He glared at them, then gestured for the troopers who’d brought Denaris to him to back away. They did, and with grave dignity Haggarty seized her by the back of the neck and then, without a qualm, sank to one knee beside her, facing the same way she did.
“I, James Ivis Haggarty of the Ghenisan Navy and Ruler of Ghenisa, present this receiver of the Sacrament into the mercy and being of Lord Rigurd, Collossum and R’loth, from here forward Master of Ghenisa over me. May this woman’s soul be commended to the House of Joy.”
The crowd quieted, and Avery could feel the sudden tension that gripped them. From out of the shadows at the edge of the dais, Rigurd emerged, clad in ceremonial robes and head held high. The air shimmered around him, hinting at his otherworldly nature, and the crowd gasped as he stepped onto the dais. Avery wondered what those at home were thinking, or if they could sense the sudden hum he felt through his mind as the Collossum emitted some sort of psychic blast that had Avery swaying back and forth and blinking his eyes—and many others, he saw. The whole gathering had caught their breaths and opened their eyes, suddenly clutching or shaking their heads.
Then Avery heard a voice, though the Collossum’s mouth didn’t move; it was in his head. By the confused and fearful looks of those gathered here, it seemed that everyone received the same message.
I am Lord Rigurd.
People gasped, swore, and cried out, repeatedly shaking their heads as if to dislodge water from their ears.
Welcome, all, to the faith of the Collossum.
Rigurd moved to Haggarty, placed a palm on the Grand Admiral’s forehead. “Well done, my child,” Rigurd said aloud. “I accept your offering.” He moved to Denaris and laid a palm on her forehead next. “I will be your shepherd to the House of Joy. May all salute your passing and honor your memory, for you go to dwell with the gods forevermore.”
Soldiers shouted to the gathering: “Say ‘We Salute You” and, dutifully, becoming aware they were being taught an Octunggen rite, the Ghenisans mumbled the words back to them.
“This is bullshit,” Denaris said, and though her voice was weak and raw the microphones picked it up, and a ripple ran through the crowd. Avery felt an electric chill. He must do something. He must stop this. With the thick cordon around the stage, he didn’t see how. Nevertheless, he took stock of the sentry’s position and prepared to come out of hiding.
“Bullshit,” Denaris repeated. “You’re no god! You’re a monster! Some sort of cosmic demon! You—”
Rigurd backhanded her across the face, and she slumped sideways, breathing heavily. Avery saw a line of drool run from her lips, and her eyes fluttered dangerously.
Someone in the crowd started to rise, but there came the crack of a rifle, and the man dropped. No one else rose.
“I accept the offering,” Rigurd said, and spread his arms. As he did so, the air blurred more heavily around him, thickening and rippling and—
“That will be enough!”
This came from a figure just shoving through the crowd. Stepping swiftly through the kneeling ranks, Layanna approached the stage, blond hair shining, and television cameras laboriously turned toward her. Avery let out a breath, praying that she hadn’t come too late.
A rifle cracked, then another, but the air simply shimmered around her and the bullets did no harm.
“This travesty will not continue!” she shouted, and Avery thought he perceived a psychic echo to her words. “Rigurd, step away from the woman!”
Rigurd stared at her with dull, lizard-like eyes, then, as if obeying her, moved away from the Prime Minister.
Swiftly, Avery shoved the lid off the trunk and swung himself out of it. On the stage, Denaris was being led away by Haggarty, while Layanna had drawn very close to the clearing around the statue. People fled before her, afraid and making way for the violence they were sure was about to happen.
Layanna let her other-self explode out from her, and the crowd screamed and recoiled as her otherworldly lights bathed them.
The soldier at the bow of Avery’s dirigible was gazing with open mouth at the stage, and he didn’t seem to hear Avery until the last moment, when Avery jerked him back into the shadows and, with some fumbling, stabbed him in the throat repeatedly, letting the blood jet away from him. The man kicked and thrashed, then went limp. Awkwardly, Avery tore off the man’s clothes and shrugged them on, not bothering to make it too neat.
On the stage, Rigurd waited. Strangely, he did not bother to bring his own other-self over, perhaps allowing Layanna to strike first so as to preserve his energies.
As if to oblige, she surged forward with shocking swiftness, tentacles lashing and pseudopods heaving.
It was then that Avery saw the reason why Rigurd hadn’t brought his other-self over; a dozen men in Navy uniforms stepped forward from the sidelines he had moved near, each bearing a dripping, venom-laden whip. They struck, and strange liquid sparks flashed when the whips sank into Layanna’s phantasmagorical flesh. She pulsed with blue-white light, and Avery could see her form within the sac twist and flinch.
