The Everafter War (24 page)

“You can fire arrows at it all day,” Sabrina told him. “They’re not going to help.”

“I have to do something. They have to be stopped,” the old man said.

“They? How many are there?”

“Three just swooped over the fort,” the old man said as he pointed north. “They came from that direction. One blasted the west wall. I sent guards to put out the fire but the water tower valve is broken. There’s no way to get any water out of it.”

Sabrina’s father and Granny Relda raced across the courtyard with Elvis close behind. The big dog was barking hysterically. “I just spotted another seven flying in from the south,” Puck shouted.

“Everyone through the portal, now!” Henry shouted. Guards rushed toward Charming’s cabin, where the magical escape hatch was kept.

“But we should fight,” Puck argued.

“I thought you weren’t a hero!” Sabrina said.

“Who says villains can’t kill dragons?” he teased. “Besides, it will look great on my résumé!”

Mr. Canis shook his head. “Not this time. You have to get to safety.”

“C’mon, girls,” Veronica said as she grabbed Sabrina and Daphne by the hands. Before they could take a step, a white dragon with orange stripes across its belly crashed to the ground in front of them, blocking their path. A dozen knights raced to the beast and attacked it with their swords.

“OK, we need a new plan,” Daphne said.

Granny Relda rose to her full height. “Veronica, seems to me you were pretty good with mechanical things.”

“I fixed some leaky sinks and the TV antenna once,” Veronica said.

“You’re the best we’ve got. Get over to the water tower and see if you can’t get the valves working.”

She raced off to do as she was told.

“Henry, get up on the east tower and turn that water cannon on,” she said. “As soon as Veronica has the water working, try to knock one of those dragons out of the air.”

Puck took his sword out of his belt. “I’ll go kill one,” he said.

“I have another job for you. How would you like to throw some rocks at it?” the old woman asked.

Puck scrunched up his face. “I hardly think rocks will do much.”

Granny pointed behind her. There sat one of Swineheart and Boarman’s catapults. It was a monstrous machine with a giant boulder loaded into its arm. Several more boulders as big as cars sat nearby.

Puck rubbed his hands together eagerly. “Looks right up my alley, old lady.”

“Take Sabrina and Daphne with you,” she said.

Canis stepped forward. “Relda, perhaps it’s time to bring the Wolf back. I have the jar in my jacket and—”

“Absolutely not. I believe we can manage without that monster. Besides, I’m going to need you and Red to get me through this camp once it’s safe.”

Canis didn’t look convinced, but said nothing.

Everyone raced to do their jobs, though Sabrina suspected she and Daphne were just being kept busy. Once they reached the catapult, though, she changed her mind. The device was incredibly intricate. Despite its crude appearance it had dozens of knobs and buttons and a complex series of weights and counterweights. Daphne wasn’t strong enough to move all the levers, so Sabrina did the heavy lifting while Puck aimed the catapult and Daphne pushed buttons and pulled ropes.

A black dragon with white tusks swooped over the fortress. Sabrina’s brain was screaming for someone to push the button that would release the boulder but Puck insisted they wait. A moment later the dragon was gone.

“Why didn’t you fire?” Daphne cried.

“We have to wait until we’re lined up perfectly. Don’t worry. We’ll get another chance.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Sabrina said. “It’s coming right for us!”

The creature made a beeline for the catapult. Once it was close enough it reared its head back and prepared to blast them with its fiery breath. Then Puck gave the order and Daphne slammed her hand down on a red button. The giant spring inside the machine screeched as it extended and with incredible force the arm of the catapult whipped upward, hurling the monstrous rock with it. The boulder rocketed into the sky.

“Eat that, ugly!” Puck cried just as the boulder slammed into the dragon’s face. It bellowed in agony and magma poured out of the sides of its mouth and down its face. The dragon fell out of the sky and slammed into the courtyard. Its eyes glazed white and its heaving chest grew still.

