Chapter 12: Taking the Heartlands Part 3: The Battle for the Heartlands

Warnings: It's a skirmish so there's death, but injuries are suggested rather than depicted.

Early the next morning

"Yer new clothes be ready fer ye. Follow me." Batu lead Evan, Lofty and Roland to the hut where they'd all been measured previously. "There be a place fer ye te change inside, but only room fer one at a time."

Roland went first. He emerged wearing a short sleeved, dark blue tunic with a lighter blue trim and belt, charcoal grey, knee-length trousers and a sleeveless bolero made of the same fur as Tani's cape.

He put one hand on his hip. "Well? How do I look?"

"Tidy!" Lofty exclaimed. "That's a good of choice of colours, mun."

"Oh yes! It suits you very well!"

"Aye! And ye be lookin' like yer one o'us now too."

He smiled. "Thanks. But credit to the seamstresses, they really made the colours work."

"They sure did!" Lofty agreed.

Evan and Lofty both went in together. Lofty reappeared first now clad in his new scarf. It was blue as he'd requested with a pattern stitched into it, one that resembled the symbol Roland had briefly glimpsed at the forging of Evan and Lofty's kingsbond. "Well?" He asked. "Don't I look proper fetching now?"

"Very nice," said Roland. "It looks good on you."

Evan emerged last wearing a short sleeved, sea green tunic edged in light green, with a zigzag patterned trim in white, dark green knee-length trousers and a light brown fur cape.

"Nice colours, Evan," said Roland. "That shade of green suits you."

"Thank you, Roland. I don't have a lot of green clothes at home, so I… I thought I'd try something new."

"Well it looks good."

"There be one more thing we had fer ye, Yer Majesty."

"What's that, Batu?" He asked.

Batu pulled out what appeared to be a crown that had been woven from twigs and decorated with pebbles that had been painted different colours. "Since yer our King now, and ye be leadin' us inte battle, we figured ye should'ave sumthin' te wear, te show that ye are."

"Oh. Gosh," Evan replied, touched by gesture. "Thank you, Batu."

"This be the best we can be can be makin' fer ye right now, so we'll be givin' ye a proper one when we'ave the materials fer it, as well as a proper coronation."

"Thank you, Batu," he repeated. "I promise that I will do my best to lead us to a new home."

"And I be certain that ye will, King Evan." Batu gently placed the wooden crown on his head. "The people be standin' ready, Yer Majesty. Are you?"

He exchanged a look with Roland before responding. "Yes. I am."

"Then I'll let'em know." Batu cupped his hands around his mouth and thundered. "OI! LISTEN UP YE MANGY CURS! KING EVAN HAS SOMETHIN' TE SAY!"

"W-wait!" Evan objected. "Don't you want to hear it first?"

"Too late now, mun," Lofty commented as all eyes turned toward them.

"Go on, Evan," Roland reassured. "I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Well… all right…" He swallowed and faced the pirates, his subjects. "I would, um…"

"Deep breath, Evan, and speak up," Lofty encouraged.

He took a deep breath and raised his voice. "I would like… to thank you all, for choosing to join me in on my quest to build a new kingdom. It is… it is my belief, that a king should not ask of his people what he would not ask of himself, so I will be joining you in turn, and… and together, we will be fighting for our new home. I cannot pretend that the battle ahead of us will be easy, but I firmly believe that we can win! And once we have, we're going to build a place where we can all be happy!"

The pirates cheered as Roland smiled. "Well said."

Tani appeared to punch him in the arm. "That wasn't half bad, Evan."

"Thank you."

"Aye," Batu agreed. "Now let's get te movin' afore the bandits start wakin' up. Yer people await yer command, so give the order, Yer Majesty."

"Wait. There was something else I wanted to say." He raised his voice again. "Everyone. I am… I still have hope that the bandits can still be persuaded to join us. Can still be persuaded to change their minds. So if you can, I would ask that you please spare their lives if it is safe for you to do so." The pirates murmured amongst themselves at these words.

"Every bandit spared, be one more te trouble us later, if they don't," Batu warned.