She grabbed one of the whip-wielders up, crushing him in her coils, then another, incinerating this one in green fire. They struck again, and she flashed again, her human face screwing up in pain.
I’ve got to hurry, Avery thought. Clad as the soldier, he lowered himself over the side of the dirigible and slunk along the ground. When a trooper looked his way, Avery straightened and tried to act natural. Fortunately he was not nearly as interesting as the show on the stage and the man turned right back around.
Layanna disintegrated a trooper and poisoned two others while the rest lashed and flayed her. With each strike, she retreated, and the material of her sac boiled away, making her smaller, more vulnerable. Avery feared for her, knowing there was nothing he could do about the whip-wielders, but fortunately he didn’t have to. A group of men and women, having snuck close to the stage on hands and knees, abruptly rose and fired at the whip-men, who flew backward, blood spurting. Avery recognized Janx, Hildra, Pete and several other of Boss Vassas’s people.
Avery had only slowed for a moment, cutting through the crowd of soldiers. Troops all around the gathering were taking aim at those who’d come to Layanna’s defense and would have fired, but Janx and the others weren’t engaged in a suicide mission; it was a well-coordinated strike. More men and women—many of them—most dressed in Army uniforms, began turning on their fellows, especially those in Navy uniforms, wrestling them to the ground, shooting them, engaging them in any way they could. The Army personnel targeted in the strike belonged to the upper echelons, and Avery recalled Boss Vassas saying that if the higher-ups were removed, the main body would support General Hastur.
Avery rejoiced. Hastur, working with Vassas, was making her move, just as he had hoped. The reality of the situation, though, was that army and navy men were fighting all around him. It wouldn’t be long until he was thrown into the mix, and it was a toss-up which would shoot him first.
Avery had reached a spot near the stage, and with no further ado he shoved his way out onto it at a position near Rigurd, and even as the air was blurring more heavily about the Collossum in his preparation to launch an attack on a weakened Layanna, Avery stabbed him in the back.
Rigurd gasped, half spun, reaching a claw of a hand out toward Avery, but Avery, reeling back and taking his weapon with him, slipped into the writhing mob and out of reach.
Spitting blood, Rigurd fell.
Everything was chaos. Avery heard shooting all around him and through the wrestling bodies saw soldiers loyal to Haggarty firing into Layanna, who came on relentlessly, not pausing. She laid into the ones who had fired on her, stuffing them into her sac or otherwise killing them. In the process, she fed, swelling and glowing brighter.
Rigurd screamed as he fell under her blazing shadow, and screamed louder when her tentacles wrapped around him.
Someone punched Avery in the face and he went down. Warring shapes moved over him, and then he was wrenched off the ground and carried through the air. People shrieked and scattered. Confused, Avery looked around and saw that Layanna had looped a tendril around him and was drawing him to her. She must have seen him stab Rigurd and had marked the direction he’d gone. Now she laid him down next to her as she reached the thrashing, screaming form of Rigurd, blood pooling under him.
“No ...” Rigurd said. “No.”
She curled more tentacles around him and blue arcs coursed along his body. He screamed so loud Avery thought his throat would rupture, but somehow he kept on screaming.
“Don’t do this! Don’t do this! The Starfish will destroy you all! You bitch don’t—”
Layanna shoved him inside her sac. Instantly, he began to dissolve, flailing and raging even as his body broke up and his molecules began spreading throughout her being, greedily gobbled up by her organelles. As soon as he was gone, she released her other-self and fell to the ground, shaking.
“Are you all right?” Avery asked, taking her pulse.
“The—poison—the knife—” She gasped and made retching noises. “Shouldn’t have—but wanted his power—”
With Rigurd dead, his supporters were either retreating or surrendering, at least those on land. Admiral Haggarty had gathered Navy troops to him, and they huddled around him, covering him and themselves with riot shields as he shouted something into a handset, gesturing toward the dirigibles and zeppelins above.
Avery felt something cold throb in his mind, a sudden dark wave of fear. The ray, he had time to think, and then everything else was driven from his mind in a blast of paralyzing dread and pain. It was the same terror he’d felt before, the same dark ocean, the same clutch of cockroaches about to burst his skull apart.
Likewise affected, people all around him screamed in fear and confusion.
Layanna gasped and closed her eyes.
“Can you block it?” Avery spoke through gritted teeth, having to force his mind to take shape enough to get the words out.
People were falling to their knees all over, gripping their heads tightly. Even Haggarty and his people hunkered low, bombarded by the psychic blast, though they seemed less debilitated.
Above, the dirigibles and zeppelins, evidently fine, began to align themselves for a strike on the plaza.
“... have been,” Layanna was saying. As she spoke, color began to return to her cheeks. “Stopped just—now—with the—poison—” She took several deep breaths, then opened her eyes.
