FRANK HAD NEVER FELT SO SURE of anything, which made
him nervous. Nothing he planned ever went right. He
always managed to break, ruin, burn, sit on or knock over
something important. Yet he knew this strategy would
work.
Hazel found them a tunnel with no problem. In fact,
Frank had a sneaking suspicion she didn’t just find
tunnels. It was as though tunnels manufactured
themselves to suit her needs. Passages that had been
filled in years ago suddenly un-filled, changing direction
to lead Hazel where she wanted to go.
They crept along by the light of Percy’s glowing sword,
Riptide. Above, they heard the sounds of battle – kids
shouting, Hannibal the elephant bellowing with glee,
scorpion bolts exploding and water cannons firing. The
tunnel shook. Dirt rained down on them.
Frank slipped his hand inside his armour. The piece of
wood was still safe and secure in his coat pocket, though
one good shot from a scorpion might set his lifeline on
fire …
Bad Frank, he chided himself. Fire is the ‘F-word’. Don’t
think about it.
‘There’s an opening just ahead,’ Hazel announced.
‘We’ll come up ten feet from the east wall.’
‘How can you tell?’ Percy asked.
‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘But I’m sure.’
‘Could we tunnel straight under the wall?’ Frank
wondered.
‘No,’ Hazel said. ‘The engineers were smart. They built
the walls on old foundations that go down to bedrock. And
don’t ask how I know. I just do.’
Frank stumbled over something and cursed. Percy
brought his sword around for more light. The thing Frank
had tripped on was gleaming silver.
He crouched down.
‘Don’t touch it!’ Hazel said.
Frank’s hand stopped a few inches from the chunk of
metal. It looked like a giant Hershey’s Kiss, about the size
of his fist.
‘It’s massive,’ he said. ‘Silver?’
‘Platinum.’ Hazel sounded scared out of her wits. ‘It’ll go
away in a second. Please don’t touch it. It’s dangerous.’
Frank didn’t understand how a lump of metal could be
dangerous, but he took Hazel seriously. As they watched,
the chunk of platinum sank into the ground.
He stared at Hazel. ‘How did you know?’
In the light of Percy’s sword, Hazel looked as ghostly as
a Lar. ‘I’ll explain later,’ she promised.
Another explosion rocked the tunnel, and they forged
ahead.
They popped out of a hole just where Hazel had
predicted. In front of them, the fort’s east wall loomed. Off
to their left, Frank could see the main line of the Fifth
Cohort advancing in turtle formation, shields forming a
shell over their heads and sides. They were trying to
reach the main gates, but the defenders above pelted
them with rocks and shot flaming bolts from the scorpions,
blasting craters around their feet. A water cannon
discharged with a jaw-rattling THRUM, and a jet of liquid
carved a trench in the dirt right in front of the cohort.
Percy whistled. ‘That’s a lot of pressure, all right.’
The Third and Fourth Cohorts weren’t even advancing.
They stood back and laughed, watching their ‘allies’ get
beaten up. The defenders clustered on the wall above the
gates, yelling insults at the tortoise formation as it
staggered back and forth. War games had deteriorated
into ‘beat up the Fifth’.
Frank’s vision went red with anger.
‘Let’s shake things up.’ He reached in his quiver and
pulled out an arrow heavier than the rest. The iron tip was
shaped like the nose cone of a rocket. An ultrathin gold
rope trailed from the fletching. Shooting it accurately up
the wall would take more force and skill than most archers
could manage, but Frank had strong arms and good aim.
Maybe Apollo is watching, he thought hopefully.
‘What does that do?’ Percy asked. ‘Grappling hook?’
‘It’s called a hydra arrow,’ Frank said. ‘Can you knock
out the water cannons?’
A defender appeared on the wall above them. ‘Hey!’ he
shouted to his buddies. ‘Check it out! More victims!’
‘Percy,’ Frank said, ‘now would be good.’
More kids came across the battlements to laugh at
them. A few ran to the nearest water cannon and swung
the barrel towards Frank.
Percy closed his eyes. He raised his hand.
Up on the wall, somebody yelled, ‘Open wide, losers!’
KA-BOOM!
The cannon exploded in a starburst of blue, green and
white. Defenders screamed as a watery shockwave
flattened them against the battlements. Kids toppled over
the walls but were snatched by giant eagles and carried to
safety. Then the entire eastern wall shuddered as the
explosion backed up through the pipelines. One after
another, the water cannons on the battlements exploded.
The scorpions’ fires were doused. Defenders scattered in
confusion or were tossed through the air, giving the
rescue eagles quite a workout. At the main gates, the Fifth
Cohort forgot about their formation. Mystified, they
lowered their shields and stared at the chaos.
Frank shot his arrow. It streaked upward, carrying its
glittering rope. When it reached the top, the metal point
fractured into a dozen lines that lashed out and wrapped
round anything they could find – parts of the wall, a
scorpion, a broken water cannon and a couple of
defending campers, who yelped and found themselves
slammed against the battlements as anchors. From the
main rope, handholds extended at two-foot intervals,
making a ladder.
‘Go!’ Frank said.
Percy grinned. ‘You first, Frank. This is your party.’
Frank hesitated. Then he slung his bow on his back and
began to climb. He was halfway up before the defenders
recovered their senses enough to sound the alarm.
Frank glanced back at Fifth Cohort’s main group. They
were staring up at him, dumbfounded.
‘Well?’ Frank screamed. ‘Attack!’
Gwen was the first to unfreeze. She grinned and
repeated the order. A cheer went up from the battlefield.
Hannibal the elephant trumpeted with happiness, but
Frank couldn’t afford to watch. He clambered to the top of
the wall, where three defenders were trying to hack down
his rope ladder.
One good thing about being big, clumsy and clad in
metal: Frank was like a heavily armoured bowling ball. He
launched himself at the defenders, and they toppled like
pins. Frank got to his feet. He took command of the
battlements, sweeping his pilum back and forth and
knocking down defenders. Some shot arrows. Some tried
to get under his guard with their swords, but Frank felt
unstoppable. Then Hazel appeared next to him, swinging
her big cavalry sword like she was born for battle.
Percy leaped onto the wall and raised Riptide.
‘Fun,’ he said.
Together they cleared the defenders off the walls. Below
them the gates broke. Hannibal barrelled into the fort,
arrows and rocks bouncing harmlessly off his Kevlar
armour.
The Fifth Cohort charged in behind the elephant, and
the battle went hand-to-hand.
Finally, from the edge of the Field of Mars, a battle cry
went up. The Third and Fourth Cohorts ran to join the
fight.
‘A little late,’ Hazel grumbled.
‘We can’t let them get the banners,’ Frank said.
‘No,’ Percy agreed. ‘Those are ours.’
No more talk was necessary. They moved like a team,
as if the three of them had been working together for
years. They rushed down the interior steps and into the
enemy base.
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