Chapter Two hundred four – The Ship Hits the Pan(dy)

Eleanor was much, much too calm, almost like being kidnapped was just another day in her life – or maybe like she’d been trained for this exact scenario.

Once her hands were free, she explained what had happened in quick, concise terms, with hardly any sniffling or sobs in between the words. Pandy desperately wanted to give the little princess – and the other children – all the hugs, but she couldn’t at the moment, so she focused on what she could do.

So, they were in a wooden box, on a boat, and said boat was probably on the river to the south-east of Knightmere. Eleanor couldn’t give her more than that, but she was certain they were still outside, which ruled out the underground river, which was good, because Pandy didn’t want to go back there.

Step one was getting the children out of the box. Step two was getting them someplace safe. After that, things got a little fuzzy, but that was all right, because Pandy didn’t think she’d be alone for long. There was no way Augustus and Lian and all the others were just going to wait around for a ransom note or something. Some kind of Darkness spell had made it impossible to see during the abduction, so Eleanor wasn’t sure what had happened to the rest of the group, but she didn’t think they were dead, in spite of all the spiders. Pandy was getting really, really tired of spiders, but she also felt bad for them, since she now knew they weren’t attacking people on purpose.

Pandy couldn’t let Eleanor know what she was about to do, but once the princess wound down, Pandy patted her hand with a paw, and hopped until she ran into the wall with a soft bonk to her fluffy noggin. With a judicious application of Bite, Pandy quickly cleared out a her-sized hole in the wood, though she did have to focus on small nibbles and eat the chunk she tore out because she didn’t want anyone to hear chunks of wood hitting the deck.

Soon, a soft wash of moonlight came through the hole, and Eleanor let out a soft gasp of relief. Miss Cupcakes didn’t wait for an invitation, shoving Pandy out of the way and vanishing into the night. Pandy couldn’t help but feel a bit miffed about that, but the kitten had apparently been the one to pull off Thaniel’s Heartsplit Charm and summon her, so she wasn’t going to complain about it.

Pandy poked her head out, noting that the box had been placed in the middle of an open area on the deck. Figures moved in unhurried, practiced motions on every side. The crate was tied down with rope, pinning it to the deck so it couldn’t slide around, and there was little to no chance someone wouldn’t notice if Pandy, say, chewed a child-sized hole in the box.

She could probably use Shield of Darkness to hide Eleanor, but what could she do with Thaniel if he wouldn’t wake up? Sure, she could carry him in her human-form, but then she would be very limited in her ability to fight or even use magic, because she would be afraid of hurting him. She needed to get the children – and maybe the cat – off the boat before she did anything else.

She cast Shield of Darkness on herself purely for the camouflage effect, and hopped over to the side of the boat. Pandy’s experience with rivers was extremely limited, given the antagonistic relationship between her living self and any body of liquid deeper than a few inches, and she was shocked to see that shore was several yards away. Definitely too far to jump, even for her, much less Eleanor.

The other side of the boat showed much the same, and Pandy realized they were in the middle of a rapidly-moving body of water at least forty feet wide. At what point did a river become a narrow inland sea, and was she on one? Did seas even move? They had to, didn’t they? Waves were a thing, after all.

She shook her head, ears flopping, and returned to the crate. Rather than going back inside, she found the side with the deepest shadows and gnawed another hole in it. Only then did she drop her shield and reenter the cramped space. They were just going to have to make a break for it, and if the bad guys came after them, Pandy would do what she had to do.

Once again, she sketched out the inner surface of the box with her paws and whiskers, the two small openings allowing in just enough light to get a better idea of how much space there was. Then she nudged Thaniel a bit closer to Eleanor and pressed herself against the opposite side of the crate and dismissed Shifting Faces.

There was a bit of grunting and shuffling as the two conscious occupants of the box moved themselves and the unconscious third party into some semblance of not being crushed, and then Pandy whispered, “I’m going to make the hole big enough for you. Don’t go until you hear shouting, though. I’m going to create a distraction.”

“I won’t leave Thaniel,” Eleanor said, her jaw jutting forward. Her hat had come off at some point, and her stubborn little face was surrounded by equally stubborn brown curls that were very definitely feeling the high humidity in the air.

“I won’t either,” Pandy said, and Eleanor stared at her, then relaxed just a bit. “As soon as you’re out, go straight to the side of the boat. I’ll grab Thaniel, and then we’ll get out of here. All right?”

The princess hesitated for the barest instant before nodding, and Pandy hoped that didn’t mean she’d hesitate when it was time to run. There was nothing she could do to guarantee the girl would go, though, and she couldn’t feel her left foot any more, so she popped back to Bunny with a thought.

