Breathing heavily, he checked himself for wounds, finding a slice on his arm that barely emitted a trickle of blood before the skin came together again. While evidence of the injury clearly remained, it was certainly healing at an alarming rate. The pain, while present, was less than he expected. “Yes,” he whispered. He could take some risks. At the moment, he couldn’t imagine a better ability to possess than immortality.
He looked all around, and when he was certain the coast was clear, he called to his remaining team. “They’re gone! Let’s go!”
Aaron’s team came running down the lighthouse steps and gathered around him. “What now?” one of them asked. Of the fifty, there were only six men and women left.
“Let’s check on Liam and Gunnar and the teams on the north side of the island to see if any of them need help,” said Aaron. “And then we’ll head back to Artimé to protect the mansion.”
Those remaining agreed and set out.
But soon another huge wave of pirates came from the direction of Liam’s station, also heading toward the mansion in Artimé. Knowing it would be crazy to take them on, Aaron and his group hid behind a stand of trees and waited for them to pass. As the last limping pirates passed by, Aaron and his team soundlessly took out the trailing ones, unbeknownst to the other pirates. When the enemies were out of sight, Aaron’s team ran north toward Liam’s station to see if anyone was alive.
“Liam!” Aaron called softly.
A few of Liam’s team emerged from behind a group of rocks, Liam among them. “There were too many,” Liam said, dazed. His pant leg hung in tatters, and there was a bright red bloodstain spreading on the remaining cloth. He limped out from behind the rocks, and his four remaining teammates followed.
Shouts rose up in the distance behind them, but they couldn’t see anything. “Th-that’s probably another shipload of them coming from Gunnar’s station,” said Liam. “We’d better check on them.”
“We’ve got twelve of us now,” said Aaron. “Let’s stick together. We have to do something! I can’t imagine what things are going to look like in Artimé. I hope . . . ,” he said, thinking of Alex, thinking of everything. “I hope everyone is okay.” He slipped his hand inside his vest to make sure the robe was still in place. It was. The battle inside his head returned while the one on the ground took a brief respite.
Aaron led the group toward Gunnar Haluki’s post with Liam hobbling along behind, slowing them down. A short time later, Haluki came out from behind a section of houses. Seven women and men followed him sporting various injuries. Their faces were grim, and they barely spoke.
Gunnar flashed Aaron a defeated glance, and soon the group of twenty was moving along together, growing more fearful of what they would find with the teams on the north shore of the island.
Liam continued to lag, and finally Aaron sent him back to Artimé with one of Gunnar’s injured team members, telling them to go to the hospital ward. That left eighteen. They began jogging eastward along the north shore of Quill, looking for signs of Artiméans, but for a long stretch they saw no one and feared the worst for Sky and her team.
“Perhaps Sky’s team has already joined the others in Artimé,” said Gunnar.
“I hope that’s it,” said Aaron. Neither of them believed it. They ran faster.
Finally they heard shouts and clangs of metal in the distance behind the Ancients Sector. Aaron and Gunnar’s squirrelicorns rose up, spotted something, and pointed out the direction. The leaders pressed doggedly onward with their teams struggling to keep up.
When they emerged from behind the new building that housed the Ancients, they stopped to rest and take in the scene. Pirates and Artiméans lay lifeless on the ground, but unlike at the other posts, there were more dead pirates and fewer dead Artiméans here.
A small band of pirates was waging a full attack on Sky’s team, with Sky keeping four of them at bay on her own. Carina was there too, with her team in the trees, as was Kaylee with hers. Kaylee had four or five pirates trying to best her, and she held them off, though it wasn’t clear how long she’d be able to keep it up. Claire and her team were close in on the white boat, and as Aaron and his group looked on, Claire’s team eased their way off the white boat and came creeping up through the shallow water toward the shore.
“Stay quiet,” Aaron whispered to his group, and pointed to Claire. “Let’s take our cue from Ms. Morning. When her team attacks, and the pirates turn to see what’s happening, we’ll come in from behind them and strike where they are most defenseless. I think we’ve got a chance here to do some damage. Stay strong!”
Ms. Morning spotted them and lifted her chin, looking straight at Aaron between the attackers. Aaron lifted his as well, and pointed at her to tell her that he was going to follow her lead.