As William, Bom, and Neanna climbed into the back of the car – creature – Zach glanced back at the hermit one last time and hoped that he would be okay. It was then he noticed two tiny holes appear in the white blanket of sand that covered his face, as the hermit opened his eyes and looked up at him.

Zach slammed the passenger door shut as Faraday started the creature up. They lurched forward as the beetle shook and made a scuttling noise. The creature seemed to stall, rumble into life again, and then stop altogether.

“Look!” Bom suddenly blasted in Zach’s ear, as he lent forward from the rear of the vehicle and pointed ahead. All of them peered through the black glass windscreen to see the headlights of those tiger-bikes racing back across the desert floor towards them.

“You’ll have to be patient with me,” Faraday said flatly. “I haven’t driven one of these things for…”

“Patient!” Bom roared again. “My patience is fast running out!”

Faraday pressed down hard on the accelerator, pushed the gear stick into drive, and they lurched forward again, then came to a shuddering stop. The creature made a mewing noise all around them as if it were in pain. Then they all shrieked as the gaunt and pale face of the hermit appeared on the other side of the windscreen.

“What’s he doing?” Bom cried out in fear.

“How did you ever become a Captain in the Queen’s Royal Guard?” William barked at him.

“He’s trying to start the wagon,” Neanna shouted.

Zach stared out of the windscreen to see the frail-looking man take hold of the crank sticking out the front of the beetle and begin to turn it. There was a clunking sound deep within the creature and again it shuddered violently, throwing Zach and the others forward in their seats.

“What a piece of junk!” Bom snapped.

“Maybe you would like to get out and help him?” William howled as the glare of the approaching tiger-bikes lit up the night.

Bom grunted a response as the hermit turned and turned the crank. The beetle made a sputtering noise, and then burst into life. The wagon scuttled quickly backwards as Faraday yanked on the gearstick.

“Thanks, old man,” Faraday said in his deadpan voice.

“Thank you!” the hermit shouted and raised a set of bony fingers to the place on his chest, where only minutes before he had a gaping wound.

Knowing that the hermit had just saved them, Faraday yanked the steering wheel violently to the left and raced away, conscious that the dead peacekeepers would make chase after the beet-wagon, giving the old man a chance to make his escape. Zach glanced back through the black pane of glass fixed into the side of the beetle’s shell, and watched as the tiger-bikes bounded across the desert after them.

Chapter Eleven

Tanner, Anna Black, and her uncle Fandel were led ashore by Van Demon and his crew. They walked along the wooden quay, the spurs attached to the backs of Tanner’s boots jangling. It was cold and the sun had now set over the Onyx Sea. Its thick, black waves crashed against the white sand, dragging the old debris of sunken ships up onto the shore. The seahorses that had brought the ship – stagecoach – this far, lowered their mighty heads into the water and searched for any food that the sea might offer. Their wild manes floated on the surface like seaweed.

Tanner lent to one side, nursing his wounded shoulder. Anna had snaked her arm about his waist to help him along. Fandel walked beside them, his eyes furtively rolling from side to side as he tried to figure out how he might escape. At the end of the quay, Van Demon led them onto the sand. The shoreline was crescent-shaped, and large, grey sand dunes surrounded it.

With their hands still tied behind their backs, Van Demon stood before them, his decomposing face looking more threadbare than Anna had remembered it to be. “So our little journey across the sea comes to an end, amigos,” he smiled, and Anna could see his tongue through the gaping hole in his cheek. “We have enough horses to take only one of thee. Now lemme see, who will it be? The pretty senorita? Senor uncle or thee peacekeeper?”

“The pretty senorita,” one of the Dammed Bandits leered.

Anna looked at him and could see his lungs expanding in and out behind his ribcage, which had had the flesh gnawed from it.

“Silencio!” Van Demon roared, raising one decomposing hand in the air. “Si, Si, she is a beautiful senorita and would fetch a great prize. But I’m after a far greater treasure.”

The other bandits stood behind their leader, their axes, knives, and rifles glinting in the moonlight.

“How about I tell you how to get to the box, and you let me and the girl go,” Fandel whined.

“And what of thee peacekeeper?” Van Demon smiled, that hole in the side of his face flapping open and revealing his rotten teeth.

“Kill him,” Fandel sneered, glancing sideways at Tanner, who stood with his chin resting on his chest.

“Did thee hear that, peacekeeper?” Van Demon chuckled. “Me thinks senor uncle doesn’t like thee very much.”

Then raising his head, Tanner looked at Van Demon and said, “How about you turn around, get back on your boat, or whatever it is, and leave these shores before every single one of you sorry-looking arseholes dies?”

