Against the Tide

  Conor shoved himself free from the hole and felt his body go solid again. He was drifting in a wide blue emptiness with dazzling sunlight far above him. A small silver fish flashed by, then flashed back to peer at him curiously, then flashed away again. A few yards away, a giant turtle lazily swam past without giving him a second look.

  I did it! We have Mulop’s talisman!

  Conor kicked vigorously, powering himself up to the surface as triumph flooded through him. For once, a Great Beast had been on their side; for once, things had gone as well as they possibly could. Maybe this was a sign that their luck was changing. Maybe they were close to stopping the Devourer. Maybe it could still happen before Kovo escaped his prison.

  Conor’s head broke the surface of the water and he sucked in a breath of real air. A cliff soared away over his head, with seagulls and hawks circling far up in the sky. Waves tugged him toward the rocks at the base of the cliff, and he had to kick and paddle just to stay where he was.

  He twisted around, looking for the Kingray.

  That’s when he saw the ships.

  There had to be at least a hundred of them, filling the sea to the horizons. As far as Conor could see, the entire island was surrounded. No giant stingray would be getting past this blockade, not with four kids on top of it.

  They were trapped. Somehow the Conquerors had found them again.

  I have to get back and warn the others.

  But before Conor could move — before he could swim back to the cavern or even yell a warning — he suddenly felt something rubbery and slippery slither around his ankle. He had barely a moment to look down and see the long orange tentacles of Mulop, reaching up to drag him under.

  And then the octopus yanked him down, down, down into the dark, bubbling depths of the sea.

  ABEKE LOOKED DOWN FROM A LEDGE HIGH UP THE CAVERN wall and saw that Mulop and Conor had both vanished from the grotto. Dark ink was spreading through the clear blue water, hiding anything below it. She hoped Conor would be all right. She wondered if she should have volunteered instead.

  The Granite Ram thumped against her chest as she leaped to the next rock, then the next. It was almost like flying, to feel so sure on her feet and be able to jump so far. In the space of a few breaths, she’d reached the top. She hauled herself onto the flat stone and collapsed there for a moment, feeling the sun on her face.

  “Grrawk!”

  Abeke opened her eyes and saw Essix beside her. The gyrfalcon peered meaningfully down into her face and blinked.

  “Oh, sorry,” she said, sitting up. She pulled the Granite Ram over her head and handed it to Essix, who flew down into the hole to take it to Rollan.

  Abeke stood up and stretched — and then froze.

  “Rollan!” she shouted. “Meilin! Get up here, hurry!”

  “Working on it,” Rollan called.

  “What’s wrong?” came Meilin’s voice.

  “We’re surrounded by Conquerors!” Abeke called back, her voice shaking. She pivoted, scanning the ocean. It was true; there were ships all around the island, each one swarming with people and animals.

  How? her mind screamed. How? How? How did they find us AGAIN?

  Pebbles cascaded below her, and Rollan’s hand appeared. Abeke reached down and helped to drag him up beside her.

  “See?” she said, pointing.

  Rollan bent over, gasping for breath, and handed the Granite Ram to Essix again. A few moments later, Meilin scrambled up next to them. Ignoring Abeke’s outstretched hand, she stood up and immediately began studying the ships, shading her eyes with one hand.

  “How did they find us?” Rollan asked. “How do they always find us?”

  “We already know the answer to that,” Meilin pointed out. Her face was grim, and she didn’t look at Abeke.

  “All right, I know my mother said there was a mole,” Rollan said. “But this was so fast! How could any of us have sent a message when we’ve all been together this whole time? On a stingray and then in Mulop’s grotto? And none of us knew where we were going!”

  “It’s not even possible,” Abeke said numbly. “There must be some other explanation, like something followed us, maybe —”

  “Essix would have warned me if we were being followed,” Rollan protested. “This makes no sense.”

  “There’s nothing we can do about it now,” Meilin retorted. “We have to get out of here.”

  “And we have to get Conor,” Abeke interjected. He must be terrified, floating out there in the sea with Conquerors’ ships all around him.