Back out she went, and began nibbling very quickly and very quietly at the wood. Fortunately, the sound of the water lapping against the hull worked in her favor, covering the sounds of her activity until the gap was large enough. She gave it a few extra Bites, just to be sure, then gave a single Hop that took her to the top of the small building that held the steering wheel and the pilot. Pilot? Was that right? Surely he wasn’t a captain, because this was just a little tugboat-type thing, not a cruise ship, or even a-

No, Pandy, not the time. Quickly, she scanned the vessel. The people working were all covered in dark sneaky-clothes, much like what Isidor wore when he was planning to do something he probably shouldn’t. She did catch a few glimpses of something very like the bodysuit Ms. Wellington had had beneath those cloaks, however, so she was pretty sure she was dealing with the Shadow Exchange again, even if the spiders hadn’t already given it away.

Nobody was looking up, so she could get started at any time, but she needed to locate one… more… There! Her eyes locked onto a skulking, shadowy shape near one of the men closest to the crate. Tiny sparks were flickering over Miss Cupcakes’ fur, and her yellow eyes glowed even more than they should in this low light. She was definitely getting ready to do something, and that something was probably going to involve fire. That worked out just fine, because Pandy was about to start playing with fire, too.

<Shifting Faces,> Pandy thought, and the moment she reached full-human, yanked a particular item from her inventory, dropping it on the deck below. Smoke instantly began to billow, filling the air with the stench of burning hair, and making it extremely difficult to see. People began to shout, and Pandy darted back toward the crate, arriving just in time to see Miss Cupcakes sink burning fangs into the calf of the only person close enough to grab Eleanor as she ran for the railing.

Pandy jumped down, throwing a Shield of Darkness over the princess now that she was out of the box and in the open air. Not that anyone was looking in the girl’s direction. The people at the pointy end of the boat were trying to put out the burning, hair-filled trashcan, while the people at this end of the boat were chasing a feline fiend with eyes that left streaks of flame in the air behind her.

No longer bothering with stealth, Pandy grasped the sides of the larger hole she’d made, and tore out the side of the box. Surprisingly, no one seemed to notice that, either, but they were all quite thoroughly distracted. Good job, her! And Miss Cupcakes, of course.

Reaching inside, Pandy gently scooped Thaniel into her arms, and was encouraged when he curled into her, murmuring something. So he was unconscious, but it was more like sleep than a coma, which had to be a good thing. Didn’t it?

A few steps took her to Eleanor’s side, finding the princess crouched in the darkness next to a big stack of rope as thick as Pandy’s wrist. Even Pandy could barely make her out through the shield that protected her, so she dismissed it, She’d have to cast it again, but right now she needed the girl to be able to hear and see her.

Eleanor gasped, staring first at Pandy, then at Thaniel. She reached for the boy, then shifted, and there was suddenly a small knife in Pandy’s gut, which hurt. The princess had stabbed her! Was that even allowed? It was Pandy’s fault, though. She’d told Thaniel and Isidor about her new face, but hadn’t even thought to warn the others.

“Ellie, it’s me! Bunny!” Pandy hissed, shifting Thaniel so he wouldn’t get blood on his clothes. A Minor Heal took care of the stab wound, but she still felt a bit hard-done-by as she looked at the little princess. On the other hand, better to be quick with the stabbing than captured again, and who could blame the girl for being jumpy after the night she’d had?

Eleanor’s brows drew together, and then she glanced from Thaniel snuggling into Pandy’s arms to the broken box to the men who were finally getting themselves together enough to check on their captives, and seemed to decide to run with it. “There’s a rowboat,” she said, pointing over the side. “I think it’ll fall in the water if we cut this rope.”

A rowboat? Pandy could have smacked herself. Of course there was a rowboat. It was like a life raft, right? There were probably regulations. But no, a rowboat definitely wouldn’t be fast enough. She shook her head and hitched Thaniel entirely onto her left arm, thankful that he was so small for his age. She definitely would have struggled if she’d had to haul two Abbington’s around. Even one Abbington would probably be awkward. An Isidor might be all right, though, because he was so tall and skinny. She could probably fold him over her shoulder and-

She held out her right arm invitingly. “Climb on, and let’s get out of here,” she told the princess.

Eleanor very definitely looked doubtful at this, but just then Miss Cupcakes came streaking out of the fading cloud of hair-smoke, leaping onto Pandy’s shoulder and digging her claws in with a yowl that very clearly said, “Let’s go!”

Eleanor raised her arms, Pandy scooped her up, and the boat actually rocked as Pandy pushed off with the most powerful Hop she ever Hopped. No worries about hitting ceilings or walls this time, no effort to reach some predetermined point, just straight up, until she reached the very top of the arc and began to come back down.

<Wings of Glory! Shield of Darkness on Eleanor! Minor Heal!> Pandy scream-thought as they began to drop rather precipitously toward a large number of pointy metal objects the boat had sprouted.

-16 LF

Wings of Glory successful.

Shield of Darkness successful.

Shield of Darkness is now level 4.

Amount of damage absorbed by Shield of Darkness increased by 1% of target’s health.

Minor Heal successful.

Now we’re cooking!

Not literally, though.

That would be the guys on the boat.

