They all retreated into the Luna Moth's mass hall and sat themselves around a long table. Plates and silverware lined the table's outer edges while two loaves of fresh bread, a deep-dish casserole, a large pot of noodle soup, a bowl of potato salad and a sheet of smoked fish adorned the center. Quite an impressive selection for a lunch on a small ship. Food had already been dished up when they arrived, and they set about devouring it the minute they found seats on one of the two long benches.

Rico held a slate-grey bowl out to Cogsley. "Potato salad?"

The robot stared at him levelly and said simply, "I eat oil."

A few minutes passed before Navin piped up. "This is really good," he complimented through a mouthful of casserole and bread. He looked at Luger. "Where'd you learn to cook like this?"

The elf gave him a mournful look back. "Honestly, I can't remember." He sighed. "In fact, there's very little about my life I do recall. And I have no idea why."

Enzo huffed. "What I want to know is why you two are wanted, and who wants you." He gave the two elves a hard look. "You do something we should be worried about?"

Trellis lifted his gaze to the cat. "It's not your concern," he said in a low tone that warned all not to ask about it.

But Enzo simply ignored it, and returned the young man's level stare. "Everything on this ship is my business," he told him. "Now, what did you do to get on your daddy's bad side?"

Trellis' lips pursed, and his eyelid twitched in an attempt to form a snarl. But he quashed it before it got very far. "He is not my father," he said in that same low voice. "Not is he what you think he is." He stood and started to walk away.

"Trellis, you didn't finish your food," Luger said, but Trellis ignored him.

"Just leave him be," Karen said in a sympathetic tone. "They get like that at this age."

Emily watched him go, an expression of worried curiosity on her face.

About an hour later, Emily and Leon were back on the deck. Emily held another bottle in her magic, weaving it up and down and left and right in an effort to evade the swinging arcs of Leon's longsword. She was concentrating on simply keeping the oblong glass object from falling prey to the weapon's blade like the previous dozen had, and she was finally starting to get the hang of it. A small part of her mind registered some situational humor in how the old adage of "the lucky dozen" seemed to be coming true, and the right side of her mouth quirked up just enough to be noticed.

Leon feigned a right uppercut and tricked Emily into maneuvering the bottle to evade the strike before bringing his sword into position for a downward left slice so quickly that Emily was barely able to move the bottle with and away from the swing. The blade tapped the bottle's bottom with a sound surprisingly light for the force and sent the thing spinning wildly. Leon made no effort to strike again. "Nice work, Emily," he said in praise of her efforts.

Emily was panting hard, and her face showed the toll her efforts at evasion had taken. "This wears me out faster than offensive magic," she half-complained.

"You'll get used to it," the fox assured her. "You think I was very good at swordplay when I first started?" She grinned and he shook his head. "Don't worry. With practice, anything can become second nature."

At the same time, Navin was pushing a shop broom in front of him along the deck. The bristles were frayed and beginning to lose their stiffness from years of use, but still performed their function. He'd picked up where he'd left off when they went in for lunch, which was somewhere amidships. The going wasn't fast, but neither was it slow, and before too long he was approaching the pilothouse.

As he came up to the open-frame door, he began to hear something over the noise of the engines and wind that sounded like snoring. Looking inside, he saw Captain Enzo leaning back in his chair with his feet propped up on the control console, arms crossed, cap pulled low over his eyes and mustache quivering with every rumbling inhale. "Hey!"

His indignant bark startled Enzo from his nap and threw off his precarious balance. The cat's arms shot out and his hands snatched for the edge of the console, but failed to catch and his arms wind milled in an attempt to restore balance. A second later, his chair's legs came back down to the deck. He panted as realization that he was safe and steady again set in, then took a deep breath to calm his heart. He glanced in Navin's direction, and an expression much like that of a child caught in the act of raiding the cookie jar crossed his face.

