The Wonderground

32 - The End of the 'Ephemera'

***

The bats carrying Casus and the children raced away from the stricken ship and the sky battle. They dove low towards the lake. The bats' wingtips skimmed the surface, spraying Isla and Charlie with water. They headed for a large building carved into the hillside of the Monument.

The Ephemera was half submerged and on fire. Thick black smoke was billowing from the circular opening to the bat roost. Bats were spilling out of the hole, scattering in all directions, heading for the mountains.

The bat riders were defeated and, without the safety of their ship, they fled for the distant hills. The elephants converged on the ship, towered over its limp balloon and surrounded the remaining stranded Sky Rats.

They had won!

"Oh no," cried Charlie as three of the eagles broke away and pursued them. "They must think we're Sky Rats!"

"Faster, Derek," she shouted at the bat. "Faster!"

The eagles were gaining. They would not reach land before the birds caught them. Isla grabbed Charlie's hand at her waist.

"Yeeeeee-ha," screamed the lead eagle rider as he approached. He swooped alongside Isla and Charlie but did not attack. "You two really need to get a room!" grinned Jack.

"Wilson?" shouted Charlie in disbelief. "When did you learn to ride an eagle?"

"About the same time your girlfriend learned to fly a bat," smiled Jack. Isla flushed red.

"She's not my..."

"Whatever!" teased Jack. "Say hi to McIlroy and Song," he called out, nodding to the other two eagles.

Charlie and Isla were stunned to see the two girls. They were whooping with joy at seeing their friends safely returned from the Ephemera.

"How did you get away?" hollered Amelia.

Elliot managed to speak. "We got sick of waiting," he shouted from the second bat. "So, we rescued ourselves." He smiled and waved weakly. He was about to throw up.

"Excuse me?" said Casus, pretending to be upset.

"We had a bit of help," admitted Elliot.

"You can always sit up front and fly this bat, if you like," snorted Casus.

"Okay, we had a lot of help," conceded Elliot.

The group arrowed towards the opening to the Ivory Hall. Whitebelly nose-dived through the gap in the roof. The other eagles followed before the two bats careened into the hall, disorientated and screeching wildly. They skidded on the polished floor and deposited their riders unceremoniously without stopping. They shrieked their displeasure and flapped hysterically back to the ceiling and out into the open sky.

Everyone was out of breath. Amelia nuzzled her face in the neck of Whitebelly and scratched his chest feathers while whispering her gratitude. Jack leapt from Short-toe, gave a short thanks to the bird, and jogged over to Amelia. "When we get back to school," he said to her, "if we ever get back to school," he added, "you need to switch to Eagle House!" he grinned.

"Beginner's luck," beamed Amelia, shrugging her shoulders.

"That was more than luck," said Rose effusively as she dismounted Audax. "You were incredible!"

"I wish we could've seen it," said Elliot as he wiped the last of the bat guano from his trouser leg.

Amelia smiled at him and shrugged her backpack from her shoulders. She bent on one knee in front of Elliot and rummaged in the main section, eventually producing a black shoe, size 5. She handed it to him. He squeezed his soggy foot inside and quickly tied the lace. "Thank you," he grinned.