Then he tore the wing out.
He screamed, and doubled over, sobbing in agony, still gripping the wing. Bloodpoured down his back, obscuring the brief glint of bone.
DareWing dug his teeth into his lips, fighting to remain conscious, then he threw the wingaside.
It landed some two paces away, a useless appendage of flesh and feather.
Waves of blackness threatened to consume DareWing, but he fought against them. He tookhold of his remaining wing, his hands slipping in the blood from his back, then he steadiedhimself, his eyes wild, his chest heaving in frantic breaths, and he tore it free.
It fell useless to the ground, and DareWing managed one final scream before the agony tippedhim into oblivion.
Faraday knelt by Dare Wing's side, and her hand tightened its grip on his shoulder. His eyes were wide, staring but unseeing, and his body jerked and jittered as if caught in some crazed, sickened dance.
"Faraday ..." Leagh said, her voice tight, and she shifted on her chair.
"He will come through this shortly," Faraday said. She paused, and her jaw tightened as if she shared Dare Wing's pain. "He must."
"Nevertheless," Leagh said, "he needs all of our aid."
She, as Gwendylyr and Goldman, rose from their chairs, circled slowly, then knelt with Faraday.
Gwendylyr placed her hand on DareWing's other shoulder, while Leagh and Goldman each took one of the birdman's hands.
"We love you," Leagh whispered.
We love you, whispered her voice through DareWing's tortured existence.
All of us, said a different voice, and Dare Wing realised it was the land itself.
"Really?" he said.
"Really?" Dare Wing whispered, and his eyes opened and stared into the four faces above him.
"I have relinquished my wings," he said, and smiled.
Faraday returned his smile. "Is that so? Then how is it that they still sprout from your back?"
Dare Wing jerked in surprise, and rolled so he could see them for himself. "Oh," he said, with such an expression of amazement on his face that his companions laughed.
"DareWing," Goldman said. "Did you realise your ground fever has broken?"
"I am well," DareWing said. "I am well."
And then Leagh gasped, and all looked about. Flowers were spreading over the entire field of bare, ploughed earth, covering the ridges and furrows so completely that no one could see where the plough had been.
"Artor is truly dead," Faraday said, "and we are finally free."
Chapter 9
Of Predestination and Confrontation
They stood before the seven-sided, white-walled tower and hated. "It stinks of the Enemy," Sheol said.
"Badly."
Qeteb did not speak. He sat his black beast and regarded the tower thoughtfully.
Finally he turned his head slightly to where StarLaughter half-sat, half-crouched on the ground. "Tell me of its nature," he said.
StarLaughter hissed.
Something frightful reached out from Qeteb and sunk deep talons into StarLaughter's mind, and she screamed, writhing amid the dirt.
"Spiredore! Its name is Spiredore!"
"You are such a fount of information," Qeteb said. "Mother dear."
The other Demons giggled.
StarLaughter quieted, but her eyes never left Qeteb's form.
She had been a fool to allow this Demon to steal her son! Could she yet save her boy? Was there something to be done that might mean —
"Your son died thousands of years ago," Qeteb said. "Nothing can bring him back. Resign yourself to a worthless and unwanted motherhood, StarLaughter."
Her eyes glinted.
Qeteb took no notice. "Tell me about this tower."
