As Shade flew back up, Daniel caught hold of Shade’s wing.
Shade shook him off hard, but the Scavenger caught Daniel before he hit the ground.
Shade crossed his swords, muttered something, and a ball of fire shot from one of the swords.
Everyone scampered away.
Archer swung his sword into the fireball, breaking it into fragments.
Daniel stood behind him and focused. Thick vegetation slammed against Shade’s wings. He tried to fly, but his wings were hurt, and he flapped and swooped to the ground.
Shade was visibly hurt. He snarled at Daniel and swiped hard at him. Daniel went rolling.
Shade crossed his swords and this time an ice ball hurled at the squad.
“His swords have powerful magic,” the Scavenger said. “We need to disable his swords.”
Shade twirled his swords and lunged at them.
Daniel ducked and, from the corner of his eye, he saw the Scavenger come quietly behind Shade.
Shade crossed his swords; this time, a thunderbolt sprouted at the Scavenger, but the Scavenger’s fast reflexes saved him. Extending the Lightning Sword, he riveted the energy from the ball and shot it back at Shade. But even a shock of nearly a thousand volts could not hurt Shade. His sword just absorbed the electricity.
Matt channelized his power to summon strong tornadoes. It took him every ounce of his energy to channelize the fury of dangerous storms, shooting a blast of wind so powerful that even he was thrown back.
The tornado struck Shade’s sword with full vigour and knocked it out of his hands. James, Archer and Daniel shot waves of their Elemental Powers against Shade and the Scavenger supplemented by throwing huge lightning bolts. The combined attack proved too much for Shade, who was knocked out unconscious.
With Shade out cold, the Scavenger snatched the seventh piece from the platform and rushed outside the cave.
***
In no time, they were back on their ship. As the Sails of Time sailed away, they looked proudly at the seventh piece.
There it was, after all the endless challenging expeditions they had encountered and enemies they had conquered. They had at last found the seventh piece of the Crown of Magic.
But Matt looked sad. “After so much effort, we only have five pieces.”
The Scavenger shook his head. “Don’t worry! Fate will decide everything at the right moment. We have more things to worry about. It’s time.”
“Time for what?” Matt asked.
“Time to face the Death Lord. We need to travel to the Pyramid of Destiny, which is in the Moor of Death. But first, we have to gather all the good forces and make an army powerful enough to face the Death Lord’s army. I am aware of several such good forces, but they are all scattered. We need to organize all of them into one army.” The Scavenger pulled out a map. “These are the places which are not conquered by the Death Lord.”
Pointing to a location, he said, “We are here, in the Pirate Sea. We have to cross the sea and the desert and visit the Land of the Unicorns. They will help us. They can travel fast with unimaginable speed. They will bring all the good Clans in no time. We need to hurry. The Death Lord must be aware that we have the five pieces. He will leave no stone unturned to get these pieces from us. The final war is inevitable.”
“So how much time will it take to reach the Land of the Unicorns?” Daniel asked.
“If we continue without stopping, it will be a day,” the Scavenger replied. “You all take some rest. After all, you have done two great things today.”
The next day, the ship gently neared the shore and docked.
Patting it affectionately, the Scavenger said, “It has done its job. We must leave the Sails of Time here.”
They gathered on the shore, looking at the Sails of Time. The Scavenger muttered a spell. The Sails of Time slowly started sinking into the sea. Within moments, it disappeared.
After the Sails of Time disappeared, they all turned to face a barren land. It was the Desert of Grief, which seemed to stretch to eternity. Beyond it was the Land of the Unicorns.
They began their long journey, spread to the horizons of the desert.
As they walked, the sun beat down hard on their backs. The hot sand burned their feet through their shoes. A few miles later, Daniel got drenched in sweat.
“How much more do we have to walk?” Archer asked.
“Hours more to go. We can’t fly or swim here, can we?” As soon as the Scavenger said that, Matt broke out laughing. How could he have not thought of it before?
“What happened?” James asked.
Matt chuckled. “We can ride the winds across the desert!”
Wasting no time, he summoned the winds, but as soon as the winds touched and lifted them, everyone started complaining.
“Stop them! Stop them!”
Immediately they were thrown to the ground.
“The winds are too hot!” James screamed. “They are burning and hurting us! Matt, can’t you summon some colder winds?”
“Your Highness!” Matt said sarcastically. “What do you need? Winds from the North Pole? Anyway, the winds aren’t hurting me.”
Matt turned to James. “Can’t you summon cold water instead?”
“Your Highness!” James exclaimed. “Since you are summoning the winds, they are not hurting you. But we are being tortured. I can’t summon cold water either. It’s a desert! There’s no water for miles!”
“What if Matt and I fetch help from the Land of the Unicorns?” Archer suggested. “I don’t feel the hotness of the winds either.”
“Why didn’t we think of that?” the Scavenger exclaimed.
Matt summoned the winds once again. The winds lifted him and Archer, and they shot forward.
After an hour’s tiresome flight, Matt saw the first signs of life… some specks of greenery. A few minutes later, they got out of the desert into a completely different surrounding – a valley full of trees and grass and beautiful animals and birds.
The Land of the Unicorns was exemplary, with greenery abounding and charismatic cottages lined