"I-I know. But… but if they do. Then every bandit spared could be another citizen of our growing kingdom. All I ask is that… that if the opportunity is presented, to please take it. But I would not have you risk your lives for it, if… if not."

Batu exchanged a look with Tani. She folded her arms. "That's going to be difficult for us skimmers."

Evan swallowed. "I-I know but… but everyone else. I only ask that you try."

He sighed. "Very well, Yer Majesty. If that much be acceptable to ye, then we shall."

"Thank you, Batu. And all of you."

"We should really get moving," Roland prompted.

Evan raised his voice once more. "All right everyone! Let's move!" The thunder of a loud cheer turned to the thunder of footfalls as the pirates began to move out.

"I'll see you down there, Evan," said Tani. "Good luck."

"And you," Evan replied. Tani disappeared into the crowd, threading her way through towards the sky skimmers.

"We should head out too," said Roland. "As the leader that means you'll need to be, well, in the lead."

"Right." They made their way to the head of the pirate army and lead the way down to the Heartlands. A small party lead by Aranella had gone on ahead to clear the way of monsters, as well as keep an eye on the bandit camp for any sign of early activity. They were waiting for them when they arrived. "Nella!" He was about to run and greet her like he usually did, but he stopped himself; This wasn't the time for that. So as the army began taking up position, Evan, Batu and Roland peeled away and approached.

"Aranella," said Roland by way of greeting. "What's happening with the bandits? Nice outfit by the way."

Aranella was wearing a short-sleeved, lavender dress-tunic that had a white and dark purple patterned trim, baggy navy trousers that ended just below her knee and matching navy belt and wristwraps. He was surprised to find she also had a pair of dark-brown fur-lined shoes, as the seamstress had said they wouldn't be ready till later. Perhaps Aranella had simply borrowed a pair ahead of her upcoming mission. She lowered the spyglass she had been peering through, pulling her attention away from the camp and smiled briefly. "Thank you, Roland." Then she was all business. "There's been a change over of the patrol, which by the way is more than what Khunbish reported the night before, and some hunting parties have departed, otherwise I have nothing much to report. It seems it's still too early for the majority to arise."

"That's great. It seems we timed it well then."

"Aye," Batu agreed with a devilish grin. "T'would seem they'll be needin' our little wake up call after all."

"Yes, and my team and I will need to be in place before that happens," said Aranella. "So we should depart."

"Right," Roland replied. "Good luck out there."

"And stay safe," Evan added.

Aranella smiled. "We will." And then she and her team were away, running towards the bandit camp in a half crouch.

"I hope she'll be all right…"

"I'm sure she will. She and her team are only the distraction after all, so they've been instructed not to engage unless absolutely necessary. And the bandits will have to run pretty fast to catch them."

"Right…"

Roland glanced upwards. "It seems like we have some time before the wake up call arrives. Once that happens though, the battle will have officially started. By necessity the sky skimmers will be largely acting on their own, but you can call them down for a bombing run with this orange flag." From his arms band, he pulled a bright orange flag that had been folded up and handed it over. "But be sure to use it wisely; A bombing run is best called down on a large group of enemies, not a small handful, understand?"

"I understand."

"They also not bein' o'much use against fast enemies, like them'edgehounds," Batu added. "We'll be wantin' te use the net guns te slow'em down. So if ye see an enemy that be needin' nets, say the word n'I'll shout te let the lads know."

"All right. But… wouldn't they be fast enough to catch up to Nella and the others?"

"If that happens, that's a mission objective accomplished," Roland explained. "As well as providing a distraction from our approach, they're hoping to take the hedgehounds out of the equation at the same time, and have all been given net guns and armsbands to that end. So I wouldn't worry, Evan. They're well prepared."

"And Nella is very strong."

"That too. You also have a red flag that will instruct the pilots to hang back and hold off their attacks, as well as a green one that will tell them to resume. There's also this." He pulled out another flag, this one white. "This will be the signal to retreat, if it comes to that. But if all goes well, we'll have no need of it."

"Right." There was a sombreness to his demeanour as he took the white flag and vanished it into his armsband.