It disappeared an instant later, but the look on Navin's face made it clear he hadn't missed it. "Whatever happened to, 'only as strong as our weakest link'?"

A shadow of Enzo's previous expression returned. "Stop giving me a hard time, kid," he said. "I was just making sure this hat was clean."

"Right." The tone of Navin's voice indicated that he didn't believe Enzo for a minute, but also that his attention was going elsewhere. "So this is the autopilot?" he asked, looking at the small robot at the wheel. The thing turned its long, one-eyed head in his direction and meeped twice at him. Navin almost laughed at how much it sounded like the Road Runner cartoon character.

Enzo nodded. "Yeah. Samson cost me an arm and a leg, but he's worth it." He patted the spindly robot's head. "Traded enough parts to build a whole new engine to get him."

Navin made a sound of understanding. He didn't know a whole lot about trade and barter, but he understood enough to know what it meant to give up something that must be difficult to procure for something you wanted. He looked at the wheel. "Can I try flying the ship?" he asked, then added, "I've flown a plane before."

Enzo shook his head. "No way, kid. This is a complicated piece of machinery." He indicated the autopilot with his hand. "Samson here is highly trained."

Navin actually laughed at the thought of a robot learning to do anything other than what it was programmed to do—the robot Enzo called Samson looked like it was only an autopilot, all in all a fairly simple program—but his laughter died almost as soon as it started when he thought of Cogsley, Morrie and Miskit, the most intelligent robots from his great-grandfather's mobile house. All three of them had the ability to learn, think, reason, express emotions and opinions and exhibit personality. That made them as capable and independent as any human. He sobered. "It doesn't look very hard," he observed.

Enzo sighed, half in exasperation and half in annoyance. "Look, kid, you don't belong up here," he said bluntly. "But if you do a good job cleaning, I'll consider letting you steer for a few minutes." His expression softened, and he almost smiled. "Now get back there and–"

The look that suddenly crossed Navin's face interrupted him. "What was that?" the boy asked, his eyes wide.

Enzo leaned out the far door and saw a long, slender shape against the blue expanse. It was brownish-red and looked something like a snake, one with hind limbs and two large wings. He growled and looked at Navin. "Tell everyone to get inside."

"What is it?" Navin asked.

"Wyverns."

"What are wyverns?"

"Just do as I say!" Enzo snapped.

Navin jumped into action and ran toward the ship's stern, where his mother was hanging clothes. "Hey, Mom, the captain says to get inside."

"Hold on, Navin," Karen said, pulling a sheet from the clothesline. "I'm almost done."

"Mom, I think it's serious."

"What's the matter?"

"It's an earwig or something. Some kind of flying lizard. Whatever it is, it's huge."

In the ship's library, Miskit sat across from Emily, who was reading a book. She turned toward the porthole at her right just a second before a winged serpentine figure flashed by. "Did you see that?" she asked.

Emily looked up. "See what?" Just then, the warning bell began to ring. She set her book down. "Something's wrong."

"Everybody inside!" Enzo hollered.

Karen yanked a white sheet from the clothesline. "Okay, that's the last one." Greenish-blue magic, so light it was almost white, came around her arms. "What the—" The magic lifted her off the deck. "Emily?!"

"Mom!" Emily saw where the energy was coming from. Trellis was frowning in concentration, but in the heat of the moment, Emily perceived it as a threatening snarl. "Let go of her!" She lashed out at the elf prince, forcing him to release his grip on her mother and sending him skidding across the deck to the superstructure. She stomped up to him and demanded, "What were you doing?"

"Trying to protect her!" Trellis answered.

This surprised Emily. She'd been ready to accept that he no longer wanted to harm her, but not trust him with her family. "Protect her from what?"

Trellis pointed behind her. "That."

