“Can we get past them?” Wily asked Jayrus, who was holding the wheel of the Recluself’s ship with his webbed fingers.
“Their boat is more agile than ours,” the Hammock oglodyte replied. “They’ve been chasing us all around the island. We barely got here without being broadsided. But I’ll give it my best try.”
They were on a collision course with the Drakesmith Island patrol ship. Each time Jayrus turned the wheel to change direction, so too did the opposing vessel. As if crashing weren’t bad enough, Wily could now see that the other ship had giant metal spikes protruding from the bow.
“We won’t let you leave the island without checking your boat for eversteel contraband,” the captain of the other ship shouted.
“If we have to go into battle,” Kestrel said as he pulled his sword out of his sheath, “we will do what we have to do to get back to Panthasos.”
“They’re not doing anything wrong,” Roveeka said to Kestrel and the others. “They just want to keep the world safe.”
“I agree,” Wily said.
“Don’t be shortsighted,” Kestrel countered. “Think of who we are protecting.”
“We’re not battling these sailors,” Wily said.
Jayrus turned the Recluself’s ship hard to the right. It was matched by the local guard boat.
“I don’t know what else to do,” the friendly oglodyte said.
Suddenly Roveeka was pointing wildly at the opposing ship.
“Look at the front!”
Wily’s vision was not quite as keen as his surrogate sister’s, but he could see an object crawling up the side of the ship. Wily looked harder. It was some kind of small creature with many arms. It was a hugtopus. He turned to Moshul and saw that the hugtopus was no longer on his leg.
“Your hugtopus is off,” Wily told the moss golem, who looked down with surprise. “And it is on the other boat.”
“It must have swum over there,” Odette said. “That’s a fast little gal.”
“What’s it doing?” Pryvyd said.
“It looks like it’s evonbenning,” Jayrus said with a toothy grin. “Evonbenning means ‘surprising those you care about with a helping hand—or eight.’”
Wily watched as the hugtopus slipped onto the deck. It lifted the giant anchor and hurled it into the water. The anchor dropped into the sea with a splash, leaving a trail of chain behind it.
“I think we just got the break we needed,” Odette chirped with excitement.
The Drakesmith guard ship was tugged to a halt by the anchor. The Recluself’s ship zipped right past it toward the sea. The gang watched as the warriors gave chase to the little hugtopus before it jumped back into the sea.
Moshul was looking over the railing, trying to spot it. Wily glanced over too but he wasn’t able to see the eight-armed creature anywhere in the water—because it was back on the deck with them.
“Wow,” Wily said. “Speedy indeed.”
Moshul reached out and grabbed the hugtopus, placed it up on his shoulder, and gave it a gentle pat.
“To the east,” Odette said, “all the way to Ratgull Harbor.”
Jayrus gave a salute and directed the ship away from Drakesmith Island. Wily turned back to take a final glance at the island that resembled a dragon. He thought about the forge that had built the gearfolk that now stood motionless on the ship, but he thought even more about the eversteel tree the gwarf had sculpted. It reminded him of the symbol he had chosen to represent the new Panthasos: metal gears interlocked with the branches of a tree. He would always strive to ensure nature and machines were working in tandem to make the world more beautiful and safer. If his mission to save Panthasos was successful, he would return to the island and ask the gwarf to mold another eversteel tree so it could be put in the palace garden as a reminder of his mission.
Soon Drakesmith disappeared from view in the night.
The ship that the Recluself had built was remarkably effective. Even still, it seemed as if the boat wasn’t moving fast enough. With each swell it rode over, Wily thought about what might be happening in Panthasos. If the images he had seen on the Isle of Delight were true, then Stalag had already taken over the royal palace with the help of the enchanted gearfolk and snagglecarts, and his mother and Valor had been taken captive to be held in the prisonaut.
Over the next night and day, the vessel sailed north of the calm waters of the Drecks, avoiding the windless patches that had proved so dangerous on their journey west. At one point, they passed a mysterious sailing ship drifting in circles under a perpetual thunderstorm. Odette got so excited when she saw it that she jumped onto the edge of the railing, nearly falling into the water.
“The Gale Ghost Ship,” Odette called to the others. “I’ve read stories of the treasures hidden in its hull. We should”—then Odette seemed to catch herself—“get back to Panthasos, of course.”
