Talon the bronze giant made fists and began punching pirates in the face and throwing their shields into the sea. Their weapons had little effect on him, though the clanging was a bit hard on everyone’s ears.
Lhasa showed a vicious side of her no one had ever seen before, and she bared her teeth and began biting pirates in the bum very hard at every turn, and dodging their swipes at her. Bock used his golden horns to ram into the enemy fighters, sending them flying through the air quite precisely in front of Karkinos, who crushed them soundly with his claws.
The hibagon, who was extremely nervous but wanting to help, went over to blend in near the rock, and the mere odor of his presence made pirates run away from the hidden Warbler children just to get some distance from the rotten stench . . . except for one unfortunate pirate who made the mistake of looking at the hibagon for a little too long, and fell in love.
Issie the sea monster lumbered onto land, swinging her tail and knocking pirates down, and yowling her familiar noise, demanding the pirates give back her missing baby. Ms. Octavia jumped on the opportunity to follow in her wake, casting lethal spells on the fallen pirates to keep them down permanently.
Even Vido the golden rooster left his perch and fluttered around the pirates’ heads just out of reach. He uttered disconcerting prophecies and made-up proverbs, like “Those who follow Captain Baldhead lose much more than just their hair.” At the end of the phrase he drew the tip of his wing across his neck, cutthroat style. Another favorite he recited was “A stitch in time saves NOBODY—YOU WILL ALL DIE! TRUST ME I KNOW!” which made no sense at all but still managed to unnerve several pirates and completely throw the most superstitious of them off their game.
Spike spent her time along the shore as close in as she could get without beaching herself. She scanned the sea for eels, then she circled in and out among the twenty-four ships, keeping close watch and even speaking with Ol’ Tater for a moment in whatever language he spoke.
And then on the Island of Legends, in one grand, furry migration, hundreds of dropbears descended from the trees. Like a small sea of gray paint, they poured out of the wooded area of Karkinos, across the beach, down the claw reefs, and onto the shore of Artimé. They surged around the fighters and spread out to the trees, scores of them climbing up each tree and spreading to the ends of the sagging branches, waiting for just the right moment to do what they did best.
Slowly but surely over the course of the day, the pirate and Warbleran ranks thinned until their numbers were merely two to one against Artimé. And at one particular moment when the enemy was concentrated on the lawn under overhanging branches, the dropbears went to work. Without a sound, they dropped from the trees onto the pirates, covering them in layers upon layers of gray fur. The pirates screamed and slid to the ground in shock. Some tried to fight them off, but no manner of flailing or clawing could get the pirates free from the dropbears.
Talon noticed the act, and though he was tempted to tell the dropbears to go ahead and eat the pirates, he refrained for the sake of a safe land to return home to. “Good work, dropbears!” he called out. “Keep them covered.”
Now Artimé was closing in, and for the first time the sides were almost equal. But the people of Artimé had been fighting an uphill battle since dawn. They were tired. Most hadn’t had breakfast, much less lunch—Alex’s breakfast was still on the floor in the mansion where Lani had dropped it after being attacked by the birds. He was sorely aware of his own hunger and weakness, and couldn’t imagine how the young children were holding up, stuck inside the rock’s mouth. With the hibagon’s great stink keeping the pirates away from it, Alex knew he had to get them out of there and back to the mansion so Crow could get them some food and water. When Alex had a moment of reprieve, he wiped the sweat from his forehead and pulled Kitten from his pocket.
Kitten stretched and yawned, having slept through most of the war. “Mewmewmew,” she said sweetly.
“Hi, Kitten,” said Alex, crouching behind a tree for safety. “I need you to do a very important thing for me. Can you go over to that giant rock right there, sneak between the cracks into his mouth, and get Crow to understand that it’s time to take the Warbler kids back to the mansion? I’ll get some others, and we’ll run with them to make sure they’re safe.”
“Mewmewmew,” said Kitten. She hopped off Alex’s hand and landed in the dirt, then scampered around the giant feet of the fighters, dodging and twisting to avoid getting stepped on.
Alex stood up, peered around the tree, and pulled out some more components that he’d gotten from Henry. He eyed his next opponent, choosing only ones in the path the children would need to take to the mansion. Many of them had had their shields knocked away by Talon, so Alex’s chances of successful throws were high. He took aim and waited for his moment to strike.