Clapping his ringed fingers together, Van Demon chuckled and came forward, Julio close behind, his hands pressed over his midriff so as not to spill his guts onto the sand.

“You are very brave or very stupid,” Van Demon mocked.

Tanner stared straight back into Van Demon’s eyes, one of which swiveled in a broken socket.

“I am neither,” Tanner whispered.

Leaning in close so as to hear Tanner, Van Demon said, “Si, it is a shame that thee dislike me so much, peacekeeper. We could have been great – how do you say it – friends.”

“I’m no friend of yours,” Tanner whispered again.

“Me thinks I was going to kill the senorita and senor uncle,” Van Demon explained. “We are heading into the outer-rim where great dangers lie. You have cunning and are quick on the draw, peacekeeper. You would have made a great companion. We could have shared the power in the box. Si?”

“No,” Tanner whispered, and Van Demon took a step closer.

“Such a pity, peacekeeper,” Van Demon smiled. “So me thinks I will kill senor uncle and take the senorita to bargain with, should I need to.”

Hearing this, Fandel dropped to his knees and began to beg for his life. “No, you can’t kill me,” he whined. “How will you make your way to the Rusty Volcano without me?”

“I think I will recognise a volcano when thee sees one, no?” Van Demon smiled, enjoying the sight of Fandel begging for his life.

“You might find the box,” Fandel tried to bargain, “but you won’t be able to open it. Even the great sorcerer, Throat can’t open it. That’s why it hangs above the volcano, slowly burning open. But there is a key!”

“Now there is a key, amigo?” Van Demon sneered. “Why did you not mention a key before?”

“Because you would have killed me back then,” Fandel said, his long face ashen, greasy black hair flopping over his brow. “I thought I might need something to bargain with, and I was right.”

“You were very wise, senor uncle,” Van Demon said. “You are cunning. Perhaps thee would make a better companion than thee peacekeeper.”

“I would, I would!” Fandel sniveled as he shuffled towards Van Demon on his knees. “Kill him, not me.”

Then turning to face Tanner again, Van Demon leaned in, and breathing coolly into his face, he said, “Si, I think senor uncle is right.”

“This is your last chance, Bandit,” Tanner whispered. “Take your merry men and sail far away from here, or you die.”

“Die, ye say?” Van Demon smiled again, searching Tanner’s crazy stare with his own.

“Right here,” Tanner whispered. “Right now!”

Before Van Demon had a chance to react, Tanner smashed his forehead into the bridge of Van Demon’s nose. There was a crunching sound as Van Demon’s already decomposed face shattered under the sheer force with which Tanner had struck him. The noise of Van Demon’s cracking skull was still ringing in Anna’s ears when the night exploded with the clatter of gunfire.

Chapter Twelve

Faraday lurched the beet-wagon from left to right, and gunned it forward at an ever increasing speed in an attempt to outrun the tiger-bikes, which were gaining on them. The beetle rocked and rolled and bounced up and down, as it scuttled across the desert. Zach snatched a quick look back over his shoulder to see William, Neanna, and Bom huddled together on the backseat. Suddenly, tiger-bikes bounded alongside the beetle on either side. Faraday snaked the beetle back and forth across the desert floor, as he desperately wrestled to keep it under control.

One of the tiger-bikes raised a giant paw and took a swipe at the side of the beetle. The vehicle cried out as if in pain. Looking out through the darkened galls, Zach could see the dead peacekeeper bent low over his bike, gripping the handlebars which protruded from the head of the tiger where it once had ears. The tiger-bike took another swipe at the beetle and Faraday turned the steering wheel, making the beetle scuttle out of harm’s way.

“We’re gonna die!” Bom cried from the back, as the beetle nearly collided with the tiger-bike that raced along on the other side.

“Stop your moaning, will ya!” William howled as he reached for his catapult.

Faraday slammed down on the foot pedals, the beetle’s legs scurrying faster across the desert. Then the vehicle screamed in pain, as one of the tiger-bikes took another swipe at it with its giant paws. Ahead, Zach could see a jagged row of rocks sticking out of the ground like huge teeth. Faraday raced the beetle towards it, his face expressionless.

“Are you insane?” Bom cried out as the rocks loomed closer and closer.

Believing that they were going to smash straight into the rocks, Zach, William, and Neanna threw their hands over their eyes and screamed. But at the very last minute, Faraday eased his foot off the pedals. The beetle screeched, as Faraday yanked the steering wheel to the right and it scurried around the rocks. The tiger-bike and its rider, who had been racing alongside the beetle, wasn’t so quick to react, and it smashed headlong into the rocks. Zach looked back as the tiger-bike burst into a ball of red seething flame, and the rider span through the air.