She looked at it longingly as they sailed past at a distance.
“We don’t need treasure anymore,” Roveeka said, coming up beside her. “We have one another.”
“I guess you’re right,” Odette replied. Yet Wily could tell she didn’t quite mean it.
Hours later, the end of their seafaring journey was marked by the sight of Ratgull Harbor.
“We’ll need to find an unoccupied pier to dock the ship,” Pryvyd said to the Recluself.
“Actually,” the elf replied, “this ship has one last trick up its sleeve. But I’ve never tried it before.”
“Should I be frightened?” Pryvyd said.
“Only if it doesn’t work,” he answered.
The Recluself took the wheel from Jayrus and directed the boat to the harbor landing, where a stone ramp was used to pull ships out of the water for maintenance or to be salvaged into more buildings for the city. The Recluself pulled a lever.
The front of the ship hit the ramp—and rolled right up it!
“How is that possible?” Odette said, looking over the edge of the boat with Wily.
At the bottom of the boat were a series of wheels that were spinning rapidly.
“I was the Brine Baron’s engineer,” the Recluself said. “I built him some pretty amazing machines.”
The Recluself’s ship rumbled into the crowded shipyard. Shocked dockhands and sailors hustled out of the way as the great wooden behemoth charged through the crushed shell–covered square toward the closed gates of the shipyard.
“What is that?” Wily could hear people shout from below.
“The return of two kings,” Roveeka shouted down to them.
The amphibious ship struck the metal gate of the shipyard, uprooting the fence and pulling it through town as it rolled down the narrow alleys. The Recluself had to steer carefully through the winding streets to avoid hitting the ramshackle buildings, which looked barely stable enough to stand on their own, even without being hit by a fast-moving ship.
“Turn that way,” Wily called, pointing to the right. “I see an old acquaintance.”
The Recluself turned the ship so that it was moving uphill toward a man in satin pants. It was the traitorous Thrush Flannigan of the Coal Fox, walking the grimy street with a bottle of bubbly water in hand. He looked in horrified awe at the strange wheeled ship charging toward him.
“Run him over,” Kestrel whispered in Wily’s ear. “For what he did to you, he deserves it.”
“I have a better way of getting back at him,” Wily replied as the amphibious machine rumbled closer and closer. He then whispered something into the Recluself’s ear.
“Aye aye, Captain,” the Recluself replied.
He spun the wheel. The ship made a hard turn on the muddy road, and the back wheel kicked up a massive spray of thick muck that splattered Thrush, coating him in a layer of grime from his well-coiffed mustache down to his painted toenails. With a look of horror, he dropped his bubbly water on the ground.
“Set sail and never come back,” Wily said. “Once I retake the palace, there will be no place for you in Panthasos.”
Thrush stood there speechless as a thick clump of mud fell from his hair onto the ground. “I would have done worse,” Kestrel said. “You’re a kinder person than I.”
The ship continued up the hill, rolling past elves, gwarves, and skrovers, and straight under the cloth banner that marked the entrance to Ratgull Harbor.
“Head for the prisonaut,” Wily called out to the Recluself. “We need to rescue Lumina and Valor.”
Moshul directed the Recluself to steer the ship to the east along the trail they had taken many days earlier. With a turn of the wheel, the rolling ship changed direction once more and charged for the distant horizon.
“I knew it would go fast,” the Recluself said with pride. “But not this fast.”
The ship was traveling roughly five times the speed of a horse, far faster than it had traveled on the ocean. Driving across the plain, they passed travelers on stallions and other riding beasts as if they were standing still. Crossing through the desert, Wily looked out to see the spot where the spider tent had stood a week earlier. Now only a few postholes and some broken pots marked the spot on which it had once stood.
Farther still, they came across a town. Or at least what was left of a town. Rubble and snagglecart tracks littered the dusty ground. In one destroyed house, blocks and dolls could be seen scattered among the wooden beams and clay roof tiles. While the ship rolled past quickly, Wily’s thoughts lingered on what he was seeing. This is what all of Panthasos will look like if I don’t defeat Stalag. And I don’t have a lair beast to help me save the day this time. I have a different kind of beast. He looked over at his father. One that is trying very hard to earn my trust.
The ship continued to follow the rough path to the east. As the afternoon sun warmed the land, the prisonaut at the foot of Mount Neb came into view.
