Amphibians’ End: A Kulipari Novel by Pryce Trevor & Naftali Joel

Author:Pryce, Trevor & Naftali, Joel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
Published: 2015-10-27T00:00:00+00:00

Pippi hadn’t stayed to watch—she’d led the scorps away, splashing them every now and then to keep them angry.

Now she finally ditched them, swimming underwater across a pond and slipping into a side stream. As she swam closer to the main village, the stream grew crowded with frog warriors drifting in the current, drinking through their skin. Preparing to return to battle or nursing wounds—or both.

Princess Orani lifted her head from the salty water and blinked her stinging eyes. She couldn’t see far through the mist of the marsh, but she heard the grumbling of a spider squad clearly enough.

“‘Circle around through the swamp. Attack the village from behind,’” a spider grunted. “That’s easy for the king to say.”

“Yeah,” another grumbled. “He’s not the one stuck in this muck.”

Orani pointed two finger pads to her left, and a soft splash sounded from behind her as her bullfrog squad moved into position. She climbed onto a weedy hillock and crouched to spring.

When the spiders crawled into sight, she shouted, “Hit ’em!”

She leaped at the spiders and tore through the front rank, losing herself in the frenzy of battle. A squad of spider archers shot webs at her while warriors slashed with swords, and through the red haze of battle she heard herself laugh as she hammered spider after spider.

She saw her squad slam into the flank of the advancing spiders, and caught a sword in the air. “You messed with the wrong princess,” she said while punching a spider across the marsh.

“Orani!” one of her scouts called. “You need to see this!”

She tore a thick reed from the ground, batted two spiders away, then leaped toward her scout. “What’s up?”

“Down by the coast,” the scout said.

“The turtles?” she asked, feeling a glimmer of relief. “They’re finally here?”

The scout shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

She called for her squad to follow and headed for the beach. She burst from the marsh and jumped to the coastal dunes, which were covered with dry, wavering beach grass. The ocean spread before her, the surf lapping at the sand and the water an endless field of rippling blue, glinting under the sun.

Then she gasped. “What is that?”

Black splotches seemed to float on the waves. A dozen of them. No, hundreds of black dots rising and falling with the waves. And coming closer.

She raced to the top of a dune for a better look. “Scorpions,” she whispered, a chill touching her heart. She turned to her squad. “Bring the catapults to the beach—now!”

“They’re defending the village,” one of her frogs said.

“We need them here!” she bellowed. “We need every bullfrog in the Amphibilands! Move, move, move!”

The next few minutes dissolved into a blur of frenzied action. Orani positioned her squads and watched the scorpions draw closer. First she noticed tails and stingers above the black splotches, then pincers and mouthparts. And finally, she saw how they were crossing the ocean.

“They’re riding stingrays,” she said, shaking her head.

“Where are the turtles?” a bullfrog warrior asked. “Why aren’t they here?”

“The turtles can’t help us now.

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