Emily turned and came face to face with a serpentine creature. It had a triangular head with high-set eyes and jaws filled with jagged teeth. Two small ears were set behind the eyes, and a row of bony bumps ran along its spine from snout to tailtip. Dull yellow stripes ran down its side, and its two wings' edges were tattered. The animal was gripping the side rail with its four clawed feet. It shrieked at them aggressively, then flapped its wings hard and pulled on the railing.

Karen and Navin ran to the door. "Hurry! Get inside!" Miskit urged. Luger peered out of a nearby porthole.

A look of aggressive determination crossed Emily's face. "We can kill it," she said.

"Wyverns are like wolves," Trellis told her. "They travel in packs, but rarely attack alone."

In the library, Enzo clicked open a case and pulled out a blocky weapon. It had a power charge readout on the butt and a cylindrical attachment on the front. "It's been a while since the last wyvern attack, Enzo," Rico said. "What if the stunner doesn't work any more?"

Enzo twisted the cylinder and the weapon whirred and hummed. "Unfortunately," he said, looking at his brother, "we don't have any other options."

Emily watched six wyverns wing by. "What are they after?" she asked.

"They're hunting," Enzo answered. "They they're not usually this aggressive." He brought the weapon to his cheek. "Whatever they want, we better let them know to look elsewhere!" He pulled the trigger, and the stunner coughed out a cloud of dust and two moths. He look-ed at it in dismay.

"I don't think those toys are going to do it, Captain," Trellis said.

Before anything else could happen, one of the wyverns swooped in from starboard, landed on the wing and then sank its teeth into the engine and wrenched a piece from the housing. Momentarily satisfied with its prize, it flew off. Sparks spat from the gaping wound in the ship.

"If that engine goes down, we'll be going around in circles," Cogsley said. He held out an end of rope to Miskit. "Here, tie this around your waist."

Miskit took it. "What are you doing?"

"Going out there to fix it."

Up in the pilothouse, Enzo was manipulating the flight controls furiously in an effort to outmaneuver the wyverns but knowing he never could. "We've got to get out of these clouds."

"Why?" Navin asked. "Couldn't we hide in them?"

Lines of concentration etched the corners of Enzo's mouth. "Cover works both ways, kid," he said as patiently as he could. "Besides, these are thunderheads—doubly dangerous for the chance of being struck and the fact that the wyverns like to fly through them." Suddenly, a red light began flashing, the angry pulsing accompanied by a consistent buzzing beep. The needle in the gauge below it began to drop.

"What's wrong?" Navin asked.

"It's our starboard engine," the cat answered. He leaned out of the right-side doorway and looked back. The engine was sputtering and smoking and spitting sparks. Then he saw Cogsley out on the deck and looking intently at the damaged powerplant. "What are you doing?"

The robot turned his head toward him. "I'm going out to fix it."

"You're going to get yourself killed! Wyverns are swarming out there!"

"Then you'll need to cover me."

Cogsley's utter calmness surprised Enzo, but addressing the matter of cover was a more immediate problem. "Unfortunately, these stunners don't have enough juice to be any use."

"I'll back you up," Trellis declared.

"No." Emily objected immediately. "I will. They're my friends; I'll protect them."

"Emily, I'm better at defending than you are."

"I'm not leaving their lives in the hands of strangers. Just help me keep the wyverns away."

Trellis, aware there was no time to argue, sighed in temporary defeat. "Fine. I'll position myself at the ship's bow. Call for me if you need help."

Cogsley began to climb over the railing. "You'll get blown off the wing!" Enzo yelled.

"Won't worry, Captain," Miskit assured him. "Cogsley can magnetize his feet."

Emily sent out a tendril of energy and wrapped it around the robot. "I've got you covered, Cogsley!" she called.

Cogsley stopped and set down his toolbox, looking into the gaping wound in the engine housing. He looked back and raised a thumb. "I can fix this!" he confirmed.

Leon looked forward. "Look out! We've got company!" A wyvern was swooping in from above and closing fast. The creature reached out, thinking Cogsley would make a good snack, but jerked back when the bright red aura surrounding him zapped its claws. "Good work, Emily!"