"The sky skimmers have been given yellow flags – well. They have other flags as well, but yellow is the one you'll need to be paying attention to. If they need to leave the battlefield for any reason that's their signal. So if you see one trailing a yellow flag, it means they're temporarily out of action."

"Right."

"There's one more thing. When it comes to the battle itself, you won't be leading from the front. In fact you'll be in the centre."

"But-"

"Now hold on, there's a reason for that. First of all, if you're at the front that will make you an obvious target. It would be one thing if you had armour, but you don't."

"Right…"

"However, with Lofty's revelation last night, depending on his radius of empowerment, he'll be able to reach more people from the centre than the front."

"I see."

"What be this now?"

"I can share some of my Kingmaker power with other people besides Evan," Lofty explained.

"W-why didn't ye say so sooner, blast ye?" Batu sputtered.

Lofty just shrugged. "Sorry, mun."

Roland looked out at the pirate army. They had by now arranged themselves into their respective units. Swords, axes and hammers at the front, spears at the flanks and archers in the rear. The first two rows were equipped with net guns, while only the front row had shields. "It looks like we're ready to begin our advance. The sky skimmers should be taking off at any moment, so we need to get into position."

"Right." They threaded their way to the centre. Evan stood up on his tiptoes as he tried to peer over the body of people blocking the view ahead and even jumped up and down a few times before giving up. "Roland, I can't see."

"Don't worry I thought of that too. If we held you aloft above the shoulders of the rest of the army, that would again make you an obvious target, so I had this made for you." He pulled out something that Evan could only describe as a spyglass but bent. "It's called a periscope. It will let you see over the crowd."

Evan gripped the handles, held it up to his face and peered into the lens. "Golly!" He exclaimed. "It does! But… how does it work?"

"I'll tell you later, Evan. Right now we need to start moving."

"R-right!" He sucked in a deep lungful of air. "Everyone! Forward!"

"FORWARD YE SCURVY DOGS!" Batu thundered.

"Aye, aye!" The army replied and the air became filled with the sound of footsteps marching in unison.

"We've gotta keep the noise down," Roland warned. "At least until the skimmers arrive."

"Aye. Keep the noISE DOWN, MATEYS! WE'RE NOT THE WAKE UP CALL!"

"Aye, aye," they whispered back and the thunder of footfalls dialled down to a low rumble.

The sky skimmers could be heard approaching before they could be seen. They zoomed overhead and Roland couldn't deny it was an impressive sight; All twenty three skimmers flying in a formation consisting of five wings.

And twenty three aircraft flying at once was generating a racket loud enough to be undoubtedly drawing some attention. "Eyes on the bandit camp, Evan. What are they doing?"

Evan looked. "It looks like they're starting to take notice. A few of them are emerging from their huts. Oh, I think they've spotted us. They look like they're… ah…"

"Panicking?" Roland suggested.

"Yes."

"Tis hard to be ignorin' the large number o'pirates approachin' ye," Batu commented with a chuckle. Then the skimmers were commencing their bombing run, and the camp was battered by explosion after explosion.

"Did someone order a wake up call?!" Lofty cackled with borderline sadistic glee.

"Do you see Aranella and her team?"

Evan squinted through the periscope, searching for a flash of lavender through the smoke. "Not yet." The smoke cleared. "Oh! It looks like the bandits are taking the bait. Or some of them anyway. Oh, wait. It looks like Tyran is calling for them to stop. They're sending the hedgehounds after them instead!"

"Perfect. And that's our cue. Time to pick up the pace."

"Right, of course." He raised his voice. "Double time everyone!"

"DOUBLE TIME, MATEYS!" Batu echoed.

"Aye, aye!" They called back and increased their pace to a jog. Aranella and her team's distraction had succeeded in sowing some confusion, but still, their approach did not go unnoticed. Seeing the enemy army pick up speed, in a panic, the bandits scrambled to organise themselves into something approaching an opposing force, but charged recklessly before they were fully prepared. Evan watched the commotion through his periscope. "Everyone stop!" He shouted.

"HALT, YE DEVILS, HALT!"

The army screeched to a halt and Roland turned to him confused. "Evan?"

"We should let them come to us, I think."

He smiled. "Good plan."

"Ready the nets!"

