The Recluself’s ship glided swiftly across the ocean, passing Oris Rock, its large stone head sticking out from the water. Stalag sat on deck, bound in enchanted shackles, peering fearfully at the Salt Isle in the distance.
“You can’t do this to me,” Stalag pleaded. “I’m not the true villain in all this. Kestrel was. Let me stay in the prisonaut instead.”
“You had us dumped out here,” Wily said as he paced along the railing. “Now it’s your turn to see what that’s like. You can make friends with the salt boars.”
Valor was leaning up against Stalkeer with a satisfied grin on her face.
“You deserve much worse,” she said.
Lumina steered the ship closer to the island. As they passed near the beach, the trees began to wail.
“Even from all the way out here,” Odette said, “that sounds awful. Just wait until you get right next to them.”
“Take these off,” Stalag wailed, his eyes quivering inside his pale skull. “I’m defenseless without my magic.”
“I’m sure you’ll figure out some way to survive,” Wily retorted. “Just like I had to all those years in Carrion Tomb. Word of advice: stay away from the horsetrap plants.”
“Please…” Stalag begged. “Spare me. I burn so easily in the sun. And I can’t swim.”
“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” Odette asked Wily.
“So much,” Wily replied.
The amphibious ship pulled up onto the shore of one of the Salt Isles, the metal bow grinding against the bottom of the salt crystal beach.
“You can’t leave me here alone!”
“Okay,” Wily said. “If you insist. We won’t.”
Pryvyd came out of the hold leading Sceely and Agorop, also bound in enchanted chains.
“You got shavtibured too?” Sceely asked. (Shavtibur is one the many words that oglodytes have for “ambush.” This particular word means “to be captured with no hope of ever escaping.”)
“I think it won’t be all bad,” Agorop said. “We can make a little fungus farm and I will sing you to sleep every night.”
If Stalag was upset before, now he was practically crying. The cavern mage clutched at Wily’s ankle. “I’d rather be alone. Put them on a different island.”
“That’s insul-ter-ating,” Agorop said.
Moshul lifted Stalag up by the back of his cloak and tossed him into the shallow water. Then Moshul tossed Agorop and Sceely as well. Wily reversed the oars as Stalag held his shackled hands up in the air.
“No! Come back!” Stalag called as the two fish-headed oglodytes paddled to shore with their ankles bound.
Wily didn’t even look back. If he never saw Stalag again, he would have no regrets. Pryvyd walked up beside him.
“Stalag’s been caught,” the knight said. “Kestrel is gone forever. What now?”
“We return the ubergearfolk to the keeper of the Eversteel Forge,” Wily said. “I thought he could make something else in place of these mechanical warriors.”
“You have something particular in mind?” Pryvyd asked.
“I was wondering if he could make a mechanical flying machine,” Wily said. “Just like the one we built ourselves, only much bigger and much stronger.”
“So we could all take a ride?” Roveeka asked. “Just like a birk!”
“Or steel aqueducts. Or a forest of eversteel trees. Anything but weapons and shields.”
Lumina walked up to Pryvyd’s side.
“There’s something I wanted to talk to you about,” Lumina said.
“If this is about letting Wily jump out the window,” Pryvyd said, “I just wanted to say I will never let it happen again.”
“It wasn’t going to be about that … but it is now. When did this happen?”
Pryvyd seemed to regret opening his mouth about that last bit. He quickly changed the subject.
“So what did you actually want to talk to me about?” he said swiftly.
“Before going into battle,” Wily’s mother said, “you told me how you felt about me.”
“It might have been the panic of the situation…,” Pryvyd said awkwardly, “or the almost certain death.”
Lumina was not listening to Pryvyd’s nervous rambling. She was bending down on a single knee.
“Pryvyd, by the light of the Golden Sun and the arms that reach from it, would you accept a life of adventure with me?”
The Knight of the Golden Sun seemed dumbfounded, not prepared for this.
Lumina continued, “Would you marry me?”
The words got lost in his mouth. Then he turned to Wily.
“If it would be okay with you…” Pryvyd asked.
A huge smiled formed on Wily’s face. “You would be the best dad I ever had. Although, considering my previous fathers, it’s not much of a competition.”
Pryvyd bent down on one knee too and pressed his cheek against the back of Lumina’s hand.
“There is nothing that I could want more in the Above, the Below, or anywhere in between,” Pryvyd said.
She lifted him to his feet and wrapped her arms around him tightly. Wily walked over to Odette, who stood near the railing, her blue hair fluttering in the wind.
“You know all this is because of you,” Wily said.
“What do you mean?” she said.
“If you hadn’t led Moshul and Pryvyd into Carrion Tomb, I’d still be there. You changed the world. And changed my life for the better.”
“Being awesome is my job,” Odette said. “I’m used to it. But thanks.”
Wily and Odette looked over to see Moshul petting his hugtopus. He noticed that the eight-armed creature had certainly gotten bigger in the last few days.
“I wonder how large that thing gets?” Wily asked.
“I’ve heard some can grow to the size of a small dragon,” Odette said.
“Should we tell Moshul?”
“Nah. Let him worry about that later.”
“So what’s next for you?” Wily asked Odette.
“I know I promised I would teach you how to read, but there is something else I would like to do. Search for treasure.”
“But you have no need for money,” Wily said. “The palace treasury is overflowing with gold.”
“It’s not that. I miss the adventure.”
“I understand,” Wily said. And he did.
Wily walked over and sat down next to Roveeka, who was back to carving. As he took a seat next to her, she handed him a piece of driftwood. It looked remarkably like a bird.
“Wow,” Wily said. “This is great.”
“I keep getting better.”
“Roveeka, I don’t tell you often enough how glad I am that you left the tomb with me.”
“You don’t have to tell me,” she said. “But I still like to hear it.”
Roveeka gave Wily a playful nudge in the ribs as the Recluself’s ship cut across the sea.
“Turn the ship!” Odette started to yell with excitement. “Turn it!”
Odette was pointing at a spot in the sea. Sticking out of the water was the top of a marble temple with a giant golden conch shell on top.
“It’s the Lost Temple of the Brine Queen!” she exclaimed. “It only comes out of the sea once every thirty years. We need to sail there now! This is a once-in-a-lifetime find. The Sacred Eye of the Seahorse lies waiting in the final chamber.”
“Is that the one that can control the winds?” Pryvyd asked.
Odette nodded enthusiastically.
“Let’s really think about this,” Wily said to Odette and Pryvyd. “Where there’s treasure, there are traps. I’m done with all that.”
Wily looked at the dungeon rising up from the sea. The pearly marble gate glistened in the sun. Beyond it was the entrance to a dark corridor. Even from this distance, he could hear strange sounds gurgling from within. It was scary and spooky … and enticing.
“One more dungeon,” Wily said. “Then I’m done.”
“Yes,” Odette said. “Just one more. And maybe one more after that.”
Wily adjusted his new trapsmith belt, running his fingers along the tools that were dangling from it.
“Pryvyd, change direction,” he said. “Our greatest adventure awaits!”