“Gravy!” Daphne cried.

“That’s one!” Puck crowed, celebrating with a ridiculous whooping victory dance.

“Nine to go, bubblehead,” Sabrina said. She started turning the levers to lower the catapult’s arm. “We need to reload the catapult. You think you can pull that off?”

Puck placed his hands on his hips and spun around on his heels. When he stopped a bizarre transformation began. His body swelled up to an enormous size. His nose grew so large that it hung well past his feet, and his ears turned gray and inflated to the size of kites. Two huge white tusks sprang out from under his nose and his skin turned wrinkled and tough. In no time at all he was an elephant. He lumbered over to the nearest boulder, put his head against it and pushed. The huge stone rolled slowly forward but it rolled nonetheless. It was clearly an effort for Puck, but he pushed onward until the rock was firmly in the catapult’s arm.

The girls went to work twisting the knobs and weights once more in preparation for another dragon’s assault. While they worked, Sabrina watched her father in the east tower. The cannon he maneuvered was attached to a huge pipe that fed into the water tower, but with the valve busted it was completely dry. As a brown dragon flew by it sent flames at the exterior wall of the camp. Helpless, Henry could not put them out. When the dragon doubled back and buzzed the top of the watchtower, he had to crouch low to avoid one of its black talons.

“How’s it going, Mom?” Sabrina shouted.

Veronica had climbed up on a ladder near the tower and was trying to pull something out of a knob that opened the valves. “Pinocchio shoved something in here. If I could only get it out …”

“Could you hurry?” Henry shouted from across the camp.

“Keep your pants on, pal,” she cried.

The brown dragon turned high in the sky and flew like an arrow at her father’s watchtower. Fire was blasting out of its mouth. Henry was helpless.

“Puck, we have to get the brown one now!”

Puck spun himself back to his regular shape and then turned the catapult in the proper direction. He looked through a sight to line up his shot.

“Puck, you can’t miss,” Sabrina said fiercely.

“I won’t miss,” Puck said, but he couldn’t hide his agitation. “Fire!”

Daphne slammed on the red button and again a rock was flung into the sky. Unfortunately, it rocketed past the monster and flew into the forest.

“Oops,” Puck said.

Sabrina looked up and saw the dragon preparing his blast. Her father stood, helpless, on the tower. There was nothing she could do.

“I got it!” Veronica cried and suddenly water was blasting out of the cannon and straight into the mouth of the dragon. It gurgled and gasped as it fell to the ground. Once there it flipped over on its back and died.

“That was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen,” Puck said as he ran for the other watchtower. “You guys handle the rock thrower. I’m going to have fun with the world’s biggest squirt gun!”

“Hey! How are we supposed to load this thing?” Sabrina cried, but the fairy boy was already climbing the ladder.

Daphne looked over at the massive rock. “That’s going to take more elbow grease than the two of us have.”

“You help Dad,” Sabrina said. “I’ll try to keep ol’ stinkface focused. I wouldn’t put it past him to fire that thing at us.”

The girls raced off in opposite directions. Soon Sabrina reached the platform where Puck was busy spraying water all over the forest and ignoring the circling monsters.

“You really have an attention problem,” Sabrina said, pointing to a jade-colored dragon zooming toward them. She wrenched the handle of the cannon away from Puck and turned it toward the flying nightmare. The device was attached to a pivot in the floor and swung in a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree circle. It also had a metal pin at the end of the cannon that acted as a sight and allowed her to aim. She pushed the firing button lightly, just to see how much water would come out, and was surprised to see a torrent wash down over the forest. As the dragon got closer she braced herself and fired. The water shot out of the cannon and hit the dragon right in the jaw. It was a lucky shot but an effective one and the creature reared back in panic.

“Hey! I called this tower. Go kill dragons somewhere else,” Puck shouted as he shoved her out of the way. A white dragon appeared on his left and barreled down on the fort, sending a river of flame that left a scorched trail across the entire complex and ignited the eastern wall.

