3. First Islandseeker

Dannis and Pin could not win the island. They were glad to escape with their fur still on their back. Once the beavers realized the Godesweets had only sent two animals, they didn’t just defend the island, they actively tried to kill Dannis.

Fortunately an antilope, despite what the name suggested, was quite good at loping. Panting heavily, he stormed back into the Godesweets camp, where Pin immediately jumped off his back to find the Ape Lord.

“The Freethieves have arrived! They took an island along the shore of Seahorse Beach!”

“Nice try,” the Ape Lord said smiling. “You want more weapons, eh? More animals?”

“Well, honestly, it’s a bit too late for that. They already own the island.”

The Ape Lord paused. His movements ceased in the middle of the hot, suffocating tent. It had never been Casbrita’s plan to stay here this long, which is why they never build any proper buildings.

“You are serious? Freethieves are here? There was an actual Guayn Island there?”

Dannis nodded, still searching for breath. “I have … I may have found a way to predict where islands—”

Pin pushed his wet black wing against Dannis’ mouth.

“Keep the invention to yourself, deerfriend,” he whispered. “This could change the world. When they talk about the savior of the Godesweets, you want them to say your name. You might even win the Knobbel Prize!”

Antlers held high, Dannis still stepped forward. “I have discovered how to predict where new islands will be. Give me a squad and I won’t disappoint.”

The Ape Lord pressed his hands together, as if about to enter prayer, and spoke sweetly. “Dear soldier, tell us this great discovery, so we can all start looking for islands. Come come, the Godesweets do not keep secrets for one another.”

Dannis looked to the side. Pin shook his head. Dannis is no soldier, he thought. Important state secrets leave his mouth like warm—ugh, I could eat a hundred warm fish right now.

“We’ll keep this information secret,” said Pin decisively. “If the Freethieves are here, they might have a spy in our midst! I merely ask payment in the form of tasty fishes.”

The Ape Lord leaned backward. His chair was richly decorated, undoubtedly built by the Bearchitects, but squeaked under his weight. He tapped the map.

“Fine. You get one ship. Do not disappoint me.”

As Dannis and Pin ran away to prepare for the journey, the Ape Lord commanded everyone to search the area for spies and Freethieves.

Dannis quickly learned that not all birds made islands. Most birds did nothing special. They followed a flock of hummingbirds for days, all the way to the Caribean, until they came down and condescendingly asked why this ship was stalking them.

He tried to explain. But the sentence “your poop is the only thing that keeps us alive” did not help.

They knew what he meant, though.

“You are looking for eagles,” the hummingbirds said, nervous due to Pin’s predatory presence. Most animals could instantly judge if someone was a carnivore or not—but which meat they liked to eat was less clear at first sight. Out on the ocean, uncontrolled and unclaimed, there were no rules forbidding predators from eating prey whenever they liked.

“I only eat fish,” Pin said with a disarming smile. “A pescatarian, as the Apes say.”

Hmm. Though my stomach increasingly sings a song that would accept any possible meat.

“One of the eagles has a giant wing. We think it’s that Heavenly Object: the Windgustwing of Cosmo. This makes everything they do … larger and more magical. If they decide to go to the toilet somewhere, they create so much guayn that an entire island appears.”

“Why are you not Islandseekers?” Dannis asked with a frown. “Flying animals would be able to spot all those islands far more easily.”

Pin was about to hit his deerfriend in the face for this foolish suggestion. That antelope really had to keep his mouth—

The hummingbird hopped onto their other leg. “We don’t care. If there’s trouble, we fly away. If there’s no more food, we fly away. Fight your wars; leave us out of it.”

Dannis thanked the birds. Now he searched the sky for eagles all day.

Once they found a few, they also found their first White Island in mere days. Deserted and unprotected. The Freethieves had no chance and spotted it far too late.

They had picked up a third crew member. A parrot that talked too much and claimed he’d worked for the legendary captain Pi. Pin was fine with listening to the wild stories, as long as he did his job. Whenever they found an island, the parrot flew back to the Ape Lord to send some soldiers to grab it.

You might think, dear reader, that they could’ve just used that new invention of the Telephone. But in these times, a Telephone meant a cabinet on the wall and a metal object connected with a thick wire. Calling wirelessly was not possible yet, certainly not at sea.

Dannis refused to lose the eagles and kept chasing them. Fortunately, the ship was designed for quadrupeds like him, not apes. The steering wheel did not stand upright, but lay flat on the floor. This way, you could steer by simply walking against it, instead of requiring the use of hands. Similarly, the sails were raised by biting on a thick rope and running, and the anchor controlled by jumping on a seesaw plank with your full weight.

