Dread Brass Shadows

45

I like to make out that I'm fast on my mental feet, but usually I'm no quicker than anybody else. When a woman is involved, I can be frightfully slow. But I do have a knack for seeing right and doing right when my tail is on the line.

Everything seemed to slow down as the Serpent lunged toward the kingpin. I noted that she was not totally naked. She wore a ring. A big ugly snake thing probably still on her because they hadn't wanted to chop her finger off till after she died. I started to yell but it was too late.

She hit Chodo while Crask was still folding and Sadler was turning to see. She didn't know where she was going but knew she couldn't stay. Anywhere would be safer than here.

I yelled, "Winger! Come on! Let's get her!"

She responded without thinking. Good for her.

It had occurred to me that this was the ideal moment to separate ourselves from Crask and Sadler. Before they started considering who ought to follow the kingpin down that dark road.

The witch had a good sense of where to run. We couldn't corner her. She found her way out of the hidden passages. She fled the house from the rear. And gained on us while doing it.

I pounded around the side of the house just as she reached the front and almost landed in the middle of the departing dwarves. She whirled and headed east, toward the false dawn just beginning to define the vineyard hills.

Now Winger and I gained ground. We had longer legs and no need to worry about scratches from weeds and brush.

A winged shape dropped out of nowhere, brushed the Serpent's right shoulder, staggered her. Another followed it, then another, forcing her to change course.

Winger grabbed my arm. "Slow down. We might not ought to catch up."

"Huh?" I'd stopped thinking much.

"They're steering her."

They were indeed. I slowed to a trot and tried getting my brain to perking again. But I'd used my daily ration of smarts in Chodo's secret room.

The Serpent scrambled over the estate wall, raced for the cover of a woodlot following a small creek. MorCartha swarmed around her as Winger and I cleared the wall. They ignored us completely. The witch stopped just short of the trees, looked around wildly. MorCartha were there to cut off any attempt at retreat.

Men came out of the woods. Little guys, all of them, but men, not elves or dwarves or whatever. They surrounded the Serpent. A little old guy with glasses hobbled after them.

Willard Tate.

"Whoa," I said. "Stop right there, Winger. Good. Now, real careful, let's stroll toward the road." In half a second I'd overcome an impulse to go down and talk some sense into the Tates. That might not be any healthier than going back to hang around with Crask and Sadler. Willard Tate appeared demonic in the feeble light. He was set to get even with the world.

"What's happening?" Winger asked.

"You don't really want to know." Old Man Tate had his tools with him. I kept easing toward the road, hoping I wouldn't catch anyone's eye. "That old man there. His niece was the one the Serpent's thugs hit by mistake." I wondered how much he'd spent to arrange this encounter I wondered how much had been engineered and how much was pure luck. I didn't have any urge to go ask. Uncle Willard might decide it was a fine time to uncomplicate Tinnie's life by removing her favorite ex-Marine.

The Serpent screamed.

"You going to do something?"

"Yeah. Get my dearly beloved ass out of here. Too many people with their blood up in this neighborhood. I'm going to go home and lock myself in for a month, then I'll start trying to figure out what the hell became of that damned Book of Shadows."

I had an idea. it weighed five hundred pounds and was mad as a hatter. Process of elimination. Everybody else who had the slightest interest didn't have the book. Therefore, Easterman did or knew where it was. Maybe he wanted the excitement to settle down some before he started playing Fido the Terrible.

The Serpent had one hell of a set of lungs. She howled steadily. I didn't look back.

I'd make my peace with me about that later. After I got used to the idea of still being healthy.