| Chapter 21 Scoot was the first person on the ground to see the army that came to destroy Balthasaar. The ground seemed blackened by the droves of penguins that came quickly closer and the sky was peppered with Russian ships. Wait wait, Scoot thought to himself, just a bit longer. “Now!” The few but gallant elfish people that still remained in Balthasaar began to use their magic to form a shield that would not only protect them but also destroy their enemies at the same time. The first row of penguins were vanquished by the elfin made shield and two Russian ships were destroyed. The remaining Russians circled back around and began to shoot at the shield that encased most of Balthasaar. Anday knew it was only a matter of time before they broke through and it would be his and the rest of the pilots turn to come out of hiding and attack. Scoot split his energy in two. One half of his magic he used to cause malfunction to the Russian ships causing them to lose control and crash into things. The other elfin citizens used their magic to pick off penguins by focusing their magic. The shield cracked and shattered. Nick’s heard thumped so hard he thought it was trying to escape. “Now is the time to go!” Anday screamed over the com. ********************** “BenBen? Matt! Kidd!” Hannahoko cried. She hugged them each in succession (the Kidd did not hug her back and would not look her in the eye.) “I’m so glad to see you all! Do you know anything I don’t? Do you have the penny?” Her eyes widened with hope. The Kidd felt like her gaze would burn a hole straight through him. “Do you have to look like that, Hannahoko!?” screamed the Kidd as a knife hit the ground, “Mona has the penny. You are doomed now, we all are. It wasn’t my plan, but I was stupid. I’m always stupid.” Hannahoko did not know what do say at first. Her mind seemed to lack all comprehensible thought and she feared she might faint. “I cannot tell you, Kidd, that I am not angry with you,” she said when she regained her senses, “I am furious with you. But we will succeed. We have to.” “Hannahoko! No one has your optomism. We will ALL fall to the hand of that short tyrant. I know her better than any of you do, she has already won!” “No! I command you to stop talking,” she screamed. The Kidd snapped his mouth shut and his face turned more clouded. “Now, we will work through this. And you all will help me, won’t you?” “Yes, Hannahoko, of course I will help you,” said the psychologist. BenBen did not seem to be listening as his answer was, “Do you think some of my trees are unequal? Or just less mature so therefore equal in similarity? But what about the trees of the same age? Are they unequal? Or do they simply age slower? Hmm…” He fell into deep thought and quit talking all together. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The pilots flew out of their hiding places and began their onslaught on the Russians. “Squirt, come with me,” Anday’s voice roared over the com, “Nick Kiell and Egan, back each other up. The rest of you take out as many as you can. Let them show them what suffering is.” Scoot watched as the penguins marched forward. This truly was a sad day, he thought. “Now!” Scoot yelled from his hiding place in a building. They all formed a magical blast that shot straight through the center of the penguins. There are too many of them! He thought to himself. ****************** Hannahoko sat leisurely with the Kidd on a seat made out of hammock netting. Neither of them were saying anything. “Hannahoko,” Matt spoke up, ”I’m sorry I lost your penny, and I’m sorry that I, I’m sorry that I…” The young queen looked over at him and half smiled. She placed her hand over his mouth. “Don’t worry about it,” she said. Her hand dropped back into her lap and she looked forward through the trees. “So, Hannahoko,” Matt said after some time had lapsed, a grin was creeping onto his mouth, “You got the hots for Nick?” Hannahoko shot an alarmed look at him. “What would make you think that?” “Well it makes the most sense, Hannahoko. Obviously you don’t like me, and Anday, I’m certain is out because he’s a hotshot. Squirt doesn’t get a chance. The psychologist is your brother, and BenBen as well. And that basically leaves us with the roguishly handsome, Nick. You know, I wouldn’t have guessed it when we were younger, but it almost makes sense.” “But Matt, don’t you know? I’ve always liked you,” she said this with such a straight face that the Kidd almost believed her, but then she added, “Or I would have, had you been taller.” She returned her gaze forward and grinned evilly, or rather, evilly for her. “Why Hannahoko, you’re worse than Anday,” Matt said as he laughed. “Do you think