  “Of course,” Meilin said. She started down the rocky path to the beach. Abeke and Rollan followed as fast as they could, slipping and sliding on the loose rocks. There were scrubby bushes here and there, clinging to the patches of dirt, and Abeke found herself catching on to them whenever her feet slipped out from under her. The sunlight suddenly seemed unbearably hot, like the glare of ten thousand Conquerors’ eyes watching them.

  Below her, Meilin abruptly stopped, several yards above the beach. “Uh-oh,” she murmured.

  Three boats were just landing on the sand below them. As they watched, Conquerors began jumping out into the water and hauling the boats up onto the land. Their escape route was completely cut off.

  Worse than that, they could see the entire blue bay from where they were — and there was no Kingray in sight.

  “Did it just leave us?” Meilin hissed, staring down at the water.

  “It was probably scared by all the ships arriving,” Abeke said. “Or maybe it doesn’t know anything about good and bad; maybe it figured now we’d have plenty of boats to carry us off the island.”

  “This is true,” Meilin said. “Plenty of boats to carry us straight to Stetriol and into the hands of the Devourer. Aren’t we lucky.”

  Abeke spotted a head of blond hair among the Con­querors moving below. A gasp escaped her before she could stop herself. Shane! Shane is here! Next to him she saw Zerif, right before Zerif looked up and spotted her.

  For a chilling moment their eyes met, and then he yelled something to the Conquerors around him. They all turned to look up at the three kids on the cliff slope.

  “That’s not good,” said Rollan.

  With a shout of triumph, several Conquerors came racing up the beach toward them.

  “Up, up, up!” Meilin cried. She drew her quarterstaff and released Jhi at the same time. “We’ll have an advantage from the top of the cliff. Abeke, take the Granite Ram!”

  Startled, Abeke reached out and caught the talisman as Meilin tossed it to her.

  “Get as high as you can and use your bow,” Meilin ordered. “Go! Now!”

  Abeke didn’t argue. She slipped the ram over her neck and released Uraza, then leaped rapidly from boulder to boulder up the slope. As she jumped, she pulled out her bow, and when she reached a flat spot, she whirled and fired down into the mass of Conquerors below.

  She could see at once that the enemy had planned ahead for this attack, at least in choosing which spirit animals would come over in the boats to the island. Most of the animals swarming rapidly up the rocks were monkeys and apes, perfectly suited to climbing. Long-armed gibbons clambered after macaques with enormous teeth. A pair of baboons shrieked furiously, and three monkeys Abeke had no name for were advancing relentlessly up the steepest part of the cliff, their faces strange and dark. They were all unnaturally big and angry.

  Abeke aimed at one with matted fur and blazing eyes as it scurried toward Rollan. Her arrow sent it flying backward off the cliff with an unearthly scream. Another arrow thudded through one of the baboons; her third narrowly missed a snarling chimpanzee.

  Not far below her, Uraza was grappling with a huge doglike creature that Abeke thought might be a dingo. The leopard had her jaws locked around its neck while it thrashed and clawed at her.

  Jhi had re
treated up the rocks, but Meilin was clearly using her heightened senses as she fought. She looked like a blur of motion, swinging her quarterstaff to knock aside enemies and in the next moment launching a flurry of kicks to drive them back. It was supernatural how fast she was moving.

  Scanning the attackers, Abeke spotted a black shape scrambling up the rocks toward Jhi. It looked like a bear, but with a bright yellow arc of fur on its chest. A sun bear, if she remembered correctly from the books of animals Tarik had shown her on the ship. It growled at Jhi, flexing long, cruel-looking claws.

  There was no time for Meilin to get to Jhi to protect her. Abeke whipped her bow around and launched an arrow straight into the sun bear’s distinctive markings. It roared furiously and toppled off the rocks.

  She felt a small glow of satisfaction, but it flared out quickly. There were so many Conquerors — so many Bile-enslaved animals. How could Abeke, Rollan, and Meilin possibly fight them all off and escape, especially without the Kingray? And what about Conor, floundering out in the ocean, waiting for them to come get him? Would he be all right, or would the Conquerors grab him too? What if they had more of their deadly sharks in the water?

