Qeteb leaned back his head and roared with laughter. "DragonStar? His useless lieutenants? A Sanctuary full of terrified incompetents? There is no magic left I do not control; or will not, within days.
There is no place anyone can hide. And there is no soul that will not eventually be mine!''''
He was screaming by the end, spitting out words and saliva in a torrent of hatred.
Ur turned her head aside, hiding her expression from the Demons.
Qeteb's massive right hand suddenly shot out and seized the Mother's neck. "Stupid, stunted bitch," he seethed, and the muscles of his arm rippled up and down. "Your time is done."
And his fist tightened.
DragonStar was leading his band down into the bowels of Star Finger when Faraday halted, put a hand on one of the corridor walls for support, and groaned.
She sagged, her moans becoming frightful, and DragonStar wrapped his arms about her.
"Faraday? Faraday? What's wrong?"
StarLaughter looked on, mildly curious. Was it the gloom this far down? Was she a girl who needed light to feed her good temper and optimism?
Faraday screamed.
The Mother began to writhe, although She was obviously making some effort to keep still and accept death.
Her hands half lifted, then dropped as She forced them down.
Her eyes She kept still on Qeteb's straining, reddened face, although panic and fear swam about in them.
Ur leaned forward, and grabbed the Mother's skirt.
Qeteb's fist tightened, and the Mother's eyes bulged in agony.
Faraday was convulsing, and DragonStar did not know what to do. Leagh and Gwendylyr hovered about, their hands patting helplessly, their faces frantic.
Everyone else stood about in a powerless circle.
DragonStar raised his head and stared at StarLaughter, his expression hard.
"It's not me," StarLaughter said, and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know what ails her."
More than anything else it was her utter disinterest that convinced DragonStar. He glanced at StarGrace — she also shrugged — and then he looked back to Faraday.
Red weals had appeared about her throat, and her eyes were bulging and agonised.
"In my fist," Qeteb said, turning his face slightly to talk to the other Demons, "I hold the life of the land.
Pitiful, isn't it?"
Blood now stained the neckline of the Mother's robe, running down in rivulets to blotch and dampen its bodice.
"Nothing can stop us now," Sheol said. She had rearranged her snout into a more elegant form.
"Except blindness," Ur said, and Qeteb growled.
"Will blindness save Her, now?" he said, and his fist abruptly tightened.
The Mother's neck broke with a snap.
Ur's face contorted, her hand clenched even tighter within the Mother's robe, and then she sagged, almost lifeless, and let go.
A scream tore through the air of the corridor, and DragonStar stared at Faraday, not understanding how she could have screamed so loudly and not opened her mouth.
He'd thought she'd been calming somewhat.
"Leagh!" Gwendylyr yelled, and DragonStar blinked and realised that it was not Faraday who had screamed at all.
Leagh had turned away, and was now rolling about on the floor of the corridor, as agonised as Faraday was, her arms wrapped about her belly, screaming and shrieking as if she was gripped by the final extremities of death.
StarLaughter turned away and rolled her eyes. Couldn't they manage a simple walk down a corridor without enduring some drama of epic proportions? Who had DragonStar gathered about him?
"Teh, tch," she muttered.
Qeteb's fist opened, and the corpse of the Mother dropped to the ground.
His fist shrank back to a more normal size.
Ur blinked, blinked again, and looked up, as if she had just woken from an afternoon slumber and was mildly disorientated by the encroaching scenes of death and destruction.
Qeteb stood, not two paces from her, a charming grin on his face.