"NETS AWAY, MATEYS!"

The first row of pirates hauled out their net guns and dropped to one knee to give the second row a clear shot.

"Fire one!"

"FIRE ONE!"

The first row opened fire and the bandits leading the charge went down with a surprised yelp. They dropped so abruptly that the ones behind them had no time to react or check their speed. They tripped and went flying, their momentum carrying them into a roll. But the fun wasn't over yet, as more bandits ate dirt, tripping over the ones that had already fallen.

"Woohoo! I saw that!" Lofty crowed from his position atop Batu's shoulder. "That was brilliant!"

"Fire two!"

"FIRE TWO!" The second row opened fire with the same results.

Lofty laughed even harder. "Bahahaa! Again!"

"Ready archers!"

"ARCHERS READY!"

"Fire!"

"FIRE!" A volley of arrows whistled overhead and peppered the bandits' forward charge. Some dropped instantly – and probably permanently – while others staggered to the ground, clutching the arrow now embedded somewhere in their person. Another volley was loosed before the bandits were finally on them. But their front line was in complete disarray, so they broke against the pirates' front line like a wave crashing against a seaside cliff; The pirates held fast.

"Here goes nothing!" Lofty shouted and a golden light was washing over them. The effect was immediate and Roland could best describe it as electrifying – asif he suddenly had the strength to take on ten people at once. Bolstered by this power, the pirate front line began to push back, cutting through the bandits' ranks slowly but surely. By now the sky skimmers had repositioned for another bombing run. They roared overhead once more and plumes of fire followed in their wake, ripping through the main body of the bandits' army.

"Fall back, ya drongos!" They heard Tyran shout. "Fall back!" Heeding their leader's instructions, the bandits receded, and Lofty let the light fade away, taking their boost of strength with it.

"Should we follow them?" Evan asked.

"Probably best to hold here and wait to see what they do."

"Aye," Batu agreed.

"Hold, everyone!"

"HOLD FAST YE SCURVY DOGS!"

Evan retrieved the red flag from his armsband. "Batu if you would?"

"Aye." Batu raised the flag aloft and waved it to and fro. One after the other the skimmers unfurled their own red flags to indicate they had seen the signal. They eased off the throttles, slowing to a cruising speed and circled slowly overhead, watching and waiting.

"Can you see what they're doing?" Roland asked.

Evan peered through the periscope. "They look like they're gathering together."

"Regrouping for another charge?"

"Possibly. They're gathering in the midst of their camp. Maybe they're talking it over?"

Roland frowned and folded his arms. "Huh. He's not as foolish as he looks. The buildings will offer some protection from the skimmer's bombs."

"Oh! It looks like they're trying to organise themselves into units like we have."

Batu barked out a laugh. "Hah! Looks they've finally woken up."

"Should we do something?"

"I be sayin' we should. We should take advantage o'the confusion while they still be tryin' te organise themselves."

"Their archers are the skimmers' biggest threat," Roland agreed. "So if they get a unit of archers together, that could be a problem. But we also need them to come back out into open to make the best use of our air support. It's up to you, Evan."

Evan pondered. "I think we should advance."

"Then we should use the skimmers to cover us."

"All right." Evan raised his voice. "Everyone! Forward!"

"FORWARD, MATEYS!"

"Aye, aye!" The pirate front line began to move forward.

"But we're going to need to move faster than this," Roland urged.

"Right. Double time!"

"ON THE DOUBLE YE MANGY CURS!"

"Aye, aye!" The pirates increased their speed to a jog.

"And here's the green flag to signal-"

"Don't bother with that, Evan. Just go straight to orange."

"Oh. All right. Here's the orange flag to call down a bombing run."

"Aye, aye," Batu replied. He took the orange flag and waved it to and fro. The skimmers trailed orange one after the other and positioned themselves for the only clear bombing run, one that funnelled them straight through the bandits' camp. They were met with a volley of arrows and Roland winced as three skimmers immediately began trailing yellow as they peeled away from the battlefield. But they'd done their job in screening their approach by scattering the main body of the bandit forces.

"Charge!" Evan shouted once they were in range.