“There are new guards marching along the walls of the prisonaut,” Roveeka said, peering out with her keen night vision. “And they aren’t Knights of the Golden Sun. They look like bone soldiers and boarcus.”
Getting closer, Wily could see the flabby-lipped soldiers outside the gate, picking food off their tusks. The living skeletons standing along the outside of the wall held their rigid poses with mindless perseverance.
“Your mom and Valor are being kept somewhere inside there,” Pryvyd said, eyeing the prisonaut.
“Perhaps in the very same cottage where I was imprisoned,” Kestrel nodded.
“We need to get them out,” Wily said.
“Could we batter our way through?” Odette asked.
“The prisonaut is made of steel,” Kestrel said. “This ship is just wood. It wouldn’t be strong enough to make anything other than a dent.”
“Unless…” Wily eyed the repaired prisonaut. The spot that had been blasted through by Stalag’s spell had been patched with bolts and scraps of metal. “Unless we struck the same spot where Stalag destroyed it to free Kestrel in the first place.”
“And then use the Master Suit to take out the bone soldiers,” Kestrel suggested.
“I can run with Odette and Moshul for the inside,” Wily said.
“That sounds like a plan to me,” Odette said.
“Lower the ramp as soon as we come to a stop,” Pryvyd added, gesturing to a large plank waiting at the back of the ship. “I’ll get the gearfolk ready.” With that, Wily’s father ran into the hull of the ship, where the sixty-five suits of armor were standing in wait.
Wily pointed to the spot in the wall for the Recluself to hit the prisonaut. The ship was moving toward it now with tremendous speed. “Okay,” Wily said. “Everybody hold on tight. We are going to be hitting that wall awfully hard.” He could see the guards on the tops of the walls clutching their swords as they braced for impact.
“That’s the biggest snagglecart I’ve ever seen,” one of the frightened boarcus shouted as the ship advanced.
The bow of the boat struck the weak portion of the prisonaut. Moshul was jolted so hard he was sent tumbling to the deck. The moss golem shielded his little hugtopus companion with his large mud hand as he rolled into the mast. The ship successfully broke the steel replacement piece on the prisonaut, making an opening in the wall.
On the high wall of the prisonaut, Wily saw two familiar, yet unpleasant faces looking down upon them. One belonged to Sceely and the other to Agorop.
“Yoosh are supposed to be dead,” Agorop hissed through rows of sharpened teeth.
“Well, it don’t matter what they supposed to be,” Sceely said, elbowing Agorop. “They’re not.”
“Make sure they be non-living soon,” Agorop called out to the bone soldiers below.
Jayrus turned to Wily. “As an oglodyte, I am deeply embarrassed to be related to these villains.”
Moshul slid the ramp over the side of ship. Before it even hit the ground, Pryvyd, wearing the Master Suit, began marching the metallic soldiers down the ramp. Righteous flew at Pryvyd’s side in the final piece of the Master Suit. At once, bone soldiers came rushing toward them. Wily watched as Pryvyd pulled his sword from his sheath. Every other suit of armor followed, drawing their own blades. As the first wave of bone soldiers attacked, Pryvyd swung his sword, not to attack himself, for there was no skeleton standing before him, but to signal the other ubergearfolk to swing their swords.
Wily watched in awe as six bone soldiers were dispatched with a single coordinated swing. Bone soldiers attacked with their own swords, but they struck the eversteel armor, damaging nothing.
“This is working,” Pryvyd called out in triumph.
Righteous gave a big thumbs-up to signal his approval too. As he did so, all the ubergearfolk copied his signal and raised their thumbs as well.
There was no fear or hesitation in the mechanical men. They had no feelings or thoughts; all they could do was follow commands. Pryvyd scanned the line of identical warriors, swinging and parrying against the blows coming down. Wily was awed by the sheer destructive power of these new ubergearfolk. They were even more impressive than the rolling machines that Kestrel had created. And, Wily thought, also more terrifying.
“Let’s go,” Odette said, pulling Wily out of his temporary stupor, “while we have the chance.”
She was correct. If Valor and Lumina were imprisoned inside, there was no time to waste.
Moshul scooped up Wily and Odette, one in each hand, and lifted them over the chaos of the bone soldiers and mechanical men doing battle, putting them down at the foot of the broken wall of the prisonaut.
