A huge winged shape that looked like the improbable marriage of pterodactyl wings to a shark's body soared into the air. It looped once to build up airspeed, then came in on an attack vector with its razor-studded jaws agape. It hit one of the ninjas and lifted her up into the air, then dropped her screaming body as it gobbled down her left arm.
Sin turned and snapped two silent rounds off at the flying shark. Holes appeared in the taut, fleshy membrane of one wing. The shark dipped that wing and arced down into a turn that set it up for a run at Sin.
Coyote tracked it with the Stormcloud and hit the trigger twice. The buckshot chewed a crescent bite out of the shark's dorsal fin, but did not even slow it down. The Dragonfire round, by contrast, did. The 25-foot-long flame jet hit the shark over its left-side gill slits. The fire stream continued virtually unabated out the other side, then the creature vomited flames. Its eyes went dead, and it crashed into the ground, rolling over and over, like a child's broken glider.
Men and monsters alike scattered as a mottled red and blue triceratops stampeded through the courtyard. Tracer rounds from submachine-guns glanced off its bony shield and sailed like fireworks into the night sky. Blood glistened black from its horns, and a blue satin Yakuza jacket flapped like a pennant from the left-most one.
Coyote turned to bring the Stormcloud to bear on the charging beast, but the Yidam's secondary arms pushed him aside. The alien giant calmly raised his PTRS to his shoulder and sighted down it like a white bwana hunting rhinoceri. The dinosaur, its eyes glowing with human knowledge of its invulnerability, raced straight at the Yidam.
The gun roared once, and the recoil slewed the Yidam all the way around so that he faced away from his target. The bullet hit the charging triceratops cleanly between the eyes, punching through the skull as if it were made of sun-baked clay. The tungsten core blew back through the hole in the skull that allowed for the entry of the spine and spun its way through the creature's body. The incendiary charge exploded in the tiny brain case, blowing the eyes back out on fiery pillars, then splitting the skull like a dropped melon.
The triceratops' nose dipped, digging into the ground like an anchor. Its body piled up behind the broad shield, stopping the creature barely seven meters from the Yidam. Its body settled back, leaving its legs splayed forward, then lolled over on its left side.
The skeleton man vaulted the triceratops' corpse like an X-ray of Bruce Lee. The bony fingers of his left hand slashed the face of one Yakuza to ribbons. The skeleton man hooked his right hand up underneath the rib cage of a second Yakuza and carelessly tossed him back over his shoulder. The Yakuza flailed his arms and legs as he flew, but could do nothing to prevent himself from being impaled on the triceratops' horns when he landed.
A look of pure, unadulterated joy lit Bat's face as he yanked two Yakuza back by the scruff of their necks to get at the skeleton man. The monster slashed at him with bloody claws, but Bat stepped back and contemptuously slapped the blows aside. The skeleton man's head came up in surprise, and Coyote knew he had realized that as frightening and dangerous as he might be, a trained fighter he was not.
Bat's right fist hammered that point home as it exploded on the skeleton man's jaw. Bone shattered, littering the ground with teeth and bits of mandible. Bat's left fist came up in a murderous hook that snapped ribs. His right foot came down, crushing foot bones into ivory splinters, then another right first fractured the skeleton man's left collarbone.
The skeleton man turned to run away, but even before he could bump into the dinosaur's corpse, Bat grabbed his spine in his left hand. Pleasure melting Bat's face into a nightmare mask, he reached down and took a firm hold of the skeleton man's right femur. Twisting it left and then right again, Bat ripped it free. As the bones below the knee dropped away in an inanimate pile, Bat spun the femur around and crashed it down through the skeleton man's skull.
Colonel Nagashita quickly crossed the open area between him and the hirsute behemoth created out of the small, balding man. The creature took one swipe at him with a fist the size of Nagashita's head. The IDC ninja leader ducked beneath the blow, then darted forward. Coyote saw a flash of light as Nagashita drew his katana and heard the creature utter a soft oof as the blade passed through its chest. Its upper half started to pivot toward the ninja, but when its lower half failed to start the same maneuver, the creature fell over backward, dead before it hit the ground.