The best thing? The ship had a small motor. Another new invention by the apes. Necessary, too, because a traditional ship was impossible to sail with just three inexperienced animals.

They followed the eagles from a distance; the next island appeared son. They were in range of Freethieves territory now. Dannis estimated they were still on the right side of the Lovewall now, but not for long.

When they sent their ship for the island, a Freethieves ship on the other side did the exact same thing.

The two friends grabbed each other’s paws and studied the enemy deck. They had lesser numbers again.

“We must arrive earlier,” said Pin, as he hung from the rope that raised the main sail. “Then we have the high ground.”

“And then? They fear us because we’re taller? We cast a scary shadow over them?” Dannis frowned. “If that works, we really need more giraffes for our army!”

Pin sighed. “Did you not do your training? An army always wants the high ground.”

Dannis tiptoed from left to right and back again. “We can still turn around and find another—”

“No!” Pin had stocked his tube with arrows. “This is the largest island we’ve seen! We must show the enemy the Godesweets can do.”

The ships were equally fast, equally far, and equally ill-prepared for a fight. They circled around the island at the same time. The beavers and ferrets on the other ship tried a large leap and landed at the bottom of the pile of guayn. They slowly scuttled to the top as if they were lizards and crabs.

Hmm. A crab is also a kind of tasty fish, is it not? thought Pin as his mouth watered.

Pin climbed onto the antelope’s back. Dannis pranced, which fired the penguin—with helmet—as if he were a cannonball.

Pin landed all the way at the top of the island. His landing broke off a large chunk of guayn and made it rain on the heads of their foes. A few had to let go and fell into the water.

The resulting dust clouds made him cough and ruined his sight. As the fog cleared, the enemy was almost upon him. Pin placed his weapon in his beak and started a rapid fire of arrows.

The arrows were too tiny to kill. They were tranquilizer darts, which meant the enemy might reach the top of the island, but would feel the immense desire to sleep. The Godesweets lacked enough guayn to make bullets, which is why Pin hadn’t touched a real weapon in ages.

Slowly a crescent moon of sleeping beavers surrounded him. The ferrets, however, were faster and more cunning.

Also they had weapons.

Shot after shot rang into the open sky.

Pin rolled backward as the bullets hit him. His helmet shielded him for now.

The ferrets, certain of victory, were about to plant their flag into the island. But even on this large island you could barely take a step before reaching the other edge.

Pin suddenly jumped back to life and kicked a few ferrets in their stomach. They stumbled backward, just one or two paces, but it was enough to remove the floor beneath their feet. They all fell down the white cliff, into the churning waters.

“Do you now understand why we want the high ground, deerfriend?”

He wanted to kick the sleeping beavers over the edge too, but Dannis stopped him. His antlers pointed at the captain of the Freethieves ship.

“We return the beavers, but only if you sail away and leave us alone for good.”

The captain nodded eagerly. Together they carried the snoring creatures back to the ship and even waved them goodbye as they went.

“You’re such a fool,” complained Pin. “They’re our enemy. And you merrily help them find the next island more quickly than us!”

“Our goal is to find food for all. Not to hurt as many enemies as possible. Or did you forget?”

“A soldier understands those two are often the same thing.”

Pin pulled the strap of his helmet more taut and turned his back. Fins crossed he watched the enemy ship leave.

Their parrot returned. He struggled to stay in the air because of a bucket filled with fish held in his beak. Once he placed that on the island, Pin’s mood suddenly lifted and the bucket was empty within minutes.

“Good news! The Ape Lord thanks you for the islands! If you continue like this, he might even name you First Islandseeker!”

“Do I get something for that?”

“Whatever you want. Thanks to you, the army grows less hungry by the day.”

Dannis and Pin looked at each other. The argument had already been forgotten as they bumped their bodies against each other. They returned to the ship, all smiles.

They tracked the eagles again and followed them for a week, but found no island.

They had entered war territory now. For a while, they followed the shoreline of Balkze. This entire war started because the Ghostlands wanted to conquer Balkze, which means Dannis had no idea who currently held the territory.

When they finally found the next island, deep inside Freethieves territory, it was ungarded and untouched.

This surprised Pin. It surprised him even more that they could wait for weeks, until the Ape Lord had sent reinforcements to steal the guayn, and still no enemy appeared to have spotted it.

Silly Dannis probably thinks it’s great news, Pin thought. But my soldier brain is on full alert.