“We’ll take care of his remains later. Right now we need to get the word to the teams about the enemies coming ashore.”
They heard what sounded like a stampede in the hallway. Alex immediately stood and pulled spell components from his pocket. A moment later, Simber skidded past the doorway. “The pirrrates arrre coming ashorrre,” he said, coming back and poking his head in. “Have you alerrrted the squirrrelicorns, Alex?”
Florence gave him a stressful glance.
Simber peered past the rubble. His stern look softened. “Oh,” he said, and looked closer. “I’m sorrry. Who can take his place?”
Alex wrung his hands, distraught over Clive’s death. “I can’t even think about that! I mean . . . I didn’t know this would happen. If only I’d thought to put him on the other side of the room when the tar balls began . . .”
“It’s not your fault. I’ll take care of him,” said Florence. “Alex, go with Simber and handle the attack. Do it now.”
Alex nodded, numb, and with one last look back, followed Simber out the door.
Simber regarded Alex carefully as they jogged through the mansion to get outside. “Sometimes you have to keep going,” said the statue gently.
Alex nodded. He’d done it before, and he would do it again. Forcefully he pushed Clive’s tragic ending to the back of his mind. “I’m okay,” he said, feeling anything but. They went outside.
There were multiple tenders coming from each ship, and as the day brightened moment by moment, Alex could see they were packed full of pirates.
“Squirrelicorns!” Alex called out, his voice thick and a bit ragged. “Alert the west and north teams to the pirates’ approach on land! Quickly!”
The squirrelicorns flew off immediately with their orders.
“Teams!” cried Alex next, to those on the south shore. “Fire at will as soon as they get within range!”
Alex’s, Simber’s, and Mr. Appleblossom’s teams rushed to the shore and lined up, components in hand.
As two tenders left Eagala’s ship and passed alongside Artimé’s ship, the Artiméans on board rained spell components down on them, causing a flurry of confusion and a pileup of stricken pirates. “That’s the way,” Alex muttered.
Alex looked along the shore to the west, spotting Lani and her team doing the same thing his team was doing—protecting the shore and standing ready to take down as many of the pirates as they could before the boats had the chance to land. Alex raised a hand to Lani, and she signaled back. He hoped the other teams were doing something similar. The fewer pirates making it onshore, the better.
The boats that had come alongside Artimé’s ship now veered wildly away from it. Instead of coming straight toward the mansion, they headed for the shore where Lani’s and Samheed’s teams were stationed. That meant two additional tenders full of pirates for those teams to defend against.
Alex frowned, and then ordered six members of his team to go up the shore to assist Lani and Samheed, worried that they were going to get the brunt of the attack. Simber and Florence would have to pick up the slack in front of the mansion. They were about to get very busy.
Before the first tenders made it to shore, more boats were lowered to the water alongside the ships. The pirates climbed into them and soon began rowing ashore. The waters were filled with them. Alex hadn’t seen anything like it in his life.
Finally the first wave of boats came within spell-casting range. Alex, along with his team, began firing upon them.
Immediately the men and women seated in the front of the boats held their shields up. Most of the components bounced off them into the water. Alex remembered what Ms. Octavia had said the previous day about the protective spell.
“Try to get around their shields!” Alex shouted as the nearest boat struck the sandy bottom and stopped moving. “Or use spells that don’t require components!” The pirates climbed out of the boat with amazing speed and agility, and ran the boat farther up the sand.
“None of those are lethal!” shouted one of Alex’s frustrated fighters.
“Just do what you can!” replied Alex, flinging spells one after another.
The pirates rushed through the water toward the Artiméans at an alarming speed, holding their shields in front of them. Alex and his warriors continued pelting the pirates with spells, but only a few met their mark. As they reached land, the pirates drew their swords and ran at the Artiméans, and it was then that Alex finally realized just how big these enemies were, and how long and sharp their swords were, and how unprotected he and his people were. The Artiméans were forced back, casting spells as quickly as they could, but the pirates were too many, too fast, and too strong.