Butcher Bird

Lulu was crouched with her back to the wall of the cabin, yelling, "Shit, shit, shit:" over and over. Shrike was at the far railing, slashing any angel that dared fly too low. Finally free of the claw, Primo had more control of the ship, but the angels overhead slashed at the steering lines. The deck swayed as the little man had less and less influence over the vessel. Spyder held onto the railing to keep from being thrown overboard. In the distance, a ship like a crystal skull was burning and a jeweled Garuda was sliced nearly in half before exploding.

The prince's scorpion ship wasn't faring much better. One of its enormous claws was falling away, on fire. At least they're shooting back, Spyder thought, as something streaked across the sky between their ship and the scorpion. Angels fled from the flying thing. The ones that didn't see it coming were sliced to pieces in its wake. Then the thing dived and was gone, only to emerge from under the far side of the deck, near Shrike. It flew right at and through the sacred heart, before circling back through the angel swarms, killing and maiming dozens as it swung back toward their ship.

Their seahorse was losing altitude fast. Spyder went forward to where Primo was struggling with the ship. Control lines and splintered sections of rigging lay at the little man's feet. As Spyder reached him, he was wrestling with the few lines that still worked.

"Please take this," Primo said. Spyder grabbed the line and was almost lifted off his feet by the weight. Primo had been holding it with one arm.

"Can you get us out of here?" Spyder asked.

"It's doubtful. I'm just trying to make our crash as easy as possible."

"What can I do?"

"Don't let go of that line." But it went slack in Spyder's hand as more angels swooped down and slashed at the ropes. Shrike jumped to the base of the rigging and slashed the heads from two angels. Too late. The deck trembled and the whole vessel dropped thirty feet in a second, then seemed to catch itself. Primo strained against the remaining lines.

"It's dead! Leave it," someone shouted.

Hovering off the starboard bow was a small, flat black flier. Its tapered body was curved like a wasp's, and its veined, quadruple wings were streaked with angel blood. The pilot had pushed back the canopy and was gesturing to them. "Get on board! You can't stay aloft much longer!"

"Don't have to tell me twice," said Spyder.

"I'll keep us steady and join you in a moment," Primo said.

Angels, debris and flames were thick overhead. Spyder kept his head down as he ran. He grabbed Lulu by the arm and yelled, "Shrike, we're leaving," then pulled her to the flier at the bow of the ship. The tall pilot leaned from the cabin as Spyder helped Shrike over the rail. Taking her hand, the pilot pulled her inside. Lulu followed.

"Primo!" Spyder yelled. "Come on!" An angelic sword slashed at Spyder. He fell back, his arm scorched, his vision blurred by the flaming sword. When he could see straight again, Spyder saw Primo, swollen to his fighting size, spikes slick with blood. He was burned and bleeding; dead angels lay all around him. An angel in Primo's grip fought weakly as he strangled it. Another angel dropped down from the overhead lines, slicing off Primo's right arm. The little man screamed. Spyder, Apollyon's knife out, felt the blade nick a rib as he buried it in the chest of the angel who'd cut Primo. The little man picked up his severed arm, then with Spyder's help, they stumbled to the black flier, grabbing on as the seahorse groaned and slid toward the ocean in flames.

Spyder pushed into the flier's cramped cabin, but Primo, in his exaggerated fighting form, was too big to fit through the opening. He crouched on the wing and held onto the canopy with his good arm as the flier dropped below the battle. And kept dropping.

"We're too heavy," said the pilot.

"There's land ahead," Primo yelled.

Through the breaking clouds, an island was spread out in the cold sea. The pilot struggled with the controls, circling toward a stretch of open beach. Spyder held onto Primo as best he could, while Lulu huddled against Shrike. The pilot yelled something, but all Spyder could hear was the white-noise hiss of the wind as it shrieked into the cabin. The beach came up fast. The pilot pulled back on the wheel. They bounced once and there was a snapping sound as the wings came off, taking Primo with them. The flier nosed down and dug into the sand and that was the last thing Spyder remembered for what felt like a very long time.

Twenty-Six

My Enemy's Enemy

"Shit," said Spyder.

"Aw, baby's first word," Lulu said. "Guess you're all right, cowboy."

Spyder opened his eyes. He couldn't sit up or quite focus on any one object. He recognized Lulu's blur because he'd seen that before in plenty of bars. A blur that might have been Shrike, left what was probably a campfire and came to where Spyder lay.

"How are you feeling?" asked Shrike.

"Alive. Gangbanged by gorillas."

"It was a hard landing."