the pilots are okay?” the young queen looked over at him her eyes suddenly filled with worry. “Where did my optimist go? Yes, I believe they will be fine. And if the battle gets to be too much they can always retreat.” “But what is the point of them trying at all if we don’t save Balthasaar?” “Because any dent we can give them we should take while we still can. Of course, I’m just a short drifter, I probably shouldn’t be giving you my opinion.” Hannahoko giggled, “I guess you do have a point, Matt.” “If only I had a hose,” he said, grinning. ************************* A giant ship traveled slowly through the sky behind the Russian pilots. The Neptunese pilots couldn’t help but show their fear of this ship for they all were certain it had fighting capabilities. Anday’s breath caught in his throat when he picked it up on his radar. Now he knew they would have to retreat. Her cursed to himself. He would have to hand over his home to this giant mass that cast a giant shadow on Balthasaar. He and his pilots could have fought valiantly against the Russians, but now they could not succeed. “We must go! All of us, NOW!” Anday screamed over the com. Scoot ordered his people to run into the underground tunnels and as quickly as they could get to the willow tree forest. Inside the ship Mona smiled happily. “Everything is falling into place, Will,” said Mona, “I didn’t expect to obtain the penny so easily! How did we ever get any use out of that rat, anyway? Hah, I wanted to kill him so very badly when he hunted us down and aided in exiling us to Neptune. But you know, I believe this is far sweeter revenge. Now everything that goes wrong will be his fault! So sweet Will, so sweet.” ****************** Hannahoko woke up, she hardly remembered falling asleep at all. She looked to her right and left trying to remember where she was. Was she dreaming? Where was she? And where was everyone else? Was that a fire crackling behind her? She leaned up on her elbow and looked behind her, her back ached slightly, probably from sleeping on the ground. Standing over a fire was a man who strongly resembled the Native Americans who inhabited Earth. His hair was long and of a dark shade with feathers intertwined in it. On top of his head was placed a black top hat, which Hannahoko felt was odd, but so was the long trench coat he wore. “How,” he said and paused, “Do ya like your eggs?” Hannahoko scrambled up to a sitting position. “Who are you?” “My name is Amus, I know your father.” “You knew my Dad?” “Knew and still know.” “You do??! Where is he??” “I’m sorry he couldn’t make it too, Hannah’, but he is on Jupiter’s moon _____ on a secret mission. But he wanted me to come and since I just got out of prison, I thought, hey, why not. What better thing was I doing, right?” “You were in prison?” “Yes, for 936 years, actually. Hah! I’ll bet they thought that was really funny when they set the sentence. I could just hear them saying to each other ‘haha! Like he’d ever actually live that long!’” “Why were you in prison?” “Eh, I’d rather not talk about it. Right now I must tell you why I am here. I am here because your father tells me you need to be trained.” “Me? Trained? For what??” “Why for magic, of course, my dear. Now, tell me what you can do already. I know it is something! Caldwells always were good at teaching themselves beginner magic.” “Where is everyone, Amus?” “Oh back at the camp. Your mind wanders too much young one, keep your thoughts on our conversation, will you? What are you already capable of?” “Well, I suppose three things that I am aware of, but I’m not very good at two of them.” “What are they Hannah’? Don’t be shy.” “I can, I can speak with animals. And, I have healed myself before, although I am useless at healing others. The last thing I can only do well when I am truly upset, and that is to levitate things. I dream of flying, although I am not certain I can do that.” “Ah, worthy skills indeed. The healing one is probably the most useful. You will be able to heal others far better when you become less selfish. Your magic responds to your thoughts, Hannah’, and although you may not consciously think it, you are afraid to part with your magic. I know you are not a selfish girl at heart, though, you will learn quickly to depart with your magic for the sake of others. Now, can you lift your eggs over to yourself from there?” The young queen closed her eyes and attempted to summon her breakfast to her. She suddenly realized that she was quite hungry and the platter of food toppled to the ground spilling all of it. “Hmm,” he said, “You forgot what you were doing, no matter though! You can try again at lunch, hope you have an appetite by then!” |