punched at Warren, who narrowly dodged the blow, then failed to avoid a backhand that sent him cartwheeling.

  A second dullion surged from the sand up the beach in the opposite direction and raced to cut off Knox’s escape into the trees. The sand creature moved with long, loping strides, and Knox saw that it would beat them to the jungle, so he yanked Tess to a stop.

  “Head for the water!” he cried, hoping the dullions might hesitate to get immersed. The ocean around the Crescent Lagoon sanctuary teemed with dangerous sea creatures, but the lagoon itself was generally safe—certainly safer than getting bashed by living sand.

  The water was much closer than the trees, and the dullions were out of position to block access to the lagoon, but it would still be a challenge to beat them there. Knox knew he could go faster if he released his sister’s hand, but instead he squeezed more tightly. No way was he going to leave her behind.

  Both dullions closed on them, one from off to the side, the other from behind. Knox heard Vanessa calling, and out of his peripheral vision he noticed Warren getting up, too far behind the dullion to interfere.

  Knox and Tess reached the wet sand at the edge of the water and splashed forward, first to their ankles, then to their knees. A quick glance back showed that the dullions had almost reached them and did not appear to be slowing as they approached the water. As Knox sprang forward, a mighty roar hit his eardrums like a cannon blast, only to be muffled as his surface dive took him underwater.

  When his head emerged, Knox saw both dullions facing away from him as one of the Himalayan cyclopses stormed toward them, maybe Hobar or Baroi. The cyclops carried a club that was broad and flat on one end, like a cricket bat fringed with sharp stones. Working together, the dullions tried to counterattack, but the cyclops made them look slow, chopping with savage precision as he dodged their swings, hacking off arms, then heads, then legs. Each severed limb dissipated into a cloud of sand, and the torsos disintegrated as well once the limbs and head were gone.

  “Come on,” Knox said to Tess, pushing her ahead of him before stroking back to the beach.

  Very soon it was too shallow to swim, and Knox waded to Warren, who awaited them alongside the cyclops at the edge of the water. Warren had blood leaking from his left nostril, and his eye was swelling shut. Vanessa caught up with them there.

  “Are you all right?” Warren asked, taking hold of Knox by the shoulders and looking him up and down.

  “I’m fine,” Knox said. “I didn’t get punched in the face.”

  “What about you?” Vanessa asked Tess, gripping her hands.

  “I’m a little scared,” Tess said. “But we’re safe, right?”

  Vanessa looked at the cyclops. “Baroi?”

  “I believe there are no more dullions,” Baroi said. “I will patrol the area to be sure.”

  “Do you know if Kendra is safe?” Vanessa asked.

  “She is well,” Baroi said. “She is with my brothers, near the Sunset Pearl.”

  “Four dullions,” Warren said.

  “Four?” Knox asked.

  “Two attacked Savani as she oversaw the expansion of her garden,” Vanessa said. “The menehunes helping on the project came to her aid. They fought one dullion, and Baroi battled the other.”

  “He called for us to go to the beach,” Warren said. “He could sense the dullions there.”

  “Were the dullions targeting the children?” Vanessa asked.

  “Difficult to know,” Baroi said. “They may simply have been after whoever they found on the sand. I’m sorry it took me so long to overcome the dullion in the garden. It was more evasive than these.”

  “These directly attacked you,” Warren said.

  “Their mistake,” Baroi remarked.

  “How did dullions get in here?” Warren asked. “This area should be protected!”

  “They might have been planted when all protections were down,” Baroi said. “Before the first moai was revived. Or else it was an inside job. Someone with access could have admitted them.”

  “Who would do that?” Vanessa asked.

  Baroi tilted his face skyward. “I cannot see.”

  “Do we have a traitor?” Knox asked.

  “Possibly,” Vanessa said. “Many people went missing when the preserve fell. It could be somebody who had access but is presumed dead. It could also be a high-level member of Dragonwatch.”

  “Or they might have been brought in when the defenses were down,” Warren reminded her.

  “If so, why wait so long to deploy them?” Vanessa asked.

  “I don’t know,” Warren said. “Why attack now in the first place?”

  “I came running the moment I sensed them,” the cyclops said. “Tal and Hobar stayed back to protect Kendra and the pearl.”

  “How could they have avoided your notice for so long?” Warren asked.

  “These dullions seemed to spring into existence,” Baroi said. “They were either dormant or created on the spot—or else they snuck into the preserve through a portal. I wish I could have reached you sooner.”