"CHARRRRGE!" Batu echoed

The pirates let loose with a battle cry in response and accelerated to a sprint. Lofty let out a howl of his own as he reestablished the golden aura, just as the pirate front line crashed into the still-forming front line of the bandits. As the pirates chewed through their ranks a volley of arrows rained down from the heavens. There were yelps of pain and several pirates dropped wordlessly – and lifelessly – to the ground.

"No…" Evan gasped.

"Evan!" Roland warned. "Stay focused."

"R… right." He swallowed and blinked away his tears, forcing himself to focus on the bigger picture; Winning the battle.

"We need to do something about those archers."

"R-right." He had to take a moment to think what before he remembered. "Oh! The spears! The left spear unit should move up to take them out."

"Give the order then."

"Left spears, move up! Take out those archers!"

"LEFT SPEARS, MOVE UP! TAKE OUT THEM ARCHERS!"

"Aye, aye!" The left spear unit replied. They broke off and moved into position. When they were in range – and bolstered by Lofty's power – they hurled their spears with great force into the unit of archers. Most of the spears found their mark – some fatally – forcing the unit to retreat. And as the pirates continued pushing their way through the bandits' army, the left spear unit moved to rejoin, closing in on the bandits right flank.

"I think we should move the right spears to the bandits' left."

"Sounds good. Give the order."

"Right! Right spears to the left flank!"

"RIGHT SPEARS TE THE LEFT! FLANK 'EM MATEYS!"

"Aye, aye!" The right spears replied and moved into position.

Tyran now had pirates mincing through his front line, bolstered by the power of their Kingmaker, pirates flanking him on both sides – similarly empowered – and the skimmers closing in for another bombing run. "All right you gallahs!" He shouted above the commotion. "Ya've made ya point! You win!"

"Wait. Did you hear that? Is he… surrendering? Is Tyran surrendering?" Evan asked.

"Sounds like it to me," Lofty replied.

"Hold everyone!"

"HOLD FAST, MATEYS!"

The cacophony of battle faded away as both sides ceased combat. "Are you surrendering, Tyran?"

"That's right! You heard me! You win! We surrender."

"W… we win," Evan repeated. "Did you hear that?"

"Sure did mun!" Lofty crowed.

"We win!" The pirates raised their voices in victory and Batu's laugh was filled with both mirth and relief.

"Before you celebrate, Evan," Roland had to raise his voice to be heard. "You'd better call off the skimmers before they-"

"Oh! Right!" Evan quickly hauled out the red flag. Batu held it aloft and waved it fiercely back and forth. And in the nick of time too. The skimmers blazed overhead, just barely pulling up out of what would have been another bombing run. He heaved a sigh of relief.

"That," Roland began. "Was well handled, Evan."

"You really think so?"

"Aye!" Batu agreed, grinning broadly. "Ye've the makin's o'a great leader in ye, Yer Majesty."

"You must've studied some tactics," Roland observed. "Am I right? Because it's not something you just intuit."

"Yes, that's right. When Father was…" He broke off and swallowed. "When he was sick, we… we studied together to prepare me to become King. Battle tactics was one of the things we studied."

Roland and Batu exchanged looks. "C'mere, Yer Majesty!" Evan squealed as Batu lifted him onto his shoulders. "ALL HAIL KING EVAN!" he bellowed.

"All hail King Evan!" The pirates chanted back. "Long live the King!"

"Goodness…" Evan mumbled as he turned pink.

"Evan!" That was Aranella. She had threaded her way through the jostling crowd to join them.

"Nella!" Batu hoisted him off his shoulders and gently set him back on his feet, so he could throw himself into Aranella's arms. He pulled away after a moment. "Oh Nella, I was so worried."

She smiled warmly. "I was worried too, but it seems it was for naught." She cupped his face. "You did so well, Evan. I'm so proud of you." And then she kissed his forehead.

"Evan!" And that was Tani. The sky skimmers had landed to investigate, joined the celebration when they realised it was over and they'd won, and so here she was. She punched his arm so hard that the impact of her fist was actually audible, and Evan clutched that arm with a wounded yelp. "That was amazing! I knew you could do it!"