Trellis looked toward the bow and saw several wyverns closing in. "Here they come!" he called.

Out on the wing, Cogsley was working furiously to patch up the sparking wound. "Almost there!"

The flicker in the energy feeding the shield around Cogsley flickered so briefly that Leon almost didn't see it. He turned to look at Emily and saw sweat beading on her face. "Your attention is faltering, Emily. Stay focused!"

Trellis lashed out at an approaching wyvern and struck it in the side, making it scream in pain and rage. But even as he diverted that one, another was descending on Cogsley. The robot yanked on his wrench, reconnected the ignition wire, and the engine coughed once before roaring back to life. "Done!" Moving as fast as his magnetized feet would allow, he went back to the gangway.

"Welcome back," Miskit said.

The girl panted hard. "Nice job, Emily," Leon congratulated her. She looked at him and gave a small smile.

In the pilothouse, the pulsing red light stopping blinking, the warning buzzer fell silent and the lowering gauge jumped back to the highest point it could go. "We're back at full power!" Enzo smashed the throttle pedal into the floor, revving the engines and increasing speed.

"Everybody, get inside!" Karen yelled. "Hurry!" She approached her daughter. "Are you all right? You're soaked!"

"I'm fine, Mom," Emily answered, still panting.

The next thing any of them knew, two clawed feet clamped down on Miskit's shoulders and lifted her from the deck. "Help!" she cried out in panic. Before anyone could do anything, the rope still linking Miskit and Cogsley snapped taught. Split-second reaction saved him from immediately being pulled away, and he braced his feet against the railing, but the wyvern proved too strong for the metal and the bar snapped, and Cogsley was pulled after Miskit and her captor.

"Cogsley! Miskit! No!" Emily dashed after them.

"Emily, no!" She ignored them and vaulted off the ship, intending to use her magic to pursue them, but the energy fizzled out and she fell toward the earth far below. She fell for several seconds before an arm of bright aqua magic wrapped around her, stopping her descent, and she shouted in frustration and rage at the retreating form of the wyvern, Cogsley little more than a speck dangling beneath it.

She was lifted back to the deck. "Emily!" Karen ran up and took her into a hug. "Are you okay? What were you thinking?"

Looking half angry and half disappointed, Emily said, "We have to go back! We can't leave them!" She ran up to the pilothouse. "Stop the ship! We have to turn around!"

Enzo's head snapped toward her. "Are you crazy? We have to get out of these clouds before the wyverns tears us apart!"

"But we lost Miskit and Cogsley!"

His face lit up in surprise. "What!?"

"A wyvern took them."

Enzo sighed, half in resignation and half in despair. "I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can do." Emily started to protest, but he stopped her. "They're too fast for this ship. Even if we chased after them and threw the throttle wide open, we'd never catch them. I'm sorry."

"No." Emily turned and ran out of the pilothouse. "Leon! You have to convince them to turn around!"

Leon's shoulders slumped and he sighed heavily. "I'm afraid the captain's right, Emily. Pursuit would be hopeless."

"But we can't just leave them behind!"

"Emily, their job was to protect you, not the other way around. Putting you in harm's way to save them is the last thing Silas would want." Emily's lower lip began to tremble. "It's not your fault."

She looked at him, her eyes glinting angrily. "You know that's not true." She turned on her heel and stormed away.

Rico looked at the fuel gauge. "We'll need to gas up soon, Enzo. We also need to repair the engine." Enzo sighed heavily. "What's the matter?"

"There's only one service station on this route—and I was hoping we could avoid a pit stop."

Fearful suspicion blossomed on Rico's face. "Uh-oh. Are we where I think we are?"

Enzo nodded gravely. "She's the only one out here, Rico. Let's just hope old wounds heal fast."

None of them were aware that a large bird-like creature with a gleaming metal helmet and a rider on its back was following them.