  “Could other d
ormant ones still be hiding?” Knox asked.

  “I will conduct a thorough search,” Baroi said. “We must all consider the likelihood that our defenses have been compromised.”

  “We barely got our defenses back,” Warren complained.

  “The defenses of the sanctuary are functional,” Baroi said. “But somebody may be granting unwarranted access, or else your enemies have found another way to work around the protections.”

  “What now?” Knox asked.

  “Short term?” Warren replied. “You two need to stay in the tree house.”

  Knox glanced at where he had dropped his stick before running into the water with Tess. Maybe he wasn’t as ready to become a warrior as he had imagined, but did he have to hide in a tree? “Isn’t the danger past?”

  “We didn’t anticipate an attack like this,” Vanessa said. “It shouldn’t have been possible. Until we figure out what is going on, you ought to stay in our most defensible stronghold.”

  “Why punish us for getting attacked?” Knox complained.

  “Staying alive is not a punishment,” Warren said. “If attacks can happen, we have to take more precautions.”

  “That could have been the last attack,” Knox said.

  “Or it could just be the beginning,” Vanessa countered. “There is a war going on.”

  “We might be safer on the ground,” Knox said. “If I were the bad guys, I’d chop down the trees.”

  “Good thing you’re not them,” Warren said. “March.”

  “Why do safety precautions usually happen after the accidents?” Knox asked.

  “It’s how we learn,” Vanessa said. “Better late than never.”

  Knox crouched to pick up his stick without stopping.

  “Thanks for staying by me,” Tess said.

  “I wish I could have knocked their heads off,” Knox said.

  “I wish the same thing,” Warren said, raising a hand to gingerly probe his swollen eye. “We’ll keep this fair. We’ll all stay mostly up in the trees.”

  Hobar patted Kendra reassuringly with a hand big enough to crush a watermelon. “Your cousins and friends are safe. Baroi destroyed the last of the dullions.”

  “Are you sure?” Kendra asked.

  The cyclops nodded, then sniffed the air. “Something else is coming, though.”

  “More dullions?” Kendra asked.

  “Something of greater magnitude,” Tal said. “Something from the depths.”

  “We have sensed a growing disturbance,” Hobar said. “An imbalance.”

  “The war?” Kendra guessed.

  “Not exactly,” Tal said.

  Kendra looked to where she had just planted a seed from the Sentient Wood. The hamadryad Eldanore had entrusted her with three seeds—an oak, a redwood, and a banyan. They would grow into thinking trees like those in the ruminating forest at Wyrmroost.

  After returning from the Fairy Realm, Kendra had gone directly to the cyclopses. Baroi had suggested she plant the banyan here on Timbuli, within sight of the Sunset Pearl. Scooping the dirt over the seed had felt like her final duty at Crescent Lagoon. As she was searching for a feeling of farewell, the cyclopses had sensed the intrusion, and Baroi had raced away.

  Now Kendra stared at the pearl, resting in a shallow basin atop an altar of black, porous rock. The size of a softball, the Sunset Pearl had a rainbow sheen on its milky white surface. Around the clearing where the altar had been raised stood the ten Grand Moai, enormous statues with elongated heads like those on Easter Island. When the pearl was present, the moai around the sanctuary exerted their protective magic. After the pearl had been stolen, the sanctuary had fallen.

  “I know now,” Hobar and Tal spoke in unison, interrupting her musings.

  “You know what?” Kendra asked.

  “The cause of the imbalance,” Hobar said.

  “The coming upheaval we perceived,” Tal said.

  Kendra heard heavy footfalls approaching. Baroi bounded into view, breathing heavily.

  “Yes, they are fine,” Baroi said to her unasked question. He laid a gentle palm against her back. “Come to the center of the clearing and witness an event that has not transpired for centuries.”

  The ground began to tremble as the three cyclopses gathered near the altar. They pointed up at Baga Loa, the volcanic mountain that towered over the island. As the quaking increased, so did Kendra’s alarm.

  “Is Baga Loa going to blow?” she asked.

  “For the first time in many years,” Tal said.

  “Should we run?” Kendra asked.

  “You could not outrun Baga Loa if she erupted in earnest,” Hobar said.

  “We will be safe here for a time,” Baroi said.

  Kendra gasped as a column of ash and smoke exploded from the mountaintop. The sound hit a moment later, prompting Kendra to cover her ears. Lava fountained up at the base of the smoke.

  The cyclopses placed their hands over their chests and bowed their heads. The ground stopped trembling, but the smoke and lava kept gushing.