“You’re not supposed to let it burn the place to the ground! If you can’t do this step aside,” Sabrina said.

Puck growled. “Leave me alone. I know what I’m doing.”

Puck fired the cannon but without a head-on approach, the water was of little use. The white dragon was unfazed and continued circling the fort.

“Give me the cannon, Puck,” Sabrina said, pushing Puck out of the way. Studying the skies for another flying menace, she quickly spotted the white dragon approaching fast. She trained the weapon on the beast and waited patiently, seeing the fire licking the insides of its jaws. She had to let it get close to make her attack effective. In fact, she realized, she had to let it get so close it would put her into a do-or-die situation. To get the best shot and put out the fire inside the dragon, it needed to be nearly on top of her. She grasped the handle of the cannon tightly and forced herself to stay put.
Closer
.
Closer
. She could feel the heat of the creature approaching. Her ears were full of its roars and the sound of its wings.
Let it get closer
. It was nearly at the fence; any second now it would be right on top of her. She fired right into the dragon’s open jaws. It fell out of the sky but crashed inside the fort and leveled the mess tent. When it hit the ground it skidded across the yard, slamming into another dead dragon.

“I’m catching up, ugly,” Sabrina said.

“Lucky shot!” Puck complained as he snatched the cannon away from Sabrina. He spun the cannon toward another approaching dragon and fired. He missed the mark and tried again.

“What’s the matter, booger brain? Do you need a bigger target?” Sabrina cried, pulling the cannon away from Puck.

He yanked it back. “Who can concentrate with your breath in my face? I’m probably not hitting anything because you have infected me with your puberty virus.”

“Puck, puberty isn’t a virus. You go through it when you grow up.”

“Well, why would I want to grow up?” he shouted. “I’m perfectly happy to stay this age forever but you come along and now all of a sudden I’m getting taller and my voice is changing.”

“Don’t look at me. I didn’t ask you to grow up,” Sabrina said, scanning the sky for more dragons. She could see three high in the sky, circling the fort. “You started this war against me, but aging is your own fault. You wouldn’t grow a day older if you didn’t want to.”

Just then, three arrows thudded into the side of the platform. Sabrina studied the forest to find their source and nearly fell over in shock when she spotted the massive army approaching the fort. There must have been two thousand Everafters charging in their direction. Sheriff Nottingham and the Queen of Hearts were leading the throng. Even from her great height Sabrina could see the bright-red handprints on their chests.

“The Scarlet Hand is here!” Sabrina shouted down to the soldiers inside the fort. The news caused even more panic than before and many in Charming’s army fled into cabins and tents, presumably to hide. She snatched the cannon back from Puck and turned it on the approaching army. She pushed the Fire button hard and unleashed an avalanche of water on them. The liquid crashed into the center of their ranks and knocked nearly a hundred goblin soldiers flat. She continued her assault, hosing down as many of the thugs as she could. She couldn’t be sure but she thought she might have waterlogged nearly five hundred soldiers until something terrible and unexpected happened. The stream of water turned into a trickle.

She turned to the water tower and saw her mother peering into a glass window on its side.

“It’s run dry!” she shouted.

Without the water cannon there was little they could do against the overwhelming Hand army or the five remaining dragons hovering overhead.

“Why aren’t you firing?” Puck cried.

“We’re out of water!” Sabrina explained.

“That can’t be right. You must be doing it wrong,” he said, pulling the cannon out of her hands once more. He pushed the Fire button over and over with no results. “You broke it!”

Puck swung the cannon around in anger. The nozzle spun and hit Sabrina in the chest. The force was so powerful she was knocked right off the platform and fell backward off the tower. She saw sky above her and felt the wind in her hair. How ironic, she thought, as she fell to her certain death, that at that moment she would have given anything to be a giant goose again.