"Oi, oi, oi!" Lofty objected, jumping up and down on the spot with indignation. "What about me, eh? Youer Kingmaker? Where's all of my praise?"

"You were amazing too, Lofty," Evan assured him.

"I saw that golden aura from the sky," said Tani. "It looked like it was making you all stronger from the way you were fighting, right? What did it feel like?"

They exchanged looks. "As best as I can be describin' it, it felt like bein' charged with energy."

"Right," Roland agreed. "As if we suddenly gained the power to take on ten people at once."

"Wow," Tani uttered. "And that was all thanks to you?"

"It was!" Lofty replied proudly. He turned to Batu. "So I'm ready to bask in the praise now, if youe'd be so kind."

"As ye wish, Yer Mighty One." Batu held him aloft in one hand and bellowed. "PRAISE BE T'OUR KINGMAKER!"

"Praise be t'our Kingmaker!" The pirates chanted back. "Praise be to Lofty!" And Lofty laughed.

"All right, that's enough celebrating," said Roland. "We still have some unfinished business with Tyran."

"Right," Evan agreed.

"Aye." Batu muscled his way through the celebrating pirates with the quintet following in his wake until they reached Tyran.

"Well." He said. "Looks like you gallahs made good on your promise to come back and thrash us."

"You bet we did!" Tani replied, hands planted on her hips.

"I still ain't sure how you did it."

"Three things were in our favour," Roland explained. "First was our planning and preparation, second was our air support, and third was our Kingmaker."

"Too right mun! You'd've been stuffed without me."

He folded his arms. "Well you helped. But I'd say our victory was largely down to the sky skimmers."

"That's what you think." Roland just sighed and decided it wasn't worth the effort to fight him on it.

"That's some Kingmaker you got there," Tyran said. "Deceptive too."

"It just goes to show that there are times when you shouldn't judge a Kingmaker by their size, mun."

"Right. I'll be sure to bear that in mind in future. And speaking of the future. So. Ya won. What happens now?"

"I… I guess that's up to you," Evan replied. "The offer to join us still stands, Tyran."

"Well. I'd be forced to admit that I'm impressed. But I ain't convinced." He folded his arms. "You and ya gallahs may have beaten us, but that don't make you a good King."

"Now see here!" Lofty objected.

"It's all right," said Evan. "I… I think I know what you mean. So I hope you'll change your mind, once you see how happy everyone is."

"I guess we'll see."

"Yes. We will."

"If you won't be joining us Tyran, what will you do instead?" Aranella asked.

"Well we ain't sticking around somewhere we're not wanted. We're outta here."

"And can we expect more trouble from you in the future?"

"Who knows?"

"That sounds like a yes. And if that's the case then-"

"It's all right, Nella," said Evan. "They're free to leave."

"Evan-"

"If they do come back, we'll beat them again. And we'll keep doing it until they change their minds." She gave a defeated sigh.

"What about our dead?" One of the bandits asked.

"Of course, you're…" He swallowed. "You're free to collect them."

"And what of our stuff?" Tyran asked.

"Um, well… You can reclaim your personal items… But um…"

"Ye should allow'em te take that what they can carry," Batu counselled. "But we should be claimin' the rest as the spoils o'war."

"Right. You can take whatever you can carry," Evan reiterated. "But the rest we claim as the spoils of war."

"I suppose that's fair," Tyran replied albeit reluctantly. "Ya heard the little King. Our dead, our personal effects and anything we can carry are all ours. So let's get to work."

"We should do the same fer ours, Yer Majesty," Batu said as the bandits got to work.

"R… right…"

"And we should tend to our injured too," Aranella added.

"I've got some experience with treating injuries," said Tani. "So I'm going to help Gerel and the others."

"I can also assist in that regard," said Aranella. "Shall we, Tani?"

"Yeah, let's go."

"Wait! Um… Let me help."

"Are you sure about that, Evan?"

Tani raised an eyebrow at him. "Yeah, like are you squeamish, Evan? Because you're not going to be of much help if you are."

"I am a little bit, but um… I think I can still help. If it gets too much, then I'll… I'll help with something else instead."

They both exchanged looks and nodded. "All right."

