In the water, Spike rushed to the shore, towing Carina and Alex, breathless and trying to figure out what was happening.
“Holy smokes!” Carina yelled. “The eel is on the island. It’s destroying everything!”
They pulled themselves ashore and ran toward the horrendous noise.
When they reached the destruction, all they could do was watch in horror. The eel had twisted around, and with a violent slap, it sent Simber soaring into the air once more. Simber came roaring back, his jaw not quite wide enough to grip the thicker parts of the beast, and his claws doing little to stop the eel from terrorizing everyone in its path.
The slimy creature batted Simber away and lunged at Talon, grabbing the bronze man in its mouth as it snaked its severed end around Florence, rolling her up in it. She managed to free her hands just as Talon began to push up on the eel’s jaw, trying to pull his body free.
The eel screeched. Suddenly a bright, blinding light sparked all around. Talon cried out in pain, his entire body lighting up like a fireball. Smoke poured from around his body. Florence shuddered with the jolt of electricity, unable to move. When it was over, she reached behind her and pulled an arrow from her quiver and the mighty bow from her shoulder.
“Talon!” Florence yelled.
As the eel shook her all around, Florence painstakingly nocked the arrow and waited until the eel had curled her around to face its head once more. When it did, she drew back the arrow and aimed. “Talon, don’t move!”
She released the shot with a powerful thwack that resonated across the island. Florence’s arrow soared straight and true, missing Talon’s neck by inches and burying itself deep between the eel’s eyes.
The eel’s scream died in its throat.
With a loud crash, its head flopped to the ground, throwing Talon hard into the brush. The severed end followed, slamming Florence into a copse of trees.
On the second impact, there was a thunderous snap of tree trunks, followed by an eerie silence. The eel quivered and was still. And then a hundred dropbears descended onto the creature and covered it.
The First Life of Lhasa
Alex, Carina, and Simber rushed to where Florence lay on top of several felled trees. One arm and her bow rested a short distance away. Alex and Carina scrambled onto the tree trunks and ran along them to Florence’s side.
“Florence, you did it!” Alex shouted. “You got the eel!”
“Are you okay?” Carina asked.
Simber pushed gently on the trees from the other end and peered at Florence’s face. “Florrrence?” He wore a look of concern.
Florence stared up at the sky. She turned her head gingerly from side to side and checked the joints and fingers of her still attached arm. Then she sat up and looked down at her other shoulder. “Well, that’s a bit inconvenient. Not as bad as when my legs got lopped off at the knees, though. I’ll manage.”
“Can I give you a hand out of that trrree?” Simber asked.
“Har har, Cat,” Florence said. She eased up to a sitting position, checking her quiver first to make sure she hadn’t lost any arrows, and then her back, her legs, and her feet. “I think I’m all in two pieces.”
She grasped Simber’s neck and he helped pull her to her feet. “I got ’im good, eh, Alex?” she said with a grin.
“Right between the eyes,” Alex said. “I’ve never seen you use your bow before.”
“I only have one quiver of magical arrows. Once they’re spent, they lose their magic. So I only use them if I really, really need them.” She looked around, worried. “Is everyone else okay?”
She heard a step behind her and whirled around to see Talon coming toward them. “You used a precious arrow for my sake,” the bronze giant said, his voice full of wonder, but it turned to despair when he saw her missing limb. “And you’ve lost an arm—” He clapped his hand to his head in horror.
“Don’t worry,” Florence assured him, “it doesn’t hurt, and Octavia can fix it.” She looked at Simber. “Besides, we have bigger things to worry about. Where’s Lhasa?”
“I left herrr with Lani and Sky in the centerrr of the island.”
“Was she . . . alive?” Talon asked fearfully. “Oh, how foolish . . .” He began to run toward the center of the island, not waiting for an answer.
Florence looked at Simber.
“Go,” Simber said. “We’ll get yourrr arrrm and meet you therrre.”
Alex and Carina picked up Florence’s arm and bow and hoisted them onto Simber’s back, balancing the items between them. Simber trotted a few steps and leaped into the air, weaving through trees, avoiding dropbears and other creatures they hadn’t heard about yet, until they came to the gathering under the golden rooster’s tree. The rooster peppered the silence with his occasional whimsical advice.
Simber hovered above the circle of humans and creatures, and then found a clearing nearby where he could land. Henry, his head still bandaged, and Octavia, not quite back to her plump self but making a steady recovery, worked over the snow lion.
Talon slipped through the crowd to Lhasa’s side and knelt down. “How is she?”
Henry shook his head. “Not good.” He pried open the snow lion’s mouth and shook the contents of a small vial into it, but almost nothing came out. “Is it safe to go back to the ship?” he asked, looking up. “I have more medicine there.”