Odette did a double flip up and through the gap in the wall, then reached for Wily, who was slower to climb his way inside. Just on the other side of the wall a pair of boarcus stood, wielding an ax and shield.
“You’re not supposed to be here,” one of the two boarcus said as he swung his ax.
“Wrong,” Odette said. “You’re the one who’s in the wrong place.”
Odette did a handspring, leaping over the boarcus and tearing his shield from his fingers as she did. Before he could even turn, she spun the shield in a circle overhead and knocked him in the side of the snout. The tusk-faced guard collapsed to the ground.
His boarcus partner raised his hands in the air, dropping his weapons.
“I hate this job anyway,” he said. “I just want to be a farmer. Raise some chickens. That’s all.”
“Is Lumina Arbus here?” Wily asked as behind him the battle between Pryvyd’s ubergearfolk and the bone soldiers continued.
“All the folk from the palace are in the cottages right past the main square,” the boarcus replied.
“Hand over the keys,” Odette demanded.
The boarcus quickly complied. With the ring of keys in hand, Wily and Odette ran down the cobblestone courtyard, past the fountain, to the cottages. Wily unlocked the doors and swung them wide open.
“Mom?” he shouted. He was surprised by how fast his heart was beating.
“Wily?” his mother’s voice called out. “Is that you?”
Out from the darkness of the cottage, Lumina came rushing toward the door. She had shackles on her hands and wrists. As soon as she saw him, tears welled up in her eyes. “I thought I had lost you for good this time. Stalag said he had thrown you into the ocean.”
“He did,” Wily replied. “I very nearly drowned.”
“Odette,” Lumina said, giving her a hug too. “I’m so glad you are safe. Is Pryvyd … okay?”
Wily could hear her get choked up as she asked.
“Yes,” Wily said, to which she gave a big sigh of relief. “Moshul, Roveeka, and Righteous too. We’re all fine. Tired, itchy, and a bit sun-scorched but fine nonetheless.”
Valor came up next with the two ferrets, Impish and Gremlin, waddling behind (with their four paws bound in chains, it made it very difficult for the little pair to walk). Wily used the keys to unlock the chains and shackles from his loved ones.
“I had a feeling that the old cavern mage wouldn’t be able to get rid of you for good,” Valor said with a gentle fist bump to the shoulder.
“But how did you get back here?” Lumina asked.
“It’s not a short story,” Wily said. “I will tell you everything on the way to the palace.”
“We can’t go there,” Lumina replied. “Stalag’s army is too powerful. We need time to prepare and get reinforcements.”
“We have reinforcements. Mechanical ones. We built soldiers with the help of the Eversteel Forge. Led by Pryvyd, they can take back the palace from Stalag.”
“This sounds like something I have to see,” his mother replied with amazement.
Just then her eyes went wide. She pushed Wily out of the way, knocking him to the ground in her rush to face the adversary behind him on her own.
“I won’t let you take him,” his mother said with a fierce growl in her voice. “Not again. Not ever.”
Wily turned to see that Kestrel was standing in the doorway.
“It’s nice to see you too, Lumina.”
Lumina picked up the chain that had only moments before been binding her and swung it in circles before her.
“Put that down,” Kestrel said. “You could hurt someone.”
“I will hurt someone. You, to be precise.”
“I’m on your side now,” Kestrel said.
“Very funny,” she said without smiling.
“Mom,” Wily said. “He helped build the machines. Stalag threw him into the ocean too.”
“I don’t believe it,” she said with her arms crossed.
“I didn’t either,” Odette said. “Still don’t really.”
“The palace belongs to Wily,” Kestrel said. “I am here to make sure it is his once more.”
Lumina looked to Wily.
“We wouldn’t be here without him,” Wily said.
His mother appeared lost in thought for a moment, but then she seemed to come to a decision. She reached out a hand to Wily and lifted him off the floor. “Every minute we wait, Stalag has more time to transform the palace into one of his dungeons.”
And with that, she wrapped her arm around her son and walked him out the door, right past Kestrel.
“We’re not the only ones from the palace in here,” Valor said. “Every cottage in the prisonaut is filled with people who want to see Stalag removed from the throne. We may not need to go far to get the rest of our army.”