Penny and the Dragons #7
Episode seven: Splinters.
The plume of smoke had not yet settled into the air, and Penny knew that if they were trying again to take the Jummblesnuff, Mr Snuffles, she would have to act. The explosion was some distance away, and there was no other fast way to get there.
“Coral,” said Penny, “I’m going to ask you to take me over there.” Penny tried to climb on top of Coral, in order to ride on her back, but there seemed like no safe way to hold on, and so she slid off. Coral opened her mouth, and neither of them could see another way. “This has to be a temporary solution, right Coral?” asked Penny, as she climbed inside.
“Penny,” yelled Hugo, “Stop, there has to be a better way.”
“Uncle, this is why I’m here,” she said as Coral readied herself to fly.
“Wait,” said Hugo, “drunk or not, I can’t let you go on your own.” Hugo ran over and grabbed hold of a section of Coral’s tail that he could get a grip on. Toddy copied, and the two of them were lifted into the air. They held on for dear life, and they both knew that what they were doing was incredibly dangerous.
The party of men, stood watching in disbelief, before they all began to scramble to try to figure out what to do.
Coral’s large body lifted up into the air, and with a flap of her wings, she angled herself in the direction she wanted to head in.
“Wait,” yelled Hugo, “You’re going the wrong way.”
“What if it was a diversion?” screamed Toddy, “Perhaps Coral knows what really happened.”
As Coral neared the pier, Hugo and Toddy could see a boat that was not scheduled, and standing along the pier were three men, and one crate, just big enough that it probably contained Mr Snuffles.
“Could this day get any stranger?” asked Hugo, instantly wishing he hadn’t, as he could then faintly see that one of the men on the pier, was Leroy. “Stellium was right about you, Leroy, you can’t be trusted,” yelled Hugo.
Coral all but shook Hugo and Toddy off onto a lawned area and spat Penny out. Then, she twisted up into the air and flew forward into the men. Leroy jumped into the water.
Hugo ran over to the large bell that sat near the dock, that was rung in emergencies, he sounded it before cracking open one of the supply cupboards that contained ropes and other things that could, among other things, be used to detain such individuals. “Toddy, get to the lighthouse and set the light pattern as you have been trained,” he said, knowing that Toddy knew how to hail the security island.
It’s getting really annoying that there is no real way to defend ourselves,” said Penny.
“It’s necessary,” yelled Hugo as he began running towards the pier.
Hugo was not a fearful man, and that was again apparent since he was heading out to meet a boatload of armed men, while he was armed with only a rope.
Coral had seemingly misplaced the two other men that had been on the dock, and then disappeared, as she often seemed to do on such occasions. The animal crate on the pier was left temporarily unattended. There was a crow bar on the dock, so Hugo took the opportunity to pop open the crate and let out Mr Snuffles, who seemed pleased to see a friendly face.
Hugo, now armed with a rope, a crow bar, and a man eating dragon, set off towards the boat that, although had docked, had since kicked back off the pier since seeing that the dragon was loose.
“Are you afraid of a little dragon?” screamed Hugo as he ran to the end of the pier.
“No, we just needed more time,” yelled a man as a small but rather dangerous cannon spun around to face the pier.
“Coral, now would be a really great time to return from wherever you are,” yelled Hugo.
Mr Snuffles jumped off the dock and into the water.
“You can swim?” asked Hugo.
The boat rocked… and rocked again, and rocked once more. The men looked at each other.
“Does… does this boat look level to you?” asked one of the men.
A beer bottle rolled across the floor of the boat.
“What has that monster done?” screamed another man, “I didn’t even want to come on this bleeding mission.”
“You’re gonna have to disembark the boat eventually, you might as well do it while you can still reach dry land,” Hugo yelled as he swung the crow bar around to intimidate them.
“We’ll get at least one good shot out of the cannon before that.”
“Oh, and what, add to your crimes? The security boats will be here soon. Do you really want to add to the list of things you'll be charged for? Surender now and we’ll see if your punishment can be reduced. Who knows, maybe you’ll even get out of here without being eaten.”
The men paused, clearly questioning their decisions.
Hugo felt a degree of relief as he could see the light from the lighthouse, shining out to call the security teams. Toddy had done well.
“Oh, get out the way,” yelled another man as he pushed the men out the way and took control of the cannon.
Moments before the cannon went off, Hugo jumped into the water. The weapon tore through the pier, revealing the pylons below. Wooden shrapnel flew in several directions, and was flung much farther than might be expected.
There were several injuries on the boat, for not only was the boat now clearly sinking, but the man who had shot the cannon had been wedged behind it, and was screaming, trapped and injured.
Shrapnel had torn through the boat, for it really was far too close to the pier when it fired. The extent of the injuries was unclear but Hugo was strangely unscathed. As Hugo is not a horrible person, he began to swim over to try to help the men off the boat.
Penny thought that she would be safe where she had been standing, but, while she was thinking that nothing but the shockwave knocked her down, she would soon see that she was wrong. She looked down to see a fist sized splinter, lodged just below her collar bone.
Penny began screaming. As Toddy ran over and dropped beside Penny, she blacked out. The following events were rather vague for her as she drifted in and out of consciousness.
“Penny,” yelled Hugo from the water, as, although he couldn’t see what had happened, he could see Toddy and hear him screaming for help. Hugo had to make a decision, so he turned and began swimming towards Penny. The criminals would have to save themselves.
Though Hugo was for once, uninjured, he was suffering more than usual, for he was leaving injured men to face probable death, as he pushed towards the shore to try to save his niece from, what was to him, an unknown injury. There were men screaming behind him, and Toddy screaming in front of him.
