Isle of Wysteria: The Reluctant Queen by Aaron Lee Yeager Page B

*
    “Hands, bring in the sails!” Evere bellowed out. “Navigator, calm the winds for a bit.”
    “Aye,” the crew of The Dreadnaught called out as they scampered up the shrouds of the Quaranna. Mina stopped about halfway up to pause for a moment and place a dab of perfume on each side of her neck.
    Captain Evere looked around suspiciously. There was nothing but open sky in all directions. Far below them, the Gray Sea boiled and writhed, shrieking with hunger.
    Captain Evere pulled out his sextant and took a reading, then gave the binnacle two good kicks with his boot to make sure the ship’s compass was aligned. Tim sat on his shoulder, munching on some seeds.
    “Why are we stopping?” Athel asked aloud as she scooted out along the yardarm’s ratline. “We should be hurrying; the attack will begin any minute.”
    “Yes, thank you lass,” Evere grumbled as he looked over the charts. “Because screaming at me while I’m charting is always helpful.”
    ’”We would be there already if we hadn’t taken the time to drop off the prisoners on a safe beach,” Privet complained as he made fast the sail ties.
    “What were we supposed to do? Drop them into the sea?” Athel chided as she dropped down to the deck. “Besides, we should almost be there by now.”
    “Nope,” Captain Evere said, standing up and scratching his gray mutton chops.
    “What do you mean, ‘nope’?” Athel asked, growing concerned. “Don’t just say nope, that just makes us worry. Tell us what the problem is.”
    “The problem is that we are here,” Captain Evere said. Everyone looked around at the miles and miles of nothing in all directions.
    “There’s nothing here,” Ryin said stupidly.
    * * *
    Aden looked up and saw tens of thousands of tiny white squares appear at the horizon. The Navy ships were unfurling their sails. The assault had begun.
    Captain Tallia drew her saber and her pistol, completely unfazed to be standing on the tip of a branch nearly a mile in the air.
    “Daughters of Milia!” Captain Tallia shouted, the forest quieting itself so all could hear. “We did not seek out this fight, we do not seek their destruction; we do not thirst for their blood. But when these foreigners come to take our lands and threaten our lives, we will not simply lie down and submit. We will show them why no invader has ever set foot upon our forest and lived to tell the tale!”
    A great cheer rose up from the forest, all the trees and Treesingers shouting in unison.
    “Prepare first volley!” Captain Tallia shouted, waving her saber around in the air. There was a fire in her eyes as her blade gleamed in the sunlight.
    Aden took out her staff and Buckeye wrapped her top branches around it. Slowly but surely, the enormous tree began to bend backwards. The rest of the forest followed suit. It looked as if the entire forest were bowing, as one does to an opponent at the beginning of a duel.
    Aden’s tree was as large as a city, yet Buckeye moved fluidly, with grace and precision, as she bowed, farther and farther towards the ground. Aden felt her ears pop from the change in altitude as she descended. So fast that at times it seemed like she was falling, yet she remained as peaceful as a falling leaf. Down further and further, Buckeye bent over like a colossal bow. Finally, the tips of her topmost branches reached the forest floor, her massive trunk bent over like a horseshoe. Aden jumped to the ground and held up her staff. At her command, one of Buckeye’s pinecones began to grow. Larger and larger it swelled, until it was the size of a house. The other Treesingers did the same.
    Captain Tallia jumped down to the ground and slashed her saber forward. “Fire!”
    With a great snap like thunder, Buckeye sprung upwards, uncurling herself with an unbelievable strength and speed. At the peak of her arc she released the giant cone, flinging it into the air like an enormous catapult. The rest of the forest followed suit, thousands of