  “Baga Loa is displeased,” Tal said.

  “Someone tried to take the Everbloom,” Hobar said.

  “The eruption will worsen unless the firewalkers soothe it,” Baroi said.

  Kendra watched in awestruck fascination. What would she do if a river of lava came her way? Would there be anywhere to hide? High ground? Or out in the ocean? Were the cyclopses right that there was no point in running?

  “Come,” Baroi said. “You grow restless. Let me escort you back to the Monkey Maze. No harm will come to you today from this eruption.”

  Kendra accepted the invitation after one last long look. She also gave final glances to the Sunset Pearl and to the spot where she had planted the banyan seed before she walked away.

  As Kendra balanced on a platform rising to the elaborate tree house, she listened to the roar of the volcano rumbling like a mighty wind. She could not see the eruption through the layered screen of leaves, but she had caught several glimpses of the towering discharge on her way back to the Monkey Maze with Baroi.

  Kendra wondered how long the ancient trees would last against a river of lava. How much shelter could the powerful limbs provide against a pyroclastic flow of sweltering ash? How long before the forest and the hidden dwellings it protected toppled in fiery ruin?

  As she neared the top of her ascent, Kendra saw the satyrs Newel and Doren on a platform off to one side, using badminton rackets to swat a shuttlecock back and forth without a net. Newel paused to wave at her before returning to his horseplay.

  Kendra’s lift drew level with a much bigger platform and stopped. The larger structure was one of many covered platforms, at various elevations, connected by walkways, rope bridges, and ladders, extending out of view in the lush canopy.

  “Kendra!” Tess called, running to greet her.

  Kendra was glad to see her cousin so exuberant. Behind Tess, Knox seemed calm and unharmed. Tanu acknowledged Kendra from beside Knox, his eyes showing both concern and welcome. The Samoan potion master looked rumpled but unhurt.

  Standing apart from the others was a man clad in dark robes, with white hair and a neatly trimmed beard. Kendra had not expected to see Andromadus, and she was relieved by his presence.

  “Are you all right?” Kendra asked Tess as they hugged.

  “Yes,” Tess said. “Except for the sand monsters who tried to kill us. And the erupting volcano.”

  “We’ll keep you safe,” Kendra said.

  “That’s what everyone keeps telling me,” Tess said. “It kind of makes me worry.”

  “We have some reasons to worry,” Kendra admitted. She lifted her gaze to Andromadus. “You came.”

  “We must talk.”

  “How are my grandparents?”

  “The Sorensons remain in the secur
e room at Blackwell Keep with the others who sought refuge there,” Andromadus said.

  “Can’t you just use magic to teleport them out?” Knox asked.

  “The room is impervious to magic, which is part of what makes it secure,” Andromadus explained.

  “Did you know we were under attack?” Kendra asked.

  Andromadus gave a weary sigh. “Everywhere is under attack. I came here to inform you and to recruit your assistance. Can we converse in private with Savani?”

  “Sure,” Kendra said.

  “I want to hear,” Knox complained.

  “You will learn all you should know,” Andromadus assured him.

  “Don’t forget, if the problem involves unstoppable demons, you might want me around,” Knox warned.

  “I’ll watch Knox and Tess,” Tanu offered. “Go.”

  Andromadus led Kendra over a sturdy bridge to a thatched platform, and then over a long rope bridge that rippled with every step. Pushing aside vines, they climbed a ladder to a higher, smaller landing, birds hooting around them, then crossed to a completely enclosed platform with a door. A menehune stood guard out front, not much taller than Kendra’s waist, but with a gruff face and a body crammed with veiny muscles. Unseen through the leafy barriers, Baga Loa continued to grumble.

  “Savani expects us,” Andromadus announced.

  The menehune rapped the door twice with his elbow.

  “Send them in,” Savani called.

  The menehune reached up to open the door and stepped aside. Kendra and Andromadus entered a shuttered room with a tree trunk ascending through its center. Dim hanging lanterns and unshielded candles provided mellow luminance. Savani sat cross-legged before a brazier of red-hot coals, her back to the door, sleek shoulders exposed by a strapless wrap.

  Kendra winced as Savani reached into the glowing coals and retrieved two in each hand. “Baga Loa is upset,” intoned the caretaker of Crescent Lagoon.

  “So we noticed,” Andromadus replied.

  “A thief tried to steal the Everbloom from her depths,” Savani chanted with little inflection, rolling the coals against her palms, fingers caressing them.