‘This is why women aren’t allowed on the island,’ Hugo unfairly thought as he swum, for truely, the issue was not that Penny was a female, but rather that he cared about her, was worried about her, and wanted to put her safety first.
Hugo climbed out of the water and ran towards Penny. She was not conscious, and Hugo truely worried that she wouldn’t recover. He could hear men from the island making their way towards them, which always included a medical team, so he made the choice not to move her but to wait for someone to arrive that knew what to do.
“HELP!” Hugo screamed towards them, hoping that no time would be wasted in locating them.
Toddy ran towards them, hoping to lead them towards Penny.
Penny looked up at Hugo, “Hugo, take care of Coral for me,” she said.
“No, don’t talk like that. I refuse, Penny, I won’t take care of Coral, you need to be strong and pull through this. Please, be strong, Penny,” he said as he dropped by her side.
Penny nodded slightly with tears in her eyes, as she appeared to muster a small amount of emotional strength.
Stellium himself was with the medical team, and as he and his team tended to Penny and lifted her onto a stretcher, Hugo and Toddy were somewhat shuffled farther from her.
“Please save her, Stellium,” cried Hugo.
From the distance, a security boat sounded its horn. The security team had arrived to detain the criminals. Little did anyone know, that Leroy would never be seen again, and to this day, nobody knows if he drowned, was eaten, or if he escaped. Whatever happened, he was not found in the water.
Hugo paced around the hallway that was as close to the operating theatre as he was permitted to get. So many thoughts went through his head, and all of this had happened without Penny’s mother actually knowing where she went. She had apparently left a small note for her mother, but surely, her mother would have expected her back a long time ago… now though, was the island about to take Penny, as it had her father?
Toddy sat staring at his feet. He had not yet processed what had happened and was incredibly traumatised. Internally, Toddy felt angry. The fact that the island had no real defences, meant that such events would likely be common occurrences. Yes, Toddy was angry, but truth be told, he was most angry at himself, as, if he never told Penny to board the boat that night, she would still be safely on the mainland, instead of stuck on an island fraught with danger.
Neither Hugo or Toddy said a word as they waited. Both of them blamed themselves, and they were wishing with every fibre of their being, that Penny would be okay.
Finally, a surgeon walked out, “She’s stable,” he said.
Hugo and Toddy broke down in tears, and not knowing what else to do, they hugged each other.
“You know,” continued the surgeon, “Stellium is really amazing. What on Earth would we do without him?”
“Hugo,” said Penny softly, as she woke up in her hospital room.
“I’m here Penny. I’m so sorry,” said Hugo.
Toddy stood awkwardly in the corner, still not able to process the guilt he felt. Every variable seemed to be going through his mind, such as the fact that he should have forced her to come to the lighthouse with him.
“Penny, we need to find a way to get you back to the mainland,” said Hugo.
“No, no, this is where I want to be,” said Penny, “now more than ever.”
“What? Why?” barked Toddy.
“I was scared about getting my first injury, now it’s out of the way. I felt like all eyes were on me because I kept getting out unscathed, but now, I’m normal.”
“It’s the medication that’s talking. Hugo, force her to go home,” yelled Toddy.
Hugo felt conflicted. In some ways Penny was right, for really, Hugo had been injured many times but was not wanting to quit, however, on the other hand, it was incredibly scary, watching someone he loved so much, put their life in danger.
“Hugo?” said Toddy.
“Sleep now, we’ll talk later,” said Hugo, before ushering Toddy out of the room so that they could talk.
Just outside the door, a man was waiting. I don’t mean to rush you, Hugo, as I know that you are dealing with a lot right now, but there are some matters that could use your attention when you get a moment.
“Oh, yes, okay… just give me… I, I don’t know.”
“When you’re ready,” said the man as he walked away.
“Hugo… you can’t seriously be considering letting her stay here, can you?” asked Toddy.
“Toddy, I’ve made no decisions, but you need to recognise that at the end of the day, there are some decisions that Penny will have to make for herself.”
“Oh, this is all my fault,” cried Toddy, as he broke down, “If I didn’t tell her to come, none of this would have happened.”
Hugo put his hand on Toddy’s shoulder, before saying, “Oh Toddy, it must feel awful to feel that way, but, truth be told, I think on some universal level, Penny is meant to be here. Maybe it was bound to happen someway or somehow. You didn’t know what the island was like. Many first year recruits, only do one tour. Penny is fearless, and though I’m fearful for her, I am afraid that we are going to have to let her decide.”
Toddy turned and walked away. Clearly he needed some more time to really process all that had happened.
Hugo poked his head back into Penny’s room. She appeared to be sleeping, and the monitoring equipment, seemed to confirm that she was stable. He sighed as he turned to head towards whatever matter needed his attention.
“Hello Hugo, I’m Witton,” said a man that Hugo had never met before.
“Hello, nice to meet you. Is everything in order?” asked Hugo.
“Yes, however…” started Witton, before standing up and walking around the desk that he was sitting at, “I think that you’ll agree with me when I say that security measures on the island need a bit of work. We were lucky this time that yourself and your family survived, but, heading out to detain a boatload of criminals, all on your own, and unarmed, seems a little…”
“Ridiculous?” said Hugo.
“I guess, but, we need to find another way.”
“Sure, but, getting weapons approved for the island, seems unlikely.”
“You’d be right,” said Witton, “but thankfully, I’m proposing something a little different… and… a little less… conventional.”
“What did you have in mind?” asked Hugo curiously.
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