Pandy looked down, and sure enough, in their efforts to get the blazing hot trashcan off the boat and into the nice, wet water, some of the hair must have hit the deck, because that deck was now burning merrily. And on the back end of the boat something similar was happening, only there it was trails of fire about one-cat wide.

The brief moment of organization was falling apart again, except for one man who had climbed up onto the same part of the roof Pandy had stood on. His hood had fallen back, revealing a grey-skinned face with holes where they weren’t meant to be. His foggy white eyes were staring straight at Pandy, in spite of the Shield of Darkness.

Pandy’s wings flapped, rather than remaining wide-spread so she could glide on the updraft over the water. The figure raised its hand, pointing at her. She folded her wings, diving toward the water because it was the only direction she could go really, really fast, and something cold zipped past. Not cold like ice, but cold like… cold. Like that time she tried to freeze-burn her palm off with dry ice, and she didn’t even feel it until it was already excruciating, and she left enough skin behind that the ice looked like it was wearing people-gloves.

-31 CP

It felt like someone was trying to yank a kidney out through the curve of her wing, and Pandy wobbled, barely able to hold back a scream. She did, though, and she didn’t drop either of the children, though Eleanor gave a soft gasp when Pandy squeezed a bit too hard.

Her wings snapped out, and she banked to the left, mainly because it was the right wing that had been damaged, and she couldn’t feel all of it any more. She wasn’t certain all of it was even there until she glanced back and saw that not only was it completely intact, there wasn’t even any sign of blood.

A piercing whistle caught her attention, and she looked up to see four familiar figures standing on the bank that was drawing closer with every moment. Augustus and the others were staring straight at her, and both Kaden and Isidor had their mouths hanging open awkwardly. Augustus raised his hand, and the not-so-little swirl of wind hovering over the water in front of him released another whistle that sounded like a train had just gotten its toot back, and it was very, very excited about it.

Pandy banked again, but this time the beam of whatever-it-was struck her shoulder, and she couldn’t stay in the air. She did scream this time, and her wings buckled, dropping them toward water that was probably just as cold as it looked.

-74 CP

With tremendous effort, Pandy managed to twist in midair, turning over so she would hit the water first. She curled protectively around Thaniel and Eleanor, bracing for impact… only to land on a cloud. A rapidly spinning cloud that absolutely would have made her puke if she still did that, and she could hear Eleanor gag. Then the spinning slowed, and hands were hauling the three of them up, onto dry land.

When someone tried to take Thaniel and Eleanor from her, Pandy clutched at them, but Augustus assured her it was all right now, and she trusted Augustus, so she let go. Eleanor was finally allowing herself to cry, but Thaniel was silent, and when Pandy finally managed to pull herself together enough to look around, she saw Lian holding him. It was obvious that the older boy was doing something, probably some healing magic, but Thaniel didn’t stir, and Lian’s expression grew ever more rigid.

A minute went by, during which Kaden, Isidor, and Augustus drew or adjusted their grips on their weapons. Tempest was in her large size, and lightning crackled from her shell so thickly that she looked more like a hedgehog than a turtle. But Pandy could hear the slap slap of water on a boat’s hull, and smell smoke and fire approaching. How many Shadow Exchange operatives were on that boat? Pandy had counted twenty for sure, but they were all moving around and wearing identical clothes, so she’d probably missed some.

Lian straightened. He still held Thaniel in his arms. The little boy had looped one arm around his brother’s neck, and his head rested on Lian’s shoulder, tousled curls a brilliant gold against what looked like it had started life as a black bathrobe, then been adjusted to become a ‘costume’ for the night.

Lian began to glow. Not like Pandy did when she used her Radiant Presence, but the kind of light that burned the retina before you blinked and looked away. He stared out over the water at the approaching craft, laser-blue eyes the only color still visible within the blaze. His brilliance shifted, bleeding down until it was all gathered in one hand, and then he gathered it up and threw it. Pandy followed it with her eyes as it skated over the water, seeming to sprout wings like some kind of viciously luminescent bird, striking the dark figure atop the boathouse square in the chest. He exploded in a burst of Darkness, a twist of something rising from whatever remained of him, like the last swirl of smoke from a doused match.

Lian crumpled, Augustus caught him and Thaniel, and the rolling thunder of hooves striking stone echoed up from a nearby street, heralding the appearance of at least a dozen Knights of the Royal Eagle, all astride Cloudmanes. Pandy found herself sitting on the shore of the river, mud soaking through the seat of her trousers, and released Shifting Faces before anyone else noticed the strange woman with the children.

It was too late for complete anonymity, though, and both Kaden and Lian’s eyes widened as they watched a human woman transform into a fluffy white bunny. Kaden, of course, must have recognized her as the person who saved him when he fell off Celestine Point, but Lian… Horror suffused his face, his imperturbable mask shattered either by the trauma of the evening or the shock of realizing that he owed his brother’s life to a maybe-probably-evil-but-definitely-undead rabbit.