  Maybe we should surrender, she thought hopelessly. If I could talk to Shane — maybe he’d even let us go. At least he’d save Conor. And he’d make sure our spirit animals stay safe. She thought so, at least. She couldn’t see where he’d disappeared to in the chaos of people below.

  But that would put three more talismans in the Devourer’s hands. Would that be enough to free Kovo? Would that mean the end of Erdas as they knew it?

  A yowl of beastly fury dragged Abeke’s attention back to the battle. She fired three more arrows in quick succession at a tiger, a hyena, and another giant monkey, missing one but hitting the other two. She felt for another arrow and realized she’d be out soon.

  I need to make these really count.

  She narrowed her eyes, searching the horde of people below.

  There he is.

  Zerif.

  He’d lied to her; he’d tried to turn her evil. Zerif was the leader, or at least a leader of the Conquerors. Maybe if she could take him down, they’d fall back and give up — or at least be confused enough that Abeke and her friends might have a chance of escaping.

  She drew her bow back and aimed, trying to ignore her thudding heart. The man stood on an outcropping, shouting orders at the fighters scrambling up behind him. Her sharp arrow tip was pointed directly down at Zerif’s heart.

  It was one thing to shoot gibbons and tigers — but deliberately aiming at someone she knew, someone she had spoken to . . . Wouldn’t that make her as evil as any of them? She shivered, and then tightened her arm muscles, trying to turn herself to stone. I have to. It’s the only way to stop them. Even if it’s wrong.

  And then Meilin will know I’m truly a Greencloak.

  She took another deep breath, stilling the tremors running along her arms. And then, strong as a lion, fierce as a leopard, brave as a warrior, cold as a glacier — she fired the hardest shot she’d ever taken. The arrow took a little bit of her with it.

  It struck Zerif right in the chest, exactly where his malevolent heart beat.

  And bounced off.

  Abeke gasped. That’s impossible! She knew her aim had been straight and true. It should have killed him instantly.

  Zerif turned slowly, rubbing his chest as if he’d been pinged with a button. He glanced down at the arrow. A gloating smile spread across his face, and he raised his eyes to meet Abeke’s.

  She watched numbly as he reached into the collar of his shirt and held up something that gleamed dully in the sunshine.

  The Iron Boar.

  That’s what it does, she realized with anguish. The Iron Boar — it must make your skin as tough and leathery as a boar’s hide, like a kind of invisible armor. My arrows will never pierce it. Zerif is indestructible right now.

  Zerif tucked the Iron Boar back into his shirt, still grinning smugly. Abeke wanted to smash something. Ideally his face.

  Instead she whipped more arrows out and shot the closest three creatures, one after the other in a furious whirl. The front line of attackers fell back for a moment, and Rollan seized the chance to climb higher, toward Abeke.

  “I know how we can get off this island!” he shouted to her.

  “Look out!” Meilin cried.

  Rollan staggered sideways as if he’d been punched by the air, and then crashed forward into the rock wall. Abeke spotted nearly invisible ripples in the air around him and realized someone was using the Crystal Polar Bear.

  She scanned the mass of attackers until she spotted the woman with the talisman. It was the massive woman from Sunlight Island, the one who’d been bonded to the Komodo dragon. She had a look of pure hatred on her face, and she stood on a ledge not far from Rollan with the Crystal Polar Bear glittering around her neck. Her arm swept out and Rollan was nearly knocked down the cliff, but at the last moment his hand shot out and caught on to one of the ragged bushes.

  Before the woman could strike again, Meilin’s knife skewered her hand and she screamed with pain and anger. A heartbeat later, Essix dropped from the sky and drove her talons and beak at the Conqueror’s face. The woman fled back down the cliff, arms over her head.

  “Quick, Rollan!” Abeke called. She leaped down to him, light as the wind, and dragged him up onto solid ground. Meilin was not far behind, and they all scrambled up the rock face together.