«Rezizt, my pet! You know how I love to dizplay my power! You help me make my point to Ryuhito! Now, more playthingz for you to deal with, I think.»
From beyond the fountain, GBI's transformed guards entered the battle. Walking tall like men, they had become sable-coated wolves with glowing green eyes. A snapping, howling pack, they fell on the Yakuza and ninjas as they streamed in toward Coyote and his people. Coyote turned and nailed one with a close-range blast that tore one of its arms clean off, but the wolfman kept coming.
To his right, Sin dropped one with a single shot that went in right above its snarling muzzle and exploded out the back of its head. Beyond him, another died as Bat used the skeleton man's femur to cave its skull in. Natch popped a three-shot burst from her MP-7 through one's spine, taking it out of the fight, and Nagashita killed another by decapitating it.
"Brain or spine!" Coyote shouted as he opened one up with a shotgun blast. Despite his best effort, it took another shot to kill it, and, despite his warning, the wolfmen pressed forward. Fiddleback's foul power, channeled out through El-Leichter's eyes, rebuilt new wolfmen from the scattered parts of the old ones.
Coyote tapped Sin on the shoulder and signaled him back a step while he used the Stormcloud to knock another wolfman down. "Where can we go? We're losing!"
Sin snapped off two shots that blew fist-sized chunks from a wolfman's head. "The main building. Room-to-room fighting, but they'll know it better than us."
Dammit! I have to do something! The press of wolfmen had already split the IDC ninjas off from his group, though they seemed to be holding their own against the former guards. We are losing!
«Join me, Coyote. I will then let you win!»
The hopefulness in Fiddleback's telepathic message reminded Coyote of the earlier sendings. He wants me to come willingly. That way he gets more power. If I am broken, I am of no use to him. Together, we can be invincible, which means he is vulnerable now!
«You are magnificent, my pet! But as I am vulnerable, so are your friends!»
The Yakuza started to break and run as Bat went down with a howling wolfman on him. The howl shifted to a yelp of pain as Bat regained his feet and held the creature aloft by its head. With his left hand clamping its muzzle shut and his right hand capping its skull, Bat wrenched his hands hard to the right. The creature's body twisted along with its head, preventing him from breaking its neck, but the spasmodic jerking of its body showed he'd clearly hurt it. Not content with that, Bat shifted his right hand down to the front of its throat and grabbed a handful of stomach muscles with his left. He slammed the wolfman down on the edge of the triceratops' shield, snapping its spine like a candy cane.
Though Bat's victory heartened Coyote, he knew they could not stand. A dozen of the wolfmen broke off to chase the fleeing Yakuza, but the rest poured around the open right flank and threatened to sweep around to cut off their retreat. Coyote could barely see the encysted ninjas off on the left for all the wolfmen attacking them. As the Stormcloud's breech snapped open and he unconsciously reached for a nonexistent spare clip, he knew the end had come.
«Thiz iz your lazt chance, Coyote! Come to me. Now!»
The sheer desperation in Fiddleback's sending made defying him easy, but still he hesitated. Cut and bleeding, his friends pulled back, fighting against forces that would engulf and devour them. Coyote knew, deep down, that if he accepted Fiddleback's power, he could keep his friends safe. Then he also realized that when he accepted Fiddleback's power, he would have no desire to keep them safe.
With a butt stroke from the Stormclo
ud he shattered a wolfman's skull and forced himself to ignore the stinging furrows left in his chest from its claw. "Never, Fiddleback, never."
«No!» Fiddleback's frustrated screech sliced through his brain like a razor, but Coyote realized it was not directed at him. He sensed another power entering the Sun Court. He saw nothing at first, but noticed instantly that both El-Leichter and the wolfmen turned their attention back to their own rear area. He heard choked-off yips of pain, then saw a limp canine body flip end over end through the air.
