The Shadow Dragons - James A. Owen [122]
“The clockwork!” Bert said in amazement. “It was a giant Anabasis Machine, like the pocket watches! That’s how he was able to manipulate the Time Storms to capture the children and the ships!”
“That machine is no more,” Charys bellowed, “and I think all debts have been settled!”
“Not entirely,” a voice called out from farther down the rise. “There are still other claims to be made, and I’m claiming the Archipelago as my own.”
It was Defoe. And in his hands he held the Spear of Destiny.
He looked at John and smirked. “You should act more swiftly against those you discover to be your enemies.”
“Don’t be a fool, Daniel,” said Bert. “You cannot do this!”
“I think I can, and I shall,” said Defoe. “We’ve often searched for the means to make the Society dominant over the Caretakers, and I always believed it would be in the service of Mordred. But I realize now that it was my destiny all along to do it myself.”
“Rose has Caliburn, Daniel,” said John. “You’re outmatched.”
“Ah, I think not, young Caretaker,” Defoe replied. “I have the shadows of the Dragons. And that makes me the victor, even before the battle is begun. You are trapped here in the Nameless Isles, and I get the rest of creation. That sounds like a fair exchange.”
“Overconfidence was Mordred’s downfall,” said John. “It will be yours, too.”
“It’s hard to be overconfident when I control all the Dragons,” said Defoe.
“Oh, I wouldn’t say all of them,” Bert noted, looking up. “You missed one, Daniel.”
With a terrifying rush of speed and a sickening crunch, Samaranth dropped out of the sky and crushed Defoe beneath his feet.
“I learned my lesson about banishment last time,” said Samaranth. “This is now done and done.”
The battle was finally over.
“Why didn’t the Shadow King go after you?” Jack asked the Dragon. “I’d have thought he would have made certain to get you first.”
“He tried,” said Samaranth, “but he could never find my True Name to bind me. His mistake was in believing it was in the book. It wasn’t.”
“Where is it?” asked Jack.
“That would be telling,” said Samaranth.
“We saw something similar happen in the battle with Peter Pan,” said Jack, referring to the destruction of the Shadow. “How is this time different?”
“Dissipated is different from destroyed,” said Bert, “and silver pixie dust is different from the sword of the gods. The Shadow is gone. Forever.”
“That begs an interesting question,” said Charles. “The Shadow could not survive if the owner was dead—but what about the reverse? With his Shadow destroyed, what will happen to Madoc?”
But Bert didn’t answer. He smiled grimly, then strode off to find Aven to move Artus’s body. The king had been the only casualty.
Jack wondered if Bert hadn’t answered his question because he couldn’t . . .
. . . or because he wouldn’t.
“Answer my question,” said John. “Which side are you on?”
Kipling’s only response was to reach into his breast pocket and pull out a silver pocket watch. A pocket watch with a red dragon on the cover.
“How did you get that?” John exclaimed. “Haven’t you turned traitor?”
Kipling smiled. “I got it in the usual way, and no,” he said blithely, “I have not become a traitor.”
“The Shadow King had Defoe and poor Jakob in our camp,” said Bert with a weary smile, “but we had Kipling in theirs.”
“Don’t worry, lad,” Kipling said. “We’ll explain it all to you by and by. Just know that everything’s gone as it was supposed to go.”
“Everything?” John said, looking at Artus’s body, which they had moved to the deck of the Blue Dragon.
“Yes, John,” Bert said sadly. “Everything.”
John gestured skyward at the shadows. “The Shadow King created this terrible army, and he never even used it.”
“He tried,” said Kipling, “in the Summer Country. But we summoned them away, then defeated their master. We won, lad.”
John smiled bitterly. “It just seems to have ended too quickly.”
Kipling whirled around, eyes flashing. “Were you hoping for a bigger battle, John? A valiant, vain struggle against foes we could not possibly defeat? That