“Yes, ma’am!” said the squirrelicorn. She called to one of the other squirrelicorns, and the two of them set off through the air to Artimé.
Aaron approached Ms. Morning. “How would you like to divide us up?”
Claire pressed her lips together. “I’ll take Gunnar and Sky,” she said, and picked eight others who would give her a variety of skills, both in close combat and in spell casting. “Everybody grab swords and shields. Take extras if you can carry them. Let’s move.”
Claire, Gunnar, Sky, and the rest of her team wasted no time and struck out for the boat, while Aaron, Kaylee, and the remaining warriors looked to Carina as their leader.
Carina shoved a sword in her belt and grabbed a shield. “All right. Let’s go. We need to move fast if we’re going to time this right and get it done before nightfall.”
Carina set the pace at a jog. Aaron caught up with her and matched her stride, and soon Kaylee made her way to the front and moved in place next to Aaron.
Aaron was curious to know the details of the original north-shore attack. “How did you all end up together?” he asked Carina and Kaylee.
“We stayed in sight of each other,” said Carina. “But there were really only a couple of natural places for the boats to reach land because of the rocks. So once we anticipated that the pirates would probably take smaller boats to shore, we talked through our plan. When the squirrelicorn delivered the news about the shields being magically protected, we decided the best option was to attack from multiple sides.”
“It was going pretty well,” said Kaylee, “especially at first, but then the pirates figured us out. We were in a pinch there for a while when you showed up.” She poked Aaron with her elbow, startling him. “Thanks for helping me out. I’m glad you came back with Alex.”
“Oh,” said Aaron. “Sure. I didn’t have a choice, really—I couldn’t stay there wondering what was going on. It would have driven me crazy.”
Kaylee looked sidelong at him. “I’m still glad,” she said.
Aaron wasn’t sure if the run was making him sweat or if it was Kaylee.
Kaylee looked closer at Aaron’s various injuries. His clothing was mostly free of bloodstains, unlike most of the others. “You sure don’t bleed much,” she said.
Aaron shrugged. “Fast healer, I guess,” he said. Feeling parched and winded, sore from his many healing wounds, and a bit bewildered by Kaylee’s continued deep interest in him, he slowed a little, pulled his canteen from his belt and drank from it. Kaylee and Carina were moving along very briskly. It was painfully clear that Aaron was not nearly in the shape they were in. His lungs burned, and he checked on his wounds. They had all closed by now, but were by no means gone. He struggled to catch up.
“We’ve lost a lot of people,” Carina said gravely. “I can’t even think about it now. I’m scared to see what Artimé looks like. Who’s at the mansion with Alex? Sean’s in the ship with Ms. Octavia, I know.”
“Simber’s there with a team,” said Kaylee. “And Florence, and a couple of the Warbler children. Mr. Appleblossom too. And a bunch of others.”
“I’m glad Florence is back,” said Carina.
“Lani’s team is next to Simber’s,” said Aaron. “And Samheed is beyond her. Hopefully they’ll be able to help protect the mansion.”
“Yeah, if they haven’t been totally demolished,” said Kaylee, breathing hard. She shook her head. “I honestly think I was safer on the Island of Graves.”
“All I know,” said Carina as they ran across the desolate area of Quill and approached the road that led to Artimé, “is that we have to prevail. I don’t care if we need to pull every human, statue, and creature out of the mansion to help us—if we fail, we may as well be dead. Because if the pirates and Warblerans take over, you know we’ll be their slaves. We’ll never be free again.”
They ran without talking for the remaining stretch, and as a squirrelicorn approached with a small bag of spell components hanging from her mouth, all Aaron could think about was winning at all costs, because he and all of Quill were finally free of serving dictators. And while his future was uncertain, Aaron knew that there were only two possible options he wanted to pursue. Living out his quiet, peaceful life on the Island of Shipwrecks . . . or taking control of this island.
He couldn’t decide which he wanted more.
When All Is Lost