Through gaps in the humanoid pack, he saw a slender, dark-haired, clean-limbed youth rendered in shades of reflected green and black. His hands and feet moved with blurring speed, and black blood covered his arms from the elbow down. Over his body, worked lovingly in bold swirls that helped define his musculature, black lines both thick and thin decorated him.
Where he struck, a body fell and, if it moved after that, only gravity or an involuntary muscular twitch was the cause.
"How dare you!" Arrigo spun in the air and scattered his soldiers with the wave of a hand.
The youth stopped in the oasis strewn with the torn bodies of his enemies, and blood streamed off his body. Beyond him, back where it could have been a gate in a wall, a golden circle glowed, and the tiny silhouette of a man slowly grew within it. Coyote thought, because of the image's size, that the man was far away, but when the silhouette assumed its full three dimensions, he saw the figure was indeed small.
"I dare. I dare many things, Fiddleback."
"You? You were nothing, and I gave you all you are. I now revoke my giftz to you." Arrigo El-Leichter's body pulsed out power. "Die!"
The little man, still hidden in the shadow of his warrior, waved the threat away. "Kill him."
Before the youthful assassin could move, Colonel Nagashita ran forward, vaulted off a mound of wolfman corpses and leaped into the air. He drove his katana through El-Leichter's abdomen. The look of betrayed surprise on El-Leichter's face metamorphed into a triumphant leer as he caught Nagashita up in both hands and started to compress his chest.
"Kill them both, then," the little man ordered his assassin.
He had no chance. As El-Leichter dug his fingers into Nagashita's ribs, the ninja leader twisted his own hands and rotated the katana blade 180 degrees in the wound. Ribs popped, and Nagashita jerked, but he retained his grip on the sword. He tugged up, then sawed the blade back and forth. Blood and entrails streamed from El-Leichter's wound, dripping down into the fountain's shallow basin, and the blood pouring from Nagashita's mouth soon mixed with them.
With one final effort, Nagashita twisted the blade around and brought it across, severing El-Leichter's spine. The green nimbus surrounding him died and, locked with Nagashita in death, he fell to the pool. The water flashed red, then green, then erupted in an explosion of green steam.
When it cleared, Coyote saw no one in the fountain. So that is the dimensional gate here! He looked up to see if the Japanese man who had been hovering with him had fallen outside the fountain, or had been taken along with the two corpses. He did not see him at first, but then looked up and saw the man floating in a golden throne.
The little man stepped forward into the backlight of the throne. "So, Ryuhito, do you want the power Fiddleback offers you, or would you like what I can offer you?" A smug expression of superiority accompanied the smile on the little man's face. "He provides you the power to transform yourself. I can give you the power to transform others. I offer my herald as a simple example of my art."
Jytte dropped to her knees. "Pygmalion!"
Rajani stared at him. "Nicholas!"
The little man smiled at Jytte, raising his right hand as if to caress her face. "You were one of my finest creations, Jytte. And you, Rajani, were always an annoyance. Mickey, kill her."
"Mickey?" Rajani cried out as the assassin started toward her.
He hesitated for a half-second, which gave Bat all the time he needed. Streaking across the battle line, he tackled Mickey and brought him down. Both of Bat's arms slipped up through Mickey's armpits and around the back of his neck. Locking his legs around Mickey's waist, Bat rolled up into a sitting position. The muscles in his arms and back bunched as he began to pull back on Mickey's arms and press his head forward.
"No, Bat, no!" Rajani screamed at him. "He's only a child!"
Pygmalion looked over at his charge and seemed about to issue an order when the golden gate behind him collapsed into nothingness. This appeared to disturb him for a second, then he turned back and frowned. "Ryuhito, if you enthrall yourself to Fiddleback, you will be his slave. I know, for I was until I made Lucifer's choice. As you can see, I do with one what Fiddleback could not oppose with many. Come with me, and I will give you this world to do with as you wish."