"I'll help too!" Lofty added.

"Let's go then."

Roland turned to Batu after they'd left. "Guess we're on corpse duty." Batu winced. "Ah. Sorry. That sounded a lot less inappropriate in my head."

He sighed. "It be all right, Roland. Ye were just tryin' te lighten the mood."

The bodies were arranged into a funeral pyre that was lit once everyone was able to attend. And as the flames rose higher, the pirates raised their voices in a mournful song.

The last embers were dying away by the time the bandits had finished collecting their items and everything else they could carry. "We're off then, little King," Tyran informed him. Evan glanced at the assembled bandits who were patiently waiting to leave. He was surprised to find the dead that they had collected were as yet unburned and unburied. It must've been evident on his face because Tyran glanced back. "We're takin'em to our new home," he explained. "Wherever that may be."

"I see. Good luck out there, Tyran."

Tyran paused, momentarily taken aback by the sincerity in Evan's tone. "Right… uh… Thanks. You too, I guess." Then he and what was left of his bandits disappeared, melting away into the forest to the north east.

Evan turned back to the funeral pyre. "I should probably say something, but I'm… I'm not sure what…"

"It's all right, Evan," Aranella soothed. "You didn't know them after all."

"I-I know but…" He raised his head with a determined expression. "But I'm still their King."

"That's right, mun," Lofty encouraged. "Speak from the heart!"

"Go for it, Evan!" Tani added.

He nodded. "I will!" He marched forward and stood before the funeral pyre. "I did not have the opportunity to get to know them better, but as their King, I thought I should say a few words. Despite knowing me just as well, they still chose to fight along side me. I am honoured for that, and… and grateful. I have no doubt that they fought bravely and in doing so gave their lives in pursuit of our shared goal. But I think… they would want us to keep going. To keep moving forward. So that's what we're going to do. We're going to build our new kingdom, for them, and for us." The pirates cheered.

Roland shook his head "… That kid just keeps finding new ways to impress me."

"YOU'EARD OUR KING!" Batu bellowed. "LET'S GET TE WORK!"

"Aye, aye!" They shouted back. As they dispersed, Evan reappeared.

"You really came up with that just now?" Roland asked.

"Oh. Yes. I-I did. Was it all right?"

Lofty grinned. "Sure was, mun. Yer a natural."

"T'was a good speech, laddie. They'd be grateful o'it fer sure."

"Yeah." Tani punched his arm again. "You're getting good at this."

He smiled, rubbing his increasingly bruised arm. "Thank you, Tani. But um…. what should we do now?"

"Well I'm going to be helping the skimmers bring the stuff we need back from the Base."

"Aye, so be I. We can be pickin' through the bandits' camp at our leisure, but once the Wyverns chose their new leader, they're likely te be movin' in, so the Base be our priority."

"Right."

"We should go and take a look at the area Aranella picked out from the map and see if it holds up," said Roland. "If it doesn't, then we're going to need to find somewhere else."

"Yes, good idea," Aranella agreed.

"We all know what we're doing?" There was a chorus of confirmation. "Then let's get to work." And with that, the quintet departed.

Tani paused in loading up her sky skimmer with the last load of materials and looked back on the place that had been her home for as long as she could remember. "I've lived here my whole life…"

"Many of us'ave, girlie," Batu replied as he adjusted the knots securing his load of materials to his skimmer. "But'ome is not bein' a word that binds ye to one place. Our people came here lookin' fer better but never found it. Now it be our turn. And this time?" He paused and looked away to the Heartlands, toward the site of their new home where Evan and his companions were. "I think we'ave."

She followed his gaze and smiled. "Yeah. I think you're right."

"Now come on. That be enough lollygaggin'. We've still more work te get done afore the day is through."

"Yes, Boss." They climbed on their skimmers and took off, completing one last loop around the place the Sky Pirates had made their home for so long and so long ago, before turning their noses to the place that would become their new one. And in doing so, they closed one chapter of their lives by opening the start of another.

A/N: I sure hope that skirmish was worth the wait cos it took me a like a week to write.

Also not 100% on the costume designs but I'll go back and edit them if I have to.