  “I know what to do,” Rollan said again, wiping sweat from his forehead. “At least, I hope it’s an option. Abeke, do you have the Slate Elephant?”

  She couldn’t believe she’d forgotten something so important. Kalani had handed it back to her before swimming away with Katoa. Abeke dug into her pocket, trying not to meet the hard stare coming from Meilin’s eyes, and handed the elephant to Rollan.

  “Thank all the Great Beasts,” Rollan said with immense relief. “Except for the bad two, I mean. Essix!”

  “We can fly away!” Abeke cried. “That’s brilliant!”

  “Why didn’t you think of it sooner?” Meilin demanded. She held out her arm. “Jhi, come quickly.” The panda scrambled over, paused for a moment with an odd, heartbroken look in her silver eyes, and then vanished into the tattoo on Meilin’s hand.

  Abeke glanced anxiously down the slope and saw Uraza pin a giant owl under her claws. The leopard looked up, sensing Abeke’s attention. She swatted the owl away and came bounding up the rocks toward them.

  “We’re going to fly,” Abeke told her, holding out her arm. “My guess is you’d like this even less than being on a boat.”

  Uraza growled in agreement, lashing her tail. She turned her violet gaze on the Conquerors climbing toward them and apparently decided they had enough time to escape. A moment later, she had also disappeared into passive state.

  By then Essix was swooping down. Rollan climbed up toward her, clutching the elephant talisman.

  “We can do this,” Abeke said to Meilin, nearly falling over with relief. “Essix can take us down to pick up Conor and then we can really get away, with the talismans and everything.”

  Meilin had her head turned away, toward the Conquerors. She didn’t answer for a moment, but when she turned back to Abeke, there was a strange blank expression on her face.

  And her eyes were yellow.

  “I’m afraid you and I are not going anywhere,” she said to Abeke. “We have an appointment with the Reptile King.”

  ONE MOMENT, MEILIN WAS FIGHTING.

  Time had slowed down and she was flowing between moments, striking out with her staff one way, blocking an attack from the other direction, kicking a chimpanzee back into his Conqueror. She was in control of everything. She felt like she could almost steer the wind to do what she wanted. She could take down every enemy on the island single-handedly, if she chose to. />
  And then, as she climbed up toward Abeke and Rollan, she felt her eyesight blur for a moment. She hesitated, blinking — and her hand began to move by itself.

  Shocked, Meilin tried to freeze in place.

  But her feet betrayed her, taking another step, and another, closer and closer to her friends.

  What is happening? Meilin could only watch in horror. She wanted to scream, but even her voice wasn’t hers anymore. It felt like her blood had turned into something alien, slithering around chillingly inside her. She was trapped in her own body, helpless, as it scrambled up the last few boulders and stood beside Abeke.

  As if from a long way away, she heard Abeke say, “We can really get away, with the talismans and everything.”

  Not so fassssst, said another voice in Meilin’s head — not her own. Someone else is in my head! She needed to shout a warning to the others, but something else was coming out of her mouth. Cold, dangerous words. Words of betrayal and darkness. “An appointment with the Reptile King.” What does that mean?

  How is this happening?

  Rollan! Rollan, pay attention! Stop me!

  But Rollan was focused on Essix, who couldn’t land where they were if she was going to get bigger. He was ascending away from them, to a higher, clear spot where they could climb aboard the falcon and escape.

  Except nobody is escaping today.

  Her hand — her disloyal, traitorous hand — shot out and grabbed Abeke’s arm, fingers pressing into Uraza’s mark.

  “Come with me,” she heard her voice growl. “If you release Uraza, she will be dead before you can take another breath.”

  “Meilin!” Abeke cried. “What are you doing?” She tried to struggle, but Meilin’s grip was too strong. “Rollan!” she screamed.

  Rollan finally, finally turned to look at them.

  His face — Meilin knew she would have nightmares about his face forever. She could see as clear as day the moment when he realized that Meilin was betraying them.