Jake had a thousand questions, but Politor saluted with his tool and headed away. By now, others had come over to gawk at the newcomers.
One asked, “Are you truly outlanders from beyond the Great Wind? From the fabled city of Calypsos?”
Marika nodded. There was no point in denying it now. “And Calypsos is not a fable.”
“And we’re not evil,” Pindor added sharply.
Whispers spread across the group. Jake distinctly heard the word prophecy several times. Way too many eyes stared at him, some in hope, some in fear.
The large man knelt closer, dropping his voice to a rumbling whisper. “Then it is true. The Prophecy of Lupi Pini. You’ve come to free us. To slay the Sphinx. To kill the howling winds that trap us here.”
Shocked, Jake went speechless. Eyes bore down upon him.
He was saved by a booming shout from Skymaster Horus.
“Harpies ahead! Ready for battle!”
A screech ripped through the sky—an all too familiar screech. Jake tensed. Such screams had filled his nightmares for months. He read the same recognition and terror in Marika’s face.
He burst toward the front of the boat and searched beyond the prow. The others crowded with him. Off in the distance, he saw them: winged bodies churning in the wind, spinning and diving, coming straight at the skyships. More than three dozen.
More screeches pierced the winds, growing sharper and hungrier.
Jake pictured the mummified grakyl back at the museum.
Out in the skies, the same beast had come to life and multiplied into a ravaging horde. The Greeks had called them Harpies, but he had another name for them.
“Grakyl,” Marika said.
It could only mean one thing.
Jake mumbled it aloud, “The Skull King has found us.”
11
BLOODY SKIES
The horde headed toward the ships like a plague of locusts.
Egyptian guards poured up from below to join the slaves. Weapons appeared in every hand as if by magic: bronze swords, bows, spears, and javelins. Jake and his friends were driven flat to the deck as a large man raced over to guard them, carrying a huge mace with a stone head.
Then the attackers struck.
Grakyl crashed into the balloon, clawing and ripping at it. But the rubbery material resisted their assault. More monsters dropped to the ship, to be met by thrusting spears and hacking swords. A flurry of arrows soon feathered the skies. Angry screeches turned to pained screams. Blood flowed over the decks and rained down as stricken beasts flew past.
A large shape shot down out of the sky and struck their guardian square in the back, sprawling him flat. Jake scooted to help, going for the man’s dropped mace. But as soon as Jake moved, another grakyl landed on the rail and perched there with wings outspread. Its bald head, crested by a bony ridge, cocked toward him, fixing him with a pair of baleful yellow eyes. Jake read nothing but hunger in that gaze. Flat, batlike nostrils flared and sniffed for his scent. The grakyl leaned down and hissed, baring fangs.
Jake scrabbled back but had nowhere to go.
Then something heavy swept past Jake’s head with a glint of steel. It looked like a grappling hook or an anchor. The barbed hook struck the beast in the chest, ripped it off the rail, and sent it sailing out into the sky. Jake traced the anchor line to one of the flaming skyriders. The man cut the rope and sent the grakyl plummeting downward.
All across the deck, the war raged. A grakyl swept down and snatched one of the Egyptian guards by the shoulders and dragged him screaming up into the air. A javelin flew and pierced the chest of the monster, killing it instantly. Man and beast crashed back to the deck.
“My sword!” Kady said. Her fencing bag was slung over the unconscious guard’s shoulder. “I’m going for it!”
Whatever fear she had about flying was gone. There was a fight, and she wanted a part of it. Her eyes practically gleamed.
Jake didn’t argue. They needed weapons.
The fighting grew fiercer as they crawled as a group toward the downed man. Bach’uuk picked up the abandoned stone mace as they went. Pindor found a short sword. Marika grabbed a spear.
On the far side of the ship, a cloak flapped wildly, glowing with an Eye of Horus. With club in hand, Skymaster Horus fought off a massive grakyl while keeping one hand on the rudder. He missed a strike, and the grakyl shoved into him, knocking them both into the rudder.
The ship swung sideways, tilting to starboard.
“Hold tight!” Jake yelled.
The war slid across the deck, adding to the chaos.
One of the ropes tethering the balloon to the ship snapped away, striking a flying grakyl and cutting off its wings. The creature fell screaming toward the desert.
Jake pointed to the stern. If the skymaster lost control of the ship, they were all doomed. Staying low, he led the others and reached the steps up to the stern deck just as a hatch popped open in front of him. Still in hunting garb, Nefertiti leaped out.
She landed in a pounce, spear in hand. Taking in the battle with a sweep of her eyes, she scowled at Jake as if this were all his fault.
Behind her, the grakyl tore the captain off the rudder. “The skymaster needs help!” he shouted.
She turned to see to the pair tumbling across the deck. “Horus!”
The rudder swung, and the ship rolled the other way. Jake and Nefertiti snatched the edge of the hatch. The others weren’t so lucky. They lost their footing and went sliding across the deck.
Jake watched them hit the rail with some force. They all caught hold—except Marika. The body of a grakyl struck her from behind and sent her toppling overboard. She fell away with a piercing scream.
“Mari!”
But she was gone.
“Help me!” Nefertiti ordered.
Jake wanted to shove her away and race after his friend. But he saw the fear in the Egyptian’s eyes.
Pindor screamed. “Mari caught hold of the sail!”
Jake glanced to him, picturing the widespread wings beneath the ship.
“She’s barely hanging on!” Pindor yelled.
“Jake!” Kady turned to him, her face fierce. “You must straighten this boat! Or she’s going to fall!”
Nefertiti grabbed his shoulder. “Go for the rudder. I’ll help Horus.”
He nodded, and together they scrambled across the tilted deck. Nefertiti leaped into the fray with the huge grakyl. No longer a princess, only a skilled hunter.
Jake reached the rudder and shouldered into it. He dug in with the toes of his boots and pushed with his entire body. Slowly the rudder gave way. The deck shifted under his legs, but he kept firm hold, pushing until the boat flew evenly.