A lump swelled in Ben’s throat even as his pulse pounded with urgency. His brother and his unicorn, Breaker, were in a terrible state. A trickle of blood streamed through the mud and algae caked on Griffin’s unicorn’s coat. A nasty scrape marred Griffin’s cheek, and his cloak was ripped almost in half. His quiver was dangerously close to empty. He drew his sword—or what was left of it. The end of it had broken—or been bitten—right off.
“This is my decision.” Ben cut in front of Griffin. “It has nothing to do with you.”
Griffin veered to the side. “No, it was my decision, and it has everything to do with me.”
Ackley fired at Griffin, and all he could do was dodge. Ben fired back. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Twig, all alone on the boardwalk, charging bravely toward the Boy King. Her courage would be no match for Reynald’s skill. Ben made his choice. He left Griffin and headed for the boardwalk to help Twig.
Griffin had ruined everything Ben was trying to do. Now the unicorns would suffer the losses of another war. Griffin had made it this far, winning who knew how many battles against the swamp—and now he was going to die. But Twig shouldn’t have to pay the price.
“What is this?” the Boy King shrieked as he fired, not at Twig, but at Griffin. “What kind of cheating? What kind of trickery?”
Though stricken by the sound of the arrow piercing his brother’s shoulder, of Griffin’s strangled cry, Ben still felt the shame of Reynald’s words, of what Griffin had done. Griffin drew his last arrow and, with a shout of agony, fired at Reynald.
“Ben! Behind you!” Twig cried.
There was a great splash, a flash of enormous teeth. A snap. Ben whirled toward his brother and grabbed at whatever he could. He pulled Griffin off Breaker just as the stallion disappeared under the water in the grip of a swamp lizard.
The putrid water bubbled up, then stilled. Ben clutched his older brother to his chest with all his strength as Griffin called out desperately for Breaker.
“He’s gone, Griff.”
And now we’re all going to die. A sticky wetness coated Ben’s hand—Griffin’s blood, dripping into the swamp water as he hung half on, half off Indy in front of Ben. “Get behind me,” Ben commanded. For once, Griffin listened.
“They’re coming. Look!” Twig cried. Sets of lizard eyes glided above the water, leaving telltale wakes behind them. “They look so big.”
A swamp lizard launched out of the water, right onto the boardwalk, and snapped at Wonder’s feet. The boardwalk groaned with the force of the swamp lizard’s lunge and the pounding of Wonder’s hooves. Ben watched in horror as the section of boards gave way and crashed into the shallows of the swamp. The lizard attacked relentlessly, and beautiful Wonder Light splashed into the muck.
Wonder kicked. She struck the lizard in the head, then leaped farther into the water to escape its thrashing. Indy lunged and slashed through the lizard’s throat with his horn. It sank into the swamp, limp and lifeless—but the swamp teemed with movement.
“Reynald!” Ben said. The boardwalk had collapsed beneath the Boy King, and now he was wading through the swamp too. “We have to work together if we want to get out of here. If we want to live.”
“I’m to trust you after this?” Reynald plucked Griffin’s arrow from the hood of his cloak, where it had lodged after narrowly missing his head.
“I had no part in it,” Ben told him.
But Twig said, “You don’t have a choice!”
Reynald let his arrow fly, right at Twig. Wonder leaped aside just in time, and behind Ben, Griffin grunted and something else flew—Griffin’s dagger. It just missed Reynald’s ear and struck Ackley instead.
Ackley plunged backward into the water. A frenzy of snapping and gnashing surrounded him. Twig screamed.
“Stay calm!” Ben barely got out the words.
Stone Heart flew into a panic as the mass of hungry jaws stirred up the water around his nimble feet, and his rider cried out in horror. He reared, and Reynald fought to stay on, but he was no match for the power of Stone Heart’s terror.
The Boy King soared through the air and skid-splashed to a landing on a mass of water plants just out of reach of the swamp lizards.
“Look out!” Twig cried.
As Reynald scrambled backward across the slippery swamp plants, a wake shot toward him like an arrow. Twig darted around, circled behind the swamp lizards, and tried to make her way to Reynald, to save him, even though he’d just tried to shoot her.
The lizard’s massive head broke out of the water, jaws poised to crush Reynald’s legs and drag him to his death, but Ben’s arrow struck right between his reptilian eyes. The beast fell into the water with a splash.
Twig leaned down, barely hanging on to Wonder. She extended her hand. Reynald took it and climbed behind her. Wonder scrambled onto what remained of the boardwalk.
“Stone Heart,” Reynald said hoarsely. “Please, help him.”
Ben met Reynald’s pleading eyes. He nodded. “Hang on, Griff.”
“Ben!” Twig said. That was all. But her eyes said the rest. Don’t die.
Ben said, “Just keep shooting. Keep me covered.”
“Get close.” Griffin’s voice was barely audible in Ben’s ear. “I can take Stone Heart. I can ride.”
“Griff—”
Another swamp lizard flew toward them through the water. It lunged out of the water. Just as Ben cried out, Twig’s arrow pierced its head right between the eyes.
“Just do it,” Griffin said. “I got us into this. Let me do the right thing. For once, just let me do it, Ben!”
So Ben rode, plowing through the swamp while Twig’s arrows whizzed through the air. He drew alongside Stone Heart, who was stuck in a tangle of mud and swamp plants, struggling madly and getting nowhere. Griffin clambered onto Stone Heart’s back.
Ben threw Indy’s reins to Griffin so that he could hang on while Indy tried to pull Stone Heart free. “Go! Indy, yah!”
Griffin clung to Stone Heart with his legs as he groped in his pockets with his free hand.
“What are you doing?” Ben said.
“Hold on. Just a minute.” Griffin pulled a tiny wooden tube out. He put it to his mouth and began to blow.
“What are you doing!”
Griffin moved his head as though in time with music, but no sound came out of the strange little instrument. He’d completely lost his mind. Or maybe he’d just lost too much blood. Ben reached out to snatch the little pipe and maybe smack some sense back into Griffin, but he froze halfway through the motion.
Stone Heart had grown still and quiet. He’d stopped his frantic struggling against the pull of the swamp. Underneath him, Ben felt the pulse of excitement, the tenseness of the battle, fade from Indy’s body. Griffin motioned for Ben to drive Indy forward.
“Let’s go, Indy-boy. Pull hard.”
The mud squelched as Indy leaped and lunged and Stone Heart was wrenched free, calm and steady, no longer fighting against Indy’s efforts. Griffin tossed Indy’s reins back to Ben. He pulled Stone Heart in front, and without being told, Indy followed. He climbed up onto the boardwalk after Stone Heart—as though in a trance.
Hypnotized, that was the word Twig had used. Griffin had entranced the unicorns with that little instrument. Griffin was the unicorn thief.