Ryuhito nodded. The golden throne flared in intensity and became a sphere. It contracted down to the size of a walnut, then floated over and landed in Pygmalion's open right palm.
Pygmalion smiled like a man who had just found an object for which he had searched his entire life. "Though I regret it, it seems I must leave you all alive here." He studied his surroundings for a moment, then let his gaze linger upon the gold sphere in his hand. "I bid you adieu."
"I go!" Mickey's voice squealed anxiously.
Pygmalion regarded him coldly. "I hardly think so."
"I go? See Dorothy? You promised?"
"You failed me, Mickey." The little man held the gold sphere up like a jewel and smiled at its glow. "I do not need those who fail, Mickey."
"You promised!" Mickey's voice grew hoarse with the shout, and he struggled against Bat. "You promised!"
"And that promise is broken, just as is the promise I thought I saw in you. You failed Mickey." Pygmalion spit on the ground. "You are nothing."
Coyote saw the boy try to twist free from Bat's hold, then he went limp and began to sob. Bat, still holding the boy tightly, seemed at a loss to deal with him. Mickey hung like a scarecrow in Bat's arms, tears streaming down his face and washing the blood from his convulsing chest.
Pygmalion smiled, then looked up at the others. "Consider him a present—and a warning. I have an army of warriors modeled after him. They will ensure that my work with Ryuhito will be uninterrupted. This you will soon see, and you had best prepare yourselves for that day."
Sin slammed a new clip home in his Beretta. "I'm ready now."
"How glib, how droll." Pygmalion palmed the sphere, and its light died. "When we return, you will venerate him as your emperor, and you will worship me as your god." His laughter filled the courtyard, but by the time it echoed back to the center, he had vanished in a burst of gold light.
I looked up as Crowley stepped around a knot of docile wolfmen being led away by two of the IDC ninjas. "You missed the party."
Crowley toed the dead flying shark. "If you'd told me it was open season on lawyers, I would have been here." He winced, and I noticed for the first time that he was favoring his right leg. "As it was, I had a bit of a job to do myself with that gold tunnel."
"Are you okay?" I knew he always kept a tight rein on himself, but I couldn't sense even a hint of distress coming from him.
Crowley shrugged. "I'll live. Turns out the tunnel belonged to a Dark Lord named Pygmalion. He's fairly new and works a lot with folks from Earth."
"I know." I pointed to where Rajani, Jytte, Natch and Bat were standing with the warrior Pygmalion had called Mickey. "He was here and abandoned Mickey. Rajani, the Yidam's daughter, says Mickey was a timid five-year-old boy when last she saw him."
Crowley raised an eyebrow. "When was that?"
I shrugged and felt some aches from my clawed ribs. "Two or three weeks ago. She says he has a sister and father in Flagstaff."
"That will make for a fascinating homecoming." Crowley shook his head. "What do you know about Pygmalion?"
"Not much, and all of it picked up by inference." I slung the Stormcloud over my shoulder. "I gather Pygmalion was a human scientist named N
icholas Hunt. Fiddleback offered him power in return for loyalty. Pygmalion rebelled and has been annoying Fiddleback since that time."
Looking over at Mickey and Jytte, both creations from the hand of Pygmalion, part of me wanted to admire his handiwork. I could also sympathize with his rebellion against Fiddleback, and I knew well the pleasure of defying him. I also knew the seduction of the power Fiddleback offered, and I felt strong in resisting it—this time. Will I always make that choice?
Crowley's voice refocused my attention outside. "He's been annoying lots more than just Fiddleback. All the Dark Lords vie against each other for dominance. Pygmalion may well be new, but he is upsetting many of the old power structures. In many ways, he is responsible for having renewed the Dark Lords' hunger for new worlds."
I could see it. Power is a drug that satisfies none. It only creates a hunger for more. Even though one might have enough power to survive, the mere fact that another wants your power makes you more ravenous. Dark Lords that had lain dormant for eons were now waking with empty bellies, and Earth seems to be in season.
Fiddleback Trilogy 2 - Evil Ascending Page 28
